Iroso Fun

When Orunmila was about to go down to earth, the awó Efun fun lere divined for him. He advised him not to devote himself to practicing Ifá, but to commerce. He was to make a sacrifice to his Guardian Angel with a female goat, sixteen doves, a piece of white cloth and two hundred and one cowries, and to serve Eshu with a male goat, corn, yam and plantain. Orunmila fulfilled all of it before descending.

Once on earth he began to practice Ifá. As a priest he gave very good results, but his life was unstable and he made no progress. Later, a divination revealed to him that he had left the path of his destiny, which was commerce. He was told to adorn his Ifá throne with white chalk and a white cloth; to serve Olokun with a dove, a bag of cowries, money and chalk; and to serve Eshu with a male goat, corn, yam and plantain. He did everything he was told.

On receiving those offerings, Olokun remembered the sacrifice that Orunmila had made in heaven and the promise to help him. He sent his beautiful daughter, dressed completely in white, to the market of Oja Ajiabomekon so that she would find him. Orunmila had also been told to go to the market dressed in white. The daughter of Olokun drew every eye on arriving, but she spoke to no one, because she was only looking for the man in white whom her father had pointed out.

After a while Orunmila, also in white, found her and the two fell in love on the spot. He introduced himself and she decided to go with him to his house. There, seeing so many white ornaments, she remarked that she liked the atmosphere so much that she wanted to stay. He soon noticed that she ate only white chalk, and so he guessed who she was.

She advised him to always dress in white and to go with her to the market. On every market day, her servants brought goods from heaven to sell on earth and then handed over to him what they had collected. The next day they arrived with beads, jewels and elephant tusks, which were sent to Orunmila's house. Almost all of it was something never seen on earth. The Obá of the city, interested, bought several pieces from Orunmila for the value of two hundred men and two hundred women. Seeing the Obá's ornaments, the other obases also came to buy the same items. In this way, following the path of his destiny, Orunmila became immensely rich. It should be added that the daughter of Olokun bore him no children.

In this path Obatalá was a cheat. He looked after the money of the neighbors of his town who traveled to Yoko Osha. Once he bet it, and luck did not favor him: his rivals played with tricks and took everything from him.

Without a cent, he saw how his enemies announced what had happened, until a great scandal arose. Obatalá learned what was being said about his conduct and figured that the owners of the money would come right away to collect. So he ordered a pit prepared in front of his door, covered with tree branches, grasses and a mat. Anyone who approached to knock fell to the bottom and disappeared.

Among those harmed there was a man who linked those rumors with the disappearances of people that were happening in the town at that time. He went to Orunmila, who consulted Ifá and saw this odu. He marked an ebbó for him of a chick, a hen, a white dove, a stone and a trap, and warned him not to enter by Obatalá's door: he had to throw the ebbó on the mat without stepping on it, and so he would see that there was a trap there.

The man arrived and Obatalá, seeing him, opened the door. He dropped the ebbó on the mat and it sank into the hole. Then he went around the house and went in by the back door. Inside, the servants claimed that Obatalá was not there. The man left Obatalá's Ogún on the floor and it fell over, and the noise frightened Obatalá and made him shout. Thus the trap was uncovered.

One must be careful when choosing a godfather or godmother, since surely there are traps against the godchild. The path also alludes to Jewish jewelry buried in the ground that brings problems.

On this path there lived an awó with ailments in his chest, airways and blood, and very weak. When he was healthy, everyone valued him; when he fell ill, people moved away from him.

The awó was a faithful devotee of Azojuano, who also held him in high regard. Azojuano had him called to ask what was wrong; the awó told him everything, and Azojuano, in agreement, ordered him that night to gather a lot of sesame and scatter it over the rooftops of those who were his enemies. The awó obeyed. The next day, as soon as the sun warmed it, the grains began to burst and an enormous epidemic broke out in that land, the same one where they had driven out the son of Oluo Popo. Faced with what was happening, the people went to Orunmila. He consulted this Ifá and ordered them an ebbó with tripe; they were also to buy small fish, beef, black and red beans, sesame and every kind of ashé. In this way they were freed from that evil.