Osa Loni

When Olofin created the Earth he left it completely covered with water, and he charged all his children with finding a way to make that water disappear — to gather it in one place — so the world could be lived in. All the Orishas then set to opening channels that would carry the waters to the low parts: those channels are the rivers of today.

Danda-Juero (the majá), who was a friend of Orunmila, showed up at his house with this complaint: "My brother, there is a terrible job Olofin has given us so we can live on the Earth, but I, with no hands and no feet, cannot do my part." Orunmila did osode for him, found this Odù, marked ebbó for him and put together an inshé Osain for him, to which he fed the goat and the 16 jio jio, keeping the heads of all those animals inside the gourd. Then he hung it around his neck and sent him to go around the Earth floating on the gourd, with one condition: no looking back.

Danda-Juero set out at the second crowing of the rooster. When he was finishing his trip around the planet and starting his descent, a very strange noise reached him that went "blu-blu-blu", and he asked himself: "What can that be that follows me with its sound? Could it be this gear?" But he did not turn his head and went on with his journey around the Earth. He came down when the inshé Osain had already created dry land.

Exactly 16 days later, the Orishas who had opened the rivers came before Olofin to give an account of their work, and each one declared that he had created the rivers. Danda-Juero's turn came, and his answer was: "Father, I alone, with Ifá's help, created the Ocean that surrounds the whole Earth." Olofin handed out women, gold, jewels and riches among the Orishas; Danda-Juero, who had made the Universal Ocean and the lands where life was possible, got only a deformed woman, with reddish hair and coppery skin. The other Orishas made fun of him, not knowing that this woman was Olofin's daughter.

Upset, Danda-Juero went back to Orunmila with the story of the woman Olofin had given him, and told him: "If you see her, you will throw up." Orunmila's answer was: "Olofin has given you his daughter as a prize: do not reject her." Danda-Juero repeated that same ebbó, and this time he added gunpowder and earth from the crab's burrow to the inshé Osain, so that she could come into his house.

One day he wanted to know from his wife: "What do you see in me?" She turned the question back on him: "What has Orunmila told you about me? Why do you ask me that?" Danda-Juero turned the conversation another way and answered: "It is that Orunmila marked this inshé Osain for me and I have run out of money." She then announced to him: "That is nothing: you will have a fortune. Turn around a moment."

He turned around, and the woman started to whistle very hard. At once the whole Earth filled with gales coming from the North, the South, the East and the West, and everywhere millions of living beings sprang up — humans, animals and plants — and Danda-Juero's wife became very beautiful.

Danda-Juero then understood how great the prize was that Olofin had given him; he too became beautiful, and with his wife, who was Aida-Juero, they were turned into a rainbow: from that day the two of them are seen high in the sky. The other Orishas were filled with envy and wanted to destroy them any way they could. Oshosi tried to kill them, but Danda-Juero's light blinded him, and the Orishas said: "Danda-Juero is like Olofin himself." And his road, ever since, runs through the skies.

Note: in this road the whole good fortune you enjoy in life is brought to you by a woman, because she is Olofin's daughter. Here the Universal Ocean and the rivers were created, and cosmonautics was born, since no one before Danda-Juero had flown around the planet.

A married couple of charcoal makers lived in the deepest poverty. One day the man went to have a reading with Orunmila; this Odù came out, and through it Ifá spoke: "You are going to find an abandoned girl: take her in and raise her as a 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 good fortune." The ebbó Orunmila marked for him had a rooster, charcoal, a doll, a trap, colored cloth and earth from the house.

It did not take long to come true: as the charcoal maker passed by one of the charcoal ovens he had built himself, he found an abandoned girl there. He remembered what Ifá had said, took her in and brought her home; he gave her the secret name and said that no one could call her by that name in front of others. The girl grew, and with her grew the couple's prosperity: in a short time they had everything anyone can want in this life.

One time an old woman came to that house asking for shelter, and they gave it to her. Seeing them live so well, the old woman grew envious of them; she noticed that the girl was suspicious of what she was up to, and she set out to win her trust. One day, in front of the old woman, the couple called the girl by that nickname or secret name; that same night the girl left the house with the old woman they were sheltering.

From that moment their luck was gone and nothing went right for them, until one day, quite far behind by then, the charcoal maker went back to Orunmila's house. He did osode for him, saw this Ifá again and told him: "You, for being disobedient, have lost your well-being, because the person who gave you the luck was called 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 sweaty 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 before."

Note: this Odù points out that no one should be told the details of the spiritual protections one has, in case they steal them and the protection and the good fortune are lost with them. It may be that this entity crossed your path in life because it was in tune with you. It also marks that certain intimate secrets are not told to anyone: spreading them does harm.

There was a time when Elegba and Eshu Dike were gathering what the ebbó Orunmila had marked for them called for: a mouse head, a fish head, a basket and two coconuts. Walking the earth they found the mouse and the coconuts, but they could not find anything to weave the basket with.

Tired of walking, they came upon the Obi Agbo tree (the coco lerú), and asked it for leaves for the basket. Obi Agbo refused them, and Eshu cursed it: "May your children not always stay with you, for being so arrogant." At that same moment two coconuts fell off Obi Agbo, and Eshu Dike put them in his sack to dedicate them to Obatalá.

The two of them went on their way and came upon Obi Agbon Oludo (the coconut of Brazil), whom they also asked for its leaves for the basket. Its answer was: "You may take them and welcome, but they are no good for what you want them for, because they are very weak, they have no strength." Eshu Dike took a few and arranged them on his head to shield himself from the sun, which was strong, and told it: "Even though your leaves are weak, you will always be odara."

Further on they came upon Ope (the royal palm) and made the same request; she handed over her leaves without asking for anything in return, and with them Elegba and Eshu Dike finally put together the ebbó basket. For that help, which let them make the ebbó and be saved from their enemies, they both blessed her.

Note: if they ask you for something, do not refuse in a bad way. When you have what they are asking for and you do not want to hand it over, set arrogance and pride aside and give some excuse: there are people who are convinced that whoever has what they need is obliged to serve them, and if they feel let down they are capable of cursing you. Favors are done without expecting anything in return. And if what they ask you for is in bad shape, the honest thing is to warn them of its faults before handing it over.

According to the old babalawos, this road allows another reading: the coconut tree is the man's member when some sexual problem afflicts him, since as a rule that tree does not grow fully upright, and the coconuts fall when they are sick — the coconuts are, in that reading, the testicles. That is how it applies when this Ifá marks intori Arun: the man has an illness in the testicles that keeps him from getting an erection. The basket is the woman's vagina: in intori Arun there are fibroids, venereal diseases or a womb malformed from birth; in iré, no ailment, full health. The palm tree belongs to iré as well: the man will be strong sexually.