Irete Ká

The sign at a glance

Order in Ifá

Odù 222 of 256

Composition

Irete over Ika

Orishas that speak

Olokun · Elegbá · Eshu · Ogún · Yemayá · Shangó · Obatalá · Osain · Azojuano (San Lázaro)

What Ifá says in this sign

The prayer of Irete Ká · Yoruba

IRETE KA IFA MAFO WUORO OMA NI TEKA ADIFAFUN ILA ATEKA LODAFUN UN ONIRE IFA LORUGBO MAFEREFUN YALORDE, OBATALA ATI ESHU, KAFEREFUN OLOKUN.

Ifá says — what Irete Ká tells you

• An Ifá of watching: you are always being watched, as the turtle watched over the offering of Shangó's son. An Ifá of torrential rain, of the sea coming inland, of water being fouled and of buildings collapsing. An Ifá of guaranteed work: Ifá always guarantees the Awó his work, and he will be called for from everywhere. An Ifá of standing and of success: you will always win your ordinary disputes, if you make sacrifices and have faith.
• Gossip brings everything down.
• You are finished by the wrong use of blades through bad temper, rage and violence without thinking first, like the farmer who destroyed his own property.
• Arguments come up over homes or property; the inheritance of houses speaks.
• You have to work hard to beat the obstacles and to do the impossible to climb the ranks, like the King of Benin climbing the palm.
• You do not raise your own children: your mother did not raise you and you were taken in at another house.
• You should not pass on all your secrets to your partner: you should be guarded, like the old monkey with the jutía.
• You have to arm yourself with thorns, since with a soft heart they finish you, like the pendejera.
• Be careful about being anyone's confidant: it can cost you your life, as it did Obatalá when he was gagged.
• Drinking is your undoing: avoid obesity and drinking alcohol, and boil your drinking water.
• Take care in rivers, on beaches and in pools.
• Trouble in farming through carelessness.
• The very, very old Egun gives you your irregular heartbeat, trouble with your breathing and weak legs; you eat a great deal, since the old Egun eats with you.
• You can be falsely accused of grave wrongs against women: watch for scheming from people close to your intimate life.
• The mother can miscarry and die in childbirth; you suffer from your nerves: drink passionflower.
• You have weapons put away because of trouble in hand: set seven woods of timber trees with them and take baths with seven leaves.
• About bringing home whatever you find in the sea and setting it behind the door (a stone or an object of religious weight): that is how your luck will come to you.
• About bathing in the sea three days running.
• About using Castile soap for your head and afterward baths with siguaraya, gathering the water to throw into the sea.
• About managing your money well.
• About respecting your elders and their authority.
• About repairing your house and keeping it and the furniture up, and keeping to the rules of cleanliness: the monkey's house stinks, the poor man's house stinks and the jutía's house stinks.
• Illnesses of this Odù: bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, stomach ulcers, gall bladder, surgery, accidents to the limbs, infected blood, kidney ailments, early miscarriage, heart and breathing (irregular heartbeat).
• The herbs of this Odù: pendejera and fig.

Proverbs of Irete Ká · Òwe

• “Not everyone knows how to play the game of the guacalote.”

• “Believe in God, but keep your own power safe.”

• “The river that rises quickly rises with dirty water.”

• “It is a great fault in a man to betray whoever trusts him.”

• “Whoever turns himself into honey gets eaten by the ants.”

• “You hang yourself with your own rope.”

• “The one who can do least always talks the most.”

• “As the bird is, so is the nest.”

• “Oil and vinegar do not dissolve into each other, however much you mix them.”

• “Such a fine cage and such an ugly bird.”

• “I give you a finger and you take the whole hand.”

• “Take the pan by the handle.”

• “Everyone who gives away what is not his looks generous.”

• “One rotten potato rots the whole sack.”

• “The birds are shooting at the shotgun.”

• “A hare jumps out where you least expect it.”

Iré and Osogbo

What is born in Irete Ká · Ìbí

• The fig tree.

• The art of men's meditation.

  From the very, very old Egun who watched the stones turn into sand.

• That the okra plant does not grow taller than whoever plants it.

  It speaks of compadres who have fallen out.

• The struggle between the water and the sand.

  The sea, with the rogation, destroyed the mass of reefs that hemmed it in and was able to reach the shore.

• The removal of the kneecap.

  The violent farmer wounded his own foot with his own machete.

• Receiving Olokun.

• Doing three Oparaldos on the same day: at seven in the morning, at midday and at seven at night.

• Making a resguardo with a bat.

  It is used for trouble with the eyes as well.

• Why the conga jutía is mastered by Oká, the snake.

  The old monkey, faced with her ingratitude, gave her the advice that was her undoing: to stare the snake in the eye.

• That Ifá always guarantees the Awó his work.

• That the pendejera, who was sweet, turned bitter and grew thorns.

  With Orunmila's ebbó she grew strong: «I am safe, and my children as well!»

What is forbidden · Eewó

The full eewó of this Odù, open to everyone — with the road each ban came out of.

• Eggplant is not eaten.

• Do not eat fish (in this reading).

• Do not kill mice.

• Do not go into every place.

• Do not refuse what they ask of you, especially when it is a boy who asks.

  The one who denied the quimbombó and the rooster to Elegbá lost his harvest.

• Do not be a confidant and do not talk too much.

  It can cost you your life; Obatalá was gagged for knowing a lot.

• Do not drink.

  Drinking is failure.

Ebbós of Irete Ká · The sacrifices that open the road

Works of Irete Ká · The workings of the sign

Patakíes of Irete Ká · The roads of the Odù

Frequently asked questions about Irete Ká