Otura Kana

The tiger and the eure

The Eure went to see Orunmila because she was feeling unwell. This Ifá came out, which called for an ebbo to be freed from Ikú (death), who was pursuing her. She never went back to do the ebbo, however. Later on, the tiger came to Orunmila’s house, for he wanted to catch the Eure and had not managed it. Orunmila saw this Ifá for him, but he did not do the ebbo either. Then the hunter came, who wanted to hunt the tiger, and he did not do the ebbo either. A while later, the Eure was walking along the road and the tiger caught her scent and followed her warily. At that moment the hunter appeared, and on seeing the tiger he shot his arrows and wounded him, but the tiger managed to escape. The hunter followed the tiger’s trail of blood, obsessed with killing him, without realizing that he was going deeper and deeper into the thick jungle. Suddenly a snake bit him and injected its venom into him.

A horse is given to Oggún (a young colt).

The garment of ekuekueye

The duck (ekuekueye) had only one garment, and his brothers scorned him. He went to consult with Orunmila and this Ifá came out, which called for an ebbo with akuko, a cross of igi salvia, akofa, ada, eku, eya, epo, orí… at the foot of a hill. While the duck was performing the ebbo, a hunter who was up on the hill killed a wild dove (eyele torcaza), and the eyele fell on the duck, changing the color of his plumage. Olofin blessed him, and ever since then the duck lives happily.

Have the leri prayed over with wild eyeles (eyeles torcazas).

Here the kashioro was born, and why the mother must be called upon for everything

The story tells of the life of an awo (priest of Ifá) named Orun Laye, in the town of Iya Iyanla. Every day his mother performed a ceremony called kashioro, in which she cleansed and placed a kashetutu (an instrument of Ifá divination) at the foot of the water. She would pray: «ebbo Kasheru, Ebbo Iya Iyanla Eni Babalawo Kashioro Olodumare, Ebbo Lagueni, Ebbo Ifá Kashioro», and Elegbá (the divine messenger) would carry the kashetutu before Orunmila (the God of divination in the Yoruba religion). Once Orunmila had finished performing the kashioro, Elegbá would come back whistling and say: «Kashioro Eni Ifá Babalawo Iya Iyanla».

Elegbá would place the kashetutu in different spots and then report back to the mother of Orun Laye, who worried about the contempt her son suffered. On one occasion death (Ikú), watching the mother’s suffering, appeared with a board and the secret of the kashioro inside a stone called oduara. He told Iya Iyanla that when Obatalá (one of the principal Orishas in the Yoruba religion) passed by there, she should hand him the stone. The mother of Orun Laye rejoiced, and Ikú proposed that they go and swear their pact before Orunmila.

On the road to Orunmila, Ikú was chanting a suyere that said: «Ifá Orun Laye Eni Ifá Beneni Layeo Oba Ni Obarara Nire Gun Owani Layeo Ikú, Aron Oni Layeo Wawa Wanda Ori Laye Ikú Wawa Wanada Ori Laye Ikú Wawa Wanda Ori Laye Laye Eggun Ikú Layeo Orun». On reaching Orunmila, death was at his side, and two hens (adie) were offered to Orunmila, one of them beside Ikú. Orunmila consecrated Orun Laye with the same suyere from the road, and death kissed Orun Laye’s forehead and granted him its blessing. From then on, Orun Laye would be well received and successful everywhere.

However, when Ikú travelled to other towns, people died suddenly, and they had to seek out Orun Laye in order to be saved. Iya Iyanla and Orunmila, realizing what was happening, went to Orunmila’s house and offered him two hens, one shashara (white) and the other dundun (red). Orunmila used the hens to call Ikú with the suyere: «Ikú Layere Ikú, Layeo, Ifá Ikú Laye Otura Tiku Layeo Ikú». Ikú came at once, and Orunmila handed him the hens. With the two adie he began to call Ikú with this suyere: “Ikú Layere Ikú, Layeo, Ifá Ikú Laye Otura Tiku Layeo Ikú.”

After Ikú had received the hens, Orunmila handed him the mottled adie first and then the other hen. He asked Ikú to let people live, to which Ikú answered that this was well, but that he would always knock at people’s doors to make sure they respected and took Orun Laye into account. At that moment Orunmila and Iya Iyanla began to chant the suyere: «Ikú Nilokun Baloni Lokun Ilojun Ifá», naming all the osobos (spirits) with that same suyere.

After this, death was appeased. Ifá (the divination system of the Yoruba religion) told Orun Laye that every day, using the board that had been given to him, he would have kashioro, and that he must inform Elegbá so that he would guide him along the good road.

LOADING AND SECRET OF THE BOARD: An omiero is prepared with these eweses: tetenifa, hibiscus, pomegranate, live-forever, atiponla, itamo real, wild basil, fine basil of the Blessed Sacrament and 16 cotton leaves; with this omiero the board is washed and afterwards it is loaded in the center on the underside with bi, kola, giving to this load the eyerbale of a black pullet with this suyere: “opon eye eyenife iya, eti laye, opon mafun opon odara oweni Ifá iya.” Calling upon Orunmila, upon his iya and upon Oyá, the pullet is sent to the wild brush; then on the back of the board Otura Niko is drawn with efun and osun and an eyele is given with this suyere:
“eye Eniye Opon, Mowa Opon Mowa Opon Orun Iya Bewa Boshe Melekun Mayewe Awo Otura Tiku.” Afterwards the board is cleansed with the eyele and otí, and the eyele is placed at the street door; then the awo will bathe with the omiero used to wash the board.

FOR THE KASHIORO: All the components are broken up, with the eñi adie left unbroken and placed inside the kasheoro; a jío jío is taken, the people are thoroughly cleansed with it, and these three signs are broken: Baba Ejiogbe, Baba Ika Meyi, Baba Ofun Meyi; the jío jío goes whole inside the kashioro.

OPARALDO: This oparaldo is done on the bank of a river with two adie, one mottled and the other black, beginning the oparaldo with the mottled one and afterwards with the black one, and both are thrown into the river.

By this path the oduara is placed with Obatalá.

Kaferefun Orunmila Oyá ati Elegbá

There was a man named Nfo Oyu, who was studious but very stubborn, disobedient and curious: he always wanted to know everything. This man had a prosperous business or trade in the land of Ilufa, where he lived. His business, however, began to go badly because of the evil doings of his envious enemies. As a result, the man decided to go to the land of Oyá and seek out Orunmila so that he would do an osode (divination reading) for him about his business.

Orunmila did the reading and marked an ebbo for him, on the spiritual plane as well as the material one. After doing the ebbo for him, Orunmila warned Nfo Oyu that when there were gatherings at the corner and people were wearing masks, he should not go near them, but take another road. He also told him not to put on the masks he had been given after the ebbo until Ifá determined otherwise. Nfo Oyu, however, paid no attention to the warnings and went on being curious, trying to find out what a group of men at the corner were doing and talking about. He put on a mask like theirs and drew near, not knowing that they were Anyenu, men who performed rituals in honor of Oyá.

The man slipped in among them, and when the three Anyon men said «let us take off our masks», one was Aya, another Ologbo and the third Ikú. When they saw that Nfo Oyu was a man and not one of them, Aya bit him, Ologbo scratched him and Ikú wanted to devour him. Nfo Oyu began to run and felt himself falling ill, pursued by Ikú. At last he sought refuge in Orunmila’s house and told him everything that had happened. Then Orunmila said to him: «Now you must undergo an untéfa in order to save yourself from the illness you have and from Ikú.» Moreover, Nfo Oyu had conflicts with women because of his excessive infatuations. Orunmila stressed that this time he must follow his advice, since otherwise he would lose everything. The man kept his word and did it all, and then there came to him the state of prosperity and peace he had wanted to have.

The adie are to be given to Oyá, the etu to oluo popo, 3 akuko to give to Ikú and Elegbá and to do oparaldo. Kaferefun Orunmila Oyá ati Elegbá.

In this Ifá it speaks of dog bites and cat scratches: they make a man ill and can lead him to death.

Sudden death among the elders

OPARALDO: adie dun dun, malaguidi with features, asho dun dun and fun fun, otí, eran, obi, efun, eku, eya, epo, awado, with an omiero of aberikunlo, carob, canutillo, romerillo, sage, basil, to sprinkle part of it on the spot; afterwards the house is sprinkled and the person is bathed with the rest.

On this path, in the land of Ina Bi Inle, life was always lived in great suffering, and it was the elders who dwelt there. They feared leaving their small children before they were fully raised, since in that land people cursed and there was no faith in the orishas. In time the land would open up because of earthquakes, and it was the children who believed and had faith. They began to weep and pray, saying: «mañaña Iwa Inle Belele, Mañana Iwa Inle Belele, Intori Ona Oba Ikú Laroye». At that moment they would hand a dark chicken to Ikú and the land would close again, and Ikú would withdraw on seeing the great faith the children had there. Each time the children performed this operation, the iyares (spirits), instead of rejoicing, would begin to complain and tell the children to do nothing more, since Ikú was deceiving them. In truth, what Ikú wanted every time this happened was to be given the dark chicken so as to have enough to eat.

One day Ikú hid and heard what the iyares were saying; he grew arrogant and decided to finish off everyone. At that moment Elegbá arrived and called out to him, saying: «akua Orun Belele, Ikú Belele, Ñaña Abibo Ikú». Ikú turned his head and saw Elegbá, but kept walking. Ikú tried to win him over all the way to Orunmila’s house, where Oshe Tura had been placed outside. When Ikú saw that, he threw himself to the ground, knocked three times at the door and said to Elegbá: «You go in; I will stay outside». At that moment Orunmila was performing the ceremony of this Ifá. When Orunmila finished, he threw the things to Ikú, and Ikú began to eat at once. Orunmila ordered him to stop and, after Ikú had finished eating, told him this: «You are entirely right, but sometimes, when you carry out your operations, you must forgive». Ikú fell silent, thinking always of the land of Ina Bi Inle where the orishas were not respected by the iyares. Orunmila, seeing that Ikú had fallen silent, told him: «But I had already given Elegbá a hen as an offering, so that when Ikú arrived there would be time to see whether he could save the iyare».

Orunmila, in order to keep Ikú entertained and arrive before him, performed a ritual. Right afterwards, Orunmila took an ikoko with an omiero and made an offering to all the iyares. When Ikú realized Orunmila’s stratagem, he ran off and reached the land of ina bi inle, where he found the iyare begging Olofin and all the Orishas to let her live and see her eldest children. Ikú began to perform the ritual of the osiadie that Elegbá had brought, and when he finished he saw a hand throwing him the ingredients of the offerings. Ikú took the asho and put it on, took the era and eya and performed the ritual with the adie and mamu otí. At that moment Orunmila appeared and said to him: «You are right, you are right; whoever commits a fault, I will make him suffer». At that moment the iyare of Otura Tiku was the only one who was not praying, so Ikú ran off and took her suddenly.

This Ifá in an elderly person, if on top of that they are an unbeliever, means they are in great danger, and an oparaldo must be done for them and food given to Ikú.

After this ceremony the person will have to beg Olofin and all the Saints by every means to let them live so as to see their eldest children raised.

In this Ifá sudden death speaks, both for the aleyo and for the iyare. The ritual was done for Elegbá, and it was ordered that one leave by the door opposite the one entered by, since Ikú was waiting there.