Ofún Kána

The sign at a glance

Order in Ifá

Odù 249 of 256

Composition

Ofun over Okana

In the Diloggún

10-1 · Ofún tonti Okana

Orishas that speak

Babalú Ayé (Oluopopó) · Obatalá · Oshún · Elegbá · Shangó · Olofin

What Ifá says in this sign

The prayer of Ofún Kána · Yoruba

Ofún Kana Okana Biofún Awadó De Ifá Omó Ni Yaré Awadó Ifá Obiní Yanyará Aburé, Omó Awó Be Okana Yabún Bofún Kuin Yakún Omó Beifé Yorobafún Okana Biofún Ofún Kanan Obiní Okana Moyáre Awó Okana Biofún. Ofierá Koyá Abó Nilosó Adifafún Osokó Layú Omá Aboyó Abó Lebó, Kaferefún Obatalá Ati Eshu.

Ifá says — what Ofún Kána tells you

• It is an Ifá of doubt: people are not very sure about the morals of whoever gets this Odù; those close to him play tricks on him, doubt his good name and even look down on him. It is the Ifá of the social outcast: Obatalá was left with no house and no family and everyone looked down on him; he must keep clean, because he can turn into the greatest beggar there is. It is an Ifá of accidents in the water, like the boy with the hidden clothes who died in the river. It is an Ifá that speaks of two and of being pushed aside: the God of the Heavens will put someone else in his place. It is an Ifá of a curse for disobeying, where the ashé is lost: the monkey hunter of Holy Thursday lost his aim. It is an Ifá of getting caught up in trouble with the law over a theft, even one this person did not commit but someone else did: they watch him and he falls into the trap; he will be put to the test and, if he makes ebbó, he will come out well. It is an Ifá where the Awó dresses in mouse skin and the woman in tiger skin, in order to betray: another Awó or Santero courts the Awó's wife. The man lives off women: Babalú Ayé appears here as the loose figure who enjoys every woman in order to live off some of them.
• Take care of your eyes, your legs and infections, like syphilis caught from someone else; those close to you pull away from you out of fear.
• The obiní oboñú (the pregnant woman) can lose the baby to ogú.
• The man should take care of his wife with more attention and more closeness, since she feels tired and alone, and that leads to a slip and to adultery: he can catch his wife in adultery, but there is no one to blame but himself.
• By not listening to the advice of Ifá and of his elders, he gets sick in his sex organs, the case gets complicated and it can end his life; Oshún saves his life.
• The liver suffers here, and that organ or another can tear from germs he has picked up: be clean, check the food you eat, avoid organ meats and do not eat any meat product you have doubts about.
• The mother, without meaning to, harms her child, like the hen that fell on her chick while chasing the cockroach.
• Brothers by blood and by religion fight among themselves out of wanting to rate themselves higher: they think they are better and need no one, like the rabbit's three brothers.
• The children live by blackmailing their parents and elders, and it turns into their own boomerang.
• The man loses his aim (his strength) through the curse of disobedience.
• Relations in bed are very rough and give the obiní discomfort: be gentler.
• Here the child catches the father or the mother in bed with someone else, the way Shangó caught Olofin.
• The ewé of this Odù are: poplar, carob, parkia and cannonball tree.
• The jet stone speaks, the guard against the evil eye.
• The rabbit speaks (Samba / Ejoró): the brotherly chief of all the animals and friend of Elegbá; since the sentence of Ekundere, rabbits eat nothing but grass and roots.
• The rat and the mouse speak, who since the trap of the God of Whiteness keep company no longer.
• Gout, or uric arthritis, speaks: the uric acid that settles as urates, the lumps of long-standing gout, the gout in the organs that damages the kidneys and the heart; an inherited disease made worse by alcohol, meat and sitting still. A historical note from the treatise: Hippocrates set down its features before Jesus Christ, but Ifá did it long before, when it described the ailment of Elegbará.
• Syphilis speaks: the sore, the silent period, the rashes and the destroying damage at the end; it is caught by direct contact or from things used by people who have it.
• The cockroach speaks: foul-smelling, it ruins food, leather and books; you cannot tell the males from the females.
• The monkey of Holy Thursday speaks, who prays and trusts in the holiness of the day.

Proverbs of Ofún Kána · Òwe

• “Nothing has ever been written about cowards.”

• “The loss of a man's strength.”

• “If he is put to the test and makes ebbó, he will come out well.”

• “The God of the Heavens will put someone else in his place.”

• “Losing control in bed is his ruin.”

• “The mother, in her eagerness, does him harm.”

• “The one who takes advantage loses the ashé.”

• “The Awó who keeps away from bed on Thursdays keeps his strength all week.”

• “Whoever eats rabbits ends up jumping or hunted.”

• “What you start you have to finish.”

• “Whoever cannot stand the one who gives to him, gives to himself.”

• “Whoever builds out of love destroys out of hate.”

• “The stubborn man does not learn; the wise man loves being taught.”

• “Experience keeps you from mistakes.”

• “Whoever kicks at the stinger is bound to lose.”

• “In life there is only one chance.”

• “Sweet food may turn your stomach, but it is not bitter.”

Iré and Osogbo

What is born in Ofún Kána · Ìbí

• Jet stone.

  Its use against the evil eye is born: that way what should not come in stays out; it is always put into Elegbá's load.

• That the children of Obatalá and of Ofún Kanan do not eat rabbit.

  The rabbit saved Orunmila and Obatalá from a debt with death and got death out of the house.

• Eating sandwiches.

  Elegbá, sick with gout from eating nothing but meat, had his diet changed by giving him ekó along with the meat.

• That Elegbá came down with gout.

  From too much meat; gout comes from too much alcohol, too much protein and sitting still. Ifá described this ailment before Hippocrates.

• The social outcast.

  Obatalá was left with no house and no family, and everyone looked down on him.

• That Olofin granted Babalú Ayé the favor of lying with every obiní.

  After he was brought back to life through his dealings with Oshún, he returned to the world to enjoy that same privilege.

• That syphilis is caught from someone else.

  From Olofin's punishment of Babalú Ayé on the night of Holy Thursday; the treatise details the Treponema pallidum, which also sickens the rat, the mouse, the rabbit and the monkey: the very ones that speak in this Odù.

• That the rat and the mouse do not keep company.

  From the road of the snake Teremhako: only the mouse did not make the sacrifice, and the trap of the God of Whiteness caught him.

• That bones were put to work for religion.

  With the bones of the etú, the funfún necklace and the silver coin, Babalú Ayé prepared the inshé that gave Obatalá his health back.

• That a man cannot live alone: he has to have his wife.

  From the road of the ounko who did the act wherever he pleased: this person needs a partner.

What is forbidden · Eewó

Ebbós of Ofún Kána · The sacrifices that open the road

Works of Ofún Kána · The workings of the sign

Patakíes of Ofún Kána · The roads of the Odù

Frequently asked questions about Ofún Kána