Oggunda Ko

Two jutías, the conga and the carabalí, came before Orunmila for a reading; the osode marked this Ifá for them intorí ikú lowó arayé. Orunmila's word for the two of them: "You have to be very careful with eyó — the majá — who wants to eat you," and he marked ebbó for them, with which they would be free of him. Only the carabalí went back to Orunmila's house, so he could do the ebbó for her. The conga never came back, so she was left without ebbó.

A short time later, while the conga was gnawing the bark of a tree, she spotted the majá in the leaves, watching her from below and meaning to eat her. The warning Orunmila had given her slipped her mind — that if she was up in a tree and the majá showed up, she should not throw herself down. She jumped from the tree, and in the air, before touching the ground, the majá caught her and ate her. A few days later, that same majá found the carabalí up in a tree and waited for her to jump so he could catch her too; only she, who had made ebbó and had listened to Orunmila's advice, stayed crouched and alert without coming down from the tree. The majá threw himself at the branch she was on, trying to catch her, and hit the ground: that is where he burst. That is how obedience saved the carabalí jutía from her enemy. Note: whoever gets this Odù must be careful with tall, thin people, because his enemies are among them.

Ofoni Wayeun was a land of Osha: the Oshas ruled there, and Awó Oluo Okana Ofo lived there, a man who ran his life apart from Ifá and went around only with them. Nobody went hungry — people lived more or less well — but ofo weighed on that land, because nobody attended to Ifá and its secrets were being lost.

It took Oshanlá's sleep away to see her son Awó Oluo Okana Ofo off the road of Ifá. One day she decided: "I have to go to the land Bayeleri Ifá," because she had another son there, Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé, and she wanted to ask him how he could help her straighten out the first one's life and take ofo out of Ofoni Wayeun, so that there would be more iré in that land. She set out on the road playing the agogó and with this song: "Oshanla bioshe iya alagba sokun ori Awo Oluo Ogunda Awo umbo ofoni loshe unlo". When he heard her, Oluo Oggunda came out to meet her and gave her foribale. Then the mother spoke: "I come so that you can see what is happening in the land Ofoni Wayeun, where my other son Awó Oluo Okana Ofo lives, who, starting with him and along with all the other Oshas, have forgotten Ifá."

Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé looked into Ifá, this sign came out, and he explained: "That is because all the Oshas had given Awó Oluo Okana Ofo so much power and so much ease to solve things for people and live comfortably without working Ifá, that he no longer wanted to know anything about Ifá or about his brothers." And he added: "You yourself, who are my mother and his, have to save him; but we have to go and find Osun, so that the two of you save him and that land goes back to being what it was before: a land of Osha and of Ifá."

They took two white doves and went out to look for Osun, sprinkling cocoa butter and cascarilla along the way while they sang: "Iya dimu Baba dimu efun ori Osun moyubale Awo Aye Oshanla iyalagba Osun kaluku Osun dide". Osun was resting, leaning on the moruro wood; he stood up, and as soon as the two arrived he said: "Let us go to the land Ofoni Wayeun to save Awó Oluo Okana Ofo; but first take from this wood." He went to a carolina tree and added: "This will serve you to save him." Oshanlá handed Osun a white flag and they walked on until they entered Ofoni Wayeun. The one who came out to receive them was Elegba, and Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé fed him ekó and a rooster; and Elegba told them: "Over there you will find Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, who is surrounded by all the Oshas and Egun." As soon as the son had Oshanlá in front of him he gave her foribale and hugged her, and she spoke to him: "My son, we have come to this land of yours to help you, so that you come out of ofo; because although Osha is a power that Olofin gave to the earth, the greatest one is that of Ifá, which lets you live with happiness on earth."

Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé placed the apotí on top of erururu (ashes), where he had marked Oggunda Ofo, and sat Awó Okana Ofo there; Osun and Oshanlá stood at his sides; the mother covered him from head to foot with white cloth and Osun handed him the white flag. Then he took the white hen, loaded its head with ashé, orí, oyé, erú, obí and kolá, and prayed: "Ori etie agbani boshe ori oye niboshe eri awado ori ire enifa Awo ori aye ire umbo ofo alaguao". With this song, "Oshanla adie lafishe ori unsoro ofo Awo Oluo Okana Ofo ori ladide", he handed the hens to Oshanlá and to orí; he opened the bird at the chest and passed it over the Awó's body, smearing him with blood. The shadow of ofo began to pull back. Then came the doves — and Oshanlá got convulsions — for the sarayeye, singing: "Sarayeye bakuno ofo Osha latigua"; with them he cleaned Awó Oluo Okana Ofo and also all the Oshas who were watching this, and again the shadow of ofo gave ground. The doves went to Osun, with this song: "Baba Osun ladide ni Awo Oluo Okana Ofo kayewo eninifa", while he sprinkled the blood over his body.

Right away he took one of the doves, put jutía, fish, corn, orí, efun, honey and rum on it, put it inside the hen and gave Elegba this errand: "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". Over the remaining dove he threw what the head was carrying, made a small erupin of white cloth for it and handed it to Awó Oluo Okana Ofo; that is how he raised him up, wrapped in the cloth, with the flag and the erupin, singing: "Awo ire gbogbo Osha ladide Awo Oluo Okana Ofo Awo ire leni Ifa".

When they heard him, the Oshas lifted their heads and watched the shadow of ofo leave: it went ahead of Oshanlá and Osun, and they went ahead of Awó Oluo Okana Ofo, carrying the Awó's Ifá themselves. They marched toward the way out of Ofoni Wayeun, and along the road Awó Oggunda Awó Ayé sang: "Oshanla Ifa iya alagba Orishaoko iya alagba akatioke morunla yeo, Awo irere Awo Ifa abeni Osha". Faced with such greatness, the Oshas bent the knee and gave foribale to Orunmila. Once at the entrance of that land they left the erupin hanging and planted the flag up high, with this song: "Baba Olofin dide ire omo Awo Oluo Okana Ofo Baba Olofin oda falashemi". Right there, Awó Oluo Oggunda Awó Ayé and Awó Oluo Okana Ofo gave hens to their Ifá together with Osun, covered with carolina leaves. The Oshas all came, since it was clear that ofo had left the land; Awó Oluo Okana Ofo was consecrated with all of them in that new secret, and iré came back. It was then that Oshanlá ruled: "Osha is very great and solves many things for you: you cannot move away from it; but you can never move away either from your greatest secret, which is Ifá, and from Osun, who are the only ones who can beat ofo. This secret we have given you will serve you to drive the shadow of ofo away from above every omo of this land, each time ofo wants to come in; because by virtue of the strength they gave it here, it will always want to come back and govern this land." And with her blessing she covered the son and the land of Ofoni Wayeun.

Odulañeke was the land of Maki Awó, son of Orunmila and a man of great pride. A great power of Egun and Omologu ruled there, and there were many times when Maki Awó, facing a problem, trusted that power more than getting a reading with his own Ifá. Okamaya was the name of the spirit that ruled that Omologu: a prenda of great strength, which dominated Maki Awó as it pleased. He kept it eating roosters and called it with this song: "Okamaya Omologu ke teteku aye akuko wenilo wenilo". The power came, wrapped around him, and in that land the Awó no longer remembered Ifá at all.

The news reached Orunmila, who decided to visit his son and see with his own eyes whether it was true. He found him feeding the prenda, deep in the ceremony with such concentration that he did not even notice his arrival. On going in he noticed the boy's Ifá: covered in cobwebs and dust, a sign that he had gone a long time without using it or feeding it. Orunmila broke into tears and, crying, called Olofin with this song: "Orunmila soku soku laye Oludañeke inle suale mokio Ifa walemare Awo awa inle mokio Ifa mere alado odun koye kofidenu". He went back to his land and took away all support from his son. Odu then put Orun in charge of that land, Okamaya was left without the power it had, and hard times came to Maki Awó.

A brother of his, Awó Benide, lived near the land Orodokun. He heard about the fall and went to look for him: "My abure, this has happened to you because you have pushed Ifá into second place, and you did not know how to recognize that, in spite of all the power of your prenda, the greatest thing you had is Ifá." Maki Awó cried and fell to his knees in front of his Ifá; osode was done for him and this sign came up, Oggunda Ko, with which Ifá was telling him that his kingdom was darkness. His brother spoke to him: "Everything has a remedy, because Ifá is great and merciful: you have to give a rooster to Eshu so that he takes the message to Orunmila in his land." He did it, and even so Orunmila did not want to come. They had to go further: feed his Ifá and sound Aran Akaran, the great drum of Ifá. For that he called 16 Awoses from other lands who, together with Osun, danced for Ifá and called him with this súyere: "Balimo ilemi balimo ilemi Ifa wakini Orunmila kankan Ifa". They lit Osun's lamp, and the racket and the lights in the land of darkness reached Orunmila, who then said: "Let me see what is going on in that land, because it seems that they are working Ifá."

Back in that land, Orunmila saw his son feeding his Ifá and also the Sun, the Moon and the Earth, while he sang: "Olorun inle Awo inle oguere la oshura ire Awo"; and when the feeding was over, the son went down on his knees and sang to him: "Orunmila odara Barabaniregun enimi maya la kunfele Ifa". The father's heart softened, he put his hand on his head and told him: "Orunmila kobao odun koye kofidenu aye ilemi odun ire aye Awo odara"; and once again he stayed to live in his omo's house. The Awoses gathered there sang: "Ire ire Orunmila yoba ire ire". That is how the strength of Ifá came back to the house of Oggunda Ko, and with it the lesson: no matter how many powers an Awó gathers outside Orunmila, none of them is greater than him. 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 doves, the two hens for Orunmila that go to the river, the two yams in front of Ifá and the necklace of Orunmila that must never be missing.