Obara Lorí

Four sisters decided to come into the world at the same time: the Tigress, the Leopardess, the Zebra and the Wildcat. They went to Obara Iwori, who told them to sacrifice a hen, a turtle and rotted materials, to throw a feast for their animals so as to be universally respected, and above all to sacrifice against the danger of misfortune, each of them serving her own head: the Tigress with beef, the Leopardess with plenty of meat, the Zebra with guinea fowl and the Wildcat with rats and fish. The Cat made every sacrifice and, on Orunmila's insistence, left her head offering on top of a hill; the Tigress served her head but failed with the rest; the Leopardess and the Zebra refused to sacrifice. One morning, the Tigress hunted an antelope for her cubs; as she was cutting it up, fruit fell from the tree, she was startled and stepped on it with her left paw — and tigers do not eat meat they have stepped on with the left paw. She left it, hunted a deer, and the same thing happened: she came back hungry, and before she reached home the hunter killed her. Her cubs died for lack of milk. The hunter killed the Leopardess too when she was out looking for food for her young.

When the Zebra saw what had happened, she ran to Orunmila for another reading, and borrowed money to buy the materials, promising to pay after the first rains: her lenders were the Worm, the Hen, the Fox, her brothers-in-law — the husbands of the Tigress and the Leopardess —, the Hunter and the Boa. After the first rain they came to collect, and she asked them to wait outside while she counted the money. The Hen saw the Worm and ate it; the Fox ate the Hen; the Leopard ate the Fox; the Tiger killed the Leopard; the Hunter shot the Tiger; the Boa, who was following the Hunter closely, was stepped on as he backed away and bit him — he killed it with his machete, but the venom killed him. The seven creditors wiped one another out, and there was nobody left to pay. The Cat, the only one who sacrificed, came through unharmed: that is why cats are not used in sacrifices, their meat is not eaten, and their young are raised small without any trouble. If this Ifá appears in Igbodu, ask whether the person is one of four siblings: each of them should serve Eshu with a goat, bread and ekó, serve Ogún a turtle, and hold a feast with the whole family.

He was a sorcerer, and his cult's meetings were frequently held at his house, without his letting the members of his family know what kind of gatherings they were. He had a very mischievous son who used to spy on the meetings; when the sorcerers found out, they decided to punish him by taking a piece of his intestine and his liver after every meeting, and the boy developed a chronic stomach problem.

When the boy was on the point of dying, his father consulted Ifá, which revealed to him that the members of the sect were killing his son, and told him to arrange another meeting with all the members and appeal to them to save his life. At the meeting they explained that the boy had been spying on them, and that was why they wanted to empty his stomach. He begged them and asked what he could do to make up for it: he was to make a figure of his son out of clay taken from the back of a hill, along with a goat, eggs and plenty of palm oil. He took the materials to the next meeting, and his son got well. After this, he held no more meetings at his house. When this Ifá appears in Igbodu, the person is likely a member of the cult of Iyami Oshoronga: they should serve the Night immediately with a goat to keep their children out of trouble, and not hold the cult's meetings at their house; in an ordinary reading, serve the Night a rabbit.

Obara ba le ra Ogun, Babalawo of Imere, read for the people of Imere. When he was about to leave heaven, he was warned to build his house on the border between heaven and earth, in a place near the Other World — the land of the fairies or sprites, the Abikú — and to serve Eshu with a male goat where two roads meet, adding two hundred plantains, yams, pieces of meat and corn seeds. He made the sacrifice and built his house near the crossroads, not far from the land of the Abikú.

The Abikú, on their way to visit the earth, had to pass first through Obara's house to be read and find out how to get the most out of their short stay; but they were not willing to sacrifice, and Orunmila learned how to tie them to the earth: he decided to warn the parents of Abikú children and explain to them how to keep them. When they found out how Orunmila was blocking their plans, they decided to come to earth through the children of the relatives of Ifá's priests — which is why Ifá's priests are prone to having Abikú children. When this Odù appears in an ordinary reading: someone is setting a dirty trap for you, but by making sacrifice you will beat it and get to the bottom of everything.