Otrupon Ofun

Thanks to Orunmila he began to save

There was a man who had only three cents, and he thought of taking his own life; but his wife took him to the house of Orunmila, and this Ifá came out for him. Orunmila cleansed him and told him: «Come back in five days.» When the man returned he had already saved five cents, and he told Orunmila that he no longer wanted to take his own life. Orunmila then made an ebbo for him and sent him back again after some days. When the man returned he had already saved seven cents, and so he kept rising thanks to Orunmila. This Ifá is one of curse.

Yemayá and her tenants

On one occasion, Yemayá owned many houses and lived on the rents she collected from them. Her tenants, however, stopped paying her, and she grew desperate. So desperate was she that she thought of hanging herself, and while she was looking for the rope she decided to go to Orunmila’s house instead.

Orunmila made her an osode and saw this Ifá. He told her: «You are thinking of taking your own life because things are going badly for you; be calm and make ebbo so that all your problems may be resolved.» She listened to Orunmila’s word and made the ebbo, taking it to its destination. The next day all her tenants began to pay her the arrears they owed.

Beside Yemayá a basin is placed with sea water and indigo, and there an akuko is given to her; it is stuffed with eku, eya, awado, orí, efun, oñí (honey), otí, wrapped in blue asho and taken to the sea. The contents of the basin are thrown into the street after three days.

The ewe salta perico speaks

Oyá had a sick son and worried greatly about him. On one occasion the seed pods of the salta perico bushes began to burst open, and Oyá’s son died of fright. When Oyá learned what had happened to her son she cursed the salta perico, saying to it: wherever you grow, only hunger and misery shall reign.

Ifá of curse. Ebbo is made with two etu, which are cooked and given to Oyá. With the bones of the right thigh an inshe Ozain is prepared, so that no harm may be done to the person through their food.

The heir of the oba

In this place a king died, and an heir swore to carry on his work, but he did not keep the oath. One night the heir had a dream in which he walked along a road and came to a square where the dead king lay on a mat surrounded by fruit, plates full of food and candles. When he drew near, the king rose with a staff of command in his hands and said to him: «This is the sceptre I hold to give you the power.» It was necessary to make offerings and to honour the dead king so that his heir could inherit the sceptre and continue his work. Obini: she has had trouble with her monthly period.

The rope or the razor

There was a man who worked as a stallholder in the marketplace and supported his wife on what he earned. But things began to go badly and the man thought of taking his own life, first with a razor and then with a clothesline to hang himself. His wife realised what was happening and took him to Orunmila’s house. The man told his wife they had no money for whatever Orunmila might order, but in the end they went to see him. Orunmila made him an osode and this Ifá came out; he ordered him to make an ebbo with a rope and a razor and to place it at the side of the marketplace. The man did as he was told and met another stallholder who gave him work, and he prospered again. One day the man visited Orunmila and brought him fruit. Orunmila asked him whether he wanted the razor or the rope, and the man answered that he wanted neither of the two, because he was well thanks to what Orunmila had ordered him to do.

This Ifá is spoken in reverse. The owner of this sign is nobody unless they marry, for she grows weary and one thing is the same to her as another, and she neglects herself. If it is a man, he is a chatterbox, giving people cause to talk about him, for he is scattered in every order of his life.

Why moforibale is paid to obe

There was a time when Oggún would sharpen whatever piece of iron he found whenever he needed a knife, and after its use the knife became useless. But Shangó, who was cleverer, tempered the iron, and when he gave it an edge that edge lasted through use. The knife, realising that it was going to be used constantly and then ignored, went to Olofin and said: «I want you to curse me instead of blessing me.» Olofin, surprised, asked the knife how it could ask him such a thing. The knife answered: «Now that my edge lasts through use, they will use me and then ignore me, and I want all who use me to pay me homage after they have used me.» The knife insisted so much that Olofin said: «To Iban Eshu», which means that so it shall be for as long as the world exists.

The awó of this sign, when he is to receive obe, must perform a ceremony to obe.

The road of the consecration of obonekue

The birth of the circle.

After Tanye died in the land of Epo on account of Sikan, her father, called Iyamba, king of Efo, and Mokongo Efimeremo of the land of Efi. Her husband, seeing that Ekueñon had beheaded Sikan and given her blood to the secret, along with her eyes and her caul, and that Tanye still did not speak again, commissioned Mokongo to travel to Nupe to see Orunmila and settle the matter of the secret; and Otrupon Adakoy came out. He ordered him to make ebbo with: ash, bitter broom, anaku, basil, gunpowder, okuta meta, plaster, green plantain, yam, sugar cane, sesame, peanut, ginger, atare, eku, eya, otí, otí labo, charcoal, 3 bundles of firewood, akuko, ekute, owunko.

He sent for Abari, who was none other than akaharan, who had travelled from the Addan to the Warri river of Nupe. Mokongo sent Ekueñon, who had gone with him to the land of Nupe, to fetch Abari; he brought him, and then Orunmila took them all — Iyamba, Mokongo, Ekeñon and Mokongo — before all the men of the 4 vassal kingdoms of kalabaar efo, oru efine ribi, at the meeting of the rivers where Tanye appeared to Sikan; and right there he cured him, sacrificing a hutia and afterwards giving that office to Ekueñon. He took them all to the ceiba where he sacrificed the owunko, and there, by the power of Orunmila, the iremes are born.

Then Ekueñon, by Orunmila’s command, lifted the skin of the owunko, saluting the drum that Orunmila had ordered to be made from palm wood, and afterwards wrapped each one of the powers, and finally enclosed the drum; and the procession goes to the throne of Iyamba, where the secret is, and there is where the cockerel was killed with the secret and Ekue ate again. That is where Orunmila received those lands in the name of Nasako Tekombe Oroso, that is, the foreign diviner who helped us.

The birth of the majesty of death

In answer, Olofin told them: you believe that because you have riches and power you are superior to others, but in truth you are inferior, because you take advantage of others to obtain your benefits and cannot live in peace. Kings and emperors believe they control everything, but in truth they control only a small part of society, and when they leave power they will be forgotten. True wisdom does not rest on what one knows, but on how one uses that knowledge to do good in the world and to help others.

Olofin went on: true wealth is not what is hoarded but what is shared with others, and true greatness is not measured by the power one holds but by the love one gives. You have come to me looking for answers, but the truth is that the answer lies within each one of you. If you wish to be truly wise, rich and great, you must learn to love and to share with others, and only then will you find true happiness.

On hearing these words, the great powers of the earth realised that they had been mistaken all along, and they repented of their arrogance and selfishness. From that moment on they began to live according to Olofin’s principles, and they found true happiness and peace in their lives.

Those present were astounded at Olofin’s words. How can it be that death reigns over everything?, they asked themselves. But Olofin told them that so it is, that she is the only certainty in life, the final destiny of every human being. And he reminded them that, contradictory as it may seem, it is precisely because death is inevitable that life takes on so great a value.

The kings and emperors understood then that, however much power and wealth they might hold in this world, at the end of their days they would all be equal before death. And so, from that moment on, they resolved to pay tribute to death as a way of acknowledging its power and its transcendence.

Ever since, in many cultures and traditions, homage is paid to death and it is held to be a sacred moment, a passage towards another plane of existence. For, as Olofin said, before death there are no differences and no hierarchies: we are all equal.

Otrupon fun the beggar

This was a modest awó who was going through hardship in his land, and one day he found himself in a place where the king’s son was ill. When the king learned that a beggar who healed had arrived, he sent for him, for he had already exhausted every resource of the physicians of the kingdom. On reaching the palace the beggar was mocked, since it seemed impossible that someone so poor could do what the physicians had not achieved with their science. Yet Otrupon Fun looked at the sick child and told him he was already well; and the king, seeing that the child had been cured, let him go and play with his friends. From that moment on, Otrupo Fun became the awó of the palace. May Obatalá be praised, may the Ibeyis be praised!

In this Ifá the person is inhibited, has no self-command, and there is no experience in their heart.

The bacteriological warfare with which oluo popo defeated Ozain

Ozain was the owner of all the land, and he proposed a deal to Oluo Popo: to gather the plants and put them in nurseries, to raise seedbeds for medicines for humankind and to trade in them. On his road, Oluo Popo, Oni Banishegun, lived in a region where there were many contagious diseases — measles, smallpox, mumps, typhus, leprosy, syphilis and dysentery — which, for want of care, cost the inhabitants of that region many lives. Ozain proposed to Oluo Popo that they should be the owners of the plants and divide the profits in equal parts, since he was the sorcerer and had no time to look after anyone, and besides he attended to a great many people.

Ozain made this offer to Oluo Popo because he thought he owned all the plants and all the land, and that Oluo Popo only used his plants to heal, and therefore deserved a smaller share. Oluo Popo, however, had a good relationship with those who came to him, and he answered Ozain that the division of the profits had always been in equal parts, just as they had agreed before. Ozain replied: «Take it or leave it, that is my offer.» But Oluo Popo did not accept Ozain’s offer.

Ozain began to send spells of every kind to destroy Oluo Popo and his people, even though Oluo Popo had healed many of them. Through it all, Oluo Popo kept his customary calm, while Ozain went on insisting.

Oluo Popo, seeing the suffering he had caused in Ozain’s land, decided to help him find a way to heal his people. He told him that, in order to root out the diseases, they should work together in gathering the ewes and sowing them on the land Ozain held for the cultivation of medicinal plants.

So together they began to gather the ewes, to sow them and to make the medicines needed to cure the sick population. Ozain, grateful for Oluo Popo’s help, offered him half of whatever profits they made, but Oluo Popo told him it was not necessary — that what mattered was helping the sick, and that the two of them should work together in harmony.

In the end, thanks to the collaboration and the wisdom of both awoses, the diseases and epidemics that had caused so much suffering in Ozain’s land were wiped out and the people were able to recover. This event served as an example of the importance of collaboration and union in times of crisis, and of the need to put the good of the community above personal interest.

When inle did not make ebbo

Ifá told Inle to make ebbo so as to keep his road clean, but he refused. Orunmila advised him to do it, even if only with a firebrand, and to pull up herbs with both hands. Inle still saw no need to make ebbo, since everything seemed to be well on his road.

But a time of drought and sickness came upon the region, and Obatalá advised Olonu to go and see Orunmila. Orunmila made him a reading and found that the earth was cracked and the people were dying of hunger. Orunmila advised Olonu to make a particular ebbo and to offer it to Olorun. It was an ebbo of Ifá Fore, which was to be buried on the riverbank.

So it was done, and the rain began to fall hard, and a strong wind blew as well, wreaking havoc on the land, crumbling the hills and filling everything with mud and undergrowth. After seven days Inle realised that his roads were now full of filth and fallen trees, and they had to set fire to the bush in order to open a way through. Never before had they had to burn the bush in such a way.

All your roads are closed; take off the rubbish you are carrying.

It happened to him for not consulting Ifá

There was once a time when Orunmila decided to live in the country and bought a farm to work, but the land turned out to be sick and stunted, so that the plants would not produce; everyone who had bought land in that area had failed and been ruined. Orunmila spent a year trying to make the land produce, but nothing worked. Then he decided to examine the soil and draw out the different layers or varieties he found. He then sowed different seeds in each of the layers and waited seven days to see the results.

Orunmila found that only in one of the sown layers of soil had the plants he had sown come up. He tried to fertilise the land, but the results were poor. Finally he decided to set fire to the whole plot, which made the microbes that were sickening the soil die by the million. After burning the land, Orunmila ploughed and sowed again. The land flourished with beautiful plants, and the people who had lived on those grounds bought the farm from Orunmila at a far higher price.

In this way Orunmila grew rich, and the land was healed thanks to his ingenuity and perseverance.

Orunmila went through so much trouble for not consulting Ifá. Maferefun Orunmila, Maferefun Ozain.