Okana She

nº 135 of 256

The supreme sacrifice of love — «a man makes himself a slave for it» —, like the salmon going from the sea to the river to spawn: it brings luck to make an Ifá for free.

18 patakíes 4 eewó 9 ebbós and works 16 proverbs

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Okana She is Odù number 135 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Okana family. This page brings together its prayer in Yoruba, 18 patakíes (3 with the full text), its proverbs, 9 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 135 of 256
Composition
Okana over Oshe
In the Diloggún
1-5 · Okana tonti Oshé
Orishas that speak
Oshún · Elegbara / Eshu · Osanyin y Orun · Oyá y Shangó · Yewá · Ogún and the Night

What Ifá says in this sign

Okana She is the Ifá of the supreme sacrifice of love: here the salmon was left a slave of Oshún's river — that is why it lives in the sea and goes to fresh water to spawn — and the drone died fertilizing the queen. Its truth is tender and serious: a man makes himself a slave for love — let your slavery be chosen, not worked on you.

Because the binding circles this odu: be careful of the woman who is after you — she can take your nature and bind you so you only work with her. Envy and betrayal are its climate: they want to crush you, they are setting a snare — and the meal you are invited to, do not go: play sick, because what was meant for you happened to one of those who went.

«The salmon lives in the sea and spawns in the river — the love of Okana She enslaves itself only by choice.»The pulse of Okana She

Elegba taught it commerce: the basket maker could not sell because nobody knew what they were for — until Elegba got them into use and he grew rich: what you make needs someone to explain it, not only someone to make it. And the white parrot comforts the slandered: his enemies stained him with ink and palm oil — and Olofin celebrated him more for his new colors: a stain, carried well, is a crown.

Learn from the bee facing the wasp's advice: «leave that slave's life», she told her — but the wasp has no safe house, no food in winter, and no children who live. Know good advice from bad by looking at the adviser's life. And the constant fear of losing your home, your children or your stability is worked on: a shackle of black and white thread that goes into the ebbó — so you neither go to prison nor live imprisoned by fear.

Its generosity has a reward: like Iroso Umbemi, this odu brings luck after you make an Ifá or an Ikofafun for free — service given away in time opens your own destiny. Madness is cured with the bath in the river, and the power of your father or godfather is inherited with the two hens and the parrot feathers: the love that sacrifices, in Okana She, is the only master that sets you free

The sign in one line

Watch out for the binding, listen to the bee and not the wasp, and give away an Ifá when the time comes — the luck of Okana She arrives through serving out of love.

The prayer of Okana She · Yoruba

Okana She oyen mama muyo inle irole orí efiniyan otá obani fe aba nimi abamo kaferefun Oshún, Elegbara, Orunmila ati Eshu.

Súyere
Afere afere oni sefun Orunmila komamu obinima.

Ifá says — what Okana She tells you

Proverbs of Okana She · 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 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 Okana She · The sacrifices that open the road

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

Works of Okana She · The workings of the sign

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

Patakíes of Okana She · The roads of the Odù

1The great sacrifice of love: the salmon and the drone

Eya Areni (the salmon) and Agbon Oko (the drone) were close friends and great chasers of women: the first longed for Oroyori Oshún, shut inside a mother-of-pearl shell at the river mouth; the second for Agbon Ayaba, the queen of the hive. She asked for sandbanks for her kingdom; the queen, for her crown of wax. Orunmila saw Okana She for them: «a man makes himself a slave for love — make ebbó, or love will sacrifice you for the sake of survival». The salmon made it in full; the drone, unruly and lazy, made it halfway. The salmon carried the sand, Oroyori gave herself to him on the riverbanks and stayed there to live — a slave of love, going up every year to spawn in the river. The drone fertilized his queen — and died, his reproductive organ coming away with his intestines: he died sacrificed for love.

Eya Areni (the salmon) and Agbon Oko (the drone of the hive) were close friends, and both had a name as womanizers: the first sighed for Oroyori Oshún, who lived inside a closed mother-of-pearl shell there where the river runs into the sea; the second, for Agbon Ayaba, queen of the hive. To give her love, Oroyori Oshún demanded that sandbanks be brought close to her kingdom — which was the river — so she could enjoy herself on them as she pleased; Agbon Ayaba, for her part, asked for her crown of wax. Desperate, the two went to Orunmila, who on seeing them brought out this Ifá and ruled: "Okana She — man makes himself a slave for love. You have to make ebbó, because if not, you will find yourselves slaves of love, and love will sacrifice you for the sake of survival". They agreed to do the ebbó to win their women, but only Eya Areni did it in full: Agbon Oko, unruly and lazy as he was, left it unfinished.

Each one came before his beloved with his gifts. When Oroyori saw that Eya Areni was bringing her exactly what she wanted to have, she fell in love with him: she let herself be taken up the river, and on the sandbanks he had carried she gave herself to the pleasures of love and stayed there to live — so that every year Eya Areni must go to the depths of the river, where his own are born, to make love to her. That is the sacrifice of love: Eya Areni, a winner in what he set out to do, was left enslaved to Oroyori Oshún; and Agbon Oko died sacrificed by love — he fertilized the queen and perished, because in the sexual act his reproductive organ comes off, and it comes out with the intestines. From here were born the river sand and the vaginal spasm — the supreme sacrifice of love —, and from here comes the fact that the salmon lives in the sea and goes up the river to spawn. Note: here the Osanyin of the mother-of-pearl is prepared, the one that gives the Awó the power to persuade a woman, and the secret of Oshún Miwa Ilé Bombó.

2The birth of the basket

A man made baskets that would not sell: nobody knew what they could be used for — people saw them and did not buy, and his situation got worse. Orunmila saw this Ifá for him: an ebbó so the world would know them. Once the ebbó was made, Orunmila told Elegba to go with him and get the business going: Elegba put a great many baskets on the ground, and to the people coming by with their errands he said: «put your errands in here and see how well you carry them». That was how he got the baskets into use until everyone knew them — and the day came when the man found himself rich, thanks to Orunmila and Elegba. Elegba has to be received.

A man made his living making baskets, but they did not sell: nobody knew what use they could be put to, so people looked at them without buying them, and the basket maker ended up in a very bad way. Seeing that he was worse off every day, he took the road to Orunmila's house. Orunmila gave him a reading and this Ifá came out: business was going badly, he told him, and he had to make ebbó so the world would know him and his luck would change that way.

Desperate as he was, the man made the ebbó, and when it was finished Orunmila sent Elegba to go with him and help him build up the business. Once at the house, Elegba laid many baskets out on the floor, and to the people who came with their errands he said: "Put your shopping in here and you will see how well you carry it". That is how he moved the baskets; everyone ended up knowing them, and the day came when that man found himself rich, thanks to Orunmila and Elegba. Note: Elegba must be received.

3The bee and the wasp: bad advice

The bee lived in peace through her hard work; the wasp did not work and lived watching everyone else's life. One day she said to the bee: «You look like a slave — I do not work and I do not worry: come with me and enjoy the good things in life». The bee was left thinking, with the doubt planted; but before taking the step she asked: «What do you eat? How do you build your house? How do you get through winter with your children?». The wasp answered: «I eat what I find, my house is made of mud and falls down, and in winter most of my children die — but I am happy». The bee thought: if I take her advice, I lose my house and my children. «It is true I work all day, but I have food all year, my children do not die and the wind does not blow my house down: thank you for taking my doubts away — and for teaching me to tell good advice from bad».

In one region the bee had her hive, and she lived in peace and quiet, thanks to how hardworking she was and to the perseverance with which she kept up her work and her habits. In that same area went the wasp, who did not work and spent her time minding other people's business. One day, with the bee busy at her chores, she ran into the wasp, who was waiting for the chance to destroy the peace and quiet she lived in with her community, and the wasp said to her: "You look like a slave: you spend your life working, and when you are not, you are sipping flowers to build your house; you have fed your children. I, on the other hand, do not work and do not worry about building my house. I advise you to leave that life of slavery and work, and come with me to enjoy the good things in life". The bee was left thinking: it was true that she worked her whole life, keeping up her house and raising her children. The doubt the wasp planted in her sank in so deep that she considered living like her, with no work and no worries.

Before taking such a step, though, she asked her: "Dear friend, I would like to ask you something before I decide to live like you: what do you feed on? how do you build your house? and the winter, how do you get through it to protect your children?". The wasp answered her: "I feed on what I find along the road; I make my house out of mud and clay and I hang it from any stick; and winter does not worry me: my house always falls down, the strong wind always knocks it over, and in most cases my children die, because I do not store food for the winter. But I feel happy the way I live, and I would like you to live like me, because it makes me very sad to see you working every day without rest". The bee thought it over — "If I follow the wasp's advice, I lose my house and my children" — and answered her: "Dear friend, I feel sorry for you, because I see you have no house and no safety for your children. It is true that I work all day, but I have food all year, my children do not die and the strong wind does not knock my house down: for that I feel happy, and I thank you for taking away my doubts about my life, and for making me able to tell a good piece of advice from a bad one". Note: whoever has this sign lives with the constant fear of being left without a house, without children or without stability. Two adié are given to Oshún together with Orunmila.

15 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 She in Spanish →

Frequently asked questions about Okana She

What does the Odù Okana She mean in Ifá?

The supreme sacrifice of love — «a man makes himself a slave for it» —, like the salmon going from the sea to the river to spawn: it brings luck to make an Ifá for free.

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

Okana She is Odù number 135 of the 256 in Ifá, part of the Okana family.

Which orishas speak in Okana She?

In the Odù Okana She these orishas speak: Oshún, Elegbara / Eshu, Osanyin y Orun, Oyá y Shangó, Yewá, Ogún and the Night.

What is a proverb of the Odù Okana She?

One of the proverbs of Okana She says: «He went for wool and came back shorn.».

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