Obara Yeku

nº 108 of 256

Where smoking opium and marijuana was born: the turtle was cursed for disobeying — however far you get here, you never reach the top.

19 patakíes 6 eewó 8 ebbós and works 16 proverbs

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Obara Yeku is Odù number 108 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Obara family. This page brings together its prayer in Yoruba, 19 patakíes (3 with the full text), its proverbs, 8 ebbós and works and the signs it shows in the consultation — with the full eewó in plain sight; the detail of iré and osogbo and the full recipes open with The Notebook, in English.

The sign at a glance

Order in Ifá: Odù 108 of 256
Composition: Obara over Oyekun
In the Diloggún: 6-2 · Obara tonti Eyioko
Orishas that speak: Obatalá · Yemayá · Oshún · Orunmila · Eshu · Ogún · Azojuano · Egun

What Ifá says in this sign

Obara Yeku is the sign where Olofin lost himself in the scents of the garden, living out fantasies — opium and marijuana were born here — and where the turtle was cursed to drag itself along for being disobedient. Its ceiling is written: however far you get, you never reach the top — but so is its floor: with my family united, I beat my enemies.

Money is the hardest drug here: it drives you out of your mind, you are never satisfied, and to get it you can do things without thinking — right up to finding your own death. Every fight in the marriage of this odu is about money: take it out of the bed and off the table, and what is left will be love — or it will be clear.

«With my family united I beat my enemies — the machete of Obara Yeku is put away when the brothers embrace.»The pulse of Obara Yeku

Its epic is a household one: Obara Yeku fought alone over the inheritance, machete in hand — until he made peace with his brothers, they made ebbó together, and nobody could take anything from them. Let the old resentments go — with your mother, with that close relative — and look for unity: it is quite literally your weapon of war.

Take care of your head at every level: your memory is slipping — three prayers, one after another —, your mind dreams of airplanes and fantasies out of reach that leave you low when they hit reality, and waking up frightened at night calls for a doctor (chest and stomach) and for ebbó. Insubordination is all around you: a domineering partner, subordinates and godchildren trying to impose themselves — steady authority, not the machete.

For the skeptical apetebí, the greatest warning: being a spiritist, she does not work it and she believes in nobody — Orunmila will punish her if she does not pray and feed them. And for everyone under this odu, the end of the road is already stated: in the end you always arrive dragging yourself along, to fall into the Santo — better to arrive walking now than dragging yourself later

The sign in one line

Make peace with your own, break the fever for money and come to the Santo walking — the turtle ended up dragging itself for waiting too long.

The prayer of Obara Yeku · Yoruba

Obara Yeku kekere oma aye ere oma aye aibo oma aye apurara re apupe gege iku opa wewe iku apashere Orunmila lorugbo ida agutan obewa ayapa akuko lebo.

Súyere
Bara niyeto Olofin akano, bara niyeku Olofin akano.

Ifá says — what Obara Yeku tells you

An Ifá of insubordination at home and at work: you are up against a very domineering partner, and your family, your subordinates and your godchildren all try to impose themselves on you. Kaferefún Yemayá and Obatalá; the herbs of this Odù are embeleso and pomegranate. It is an Ifá of serious marriage trouble, and of jealousy among women.
Loss of memory: you have to have your head prayed over regularly — three prayers one after another are recommended.
Money can bring death to you: it drives you out of your mind, you are never satisfied, and to get it you can do things without thinking them through.
There is a curse from disobedience, and an Egun following you.
That they are going to send for you because they have money or a job for you: make ebbó before you show up, and that way you will have no setbacks.
In the end, you always have to arrive dragging yourself along, to fall into the Santo.
They will try to shame you — and whoever does it will go through the same shame.
You should not trust anyone with the care of your children, not even a friend, so you do not lose them — like the children of heaven and earth.
Illnesses of this sign: memory loss, sores on the feet, stomach trouble, heart disease, nervous imbalance and psychiatric illness (after sexual assault).
For a man: a dark, thin woman wants to kill him; he has three women, and the Guardian Angel of one of them is at odds with him over how he treats her daughter. For a woman: a dark, thin man wants to harm her with witchcraft; she may have three lovers, and one of them was her husband a long time ago.
The man who lives loosely: he disrespects his partner, courts the woman who visits the house right in front of his wife, and goes off with another one without caring that he leaves her alone with the problems.
The woman who will not do anything for her husband or her children and does not settle down with any man, because all she is after is money: every fight with her husband is about money.
The apetebí who runs her husband or Ifá down: she believes in nobody — not in Orunmila, not in the Babalawo, not in Egun, not in the Santo — being a spiritist, and she does not work it. She should pray a great deal and feed them, or Orunmila will punish her.
You are sly and tricky, you are not in a good way and your memory is failing: you want to be wherever they give you more money, without looking at what it may cost you.
You dream about airplanes: your mind lives in fantasies out of reach, and when it hits reality you get low.
You do bad things in secret and you are being watched.
There are resentments with your family over things in the past: you look badly on your mother or on a close relative — let it go, and look for family unity.
Someone is hurt with you and blames you over a dead one.
You wake up frightened over and over, you feel unwell and you want to see a doctor: pains in your chest and your stomach.

Proverbs of Obara Yeku · Òwe

“The servant wants to impose himself on the master.”
“Shoemaker, stick to your shoes.”
“Because of money, I found my death.”
“Through loose living, I lost everything in life.”
“You cannot have lunch without having breakfast.”
“Thanks to Obatalá I received the ashé.”
“Whoever minds their own business will not be touched by the racket.”
“Whoever has done nothing has nothing to suspect.”
“Death fancies the fat one as much as the thin one.”
“Whoever lends never gets ahead.”
“It is not sane to value money above life.”
“Working the land is hard, but hunger is harder.”
“Wine makes you forget your sorrow, but the sorrow does not go away.”
“Whoever eats bread in the dark will go without in the sunlight.”
“While greed crushes, intelligence saves.”
“The prosperity of the just is cause for joy; the death of the wicked, for relief.”

13 proverb interpretations in this Odù, locked.Every proverb explained: which road it comes from and how it applies.Unlock →

Iré and Osogbo

6 iré and osogbo readings in this Odù, locked.The iré and osogbo of the sign, sorted by subject — health, money, love, death, loss…Unlock →

What is born in Obara Yeku · Ìbí

Smoking opium and marijuana.
Olofin used to gather herbs in the garden of scented plants and would lose himself in the scents, living out fantasies in his mind.
That the turtle is under a curse.
It did not respect Olofin's rulings, and he condemned it: «from this day on, you will walk dragging yourself along».
That the servant wants to impose himself on the master.
The Ifá of the water rails.
That however far you get, you never reach the top.
That family unity helps you beat your enemies.
That Olofin ordered woman to live tied to man.
Placing a wooden hand, a wooden ruler and a wooden dagger on Orunmila.

What is forbidden · Eewó

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

Drinking alcohol and any kind of narcotic is forbidden.
You can become an addict: here the smoking of opium and marijuana was born.
No favors are done.
The favor you do will be your ruin for the rest of your life.
You cannot argue stubbornly.
So that you are not lost; and do not stand in high places, because you can fall and break an arm or a leg.
Do not wear brown socks.
Do not go up stairs carrying heavy things, and do not help anyone carry weight up.
You can get a hernia.
Do not get mixed up in what is not your business.
Shoemaker, stick to your shoes: you will surely have problems.

Ebbós of Obara Yeku · The sacrifices that open the road

Beating enemiesThe ebbó of the cooled ember🔒 The Notebook Beating enemiesThe goat of the clay figures🔒 The Notebook LoveThe ebbó of the water rails🔒 The Notebook SpiritualAgainst sexual assault🔒 The Notebook MoneyThe bath of the ten rats🔒 The Notebook

5 ebbós in this Odù, locked.Each full recipe: ingredients, preparation and where it goes.Unlock →

Works of Obara Yeku · The workings of the sign

SpiritualThe turtle at the door🔒 The Notebook HealthThe turtle powder🔒 The Notebook SpiritualThe hen that calms Ifá🔒 The Notebook

3 works in this Odù, locked.Each full recipe: ingredients, preparation and where it goes.Unlock →

Patakíes of Obara Yeku · The roads of the Odù

1The people of heaven and the people of earth

The people of heaven and the people of earth became friends, and in times of hunger they looked after each other's children while they went to market. The earth people killed and ate their heaven friends' children «because they were hungry»; the heaven people did not react — and when their turn came, they took the same late revenge. The quarrel was so fierce that the Supreme God had to step in: seeing an eye for an eye, he ruled that the friendship between heaven and earth would be in discord forever. Do not trust anyone with the care of your children.

Two Awoses read for the people of heaven and the people of earth on the day the two sides became friends: the son of the Ewi of Ado and the son of the Obá of Erin, who ate on palm leaves and went around in light-colored clothes.

It was a time of hunger. Every time the people of heaven went down to the market, they left their children with their friends on earth. On one of those absences, the earth people killed those children and ate them; when the parents came back and asked for them, the answer was that the hunger was great and they had had no other choice. The people of heaven did not answer with violence.

Time went by and the earth people did not even remember that anymore. It was their turn to go to the market, and they left their own children with their friends from heaven, who then collected the old debt: they killed and ate those children before the parents came back, and they claimed the same thing, that the hunger had become impossible to bear. A pandemonium broke out, and the fight got so fierce that the Supreme God had to step in. He heard both sides and understood that it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; even so he ruled that the dealings between the two sides would stay in discord forever, with no future interaction. In an ordinary reading, this Odù says: do not put anyone in charge of looking after your children, not even a friend, so you do not lose them.

2When the divinities shut Shangó out

The royal sword, the royal trumpet and the royal drum rebelled against the Obá; and the other 199 divinities decided to shut Shangó out and leave him out of their meetings. Orunmila had him sacrifice a ram, a rat, a fish, ekó and akará. Eshu asked among the divinities what the offense was: nobody could say more than «he talks too much and says what he thinks». Eshu reminded them that Shangó was far too necessary to be pushed aside: they went to his house to make peace.

The royal sword, the royal trumpet and the royal drum rose up against the Obá, and decided not to serve him anymore. Those were the names of the Awoses who read for Shangó when the other 199 divinities agreed to leave him out and not count on him in their meetings. Shangó looked for Orunmila, who told him to sacrifice: a ram, a rat, a fish, ekó and akará. He did it.

Not long after, Eshu stood in the middle of those divinities and asked them to say what Shangó's fault was to deserve a punishment that big. None of them knew how to explain it clearly; they only claimed that he talked too much, that he had no tact and that he blurted out whatever came into his head. Eshu made them see that Shangó was too much needed to be left aside. They agreed to lower the tension and invited him twice, but he did not accept; in the end they went to his house to make peace, and that is where the fight ended. In an ordinary reading: make sacrifice and the friendships and relationships you have lost will come back to you.

3Oloje's son and the Ori Ikin

Sokoti, the greatest diviner in heaven, called for the carvers of the earth: Ogún's carver won the irofá, and the envy it brought forced him to leave. When Oloje died — the only other man who knew how to carve the four-eyed Ori Ikin — Sokoti offered his throne to whoever could carve one: his son, who had never taken any interest in the trade, competed against his servant, who had studied it. The son made ebbó and took ikin and ivory to his father's grave: in a dream, his father taught him the four eyes. Ogún, the judge, declared him the winner — and so he rose to his father's throne.

Sokoti Aganbede was the greatest diviner in heaven. He invited the wood carvers of the earth to carve him an irofá: Ogún's carver turned out to be the best and won the contest, but his triumph brought him so much enmity that he had to leave where he lived and take refuge somewhere else. Shortly afterwards the Oloje died, and Sokoti sent word again calling for carvers to make an Ori Ikin — the sixteenth ornamental ikin, with four eyes carved in ivory. Ogún was no longer there, and nobody was able to carve it; so Sokoti proclaimed that whoever managed it would receive Oloje's throne. Oloje's son and his servant put themselves forward as his heirs: the Oloje was the only other carver who knew how to make it, and his son had never taken any interest in his father's profession while he was alive, while the servant was the only one who studied it thoroughly.

The son decided to go to Orunmila, who told him to make sacrifice and to visit his father's grave and ask him for help: he went with an ikin and some ivory, and called on his spirit to help him carve the Ori Ikin if he really was his father. The servant prepared his carving, but forgot to put the four eyes on it. The son, after coming back from the grave, dreamed that his father was teaching him to carve the Ori Ikin with the four eyes — and he woke up able to do it. When the carvings were presented, the judge chosen was Ogún, brought back by messengers: he decided that the son was the only one who had carved as Oloje did, since he was the only one who put in the four eyes. So he was declared the winner and rose to his father's throne. When this Odù appears in Igbodu: the person will compete for something to their advantage — a rooster for Ogún to win it, and for Eshu a goat with the clay figures of a man and a woman.

4The statesman and the vain woman🔒 The Notebook 5The giant's six wives🔒 The Notebook 6The prayer against insubordination🔒 The Notebook 7When the clients abandoned Orunmila🔒 The Notebook 8The curse on the turtle🔒 The Notebook 9Shoemaker, stick to your shoes🔒 The Notebook 10The rooster, the hens and the water rails🔒 The Notebook 11With his brothers' help he won the war🔒 The Notebook 12When Obatalá gave the ashé to the tiger🔒 The Notebook 13The assault on Aroni-Kuin🔒 The Notebook 14Obatalá and the monkeys🔒 The Notebook 15Olofin and the garden of scented plants🔒 The Notebook 16Obatalá, the monkeys and the hawks🔒 The Notebook 17The black bull🔒 The Notebook 18The baker's insubordination🔒 The Notebook 19The bull and the bullfighter🔒 The Notebook

16 more patakíes in this Odù, locked.Read every road in full with The Notebook.Unlock →

The full treatise is in English. With The Notebook, the whole sign opens on this page in English: the full text of every patakí, the recipes for the ebbós and works, and the iré and osogbo readings. · This page is also available in Spanish: See Obara Yeku in Spanish →

Frequently asked questions about Obara Yeku

What does the Odù Obara Yeku mean in Ifá?

Where smoking opium and marijuana was born: the turtle was cursed for disobeying — however far you get here, you never reach the top.

What number is Obara Yeku among the 256 Odù of Ifá?

Obara Yeku is Odù number 108 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Obara family.

Which orishas speak in Obara Yeku?

In the Odù Obara Yeku these orishas speak: Obatalá, Yemayá, Oshún, Orunmila, Eshu, Ogún, Azojuano, Egun.

What is a proverb of the Odù Obara Yeku?

One of the proverbs of Obara Yeku says: «The servant wants to impose himself on the master.».

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