Ogbe She

nº 30 of 256

Ogbe Sanwo, the money man who shares out the fortune: immensely rich if he serves Orunmila — and prophecy, which always comes true, is born here.

26 patakíes 12 eewó 7 ebbós and works 12 proverbs

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Ogbe She is Odù number 30 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Ogbe family. This page brings together its prayer in Yoruba, 26 patakíes (3 with the full text), its proverbs, 7 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 30 of 256
Composition
Ogbe over Oshe
In the Diloggún
8-5 · Eyeunle tonti Oshé
Orishas that speak
Orunmila · Oshún · Olokun · Shangó · Obbatalá · Odide (the parrot) · Eshú
Eweses of the sign
Pino frailecillo · Platanillo de Cuba · Cabo de hacha · Mastuerzo · Artemisa

What Ifá says in this sign

Ogbe She is Ogbe Sanwo, the money man: the one who shares out fortune among people and is meant to be immensely rich — on two conditions: serve Orunmila and keep at it. And he carries a fearsome gift: prophecy was born here — his voice is the word of Orunmila, and it always comes true.

That is why his mouth is sacred: do not offer what you cannot deliver, and do not curse even in jest, because what this sign says, happens. He is the child in Oshún's arms — she raised him — and he has a guardian Eggun who goes with him: between the sweet mother and the faithful dead, he walks better protected than he thinks.

«The voice of Ogbe She is the word of Orunmila: what he says comes true — that is why his mouth is sacred.»The pulse of Ogbe She

His war is an indoor one: the most powerful enemy of Ogbe She is inside his own family, and this is an odu of spies, unfaithfulness and mockery, where no friends are to be found. Take care that your wife does not know all your secrets — but be generous with her — and take care of the evil eyes on you: powders and harm sent by envy are the mark of this sign.

The signs in the body: this odu speaks of a limp — something in the walk marks the owner of this Ifá —, of the eyes and of the stomach. Do not bathe in the river, Olokun will drown you; do not work at night, do not drink sugared water and do not dye your hair. And like the parrot of the patakí — the only one who understood Ogbe She, because it was just like him — look for your own kind: people of their word who speak your language.

Wealth comes by inheritance, by business or from the land — big money — and joy comes back, as Shangó gave it back to Olofin here. Six fritters to Orunmila to sort things out, five instruments to Elegba, a crown of sixteen parrot feathers to Obbatalá — and his motto: the one who shares out fortune, serving Orunmila, never ends up poor.

The sign in one line

Watch what you promise and who you tell it to — Ogbe Sanwo, the money man, gets rich by serving Orunmila and by saying only what he wants to see come true.

The prayer of Ogbe She · Yoruba

Ogbe She kantón obayé dewá kodidé saraundere olokukere ololodiye iyá lodé okeré yi moro enidesun efideremo otolarefa eyi boyó nila oddun ayibagadara ñawasi, ñawasi ikowoshe iyá mi washe shiya mi morí yeyeo ashiyami morí yeyeo.

Ifá says — what Ogbe She tells you

Proverbs of Ogbe She · Òwe

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

Iré and Osogbo

7 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 Ogbe She · Ìbí

What is forbidden · Eewó

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

Ebbós of Ogbe She · The sacrifices that open the road

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

Works of Ogbe She · The workings of the sign

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

Patakíes of Ogbe She · The roads of the Odù

1The chain (working with no thanks)

The chain, feared but poor, was the jailer of heaven; it let the prisoners go and was never once thanked. For refusing the sacrifice against luck that never ripens, it was condemned to be used over and over with no reward.

The chain was feared by everyone in heaven, but it was very poor. Ogbe She marked it a sacrifice with a goat to Eshú, a rooster to Oggún and a coconut to its head, but the chain, offended at the idea when it could hold down deities and mortals alike, would not stoop to do it, and stayed poor.

Its job was to be head jailer: it guarded the prisoners and the animals waiting to be slaughtered, tying them by the neck or the legs. But as soon as their fate was decided, it was asked to let them go, with no reward and not a word of thanks.

So it was used over and over, always left empty. That is why it is said that no one should pray to suffer the fate of the chain, which works with no thanks and is pushed aside until it is needed again. This person must serve their head, Oggún and Eshú to avoid luck that never ripens.

2The money man and Olokun's axe

Ogbe Sanwo lost in the river the magic axe that had been prepared for him and followed it through birds, wild beasts and fire — all beaten by Eshú with his offerings — as far as Olokun's palace. There he traded the axe for being molded into the king of prosperity.

Ogbe Sanwo suffered from a stomach illness and his brothers harassed him. Healed by the sacrifice, he prospered, but he forgot to serve Olokun, who had guided him into the world, and everything got tangled again. His Awó told him to cut a bunch of palm fruit without losing a single one and to catch a parrot, using a special axe.

In the forest, as he cut the palm fruit, the axe fell into the river; in despair, he threw himself in after it. Eshú, with the corn, the yams and the animals he had sacrificed, calmed in turn the birds, the goats, the tiger, the fire, the python and the whale that attacked him, until he reached Olokun's palace, where his axe had fallen.

Olokun, who needed the axe in order to have a child, offered to buy it; he said he would rather die than be parted from it, since his prosperity depended on it. In the end he agreed to hand it over if she made him prosperous; Olokun molded him as king of wealth and gave him a chest of prosperity. When he got home, the money began to flow and he was crowned king.

3How money came into the world

God sent money down as a mountain; the greedy divinities dug at it from below and were buried and killed. Only Orunmila, patiently, made ebbó, climbed a ladder and dug it out from the top; that is why his altar is decorated with shells.

The divinities were asking God to send money to the world. His angel warned Orunmila that whoever went for it out of greed would die, and that he, the youngest, should go last. A parrot kept announcing «the money that came from heaven», and the queen of the witches worked out the message.

Oggún went out first and, in his hurry, dug at the mountain of money from below with an axe; the landslide buried him, and the money laid 16 shells on his chest. The same happened to the other divinities. Orunmila, seeing that none of them came back, went for divination, and was told to sacrifice with two ladders and two bolts, and to give money the food that money eats.

With a ladder set up by Eshú, he climbed and dug the mountain out from the top, without dying, finding the shells on the chest of each divinity. That is why every cult divines with the number of shells he found there, and why Orunmila's altar is decorated with a bed of shells. Only with patience, without despairing over someone else's fortune, do you prosper.

Súyere

Owo towa la toorun, ekaa roo. Owo towa lato orun, ekaale o.

Salud al dinero que vino de arriba, con la mañana; y salud otra vez, ya entrada la noche.

23 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 Ogbe She in Spanish →

Frequently asked questions about Ogbe She

What does the Odù Ogbe She mean in Ifá?

Ogbe Sanwo, the money man who shares out the fortune: immensely rich if he serves Orunmila — and prophecy, which always comes true, is born here.

What number is Ogbe She among the 256 Odù of Ifá?

Ogbe She is Odù number 30 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Ogbe family.

Which orishas speak in Ogbe She?

In the Odù Ogbe She these orishas speak: Orunmila, Oshún, Olokun, Shangó, Obbatalá, Odide (the parrot), Eshú.

What is a proverb of the Odù Ogbe She?

One of the proverbs of Ogbe She says: «There is no need to argue when there is a way to show it.».

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