Irete Kanlú

Three Awoses meant to harm Irete Kanlú. Since they got nowhere with him, they decided to go against his wife. They came before Olofin with the story that the disorder in the town was caused by the thread sellers in the market, and that one of them was, precisely, Irete Kanlú's wife. To put an end to that disorder, they added, an ebbó was needed with a rooster and with those women.

Back at their houses, each one warned his own wife not to sell thread in the market again. But Olofin's order came first: he had already ordered action against every woman who sold thread. That same day Irete Kanlú had a reading and treason came out. The Ifá told him to make rogación to his head, to wear a blindfold for seven days and, if they came for his wife, that she should not go out, because she was sick. Obedient as she was, she complied. The others ignored their husbands, went to the market (ilé loyá) with their thread and were arrested there; the only one left free was Irete Kanlú's wife.

With their wives in prison, the Awoses had no choice but to confess to Irete Kanlú the treason they had set up against him, and they begged him to save them.

The same traitors came before Olofin to tell him that without Irete Kanlú the rogación could not be done, and they sent for him. Once at Olofin's house, Irete Kanlú explained that for that rogación the women's thread and pieces of their clothes were enough: the women were not needed. That way the matter was settled.

Note: for 7 days the Awó sleeps with a white and yellow cap.

Irete Kanlú was a very famous Awó. One day he had a reading, saw this Ifá — his own sign — and warned his wife of this: no going to the market to sell thread and, if her friends came for her, she should not go out and should pretend to be sick.

That same day an urgent matter forced Olofin to send for the Awoses, who went without telling Irete Kanlú. They did osode for him and the result they gave him was that a rogación was needed with the women who sold thread in the market.

A few days later, with several women already arrested, Olofin called the Awoses again. When they arrived they got a surprise: the prisoners were their own wives. They set to work, pretending to do the ebbó, but they took so long that Olofin wanted to know what was going on. Then they confessed: "Babá, we do not know how to do this ebbó and we have to send for Irete Kanlú".

Irete Kanlú arrived and they told him what was happening and also that their wives had to go into the ebbó. That was when he spoke up in front of Olofin and answered: "Babá, for this ebbó nothing more is needed than a little piece of these women's clothes and white and black thread". Once the ebbó was done, he turned to the other Awoses: "I have a better heart than you, who being my students have tried to harm me".

Note: here marital separation and problems with the woman are announced. It marks loss of memory: whoever has it can end up half dumb and even reach madness. It also speaks of a woman who transforms. It is an Ifá of immoralities: be careful of gaining a name as immoral, a cheat or a liar.

This Ifá warns of the care called for by a plot hatched among peers. The person who consults must be careful in work competition and in dealing with others.

Irete Kanlú came out for Orunmila on the day the Babalawos met in assembly at Olofin's house. There they had poison ready to kill him as soon as he arrived.

Orunmila hurried to ask about the dining room, so as not to end up poisoned, and at once made sacrifice with 32000 cowries and corojo palm oil, because he listened and sacrificed.

That day the Babalawos gathered at Olofin's sent for him, with the excuse of having him with them at the party. In front of Olofin they plotted and managed to soak Orunmila's clothes and mat with deadly poison. Once he was inside the house, they also dropped poison into the drink.

Orunmila stared at the drink for a good while and thought: "What is this bubbling in the container? This is poison boiling in the pot! The Awó Irete Kanlú will not drink today". After a while they brought the poison close to him again; he looked at it and said a few things.

Later Olofin sat on the floor to get a reading about the eldest of his sons, who was a super liar. All the Babalawos there ruled that the son would not die. When Orunmila was asked for his opinion, he answered that the son would escape death only if Olofin got back the royal dress and the mat he used as a blanket on the throne, because with them a medicine or a trap could be prepared for the son.

Olofin, who was looking for a way and means to kill Orunmila, thought he now had the chance to put poison inside the dress and the mat. But they went outside and a bird broke loose shouting without stopping, to warn Orunmila of what was coming: "Do not sit on the mat today, do not sit with the clothes today. Act as if you sit, act as if you sit".

They then brought him the dress and the mat, and Orunmila asked about that clothing and that mat until they had nothing left to tell him but where the poison was. Orunmila took the left of the place, safe and unharmed.