Oggunda Ko

The conga jutía and the carabalí jutía went to be read at Orunmila's house; in the osode this Ifá came out intorí ikú lowó arayé. Orunmila told them: «You have to be very careful of eyó — the boa — who wants to eat you», and marked them an ebbó so they would get clear of it. The carabalí jutía went back to Orunmila's house so he could make her the ebbó; the conga jutía, on the other hand, never went back to Orunmila's house, so she did not make ebbó.

A few days later, while the conga jutía was eating the bark of a tree, she saw the boa among the leaves stalking her to eat her. She forgot what Orunmila had told her: that when she met the boa while up a tree, she should not throw herself down from it. She jumped from the tree, and the boa caught her before she reached the ground and ate her. Days later, the boa found the carabalí jutía up a tree and was waiting for her to jump so it could catch her; but since she had made ebbó and listened to Orunmila's advice, she stayed crouched and watching up the tree. The boa lunged for the branch where the carabalí jutía was to catch her, but fell to the ground, bursting itself open. And that is how the carabalí jutía was saved from her enemy through obedience. Note: under this Odù this person has to be careful of tall, thin people, who are their enemies.

In the land of Ofoni Wayeun lived Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, who lived always away from Ifá and going only with Osha, and those were the ones who ruled in that land, where everyone lived more or less well but were in ofo, because they did not see to attending Ifá and the secrets of that land were being forgotten. Oshanlá was very worried, because she saw that her son Awó Oluo Okana Ofo had drifted away from the road of Ifá; so one day she said to herself: «I have to go to the land of Bayeleri Ifá», where another of her sons lived, called Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé, to see how he could help change her other son's way of living, and have ofo leave the land of Ofoni Wayeun, so people there could live with more iré. So she set out, playing the agogó and singing: «Oshanla bioshe iya alagba sokun ori Awo Oluo Ogunda Awo umbo ofoni loshe unlo». Oluo Oggunda, who heard her, came out to meet her and gave her foribale, and Oshanlá told him: «I have come so you can see what is happening in the land of Ofoni Wayeun, where my other son Awó Oluo Okana Ofo lives, who — starting with him, along with all the other Oshas — has forgotten Ifá».

Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé saw this Ifá and said: «That is because all the Oshas had given Awó Oluo Okana Ofo so much power and such an easy way to solve people's problems and live comfortably without working Ifá, that he no longer wanted to know anything about Ifá or about his brothers». Then he told her: «You yourself, being my mother and his, have to save him; but we have to go for Osun, so the two of you can save him and that land can be what it was before: a land of Osha and of Ifá». They took two white pigeons and set out to fetch Osun, scattering cocoa butter and cascarilla and singing: «Iya dimu Baba dimu efun ori Osun moyubale Awo Aye Oshanla iyalagba Osun kaluku Osun dide». Osun, who was leaning against the moruro tree, stood up, and when Oshanlá and Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé arrived he told them: «Let us go to the land of Ofoni Wayeun to save Awó Oluo Okana Ofo; but first take some of this stick» — and he went to a carolina tree and said: «This will serve you to save him». Then Oshanlá gave Osun a white flag and they walked until they reached the land of Ofoni Wayeun. Elegba received them, and Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé gave him ekó and a rooster, and he told them: «There you will find Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, surrounded by all the Oshas and Egun». When he saw Oshanlá he gave her foribale and embraced her, and Oshanlá told him: «My son, we have come to this land of yours to help you, so you come out of ofo; because although Osha is a power Olofin gave the earth, the greater one is Ifá's, which lets you live happily on this earth».

Then Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé sat Awó Okana Ofo on the apotí he set over erururu (ashes) where he had marked Oggunda Ofo, and Osun and Oshanlá stood beside him, and Oshanlá covered him with white cloth from head to foot, and Osun gave him the white flag. Then Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé took the white hen and put ashé, orí, oyé, erú, obí, kolá on its head, and prayed: «Ori etie agbani boshe ori oye niboshe eri awado ori ire enifa Awo ori aye ire umbo ofo alaguao». He gave the hens to Oshanlá and to orí singing: «Oshanla adie lafishe ori unsoro ofo Awo Oluo Okana Ofo ori ladide»; he opened it at the breast and passed it over his body, smearing him with the blood. The shadow of ofo was moving aside. He took the pigeons — Oshanlá went into convulsions — and did sarayeye singing: «Sarayeye bakuno ofo Osha latigua»; with them he cleaned the body of Awó Oluo Okana Ofo and of all the Oshas who were watching, and the shadow of ofo moved further aside. He gave the pigeons to Osun singing: «Baba Osun ladide ni Awo Oluo Okana Ofo kayewo eninifa», pouring the blood on his body. Then he took one of the pigeons, put jutía, fish, corn, orí, efun, honey and aguardiente on it, put it inside the hen and told Elegba: «Take this, carry it to the bush, put it at the foot of the ceiba and call all the Egun: Adie Egun baoshe warawara araba ayio warawara adie Egun baoshe». On the other pigeon he put what came from the head, made a small erupin with white cloth, gave it to Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, and raised him up covered with the cloth, the flag and the erupin, singing: «Awo ire gbogbo Osha ladide Awo Oluo Okana Ofo Awo ire leni Ifa».

When all the Oshas heard this they raised their heads and saw the shadow of ofo going ahead of Oshanlá and Osun, who went ahead of Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, carrying his Ifá. They set out for the edge of the land of Ofoni Wayeun, where Awó Oggunda Awó Ayé sang: «Oshanla Ifa iya alagba Orishaoko iya alagba akatioke morunla yeo, Awo irere Awo Ifa abeni Osha». All the Oshas knelt at seeing something so great and gave foribale to Orunmila. On reaching the edge of the land they hung the erupin up and planted the flag high, singing: «Baba Olofin dide ire omo Awo Oluo Okana Ofo Baba Olofin oda falashemi». Then Awó Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé and Awó Oluo Okana Ofo gave hens right there to their Ifá along with Osun, who was covered with carolina leaves. All the Oshas came, because they realized ofo had left the land, and Awó Oluo Okana Ofo was consecrated with all the Oshas in that new secret, and iré came back to that land. Then Oshanlá told him: «Osha is very great and settles a great deal for you: you cannot drift away from it; but you can never drift away from your greatest secret either, which is Ifá, and from Osun, who are the only ones who can beat ofo. This secret we have given you will serve to push the shadow of ofo away from over every omo of this land, whenever ofo tries to come in; because by the strength given to it here, it will always want to come back and rule this land». And Oshanlá gave her blessing to Awó Oluo Okana Ofo and to the land of Ofoni Wayeun.

In the land of Odulañeke lived a son of Orunmila called Maki Awó, who was a man very full of himself, because in that land there was a great power of Egun and Omologu that ran the place, and there were times when Maki Awó gave more power to it for settling whatever came up than to reading his own Ifá. That power of Omologu — the spirit that ran it was called Okamaya — was a very powerful prenda with great control over Maki Awó, and he was always feeding it roosters and calling it with this song: «Okamaya Omologu ke teteku aye akuko wenilo wenilo». Then that power came out and covered Maki Awó, and he no longer counted on Ifá for anything in that land.

Orunmila, hearing of it, decided to go and see his son to find out whether what he had been told was true; and when he arrived, he saw his son feeding his prenda, so absorbed in the ceremony that he did not notice Orunmila was there. When Orunmila came in, he noticed that his Ifá was covered with cobwebs and dust, and that it had been a long time since he had used it or fed it. Then Orunmila began to weep and called Olofin while singing through his tears: «Orunmila soku soku laye Oludañeke inle suale mokio Ifa walemare Awo awa inle mokio Ifa mere alado odun koye kofidenu». Orunmila left that land for his own and withdrew his support from his son; Odu then sent Orun to take charge of that land, and Okamaya could not go on with all that power, and Maki Awó began to go through hard times.

Maki Awó had a brother called Awó Benide, who lived near the land of Orodokun, and hearing that his brother had lost his power, he went to see him and told him: «My abure, this has happened to you because you put Ifá in second place, and did not know how to recognize that, in spite of all your prenda's power, the greatest thing you had is Ifá». Then Maki Awó began to weep and knelt before his Ifá; and when the osode was made this Ifá came out, Oggunda Ko, where Ifá told him that darkness was his kingdom. Awó Benide told him: «Everything has a remedy, because Ifá is great and merciful: you have to give a rooster to Eshu so he takes the message to Orunmila in his own land». So he did, but Orunmila would not come; so his Ifá had to be fed and Aran Akaran played for him, the great drum of Ifá, and he invited 16 Awoses from the other lands, and they, with Osun, danced for Ifá and called him with this súyere: «Balimo ilemi balimo ilemi Ifa wakini Orunmila kankan Ifa». They lit the lamp Osun carried, and Orunmila, hearing that noise and those lights in the land of darkness, said: «Let me see what is happening on earth, because it seems they are working Ifá».

When Orunmila came back to that land, he saw his son feeding his Ifá and the Sun, the Moon and the Earth, and singing: «Olorun inle Awo inle oguere la oshura ire Awo»; and after feeding them he knelt down and sang to him: «Orunmila odara Barabaniregun enimi maya la kunfele Ifa». Then Orunmila took pity on his son, put his hand on his head and told him: «Orunmila kobao odun koye kofidenu aye ilemi odun ire aye Awo odara» — and went back to living in his omo's house. All the Awoses present sang: «Ire ire Orunmila yoba ire ire». So the power of Ifá came back to the house of Oggunda Ko, and he learned that, whatever powers an Awó holds apart from Orunmila, none of them is greater than he is. Note: from here comes the secret of the Awó of this Odù — the rooster to Eshu every two weeks, the Osun of his own height with the 16 lamps consecrated with white pigeons, the two hens for Orunmila that go to the river, the two yams in front of Ifá and the necklace of Orunmila that should never be missing.