Osa Loni

When Olofin created the Earth, he covered it completely with water and told all his children to do what they could to make that water disappear — to gather it in one place — so they could live on the Earth. All the Orishas set about making channels to gather the waters in the low places: those channels are the rivers today.

Danda-Juero (the boa), who was Orunmila's friend, went to see him and told him: «My brother, there is a terrible piece of work Olofin has given us so we can live on the Earth, but I, with no hands and no feet, cannot do my part». Orunmila made osode for him, saw this Odù, marked him an ebbó and prepared him an inshé Osain, which he fed the goat and the 16 jio jio, and put the heads of all the animals inside the gourd; then he hung it around Danda-Juero's neck and sent him to go around the Earth floating on the gourd — but he was not to look back.

Danda-Juero set out at the second cock crow, and when he was finishing his journey flying around the planet, he began to come down. Just then he heard a very strange sound saying «blu-blu-blu», and asked himself: «What is that following me with its sound? Could it be this gear?». But he did not turn his head and went on traveling around the Earth. He came down when the inshé Osain had created dry land.

The other Orishas, who had created the rivers, went before Olofin on the sixteenth day exactly to account for their efforts. They all told Olofin they had created the rivers. When Olofin asked Danda-Juero, he answered: «Father, I alone, with Ifá's help, created the Ocean that surrounds the whole Earth». Olofin gave the Orishas women, gold, jewels and riches, and to Danda-Juero — who had created the Universal Ocean and the land they could live on — he gave only a woman with reddish hair, misshapen and with copper-colored skin. All the other Orishas began to mock Danda-Juero, but they did not know that woman was Olofin's daughter.

Danda-Juero, upset, went back to Orunmila's house and told him about the woman Olofin had given him, and said: «If you see her, you will be sick». Orunmila told him: «Olofin has given you his daughter as your prize: do not turn her down». Danda-Juero made the same ebbó again, but this time adding gunpowder and earth from a crab's hole to the inshé Osain, so she could come into his house.

One day Danda-Juero asked his wife: «What do you see in me?». She answered him with a question: «What has Orunmila told you about me? Why do you ask me that?». Danda-Juero, changing the direction of the conversation, told her: «It is that Orunmila marked me this inshé Osain and I have been left with no money». She answered: «That is nothing: you will have a fortune. Turn around a moment». He turned around, and the woman began to whistle very loudly, and at once great winds began to blow over the Earth from the North, the South, the East and the West, and millions of living beings — humans, animals and plants — appeared all over the world, and Danda-Juero's wife became very beautiful.

Then Danda-Juero understood the great prize Olofin had given him, and he too became beautiful, and he and his wife, who was Aida-Juero, became rainbows, and ever since two are seen high in the sky. The other Orishas envied them and wanted to be rid of them any way they could: Oshosi tried to kill them, but Danda-Juero dazzled him with his light, and the Orishas said: «Danda-Juero is like Olofin himself». And ever since Danda-Juero has gone on along his road through the skies.

Note: along this road, a woman is going to bring you all the luck you enjoy in your life, because she is Olofin's daughter. Here the Universal Ocean was created and the rivers were created; space travel was born, since Danda-Juero was the first to fly all around the planet.

There was a married couple who burned charcoal and were very poor. One day the man went to be read by Orunmila and this Odù came out, and Ifá told him: «You are going to find an abandoned girl: take her in and raise her as your daughter. As she grows, you will prosper. That girl will give you a secret name, and you cannot call her by it in front of anyone, so you do not lose your luck». Orunmila made him ebbó with a rooster, charcoal, a doll, a trap, colored cloths and earth from the house.

Before long, the charcoal burner passed near where he had made one of his charcoal kilns, and there he found an abandoned girl. He remembered what Ifá had said, took her in and brought her home; he gave her a secret name and warned that she could not be called by that name in front of anyone. As the girl grew, that couple prospered, and in a short time they came to have everything anyone could want in life.

One day an old woman came to that house asking for shelter, and they gave it to her. The old woman began to envy them for how well they lived, but she saw that the girl was wary of her intentions, so she set about winning her trust. One day the couple, in front of the old woman, called the girl by her nickname or secret name — and that night the girl left with the old woman they had in their house.

From that very moment the couple began to lose their luck and everything went wrong for them, until one day, being badly held back by then, the charcoal burner went back to Orunmila's house. He made osode for him, saw this Odù of Ifá and told him: «You, through disobeying, have lost your well-being, because you called the person who gave you your luck by her secret name in front of strangers, and she left. You have to make ebbó with a rooster, charcoal, earth from your footprints, your measure and sweated clothes, so you get a little luck back — because you have lost the ashé Olofin granted you, and you will never again be as you were».

Note: this Odù rules that this person cannot give anyone the details of any of their spiritual protections, so they are not stolen and the protection lost, and the luck with it. It may be that you met that being along the road of your life, because you were a match. It also rules that there are private secrets that cannot be given away to anyone, because if you do, it costs you.

There was a time when Elegba and Eshu Dike were looking for the things for the ebbó Orunmila had marked them, which were: a mouse's head, a fish's head, a basket and two coconuts. On their wanderings across the earth they found the mouse and the coconuts, but they had trouble finding what they needed to make the basket.

Tired of walking, they came before the Obi Agbo tree (the lerú coconut) and asked it for its leaves to make the basket. Obi Agbo refused to give them. Eshu cursed it, saying: «May your children not always stay with you, for being so arrogant». At once, two coconuts fell off Obi Agbo, and Eshu Dike put them in his bag to give to Obatalá.

Elegba and Eshu Dike went on their way and met Obi Agbon Oludo (the Brazil coconut). They asked it for its leaves to make the basket. It told them: «You may take them gladly, but they are no good for what you want them for, because they are very weak, they have no strength». Eshu Dike took some and put them on his head to shield himself from the strong sun, and told it: «Even though your leaves are weak, you will always be odara».

Shortly after they met Ope (the royal palm) and asked it for its leaves to make the basket, and it gave them freely, and Elegba and Eshu Dike were able to build the basket for the ebbó. Afterwards they blessed the royal palm for having helped them make the ebbó that would save them from their enemies.

Note: when someone asks you for something, do not refuse them rudely; if you have what they are asking for but do not want to give it, do not be arrogant and high-handed — give any excuse — because there are people who think that when you have what they need you have to serve them, and when they feel let down, they can curse you. When you do favors, they should be done freely, expecting nothing in return. And when someone asks you for something that is not in good condition, you should be honest and point out the flaws before giving it.

According to the old Babalawos, this road has another reading: the coconut tree stands for a man's member when it is troubled by some sexual problem — the coconut tree does not grow completely upright, and when the coconuts fall it is because they are diseased; the coconuts stand for the testicles (when this Ifá marks intori Arun, the man suffers from an illness in his testicles that prevents an erection). The basket stands for a woman's vagina: by intori Arun she suffers from fibroids, venereal disease or a malformed womb from birth; by iré, she is healthy. The palm tree applies by iré: the man will be sexually strong.