Okana Di

nº 125 of 256

A relationship given up for lost that comes back to life: here fright is born, the chick's cry drives Ikú away, and Yemayá Mayelewo of the mask speaks.

17 patakíes 6 eewó 8 ebbós and works 16 proverbs

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Okana Di is Odù number 125 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Okana family. This page brings together its prayer in Yoruba, 17 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 125 of 256
Composition
Okana over Odi
In the Diloggún
1-7 · Okana tonti Odí
Orishas that speak
Yemayá Mayelewo · Inle Abata · Eshu · Oshún · Shangó y Ogún · Egun

What Ifá says in this sign

Okana Di is the sign of the relationship that comes back to life: a friendship or a love will be born again — and of Yemayá Mayelewo, the trader with the mask and the nine colors who lives in her jar in the middle of the ocean, where the seven sea currents that were born here pass by.

Its miracle against death is a sound: the chick's cry drives Ikú away — Death is forbidden to hear it: for the sick person afraid of dying, the live chick tied at Eshu's altar buys back their life. And its protected ones are humble: the spider, the lizard and the cockroach were wives of Orunmila — they are not killed; and the big rat in your house is not a bad thing: it brings luck.

«The chick's cry frightens Death off — in Okana Di, even Ikú is forbidden to hear.»The pulse of Okana Di

Its wound belongs to the harbor: wealth without love — a love in every port and none at home: this odu orders you to marry and start a family in order to be happy, because the loneliness and boredom of this sign make you ill. Keep things to yourself, stop turning back halfway — that is how you already lost one stroke of luck — and stop talking about the work being done for you: telling it is why it does not come out.

The house gives you clues: the plumbing will break (fix it — the water is Yemayá giving warning), the money you put away and cannot remember is on the left-hand side, and the luck that comes and does not come in is unstuck with the two black hens for Orunmila and the three loaded nails at the door. The pregnant woman in the house will give birth to a girl who will be a wife of Orunmila: keep her away from upset.

Take care of your eyes and of anything that pricks you (so it does not turn bad), keep a duck at home, and sacrifice before traveling abroad. Your business that is losing money will come right — and a better one will come with the ebbó. And the sweet ending: through a woman who seems of no importance, thanks to a third person, the iré comes to you — love and luck are born again together in Okana Di

The sign in one line

Marry, do not turn back and do not talk about the work done for you — the relationship Okana Di gives up for lost is about to come back, with good luck included.

The prayer of Okana Di · Yoruba

Okana Di ofan kare beya adifafun Odolofa Odoloyo loshele abelebo iwo obini kan lolefun eyele akukó lebó. Okana Di ni Ifá ni iré kaferefun Shangó, Oshanlá atei Eshu.

Ifá says — what Okana Di tells you

Proverbs of Okana Di · Òwe

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

Iré and Osogbo

5 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 Okana Di · Ìbí

What is forbidden · Eewó

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

Ebbós of Okana Di · The sacrifices that open the road

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

Works of Okana Di · The workings of the sign

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

Patakíes of Okana Di · The roads of the Odù

1The son who gave him away

His Guardian Angel gave him the choice between physical strength and Ifism, and marked him sacrifices to Death and to Eshu: he refused both and boasted that neither Death nor Eshu could touch him. Both sent wrongdoers with him: Death a man, Eshu a woman. He married the beautiful woman; the son born to them was Death's rogue. The son denounced his father to the king for human sacrifice — Eshu had left skulls and bodies at the back of his house — and the father, with no defense, was condemned. The king then called the son in: «if you gave away your father, you will give me away too» — and both were executed the same day.

Before leaving heaven, his Guardian Angel made him choose: he would come to earth with the strength of the body or with the practice of Ifism. He also told him to attend the divinity of Death if he wanted a long life, and marked him a goat for Eshu, a club and red cloth; he refused to give it. They then offered him a shorter way out, only the goat for Eshu, and he did not want that either. On top of that he bragged that neither Death nor Eshu had any way to touch him. When he left heaven the two offended ones sent criminals after him: one was a man, sent by Death; the other, a woman, sent by Eshu. Down below he worked as a priest of Ifá, though people knew him for what he did with force: against what Ifism teaches, he threw hard, diabolical spells on anyone who offended him. Soon after he ran into the woman Eshu had sent. She seemed beautiful to him, he wanted her from the moment he saw her and it did not take long for him to marry her. In the first month of marriage she was expecting, and the boy she gave birth to was exactly the crook Death had put in his path.

The boy grew up watching how everyone stayed out of his father's way out of fear, and he himself became a strong, feared young man, initiated into the king's palace society. His father's cruelty disgusted him, so time and again he went to the king to accuse him of sacrificing human beings: he had come across some skulls and some bodies that Eshu, without a sound, had left at the back of the house. The king had the father brought in and opened an investigation, and out of it came two bodies that had been executed recently. Okonron Idi had no way to explain them: he saw them for the first time as he was already leaving for the palace, and right there he fell under a spell. Before the throne they accused him of human sacrifices; he, understanding nothing, denied charge after charge, but since he had no defense he was sentenced to death and they tied him up to execute him. Right away the king sent for the son and made him see that whoever hands over his own father would hand him over too; that is why he sentenced him as well. Father and son were executed on the same day. In Igbodu the special sacrifice is ordered at once: the clay images, the goat, the red cloth and Ogún's scissors, with service to Death at a crossroads. It is done to reach a long life, so the son does not kill the father and so you do not commit a murder or carry one done in your name. And whoever has children should know that there is one looking at him with bad eyes.

2The chick's cry

Orunmila ordered Okonron to cover the hole in the ground, and the one who prays repeats that same order on his own account. To push Death away, a small chicken is offered, and its scream — "Ikú-ye, ikú-ye" — forces her to leave the place: hearing it is forbidden to her. For a sick person who feels the end is near, a live chicken is tied to Eshu's altar and left to scream until it dies; then Death lets that person go for good.

"Orunmila ni ki Olokonron dile, moni ki Olokonron dile". Orunmila ordered Okonron to cover the hole in the ground; I repeated that same order, that Okonron cover the hole in the ground.

According to Orunmila, to push Death away a small chicken is offered — omorun-addie — which lets out the scream "Ikú-ye, ikú-ye ni omorun addie ma-nke". That scream is an order: Death is forced to leave the place, because hearing the chicken is forbidden to her. When someone falls sick and feels the end is near, a live chicken is tied to Eshu's altar and left to scream until it dies; then Death lets that person go for good. That is how this Odù solved early death.

3The mask of Orò

Okonron dimu dimu read for the mask of Orò when it was going to work in the town of Egba: it made the first sacrifice — a machete, split firewood, food and a ram — to get the benefits of the journey, but failed to make the second, the goat for being able to come home. It worked successfully in Egba: it made the infertile pregnant, made the poor prosperous and fed the hungry; its success made it so popular that it never considered going back. It became an institution with its secret cult of Orò — with its curfew at the announcement «Moti se ebbó Okonron dimu dimu», when women and the uninitiated disappear from the streets. Its cult remains in Egba to this day. Sacrifice before you travel.

Okonron dimu dimu gave a reading to the Orò mask when it was going out to work in the town of Egba, and the word was clear: it had to come back home. It did the first ebbó — a machete, split firewood and food, plus a ram — to get profit from the trip, but it left the second one pending, the goat that made sure it would return.

In the land of Egba the work went well: a barren woman got pregnant by its hand, a poor man built a fortune, a hungry man had something to eat and other sufferings found relief. The fame it won there, and the pleasure it took in it, wiped the idea of returning out of its head. It ended up an institution, with its secret worship of Orò. The worship ran loose until a curfew was set: it would announce "Moti se ebbó Okonron dimu dimu", which is how the trumpets of that curfew sound, and from then on women and the uninitiated had to get off the streets. That worship is still alive in the land of Egba to this day. In an ordinary reading: sacrifice before traveling, so you do not become the victim of consequences you cannot foresee.

14 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 Okana Di in Spanish →

Frequently asked questions about Okana Di

What does the Odù Okana Di mean in Ifá?

A relationship given up for lost that comes back to life: here fright is born, the chick's cry drives Ikú away, and Yemayá Mayelewo of the mask speaks.

What number is Okana Di among the 256 Odù of Ifá?

Okana Di is Odù number 125 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Okana family.

Which orishas speak in Okana Di?

In the Odù Okana Di these orishas speak: Yemayá Mayelewo, Inle Abata, Eshu, Oshún, Shangó y Ogún, Egun.

What is a proverb of the Odù Okana Di?

One of the proverbs of Okana Di says: «You have a love in every port.».

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