Bibeli
Bible Of Yoruba People
Children of the Good Morning
The University of African Art Press, 2007
© University of African Press
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African Theology
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By
Ade Kukoyi
THE CRADLE
1 1.Before time was born, even before the beginning of life, there was Ele-
dumare who presided over fellow divinities, the Orisas. Also known as Olu
Orun, Olodumare, Olorun, Olofin, Aseda, Eleda, Atererekariaye, Akin Orun,
and a host of other four hundred and one names and aliases remembered or for-
gotten, Eledumare and the Orisas are immortal. Time and space did not exist.
Neither darkness nor light existed. Only Oro, or the Voice, who was the child of
Eledumare, existed. Nothingness existed before Eledumare and the Orisas cre-
ated the heaven (orun) and the universe (aye). On the glorious dawn of creation,
the boundless realms of heaven became the seat of Eledumare and the divinities.
They were all equal. There was no leader. Therein they lived and thence they
ruled the whole of pre-creation, using the power of Oro, the Voice. But it was a
land without light or darkness, or knowledge of time, of boundaries, or of space.
2. Eledumare and the orisa took the initiative. Eledumare and the orisa,
using Oro, or the Voice, commanded “Let there be time.” And the heart of life
began to beat, and the clock of time began to tick. Thereafter, they commanded,
“Let there be darkness.” And darkness descended. The darkness was rich and
intense, overwhelming in its depth and resonance. Eledumare and the Orisas saw
the beauty of its ebon fullness and declared the darkness excellent.
3. They commanded “Out of the darkness must come the light.” Lo and
behold, countless mega-zillion rays of dazzling light flashed forth from the heart
of darkness. Its beauty was irresistible, incomprehensible, amazing, compelling
and penetrating; and it transformed the appearance of whatever it fell upon with
its graceful and beautiful radiance.
4. And Eledumare and the Orisas acknowledged its exceeding beauty. Then
they said, “You are the morning light, whose name shall be Dawn or Peregede,
the mother of Dusk. Out of darkness are you born, and to your womb must you
cyclically return to be daily reborn.”
5. Whenever Dawn returns to Dusk, night prevails and darkness is upon
the face of all life. 6. And whenever Dawn leaves Dusk, day prevails, and light is
upon the face of all life.
7. And they painted the skies with the colors of Osumare (Rainbow), the
orisa of colors; thus sometimes the color of the the sky is white, and sometimes
blue, sometimes orange with tints of purple, sometimes golden and sometimes
black, sometimes red with lightening hues.
8. And using the mist of their breath, they created rainfall, and the rain fell. 9.
The rainfall descended in torrents and it soon covered the face of the world, becom-
ing the ocean. 10. Olokun, the orisa of the sea, opted to depart orun to rule over the
waters of the sea, and all other waters of the earth, be they brooks or rivers, streams
or lake, pond or puddle. 11. The entire earth was full of oceans and seas, there was
no land, and water was found everywhere. 12. Eledumare and the orisa drank of the
water, and the taste was pure, invigorating and healthy. 13. They said “This is the
fluid of life. The antidote to all evil.” 14. And water became the most important liq-
uid in heaven and on earth.
15. And Eledumare and the Orisas were happy with the way things were, ex-
actly the way they had created them .
16. Then they decided to distribute powers among all of the Orisas, so that El-
dumare could retire, once and for all, only to interfere when exceedingly necessary.
17. And Eledumare called the first orisa, Esu, and Esu came forward. He pros-
trated flat on his/her stomach, right in front of Eledumare. 18.Then Esu got up and
genuflected to the left, then to right, before returning to the flat prostration position,
before the throne of Eledumare. 19. Esu said “May you wear your royal crown for
ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
20. Eledumare acknowledged Esu’s presence by waving a flawlessly black,
beaded flywhisk. 21. Eledumare then said to Esu,
“Esu, the dark and mysterious fellow.
Supreme are you among the divinities.
All other Orisas will look up to you.
Because today I give to you the ultimate power of ase
with which you will rule the affairs of all sunder.
22. With ase you will manifest my might.
With ase I will multiply your strength.
With ase your voice shall echo
the timbers of my thoughts.
23.Whatever you tell the listening ear
It must hear.
Whatever you wish to do
Is already done.
Your mere wish
Is absolute command.
24. Wherever you direct the wind
It will blow.
Where you wish
Will flow the rivers
25. Anything is, and will be
Only because you want it so.
And so it is
And so shall it be
because I say so.
26. Now, get up and go freely about. Use your talent for the benefit of all, and
to the glory of my power.”
27. Eledumare then gave Esu the capsule of ase, which Esu swallowed eager-
ly. In addition he gave Esu a staff (ogo), constructed from sculpted wood figuring,
cowry shells, beads, bones and precious stones; a thick blouse, appliqued with cow-
ry shells; several freestanding wood sculptures; and dominion over anything placed
at the crossroads.
26. Then Esu said, “Thank you, my Lord. It is worse than burglary, for one
to be so richly endowed, and for one not to be eternally grateful.” Then s/he got up
happily, and went about his/her business.
2.1. The second day, Eledumare called Orunmila, and Orunmila came for-
ward. He prostrated flat on his stomach, right in front of Eledumare. 2. Then he got
up and genuflected to the left, then to the right, before returning to the flat prostra-
tion position, before the throne of Eledumare. 3. Orunmila said, “May you wear
your royal crown for ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
4. Eledumare acknowledged Orunmila’s presence by waving a flawlessly
black, beaded flywhisk. Then Eledumare said to Orunmila,
5. “Orunmila, the boneless fellow.
Privileged are you among all divinities.
Because today you are endowed
With the gift of vision and fiction.
6. With the use of fiction
you will project your visions
and they will reflect perfectly the missions
of all things living and dead.
7. You have been the sole witness
to all events present and past.
Your eyes will continue to see
and your ears will continue to hear
the tides of time in the future.
8. And only in your mind,
and only in your vision
will the past meet the present
and both embrace the future
in one composite picture.
9. Let that vision
arranged in ese poetic verses
painted like the odu fiction
become the stories
upon which to build
the factual fabrics
of daily life
and it is so
because I say so.
10. Now get up and go freely about, to become the divine oracle to all and
sundry. Tell them their past, tell of their present and reveal to all their future. Use
your talent for the benefit of all and to the glory of my power.” Eledumare then gave
Orunmila the capsule of divination, which he swallows eagerly. In addition Eledu-
mare gave Orunmila the circular, the rectangualr and the triangular Ifa trays (Opon
Ifa); the strings of opele with eight ikin; the iroke intricately fashioned of divine
ivory; a shoulder bag fabricated from colorful beads (apo ifa); an agere ifa, sculpted
out of hard iroko wood, and
11. Then Orunmila said, “Thank you, my Lord. It is worse than burglary, for
one to be so richly endowed, and for one not to be eternally grateful.” Then he got
up happily, and went about his business.
3. 1. The third day, Eledumare called Osun, and Osun came forward. She
threw herself flat on her stomach, right in front of Eledumare. Then she got up and
genuflected to the left, then to the right, before assuming a kneeling position, right
before the throne of Eledumare. Osun said, “May you wear royal crown for ever.
May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
2. And Eledumare acknowledged Osun’s presence by waiving his/her flaw-
lessly black, beaded flywhisk. Eledumare said to Osun
3. “Osun, elegant and beautiful one,
so graceful that only rivers and swift streams
can capture the grace of your flow.
Yu will be the embodiment of all rivers.
4. You will represent rejuvenation, reproduction, renovation and repair.
You, as I speak, embody restoration, cycles and recycles, successions
Continuations. 42. You will find
the fingers with the touch of cool
and the softest words as feathers
to stop wars in their noisome courses.
5. Your soothing flow, in the hottest summers,
will calm taut and snapping nerve.
With the assurance of therapy
they will invoke your name
And those who make poetry
may not find words fine enough
or phrases sweet or sonorous enough
to sing your name.
6. Those who seek your favors
they will inherit plenty.
Those who clean and keep your temple
Clean and fertile are their wombs.
7. Whosoever drink of your water
Has partaken of the fluid of life itself.
If you give the gift
of plenty, it is so
8. when you say so, because
I say so
and so it is.
9. Now, get up and go freely about. Heal to who are barren, care for the needs
of the next generation, be kind to those who are beautiful, be gentle with the grace-
ful, encourage the stylish, bless the sophisticated, promote the outlandish, stimulate
rejuvenation. Use your talent for the benefit of all, and to the glory of my power.
Because I so.
10. Eldumare then gave Osun the capsule of yoyo, or plenty, which Osun
swallows immediately. In addition Osun received a dazzling mirror, set in an exqui-
site brass casting; some bronze fans with delicate beaten decoration; some wooden
sculptures and lots of expensive beads and shells.
11. Then Osun said, “Thank you, my Lord. It is worse, by far more painful
than burglary, for one to be so endowed,The she got up cheerfully, and went about her business.
4..1. On the fourth day, Eledumare called Ogun, and Ogun came forward.
He prostrated flat on his stomach, right in front of Eledumare. 2.Then he got up
and genuflected to the left, then to the right, before returning to the flat prostration
position, before the throne of Eledumare. 3. Ogun said, “May you wear your royal
crown for ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
4 Eledumare acknowledged Ogun’s presence by waving a flawless black,
beaded flywhisk. 5. Eledumare then said to Ogun,
Ogun, oh sharp and tempetuous fellow!
Peerless are you among all divinities
fearless and courageous spirit,
Audacious and dauntless soul, gallantly galloping
Into the heart of the raging battle.
6. I pronounce you the spirit of all of all warriors.
You have become the soul of soldiers,
the fire inside the bullet, the point
of the flying javelin, pregnant with poison.
7.You, deaf to the cries of the fainthearted,
are the patron of all warmongers,
the champion of those who profit
only when battles level cities.
8. Fighters who don’t hark your warnings
perish like flies at the battle.
Those only who obey your commands
live to tell war stories.
9. If you so desire
You may save the life
of the stranded soldier.
But, as you say, to what profit is war,
if no blood is shed, if no soul is lost?
10. Those who don’t know you
they will be full of dread for you
But those who know you
they will not rest, they will not sleep
because they know
how unpredictable your temper is.
11. You will command all metals known and uninvented and for one not to be eternally grateful.”just as the tongue controls the words.
Just as you lead to war,
You must yield abundant harvest.
12. Because you, the god of slaughters,
art also the divinity of farmlands.
You will protect the plantation,
the plows and the spades.
13. And as you balance affairs gingerly
between the arms of war and peace
your life shall be a drunken spree
incoherent and unstable like a stammered stanza
unruly, staggering and volatile,
as the growl of an angry beast.
14. Those whom you wish
spare at war, others devour,
after all you must drink frothing alcohol,
or when the day is hot, you prefer blood,
since you don’t touch water.
15. When you turn some farmlands
into raging battle fronts
the pounding heart of weaklings and fools
totally will fail to beat, petrified..
16. Battles will never be the same again
because you say so
and it is so
because I say so.
17. Now, get up and go freely about. Judiciously rule the battlefields. Calm
down the fighters. Inspire the strategists. Protect the infantry. Guide the calvary. Use
your talent for the benefit of all, and to the glory of my power.”
18. Eledumare then gave Ogun the capsule of war and peace, which Ogun ea-
gerly swallowed. In addition, he gave Ogun, scores of housepost opo sculptures, all
complete with images of equestrian and pedestrian fighters.
19. Then Ogun said, “Thank you my Lord. It is worse than burglary, for one to
be so richly endowed, and for one not to be eternally grateful.” Then he got up hap-
pily, and went about his daily business.
5. 1.. On the fifth day, Eledumare called Yemoja, and Yemoja stepped for-
ward. She prostrated flat on her belly, right in front of Eledumare. 2. Then she got
up and genuflected to the left, then to the right, before assuming a kneeling position,
before the throne of Eledumare. 3. Yemoja said “May you wear your royal crown
for ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
4. Eledumare acknowledged Yemoja’s presence by waving a flawless black,
beaded flywhisk.5. Eledumare then said to Yemoja,
“Yemoja, fish-like fellow,
calm as a waiting sea,
resting before two tempests
6. Where the lagoons meet the seas
where the streams turn to deltas,
there you must lay your stake;
7. where the seas embrace the oceans
in those in between corridors of transformations
There you must lay your stake;
8. between being and becoming,
marshes between water and land
there you must lay your stake.
9. You now become the spirit of strange waters
you are the unknown point at sea
where merchants meet with luck or loss
10.You become the key to misery or merriment
transforming currents that carry travelers
from rags to riches
when you smile on strangers.
11. Pick your own benefactors
because many will worship you
some sincerely, others lie blatantly
12. The canoes of the liars will sink
the nets of the sincere
will ferry home wealth from the bottom of the deepest seas.
13. Wherever you direct the sail of their ships,
there will the winds blow.
There will all the small fishes swim
to welcome the arrival
of the biggest fish.
14. None will contradict your wishes
when you want it so.
Because it is so
when you say so.
Because I say so.
15. Now get up and go freely about your business. The open expanse of the
seas lies at your mercy. The ships will travel to and fro, and the winds will blow
and the tempests will rise. The fate of the children of the fishes remains in your
charge. Use your talent for the benefit of all, and to the glory of my power.”
16. Eledumare then gave Yemoja the capsule of the wharfs, which she swal-
lowed eagerly. In addition Yemoja received some sculpted female caryatids, a few
brass fans and myridas of beads, cowries and precious stones.
17. Then Yemoja said, “Thank you, my Lord. It is worse than burglary, for one
to be so richly endowed, and for one not to be eternally grateful.” Then she got up
happily and went about her daily business.
6.1. On the sixth day, Eledumare called Obaluaye, and Obaluaye came forth.
He prostrated flat on his stomach, right in front of Eledumare. 2.Then he got up and
genuflected to the left, then to the right, before returning to the flat prostration posi-
tion, before the throne of Eledumare. 3. Obaluaye said “May you wear your royal
crown for ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
4. Eledumare acknowledged Obaluaye’s presence by waving a flawlessly
black, beaded flywhisk. 5.Eledumare then said to Obaluaye,
“Obaluaye, most dreaded harbinger
of good or bad,
messenger of death or life.
6. You spread from afar to near
like the fires of a funny rumor.
You are the healer.
But you are also the pestilence.
7. You wear two faces,
so there are three of you.
Those who know the third face
say that is the real you.
8. When you move rapidly like a savannah
fly like a horse in the harmattan delirium.
Because today, I bestow especially upon you
9. the power to cure, to curse,
to heal and damn,
to poison or nurse, mend or end lives.
10.You now, as I speak
become the divinity of medicine.
Health and wealth will occupy the days of many.
11.Most would rather be healthy than wealthy.
Most who are now wealthy seek health.
To whomsoever you bestow health
to them goes health
12.. because it is your call
because I say so.
13. Now get up and go freely about. Halt all horrors of epidemics. Remove
pestilence. Combat contagious diseases. Quench the fires of wanton death. Use your
talent for the benefit of all, and to the glory of my power.”
14. S/he then gave Obaluaye the capsule of health and death, which Obaluaye
prompltly swallowed. In addition, he gave Obaluaye a broom, as a symbol of his
cleansing power, and a pot containing therapeutic herbs.
15. Then Obaluaye said, “Thank you, my Lord. It is worse than burglary, for
one to be so richly endowed, and for one not to be eternally grateful.” Then s/he
briskly got up, and went about his/her business.
7.1. On the seventh day, Eledumare called Obatala, and Obatala came forth.
He prostrated flat on his stomach, right in front of Eledumare. 2. Then he got up and
genuflected to the left, then to the right, before returning to the flat prostration po-
sition, right before the throne of Eledumare. 3. Obatala said “May you wear your
royal crown for ever. May you step inside your royal boots for ever.”
4. Eledumare acknowledged Obatala’s presence by waving a flawlessly black,
beaded flywhisk. 5. Eledumare then said to Obatala,
“Obatala, spotless god of white
today, your untarnished reputation receives recognition.
Only someone with the most spotless reputation
may be charged with the office
to which you are bow charged.
6. Oh, blameless one, for you especially
have I reserved the office of
fashioning the human body
from the raw, from clay
7. Perfect must be the eyes
of whomsoever is charged with making human bodies;steady likewise must be the fingers,
happy the mind, and strong the muscles.
8. Because only s/he with a healthy mind
could make people with healthy dispositions.
And only s/he with strong muscles
could make enough people to populate the earth.
9. Your muscles are strong
your mind is healthy
your fingers are steady
your eyes are perfect.
10. None is better trusted with the delicate task
of making from the fresh
the human figure from clay.
11. Today, even as I speak,
I grant you the dexterity of fingers
so that you can make the most complex human forms;
12. I grant you the art of proportions and balance
of textures and light, and of lines and planes,
the art of colors and tones, and hues and values
that you may perfectly hone the skins
to cover the human flesh.
13. You become the sculptor of the heavens.
Perfect is the touch
of whatever you touch.
14. All humans created in your studio
will reflect and embody your own perfection.
On whatever you deliberate
will you bring the blemishless purity
of your stainless whiteness
15. Because just as you wish for perfection
so do I
and if you wish anything to be so, say so
and so it is
Because I say so.
16. Now get up and go free about your errands. Make strong, hardworking,
happy, men. Make beautiful, graceful and talented women. Make people as perfect
as possible. Make them as healthy as possible. Above all, make them as merry aspossible. Use your talent for the benefit of all, and to the glory of my power.”
17. Eledumare gave Obatala the capsule of artistry (ona) which Obatala imme-
diately swallowed. In addition, he gave Obatala control over all chalk mines. Then
he gave him a few wooden and stone scultures, all painted in white.
18. Then Obatala said, “thank you my Lord. It is by far worse than burglary,
for one to be so richly endowed, and for one one not to be eternally grateful.” Then
Obatala got up happily, and went about his business.
19. He wasted no time. He immediately set up his studio, and began to make
people aout of clay. He show them to Eledumare and Eledumare, in approving of
them, said that they were good.
20. Thus begun the construction of heaven and the universe by Eledumare and
the Orisas, out of sheer nothingness. Four hundred and one divinities received vari-
ous offices, before Eledumare completed the .
8.1.But at that time, there were no trees in heaven or on earth that remained
covered with water. Eledumare and the other orisa wanted trees to grow in heaven,
so Eledumare caused Eji, the god of rainfall to wet the entire landscape of heaven.
2. After the ground soaked in the moisture and became soft, Eledumare
caused Iju, the god of forests to make trees grow. Iju said “Let all forms of plants
grow from the soil.”
3. Gradually, myriads of plants began to emerge from the soft bare soil. All
types of plants, including the sweet and the bitter, the smooth and the thorny, the
poisons and the therapeutic herbs, germinated and grew.
4. Some plants had fruits, others only bore flowers; many stood upon huge
roots, others had no roots at all. Eledumare inspected the plants and approved of
every one of them, because each one had a different purpose and constitution
5. Now Obatala asked Eledumare: “When shall we establish the humans set-
tlement on earth? That way we can separate human beings from the orisas. When
we know who is who, the orisas will better be able to protect people.” Eledumare
said, “We will move them as soon as we prepare earth for human habitation.”
6. Lo and behold, the face of the earth was flooded, and within the flood was
the grand palace wherein lived the goddess of the deep seas, Olokun.
7. She heard of the plan to establish the human population earth but did not
like that plan. 8. Since she began to live in the depths of the sea, Olokun had begun
to separate her life and existence from others. At some point, she lost direct contact
with Eledumare, and lived a totally independent life.
10. She exceedingly enjoyed her life under the sea. At some point, howver,
she became too absorbed in her solitude, because she was shielded by the huge
body of sea from the others.
11. She became engrossed in herself, in her sense of importance and in her
power and dominion over the entire earth, which was under the sea.
12. She was not there when the plan to establish people on earth was made.
The plan therefore caught her by total surprise. She was angry and many questions
quickly crossed her mind:
13.Why did they not consult her before making a decision that affected her
own domain? Was it because they thought she was powerless, therefore they could
just do anything they wanted without involving her? Her mind was agitated.
14. She therefore decided to prevent Eledumare and the other divinities from
establishing human life on earth. She decided that she was going to flood heaven
with her waters, to demonstrate her powers to the others, who seemed to have for-
gotten that she the goddess of large salt waters.
15. She decided that after flooding Eledumare and the other orisas from heav-
en, she would later allow them back, if and only if they promised to abandon the
project to establish human beings on earth. Olokun personally did not like the few
human beings that she had seen. 16. Obatala had said that he would make them per-
fect, but from Olokun’s perspective, they were no more perfect than Obatala him-
self.
17. And Olokun knew that, just as the other orisas, Obatala was far from per-
fect. The human beings that he created therefore had all the flaws of the gods. 18. In
addition, they had other profound physical and emotional weaknesses and illnesses,
and totally relied on the orisas for everything.
19. Their ranks included liars, thieves, murderers, adulterers, debtors and lay-
abouts. The few honest ones are not enough to redeem the warped ones.
20. Yet the orisas insisted on populating the earth with people. 21. Eledumare
had said “The earth will only be their market place. Heaven will still remain their
home.” That is why till today people say that “The world is a market place. Heaven
is our home.”
22. Olokun grew even more furious when she learnt that people would turn
the earth into a market place. 23. But Olokun also needed the earth for her studio,
for Olokun was an amazing bead maker. 24. She spent her time in solitude, making
beads, combining dyes and pigments to make amazing beads of dazzling hues.
25. She knew that she would lose her entire bead business once humans came
to live on earth with her. 26. She knew that some will steal her beads. Some willbreak her bead pots. Some will vandalize her studio.
27. Some might even begin to steal her bead making idea, and start to make
beads themselves. 28. Because she had no faith in humans, and because she was
not consulted before the decision was made, Olokun refused to accommodate hu-
mans on earth.
9. 1. Now Eledumare could sense that Olokun was not happy about the plan
to establish the human settlement on earth. S/he therefore called a meeting of all the
orisas to discuss Olokun’s position.
2.All the orisas decided that a special messenger should be sent to Olokun to
convey the decision to establish the human abode on earth to Olokun.
3. Eledumare then called forth Orunmila, the orisa of divination. Eledumare
said “You Orunmila know the past, the present and the future. Tell us what will hap-
pen after we send an emissary to Olokun.
4. Will she agree to our plan, or will she remain adamantly against it? And
who should we send to convey the message to Olokun. Because the message is as
good as the messenger.”
5. Orunmila asked them to allow him to consult his Ifa divination system. He
then brought out the entire Ifa paraphernalia, including the opele, iroke, opon and
agere ifa.
6. He placed his divination tray on the floor and cast his opele string on it. The
Ifa divination signature that the opele forms is oyeku meji. Orunmila recited the at-
tached odu verse as follows:
7. Iwo yeku, emi yeku (I dodge death, you dodged death}
oyeku di meji, o diji (Two oyeku verse loom so formidably)
A difa fun Kowa (Ifa divination was performed for Kowa)
A bu fun Tamedu (And also for Tamedu)
8 Nijo ti Lakasegbe (On the day that Lakasegbe)
N fi omi oju sogbere omo.(Was crying due to barrenness)
Won ni ki i se ti igbin (It is unlike the sanil)
Ko dubule lai ni ikarahun (To sleep outside of its shell)
Won ni ki i se ti oka (It is unlike the viper)
9 Ko dubule lai loro inu (To sleep without its poison)
Won ni ki i se ti ire (It is unlike the cricket)
Ko dubule lai han gaaraga. (To sleep without making grating noises)
Won ni iran oga (Not a single chameleon)
Ki i rin lai ni igba aso. (Moves without a suitcase loaded with a thousand
10 Won ni ko rubo (They asked him to offer a sacrife)
Ko ru eku meji oluwere (Two swift-running rodents)
Won ni ko ru eja meji abiwe gbada (Two giant fishes with huge laps)
Won ni ko ru obidie meji abedo lule luke (Two massive hens)
Ewure meji abamu rederede (Two pregnant goats)
11 Einla meji to fi iwo sosuka (Two deers with curled horns)
O gbo riru ebo o ru. (He listened to call to offer sacrifices and offered
sacrifices)
O gbo titu atukesu, o tu (He paid attention to the needs of Esu)
O gbo ikarara (He heard ikarara, the sound of good fortune)
Ebo ha fun un. (His sacrifices worked for him)
12 Bi iyawo ti n ti owo ala bo osun (As his younger wife bathes her newly
born baby)
Ni iyale n bi were (So does the senior wife deliver her own baby)
Ijo ni n jo (He began to dance)
Ayo ni n yo (He began to celebrate)
Ese to na (He stretched a leg)
13 Ijo fa a. (Dance tugged at it)
O ni be ni awon awo oun (He says that that is exactly how his diviners)
Ti n fi enu rere pe ifa. (Give thanks and praise to Ifa divination)
Iwo yeku, emi yeku (I dodged death, you dodged death)
14 Oyeku di meji (Two oyeku verses combine)
Gbogbo aye lo tu ni lara. (And the entire world is happy)
15. Orunmila said everything will be fine. The outcome of the message, Orun-
mila said, will depend on the presentation of the messenger.
16. Eledumare asked “So who will this important messenger be?” Orunmila
looked around.
17. Directly in front of him was Ega, the chameleon. Orunmila pointed at the
chameleon, who was surprised by the choice. Everybody was also surprised.
18. Obatata expressed disappointment by the choice of Chameleon. Obatala
asked “What power has the chameleon, where Olokun is concerned? Olokun will
simply drown the poor fellow. It stands no chance.”
19. Osun said, “Everybody knows that the chameleon is so ugly. At least send
someone who is a little more handsome to do the job. She might fall for the looks
and charm.”
20. Sonponna said “Don’t send the chameleon. It does not look particularly
healthy. It walks slowly like a tired and senile fellow. You should find someone who
looks more healthy than the chameleon, who walks more smartly and thinks more
quickly. Not a slovenly fellow like the chameleon.”
21. But Eledumare insisted that they must listen to the voice of Orunmila.
Eledumare said “Whatever the Ifa divination says, after Orunmila has consulted it,
is final.”
22. So they all agreed to send the chameleon to Olokun to convey the news to
her.
10 1. When the oracle chose the chameleon to go to Olokun’s abode to con-
vey the news to her that the earth was going to be converted to human abode, every-
body was totally surprised because it was such an unexpected choice.
2. Most surprised was the chameleon itself. Slowly, in its ponderous manner,
the chameleon crawled forward, one foot at a time.
3. It flickered its tongues seven times as a sign of greeting to Eledumare and
the dinities and said:
4..” If it will please you, my Lord, let me speak here: why not listen to the
voice of the others apart from the oracle? 5. After all, the oracle is simply the voice
of one divinity, and only one divinity, that is Orunmila.
6. How can the wisdom of just one divinity be more important than the wis-
dom of the entire group?
7. Everybody here is saying that you need to choose someone much stronger,
faster, quicker and more appealing than my poor self, for this most important as-
signment.
8. Yet you insist on listening to the voice of only one divinity.
9. Is the Ifa divinity infallible?
10. Why must the voice of one divinity take precedence over the voice of the
others?
11. After all, you often say in proverbs that ‘Only several hands will lift a
heavy load. Two heads are better than one.’
12. And when you listen carefully to what everybody is saying, you will un-
derstand that nobody is being malicious towards me. 13. I am kind of slow of move-
ment. It takes me a long time to get from one point to another. 14. The distance
between heaven and earth is enormous.
15. Even for the fastest of fellows, it will take some time to get from here to
earth. Now imagine someone like me. It would take for ever.
16. I would never get there in decent time, whereas a fast fellow would go
quickly and return quickly. 17. Secondly, it is no lie that I am not handsome. I don’t
need anybody to tell me that, because I have seen my own reflection in the mirror
for too many times.
18. I just don’t look too good.
19. There are many fair gents here. 20. There is Ogun, most ruggedly hand-
some, whose look has never failed to charmed female divinities. Olokun would not
be able to resist his masculine charm.
20. I strongly feel myself that you must not send someone as ugly as myself
to a vain character such as Olokun. 22. She would be utterly disappointed by my
looks and would not grant me any serious audience.
23. Finally, is the issue of my slow thinking. It simply takes some time before
things sink into my head. 24. It is not my fault. This is simply my nature.
25. Some people think fast on their feet. I don’t. 26. It simply takes a moment
and a while before the profundity or meaning of things before apparent to me, even
though others understand immediately.
27.To think of it, I didn’t even know what you were all discussing at first, but
it was not until Eledumare explained it to me that I began to understand.
28.Now everyone knows that Olokun is a sophisticated divinity. It would be
a disaster for the entire human project if Olokun were to ask me an intellectual or
philosophical question.
29. I would not even know where to begin to answer her question about any-
thing.
30. Please, Eledumare, this choice of me is not reasonable. 31. Choose some-
one else who could get the job done, and stop listening to the voice of one divinity,
and denying the opinion of the others.”
11. 1 Eledumare then answered the chameleon by saying “I have listened care-
fully to your plea.
2. You have presented a convincing and moving argument. I am inclined to
simply accept your argument to appoint someone else to replace you.
3. But I will not do so for one reason. 4. You asked whether the Ifa oracle is
infallible?
5. The answer is simple. Yes the Ifa oracle is infallible.
6. You cannot hear a lie uttered from the mouth of Ifa divination.
7. Whatever the divination says is the truth and entirely the truth.
8. The divination knows no lie, cannot lie and will not lie, because it is found-
ed upon veracity
9. The oracle is the epitome of the truth.
10. No one must call the oracle a liar.
11. To call the oracle a liar, is to be spreading lies and to have no care for the
truth.
12. The Ifa divination is therefore not the voice of one fellow, but the fact of
all life.
13. To deny the truth of Ifa is to deny the essence of life itself.
Because only the Ifa divination has the record of the very beginning, and has
kept the record intact since then.
14. Ifa divination knows the present most clearly because it is the embodi-
ment of all knowledge.
15. Ifa divination tells the future without fail because the divination exists in
the future, even though it caters to the past and the present.
16. Because it exists in the future, it will always live, and doubtlessly con-
tinue to bring the future and the past to the present. 17. That is why the voice of the
Ifa divination must be heard and obeyed beyond and above the voice of any other,
or any group, large or small.
18 What the future holds is plain to no one except the divination.
19. If we ask the oracle for guidance in whatever we do, it will surely guide
us, based on what will be to our benefit in the future.
20. Because whatever we do or fail to do now will affect what will happen or
fail to happen in the future.
21. That is why we need to ask the oracle before we do anything, because we
must not do regrettable things.
22. Now that the oracle has chosen you to go on this journey, you have to go,
because you are the choice of the oracle. 23. Ordinary wisdom says you are the
wrong choice. But the wisdom of the oracle is not ordinary, but based on a vision of
the present, past and future.
24. How can you compare the ordinary vision, however numerous the eyes,
with just one eye of the oracle’s vison?
25. It is the difference between sleep and death.
26. We must be careful not to doubt the wisdom of the oracle. 27. But in the
wisdom of the oracle is the key to the future.”
28. Yemoja then asked Eledumare, “But what is the sense in choosing some-
one who appears most ill-suited for the assignment to do the assignment?
29. It is like asking the snail to do a one-hundred meter sprint.”
30. Eledumare then said., “Yemoja, be trusty of your divination oracle.
31. If the oracle says that the snail will win a one-hundred meter sprint, then
the oracle has chosen the chameleon
to go on this important assignment, it is best for us to respect the wish of the oracle.
33. Not respecting the wish of the oracle is deadly.
34. What we need to do, rather than doubt the oracle, is begin to prepare the
chameleon for this most important journey. 35. Whatever we find to be the chame-
leon’s weakness, we must fortify, to enable the poor creature to carry out that oner-
ous task.”
36. Ogun sais “One serious problem with the chameleon is speed. It will take
the chameleon forever to move from heaven to earth..”
37. Eledumare said “Once we identify the problem, the solution is round the
corner.
38. To solve the problem of speed, we will endow the chameleon with the
power of Egbe, the divinity of speed. 35. What do you say Egbe?”
36. Egbe replied, saying, “Be it as you wish. Egbe will deliver the chameleon
to and fro heaven, a zillion-trillion times faster than the speed light.”
37. Eledumare then said, “There, the chameleon’s problem of speed is over,”
38. Worried, Sango the god of lightening and thunder, then stepped forward
and said, “But the chameleon is still sluggish. 39. Even though Egbe does solve the
problem of speed, it cannot solve the chameleon’s problem of sluggishness. 40. I
don’t think a sluggish fellow such as the chameleon could interact with Olokun, if I
know her well.”
41. Eledumare replied “Once we identify the problem, the solution is right
around the corner.
42. To solve the problem of sluggishness, we will endow the chameleon with
the spirit of brother and sister divinities, Gaga and Sasa. 43. Gaga the brother will
provide an agility of body befitting of a professional wrestler. 44. And Sasa, the
sister, will provide a grace to the chameleon’s body that will shame a trained dancer.
45. What do you two say, Gaga and Sasa?”
46. Gaga and Sasa said in unison “Be it as you wish. 47. We will lend to the
chameleon’s body the agility of a leopard and the grace of a serpent.”
48. Eledumare said, “There, the problem of agility is over.”
49. Osun, the gorgeous river goddess then said “But we must all agree that the
chameleon is not the most attractive person.
50. Olokun, on the other hand is a beautiful woman, even though she is the
vain type. 51. But it all makes it the more difficult to send someone as ugly as the
chameleon to Olokun.
52. I believe that she will refuse to welcome the chameleon, saying that thesurely the snail will win the race. 32. Now that the oracle has chosen the chameleon
to go on this important assignment, it is best for us to respect the wish of the oracle.
33. Not respecting the wish of the oracle is deadly.
34. What we need to do, rather than doubt the oracle, is begin to prepare the
chameleon for this most important journey. 35. Whatever we find to be the chame-
leon’s weakness, we must fortify, to enable the poor creature to carry out that oner-
ous task.”
36. Ogun sais “One serious problem with the chameleon is speed. It will take
the chameleon forever to move from heaven to earth..”
37. Eledumare said “Once we identify the problem, the solution is round the
corner.
38. To solve the problem of speed, we will endow the chameleon with the
power of Egbe, the divinity of speed. 35. What do you say Egbe?”
36. Egbe replied, saying, “Be it as you wish. Egbe will deliver the chameleon
to and fro heaven, a zillion-trillion times faster than the speed light.”
37. Eledumare then said, “There, the chameleon’s problem of speed is over,”
38. Worried, Sango the god of lightening and thunder, then stepped forward
and said, “But the chameleon is still sluggish. 39. Even though Egbe does solve the
problem of speed, it cannot solve the chameleon’s problem of sluggishness. 40. I
don’t think a sluggish fellow such as the chameleon could interact with Olokun, if I
know her well.”
41. Eledumare replied “Once we identify the problem, the solution is right
around the corner.
42. To solve the problem of sluggishness, we will endow the chameleon with
the spirit of brother and sister divinities, Gaga and Sasa. 43. Gaga the brother will
provide an agility of body befitting of a professional wrestler. 44. And Sasa, the
sister, will provide a grace to the chameleon’s body that will shame a trained dancer.
45. What do you two say, Gaga and Sasa?”
46. Gaga and Sasa said in unison “Be it as you wish. 47. We will lend to the
chameleon’s body the agility of a leopard and the grace of a serpent.”
48. Eledumare said, “There, the problem of agility is over.”
49. Osun, the gorgeous river goddess then said “But we must all agree that the
chameleon is not the most attractive person.
50. Olokun, on the other hand is a beautiful woman, even though she is the
vain type. 51. But it all makes it the more difficult to send someone as ugly as the
chameleon to Olokun.
52. I believe that she will refuse to welcome the chameleon, saying that thechameleon was too ugly to for her to see..”
53. Eledumare said “Once the problem is identified, the solution is just around
the corner. 54. To solve the problem of ugliness, we will endow the chameleon
with the beauty of Egbin, the embodiment of beauty itself. 55. Here, tell me, Egbin,
what do you think?”
56. Egbin stepped forward and said, “Be it as you wish. 57. I will endow the
chameleon’s body with beauty in preparation for the great human project.”
57. “Eledumare said, “The problem of attractiveness is over. 58. Now, you
need a companion on this journey. 59.You may choose anyone you like as your
companion, so you may not feel lonely.”
60. To the utter surprise of everybody, the chameleon pointed to the snail. 61.
They all remarked that the snail was even slower than the chameleon, more timid,
perhaps even a lot less intelligent. 62. But they were relieved because of the special
endowment that the chameleon now had, thanks to the divinities.
63. These endowments, naturally, would reflect upon the snail too, and the
mission might be saved. 64.. The chameleon, accompanied by the snail, thus be-
came the messenger to convey Eledumare’s request to Olokun. 64.. But it was a
totally transformed chameleon that set out on the journey 65. Its entire body was
transformed by the powers of the various divinities who endowed the chameleon
with their special attributes.
12 1. Olokun, the goddess of the sea, the owner of all the riches under the
oceans, the greatest bead maker, the most powerful orisa whose mantles are the roll-
ing waves of sea water, is a most beautiful divinity to behold. 2. Her long, braided
hair flows with the waves of the undulating waters, her ebony dark skin glistening
like priceless pearls under the motion of ceaseless seas. 3. Olokun heard about the
plan to establish human abodes on earth, and became angry.
4. She pretended that she did not hear anything while she waited for the news
to be formally brought to her. 5. She was fully prepared to turn down the request to
use earth for the human project mainly because she was already using the space for
her bead-making studio.
6. She made beads of all colors and shapes, but her favorite bead was the in-
digo colored, tubular shaped segi bead, so luminously dark that it seems to capture
light within its luxurious entrails. 7. It was her love for bead making that caused her
to move her seat to the depth of the ocean, which nobody wanted at that time.
8. But after she succeeded in taming and ruling the vast ocean, after she salted
it and stocked it with priceless jewels, after she had transformed the vast and empty
space into a home for herself, they began to plot behind her back to take her spacefrom her and turn it into a general home to lodge humans.
9. She found the human project totally unacceptable if it would be at the ex-
pense of her own studio work of bead making. 10 Because without the limitless
spatial facilities, she would be unable to continue making beads as she was doing at
that moment. 11. It was totally unacceptable for the divinities to take her sanctuary
away from her, and populate it with strangers.
11. She sat down in a reflective mood in the midst of her vast collection of
beads. She calmly picked up some of the most colorful and exquisite beads ever
made, and slowly rubs the warm gems against her dark brown skin. 12. She would
not give up her craft, she resolved. 13. She would fight for every cup of water in the
vast ocean of the earth.
14. Why did the divinities not pick any other spot in the universe?
15. They could have picked Mercury, or Mars, or Jupiter, or any other planet
or star to locate their project on?
16. It was clear to Olokun that they chose earth because she had developed
it so artistically that nobody could take their eyes away from it. 17. But they also
thought that she had no fighting power. 17. It was only if the power of the others
overwhelmed her that she was going to surrender. 18. But she was certain that only
a few of them could come from the other world to earth, because of journey hazards
in those days. 19. She could take on any small number that came at any one time,
and she was determined to do so.
20. Her secret contact in heaven informed her that they were sending the
chameleon to her. 21. She considered that to be a sign of their contempt for her,
because they could not be sending a more inferior fellow as an emissary. 22. She
knew that every act is a sign of another thing. 23. They were telling her that she
was ugly, slow and contemptible, and the chameleon would be a clear deliverer of
the message. 24. They were telling her that she was beholding her own reflection
in the mirror when she saw the chameleon.25. That message totally made her even
more angry, and she resolved to teach them a lesson, emissary by emissary. 26. She
prepared for a war. 27. She was not going to be fooled.
28. They were using the chameleon as a metaphor for a real army of warriors
and diplomats that would arrive with the chameleon. 29. It was clearly going to be
an invasion, and she was ready for it.
29. But to her utter bewilderment, just as she was speaking, she saw the cha-
meleon right in front of her. She was startled. Was she dreaming? What was going
on?30. To make things even more bewildering, the chameleon was riding the snail
as a horse. 31. Right before her eyes, she saw the chameleon climb down from the
back of the snail. 32. To her astonishment, the skin of the chameleon glistered with
a lustrous light that radiated around it. 33. Olokun, to her surprise, wanted to touch
it, but she quickly checked her impulsive spirit.
34. The chameleon falls flat on its face in prostration before her.
35. “Greetings in the name of Eledumare and the four trillion and one irun-
moles who inhabit Orun,” said Orunmila.
36. “What do you want from me, and how did you get in here among my trea-
sures?” Olokun quickly said, regaining her wit. “I simply bring you salutations,” the
chameleon says. “Concerning how I got in here, that is nothing. I simply wish it and
it happens. It is now the way of Orun.”
37. Olokun became even more puzzled. “And your horse is the snail?” she
asked? 38. “Yes,” replied the chameleon. “It is the swift flying snail that dashes
through walls and gates.”
38. Overcame by her vanity, Olokun decided to retire into her chambers. “Ex-
cuse me, but I must go into my room to put on something more decent than this,”
she says. “Both of you look so marvelous, and I look so unpresentable.”
39. She went into her chambers and began to attire herself in her gorgeous
garments, woven in multicolored patterns, using different yarns and textures. 40.
She then looked for various combinations of beads, both brilliant and dull beads,
large and slim, round and angular shaped gems, and she wore them. 41. She then
reappeared before the chameleon, to show off herself, and display how beautiful she
looked.
40. “As usual, you are the most elegant and attractive being alive,” the chame-
leon said to her, when she came out looking exceedingly beautiful in her attires. 41.
But even as the chameleon spoke, it began to transform, and its skin began to reflect
the splendor of the color of Olokun’s attires. 42. 43. The only exception is that the
mirror even looked more splendid than the original, which puzzled Olokun, who
excused herself and went back into her chambers to re-attire herself. 44. But she be-
came even more amazed, as the skin of the chameleon changed again, and mirrored
the colors of her new dress, with the mirror image looking even more beautiful than
the original. 45. So she returned inside to re-dress. 46. But when she came out, the
same thing happened, as the chameleon’s attires transformed again to mirror her
new dressing.
47. “You, the chameleon,” Olokun finally said, “simply cover yourself with
other people’s garments.” But the chameleon replied that “Not so. These are my
own robes. I brought a lagre wardrobe, before I reckoned that I might be staying
long. 48. Because what has brought me is a serious matter, and it might take some
time to explain.”
49. Olokun thought about these things and decided that thy were too bizzare
for her to deal with. Certainly, things have changed in Orun, and they were no lon-
ger as they used to be, if the ugly chameleon could look so beautiful, and the snail
could be as swift as a horse.. 50. She decided that she had underestimated thepower
of the forces of Orun.
51. “I want no trouble from you.” she told the chameleon. “I want no trouble
from those who sent you here. 52. But you cannot take all of my space. 53. Tell
those who sent you that you can have some of the planet, which you may turn into
solid ground for human habitation. 54. But I will still continue to reign over the
larger portion covered by the waters.”
55. “So it will be,” replied the chameleon. “I will take your concession back
to the divinities. 56. I believe they will be pleased. Bye- bye now and remain well.”
57. The chameleon mounted the snail’s back once again, and in a split second, they
both disappeared from sight. 58. They left Olokun wondering whether everything
was just a mere dream , or whether it actually happened.. 59. Olokun however re-
membered her word, because one’s word is what is most important. And her word
remained that she consented to the establishment a human colony here on earth. 60.
So she has to honor and keep her word, for that is the nature of her own graceful
iwa, or character.
13.That same day, Eledumare gathered the entourage of orisa to move to aye or
earth, to colonize and domesticate it for human habitation. 2. Eledumare called each
one of them one by one, and each one stepped forward, as he or she is called. 3. Ele-
dumare first called Obatala forth, from the magnificence of his throne.
4. “White is the soul of black, black the soul of white. 5. White and black
threads do not argue with each other. They collaborate. 6. Do you hear the sound of
my voice, Obatala, you always clad in your creative garbs of white, upon your dark-
blue ebon skin?”
7. “I hear you well,” replied Obatala.
8. “You will lead the orisa to earth. 9. You will all descend down the metal
chain of wisdom. 10. You will take charge of earth, control it, create it to your own
specifications and beautify it. 11. Then create human beings to inhabit it and control
it before returning here to orun.”
12. “If we start early enough today, we will be back before sundown,” replied
Obatala.
13. “It will not be as easy as Obatala is saying,” said Orunmila, the divina-
tion divinity, who was listening earnestly to the conversation. 14. “It is going to
be a long and adventurous stay, the like of which no one has ever seen before, and
no one ever will see again.15. It will contain its own beginning within its end,
therefore it will become a dose of eternity, whose capsule is contained in a perfect
gourd.”
16. “Orunmila, you all-knowing one, you are always right,” replied Eledu-
mare. 17. “You had better come with them to guide them along in this enterprise.18.
They will need you far more than we do need you here now.”
19. Orunmila agreed. “So be it,” he said. 20. “I will go with Obatala and the
other divinities to the earth, to witness, predict and advice.”
20. “A double-headed matchet is the sibling of a sword, as the viper is the
cousin of the adder,” said Eledumare. 21.”In the jungle of the world, who will clear
the way as clear as the one weilding the double-edged matchet? 22.Ogun, do you
hear the sound of my calling voice?
23. “Clearly do I hear you, father of all fathers,” Ogun replied.
24. “Then you will be the path clearer, the guard, the guide, the spirit and the
vigor of the entourage to earth,” said Eledumare, 25. ”Do you feel up to that kind of
vigorous work today?”
26. “What else is my spirit woven with, if not vigor itself?” asked Ogun. “I
will go with the entourage, and woe betides anyone who steps across our path!”
27. “Dotted with decorations of pocks and marks, your face is a dreadful awe
waking in the mid-ay sun,” cries Eledumare. 28. “Only you, Obaluaye, can protect
the entourage from the scourge of pestilence and diseases. 29. Are you able to make
this journey?”
30. Obaluaye said “I will be more than happy to be their physician and phar-
macist.”
31. “Oduduwa, the very essence of being,” says Eledumare, “ the story that
gave birth to reality, the dream before the waking. 32. Will you go with the divini-
ties to establish the earth?”
33. Specifically what will be my role?” asked Oduduwa.
34. “You will oversee the details of each office,” Eledumare explained,” as an
administrator, 35. You will let the right hand know what the left is doing, so that
they are not duplicating or counteracting each other.”
36. “I will ensure that everything is done systematically and accordingly,”
Oduduwa promised.
37. Eledumare called out the names of four hundred and one divinities, and
gave them the charge of moving from orun to aye. 38. Four hundred and one divini-
ties answered their call. 39. The last to be called was Esu.
40. “Are you male or female, tall or short, fat or flat, dark or light, you Esu,
whose abode is at the crossroads of the planets?” 41. Eledumare hailed Esu. “You
are all of the above-mentioned and much more than meet the eye.
42. For you nothing is sacred, nothing profane, nothing is dangerous, nothing safe.
43. You are the embodiment of power itself, from whom all others must generate
energy.
44. You are the heart of the fire, forever warm.
45. You shall keep the others ignited.
46. You are the bearer of ase, the supreme veto.
47. Whatever you wish done must be done.
48. Whatever you ignore must stay shunned.
49. To you must come anyone who desires or aspires, for without your consent is
nothing done. 50. You, the center, are also the margin. The light, you are also the
shadow.
51. The master, you are also servant of all and sundry who beseech you for favors
and quests. 52. From gods and goddesses to mere paupers will seek you out on a
constant basis, and you will attend to each according to the goodness of his or her
person.
53. The wicked you will treat without mercy, and the good person will receive your
favor. 54. To each you will cast his or her lot, without fear, without favor or fervor.”
55. Esu answers immediately, saying, “I will keep and use the ase veto judiciously.”
56. Eledumare then asked Ogun, the smith, to forge a chain long and strong enough
to support the four hundred and one divinities, who would swing down to the earth
from orun. 57. Ogun called Sokoti, the most skilled blacksmith in the whole of
orun, and both of them retired into the forge to cast a steel chain without a begin-
ning or an end. 58. Between the two of them, the work did not take long, and soon,
the chain was ready to support the divinities.
59.Eledumare himself took hold of the chain and let it down until it touched the
surface of the water in aye. 60. Then one by one, the divinities descended down the
chain, with Eledumare holding it.
14. The first to climb unto the chain was Obatala, the leader of the delegation, fol-
lowed by Oduduwa, the chief administrator. 2. Obatala took with him a snail shell
containing some sand from orun, with which Obatala would build solid ground
from the salty body of the ocean, for divinities and people to walk on and dwell in.
3. Obatala wore his famous robe of white, with matching hat, shoes and staff, all
lavishly embellished with choice white beads. 4. As gracefully as a snake climbing
down a tree trunk, Obatala slid down the metal chain wrought by Ogun, with Soko-
ti’s able assistance, and Obatala arrived on earth. 5. He called the spot on which he
landed Ile Ife, meaning the house from which we will spread to rest of the world.
6. As he landed, he fell down on his buttocks, crawled to his knees, rolled left,
and then rolled right, before gathering himself to rise to his feet, even as Olokun
watched with fascination from the splendor of her palace at bottom of the sea in Ile
Ife.
7. As he or she slid down the chain, each divinity thus fell on his or her but-
tocks and goes through the motion of crawling on the knees, rolling to the left and
then to the right, before Obatala helped him or her up. 8. That has now become a
custom of greeting the orisa, the king, the chief, the head of household, the father,
the mother, the elderly person, or anyone in a position of authority in Yorubaland till
today.
9. It happened that long before they landed at Ile Ife, an event of particular
importance took place, in which the administrative skills of Oduduwa was put to
task. 10. It was also an event that was to define the character of Obatala as the lead-
er of the immigrants to the earth from orun, heaven..11. As everyone knew, Obatala
liked to drink. It was his way of relaxing after doing his creative work. 12. A few
divinities even suggested that he sometimes drank into excess, which was nobody’s
business, because it did not bother Obatala himself, who was an extremely nice and
gifted divinity.
13. The day before starting out on the journey to aye, Obatala went to see
Orunmila, the divination god, to seek guidance, in anticipation of the precarious trip
ahead. 14. Orunmila brought out his divination implements and spread them all out
on the floor. 15. The journey was going to be smooth and successful. 16. But there
might be temptations along the way. 17. Orunmila therefore asked Obatala to offer
his favorite keg of wine as a sacrifice. 18. It was a small keg with dark gourd pati-
na, which Obatala carried with him wherever he went. In the keg, he always carried
palm wine, which he shared with his friend. 19. He was given the keg by Eledumare
himself, and he held the keg very dear indeed.20. He was therefore unwilling to give
it up as a sacrifice, when Orunmila requested it as a sacrifice. 21. “It is a sacrifice to
Esu,” said Orunmila. “To preempt horrible eventualities.”
22. But Obatala said that Orunmila was a liar, who was in collusion with Esu
to scam everybody gullible. 23. Obatala therefore called Esu a thief, an extortion-
ist and a gangster on the loose. 24. Obatala therefore did not make a sacrifice as
advised by Orunmila, and kept his precious keg to himself. 25. On the day of thejourney, it was the first thing that he looked for. 26. He washed it and sanded it
down, both in and out. 27. Then he poured the fresh palm wine that he tapped from
his favorite plant into the polished keg. 28. He slung the keg across his back with a
specially constructed belt. 29.He was going to allow the wine to ferment, and share
it with the other divinities, in a ritual celebration, as soon as they got to Ile Ife.
30. But well after the journey started, and he was beginning to feel thirsty, Esu
came up to him and asked for a drink. 31. Obatala explained that he was reserving
the wine for a celebration. Obatala wanted to celebrate the safe passage, as soon as
they arrived on aye. 32. Esu said that it was stupid of Obatala to store wine all that
way and not at least take a drink himself, to slake his thirst. 33. Yet Obatala refused
saying that the wine was still too fresh and young. Esu shrugged his shoulders, con-
curred, and departed.
34. Not long after Esu departed, the wine began to froth and bubble in the keg,
as it fermented, and rekindled Obatala’s thirst. 35. He therefore decided to take just
a sip from the wine. 36. The sip proved the wine to be really fruity and sweet, so
Obatala took a full swig from the keg, before returning it to his belt. He felt reju-
venated again, with his thirst gone. 37. Then he took another swig after a few more
moments. Soon he could not keep his hands off the keg of palm wine and kept tak-
ing swigs, until the keg became empty. 38. He was also by this time stupendously
drunk.
39. Oduduwa watched Obatala’s behavior from some distance, and soon no-
ticed that Obatala was staggering and hardly able to stay upright on his feet, from
the effect of the palm wine. 40. At first Oduduwa ignore everything completely,
saying that it was really nobody’s business who did and did not get drunk.41. But
soon after, Oduduwa noticed that Obatala was beginning to spill the sacred sand that
Eledumare gave them to build the earth from.42. The more of the sand that Obatala
spilled, the less sand there would be left to over the ocean and build solid ground.
43. It got to the point that Oduduwa was afraid that Obatala was going to drop
the entire snail shell containing the sand, and that all would be lost, because there
would be no sand to build solid ground, and people would have to swim about like
fishes.
44. Oduduwa therefore intervened and rescued the snail shell from Obatala, who
was too drunk to care.
45. With the help of Ogun who cleared the path for the entire group, Oduduwa led
the entourage to the earth.
46. Obatala got so drunk at some point that he fell asleep. He had to be carried
along by his friends including Egungun, Obaluaye, and Oro. 47. It was not until
earth was quite in sight, and only a few steps away before Obatala woke up again
and resumed leadership. 48. But by time, it was already too late. 49. The divinities
were already loyal to Oduduwa, who they regarded as saving the world and provid-
ing leadership when they needed one, and Obatala was intoxicated. in a drunken
stupor.
50. When Obatala woke up and realized that he had drunk the entire content of the
keg all by himself, he blamed it on the prettiness of the gourd, and smashed it to
pieces. 51 He then proceeded to conduct the affairs of the travelers for the rest of
the journey, advised by his closet friends. 52. Thus completes is the story of how
people came into being in Ile Ife.
The Birth of Divination
One day Orunmila consulted his oracle
And he was asked to make a sacrifice.
He decided to throw a feast
To celebrate the achievements of his oracles.
5. He therefore decided to send for all his children
Who were rulers and princes
In various cities and domains.
All his children immediately responded
They were on their way to join Orunmila
10 .To celebrate his festivity, in Ile Ife.
When the day of the festival arrived
Orunmila had prepared all assortments of drinks
And all assortments of food
For the enjoyment of his visitors
15. And to welcome his children.
The first to arrive was Owa Obokun
Who is the undisputed ruler of the Ijesa and surrounding region.
Owa Obokun went before the throne of Orunmila
Owa Obokun removed his crown
20. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Owarangun Ila came before Orunmila.
He is the undisputed ruler of Ila and its environs
Owarangun Ila removed his crown
25. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Ogoga came before Orunmila.
He is the undisputed ruler of Ikerre and its environs
Ogoga removed his crown
30. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Alara came before Orunmila.
He is the undisputed ruler of Ilaramokin and its environs
Alara removed his crown
35. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Ajero came before Orunmila.
He is the undisputed ruler of Ijero and its environs
Ajero removed his crown
40. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Alaketu came before Orunmila.
He is the undisputed ruler of Ketu and its environs
Alaketu removed his crown
45. Prostrated himself flat before Orunmila
And said “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Olowo came before Orunmila
He is the undisputed ruler of the Owo people
And Olowo stood straight and unbending before Orunmila.
Orunmila wore a large garment of linen
50. Olowo also wore a large garment of linen
2.1. Orunmila wore a pair of sliver shoes
Olowo also wore a pair of silver shoes
Orunmila carried a flywhisk with an intricately beaded handle
Olowo also carried a flywhisk with an intricately beaded handle
5. Orunmila wore a crown of precious beads
Olowo also wore a crown of precious beads.
Orunmila said, “You too, Olowo,
You have to say, ‘May this festival be happy and fruitful’.”
Olowo said he could not say
10. “May this festival be happy and fruitful.”
Olowo said, “You, Orunmila, wear a large garment of linen
I, Olowo, also wear a large garment of linen;
You, Orunmila, wear a pair of sliver shoes
I , Olowo, also wear a pair of silver shoes
15. You, Orunmila, carry a flywhisk with an intricately beaded handle
I, Olowo, also carried a flywhisk with an intricately beaded handle
You, Orunmila, wear a crown of precious beads
I, Olowo, also wear a crown of precious beads.
And it is said that no one wearing a royal crown
20. Bows down to another.
Orunmila was mad because of this disrespect.
He went to a palm tree
With sixteen fronds
And instantly disappeared into orun.
25. As soon as he disappeared
Orunmila’s great counsel was missed.
There was nobody to advise people
Or caution them about their lives.
When things began to go bad
30. There was no one to consult
The world began to turn upside down
And there was no one to save the world.
Women no longer menstruated
Men no longer produced semen
35. Plants did not flower or fruit
Leaves lost their green
The sky lost its blue
The rain no longer fell
And the sun did not rise in the morning
40. Children were dying
And the elderly were sick.
Medicines did not work
Poisons had no antidotes.
Rivers that had been flowing for thousands of years
45. Suddenly ran no longer and dried up.
Mountains that had stood proudly for thousands of years
Suddenly fell down and became valleys.
Spiders could no longer weave threads
Fishes knew not how to swim
50. Even big birds started falling down from the sky
3.1. Because they had forgotten how to fly.
Butterflies with beautiful colors
Suddenly appeared with gray wings
Cocks forgot to crow in the morning
5. And the fowls would not lay eggs.
Because crops were not growing
There was no food to eat
Even the tall palm tree
Failed to produce any palm wine
10. To quench the thirst of young men
Busy burying old folks who were too weak and tired
To bear the heavy stress
Of a world without Orunmila.
If anything could go wrong
15. It promptly went wrong.
People therefore came together
And went to the palm tree with sixteen fronds
And begged Orunmila to return home.
“Please come home, Ifa,” they begged him.
20. “You the supreme chief in Ira,
Honored Citizen of Ijero
Prince of all and sundry
Please come home.
Life without you is impossible
25. You are the magical spirit in the mammoth
That makes the elephant move
Please come home.
Orunmila said it was too late.
There was no turning back or return
30. After you have climbed the sixteen-frond palm.
You are all free now
And whomsoever you please
You may now call your father.
All their pleadings fell on his deaf ear.
35. Finally he took pity on them.
He gave them eight palm kernels
And told them,
“This is who to ask
When you reach home
40. When you want to be rich
This is who to ask.
When you reach home
When you want children
This is who to ask.
45. When you reach home
When you want wealth
This is who to ask.
When you reach home
When you want power
50. This is who to ask.
4.1. When you reach home
When you want knowledge
This is who to ask.
When you reach home
5. When you want anything
This is who to ask.”
Orunmila climbed the sixteen-frond palm
On the tall mountain of Igeti
And refuses to return home.
10. He says whomsoever you please
You may regard as your father.
The Portfolio Accordion to Obatala
1. I was there when it began, and my eyes saw it happen. It all happened right
there, in my very presence. 2 It was Eledumare who created darkness, before he
later created light. 3. He was the one who separated darkness from light, and named
them night and day. 4. We had no time. We had no space. All that existed were we.
5. Nothing was before us. 6. We had no knowledge or wisdom, because knowledge
and wisdom exist only within time and space. 7. We had no time to think. 8 Then
Eledumare introduced thoughts into us, so that we might communicate and think
amongst ourselves.
9. That was when we all began to know each other and one another, each different,
each related, each descended from the same root of divinity. 10 We immediately
saw that we were the divinities, and with us were the keys to creation and oblitera-
tion.
11. Eledumare became the lord of the divinities. 12. I, the god of whiteness,
am his able deputy. When we saw ourselves within the vast expanse of space, we
counted our numbers in trillion upon trillions. 13. Several trillions of us were male.
14. Many trillions were female. 15. Uncountable were the trillions of us who re-
mained androgynous. 16. Each one had his or her colors and insignias. 17. My color
is simple and plain white, because of the simplicity of my mind.
18. I am not complex, even though the gifts that I bear and embody are quite com-
plex and rare. 19. My mind is not limited in its capacity to think and create. My
brain moves in limit-less leaps and bounds.
20. Even time is no barrier to my mind, as it roams from past to present and future.
21. My only flaw is my own shadow, which falls over a tiny ground through which
I am unable to see within the perspective of time. 22. Therein lies the tragic margin
of my error.
2.1. I was the one to whom Eledumare turned when time was born.
2. Time went ticking along in its busy fashion, and it flew like a tireless bird from
night to day.
3. “Time is for life,” Eledumare said. 4. “The morning is for working. It is not to be
wasted. You will regret every second that you waste, because it will be duly cred-
ited to you and promptly deducted from the balance of your time. 5. Every second
is precious, for your time shall me measured in moments. 6. Those who fail to use
this moment think that they will make use of the next. 7. Will the same monster that
prevents them from using this moment not also deter them from using the next?”
8. “I cannot agree more,” I said.9. “Let us therefore seize this moment to make people,” Eledumare said.” 10.
We will make them look like us, think like us, eat like us, and do everything else
like us. 11. The only difference between us and people will be death. 12. They will
not see death as long as they can keep the omi iye ( water of life) from spilling.
13. But being human, they will not be able to keep the water of life from spilling,
and death will visit humankind.
14. Their lives will therefore look like a tragedy, because try as hard as they could,
they will finally die. 15. But for them, death will not be the end of life. 15. Death
will only transform them to a higher plane of existence, where they will be reborn
and recycled into life.”
16. Eledumare charged me with the task of making people. 17. To make my
task easy, I chose Ajala, the one who knows the secrets of clay work, and does won-
derful life-size portraiture, and named him my assistant. 18. Ajala is an extremely
talented and observant portrait sculptor. 19. He could make or copy any head in
clay, with which we modeled the entire human body. 20. I make the rest of the body.
20. The process starts with me. 21. I make the rest of the body and then the rest of
the body will walk to the house of Ajala, where it will choose a head, before pro-
ceeding to aye, through a woman’s womb, to begin life. 22. That was our proce-
dure, and it worked well for us and everybody else for several generations after we
arrived at Ile Ife and began the task of populating the land with people.
3.1. I had decided to focus on creative work, and handed all administrative and
political duties over to Oduduwa, who was reigning as the first Oba or king of Ile
Ife. 2. He seemed quite happy doing the administrative work, and I am quite happy
doing my creative work. 3. We are both doing what we are best at doing.
4. Because I work so fast, I am able to make hundreds of bodies every day. 5.
Thus I place a lot of pressure on Ajala, who also has to make hundreds to heads to
keep up with me.
6. His work is therefore often of uneven quality.7. Most heads are perfect, that is
they are finely molded and well fired in the kiln to the precise temperature for firing
heads. 8. But many are heads that are under-fired, that is they were fired at a tem-
perature lower than the recommended degree for firing human heads.
9. Other heads are totally unfired. 10. Some heads were over-fired, that is they ei-
ther stayed too long in the kiln, or they were fired at a temperature higher than the
recommended degree for firing human heads. 11. I have noticed that Ajala tries to
make enough perfect heads to go around all the perfect bodies that I make, but the
bodies themselves sometimes chose the wrong heads.
12. Since the time I became intoxicated from drinking the entire content of my
favorite keg, during the journey from orun (heaven) to aye (earth), I stopped drink-
ing. 13. And everything went well, I discharged my duties excellently well, and
produced perfect people with perfect bodies. 14. One day, I decided to drink again,
just to enjoy the warm feeling of alcohol down my throat. 15. I asked my tapper to
supply me with a particularly large keg of palm wine that day.
16. He arrived early with a fat keg whose content was frothing with fermentation.
17. He assured me that he had tasted it, and that it was excellent wine.18. I took a
swig, and confirmed his word: the wine was full in spirit and delicious to savor.
19. I soon dragged the entire keg into my studio, and began to drink from the palm
wine as I worked. 20 It made work so very easy and enjoyable, because I was able
to combine business with pleasure.
21. The wine was not only delicious but highly intoxicating. 22. Before long,
I was drunk. 23. That was when it occurred to me that I could began to experiment
with the human bodies that I was making.
24. Nothing stopped me from making asymmetrical figures, I decided. 25. Why
couldn’t I make an arm longer than the other, or the left leg bigger than the right?
26. Why couldn’t I make people with one or no eyes? 27. I could just as easily make
people with two noses, and so on and so forth. 28. It would only make these people
a lot more interesting to see.
4.1. I began to fashion people with all sorts of experimental body parts. 2. But
I was too drunk to realize the implications of what I was doing at that time. 3. Some
were cripples, others hunchbacks, deaf and dumb, blind or even albinos. 4. There
was a little child with two heads growing out of a space meant for only one neck. 5.
But when I was making these characters, it seemed like tremendous fun, because I
was too drunk to realize the enormity of my action. 6. It was not until the following
day, when the wine had cleared from my mind that I could really understand what
had happened.
7. At first, I did not remember anything about my drunkenness. 8. It was not until
I saw a little girl with four legs and only an arm that I became suspicious. 9. I was
truly puzzled, and asked Orunmila what had happened
.10. “Don’t you remember making her like that?
11. Did you not argue that people looked too ordinary when they resembled divini-
ties like you and me, and that you would like to make people look more interesting?
12. Have you forgotten, when you were making that little girl, that I asked you why
you were giving her only one hand, and you argued that you would compensate her
with four legs, instead of two?
13. Why have you now lost all sense of recollection? Why can you not recall any-
thing? Could it be because you were drunk?”
14. Is it not clear enough to you that you cannot handle alcohol? Until now,
your alcoholism affected you only.15. But at this point, your alcoholism is seri-
ously affecting the lives of other. 16. You have ruined the lives of many of the unfor-
tunate people whom you managed to create with physical and emotional handicaps
when you were drunk. 18. You cannot take back their lives.
19. They are already alive. 20. You cannot unmake what you have already made. 22.
The tragedy of their lives will also live for ever after them, for many of them will
marry and have children.
23. Their strange genes will mix into the general gene, and alter the blood of all and
sundry. 24 Who knows in whose family and in what generation the blood of your
ill-fated ones will manifest itself?
25. Should you not really be ashamed of yourself?
Should you not hang your head in shame and weep?
Should you not fast, and beg for forgiveness?
Should you not abstain from sex for a long period of time?
Should you not offer as sacrifice the biggest of your she goats, the one pregnant
with heavy foetus? Should you not hide your face in shame?
And should you, most important of all, not consider abstaining from alcohol for the
rest of eternity, seeing that the liquor drinks you, and you do not drink the liquor?”
5.1. I tore my robes into shreds and cried like a baby when Orunmila said
these things to me. 2. I had no excuse for my irresponsible actions. 3. There was no
reason for me to fall so low as to do what apparently I did. 4. The result of my char-
acter slip was right there before me for all to see. 5. And even more tragic is the fact
that more and more people were going to be born in the future with deformities as a
result of the slip that I made in only one afternoon of drunkenness.
6. “Some people handle their drinks better than the others,” Orunmila contin-
ued. 7. “What will get Taye drunk silly may not at all intoxicate Kehinde, his twin
brother. 8. It all depends on the density of your brain mass, and the flow of your
blood. Obatala you must give it up. 9. Your brain is too light. Alcohol is not for the
likes of you.”
10. There was no more need for him to appeal to me. 11. It is all too clear
by now. Alcohol is the shadow in my life that falls upon some of the most impor-
tant matters in my life. 12. Perhaps the most important task that I have ever tackled
in my entire life was the movement of the orisa to aye from orun. 13. But I almost
botched it, thanks to alcohol. 14. My thanks to Oduduwa, who took command of the
expedition when I was drunk. 15. My thanks to my close friends who moved my
drunk body when I fell asleep. 30. They saved all of us. There was no doubt about
it: mine is not the type of head that mixes with liquor. 31. My high is natural. It
comes from life itself.”
6.1. So I called together all my family, friends and acquaintances, and they
all came to my house. 2. I then took the biggest of my pregnant goats, and offered
it as sacrifice to Orunmila. 3. I then slaughtered two tall he-goats with long red
beards, and cooked the meat as a feast for everybody, in celebration of my ori. 4.
“Your head is hard,” everybody kept saying. ”You must take life a lot more gently.”
5. I therefore took the opportunity to announce that I was giving up drinking. It was
making my life so miserable. 6. They all cheered and congratulated me.
7. They therefore understood why I did not serve alcohol during the entire feast. 8.
There was much eating and only water was drunk throughout the period of feasting,
which lasted several days. 9. “Nobody should expect me to serve alcohol anymore.
10. And never will I accept any alcoholic beverage from anyone anymore. 11. No-
body in my household will henceforth touch alcohol. 12. I forbid any of my fol-
lowers to drink. 13. It is not part of our ori. 14. We shall leave the drinking to those
whose heads allow for drinking, and whose stomachs easily carry drinks.”
15. Since that moment, I have never touched alcohol. 16. The very thought of
palm wine turns my stomach. 17. I no longer remember what I found so attractive in
drinking, because my entire life has changed for the better since I stopped drinking
wine.
18. The people who I make have become even more beautiful. 19. Ajala the por-
trait artist who assists me continues to make heads for the bodies that I make. 20.
He also continues to produce under pressure, in order to match my rate of produc-
tivity. 21. His products therefore remain uneven. 22. He still makes incredibly
amazing heads that are perfect in all respects. 23. But he also continues to produce
pieces that are not fired at all, under-fired, or over-fired. 24. All these defective
heads appear perfect to the ordinary, untrained eye, even though Ajala who makes
the head, and is the supreme master of the art of portraiture, knows exactly where
the faults are. 26. The unfired and under-fired heads are really porous, even though
they appear otherwise. 27. The over-fired clay heads also have hidden cracks that
are impossible to detect with the ordinary eye. 28. But Ajala and I know where the
cracks are, while the bodies choosing the heads usually have no clue.
7.1. I have instructed Ajala to always stay around in his studio to direct those
who arrive looking to choose their heads. 2. If these individuals get excited about
mere physical attraction and chose the defective heads, the repercussions are enor-
mous. 3. They will suffer on the way to aye.
4. Because on the road to aye it is always pouring heavily with rain, to wash and
clean the bodies of the travelers. 5. They must have a clean start on earth, so it is im-
portant to thoroughly wash them. 6. The rain falls on all, without discrimination or
care. 7. Just as the rain falls on people who choose defective or bad heads. It falls on
people with good heads.
8. Those who choose the fresh unfired clay are those at most risk. 9. As the rain falls
it will gradually dissolve the heads. 10. Those who choose under-fired heads face a
similar problem, even though the rate at which their heads deteriorate is less.
11. Those who chose over-fired heads with cracks in them are also vulnerable be-
cause the cracks allow rain water to soak into the heads, and dissolve the porous
clay heads. 12. When these individuals reach the world, they will spend a consid-
erable amount of their energies to replenish and repair the parts of their heads that
have dissolved in the rain.
13. Therefore whatever profession or occupation they engage in, their progress and
rewards will be slow, in comparison with those who choose perfect heads.
14. Ajala knows the situation, and understands that he should be there to as-
sist people looking to choose their heads, to prevent them from choosing the wrong
ones. 15. But Ajala is never there. 16. He is a debtor and an incurable drunk.
17. As soon as he detects footsteps approaching his house, he quickly runs to hide.
18. He is always thinking that one of his creditors is trying to collect a debt.
19. If it is a creditor, he or she will curse and depart.
20. Most of the time, however, they are headless bodies seeking heads. 21. Without
Ajala’s help, these individuals would simply proceed into the studio to choose a
head for themselves. 22. At that point they are at the mercy of their ori inu or inner
head, which will guide them in picking the outer head.
23. Sometimes I am around, in which case I help them. 24. I direct the travelers to
choose a perfect head and ignore the defective heads, however attractive these de-
fective heads might look to these clueless beings.
25. But in most cases I am not around, and Ajala is in hiding. 26. The traveler along
the road to earth is totally at the mercy of his or her fate. 27. Life itself is a journey,
and only our head is our map. 28. Wherever our heads direct us, may our legs join
us on these journeys.
8.1.When we arrived on earth, and we began to live on the planet, there was
peace on earth among all peoples and their divinities.
2. Life was good, and there was no sickness. 3. Nobody died and people and divini-
ties lived for ever.
4.This arrangement pleased everybody except Iku, the divinity of death, whose of-fice it is to kill people. 5. Iku complained that his life was utterly meaningless be-
cause he lived to kill.
6.It was not being wicked or being nice. It was simply his nature and duty to kill.
7. Without killing, he had no reason to exist. 8.It was therefore totally understand-
able that he should be sad that nobody was dying.
9. But everybody also knew that it was the fault of Iku that nobody was dying.
10. Iku simply refused to leave the realms of heaven (orun) for the earth (aye).
11. When they asked Iku why he would not venture here to harvest people, he swore
that he was afraid of the Calabash of Being (Igba Iwa) that was kept in the palace
of Oduduwa, the reigning king of Ile Ife. 12. But how could a half-empty calabash
be so intimidating to a veteran like Iku? 13. Iku said that it was a totally mysterious
phobia, because he was unsettled by the perfectly settled level of the water in the
Calabash of Being. 14. The level neither rises nor decreases. Yet nobody ever added
to the water in the calabash that is kept safely behind Oduduwa’s throne. That was
what scared him, Iku said.
15. That same afternoon, there was a major altercation at the palace between
two of Oduduwa’s wives over a minor issue. 16. The women were loud, screaming
and cursing at the top of their lungs. Oduduwa, heeding their noise, called them into
his presence to hear what their quarrel was all about.
17. The first woman, Olokun, claimed to be the most important wife, because she
was not only a divinity, she ruled all the vast reaches of the earth, which was flood-
ed, before people were created. 18. The second wife, Oshara, claimed supremacy.
12. Because even though she was merely human, she was the mother of two-dozen
children. 13. These children include males, females ,and twins, whom Oshara bore
for Oduduwa. 14. And everyone knew that the children of the hill always remain
inside the hill’s womb. 15. Olokun was childless.
16. Oduduwa found himself in the midst of this slight discussion that devel-
oped into an argument. 17. He had to decide who was the most senior wife in the
palace of Ile Ife.
18. Olokun was sure that Oduduwa was going to decided in her favor. 19. After all
they were fellow divinities. 18. Moreover, history was on her side. She was senior
to everyone here on earth. 19. Oduduwa also knew the history of the creation of the
earth, being one of those who led the delegation of divinities to Ile Ile.
20. At the same time, Osara was certain that Oduduwa was going to decide
in her favor. 21. She knew how very highly Oduduwa held the place of children in
the palace. 22.And everyone knew that she was the most prolific mother and maker
of babies in the entire palace. 23. It was therefore clear in her sight that Oduduwa
would not hesitate to name her the most important wife.
24. Oduduwa, in the midst of this dilemma, decided that both women were
equally important. 25. Each one was indispensable in her own way, he said. 26.
Each woman was therefore most important in this way. 27. But Olokun, not happy
at that decision, decided to slap Oduduwa in the face. 28. Oduduwa, who was ex-
pecting the blow, ducked in time. 30. Now Olokun was a wealth woman who wore
many rows of precious beads around her neck, wrists, and ankle. 31. The string of
the beads around Olokun’s wrist snapped, and the beads went flying in the air, and
landed on the Calabash of Being at the back of the throne.
9.1 There was pandemonium in the palace. 2. The Calabash of Being fell, hit
the floor and shattered, spilling its divine water. 3. That same afternoon, Iku heard
about the fate of the Calabash of Being and came sailing into human life. 4. Iku was
happy at the news. 5. Finally he could move to the earth and start slaughtering any-
body he liked.
6. Iku killed on the left, and killed on the right; then he moved into the middle
and ravaged it mercilessly. 7. Everybody was dying like flies, as Iku, now afraid of
nothing, boldly marched into the abodes of ordinary people. 7. Iku had no shame.
10. He did not discriminate. Whomsoever Iku saw, he killed. 11. Iku had no mercy.
13. He killed even infant babies, at the hour of delivery, in addition to slaughtering
the mothers. 14. It was as if Iku was trying to make up for all those years when the
Omi Iye was intact, and he was afraid to enter the earth to kill people.
15. People became afraid for their lives. 16. Nobody knew whose turn it was
next to die. 17. They did not know from where Iku was going to spring, or how it
was going to catch them. 18. Everybody knew that Iku could come at any time, yet
nobody was ever prepared to die. 19. The fear of death gripped people, who were
not accustomed to such a thing as death. 20. They were convinced that death was
going to take all of them away, one by one.
21. The people therefore came together and sent a representation to Orunmila,
to teach them what to do to release them from their problem. 22. Orunmila consult-
ed his oracle and the Odu that came out was Oyeku meji. 23. He asked the people to
prepare lots of food, and get ready for a feast. 24. They should also make a costume
of many colors whenever anybody died. 25. If they made that costume, whomso-
ever died would return wearing that costume.
26. It was Egungun, however, who returned in the garments, attracted by the colors.
27. Egungun could never resist bright colors, and he donned the garment, happy,
and began to move from house to house, showing off his garment of many colors,
and thanking people for making it for him. 28. 29. That was how Egungun returnedfrom the other world into this world. 30. That was how people were able to lure
Egungun from the other world, into this world, to help them put an end to the mass
slaughtering taking place whenever Iku visited the earth.
10.1 Now, following Orunmila’s advice, the people had prepared huge quan-
tities of food. 2. They cooked all the dishes that people really enjoyed, such as
pounded yam with melon soup and bushmeat. 3. Others prepared countless basket-
fuls of corn balls, eko, and beans balls, olele. 4. Some people had made porridge,
hot and steaming, its aroma wafting through the entire neighborhood.. 5. There were
bowls full of fried chicken and roasted beef. 6. Pots of wine were also brewed and
placed next to the bowl of food. 7. Nobody knew what to do with the meal. Every-
body waited.
8. Suddenly, they began to hear the saworo sound of the jingling bangles worn
by iku. 9. Pandemonium broke out as the entire crowd scattered, everyone running
for dear life, abandoning the feast that they had prepared so lavishly earlier on. 10.
Iku ran after them, hungry, looking for a delicious and succulent infant .to snack on.
11. Then, suddenly, he caught the combined aroma of all the delicious dishes that
the people abandoned when they fled. 12. Iku stopped and tasted the fried chicken.
13. It was crunchy on the outside and succulent and juicy on the inside. 14. Iku
loved the food that humans ate. 15. It was much better than raw human meat. 16. He
tasted more of the food, and liked all of them. 17. Soon, he totally forgot all about
the people he was chasing, and simply sat down to feast on the delicious dishes that
they left behind. 18. He really loved the porridge. 19. Just as he was about to de-
clare it his favorite, he trid some pounded yam with melon soup and bush meat. 20
He like this dish even more. 21. He ate bowls upon bowls of black eye beans. 22.
Then he settled on tuwo dishes, made from corn.
23. He feasted for days without taking a break. 24. Before he knew it, he had be-
come rotund, hardly able to shift from where he sat. 25. Yet he continued to eat
because the food was so sweet.
11.1 From that moment onwards, death no longer killed people so easily.
2. Because he had grown so fat and slow after feasting for so long on all the food
meant for a festival, Iku could only catch the old and sick, or anybody he could
sneak up upon. 3. He preferred to eat human food anyway.
4. When he got desperate, he waited until everybody went to bed, and then stole into
their kitchen to scavenge on their leftovers. 5. He quickly left before daybreak.
6.That is why the babalawo always ask people to leave their dishes unwashed till the
morning, so that Iku could find something to snack on if he sneaked in, hungry, dur-
ing the long nights. 7. Iku has been known to grow angry and kill members of the
household, simply because he found no food in the entire home, during the night,
when he called, famished. 8.That, in brief, was how Iku came into the world. 9. He
was domesticated into a food-eating creature.
12. 1. Now the rivalry between two of the most prominent wives of Oduduwa,
namely Osaara and Olokun, did not end with the shattering of the Igba Iwa, or the
Calabash of Being. 2. It happened that despite all the wealth that Olokun accumu-
lated, she was infertile. 3. Try as hard as she did, she was not able to bear any child.
4. She went to the Ifa priest, who told her that she had to choose between her enor-
mous wealth and fertility.
5. She did not hesitate before saying that she would rather remain rich, than turn
poor but blessed with many children.
6. Her infertility, she decided, was totally by choice. 7. But it was also a final
choice, one that she could not reverse. 8. She sometimes wished that the choice was
reversible. 9. But she was told definitely that it was final when she made her choice.
10. I told her that we all make choices. 11. I have my own regrets with alcohol. 12.
She had to live with what she chose.
13. I live with the regret that I brought handicapped people into the world. 14. But
my joy is that each one of them is specially blessed like no other person in the world
is. 15. Each person simply has to find where his or her special ability lies. The per-
son so called handicapped is now a person of special ability, and not a person with
disability.
Olunrete, Ajanrete
Olunrete, Ajanrete
Ile the Earth and Olorun from above
They went to the deep forest to hunt.
They hunted for many hours
5. And killed nothing.
Finally they killed a small rat
And wanted to share it.
According to the respected tradition
The elder one takes the head section
10. The younger one takes the tail section.
Ile claimed to be the elder.
Olorun also claimed to be the elder.
As they continued to argue
Ile the Earth opened up and swallowed the rat.
15. Olorun became angry and withdrew from all.
Rain would not fall from the heavens
Only the scorching sun shone on a daily basis
All the crops died
And there was nothing for people to eat.
20. They went to the babalawo diviner
He consulted the oracle.
The Odu that appeared was Olunrete.
It is now clear that Olorun is the elder one
Ajanrente
25.Olunrete, Ajanrete.
The Lore of Ogun.
1.1.I am at home.
2.I am at the farmland.
3.I am also at the border post, snacking on a roasted canine.
4.Even if you do not know me,
Can’t you hear the rumble of my vocal chord?
5.Even if you have never been to the lagoon,
Have you never before tasted salt in a soup dish?
6 I am here, and farmers may no longer go to their farms.
7. I am here, and fishermen may no longer be able to go the rivers.
8.I am here, and may newly weds be unable to get intimate.
9.Those who say their wives are thieves,
Adulterers, witches, back-stabbers, slovenly,
Liars, loafers, untrustworthy and mean should bring them to me.
8.It is these same type of women that I am collecting.
9.Has it not been said that only a herbalist can marry a sicker?
10. In the market of Ejigbomekun,
Only I, Ogun, can sleep naked with a witch,
And wake up the following morning to drink a sharp draft of palm wine.
!1. I am Ogun, who made my place in Ire,
After departing Ile Ife., the city of a thousand and one shrines.
12. I was not born in Ile Ife either. 13. I am not a native of Ile Ife. 14. True I
grew up in Ife. But as with everyone else, Ile Ife for me was merely a point of de-
parture, from where to see where to move to settle down. 14. I knew that I did not
want to settle in Ile Ife. 15. It was too urban for me. 16. There was too much drum-
ming and laughing.
17. The women’s eyes were too open to wealth. 18. They loved money more than
anything else. 19. Everyone knows that Ile Ife women were materialistic.
20. Their men? Party creatures. 21. They were not fighters. 22. They were revelers.
23. They held festivals and feasts at the slightest pretension. 24. It was an easy-go-
ing and jovial population, which I found annoying, and out of tune with my hot
temperament. 25. The people made me jealous and angry by their easy ways.
26.My ways are not easy. My ways are difficult. Tiring. 27. I was in Ile Ife only
because I was one of the one million and one divinities who descended on a single
chain, with the first diaspora from the other world, orun, to this world, aye. 28. So I
into the pavement, and shattered their gourds.
16. I drank straight from the narrow neck of the seventh keg of palm wine. 17. My
eyes red and bulging, I slaughtered the seven chiefs and seven commoners, because
of their arrogance. 18. I asked to be taken to palace of the king, who hearing of my
approach fled from the city.
19. I took his seven wives and made them my queens. 20. I took his seven crowns
and wore them one by one. They fitted perfected.
21. So I said, “Who the crown fit, he will wear it.” 22.So I kept the crowns and be-
came the ruler of Ire, resplendent in an ancient palace, with seventy seven suites.
23. For seven years of peace, followed by seven years of war, I ruled Ire from
my palace during the peace, and led the battles during the wars. 24. For seven
weeks, I drank nothing but blood at the battle of Ihoriho, against naked giants who
invaded city after city, and made everyone walk naked on the streets. 25. The people
of Alara had succumbed to the ravaging army of Ihoriho, and they began to walk na-
ked on the street. 26. The people of Ajero similarly fell to the army of Ihoriho, and
they also began to walk naked on the street. 27. The ladies of Tamodun also walked
without a stitch, when the army of Ihoriho took their city. 28. I watched with dread
and fury as the army of Ihoriho matched toward the city of Ire, approaching the
seven gates with impunity.
3.1 The women of Ire fasted for seven days when they saw the army of Ihoriho
matching on the gates of our ancient city. 2. The women sent their seven war lord to
meet me and arrange a surrender with the general of the Ihoriho army. 3. I sat silent.
4. Angry. Furious.
5. My favorite wife brought my favorite dish of seven wraps of pounded yam.
6. Another wife produced seven pieces of canine meat.
7. It was my new concubine who served me with seven kegs of palm wine.
8.I kicked away the dining table, angry, furious.
9. I asked for the counsel of the diviner,
Who consulted the oracle.
10. The oracle said I was right.
11. Only blood will flow at the battle of Ihoriho, but no food.
12. On the seventh day with no food,
13. After seven days of eating or drinking nothing but blood,
My eyes were red like the heart of a kernel of fire.
I saw nothing but anger and fury.
I asked them to lead me thus to the army of Ihoriho.
14.They asked me to go with a garrison of seven thousand fighters. 15. I said no. 16.
I marched alone into battle against the army of Ihoriho. 17. I fell into the midst of
the army of Ihoriho, and slaughtered them left, right and center.18. As they tried to
cut me down, they hacked and killed one another.
19. The gore and blood that witnessed the massacre remain till today at Ire. Because
this is what makes the clay at the central market look so red. 20. The general of the
army of Ihoriho fled, and I went after him. 21. After chasing him from town to town
for seven days, I found him hiding among seven women, in the court of Ilaramoko.
22. I took his seven women and added them to mine. 23. I took his head and added
it to the display of trophies on my seven racks of war skulls. I told the people of
Ilara that they may wear clothes. Till today they continue to wear clothes in Ilara. I
told the people of Ijero that they may return to wearing clothes. And till today, you
will see them wear clothes in Ijero. The women of Tamodun were also happy to
return to their high fashion attires. Everyone was happy to be free of the tyranny of
the Ihoriho army.
24. Thus peace remained in Ire for another seven times seven years. 25. I lived in
the pleasure of my women, and made many handsome princes for the town of Ire.
26. But I soon got tired of domestic life.
The Flash of Sango
1.1 Bring me a ram.
To quench my hunger.
Bring me a thousand bitter kolas.
I owe my stomach a small snack.
2. Or who want me to strike them
With a live flash of lightening and thunder?
Only those who are doomed from birth.
Only those troubled by Esu.
Would stumble across the crossroads.
Would step on my dance wands.
Only those ready for the executioner.
3.I am the king of Koso.
I am the author of lightening.
My voice is the thunder
That comes with the summer storms.
4.When the sky turns black, beware because I may just strike again.
They called me the king of Koso,
Not because they failed to recognize
My kingship over the whole of the land.
But they all knew I was partial to Koso
Because of Koso’s northern connection,
5.After all, Eji my mother
Was a northern princess,
Dark and beautiful like a polished ebony figure.
6. My mother was a gifted princess. 7. The daughter of the Nupe king of Elempe.
8.She was given as a child bride to the Alaafin as part of a treaty between the two
kingdoms. 9. The Alaafin gave the Elempe his beautiful daughter in return. 10. It
was important to the treaty that the Elempe make the first gesture of offering a child
bride at least once to a new Alaafin. 11.The Alaafin was not compelled by the treaty
to return the gesture, but he custom expected him to do so.
12. The Alaafin was truly stunned by the beauty and innocence of Eji the child
bride who was given to him at the age of four years. 13. She was intelligent, with
bright open eyes, always with a broad smile for everyone. 14. Her mother, the Nupe
king’s favorite, had died in childbirth. 15. The Nupe monarch could not bear seeing
the little girl who resembled her mother almost like a copy. 16. The king of Elempe
therefore decided to give her away as a child bride to the newly elected Alaafin of
Oyo.
16. The woman who nursed my mother since Eji was a baby moved from the
land of the Nupe to Oyo and continued to raise the child. 17. The Alaafin saw Eji
daily since she was a baby until she was a young woman. 18. The Alaafin regarded
Eji almost as his own baby, since she grew up in his palace. 19. He promised Eji
that if she bore him a son, the son would become the king after him. 20. When Eji
was eighteen years old, she bore the doting king a son, me. 21. They named me
Sango, because of the speed with which I came out of my mother’s womb. 22. In an
instant, and it was all over. 23. I crawled out myself, and in a week I was already
talking, imitating the greetings of those who came to greet the new baby. 24. They
were startled when the new baby returned their greetings. 25. Everyone knew I was
a special kind of baby.
2.1. I began to walk by the time I was six months. 2. By my first birthday, I was
already apprenticed to Orere, the greatest herbalist in the land, to learn about the
power of herbal arts. Orere moved into the palae to gie his undivided attention to
schooling. Most of the time we spent roaming the forest, studying leaves. 3. By the
age of three, I could make explosives simply from rubbing two leaves together. 4. I
was especially interested in fire and explosion. 5. By the age of ten, I knew how to
control lightning and thunder, and make them do my wish.
6. My father, the Alaafin Jakuta died suddenly one day while doing acrobatic rid-
ing on his new horse. 7. The cursed horse threw him up and he landed on his neck,
breaking it. 8. He died on the spot. 9. He was hardly cold before his younger brother
seized power as Regent. 10. He declared Eji my mother one of his queens. 11.
When she resisted, he ordered her repatriated to Nupeland, the land of her fathers.
12. I was returning from researching into leaves when I found my mother sobbing.
13. In tears, she told me of the new edicts. 14. She was forbidden from taking any-
thing with her, except her son, that is me.
15. I had been working on some herbs for about three months. 16. This particular
combination of leaves had lethal electricity properties that worked with natural forc-
es. 17. By pointing the combination of leaves in a particular direction, after saying
some incantations, you can direct lightning at anything, in any path, and at different
intensities.
18. The Regent’s ploy was to get rid of both my mother and me in one stroke. 19.
The Regent knew that it was the wish of the deceased king for me, Sango, to be
king after his death. 20. But the Regent decided to become king himself. 21. He
called the kingmakers together and bribed them. 22. The three kingmakers who
refused his bribed died mysteriously one after the other. 24. All the rest decided that
he was going to be the next king.
23. On the day the kingmakers were about to announce their decision to make
the Regent the new king, I, Sango, decided to strike first. 24. The king-to-be sat
amidst the kingmakers in the central hall, as they prepared to vote formally and
make their decision known to the city. 25. He was not supposed to be there, since he
was the one being voted on. 26. Everyone already knew that some fraud was going
on inside the palace. 27. But nobody could do anything because the people were
afraid. 28. Many people went about feeling sad that Eji and I, the favorite prince,
were going to be banished from the Oyo kingdom.29. Eji had resigned herself to
her fate, and was prepared to return to Nupeland, where her father was still reigning.
3.1. I was furious. For the first time, fire came out of my mouth as I spoke to
my mother, reassuring her. 2. I had eaten certain herbs that reacted inside me to
cause fire and smoke to come out of me. 3. But I had not demonstrated this power in
public before. 4. When my mother saw the fire and smoke coming from my mouth,
she fell on her knees, and she was afraid. 5. I marched out, pointed the electric-
ity leaves at the sky and stood still for a moment, with powerful Oro of incantation
coming out of my mouth, mixed with fire and smoke.
6. Instantly, the sky began to darken. 7. In a matter of minutes, the sky was com-
pletely dark. 8. Suddenly the dark sky was torn into jagged flashes of electrical
sparks, as lightning, thunder, and a rainstorm blended into a frightening, extreme
mid-day weather condition. 9. Everybody ran indoor, shut the doors and windows,
and tried to block their ears from the deafening noise of the loud thunderstorm.
10. A loud explosion from the sky struck the central hall with the king-to-be
and the kingmakers wining and dining and congratulating themselves. 11. The
lightning strike was a direct hit on the building and in a moment, the historic hall
and its entire royal contents were incinerated, without affecting any other building
inside or outside the palace.
12. In a matter of minutes, the dark sky cleared, the sun began to shine again, the
rain stopped, and the only difference was the smoldering central hall.13. Everyone
knew it was the work of Sango. 14. But everyone also supported me, because they
knew that I was claiming what was mine. 15. I refused to be cheated by those who
thought they had the power to cheat me. 16. Justice became the theme of my rule.
17. Everyone knew that if they wanted justice, I gave it to them.
18. The palace cleaners soon cleared the rubbish of the central hall. 19. There
was a long-standing tradition of not mourning those struck by lightening. 20. Only
thieves, murderers and such gangsters got struck by lightning. 21. The deceased
were not mourned. 22. Shedding tears for the victims of lightning could turn the sky
dark for another lightning strike. 23.No burial ceremony was possible because there
were no remains found in the charred pile left after the thunderstorm.
4.1. Authority was naturally passed to me with no fuss. 2. To give myself
some more room, I called my builders, and constructed a small palace for myself
in Koso, outside of the main palace. 3. I moved Eji and her northern relatives to the
new palace. 4. No one knew in which of the two palaces I slept on any night. 5. I
kept my enemies guessing. My enemies were many. 6. But they were afraid of me.
7. Those who were relatives, friends and workers of the killed king makers and
the king-to-be were angry and envious. 8. They all swore to kill me. 9. But none of
them dared to openly grumble. 10. They knew that the same death that claimed their
fathers and patrons could visit them.
11. There was truly a revolution. 11. The poor people of the kingdom felt em-
powered. 12. If the rich and powerful oppressed the poor, the poor ones came to me
for justice. 13. I gave the people the justice that they deserved. 14. They sang my
praises. The women composed songs. 15. Professional poets rendered chants for me
in voices never-before heard.
16. They called me the master of all herbs. 17. It is true that my master, Orere, gave
all his knowledge to me before he passed. 18. And I used my intelligence and cu-
riosity to fill in the gaps where they existed. 19. But I never thought that I could be
regarded as the greatest herbalist of all times. 20. Being king of the largest kingdom
on earth seemed like nothing next to this honor.
21. Even as king, I still spent most of my time in the forest, doing botanical
studies for electricity. 22. Nobody noticed my absence because my mother always
performed my duties, which were mostly ceremonial. 23. The government was set
up to operate smoothly without the king playing any active role. 24. A king was not
expected to make the decisions, but he was there to ratify the decisions.
25. My time in the forest was fruitful. 26. I discovered how to convert light-
ning to electric power. 27. I then wanted to see how the electricity could be used
for light. 28. Once I could achieve this power, there would be no need for the small
palm-oil lamps, made out of clay, for lighting the homes. 29. Light would come into
individual homes directly from the skies, whenever needed. The streets would all be
lighted at night.
5.1. The experiment was successful when I tried it in the forest. 2. I went back
to the city of Oyo to announce my discovery. 3. I asked the town criers to announce
that I was about to demonstrate a new discovery. 4. I was no longer going to use my
power for destructive purposes, as I was already known for doing. 5. Some of myenemies were already composing songs about how I used my powers to expand my
own influence for political gains. 6. I wanted to show the people that my power was
for them. 7. My power was for creative purposes. 8. Sango’s power was for the ben-
efit of all the people.
9. All my people gathered one evening in front of their houses as the town
criers requested of them. 10. I told my mother Eji exactly what to do in the palace.
11. Seated under an ose tree, I was in the forest delivering the incantations to ensure
that things went smoothly. 12. From the top of the hill where I sat, I could see the
entire city of Oyo, as I looked down.
13. At exactly the hour that I asked Eji, my mother, to snap her fingers at the cala-
bash that I left for her, the entire city Oyo was fully lit with a cool natural electricity
light. 14. Every part of the city was lit. 15. People could control the light simply by
snapping their fingers.
16. I returned to the city triumphantly, to take a rest from my studies. 17. The
people of Oyo declared me a living god, the orisa of lightning and thunder. 18. The
most gifted artists of the land were asked to make sculptural objects to celebrate my
ascendancy into the ranks of orisa.
19. No one would let me leave the palace for the forest to continue my studies. 20. I
was delayed in the city, confined to my palaces, as the people continued to celebrate
my divine kingship as the most benevolent period in the history of the land.
21. But I knew that my enemies were also fast at work. 22. There were many
people dedicated to destroying my work. 23. One night they succeeded. 24. Without
any warning, the natural electrical light went out in half the town, while it stayed lit
in half the other. 25. I knew that sabotage was at work, and immediately left for the
forest. I knew exactly what to do, once I reached my camp on the hill. 26. As soon
as I got there, I saw that things had been changed. I began to rearrange the herbs
to make things work again. It did not take me any length of time before I fixed the
problem. 27. I looked down on the city, and electricity returned to the entire land.
28. From many miles from the city, you could hear the audible cry of “Sango!” that
went into the air in praise of my name as the light returned. 29. I began to descend
to return to the city.
5.1. I mounted my horse and my guards led the way. 2. We had not gone more than
twenty miles before we heard a group of horses galloping toward us.
3. Oya, my favorite queen, led the group. 4. I thought they came to greet me in
celebration. 4. But they had bad news. 5. No sooner did we leave the top of the hill
and began descending before strange things started happening. 6. By that time, we
could not see it because we were no longer on top of the hill. 7. But the city of Oyo
began to burn. 8. The light from Sango’s electricity suddenly exploded into flames
and consumed the city. 9. Many people were already burnt to death, and as Oya fled
the city, the city continued to burn. 10. Oya had come running to tell me to turn off
the switch.
11. Immediately we rode back to the top of the hill and I turned off the switch.
12. But as I looked at the city from the hilltop, I knew that we were too late. 13. A
large section of the city of Oyo was gone. 14. The old palace section was most af-
fected. 15. The city that my ancestors built, I ignorantly used my craft to destroy.
16. My mother Eji perished in the palace fires.
17. I asked to be taken to Koso, where the shrines of my ancestors were placed. 18.
The shrines were totally untouched by the fires. 19. My own shrine, the ones built
by my devotees to enshrine me as divinity, was also untouched by the fire. 20. The
fire did not spread to the Koso section of the city. 21. There in Koso, among my
trusted friends, we did the last rituals. 21. They brought me a ram with large twisted
horns. 22. They brought me a thousand bitter kolas. 23. My concubines cooked
large pots of my favorite dish of bean soups. 24. Oya made me a large bowl of oka
meal. 25. I sat on a carved mortar, with double-headed axe decorations. I become
the ultimate pestle.
26. After feasting to my utmost delight, I rested on my beloved Oya’s loins, and I
entered the ground, and returned to orun.
About the Author
Frank Baba Eyiogbe has been prac-
ticing Santería for over twenty-seven
years: twenty-three years as a santero
(Orisha priest) and eighteen years as a
babalawo (initiated in Cuba). Frank
has achieved the highest level of
babalawo, “Olofista.” He created the
premier Santería website www.oris-
hanet.org and has been a guest on
NPR’s All Things Considered and The
Global Guru and was interviewed for
LIFE magazine. He has guest lectured
at the University of Washington as
well as UC Berkeley.
Copyright Information
Babalawo, Santería’s High Priests: Fa-
thers of the Secrets in Afro-Cuban Ifá ©
2015 by Frank Baba Eyiogbe
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be used or reproduced in
any matter whatsoever, including
Internet usage, without written permis-
sion from Llewellyn Publications, ex-
cept in the form of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles and re-
views.
As the purchaser of this e-book, you
are granted the non-exclusive, non-
transferable right to access and read
the text of this e-book on screen. The
text may not be otherwise reproduced,
transmitted, downloaded, or recorded
on any other storage device in any
form or by any means.
Any unauthorized usage of the text
without express written permission of
the publisher is a violation of the au-
thor’s copyright and is illegal and pun-
ishable by law.
First e-book edition © 2015
E-book ISBN: 9780738744087
Cover design by Kevin R. Brown
Cover illustration: Rudy Gutierrez;
additional images: iStockphoto.com/
8464821/©Axusha
Editing by Jennifer Ackman
All photographs in this book were
taken by Frank Baba Eyiogbe except
the photo of Pete Rivera in the epi-
logue, page 184, is courtesy of Angel
L. Rivera.
Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of
Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Llewellyn Publications does not partic-
ipate in, endorse, or have any authority
or responsibility concerning private
business arrangements between our
authors and the public.
Any Internet references contained in
this work are current at publication
time, but the publisher cannot guar-
antee that a specific reference will con-
tinue or be maintained. Please refer to
the publisher’s website for links to
current author websites.
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For Elizabeth Felix-Discussion (Oloyú
Omó Obá),
the greater half of the calabash of my
existence.
Apetebí Iború, Apetebí Iboya, Apetebí
Ibocheché
Acknowledgments
First and foremost I want to thank my
beloved wife and apetebí Elizabeth
Felix-Discussion (Oloyú Omó Obá).
This book could never have existed
without you, your patience with my
interminable hours of writing and end-
less first drafts, and your constant
care when I was ill. Your love, support,
and belief in this book made it pos-
sible. I owe you a dream vacation.
To our precious ibeyis (twins), Xo-
chitl (Obá Omá) and Emiliano
(Alamitó): you two are the light of my
life. More than anything, this book is
for you.
To my Oluwo Siwayú (padrino) Pete
Rivera (Odí Ogundá): You brought me
into the world of Ifá, a gift truly be-
yond measure and price. Your oddun
allows you to initiate only two babal-
awos. It was my great good fortune
that you chose me to be one of those
two. You were like a second father to
me, and you taught me how to work in
a world of aché, and you don’t neces-
sarily have to do anything big or com-
plex to achieve tremendous results.
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couldn’t ask for a better padrino.
To my oyugbona Miguelito Perez Al-
varez (Ogbe Dandy): your immense
wealth of knowledge of Ifá and your
patience with my endless questions
made me the babalawo I am today. I
am immensely proud to be your god-
child. Thank you and Padrino Pete for
helping me realize my childhood
dream: to learn the secrets of the uni-
verse.
To my padrino Guillermo Diago
(Obá Bí): You taught me hard. You
taught me well. And I will be forever
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grateful to you. Ibaé bayé tonú (rest in
peace).
To all three of my padrinos: most of
what is in this book, and most of what
I know, I learned at your feet. The mis-
takes are mine.
My thanks go to all the babalawos I
have had the privilege of spending
time with inside and outside the ig-
bodún (initiation room), whether in
Havana or in the United States. I’m
afraid to name any of you because I
know I would forget someone impor-
tant, but you know who you are.
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I would also like to thank Elysia
Gallo, senior acquisitions editor at
Llewellyn, for taking a chance on a
first-time writer. You made a monu-
mental task so much smoother
through your encouragement, pa-
tience, and timely advice.
Notes on the Writing of This Book
Introduction
Chapter One: What Is Ifá?
Chapter Two: How Ifá Works
Chapter Three: Babalawo
Chapter Four: Ifá Comes to Cuba
Chapter Five: Lucumí
Chapter Six: Orichas and Powers
Chapter Seven: Initiations
Chapter Eight: Ebbó: Sacrifice’s and
Offerings
Chapter Nine: Odduns
Chapter Ten: Ways of Power: Aché atí
Ogbogba—Power and Balance
Chapter Eleven: Women and Feminine
Power in Ifá
Chapter Twelve: Tata Gaitán
Epilogue: One Babalawo’s Story
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Notes on the Writing of This
Book
There are a number of protocols I
have followed in this book that I feel
should be explained, including the
names of the religion and of priest-
esses and priests, the spelling of
Lucumí terms, and the use (or lack
thereof) of the names of odduns (div-
ination signs) associated with the sto-
ries and proverbs found in this book.
What’s in a Name?
The religion most people know as
Santería is also known as La Regla
Lucumí (The Rule of the Lucumí), La
Regla Ocha (The Rule of Ocha or
Orichas), or simply Lucumí, Ocha, or
La Religion (The Religion). Lucumí
was originally the term used for peo-
ple brought to Cuba from the various
African nations, now known as the
Yoruba. These days some in the reli-
gion take exception to the term San-
tería as they believe it implies our reli-
gion is much more syncretic than it
actually is or because they feel the
term is a reminder of slavery times. In
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actuality, the Catholic saints were used
to hide the orichas (goddess or god),
and there was very little mixing of the
two religions at all. Santeras and san-
teros are also known as iworos or
olorichas (an oricha priest), words
denoting priest and one who has an
oricha. And as we will discover in
Chapter Three, the early Lucumís
deliberately subverted Christianity to
fit their own needs, using only the as-
pects of the Western religion that suit-
ed their own needs and worldview.
Names of babalawos are followed
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by their oddun in Ifá in parentheses;
for example, Pete Rivera (Odí Ogundá)
or Miguelito Perez Alvarez (Ogbe
Dandy). Among one another, babal-
awos often refer to each other by their
odduns rather than their names or will
combine the two. For instance, I am
often called Frank Baba Eyiogbe or
simply Baba Eyiogbe.
Olorichas (santeros) have the
names given to them by their oricha
during their initiation in parentheses
after their names: i.e., Guillermo
Diago (Obá Bí-ibae). The word ibae
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often used here for priests who have
passed away. This is our equivalent to
“rest in peace” in English.
Language
Many of the terms in this book are in a
language called Anagó or Lucumí, a
language developed in Cuba that
evolved from the Yoruba language.
Anagó is a liturgical language, used
mainly in prayers, songs, and religious
terms. Unfortunately, very few people
are able to speak the language con-
versationally anymore. The tongue is
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partially a mix of the different dialects
slaves brought to the island, with the
Oyó and Egbado dialects having the
greatest influence. Some of the words
come from oró iyinle (deep words),
which are archaic forms of speech
used by the old priests, and often the
literal meanings of these words are
lost in both Cuba and Africa. The
Anagó language in many ways has be-
come locked in time to when the
slaves came to Cuba, mainly in the
nineteenth century.¹
Yoruba is a tonal language, and one
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of the most noticeable differences be-
tween the Yoruba and Anagó lan-
guages is the lack of tones in Anagó
due to the influence of the Spanish
language, particularly in written forms
of the language. Sometimes tones are
approximated through the use of ac-
cents, but not always. Oricha priests
and others often spelled the words
phonetically according to the Spanish
orthography, and words may be
spelled in different ways in different
books. For example, the word for two,
which I spell here as meyi, may also
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degraded form of Yoruba.
I was unable to include a guide to
translating words from Anagó to mod-
ern Yoruba or vice versa, but those
interested in attempting translations
between Anagó and modern Yoruba
can find a basic guide at www.oris-
hanet.org/trans-late.html.
A final word on words—I realize
some of the terms may be a bit diffi-
cult to remember at first for those who
are unfamiliar with the region or reli-
gion. Therefore, I have tried to make
the glossary at the back of the book as
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complete and informative as possible.
In fact, it is complete enough to serve
as handy vocabulary for those just get-
ting started in the religion as well. For
those people I have also included use-
ful words that are not found in the
book but are often used in the reli-
gion.
I recall when a popular book was re-
leased that had taken a large number
of Lucumí songs and translated them
to modern Yoruba and then to Eng-
lish. Like a lot of people, I was thrilled
at the prospect of having a reference
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to translations of a number of songs
all in one place—until I tried singing
one of these corrected songs in front
of my padrino Guillermo, that is ...
“No, no, no, NO. No es popo fun
mi, es popoPÚN mi.” My padrino’s
exasperated tone made it obvious he
was not in agreement with such cor-
rections.
Fortunately, I knew enough to real-
ize that it was likely the book that was
wrong and not the elder with more
than fifty years in the religion. When I
delved deeply into one of my older
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Yoruba dictionaries, there it was. It
turns out that popopún is a bed or bed-
ding (the song is used when spread-
ing the feathers over the oricha after a
sacrifice). The words “popopún mi,
popopún mi iyé” translated to “my
blanket, my blanket of feathers.” When
I started looking at the songs in the
book with more critical eyes, it be-
came obvious that the author had
been so sure of the fact that Anagó
was an extremely degraded form of
Yoruba that he had drastically changed
many of the songs’ lyrics to make
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them fit modern Yoruba. I shelved the
book, and I haven’t seen it in years. I
assume I must have eventually thrown
it or given it away. Looking back, I real-
ize the book was extremely valuable
after all. That book was the first crack
in the popular notion that the lan-
guage—and, indeed, the religion it-
self—was merely a degraded version
of a pure and correct Yoruba model.
Once that crack appeared, it wasn’t
long before I began to see more and
more evidence the Lucumí religion
was far less degraded than many
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people, including myself, thought.
Like my first exploration of the
popopún song, upon closer and more
critical examination, it became clear
that far from being degraded, the
Lucumí religion had preserved many
things that were lost, even in the reli-
gion’s homeland.
We must also take into account that
the Yoruba language did not have a
written form until after most of the
slaves had already been brought to
Cuba. In Africa, the first Yoruba dictio-
nary was not published until 1843,
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when Christian missionary Samuel
Crowther composed it as part of his
plan to unite the various Yoruba na-
tions under Christianity. The standard
Yoruba seen in most dictionaries is it-
self a mix of mainly the Egba dialect
and Oyó grammar. Like all languages,
including Spanish, English, and, yes,
the Yoruba language, the Lucumí lan-
guage has changed and adapted to
accommodate influences from a vari-
ety of sources during its development.
So, for all intents and purposes, just
as the Lucumí traditions have
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developed into their own religion over
time, the language of Anagó evolved
into its own separate language.
After reading Stephan Palmié’s
ground breaking piece The Cooking of
History: How Not to Study Afro-Cuban
Religion, I came to the realization that,
like it or not, whichever way I spell the
words in this book would be a political
act. If I used a pseudo-Yoruba orthog-
raphy, which is Yoruba without the di-
acritical marks, I would be conceding
that the Lucumí language and religion
is a degraded form of the Yoruba
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versions and are somehow in need of
correcting, which they are not. So, by
using the classic Lucumí orthography
taken from the Spanish, as Lucumís
have been writing the language for
more than a hundred years, I am clear-
ly stating that the Lucumí language
and the Lucumí religion are correct
just the way they are.
Photos
To take photographs of orichas is con-
sidered sacrilege by many people in
the religion, and no actual
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photographs of orichas were taken for
this book. All of the receptacles for the
orichas and Echu Elegguá used in the
photographs are empty and unconse-
crated. Even the ekin nuts (used in
worship and divination) seen in the
book are unconsecrated. This way I
could give people an idea of how
orichas in priests’ homes appear with-
out actually photographing the deities
themselves.
Odduns
The patakís (parables, histories),
refránes or owe (proverbs) in this book
all come from the different odduns in
Ifá. They are part of our oral tradition
that was passed down from my elders,
particularly Miguelito Pérez and Pete
Rivera, my padrinos (godfathers) in Ifá.
Versions of some of these patakís and
refránes may also be found in Ifá
books, such as the various versions of
Dice Ifá and the Tratado de Odduns de
Ifá as well.
In the 1940s Pedro Arango pub-
lished a book called Iwe ni Iyewó ni Ifá
Orunmila, which gave detailed
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information on the odduns of Ifá. In
his “Words from the Author” section
prefacing the second edition of the
book, Arango admitted copies of the
first edition of the book had fallen into
the hands of a woman, presumably a
santera, and two obá oriatés (master of
ceremonies in Ocha). Arango wrote
that to save his responsibility, and
probably his reputation as well, he was
publishing the greatly enlarged second
edition using much tighter security. In
addition, Arango threatened to pub-
licly denounce to their elders any
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non-babalawo found to be in posses-
sion of the book. In fact, the accessing
of books on Ifá odduns by non-
babalawos is very likely to have played
a major role in the frictions we see
today between olorichas and babal-
awos.
In keeping with tradition, the corre-
sponding odduns to most of the
patakís and refránes in this book will
not be included, except where the odd-
un’s name is necessary to the context
in which the patakí or refrán is being
used. While the patakís and refránes
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themselves are not considered se-
crets, most traditional babalawos re-
frain from publicly stating the names
of the odduns associated with them.
This information is for the exclusive
use of fully initiated Ifá priests who
have the aché (spiritual power) and the
authority from Olófin to interpret or
work Ifá.
Somos babalawos … Jurado para
ayudar la humanidad
Somos babalawos … Ifareando en la
Habana donde se Ifarea al duro,
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sin guantes.
Somos babalawos …
We are babalawos … Sworn to aid
humanity
We are babalawos … Working Ifá in
Havana,
where they work Ifá the hard way,
without gloves.
We are babalawos …
[contents]
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Introduction
I remember as a young boy looking up
at the stars and wishing that I could
learn the secrets of the universe. Little
did I know that my simple childhood
wish would one day lead me not to
some exotic form of Eastern mysti-
cism or a career in cosmology or
astrophysics but on a flight to Havana,
Cuba, where I was to be initiated as a
high priest in a religion regarded by
many, albeit erroneously, as primitive
at best. In other words, I was being
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initiated as a witch doctor, but as I
eventually learned for myself, this par-
ticular path was the best road I could
have possibly taken to fulfill that wish.
The priesthood I was being initiated
into turned out to be as profound as
any path toward the knowledge of life,
the universe, and everything to be
found in the world today.
Hidden within the mysterious Afro-
Cuban religion commonly called
Santería* there is an even deeper body
of secrets and rituals known as Ifá
practiced by a group of priests known
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as babalawos, meaning “fathers of the
secrets” in the Lucumí and Yoruba
languages. For hundreds of years
these babalawos, who serve as the
high priests of the Afro-Cuban reli-
gion, have jealously guarded these se-
crets, which may have already been
thousands of years old before en-
slaved babalawos brought them from
West Africa to the shores of Cuba.¹
Babalawos are initiated into the ser-
vice of Orunmila (often shortened to
Orula), the oricha or deity of wisdom
and knowledge, and are the only
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as babalawos, meaning “fathers of the
secrets” in the Lucumí and Yoruba
languages. For hundreds of years
these babalawos, who serve as the
high priests of the Afro-Cuban reli-
gion, have jealously guarded these se-
crets, which may have already been
thousands of years old before en-
slaved babalawos brought them from
West Africa to the shores of Cuba.¹
Babalawos are initiated into the ser-
vice of Orunmila (often shortened to
Orula), the oricha or deity of wisdom
and knowledge, and are the only
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priests who practice Ifá, the highest
and most profound form of divination
in Santería. Ifá is probably best known
for being a sophisticated and remark-
ably accurate and effective form of div-
ination, containing within it a system
of remedies, but Ifá is much more
than merely divination. It is a vast
body of knowledge and wisdom cov-
ering everything from the human
condition to the universe at large, as
accumulated and distilled over hun-
dreds, perhaps thousands of years.
Over the last eighteen years as a
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babalawo, I found the more I learned
about Ifá, the more I found myself in
awe of its depth, insight, and practi-
cality. While Ifá’s philosophical roots
are at least as sophisticated and pro-
found as any branch of Eastern or
Western mysticism you might com-
pare it to, Ifá differs from many of
them in one very significant way. Ifá
doesn’t attempt to somehow tran-
scend nature or our own selves. In-
stead we constantly strive to achieve
and maintain balance and alignment
with our own destinies and with the
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forces of nature that surround us. In
fact, as we shall see, balance and
alignment is a core concept in Ifá and
enters into everything we do, inform-
ing our ethics, our worldview, and our
actions in daily life as well as in the rit-
uals we do.
Although Ifá is remarkably complex,
with 256 odduns, each with innu-
merable mythic parables, proverbs,
recommendations, and remedies, it is
ultimately based on the simplest sys-
tem in the world; a binary system of
ones and zeros much like that used by
computers. But Ifá goes much further
by concluding that, underneath it all,
the very fabric of the universe is made
up of these ones and zeros, much like
an immense computer program. This
is only now being echoed by recent
discoveries in modern physics that
have given scientists the ability to
achieve such breakthroughs as quan-
tum teleportation.
We will also experience Afro-Cuban
Ifá as a story of incredible self-
sacrifice and determination, which al-
lowed this profound body of
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knowledge to survive and even flour-
ish against the almost insurmountable
odds presented by slavery. In fact,
Afro-Cuban Ifá has been preserved so
well that the foremost spokesperson
for African Ifá, Wande Abimbola, re-
cently acknowledged that it is prob-
able that more of the rituals and prohi-
bitions have survived in Cuba than in
our tradition’s homeland itself.
This book will not shrink from ad-
dressing some of the biggest contro-
versies facing Lucumí religion today
including animal sacrifice, the iyanifá
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(female Ifá priest), and the frictions
existing between the obá oriaté and
the babalawo. Is the practice of animal
sacrifice merely a brutal and barbaric
holdover expected from a primitive
religion, and how does it fit in with our
modern, enlightened society? Why are
Cuban-style babalawos so up in arms
over the emerging practice of initiating
iyanifás in Africa? What is the role of
women in Ifá anyway? Why is there
such animosity between some oriatés
(who act as ceremonial master of cere-
monies )and babalawos, and what, or
edge to survive and even flourish
against the almost insurmountable
odds presented by slavery. In fact,
Afro-Cuban Ifá has been preserved so
well that the foremost spokesperson
for African Ifá, Wande Abimbola, re-
cently acknowledged that it is prob-
able that more of the rituals and prohi-
bitions have survived in Cuba than in
our tradition’s homeland itself.
This book will not shrink from ad-
dressing some of the biggest contro-
versies facing Lucumí religion today
including animal sacrifice, the iyanifá
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(female Ifá priest), and the frictions
existing between the obá oriaté and
the babalawo. Is the practice of animal
sacrifice merely a brutal and barbaric
holdover expected from a primitive
religion, and how does it fit in with our
modern, enlightened society? Why are
Cuban-style babalawos so up in arms
over the emerging practice of initiating
iyanifás in Africa? What is the role of
women in Ifá anyway? Why is there
such animosity between some oriatés
(who act as ceremonial master of cere-
monies )and babalawos, and what, or
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who, started it? The answers may sur-
prise you and could possibly change
not only the way you look at our prac-
tices, but how you see our own mod-
ern society as well.
Over the last fifteen years I have re-
ceived hundreds of questions about
Ifá on my website, OrishaNet, either
through e-mail or on the forums. I
found that, while there were a number
of books that talk about Ifá, none of
them seem to adequately lead readers
to any real depth of understanding Ifá.
They either focused on the technical
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aspects or were overly simplistic to
the extreme. On the one hand, most of
what exists out there consists of short
chapters on Ifá found in general books
on Santería, often written by non-
initiates and just as often riddled with
serious errors. On the other extreme
are the technical manuals aimed at
practicing Ifá priests, which even
many babalawos find difficult to
understand fully since much of the
information found in these books
came from hastily scribbled notes.
While some academic works have
: Babalawo, Santeria's High Priests: Fathers of the Secrets in Afro-Cuban IfaIntroduction
attempted to go more in-depth, these
accounts too often contain their own
errors because academics have little
or no way of evaluating what infor-
mation they get from their informants
due to the extreme secrecy sur-
rounding Ifá and the limitations of
their own understanding of the sub-
ject. This eventually led me to realize
there is a need for an in-depth view of
Afro-Cuban Ifá from the inside that
would be accessible to initiates and
non-initiates alike.
It is my hope that other babalawos
Babalawo, Santeria's High Priests: Fathers of the Secrets in Afro-Cuban IfaIntroduction
might also find this book useful, as it
explores our heritage and why we do
many of the things we do, as opposed
to just how. In my experience I have
found that the more we grasp the
whys and wherefores of the technical
aspects that we have learned, the more
Ifá’s logic makes sense to us and the
more effective we become as babal-
awos. Or, as Ifá tells us in the re-
frán,“The babalawo who studies Ifá
without thinking about it is ineffectual.
The babalawo who thinks about Ifá
without studying it is dangerous.”
Then there is the sheer joy that comes
from that moment of enlightenment
when the light bulb goes on and we
get it. At that moment, the over-
whelming complexity seems to fall
away, and things we have struggled for
years to fully grasp suddenly seem
startlingly obvious and self-evident.
At the beginning of each chapter I
have used a patakí and a proverb taken
from the odduns to lend Ifá’s insight
to the subject in much the same man-
ner as we use them when consulting
Ifá for our clients. You will also find
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these parables and proverbs sprinkled
throughout these pages where I use
them to further illustrate and reinforce
a number of the concepts presented.
In this way I am allowing Ifá to speak
for himself and to hopefully give read-
ers a glimpse of the richness and
depth that Ifá brings to the table.
While these parables and proverbs are
an integral part of Ifá, the patakís and
refránes themselves are not covered
by my vows of secrecy, so everybody
is invited to learn from the rich in-
sights gathered from thousands of
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years of wisdom.
This book exists to help you under-
stand our traditions by pulling away
the veil of secrecy surrounding Ifá just
enough to reveal exactly what Afro-
Cuban Ifá is, how and why it works,
and to share a bit of our rich history
with you. There are, however, some
things I cannot talk about in this book.
Like every babalawo, upon my initi-
ation to Ifá I was sworn to secrecy,
and I take those vows very seriously.
But I believe I can show you some of
the inner workings of Ifá without
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resorting to breaking the confidences
shown in me by my elders.²
While I have physically been writing
for much less time, in a very real way
this book has been more than fifteen
years in the making as I have painstak-
ingly learned, re-learned, and strug-
gled to truly understand what I have
been taught about Ifá. In this journey I
have been blessed with the good for-
tune of having been able to learn from
some of the most knowledgeable,
kindest, and wisest babalawos and
olorichas (oricha priests, santeras,
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and santeros) in our tradition. This
book is really theirs. Any errors are, of
course, my own.
Let’s begin by taking a look at what
Ifá is, how it works, and how Ifá came
to exist in Cuba. What did the Yoruba
world look like at the time the first
babalawo was forcibly torn from that
world and transformed into human
chattel in fulfillment of a hideous
curse inflicted on his own people by
an embittered Oyó emperor? What
were the extraordinary measures these
babalawos were forced to take to
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re-create Ifá and Ocha (Santería) in an
alien and hostile New World?
[contents]
* Though commonly known as San-
tería, insiders often refer to the reli-
gion as La Regla Ocha (The Rule of
the Orichas), or La Regla Lucumí
(The Rule of the Lucumí), some-
times shortened to simply Ocha or
Lucumí. Lucumí was originally the
term used in Cuba to describe the
West Africans now known as the
Yoruba. Later it became used to
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denote the culture, language, and
religion as it was preserved and
evolved in Cuba.
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Chapter One
What Is Ifá?
It was past midnight, and Olófin and
Baba Eyiogbe were chatting about the
nothingness that was the only existence
at the time, and how cold and feature-
less it was. They were beginning to talk
about how it might be time to create the
universe when suddenly Oyekun Meyi
appeared and broke into the conver-
sation. He had obviously been drinking
and was in a terrible state.
Olófin asked why he was so upset and
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Oyekun Meyi responded dejectedly, “I
have lost the Key of Light—the key that
will open the door to creation and the
universe. It was there when I went to
sleep, but when I woke up—” With that,
Oyekun Meyi began to wail plaintively.
“No, you did not lose the key,” said
Olófin, his voice cold and even. “Your
brother Baba Eyiogbe took it from you
while you were drunk and passed out. I
see that you are not capable of carrying
out the mission I entrusted you with, so I
have given the key to Baba Eyiogbe, and
from this day forward he will be first in
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Ifá and first in everything that exists, and
you and all the other odduns shall follow
him. And where Baba Eyiogbe is light,
you shall be the darkness that follows.”
When Baba Eyiogbe had finished his
preparations, Olófin ordered Oyekun
Meyi to accompany him. Then Baba
Eyiogbe produced the Key of Light and
inserted it into the lock, and from this
burst of light the whole universe rushed
forth into the void. And, as decreed by
Olófin, Baba Eyiogbe led the way, fol-
lowed by Baba Oyekun Meyi, and then
all the other Meyis after that.
“Wisdom, understanding, and
thought are the forces that move the
world.”
A babalawo and his godchild are at the
beach. It is night and they are alone
with the sea, a perfect time to do the
cleansing they need to do for Yemayá.
The bright moon looks down on them
through the moist sea air, showing no
sign of the huge amount of force she
is exerting on the sea, forcing foamy
water to retreat farther and farther out
with each wave. They set down the
bags containing their shoes, towels,
and the materials needed for the cere-
mony a good fifty feet from the waves.
Satisfied everything is safe, they pro-
ceed.
The babalawo marks the ones and
zeros of Yemayá’s oddun isalaye, the
Ifá sign that will compel her powerful
presence, reciting the oddun’s lla-
mada (call) while pouring molasses
over the oddun in preparation for the
ceremony. The centuries-old prayer is
short but effective. Though the cere-
mony has barely begun and the tide is
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supposed to be going out, Yemayá
cannot resist the call of her oddun
combined with the smell of sweet mo-
lasses. The Queen of the Seas comes
roaring in with a vengeance, and the
Ifá priest and godchild are forced to
run madly to grab their bags and
shoes before they are washed out to
sea …
Ifá just may be the oldest and most
powerful spiritual path in existence
today. Breathtaking in its depth and
scope, Ifá is as much a system of
knowledge as it is of divination,
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philosophy, or religion. As we will see,
not only were ancient babalawos able
to discover the very fabric of the uni-
verse, but they also learned how to ac-
cess it at will and became able to wield
tremendous power as a result.
Worldview
In Ifá, we acknowledge that nature it-
self is the ultimate source of spiritual
power, with each of the orichas ruling
over aspects of nature that reflect their
personalities and traits. For instance,
you can learn a lot about Ochún and
her human children by watching the
rivers and streams, which share in her
nature. Although she always heads to
her older sister Yemayá, she does so
at her own meandering pace. The cool
and refreshing babbling brook ex-
presses her sweetness, but her
changeable moods are seen in how
quickly this brook can be transformed
into a raging flash flood, sweeping
away everything in her path with terri-
fying suddenness. Considered to be
the Queen of the Witches, she can be
very dark when angered, and her
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vengeance is truly frightening. Her
human children are often very sweet
and light, like their oricha mother, but
they are capable of great perseverance
and can be implacable in their wrath.
In much the same way, fire and
thunder express the nature of their
owner Changó. Fiery is probably the
best way to describe Changó and his
children. His beloved omo (children)
are lively and bright. They share with
their father a commanding bearing
coupled with a burning intelligence
that covers a lot of ground quickly but
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is often quickly extinguished as the
omo Changó loses interest and moves
on to more interesting new pursuits.
Changó is considered the wrath of
Olófin (God), and when angered his
reaction is immediate, overwhelming,
and final, as he favors a scorched-
earth policy. Nothing commands
immediate attention and fear as when
an angry Changó possesses one of his
children at a tambor, or drumming
ceremony, and approaches an at-
tendee, telling them “I will say this
only once.”
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vengeance is truly frightening. Her
human children are often very sweet
and light, like their oricha mother, but
they are capable of great perseverance
and can be implacable in their wrath.
In much the same way, fire and
thunder express the nature of their
owner Changó. Fiery is probably the
best way to describe Changó and his
children. His beloved omo (children)
are lively and bright. They share with
their father a commanding bearing
coupled with a burning intelligence
that covers a lot of ground quickly but
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is often quickly extinguished as the
omo Changó loses interest and moves
on to more interesting new pursuits.
Changó is considered the wrath of
Olófin (God), and when angered his
reaction is immediate, overwhelming,
and final, as he favors a scorched-
earth policy. Nothing commands
immediate attention and fear as when
an angry Changó possesses one of his
children at a tambor, or drumming
ceremony, and approaches an at-
tendee, telling them “I will say this
only once.”
interconnected. In Ifá, plants, animals,
mountains, oceans, and rivers are all
conscious in their own way as man-
ifestations of the orichas. Our rela-
tionship with nature is an intimate
one, where we constantly interact with
the world in a familiar yet respectful
way. If while driving along we pass
over a river, we salute Ochún and ask
her permission to pass over her, and if
traveling over train tracks, we pay our
respects to Oggún, the oricha of iron,
blacksmithing, and war.
For us, the orichas are not only
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forces of nature; they are physically
consecrated and received by us. Their
fundamentos (foundational objects)
are born in blood, bathed, fed, sung,
and prayed to. The orichas we receive
are consecrated stones, ekin nuts, or a
carga, or load, which becomes inhab-
ited by the oricha. The orichas come
to inhabit these objects in the same
way we as humans inhabit our phys-
ical bodies. Our deities are not mere
abstract ideas; they are physically with
us and are held, washed, fed, and
worked with. Our orichas are not just
representations; they are alive and
must be treated as such. In other
words, they are not an “it,” they are a
she or he. This is why receiving an
oricha is much more than a mere initi-
ation. You are receiving an oricha and
are committing yourself to the actual
care and feeding of the oricha for life.
We regularly refer to the orichas we
have received as our orichas, as in
“my Obatalá wants to be fed some
pears” or “her Obatalá is twenty years
older than mine and is stronger and
more experienced.” The orichas are
also manifestations of the odduns,
which gave birth to them, and in an
emergency a babalawo can work with
the oricha directly through the oricha’s
oddun. The aché to do this comes
from Olófin, who is the ultimate
source of all the odduns, which is why
she must be present at the initiation of
a babalawo.
Olófin is our most commonly used
name for the Supreme Being. Also
known as Olodumare and Olorun
(Owner of the other world), Olófin is
considered extremely distant and
deals with the world almost exclu-
sively through the oricha, and only
elder babalawos who have received
her physically can work directly with
her, and even this is done rarely.
Sometimes Olodumare and Olófin are
described as a husband and wife team
who together make up a calabash,
which contains everything in exis-
tence. At other times Olodumare,
Olófin, and Olorun are pictured as a
trinity, with Olodumare being defined
as the laws of the universe, Olófin as
the creator and acting ruler of the
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orichas and humanity, and Olorun the
aché, or universal energy that powers
the universe. Although we sometimes
speak of them as separate, in many
ways they are different manifestations
or paths of the same Supreme Being.
We often use these names inter-
changeably, but we mostly use the
name Olófin when we talk about God,
as she is the form who is closest to
us. As we will see later, under the
name Odun, Olófin is female, even
though many babalawos believe she
has both male and female aspects.
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The Way of Ifá
Unlike most Western religions, Ifá
does not require faith, and it is not
uncommon to hear an elder say they
simply don’t have faith, which may
seem shocking at first. However, sim-
ply put, Ifá and the orichas don’t need
our faith for them to exist or for Ifá to
work. We don’t need to have faith in
the orichas any more than we need to
have faith that the sun will rise be-
cause, like the sun, the orichas are our
constant companions. Our contin-
uous experiences of the orichas and
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their actions in the world are all the
proof we need; therefore, we don’t ask
people to profess faith as some other
religions do. In fact, in Africa some
Yorubas tease Christians by calling
them igbabo (believers).¹
Ifá is more of a way of life or prac-
tice-based religion, and in this sense
we are much more like Buddhism or
Hinduism than the faith-oriented reli-
gions such as Christianity. We interact
with our orichas rather than merely
worship them in the Christian sense.
We have an intimate bond with the
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orichas with the perpetual give-and-
take that is the hallmark of any suc-
cessful relationship, and as children of
the orichas,² we adore and respect
them as cherished family who just
happen to be immensely powerful.
Unlike other forms of worship, we are
in constant dialogue with our orichas
through divination. The orichas speak
to us through divination with Ifá and
with the diloggún (cowrie shells) used
by iworos, and we can quickly check
whether an offering or ceremony has
been accepted through the much
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orichas with the perpetual give-and-
take that is the hallmark of any suc-
cessful relationship, and as children of
the orichas,² we adore and respect
them as cherished family who just
happen to be immensely powerful.
Unlike other forms of worship, we are
in constant dialogue with our orichas
through divination. The orichas speak
to us through divination with Ifá and
with the diloggún (cowrie shells) used
by iworos, and we can quickly check
whether an offering or ceremony has
been accepted through the much
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surrounded by living forces that are
constantly intervening in our lives. The
idea that you can have separate times
for religious and non-religious activ-
ities is simply incomprehensible to us.
Like Buddhism, we are not exclu-
sive, and there are many people in the
religion who are involved in other reli-
gions as well, and Ifá has no issue
with this. People are only asked not to
mix the religions and to afford them
both the respect of giving each of
them their own places in our lives and
in our homes.
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Divination
Divination is at the core of our religion
and almost everything we do revolves
around it. Besides telling us our past,
present, and future with astonishing
detail and accuracy, it is through div-
ination that the orichas communicate
their wants and needs and are able to
deliver warnings, encouragement, and
advice. When a person is seen with
Ifá, meaning they had Ifá divination
performed for them, Ifá advises the
client on the best course of action to
take, which rituals or offerings are
required, and which orichas to go to
for aid. In this manner a person can
achieve and maintain proper align-
ment and balance, both within them-
selves as well as with the forces that
surround us. The concepts of balance
and alignment will be discussed in
much greater depth in a later chapter.
Along with the wealth of predictions
and advice given in these odduns lies
a system of ebbós (remedies) specif-
ically associated with each of the Ifá
signs to ensure any good fortune pre-
dicted or to prevent any misfortune
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presaged by the sign. In this manner,
the orichas give us the advice we need
to help us lead the most fulfilling life
possible. The odduns have countless
patakís connected with them. These
stories come from a mythic place be-
yond time and space, and yet they are
happening right now.
From Ifá’s point of view, every sce-
nario has been playing out since time
immemorial and will keep playing out
somewhere, for someone, for all eter-
nity. The trappings and a few of the
details may change, but the essence
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remains the same. For instance, a
story may speak of an incident that oc-
curred while a person was riding a
horse. Nowadays, the same incident
would more likely occur while driving
or while on a plane, but other than
that the person is living very much the
same story. Even though the tech-
nology of traveling changes, the basic
story is always the same whether the
person is riding a horse, a Honda, or a
rocket car á la the Jetsons. As the old
Ifá proverb says, “Modern dogs chase
modern rabbits.”
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Oral Traditions
Ifá also contains the sum total of our
oral tradition, where every detail re-
garding the orichas and our history, as
well as a system of precedents gov-
erning ritual and rule, is found. The
patakís connected with the odduns ex-
plain how everything we do came
about and why. Within the patakís, the
origins and the reasons for these rules
and rituals are spelled out and codi-
fied. Everything passed down about
each of the orichas, our religion, and
how each ritual is supposed to be
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Oral Traditions
Ifá also contains the sum total of our
oral tradition, where every detail re-
garding the orichas and our history, as
well as a system of precedents gov-
erning ritual and rule, is found. The
patakís connected with the odduns ex-
plain how everything we do came
about and why. Within the patakís, the
origins and the reasons for these rules
and rituals are spelled out and codi-
fied. Everything passed down about
each of the orichas, our religion, and
how each ritual is supposed to be
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conducted and why is included and
was born in Ifá’s odduns. This became
crucial when the slaves were taken
from Africa and faced the daunting
task of re-creating their religion and
their culture in the incredibly hostile
world of Cuban slavery. Only in Ifá’s
odduns could all the information on
each of the orichas and our ways be
found, and that knowledge was orga-
nized in a cohesive whole.
Time and Ifá
In Ifá, our future—and, indeed, the
future of the universe, including its
demise—has already occurred, and
the past, present, and future all exist
right now. In the words of Albert Ein-
stein, “The distinction between the
past, present, and future is only an
illusion, however persistent.” If you
think about the past, present, and fu-
ture as if it were a movie on a film reel,
the idea makes a little more sense. The
beginning, middle, and end are already
there on the reel, with each moment
being a single frame of that film. Each
moment in history and in our lives is
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already on that reel, even the end of
the universe, but the events of the past
haven’t gone away either. The big
bang, the birth of the solar system,
and our first real kiss is already there
on that reel; we just may not have seen
it yet. And Ifá has access to the whole
thing.
This doesn’t mean that everything in
the past, present, and future is written
in stone, only that our view that time
can only go in one direction is an illu-
sion. For us, time goes in one direc-
tion, from the past into the future,
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never stopping or reversing itself. In
the subatomic world, it appears parti-
cles can and do go backward and for-
ward in time with impunity, and most
physical processes work just as well
going backward as forward. So, under-
neath the events we see around us
every day, time exists but is virtually
meaningless. In quantum reality, parti-
cles are often in several places, on
several different paths, and existing in
several different times all at once.
These particles remain ghostlike until
they are observed, then the particle
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suddenly becomes fixed at one place
and one time in what is called the col-
lapse of the Schrödinger wave. This
bears a striking resemblance to Ifá,
where the past, present, and future
have a number of ona (paths) they
may take, with all of them having an
ephemeral, phantom existence until
one path is decided on and followed.
Each can have an effect on another,
even at incredible distances.
Recent experiments have shown
something very interesting: you can
actually change the past by what you
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do in the present. In 1978, the physi-
cist John Wheeler came up with an
idea for an experiment that would
prove quantum weirdness was even
weirder than we all thought. His De-
layed Choice Experiment would force a
particle of light, or photon, to decide
to be a particle or a wave and have that
decision change the nature of the par-
ticle in the past as well. Thirty years
later, French physicist Alain Aspect,
who seems to take a special enjoy-
ment in proving the creepiest parts of
quantum mechanics, successfully
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performed the experiment in such a
way that there could be no doubting
the results.
The idea that consciousness plays
an interactive role with reality at its
most fundamental level is also an
important component of the Copen-
hagen Interpretation of the impli-
cations of quantum mechanics, ham-
mered out between some of the great-
est minds in physics such as Werner
Heisenberg, Neils Bohr, and Wolfgang
Pauli. In the Copenhagen Interpre-
tation, considered the most orthodox
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interpretation of quantum theory, a
conscious observer is necessary to
cause the Schrödinger wave to col-
lapse, leaving the particle in one place
and time. This places consciousness
at the center of the equation. In other
words, the universe requires the par-
ticipation of intelligent beings in the
extension of the awareness of essen-
tial knowledge that makes up reality.
The interplay of consciousness and
thought enter the picture and place us
not at the center of the universe but at
least return us to being part of the
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universe, which classical physics and
the materialism that reached its peak
in the 1800s denied us.
I believe one of the reasons we see
so many scientists rejecting the role of
consciousness in quantum mechanics
is that it opens the door for people to
run wild with the quantum conscious-
ness idea and use it to justify virtually
any far-fetched fantasy a person might
wish to come up with. The scientific
method only allows for what can be di-
rectly proven, which is most likely its
greatest strength. The addition of
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consciousness to the fray threatens to
allow people to misinterpret quantum
mechanics, believing they can create
the reality around them with whatever
they are thinking at the moment.
So does that mean we can change
the past, present, and future at our
whim? Not only that, but all this with
little or nothing to back it up experi-
mentally? There is a saying in the
scientific community that extraor-
dinary claims require extraordinary evi-
dence. Quantum mechanics required
extraordinary evidence to be accepted.
sciousness to the fray threatens to
allow people to misinterpret quantum
mechanics, believing they can create
the reality around them with whatever
they are thinking at the moment.
So does that mean we can change
the past, present, and future at our
whim? Not only that, but all this with
little or nothing to back it up experi-
mentally? There is a saying in the
scientific community that extraor-
dinary claims require extraordinary evi-
dence. Quantum mechanics required
extraordinary evidence to be accepted.
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So it is not surprising that they de-
mand similar proof from those of us
who speculate about how much our
personal consciousness affects the
universe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t
look like it is quite as simple as cre-
ating the reality around us with our
every thought, but it does mean that
the choices and actions we make now
are more far-reaching than we ever
suspected. And our orí (conscious-
ness), when properly aligned, does in-
deed play a far greater part in the cre-
ation of the world around us than
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and zeros, called bits, into chunks
called bytes, Ifá, too, combines eight
ones and zeros to make up an oddun,
which amounts to an Ifá byte. Does
that mean Ifá is an ancient computer?
Certainly. But there’s more to the story
… much more.
In Ifá, everything we see around us
in the universe was born in one or an-
other of the odduns, as well as every
event or human situation. As we have
seen, even the orichas themselves
were born in their respective odduns.
But what if I told you that lying just
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beneath our day-to-day reality is a
breathtaking world made up entirely of
the ones and zeros that comprise
those odduns from Ifá? Or that the
underlying fabric of the cosmos is a
series of somethings and nothings, as
if the entire universe were a huge com-
puter simulation? Suddenly we are
brought face-to-face with the startling
conclusion that Ifá is everything: the
trees, the animals, the earth, the air we
breathe, even the book you are hold-
ing right now. Each and every event
that is occurring at the moment has
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occurred or will occur and is also in-
cluded in the ones and zeros that
make up the odduns of Ifá. What if I
also told you modern physics had
come to almost exactly the same con-
clusions about the nature of the uni-
verse?
In 1948, Claude Shannon, an elec-
trical engineer working for Bell Labs,
discovered a formula to predict the
amount of information that could be
passed through a phone line. In order
to do this, he found he had to mea-
sure information in the form of ones
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and zeros, somethings and nothings.
A year later, Shannon took his equa-
tion to be reviewed by famous math-
ematician John von Neumann. When
Shannon asked the mathematician
what he should name his equation,
von Neumann told him he should call
it entropy because that was what Lud-
wig von Bolzmann had called it when
he developed the concept that later be-
came known as the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. Von Neumann jok-
ingly added that calling his discovery
entropy would also help him win
arguments because nobody really
knew what entropy was.
Entropy, also known as the Second
Law of Thermodynamics, explains why
if you leave the door open between a
hot room and a cold room, you will
eventually get two even-temperature
rooms. It also tells us that you can’t
make a perpetual motion machine be-
cause you will always end up losing
energy in heat. Even a computer has to
erase information from its memory to
make room for new information. Sud-
denly, scientists started thinking, what
if the thing being lost was actually
information?
As computers became more and
more powerful, scientists began using
them to model their ideas to see if
they would work in the real world. But
the more scientists looked, the more
they found that the computers they
used to model the universe worked a
little too much like the universe itself.
Over time, physicists began to find
that the connections between infor-
mation theory and physics went deep-
er and deeper, and the deeper they
searched, the more the idea made
sense.
In the 1960s, the brilliant physicist
Rolf Landauer came to the startling
conclusion that information is phys-
ical, which would eventually lead to a
revolution in physics. The more physi-
cists examined the idea, the more they
began to find information expressed in
these ones and zeros explained a lot
of the mysteries of quantum mechan-
ics that had perplexed them for
decades.
Suddenly, mysteries such as
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Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle,
which tells us we can’t know exactly
where a particle is and how fast it’s
going at the same time, made perfect
sense. You can’t know the position
and speed of a particle at the same
time because you simply can’t get two
answers from one bit of information.
By the 1980s, physicist John Wheeler,
who coined the terms black hole and
wormhole, came up with the catch
phrase “It from Bit” to describe a uni-
verse built on these ones and zeros.
Dr. Wheeler said:
It from Bit. Otherwise put, every
“it”—every particle, every field of
force, even the space-time con-
tinuum itself—derives its function,
its meaning, its very existence en-
tirely—even if in some contexts
indirectly—from the apparatus-
elicited answers to yes-or-no ques-
tions, binary choices, bits.
This view of the universe as infor-
mation has allowed scientists like Seth
Lloyd to massage subatomic particles
to be used as quantum computers,
It from Bit. Otherwise put, every
“it”—every particle, every field of
force, even the space-time con-
tinuum itself—derives its function,
its meaning, its very existence en-
tirely—even if in some contexts
indirectly—from the apparatus-
elicited answers to yes-or-no ques-
tions, binary choices, bits.
This view of the universe as infor-
mation has allowed scientists like Seth
Lloyd to massage subatomic particles
to be used as quantum computers,
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and has made it possible for Anton
Zeilenger in Austria to achieve quan-
tum teleportation, which is the instan-
taneous transfer of a particle’s prop-
erties from one place to another. Serge
Haroche and David J. Wineland used
quantum information theory to de-
velop a means to observe individual
subatomic particles without destroy-
ing their strange quantum properties,
and they were awarded the 2012 Nobel
Prize in Physics as a result.
Some scientists have taken the idea
even further. The universe seems to be
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structured like a computer program,
and in many ways behaves like one as
well. In fact, everything in the universe
seems to follow the rules of computer
logic. So, if the universe looks like a
computer program and acts like a
computer program … well, it just
might be a computer program.
When you sit with the idea for a
while, it becomes a tiny bit less shock-
ing. Virtual reality has been around for
years, as well as CDs, DVDs, and Blu-
Rays, which sound and appear per-
fectly real but essentially are nothing
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more than a bunch of ones and zeros
slapped onto disks. Anyone who has
seen the movie The Matrix is now
familiar with the idea that people
could live in what is effectively an im-
mense computer simulation without
knowing it. So the idea that our reality
is also based on those ones and zeros
may not be such a giant leap after all.
It is now well established within the
scientific community that underneath
everything in the universe—each
atom, each electron, each boson, and
each quark—there is information in
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the form of ones and zeros, which is
exactly what Ifá has been saying for
thousands of years. Beyond that, each
oddun, each one, and each zero is
alive, aware, and connected to every-
thing else. So we are all connected to
everything else in the universe.
According to Ifá and modern
physics, everything and everyone is
made of ones and zeros just like any
computer program, making the entire
universe essentially a computer pro-
gram merrily processing away. Entire
galaxies then amount to nothing more
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than directories in this huge program,
and solar systems subdirectories.
Among all of this is a subdirectory of a
subdirectory of a subdirectory called
Earth, and farther down is an itsy bitsy
subdirectory. Let’s call it humanity.
Then in this teeny tiny subdirectory,
among billions of other files, are the
ones and zeros called me. No wonder
we consider our god Olófin to appear
extremely distant, vast, and uncon-
cerned.
But wait, we aren’t finished yet.
Have you forgotten we have
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something called consciousness that
effectively makes us living, breathing,
and thinking RAM who are processing
information, just like the rest of the
universe? Since we are conscious, that
means the massive program we call
the universe has managed to find a
way for a tiny part of the program to
become conscious of itself. So now
we have this universe program that is
conscious of itself.
If that isn’t enough, now you have a
smattering of inconsequential little
files in the program that have
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somehow succeeded in accessing and
using the rest of the program to
accomplish their own ends. In other
words, we have this massive computer
program being hacked by a few of its
own tiny, insignificant little files.
Using simple tools such as the opón
Ifá (Table of Ifá) and ecuele (divining
chain) to access prayers, chants, and
rituals that manipulate the groupings
of eight ones and zeros that make up
Ifá’s bytes, or odduns, babalawos have
become able to exercise power and
knowledge far beyond what should be
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their place in the universe.
You could say Ifá is the totality of
knowledge. Everything that exists in
the universe and in our lives was born
and is described in Ifá’s odduns, and
babalawos have been accessing and
manipulating the vast program called
our universe since time immemorial.
And they have been effectively hacking
the universe ever since.
Ifá is the handwriting of Olodumare
(God), and it is simplicity itself. At its
core it consists of just two numbers:
one and zero.
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Chapter Two
How Ifá Works
There was a time when Orula lived in a
land ruled by the other orichas, who
didn’t believe in him or in his ability to
divine, no matter how well Orula and
his assistant, Echu, acted toward them.
Therefore, Orula and Echu always lived
separate from all of the rest.
Echu took to spying on all of the
orichas, learning all of their secrets and
reporting back to Orula, who then noted
and studied them until he had them all
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memorized. One day all the orichas
came together and challenged Orula to
demonstrate the knowledge that he was
supposed to be so famous for. Orula
paused for a few moments and began to
reveal their deepest secrets, their cere-
monies, their rituals … everything. In
shock, the orichas came forward and
began to prostrate themselves to Orula
in respect for his great wisdom.
Afterward, Echu asked Orula to conse-
crate him as an Ifá priest. Grateful for
everything Echu had done, he gladly
initiated Echu as a babalawo, and from
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memorized. One day all the orichas
came together and challenged Orula to
demonstrate the knowledge that he was
supposed to be so famous for. Orula
paused for a few moments and began to
reveal their deepest secrets, their cere-
monies, their rituals … everything. In
shock, the orichas came forward and
began to prostrate themselves to Orula
in respect for his great wisdom.
Afterward, Echu asked Orula to conse-
crate him as an Ifá priest. Grateful for
everything Echu had done, he gladly
initiated Echu as a babalawo, and from
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cool water and shakes droplets to the
ground, a libation to cool and refresh
everything touching the process that is
about to unfold, including the earth;
his road and way; Echu; the orichas;
the home; and so on. The babalawo
then salutes Olodumare, Olorun, and
Olófin, the three manifestations of the
Supreme Being, and goes on to invoke
the dead, the orichas, and finally
Orunmila, entreating him to direct the
course of the osode (consultation) so
the unequivocal truth will be revealed.
Presenting the ecuele to the
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person’s head, shoulders, and chest,
he makes a strong, solid connection
to the client spiritually and materially.
Then, if using the ecuele on the Table
of Ifá, the Ifá priest will present the
ecuele to the four cardinal points and
the center of the Table of Ifá, creating
an opening between aiyé (earth) and
Orun (the other world) to access the
infinite storehouse of knowledge
called Ifá. Thus the Father of the Se-
crets makes a connection to the
source of the client’s being, her orí,
her innermost consciousness and
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personal destiny, and to the forces
and events affecting her life and her
development.
“Ifá re o, Ifá re o (Ifá blessings O).”
With this call for Orunmila’s blessing
and aid, the babalawo tosses the
ecuele to the center of the Table of Ifá
and quickly jots down the pattern of
ones and zeros that will not only re-
veal her past, present, and future but
the best course of action to take in
order to achieve a fulfilling life. The
advice, story, proverbs, and remedies
associated with each of these odduns
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personal destiny, and to the forces
and events affecting her life and her
development.
“Ifá re o, Ifá re o (Ifá blessings O).”
With this call for Orunmila’s blessing
and aid, the babalawo tosses the
ecuele to the center of the Table of Ifá
and quickly jots down the pattern of
ones and zeros that will not only re-
veal her past, present, and future but
the best course of action to take in
order to achieve a fulfilling life. The
advice, story, proverbs, and remedies
associated with each of these odduns
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Orunmila, as the Elerí Iküín (Wit-
ness to Destiny in Creation), is the
only oricha allowed to witness cre-
ation and to be given the keys to know
the destiny of the universe and every-
thing and everyone in it. The 256 Ifá
odduns are the word of Orula, and
through these signs Orula gives us an
extremely accurate illustration of our
situation as well as the best course of
action to take. Orunmila acts as the
spokesperson for Olodumare (God)
as well as for all of the orichas. As the
embodiment of the divination system,
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we often refer to him as Ifá, and when
Olodumare placed Orula in the role of
Eleri Iküín, Ifá became the only oricha
who knows our destiny. Orunmila,
who personally supervises each Ifá
divination session, controls just which
of these odduns will come up during
an Ifá consultation. Within these odd-
uns lays the entirety of the oral tradi-
tions of our religion and the secrets of
all the orichas. Thus his priests, the
babalawos, are considered the highest
authorities on the religion, which is
why the worshippers of all the orichas
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in both Africa and Cuba consult them.
The figures that make up the odd-
uns are comprised of eight ones or
zeros written in pairs of four, as in the
example below for the oddun called
Oché Fun:
+
0 1
1 0
0 1
1 0
Each sign is comprised of two sides,
or legs, and each is read from right to
left. There are sixteen possible con-
figurations for each foot, giving us a
total of 256 possible odduns. In the
oddun above, the right side, which is
called Oché, is combined with the left
side, known as Ofún, to create a com-
pound sign Oché Ofún (usually short-
ened to just Oché Fun). Even though
there are two sides to each oddun, the
odduns are taken as a whole, and each
of the 256 odduns are considered
separate entities and not merely a con-
junction of its two parts. The oddun
above is interpreted as one entity and
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not merely a conjunction of Oché and
Ofún, where Oché Ofún is read the
same as Ofún Oché, as is the case
with the diloggún divination, with six-
teen possible letras (signs), of which
only twelve can be read. If one of the
other four signs appears, it means the
oricha is ordering the iworo to send
the person to a babalawo, as the situ-
ation requires the client to be seen
with Ifá. The number of odduns in Ifá,
combined with the vast amount of
information associated with each
oddun, expands the depth and
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complexity of the Ifá divination system
considerably and multiplies the
amount of learning necessary to be-
come a competent babalawo. It is also
common practice for babalawos to see
themselves with Ifá, meaning they per-
form Ifá divination for themselves
every day to ensure they are aligned
with Ifá and the orichas, and to let
them know what they can expect. This
also gives the babalawo the oppor-
tunity to watch each oddun unfold in
their life, giving them the insight that
comes from direct experience of each
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individual oddun in action.
Tools of the Trade
There are two main forms of divina-
tion used by babalawos, the Table of
Ifá and the ecuele (opele in standard
Yoruba). Orunmila makes them both
function by tapping into the binary
system that makes up the universe
and every event that will occur in it as
well as in our lives.
The Table of Ifá
First and most important is the opón
Ifá or Table of Ifá, which is the deepest
form of divination in Ifá. It is used
only for extremely important situations
where deep divination is needed. Most
commonly, the Table of Ifá is used to
determine a person’s guardian or pa-
tron oricha during initiations within Ifá
and to determine an individual’s per-
sonal oddun during the initial initi-
ations into Ifá, known as kofá for
women and abo faca for men. The
opón, which is considered to repre-
sent the universe within its bound-
aries, is covered with a divination
powder called iyefá or iyeorosún, on
which we mark the signs as they come
up.
The session opens up with a series
of prayers while an irofá (tapper of Ifá)
is tapped on the edge of the Table of
Ifá to call the egguns (spirits of the
dead), living priests, the orichas, and
Orula. The irofá is usually made of
deer antler or wood, but occasionally
it is made of brass or ivory, and is
used during prayers whenever using
the Table of Ifá. Sixteen ekines are
used for this form of divination. They
are beaten lightly together several
times, and the babalawo attempts to
grab all sixteen ekin nuts at a time with
his right hand. If one ekin remains in
the babalawo’s left hand, two lines are
marked, representing zero. If two ekin
nuts remain in the hand, one mark is
made. If none of the ekines remain or
if there are more than two remaining,
the babalawo continues with the grab-
bing attempts until there are only one
or two ekines left in his hand. This
process is continued until there are
eight single or double marks on the
tray, making a complete oddun. Once
times, and the babalawo attempts to
grab all sixteen ekin nuts at a time with
his right hand. If one ekin remains in
the babalawo’s left hand, two lines are
marked, representing zero. If two ekin
nuts remain in the hand, one mark is
made. If none of the ekines remain or
if there are more than two remaining,
the babalawo continues with the grab-
bing attempts until there are only one
or two ekines left in his hand. This
process is continued until there are
eight single or double marks on the
tray, making a complete oddun. Once
questions and has a clear under-
standing of how they should proceed.
Between sessions and during breaks
in the ceremonies, the ekines are kept
in a calabash called a jicara and are
covered with an iruke (a beaded horse
tail switch), which is the emblem of a
babalawo and can be used to cleanse
a person of negativity.
The readings using the Table of Ifá
are usually implemented during major
initiations, and they can last several
hours, with three or more babalawos
giving advice to the initiate.
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Ekines
The Ecuele
The other form of divination used by
babalawos is the ecuele, which is
comprised of eight disks connected to
each other by a chain. The ecuele is
considered the servant, or messenger,
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and tossed to the mat with the con-
necting chain at the top. The right
hand, or senior side, of the ecuele is
usually marked with a set of beads so
the babalawo will always be sure of
which oddun has appeared.
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positive side of the sign) or osogbo
(negative side). To accomplish this,
the babalawo begins by presenting a
small stone to the person’s forehead
and asks, “Iré ni (does this person
come with iré)?” He then hands the
client the stone as well as a seashell,
telling them to shake and separate
them so one is in each hand. The
babalawo gives the client two items to
shake and hold in their hand, usually a
stone and a seashell, telling them
which means yes and which means
no. This allows the person’s own orí
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and her free will to enter into the equa-
tion. The babalawo then throws the
ecuele twice and chooses one of the
client’s hands according to which
oddun is senior, or higher up, in the
order of the odduns. If the babalawo
calls for the hand that is holding the
yes object, then the person has come
with iré; otherwise, the person has
come with osogbo. These two odduns
are considered witnesses to the pri-
mary oddun and are recorded, as they
add information to the main oddun
the person came with.
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and her free will to enter into the equa-
tion. The babalawo then throws the
ecuele twice and chooses one of the
client’s hands according to which
oddun is senior, or higher up, in the
order of the odduns. If the babalawo
calls for the hand that is holding the
yes object, then the person has come
with iré; otherwise, the person has
come with osogbo. These two odduns
are considered witnesses to the pri-
mary oddun and are recorded, as they
add information to the main oddun
the person came with.
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Orunmila, an oricha, or eggun who is
the source of the blessing if they came
in iré or will defend them in the case
of osogbo. Again, most of the time the
entities who figure most prominently
in the oddun are asked for first.
Now we ask Ifá precisely what
ebbós the client needs in order to en-
sure the iré will come, or what mea-
sures need to be taken to prevent any
negativity associated with the sign.
This can be anything from simply fol-
lowing Ifá’s advice to offerings and
even initiations that can be called for.
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Again, we confirm each step of the
way with Ifá to make absolutely sure
the work will be effective.
Finally, we ask Ifá if he is satisfied
with the advice given to the client and
the solutions that have been called for.
If the answer is yes, then the session
is officially closed. If not, we continue
until Orunmila is satisfied that all that
needs to be said and done has been
communicated properly. During the
process of an osode, it is typical for
anywhere from twenty to fifty odduns
to be cast.
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An Actual Osode
Probably the best way to illustrate how
an osode, or Ifá consultation, works is
to use an actual osode as our exam-
ple. In this case, we had just learned
my wife was pregnant so we wanted to
go to Ifá for advice and to ensure there
wouldn’t be any problems with the
pregnancy.
As is standard, I started by giving a
libation of several drops of cool water
on the floor as an offering and to cool
the space. Then, after saluting Olorun
and Olófin, I began to salute by name
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the babalawos, santeros, and personal
family members in my religious and
blood lineages who have passed away.
This act not only honors the dead, but
in this way we announce our lineage to
Ifá, thereby telling him who we are and
where we came from. After that I con-
tinued by saluting the orichas and
Orunmila himself. Finally, I told Orun-
mila my name in Ifá—my babalawo
name—and what I was doing.
This is most often done without the
babalawo knowing the reason his
client has come, but in this case we
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both already knew. I presented the
ecuele to my wife, touching her head
and then certain cardinal parts of the
body to ensure a strong connection is
made between Ifá and her all-
important orí.
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The author performing an osode,
or Ifá consultation, using an
ecuele over a Table of Ifá
Asking for the blessings of Orun-
mila and any babalawos, apetebís (fe-
male Ifá initiates), or olorichas, I then
threw the ecuele to the mat. The first
oddun, called the oddun toyale, con-
tains most of the advice Ifá has for the
client. The oddun that appeared, and
which accompanied my wife, Eliz-
abeth, at the time, was Osaló Fobeyó.
I wrote this oddun down on the paper
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as part of the record of the session.
Since the main oddun that came up
was Osaló Fobeyó, I have to admit I
was sweating bullets, because in os-
ogbo the sign warns us that Echu is
waiting at the gates of the cemetery
and that emergency action would be
needed. Fortunately, with the next two
throws of the ecuele, I asked for her
left hand that held the stone, and it
was revealed to us that the sign had
come with iré. Next I asked what kind
of blessings could be expected, and
since Ifá speaks a lot about pregnancy
and children in this oddun, it seemed
a pretty safe bet to ask for iré omó (the
blessing of children). When that was
confirmed, we asked if the iré was
oyale (solid and strong), but the an-
swer was no. We would have to work
to make sure our baby would be born
healthy. Finally, we asked who the iré
would be coming from, and the subse-
quent throws of the ecuele confirmed
the iré came from Orunmila himself.
But Ifá had a surprise in store for us,
because in the oddun Osaló Fobeyó
he was telling us we would be having
and children in this oddun, it seemed
a pretty safe bet to ask for iré omó (the
blessing of children). When that was
confirmed, we asked if the iré was
oyale (solid and strong), but the an-
swer was no. We would have to work
to make sure our baby would be born
healthy. Finally, we asked who the iré
would be coming from, and the subse-
quent throws of the ecuele confirmed
the iré came from Orunmila himself.
But Ifá had a surprise in store for us,
because in the oddun Osaló Fobeyó
he was telling us we would be having
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also be as different as night and day.
Knowing that the iré in this case was
coming from Orunmila, we asked him
what we needed to do in order to en-
sure the pregnancy would come to
term and the babies would be born
healthy. As it turned out, the babies
needed to go through the highly un-
usual step of performing the first part
of the ceremonies for their initial initi-
ation in Ifá, even though they would
still be in their mother’s womb at the
time! Of course, we immediately
began to make the necessary
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preparations to have this done.
Both children were born healthy,
even though there were a few scares
along the way, as was predicted by Ifá.
Within minutes after the birth, our
son, Emiliano, rolled over to reveal a
huge mole on his lower back. So here
was Obatalá’s child, as predicted by
Ifá. When we completed the cere-
monies for their kofá and abo faca a
few months after their birth and deter-
mined who their orichas were, we con-
firmed Emiliano was indeed a child of
Obatalá and that our daughter,
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Xochitl, turned out to be a child of
Changó. As they grew a little older, we
soon found their personalities
couldn’t possibly be more opposite,
once again confirming the old saying
in Ifá, “La palabra de Orula nunca cae
al piso (the word of Orula never falls to
the floor).”
This example illustrates how some
Ifá predictions can take months or
even years to come to pass. It can take
years to fully see the depth of what Ifá
reveals, even if you’re a babalawo.
Now that we have seen how a
typical session occurs, let’s break it
down into the different parts. Each
part of the session has a specific pur-
pose in revealing the client’s situation
and assuring them the most fulfilling
outcome. This is largely achieved
through a series of yes or no ques-
tions that we ask Ifá.
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Babalawo divining with the Table
of Ifá
The Oddun Toyale
This is the actual oddun out of the 256
possible that accompanies the person
during a divination session, or osode.
This oddun is the focus of the ses-
sion, and the babalawo will recite from
the wealth of advice, patakís, refránes,
and remedies, or ebbós, that apply to
the oddun that comes up for the per-
son.
The Testigos, or Witnesses
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These are the first two signs that are
thrown after the initial oddun toyale
has been acquired. The two signs are
the first splits in the road where we
find whether the orientation of the
sign is in iré or osogbo. The two wit-
nessing signs are also marked down
by the babalawo and discussed, as Ifá
is speaking to the client through those
signs as well. We should understand
that having a sign come with iré
doesn’t necessarily guarantee that
good will come or that the negative as-
pects of the sign won’t come to pass.
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On the other hand, if we come with
osogbo, the sign can be turned to iré
or at least have the negative impact
vastly lessened. The fact is you can
turn the iré into osogbo or vice versa.
It all depends on how well you follow
Orula’s advice and prescriptions.
One should always remember that
iré is always more fragile and takes
more work to retain than osogbo. This
dates back to ancient times when the
irés and osogbos were all kings who
went to Orula to be seen with Ifá. They
were advised to make an ebbó to
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On the other hand, if we come with
osogbo, the sign can be turned to iré
or at least have the negative impact
vastly lessened. The fact is you can
turn the iré into osogbo or vice versa.
It all depends on how well you follow
Orula’s advice and prescriptions.
One should always remember that
iré is always more fragile and takes
more work to retain than osogbo. This
dates back to ancient times when the
irés and osogbos were all kings who
went to Orula to be seen with Ifá. They
were advised to make an ebbó to
avoid losing their positions. The irés,
including health, money, wives, or
children, refused to make the ebbó, as
they considered themselves superior
because everybody was always happy
to see them and they were welcomed
all over the world. Only the osogbos
made the required offering. Not long
after, all the irés threw a party for
themselves and didn’t invite the osog-
bos, whom they considered inferior to
them. Echu then sent a beautiful gift
with a letter that simply said, “To the
most beautiful wife of all the irés.” It
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didn’t take long for all the wives to
start arguing about who was the most
beautiful, and soon the irés them-
selves got pulled into the argument.
The disagreement worsened, and all
the irés killed each other in the fight
that ensued. From that day forward,
the osogbos—death, sickness, and
loss—have always been more perma-
nent and forceful than the irés.
The Nature of the Iré or
Osogbo
As mentioned above, after we have
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arrived at the witnessing signs we ask
a number of questions using the
ecuele or the ekines to pinpoint the
details of the iré or osogbo. What kind
of iré is it? Is it iré aikú (health), iré
omó, or iré lalafia (general well-
being)? If the sign comes in osogbo,
is it osogbo ikú (death), arun (sick-
ness), ofo (loss), or something else?
And if the person has come in iré, at
whose feet will it be found? Is it elese
eggun (at the feet of the dead); the
oricha Orunmila; or does it come from
Olófin or eledá (the person’s own
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head)? If the person comes in osogbo,
which one of these forces is willing to
defend the person and help them to
get back that state of balance and
alignment known as iré?
Ifá Says
Once we have pinpointed the partic-
ular path of the oddun, we are in a
position to interpret the advice Ifá has
for the person. At this point we will tell
the person the relevant proverbs, ad-
vice, and any warnings Ifá may have
that apply to that particular path of the
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oddun. Often we will tell patakís that
illustrate how the oddun typically un-
folds in a person’s life.
Ebbó
From here, we investigate what Ifá
says we need to do to put the person
back in alignment. This can be any-
thing from simply following Orun-
mila’s advice to various offerings, a
keborí eledá (also known as a rogación
de la cabeza in Spanish) to cleanse
and strengthen the head, or an ebbó
katero (a complex ritual using the
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Table of Ifá), an initiation, or even re-
ceiving an oricha or a paraldo (an in-
tense ceremony to remove an un-
healthy spirit plaguing a person).
I have found that for many people
the most difficult ebbó is simply fol-
lowing Orunmila’s advice. Sometimes
Orunmila will not ask for any offerings
but instead will tell the person how
they must change in order to live a
more fulfilled life. This is because the
imbalance and lack of alignment the
person is experiencing is due to their
own actions and way of being, which
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cannot be solved for long by any offer-
ing or cleansing. Many times it is an
imbalance in one of the person’s
greatest strengths that is causing the
problems. This is because all
strengths and virtues are double-
edged swords with their inherent
weaknesses and problems.
One example would be the case
where a person’s greatest asset is their
strength of will. When that strength of
will gets out of balance, it becomes
simple stubbornness and tyranny that
may cause the person untold
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problems, not only in their relation-
ships and any aspect of life that deals
with other people, but also in the fail-
ure to see that anyone or anything
might be seeing a side of things that
they might be missing. Another case
would be a person who by nature is
patient and weighs all factors before
making decisions. While their judg-
ment may be impeccable, that
strength becomes a weakness and a
problem when that person finds them-
selves incapable of making decisions
while waiting for more information.
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problems, not only in their relation-
ships and any aspect of life that deals
with other people, but also in the fail-
ure to see that anyone or anything
might be seeing a side of things that
they might be missing. Another case
would be a person who by nature is
patient and weighs all factors before
making decisions. While their judg-
ment may be impeccable, that
strength becomes a weakness and a
problem when that person finds them-
selves incapable of making decisions
while waiting for more information.
take care of their problems for them.
Little do they know that making
changes in themselves can be strong
medicine and can have a powerful ef-
fect on their own well-being and suc-
cess in life.
Remember, the purpose of Ifá div-
ination is designed to put you in bal-
ance and alignment with your own
destiny so you won’t be told to do any-
thing against your true nature. If a per-
son is strong-willed by nature, they
will not be told to become meek, self-
effacing, and subservient. They may be
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told they have to learn that they are
not made weak by listening and fol-
lowing the advice of others. If a per-
son is passionate and adventurous by
nature, they will not be told to become
emotionless and timid. They may be
told they must not let their passions
run away with them to the point that
they become self-destructive. In this
way, changing our own behavior be-
comes a powerful ebbó in and of it-
self.
“That Doesn’t Apply to Me!”
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told they have to learn that they are
not made weak by listening and fol-
lowing the advice of others. If a per-
son is passionate and adventurous by
nature, they will not be told to become
emotionless and timid. They may be
told they must not let their passions
run away with them to the point that
they become self-destructive. In this
way, changing our own behavior be-
comes a powerful ebbó in and of it-
self.
“That Doesn’t Apply to Me!”
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mine that a woman could come into
their life and threaten their marriage.
In one case, the client openly laughed
at me. A few weeks later, his wife came
home early to find some rather inti-
mate correspondence from another
woman left up on his computer
screen, and needless to say, he wasn’t
laughing at Ifá anymore.
2. Sometimes the real cause of a
person’s problems is not always obvi-
ous. For example, a person might be
rushed to the hospital with a life-
threatening case of blood poisoning
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only to find out the blood poisoning
was caused by an abscessed tooth,
which could have been easily pre-
vented if acted upon early enough.
Itá
“We are as Obatalá made us, but what
we are to become we make ourselves.”
When we are born, unfortunately we
do not come with an owner’s manual
to help us best find fulfillment in our
lives. Thus, we may end up spending
our lives undoing ourselves and work-
ing against our own best interests and
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our true destiny in life. Perhaps if we
had an owner’s manual, we could
avoid many of the pitfalls we succumb
to every day, and know what we need
to do to ensure a fulfilling and suc-
cessful life.
The itá (deep divination) received
during the kofá and abo faca initi-
ations are that owner’s manual. The
kofá and abo faca are the fundamental
initiations into Ifá for women and
men. During this three-day ceremony,
they are not only placed under the pro-
tection and blessings of Orula but
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receive an itá that will guide them
throughout their lives.
Using the Table of Ifá, the babal-
awos painstakingly bring down the
oddun that will accompany the initiate
for life and that has accompanied
them since birth. During the itá, one
by one the babalawos present tell you
about the oddun that accompanies
you, and the advice that Orula gives
you on how to best fulfill your destiny.
You are told the things to watch out
for, the things to avoid, and the things
you should do to better your life. You
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will often be told things that you will
realize have been ongoing and repeat-
ing patterns that have always been
with you. Other things are brought up
that speak of events you can expect in
your future.
During the itá, it is not uncommon
for you to receive certain ewós (prohi-
bitions) that are part of the oddun that
you came with. Those ewós are there
for your own good. For example, I
have a godchild who was told she was
prohibited from eating pork, some-
thing she complained bitterly about,
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as pork was her favorite food. A few
days later, she recalled having had to
go to the hospital on three separate
occasions, each time after having
eaten bad pork!
During the deep divination of the itá
you receive when you are initiated into
Ifá, you receive an oddun that has
accompanied you since you were born
and will be with you for your entire
life. In this case, any or all paths of the
sign can apply to you at one point or
another, so it is very important to
familiarize yourself with all the paths
of your particular oddun. The oddun
one receives during the itá for the kofá
or abo faca initiation is your destiny
and can only be superseded if one is
later initiated as a babalawo or as an
apetebí ayafá. Itás received during
other initiations are for life as well and
complement the itá given during kofá
and abo faca.
Another difference between the itá
and a regular divination is that since
the sign is for life in an itá, any iré or
osogbo that comes with the oddun is
not necessarily permanent. For
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of your particular oddun. The oddun
one receives during the itá for the kofá
or abo faca initiation is your destiny
and can only be superseded if one is
later initiated as a babalawo or as an
apetebí ayafá. Itás received during
other initiations are for life as well and
complement the itá given during kofá
and abo faca.
Another difference between the itá
and a regular divination is that since
the sign is for life in an itá, any iré or
osogbo that comes with the oddun is
not necessarily permanent. For
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example, if your oddun in life comes
in osogbo, it is more of a warning be-
cause that osogbo can be changed
into iré if you complete all the ebbós
called for and closely follow the advice
given in the itá. On the other hand,
you can come with the most beautiful
iré during your itá and through your
own actions or inaction that iré can be
turned into the osogbo side of your
oddun.
Sometimes when there is no way to
completely avoid an event from hap-
pening, there are tricks we can use.
For instance, if we find that it is in-
evitable a person will go to the hos-
pital, we might advise the client to find
a way to get put in a hospital room or
bed for a time. This can sometimes be
done if you have a friend or acquain-
tance who works in a hospital who can
find an empty room for you for a few
minutes.
There are myriad tactics and recipes
such as this that can be used to avoid
the pitfalls and ensure the good that
each oddun predicts. Sometimes a
person can become particularly
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proficient at navigating their oddun,
achieving all the good while avoiding
the negative side. We say of such a
person, “She knows how to live her
sign.”
[contents]
tell him their conclusion. This only made
the king all the more determined to find
out the truth, and he began to travel
throughout his kingdom in hopes of find-
ing someone who could enlighten him
about the true nature of the world.
Meanwhile, along the borderlands of
Iyesaland there lived a babalawo named
Ifá Kandashé. He was well known in his
area for his outstanding interpretations
of Ifá’s odduns, but because he lived out
in the boondocks, he was forced to live
off of decorating statues, vases, and pots.
He was getting bored with it, and as
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he never received visits from any of the
great people he would hear about, he set
about making ebbó with a pot, the
paints, and the tools of his trade. While
he was asleep, a drunken Changó came
by and painted lightning bolts. Elegguá,
who had just finished eating a young
rooster, came by next and put his bloody
hands all over the cazuela. Finally, the
great artist Ere Oyola, the Rainbow Ser-
pent who represented Olodumare, took
his turn and defecated into the vase. By
the time the orichas were through, the
pot was truly a mess.
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All this time, Ifá Kandashé managed
to sleep through the entire thing. When
he woke up and saw the mess painted in
his pot, he exclaimed, “Orunmila be
praised! But what—what is this thing?”
At the same moment, a grand proces-
sion appeared at his home, and royal
messengers knock on his door. When he
bid them to enter, he suddenly realized
it was the obá himself. The king of the
entire nation was in his house, along
with an entourage of wise men from
throughout the land! Shocked, the
babalawo Kandashé asked them what
they wished.
The obá responded, “You are Ifá Kan-
dashé, as famous in my land as you are
in your own for interpreting Ifá odduns
better than anyone else. I wish to know
something that all my wise advisors
haven’t been able to show me.”
“What is that?” asked the perplexed
babalawo.
“That you show me the true nature of
the world,” the obá responded.
Ifá Kandashé, after analyzing every-
thing the king had told him, finally said,
“Look inside this pot and you will see the
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world as it really is!”
The obá eagerly grabbed the pot and
looked inside … and looked … and
looked. Finally, the king broke into
paroxysms of laughter and exclaimed,
“You are so right! You are truly, truly
wise! In reality, the world is nothing but
randomness and shit! From this day for-
ward, you shall be my head diviner and
the counselor of my court, and you shall
always be showered with treasures and
honors!”
“To study Ifá without thinking about
it is in vain;
the itá for my abo faca initiation, the
divination telling me my itá in life. I
was to be initiated into the priesthood
of Ifá, the oricha of wisdom and di-
viner for humanity, the orichas, and
Olodumare (God) himself. Special-
izing in divination, the rituals and
offerings associated with it, the babal-
awo is also the caretaker of the oral
traditions of the religion, the secrets of
the oricha, the secrets of life … and the
universe. My childhood wish was
being answered.
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Babalawo
In her impressive work The Anagó Lan-
guage of Cuba, obá oriaté and scholar
Maria Concordia (Oggún Gbemi) de-
fines the babalawo as “an eternal stu-
dent of Ifá and representation of its
earthly manifestation, who must know
everything regarding the rituals and
ceremonies, divinatory advices,
prayers, chants, and sacrifices related
to the philosophy and theology of
Lucumí religion.” ¹
Besides being the living repositories
of the sum total of our oral traditions
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and ritual knowledge, the babalawos
act as the exclusive interpreters of Ifá’s
divine messages for the community as
well as for individuals. Therefore, as
the refrán above tells us, babalawos
must dedicate themselves to the con-
stant expansion and deepening of
their knowledge, and Orula enjoins us
to study and contemplate Ifá so babal-
awos may know and understand Ifá.
A babalawo is expected to follow a
strict code of conduct. He should be
honest, simple, and of unassailable
character, serving as an inspiration to
those around him. He should con-
stantly maintain only the highest eth-
ical standards and must endlessly
strive to be worthy of only the greatest
respect. As my oyugbona Julito said so
many years ago, “You don’t make Ifá
for power or for money. You make Ifá
so Orula can save you.”
The babalawo always has the history
of Obí’s vanity to remind him of the
price to be paid for becoming too
proud and arrogant.
Obí Agbón (coconut) was very humble
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and honest, so Olófin dressed him in
white inside and out, and placed him
in a very high position as one of
Olófin’s principal diviners.
But over time, Obí became arro-
gant and overly proud of his position.
One day he threw a party in his
palace and invited all the crème de la
crème of society and Elegguá. Having
noticed the changes in Obí’s character,
Elegguá brought all the homeless and
the beggars he could find from the
marketplace.
Obí took Elegguá aside, telling him,
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“I invited you, but not all of these peo-
ple.”
Elegguá looked Obí in the eye and
replied, “If they go, I go,” and
stomped out.
A few weeks later Olófin asked Eleg-
guá to deliver a message to Obí, but
Elegguá said, “You know I would do
anything for you, but please send
someone else to go to Obí’s palace.”
“Why don’t you want to go?” asked
Olófin.
With this, Elegguá told Olófin
about what had occurred at Obí’s
party. What Elegguá didn’t know is
that he was merely confirming what
Olófin already knew.
So Olófin dressed like the filthiest of
the homeless and went to Obí’s
palace. When Obí saw the beggar at
his door, he slammed the door right in
his face!
Suddenly, the walls shook as
Olófin’s voice thundered, “Obí ti o fe
ni (don’t you recognize who I am)?”
With that, Obí prostrated himself
before Olófin and begged forgiveness.
But Olófin cursed him to always be
dark on the outside and white only on
the inside to show the world the price
of arrogance. He would fall from the
trees to always remind him of his fall
from great heights due to his pride.
People would slap him and kick him
once he was on the ground. And to re-
mind the world of his duplicity, he
would always have two faces, one
light and one dark. And lastly, he
would still divine; however, he would
never have a voice of his own but
could only speak for others.
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Not everyone is born to be a babalawo
or an obá oriaté or a santera or san-
tero, for that matter. Traditionally in
Cuba, it wasn’t commonplace for a
person to become an iworo, and it was
downright rare to become a babalawo.
It meant years of work and then more
years of saving up the money for the
initiation. It was always meant to be a
sacrifice—not a commodity to be
bought by spiritual tourists collecting
initiations—if you were chosen to be-
come a priest by the orichas in the
first place. If a person is meant to
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become a babalawo, it will usually
come up while they are being seen
with Ifá and must be confirmed when
they receive their abo faca. For me,
finding out that Ifá had chosen me to
be one of his priests came the very
first time I was seen with Ifá, but the
prognostication had to be confirmed
when I received my abo faca.
One of the babalawos working in
that abo faca ceremony was to be-
come my assistant padrino for this
initiation. His name was Julito Collazo
(Iwori Kosó ibae), whom I would later
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learn was not only a famous babalawo
but a famous drummer as well. Julito
Collazo and Francisco Aguabella were
the first and best religious drummers
in the country and were, along with the
babalawo Pancho Mora, among the
first practicing priests in the United
States. Padrino Julito was also a fa-
mous secular drummer, often playing
with other greats such as Tito Puente,
Celia Cruz, and Mongo Santamaria.
During a break in the ceremonies, Juli-
to came over and began casually talk-
ing about Ifá and the religion in
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the itá for my abo faca initiation, the
divination telling me my itá in life. I
was to be initiated into the priesthood
of Ifá, the oricha of wisdom and di-
viner for humanity, the orichas, and
Olodumare (God) himself. Special-
izing in divination, the rituals and
offerings associated with it, the babal-
awo is also the caretaker of the oral
traditions of the religion, the secrets of
the oricha, the secrets of life … and the
universe. My childhood wish was
being answered.
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Babalawo
In her impressive work The Anagó Lan-
guage of Cuba, obá oriaté and scholar
Maria Concordia (Oggún Gbemi) de-
fines the babalawo as “an eternal stu-
dent of Ifá and representation of its
earthly manifestation, who must know
everything regarding the rituals and
ceremonies, divinatory advices,
prayers, chants, and sacrifices related
to the philosophy and theology of
Lucumí religion.” ¹
Besides being the living repositories
of the sum total of our oral traditions
and ritual knowledge, the babalawos
act as the exclusive interpreters of Ifá’s
divine messages for the community as
well as for individuals. Therefore, as
the refrán above tells us, babalawos
must dedicate themselves to the con-
stant expansion and deepening of
their knowledge, and Orula enjoins us
to study and contemplate Ifá so babal-
awos may know and understand Ifá.
A babalawo is expected to follow a
strict code of conduct. He should be
honest, simple, and of unassailable
character, serving as an inspiration to
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those around him. He should con-
stantly maintain only the highest eth-
ical standards and must endlessly
strive to be worthy of only the greatest
respect. As my oyugbona Julito said so
many years ago, “You don’t make Ifá
for power or for money. You make Ifá
so Orula can save you.”
The babalawo always has the history
of Obí’s vanity to remind him of the
price to be paid for becoming too
proud and arrogant.
Obí Agbón (coconut) was very humble
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and honest, so Olófin dressed him in
white inside and out, and placed him
in a very high position as one of
Olófin’s principal diviners.
But over time, Obí became arro-
gant and overly proud of his position.
One day he threw a party in his
palace and invited all the crème de la
crème of society and Elegguá. Having
noticed the changes in Obí’s character,
Elegguá brought all the homeless and
the beggars he could find from the
marketplace.
Obí took Elegguá aside, telling him,
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“I invited you, but not all of these peo-
ple.”
Elegguá looked Obí in the eye and
replied, “If they go, I go,” and
stomped out.
A few weeks later Olófin asked Eleg-
guá to deliver a message to Obí, but
Elegguá said, “You know I would do
anything for you, but please send
someone else to go to Obí’s palace.”
“Why don’t you want to go?” asked
Olófin.
With this, Elegguá told Olófin
about what had occurred at Obí’s
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party. What Elegguá didn’t know is
that he was merely confirming what
Olófin already knew.
So Olófin dressed like the filthiest of
the homeless and went to Obí’s
palace. When Obí saw the beggar at
his door, he slammed the door right in
his face!
Suddenly, the walls shook as
Olófin’s voice thundered, “Obí ti o fe
ni (don’t you recognize who I am)?”
With that, Obí prostrated himself
before Olófin and begged forgiveness.
But Olófin cursed him to always be
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dark on the outside and white only on
the inside to show the world the price
of arrogance. He would fall from the
trees to always remind him of his fall
from great heights due to his pride.
People would slap him and kick him
once he was on the ground. And to re-
mind the world of his duplicity, he
would always have two faces, one
light and one dark. And lastly, he
would still divine; however, he would
never have a voice of his own but
could only speak for others.
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Not everyone is born to be a babalawo
or an obá oriaté or a santera or san-
tero, for that matter. Traditionally in
Cuba, it wasn’t commonplace for a
person to become an iworo, and it was
downright rare to become a babalawo.
It meant years of work and then more
years of saving up the money for the
initiation. It was always meant to be a
sacrifice—not a commodity to be
bought by spiritual tourists collecting
initiations—if you were chosen to be-
come a priest by the orichas in the
first place. If a person is meant to
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become a babalawo, it will usually
come up while they are being seen
with Ifá and must be confirmed when
they receive their abo faca. For me,
finding out that Ifá had chosen me to
be one of his priests came the very
first time I was seen with Ifá, but the
prognostication had to be confirmed
when I received my abo faca.
One of the babalawos working in
that abo faca ceremony was to be-
come my assistant padrino for this
initiation. His name was Julito Collazo
(Iwori Kosó ibae), whom I would later
become a babalawo, it will usually
come up while they are being seen
with Ifá and must be confirmed when
they receive their abo faca. For me,
finding out that Ifá had chosen me to
be one of his priests came the very
first time I was seen with Ifá, but the
prognostication had to be confirmed
when I received my abo faca.
One of the babalawos working in
that abo faca ceremony was to be-
come my assistant padrino for this
initiation. His name was Julito Collazo
(Iwori Kosó ibae), whom I would later
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learn was not only a famous babalawo
but a famous drummer as well. Julito
Collazo and Francisco Aguabella were
the first and best religious drummers
in the country and were, along with the
babalawo Pancho Mora, among the
first practicing priests in the United
States. Padrino Julito was also a fa-
mous secular drummer, often playing
with other greats such as Tito Puente,
Celia Cruz, and Mongo Santamaria.
During a break in the ceremonies, Juli-
to came over and began casually talk-
ing about Ifá and the religion in
through deep divination using the
Table of Ifá, I went into the initiation
room to learn my path in life. After
they had gotten my oddun in abo faca
and its orientation, it was time to
speak about my sign and what it
meant.
“Ifá can save you.” With those few
words, padrino Julito had informed
that it was indeed my destiny to be-
come a babalawo.
But having the odduns to make Ifá
(become initiated as a babalawo) is
just the beginning. There are a number
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of prohibitions that can prevent a per-
son from being initiated as an Ifá
priest. If a person has ever been ridden
(possessed) by an oricha or an eggun
(the dead), they are not allowed to go
on to Ifá. The vast majority of babal-
awos are oluwos, babalawos who have
been initiated as an iworo before
going on to become an Ifá priest. But
if they initiate another person, they are
discouraged from becoming a babal-
awo, as they would not be able to ful-
fill many of their responsibilities to the
orichas and to their godchildren. And
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of prohibitions that can prevent a per-
son from being initiated as an Ifá
priest. If a person has ever been ridden
(possessed) by an oricha or an eggun
(the dead), they are not allowed to go
on to Ifá. The vast majority of babal-
awos are oluwos, babalawos who have
been initiated as an iworo before
going on to become an Ifá priest. But
if they initiate another person, they are
discouraged from becoming a babal-
awo, as they would not be able to ful-
fill many of their responsibilities to the
orichas and to their godchildren. And
if they are an initiated santero, they
must first receive permission from
their oricha before they can become a
babalawo. My own padrino, as an
oricha priest, Guillermo Diago Obá Bí,
was denied initiation as a priest of Ifá
in this way. He had the odduns to
make Ifá, but Changó would not allow
him to become a babalawo. His des-
tiny was to become a truly great obá
oriaté, and he was a real treasure in
his own right.
Because I made Obatalá (was initi-
ated as a priest of Obatalá) before
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making Ifá, I still needed the obá
oriaté to ask Obatalá for his permis-
sion and blessing before I could pass
to Ifá. Not only did I get his permis-
sion, but also five years later when I
made Ifá, Obatalá spoke up, giving me
his iré, Maferefún Obatalá, which
means we always give thanks to
Obatalá.
I have my Padrino Pete Rivera to
thank for making sure no phases were
skipped and everything was well done
every step of the way. Padrino Pete has
always been like a second father to
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me, and I am forever in his debt. He
has always led me in the right direc-
tion and has been a model godparent
to me.
Many of these prohibitions are in
place because Orula demands that his
priests devote themselves exclusively
to Ifá, one cannot be a part-time babal-
awo. In fact, this demand for complete
devotion to Ifá is dramatically and
sometimes painfully illustrated during
the ceremony called the iyoyé, as we
shall see.
This brings us to the most
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controversial prohibition in Ifá, which
is the prohibition against initiating
women as Ifá priests. For the initiation
of a babalawo to be valid, the presence
of Igba Odun (the calabash of Odun)
in the igbodún or Ifá initiation shrine
is absolutely necessary. Odun is the
ultimate source of Ifá’s power and
those who have received her make up
the highest rank among the babal-
awos. And because Olófin/Odun is
the source of all odduns giving us the
power to know their secrets and to
work with them, to be initiated without
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her doesn’t make any sense. That is
why the oddun Oché Yekú states di-
rectly that a person initiated as an Ifá
priest without Odun has accom-
plished nothing and will not be recog-
nized by Ifá.
As we will see in the next chapter,
Odun, also known as Olófin, is so cru-
cial to the initiation of an Ifá priest that
in the late 1800s, a babalawo named
Adechina risked his life to go back to
Africa and bring Olófin/Odun back to
the island so babalawos could be initi-
ated in Cuba. Olófin’s presence was
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crucial enough for our greatest ances-
tor to risk life and limb to bring Olófin
back to Cuba; and instead of staying in
Africa, he left his home a second time
so Ifá could survive there. After the
immense sacrifices made on the part
of Lucumí Ifá’s greatest ancestor, the
idea of initiating an Ifá priest without
Olófin is unconceivable for us. These
are the Lucumí babalawo’s roots and
we simply won’t betray them for any-
one, no matter what the prevailing atti-
tudes may be at the time. Our tradi-
tions did not survive the ordeals of
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slavery only to die in a hot tub in
Esalen. Olófin/Odun does not permit
women to be in her presence, which
will be discussed later, and that is why
babalawos are not allowed to initiate
women as Ifá priests.
There is the elegán initiation for
men seen in some parts of Africa, but
we don’t recognize that initiation be-
cause Odun is not present during their
initiation. In fact, in many of the areas
of Yorubaland that has the elegán initi-
ation, the elegán is only allowed to di-
vine for himself and his immediate
family using the ecuele, and is not al-
lowed to divine using the ekin nuts or
initiate others into Ifá, because they
are not considered full-fledged Ifá
priests.
Initiation
The Afro-Cuban babalawos must be
fully initiated as Ifá priests in the cere-
mony called atefá before they can
begin to learn the secrets of the
odduns, which may or may not be the
case in different parts of Yorubaland.²
The initiation of a babalawo lasts
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seven days, during which the new ini-
tiate is secluded in the igbodún, which
means “Odun’s Forest.” The room
gets this name, because although the
person becomes a priest of Orula, it is
Orula’s wife Odun’s presence that ulti-
mately gives the new initiate the aché
to interpret and work with the odduns
of Ifá.
Early during the initiation, the new
initiate divines with Ifá for his first
time and the oddun that appears is
their sign for life. A babalawo’s entire
life from birth to death is contained in
that oddun. From then on, other Ifá
priests know a babalawo by this
oddun, and babalawos usually refer to
each other by their oddun. For in-
stance, my sign is Baba Eyiogbe, so
I’m known as Frank Baba Eyiogbe,
Baba Eyiogbe, or Eyiogbe. Babalawos
know a great deal about each other as
soon as they are introduced.
The Iyoyé
“The roots of Ifá are bitter, but the fruits
are sweet.”
The air of anticipation is palpable
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among the small crowd of onlookers
waiting for the new initiate to appear
in the doorway to the igbodún. It has
been a week since he was sequestered
into the room for continuous cere-
monies, sacrifices, cleansings, and
intensive learning and is now making
his first re-appearance into the world.
What is about to take place is the
most dramatic of the closing cere-
monies and the only ceremony non-
initiates are allowed to witness.
The new initiate steps out into the
morning. He is shirtless and barefoot,
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his pants rolled up above his knees.
Over his shoulder he carries a hoe and
a machete as he makes his way toward
a small makeshift farm laid out on the
patio. The farm is tiny, only needing to
be large enough to relive the history
from unspeakably ancient times in the
life of the ancient initiate Akalá, imbu-
ing the ritual with the power of those
primordial events. On either side of
his path to the farm stands a row of
his babalawo brethren armed with
cujes, long, thin branches that seem
designed to cut through skin as
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sharply as they cut through the air. Cut
from a special bush known for its
healing qualities called rasca barriga
(belly scraper), the cujes are used to
ensure the future health of the new
babalawo. You can hear the whistle of
the sticks as the babalawos make
practice strikes to test the strength of
their weapons and the nerve of the
new babalawo. The awó (anyone initi-
ated as an Ifá priest) is now led out of
the igbodún by his oyugbona, armed
with a cuje of his own to defend his
apprentice from the worst of the blows
to come, and they walk toward the
farm to plant the first seedlings.
“Akalá omo oricha, Akalá omo oricha,
Orunmila mabinu, Akalá omo oricha,”
the Orbá Oriaté or Master of Cere-
monies, intones “Akalá child of the
oricha, Akalá child of the oricha, Orun-
mila, please don’t be angry, Akalá
child of the oricha.” All the babalawos
repeat back the song in the call and re-
sponse, hinting at the meaning of the
ceremony.
On the way back toward the room
from planting his crops, the sticks
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come whistling down, raining sharp
wooden pain onto the back and legs of
the new babalawo. As much as his
oyugbona tries to block the sticks, the
blows are fast and coming from too
many directions. Many find their mark
slicing through air and skin with equal
agility. The oyugbona and the deter-
mined young farmer then make their
way back to the Ifá room. Once at the
igbodún, they get a brief moment of
reprieve from the onslaught as they
prepare to head back out to the farm
and the gauntlet of waiting babalawos
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come whistling down, raining sharp
wooden pain onto the back and legs of
the new babalawo. As much as his
oyugbona tries to block the sticks, the
blows are fast and coming from too
many directions. Many find their mark
slicing through air and skin with equal
agility. The oyugbona and the deter-
mined young farmer then make their
way back to the Ifá room. Once at the
igbodún, they get a brief moment of
reprieve from the onslaught as they
prepare to head back out to the farm
and the gauntlet of waiting babalawos
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and their cujes.
They must pass through the gaunt-
let seven times in each direction and
the burning pain becomes stronger
and more cutting, the new babalawo’s
back now crisscrossed with stripes left
by the cujes. Finally he is allowed to
return to the initiation room to kneel
before his Oluwo Siwayú, who is the
babalawo who initiated him to Ifá, and
gives him his blessing and soothes
him by applying a liquid to his sting-
ing back. The pain will pass within a
few weeks, but the initiate is now a
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Father of the Secrets for life. The
babalawos who just moments before
were giving the new initiate the beating
of his life now file into the room to
congratulate the newest member of
their ranks, who, in the realm of spir-
itual warriors, has just become the
spiritual equivalent of a Navy SEAL.
With that, the new babalawo goes on
to enjoy his first ceremonial dinner
with his fellow babalawos and to start
the truly hard work that is ahead of
him. Within hours, this room—that
had been magically transformed for a
week into the primordial grove where
babalawos have been initiated since
time immemorial—will be closed,
sealed, and become just an ordinary
room again.
Although at first blush it might
seem this is little more than a
testosterone-fueled hazing with a spir-
itual justification, that is the furthest
thing from the truth. The iyoyé is actu-
ally the re-enactment of an event from
ancient times when a babalawo was
initiated to Ifá. During his initiation, he
was warned that he must work Ifá
exclusively, but he decided that being
a farmer would be easier and more
profitable. Because he was denying his
true destiny, it was not long before his
suffering began, which is represented
by being beaten with the cujes. Finally,
the babalawo returned to Ifá, where
his pain and suffering ceased and he
began to prosper spiritually and mate-
rially.
The babalawos are the only priests
within the Lucumí religion who are
made to swear before Orunmila and
Olófin/Odun to help humanity during
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their initiation. The Ifá priests are not
only expected to help all people who
come to them for help without judging
them, but they are expected to work
for the good of the entire world. Every
babalawo is made to swear to protect
the secrets of Ifá as well. There is a
case that is famous among Havana
babalawos where a babalawo decided
to renounce the religion and, in the
process, revealed some of Ifá’s secrets
to an ethnologist. Afterward, when the
babalawo became extremely ill, he
went to a babalawo, where it came up
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that he had to go through the iyoyé
ceremony all over again to save his
life. To show the world what happens
to people who reveal Ifa’s secrets, the
babalawos videotaped the ceremony,
which, due to the man’s offense, was
extremely severe. But Orula cured the
babalawo of his illness, and he re-
turned to Ifá and never revealed any
secrets again.
Training
Being initiated as an Ifá priest is just
the beginning, and it is only after
being initiated that the training begins
in earnest. The teaching of a compe-
tent babalawo typically takes three to
five years.
The preparation of a babalawo be-
gins during the initiation week, and my
initiation in Havana, Cuba, was no
exception. In my case, the teaching
during my week on the throne was in-
tense, to put it mildly. Every morning
around three o’clock, my oyugbona
would shove me with his foot so we
could begin my training for the day.
He would shake me awake, ecuele in
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hand, which he would arrange to pro-
duce different odduns that I would
groggily attempt to identify in the
semi-dark.
Like every Afro-Cuban babalawo, on
the first day as an Ifá priest I learned
to say, “awo chudú; awo didé,” (which
means “a babalawo falls; another
babalawo lifts them up”) any time I
dropped an ekin during divination
with the Table of Ifá. To dramatize
this, the babalawo is taught to pick up
the fallen ekin while holding another
ekin in their hand. With this act, the Ifá
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priest is given a lesson on how a
babalawo should always give aid to
another member of their fraternity in
need. And this lesson is pounded in
every single time a babalawo divines
with their ekin because no divination
session with the ekines finishes with-
out some of the ekines falling. And the
great babalawos who became legends,
such as Adechina and Tata Gaitán,
took that lesson further, extending
those lessons and the attitude to all of
humanity and the world.
One afternoon during my week in
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seclusion, Padrino Miguelito came
into the room with an entourage of
about six or seven elder babalawos
and handed me a two-page-long
moyuba, which is a lengthy prayer
used at the beginning of virtually every
ritual. He recited it to me slowly and
clearly so I could hear the correct pro-
nunciation of the words, and then in-
formed me I would be tested on it the
next morning. With that, they all shuf-
fled out of the room. The next morn-
ing, sure enough, all the babalawos re-
turned, and I was asked to recite the
moyuba. Although I was extremely
nervous trying to recite the prayer in
front of so many elders, I managed to
focus and get through the whole
prayer. As I neared the end of the
prayer, Padrino Miguelito began to
chuckle, sharing a knowing look with
the other babalawos, who were also
amused for some reason. At the end,
Padrino Miguelito merely shrugged
and said, “Asi es Baba Eyiogbe,” mean-
ing “That’s Baba Eyiogbe.” At that, all
the babalawos broke into laughter.
Only then did I realize that not every
moyuba. Although I was extremely
nervous trying to recite the prayer in
front of so many elders, I managed to
focus and get through the whole
prayer. As I neared the end of the
prayer, Padrino Miguelito began to
chuckle, sharing a knowing look with
the other babalawos, who were also
amused for some reason. At the end,
Padrino Miguelito merely shrugged
and said, “Asi es Baba Eyiogbe,” mean-
ing “That’s Baba Eyiogbe.” At that, all
the babalawos broke into laughter.
Only then did I realize that not every
new babalawo was expected to memo-
rize the whole prayer in one evening. I
had been up all night, pacing and
reciting the passages, gradually adding
to them little by little until I finally had
the whole prayer memorized. When
they all shuffled out, laughing and jok-
ing amongst themselves, I was ex-
hausted but happy that I had passed
the test. I also found out that day al-
though a lot is expected of every new
babalawo, even more is expected if
you are the child of certain signs.
I knew then I had a lot of hard work
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ahead of me. There are 256 odduns,
each one having its own secrets,
prayers, histories, proverbs, ebbós,
plants, iches (works), and even its own
path of Echu. When I reached the end
of the information I was given on the
odduns, I had to laugh at Ifá’s humor.
The very last oddun started off by say-
ing that a babalawo cannot know
everything, and only Orula and Olófin
will ever know it all. Like most babal-
awos, I was taught to see myself with
Ifá every morning. Not only is that a
good way to know what to expect that
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day, but it is also a marvelous oppor-
tunity to learn a new oddun every day
in greater depth.
Ifá is an oral tradition passed down
from padrino to ahijado (godchild)
and from listening carefully to elders.
There are also a number of books and
papers on Ifá that have become avail-
able since the 1940s, a few of them are
good but most of them are poor.
Many are filled with what my padrino
Miguelito in Cuba calls inventos de
papeles (fraudulent inventions coming
from papers), and particularly bad
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ones are crammed with sancochos (pig
slop). Sometimes I even have to won-
der if some of these books and papers
are intentionally incomplete and filled
with errors to fool non-babalawos and
those babalawos who haven’t both-
ered to learn from their godparents.
The books in English are often even
worse, sometimes to the point of
being unintentionally funny. For in-
stance, there was one book, an Eng-
lish translation of Spanish texts selling
for more than $700, which had mis-
taken the word anguila (eel) for aguila
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ones are crammed with sancochos (pig
slop). Sometimes I even have to won-
der if some of these books and papers
are intentionally incomplete and filled
with errors to fool non-babalawos and
those babalawos who haven’t both-
ered to learn from their godparents.
The books in English are often even
worse, sometimes to the point of
being unintentionally funny. For in-
stance, there was one book, an Eng-
lish translation of Spanish texts selling
for more than $700, which had mis-
taken the word anguila (eel) for aguila
(eagle), going on to advise the reader
to put this eagle into a container of
water until it dies. Not even talking
about the ethical and legal issues sur-
rounding the killing of an endangered
species, one can imagine the kinds of
wounds the unhappy babalawo would
suffer while trying to drown an eagle in
a bucket of water!
That’s not to say there aren’t any
good books on Ifá out there. For in-
stance, there is Iwe ni Iyewó ni Ifá
Orunmila, published in the 1940s. Al-
though Pedro Arango was listed as th
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author, he is more likely to be the
compiler rather than the actual author³
Pedro Arango turns out to be quite a
mystery, a kind of Lucumí version of
B. Traven. First, Arango was a child of
Oggún and would have been prohib-
ited from being initiated as a babal-
awo. Since he was not a babalawo,
how did he come to know so much
about Ifá’s odduns? As Emma Teran
(Ochún Yemí) had initiated him to
Oggún in the 1950s, Arango appar-
ently wasn’t even an oloricha when he
wrote the book. Further, Emma Teran
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asserted that Pedro Arango did not
know how to read or write and was
thus incapable of having written any
books, much less a detailed book on
Ifá odduns. It is thought that the ex-
tremely knowledgeable and powerful
babalawo Miguel Febles (Odí Ka) was
among the babalawos who were the
actual sources of the book, and Tata
Gaitán has also been mentioned as a
possible source.
These books were extremely re-
stricted and were manually typed out
one by one, as copy machines did not
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exist. In a preface to the second edi-
tion of Iwe ni Iyewó ni Ifá Orunmila,
Arango complains that three copies of
the first edition fell into the hands of a
woman, presumably an oloricha, and
two oriatés. Needless to say, the
babalawos were outraged that these
books, which were intended for the
exclusive use of Ifá priests, had fallen
into the hands of a few unscrupulous
santeros. To ensure no more copies of
the book would fall into the hands of
non-babalawos, Arango further
claimed to have taken new measures
To identify anyone who attempted to
share the book with non-babalawos,
not only did he record the address of
each person buying the book, but each
copy also had a secret mark to identify
the individual copy. Arango then
added that anyone caught sharing the
book with non-babalawos would be
denounced publicly to their elders.⁴, ⁵
At one juncture, Ramon Febles
(Ogbe Tuanilara), Bernardo Rojas
(Irete Untedí), and Pablo “El Periq-
uito” Pérez (Ogbe Yono), after real-
izing the necessity of preserving the
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knowledge of the surviving African-
born elders such as Ño José Akonkón
(Oyekun Meyi) and Adechina (Obara
Meyi), took an unprecedented course
of action. To ensure the knowledge of
these elders would not be lost, they
began to record their teachings.
Apparently all the elders they ap-
proached were agreeable to this, ex-
cept for Ño Akonkón. While he was
more than willing to teach, he would
not allow anyone to take notes, believ-
ing that everything should be learned
by memorization alone. Ramon
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Febles, who housed, clothed, and fed
Ño Akonkón, in the tradition of wash-
ing the feet of elders, arranged for the
three of them to visit the elder babal-
awo. While two of them would get Ño
Akonkón to talk about Ifá and the odd-
uns, the third would hide outside an
open window frantically scribbling
down everything he said.
Evidently these notes were even-
tually published in Havana under the
title Tratado de Odduns de Ifá (Treatise
on the Ifá’s Odduns), and it is likely
the oldest Ifá document in existence.
Put together so babalawos would have
access to a massive amount of knowl-
edge of Ifá in one place, it is obvious
that this book was taken from notes,
and some who are not grounded in
knowledge of the odduns may find it
difficult to understand.⁶ Since the
books presumed the babalawo would
know certain aspects of the rituals,
some steps are often not included.
These omissions also made it difficult
for the uninitiated to put together and
perform these rituals correctly. Since
the publishing of this original tome,
there have been a number of books by
this name released. Some of these
books were copies of the original with
numerous typographical errors and
additions mixed in, and others bore
no resemblance to the original what-
soever. Needless to say, this has cre-
ated a lot of confusion.
There is a third book I received
through my padrino that I found ex-
tremely useful, but being that it is a
copy of a copy, I have no idea if it was
once published or simply an extremely
libreta (notebook) containi
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information on all the odduns.
History
Ogbe Di Kaka Ogbe Di Lele: The Learn-
ing Never Stops
In the oddun Ogbe Di there is a para-
ble that tells us how Orunmila traveled
all over the world seeking knowledge.
This patakí speaks directly to babal-
awos, informing us that the knowledge
of Ifá is not all in one place and never
can be. Knowledge of Ifá is to be
shared among babalawos wherever
they might be:
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Orula, the wisest person on earth, had
been placed in charge of doling out his
wisdom to the world. While on earth
he taught the art and science of Ifá,
but he held back some of his knowl-
edge because he feared some of the
babalawos might prove to be unwor-
thy.
Olófin decided Orula had been on
earth long enough to complete his
mission, but soon found out that he
had held back some of his wisdom
and had not taught everything.
Olófin was not satisfied and sent
Orula back to earth to finish his mis-
sion, accompanied by Echu Elegguá
who convened an Ifá assembly with
all the babalawos on earth. As each
babalawo talked about an oddun,
Ogbe Di would add to their knowl-
edge until all of his knowledge had
been shared with the world. No one
knows for sure whether it was Echu’s
idea or Orula’s, but there was just one
catch: no one babalawo received all
the knowledge. Instead, each babal-
awo received a piece of it.
When Orula had finished teaching,
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Elegguá told him, “There is only one
piece of knowledge you lack. Your
time has come to leave this world.”
And with that, Ogbe Di was taken
to the Other World to be with Olófin.
And all the knowledge is indeed on
earth, but each babalawo only has a
piece of it. And that way babalawos
must seek each other out, wherever
they may be. In this manner, the
fraternity of babalawos is strength-
ened as well as the wisdom and
knowledge of Ifá in general.
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Elegguá told him, “There is only one
piece of knowledge you lack. Your
time has come to leave this world.”
And with that, Ogbe Di was taken
to the Other World to be with Olófin.
And all the knowledge is indeed on
earth, but each babalawo only has a
piece of it. And that way babalawos
must seek each other out, wherever
they may be. In this manner, the
fraternity of babalawos is strength-
ened as well as the wisdom and
knowledge of Ifá in general.
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advice about his oddun, he would
need to follow the words of wisdom.
In my own oddun, Baba Eyiogbe,
there is a short but profound parable
that comes from Africa and is often
told by babalawos from there:
Orunmila was initiated, but instead
of resting on his laurels he plunged
himself right back into the forest
where he had been initiated in order
to re-initiate himself anew.
The parable ends with the refrán, “If
you reach the top of the palm tree, you
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should not let go.” In other words,
even if you somehow manage to be-
come the greatest babalawo in the
world, you would still need to keep
striving to keep from falling from your
lofty position. No matter how much
we know, we must keep learning as a
perpetual beginner, always striving to
learn and to know more. These para-
bles illustrate how a babalawo’s train-
ing and learning never stops, and I
often joke about how people will know
for sure when I have stopped learn-
ing—they will see me being lowered
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into a six-by-six foot hole.
Although they are indeed initiated,
tradition dictates that babalawos are
not permitted to practice Ifá until they
have accumulated enough knowledge
and experience to receive formal per-
mission from their Oluwo Siguayú
(padrino) to begin working as a babal-
awo. Flying down to Cuba or Nigeria
and paying a few thousand dollars to
get initiated does not make you a
babalawo. In my case, I received this
licencia (formal permission) twice.
Once from my Padrino Pete, and agai
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Orunmila was initiated, but instead
of resting on his laurels he plunged
himself right back into the forest
where he had been initiated in order
to re-initiate himself anew.
The parable ends with the refrán, “If
you reach the top of the palm tree, you
should not let go.” In other words,
even if you somehow manage to be-
come the greatest babalawo in the
world, you would still need to keep
striving to keep from falling from your
lofty position. No matter how much
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we know, we must keep learning as a
perpetual beginner, always striving to
learn and to know more. These para-
bles illustrate how a babalawo’s train-
ing and learning never stops, and I
often joke about how people will know
for sure when I have stopped learn-
ing—they will see me being lowered
into a six-by-six foot hole.
Although they are indeed initiated,
tradition dictates that babalawos are
not permitted to practice Ifá until they
have accumulated enough knowledge
and experience to receive formal
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permission from their Oluwo Siguayú
(padrino) to begin working as a babal-
awo. Flying down to Cuba or Nigeria
and paying a few thousand dollars to
get initiated does not make you a
babalawo. In my case, I received this
licencia (formal permission) twice.
Once from my Padrino Pete, and again
later from Padrino Miguelito, who had
directed my initiation into Ifá and was
my padrino for the initiations I re-
ceived after Padrino Pete became too
ill to work Ifá. I still remember the day
my padrino finally told me “Ya estas
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listo (you are ready).” and gave me his
formal permission to work as a babal-
awo.
[contents]
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Chapter Four
Ifá Comes to Cuba
There was once a prince who had been
exiled in disgrace from his father’s king-
dom. Destitute and desperate, he went
for Ifá divination to find a solution to his
woes. Ifá told the young prince that he
must offer sacrifice by going into the for-
est to burn his last remaining posses-
sions, which were the very clothes off his
back. Only through this final loss would
he come to achieve the great destiny
that awaited him.
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Meanwhile, in a neighboring king-
dom, the obá had died without children
to carry on his reign. The obá’s babal-
awos consulted Ifá to seek a successor to
the throne and were told they would find
their new king naked in a forest next to a
fire. With this, the babalawos quickly
dispatched soldiers to the four directions
in search of this man.
After wandering for days, plumes of
smoke led the soldiers to the man they
were seeking, where they found him just
as Ifá had foretold. The soldiers clothed
the young prince and brought him back
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to their kingdom to be crowned as the
new obá.
Years later the banished prince re-
turned home at the head of a huge
army. His father went forward and knelt
before the obá who then revealed himself
to be his own exiled son. After a tearful
reunion, the obá returned to his adopted
home to reign in peace and prosperity for
many years.¹
“The patient man will be made King
of the World.”
Adechina had little time to waste.
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Through Ifá divination, the young
babalawo from the crumbling empire
of Oyó had been warned about the
slavers who were on their way to cap-
ture him and drag him away in chains
to a life of slavery. Adechina pushed
away thoughts of making a run for it
as he prepared to feed his Ifá tools
with the blood from the two dark hens
in anticipation for the daunting task
that lay before him. He was resigned
to his fate, as Ifá had already warned
him any attempt to escape would be
futile. And his own oddun in Ifá, which
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had appeared on the day of his initi-
ation, foretold that he was to lose
everything in order to achieve his true
destiny. Adechina knew what he need-
ed to do and he was determined to do
it, no matter the cost.
Adechina tore feathers from the
back of the birds’ necks and let them
fall onto Ifá as he chanted a traditional
song we use in preparation for the
sacrifice, “Yakiña, yakiña ikú Olorun,
bara yakiña.” ² He pulled on the skin
on his throat in acknowledgment that
one day his life would be taken just as
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surely as that of the little hen he was
dispatching to the other world. “Ogún
chorochoro (Ogún’s work is very diffi-
cult).” He then proceeded to pour the
warm blood of the hens over his Ifá,
adding palm oil and honey over his
ekines to finish nourishing the mate-
rial representation of the god of wis-
dom and knowledge he worshiped as
a priest. “Epó malero, epó malero.
Ayalá epó malero,” ³ he sang as he
added the final ingredients to the mix.
Finally, with his Ifá now properly
fed, he got down to the grueling task
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at hand. One by one he began to take
the blood-covered oil palm nuts and
proceeded to swallow them, the blood
and palm oil now acting as a much-
needed lubricant to help choke them
down. In this way he would be taking
his Ifá, hidden within his own body, to
accompany him on the grim journey
that awaited him. His plans were al-
ready set. Once on board the slave
ship he would sooner or later pass the
ekin nuts, whereupon he would set
about painstakingly cleaning them and
hiding them on his body. Through
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pain and prophecy and animal sacri-
fice, as well as determined self-
sacrifice, Ifá made the arduous jour-
ney to Cuba smuggled within Adechi-
na’s own body.
The Yorubaland of Adechina’s time
was quite different than it is today in a
number of important ways. In Adechi-
na’s day there was no such thing as a
Yoruba nation, but merely a group of
people and nations in the South-
western part of what is now Nigeria.
Up until the mid-1800s there was not
a Yoruba identity, only a large number
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of nations organized in the form of
city/states that spoke various dialects
of the same root language. They also
claimed a shared origin in the spiritual
capital of Ilé Ifé, whose progenitor,
Oduduwa, had come to Ilé Ifé from
somewhere in the East. Finally, they
shared the belief in a large pantheon
of gods and goddesses, called
orichas, who rule over the forces of
nature and various human endeavors.
Instead of a Yoruba nation there was
the Egbado, the Egba, the Ijebu,
Ibadan, the Owo, the Ijesha, and Oyó,
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among others, who were in a constant
state of flux with shifting alliances and
antagonisms being the norm.
Christian missionaries first con-
ceived the idea of a Yoruba identity in
an effort to unite these disparate peo-
ples, and the word Yoruba itself is a
term borrowed from the Hausa peo-
ples to the North, who used it to de-
scribe the people of Oyó. These same
missionaries also created the first
Yoruba dictionaries in their bid to
mold the various city/states into a sin-
gle, albeit Christian, Yoruba identity.⁴
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In each area they would often worship
different orichas, or the same oricha
might even have a completely different
name. Each oricha cult competed with
all the others, and priests of different
orichas never formally interacted with
each other or participated in each oth-
er’s ceremonies. Each oricha sect also
had their own religious center in the
form of igbos (sacred groves) where
major ceremonies and initiations were
performed. These igbos carried the
name of the oricha, so you would have
an igbo Ochún, an igbo Yemayá, an
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igbo Obatalá, and so on. These igbos
were extremely private, and only
priests of the oricha were allowed to
enter. Not even the priests of other
orichas were permitted entrance. The
only exceptions were the babalawos
and the obá who were considered high
priests to all the oricha groups.
The orichas who enjoyed a wide
popularity had their religious centers,
or capitals, as well. For example, the
worship of Ochún, who in Africa is
considered the oricha of the river bear-
ing her name (in Cuba she is regarded
as the owner of all fresh or sweet wa-
ters), was based in Oshogbo in what
is now known as Ogun State, even
though she was worshipped in igbos
all over Yorubaland. And Changó, the
Warrior oricha of fire, thunder, and
dance hailed from the great empire of
Oyó. Some orichas, like Oshossi,
might be extremely popular in one
area, but travel a hundred miles, and
he might be completely unheard of.
The ceremonies and rituals for the
worship of each of the orichas differed
from one another, and the priesthoods
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of the various oricha groups didn’t
intermingle often, nor would they
share their secrets with one another.
The worship of even the same oricha
might differ from area to area, with rit-
uals specific to each area being incor-
porated. New rituals and changes to
current rituals sometimes arose, not
out of whim or convenience, but most
often to commemorate an important
event where the oricha had intervened
on behalf of the people of that partic-
ular city or out of great need. One be-
came a worshipper of an oricha in one
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of three ways: through family lineage
where one’s parents, grandparents, or
other relatives were worshippers of
that oricha, by becoming possessed
by an oricha, or if directed to worship
an oricha by Ifá.
Ifá divination, which speaks for all
the orichas as well as Olodumare, was
by far the most important and most
trusted oracle in Yorubaland. Fol-
lowers of the different orichas, includ-
ing their priests, would regularly con-
sult with babalawos on every major as-
pect of life. Infants were regularly
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brought to an Ifá priest a few days
after birth to learn the innermost na-
ture of the child and which oricha the
child should grow up to worship.
While the oricha cults employed their
own form of divination called
merindilogún using sixteen cowrie
shells specially consecrated for this
purpose, it was mainly used on ritual
occasions to learn the will of the par-
ticular oricha being consulted. Al-
though the sixteen cowrie shell divina-
tion system was derived from Ifá, it
was far simpler, having only sixteen
odduns of which only twelve could be
read, with clients being sent to a
babalawo if one of the other four odd-
uns appeared.⁵
In fact, Ifá was the one thread that
held these separate cults together as a
systematic whole. Only within the
body of knowledge called Ifá did the
various orichas and their worship exist
together in one place or achieve a
cohesive whole. Histories, prayers,
orikis (prayers in the form of praise
chants), and rituals for the various
orichas were all recorded in the
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massive compendium of oral tradition
that was Ifá. This would later prove
crucial when the Yorubas were forced
to re-create these practices as slaves
in the harsh, alien world called Cuba.
An old Chinese curse, “May you live
in interesting times,” is supposed to
be one of the worst curses that can be
inflicted on a person, and most eras
that are interesting to historians are in-
deed horrific to those who are unfor-
tunate enough to live in them. The
1820s Yorubaland that Adechina was
living in was one of the most
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interesting times in the entire history
of Yoruba culture. The great Oyó Em-
pire was actively involved in the Euro-
pean slave trade and tearing itself
apart from the inside, with the royal
family engaging in intrigues that
would make Machiavelli or the Roman
Caesars blush, having gone through
five Alafins (Emperors) in less than
twenty years. Many of the nations who
had lived peacefully under Oyó rule for
so many years were now in open re-
volt. When not warring amongst them-
selves and the kingdom of Dahomey,
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they were making regular incursions
into Oyó territory in search of slaves
and conquest. From the north the
Muslim Fulani were attacking, and the
dark hand of European colonialism
was reaching toward Oyó, grasping at
the neck of Yoruba culture. Ambition
and greed became so overwhelming in
the Oyó Empire that the Alafin Awole,
who had come into power by mur-
dering his own father, went so far as
to violate the sacred oath made by
every Alafin never to attack their spir-
itual homeland of Ifé, by sending his
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top general Afonje to lay siege to the
market town of Apomu in 1795. This
led to a mutiny led by Afonje himself.
This order pushed the popular and
powerful Afonje over the threshold,
and the general and his army mutinied
against the Alafin. Soon after, the
Alafin Awole was sentenced to death
by suicide by the babalawos of the
Royal Council, known as the Oyó
Mesi, for his crimes after consulting
with Ifá. An unrepentant Alafin Awole
cursed his own people by shooting ar-
rows into the four directions and
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damning his own rebellious subjects
to be carried off as slaves to the four
directions, just as the arrows that he
had dispatched. In short, the Yoruba
world was collapsing.
The number of Yoruba slaves
brought to the New World primarily
came in two waves. The first took
place around the 1770s, and the sec-
ond and greater of the two occurred in
the 1820s, which is almost certainly
when Adechina was brought to Cuba.
The first wave, which coincided with
the opening of the slave port in Lagos,
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had Yorubas comprising fifty-eight
percent of the slaves being brought
over. The collapsing Oyo Empire was
largely responsible for the second
wave where Yorubas made up eighty-
one percent of the slaves being sent to
Havana.
Although the Spanish signed a
treaty with the British to end the slave
trade in 1817, illegal slave ships regu-
larly evaded British and Spanish block-
ades to deliver slaves to Cuba. Though
officially illegal, the slave trade to
Cuba was burgeoning, and between
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1826 and 1850 more than 65,000
Yoruba slaves were brought to Cuba,
and it wasn’t until 1867 that the last
slave ship landed in Cuba.
As we saw, when the slavers came
to drag Adechina off to a life of slav-
ery, he swallowed his Ifá implements,
concealing them inside his own body.
Who were the slavers who captured
Adechina? Were they invaders from
Dahomey or another Yoruba kingdom,
or was the raid perpetrated from Oyó
itself? If so, was this act produced
from the Alafin’s unbridled greed or
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was it caused by yet another palace in-
trigue in revenge for some slight, real
or imagined? Sadly, we may never
know.
We don’t know the exact year
Adechina arrived in Cuba, as the slave
ship that carried him was illegal and
undocumented, but it was most likely
in the late 1820s. We do know that
upon his arrival in Cuba he was given
the name Remigio Herrera, his sur-
name being taken from Miguel Anto-
nio Herrera, who owned the massive
Samson y Unión plantation. We also
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know that with his exceptional intel-
ligence Adechina was eventually able
to win the favor of his masters and
insinuate himself into their good
graces. This was rewarded by him
being allowed enough freedom to
serve as a courier, running errands be-
tween his owners’ plantation near
Matanzas and the capital of La Ha-
bana. It was on one of his trips that he
stumbled upon another enslaved
babalawo, Adé Bí, who had arrived
some time after Adechina.
Adé Bí, whose own oddun was
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Ojuani Boka, had also gained favor
with his masters, but in his case, it
was directly through his abilities as an
Ifá diviner. He had gained the trust of
his own masters through the use of an
ecuele he had constructed out of dried
orange peels and a string taken from a
majagua bush, which he used to ad-
vise his masters on their various busi-
ness negotiations. Because of the
accuracy of his predictions, Adé Bí
gained the full trust of his masters and
was permitted to come and go almost
at the will. Eventually, he was given his
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washed and fed ekin nuts as is tradi-
tionally done, and the oddun that
came up was his own sign, Obara
Meyi.⁶ Probably sometime in the late
1820s, other Lucumí slaves recog-
nizing Adechina’s stature as an Ifá
priest got together and bought his
freedom. Soon afterward he founded a
cabildo (religious council) in the Simp-
son district of Matanzas, where he
worked as a babalawo and began his
meteoric rise among the Lucumí reli-
gious community in Cuba.
The babalawos’ training had
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a means of control and to prevent the
possibility of slave uprisings. For the
Lucumís the cabildos became central
to the survival and re-creation of their
culture and religion on the island.
They served as mutual aid organi-
zations, amassing funds to buy their
brethren out of slavery and to aid the
sick, the infirm, the elderly, and those
in need. Just as they had done in
Africa and in many indigenous cul-
tures throughout the world, the babal-
awos and the santeros did much of
their rituals and work on behalf of the
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community in which they served. This
is underscored on the Ifá side by the
vow to serve humanity made by every
babalawo during their initiation. For
example, leading up to the New Year,
the babalawos gather to perform a
number of ceremonies and feed the
different positions of the world for the
Opening of the Year ceremony. This is
done to ensure the well-being of the
community and the whole world.
We conduct special rituals for Orun,
the sea, the river, the sun, the moon,
the stars, the wind, the hills, the
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rainbow, the dawn, the cemetery,
waterspouts, certain sacred trees, and
so on, and they are all fed in the
process. These huge ebbós are called
Olubo Borotiri Baba Ebbó, or Father
of All Sacrifices, as they are for the en-
tire world. This all culminates in the
babalawos performing deep divination
to find out the Ifá oddun that rules the
year, which is now published by many
of the world’s newspapers. After
weeks of ceremonies, a tambor begins
for the orichas, and everyone is wel-
come to this party. The cabildos
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became a little piece of Africa with the
focus always on the well-being of the
community and the world. These
cabildos exerted a tremendous
amount of influence on how the reli-
gion is practiced, even to this day.
Nearly all of the Lucumí cabildos were
founded and run by a commanding
combination of babalawos and pow-
erful santeras who conducted the vast
majority of ceremonies up until the
1930s, many of whom were also mar-
ried to babalawos. Later, as the age of
the cabildos faded to a close great
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babalawos such as Tata Gaitán, who
would later become installed as the
obá over the religion, operated their
own homes under the same principle
of aid to the community that had guid-
ed the great cabildos.
The reconstruction of oricha wor-
ship in Cuba entailed great changes
from the independent, competitive
oricha cults of Africa. In Africa most
priests did not receive orichas to take
to their homes upon their initiation.
Instead the orichas remained at the
main igbo center of their particular
oricha. This form is now all but non-
existent in Cuba. Those who did di-
rectly receive orichas received only
their oricha and Elegguá, a practice
called cabeza y pie (head and foot) in
Cuba. This head and foot initiation
eventually gave way to the kariocha
(initiation ceremony), introduced by
the powerful Havana santera Efunché,
where Eleggua (Elegba), Obatalá,
Ochún, Yemayá, and Changó were re-
ceived along with the initiate’s Olorí
(tutelary oricha).⁷ In Cuba’s new com-
pressed initiation process, the
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initiations to the various orichas,
which were often very different from
one another in Nigeria, were now all
performed using the initiation to
Changó as a model with minor varia-
tions to accommodate the various
orichas. The babalawos participated
heavily in these ceremonies, at times
being charged with performing every-
thing from the pre-initiation consul-
tation and Ebbó de Entrada (Entering
Sacrifice) to cleanse the initiate-to-be
before entering the initiation room, to
shaving the neophyte’s head, blessing
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the plants used in the ceremony, and
performing the animal sacrifice.⁸ The
very name of the room where oricha
initiations are held, igbodún, is a
testament to the enormous influence
of these babalawos. Igbodún is what
they called the Ifá grove in Africa.
Of course, with great change comes
great struggles between different fac-
tions, and babalawos played their part
in those as well. Miguel Ramos’s
fascinating paper La Division de la
Habana, depicts in great detail one
such epic war between the great
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priestess Ma Monserrate (Obatero)
who battled for supremacy against the
combined forces of two other excep-
tionally powerful priestesses, Latuán
and Efunché. When Ma Monserrate
lost the war, it was Adechina who
accompanied her to Matanzas and in-
stalled her at the helm of the cabildo
he had founded soon after gaining his
freedom. He topped it off by commis-
sioning a set of batá drums from the
babalawo and co-founder of the drum-
ming tradition Atanda, playing them in
a tambor to commemorate her
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inauguration as the new head of the
cabildo.
The babalawos were instrumental in
reviving the sacred music of Africa as
well. The batá drumming tradition was
created in Cuba when the babalawo
Atanda partnered with another drum-
mer, Aña Bí, to consecrate the first
batá drums in Cuba, and teach others
in the religion the complex rhythms
needed to praise and bring down the
orichas to possess their initiates. In
Matanzas the oral tradition insists the
drumming tradition there was
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transmitted by none other than
Adechina himself.
Of course, Ifá itself had to be recon-
structed on the island, but here the
babalawos had an almost insur-
mountable hurdle to overcome. The
babalawos now realized they had an
immense problem on their hands. If
they didn’t initiate new babalawos, the
secrets of Ifá in Cuba would go to the
grave with them. The physical secrets
of Odun (commonly referred to as
Olófin), a manifestation of the
Supreme Being and the highest power
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in Ifá are, like the orichas, received
physically by the initiate and are abso-
lutely necessary for the initiation, but
they didn’t exist in Cuba. Therefore, it
was impossible to initiate a new babal-
awo without her being present in the
igbodún (igbo Odun or Odun’s
grove), the initiation room named
after her. Not only would any attempt
to initiate a new babalawo without her
presence be a grave disrespect and
sacrilege to her, the ceremony would
not be recognized by Ifá and would
therefore be worthless. So the only
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way new babalawos could be initiated
in Cuba was for a babalawo to risk
everything to return to Africa to receive
Odun, and then attempt to sneak back
into Cuba with her. Even the best pos-
sible scenario would involve months
of enduring the difficulties of sea in
each direction. And there was the very
real possibility of jail or death if any-
thing went wrong. Although the at-
tempt to return to Africa and smuggle
Odun back into Cuba was incredibly
dangerous, plans began to be hatched
and refined in secret. Most babalawos
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agree it was Adechina himself who
made the attempt using the code
name Odun, and in fact received
Odun/Olófin twice while he was in
Africa.
The first babalawos to come to
Cuba knew Odun was absolutely
essential to the initiation of new Ifá
priests. If you add to this the extreme
hardships these babalawos were will-
ing to endure in order to bring Odun
to Cuba, it becomes much easier to
understand why Cuban babalawos are
adamant in refusing to recognize any
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Ifá Priest initiated without her being in
the room. That point is simply non-
negotiable for us, and it is difficult for
us to view it as anything but an outra-
geous insult, not only to our tradi-
tions, but also to the early babalawos
such as Adechina who went to such
lengths to preserve them. To us, the
lives of the slaves who acted with such
courage and brilliance have worth, and
we are offended by those who imply
that they don’t.
Once Odun was smuggled into
Cuba it was possible for new
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babalawos to be initiated, and Adechi-
na initiated several Africans such as
Ño Akonkón Oluguery (Oyekun Meyi)
and Ño Blas Cárdenas (also Oyekun
Meyi), as well as one or two Cuban-
born Creoles.⁹ In turn, Oluguery initi-
ated the famous Eulogio Rodriguez
“Tata” Gaitán, who is considered the
head of the particular rama (Ifá line or
branch) I belong to, with Adechina
acting as the oyugbona, or second
padrino. Unfortunately, Oluguery was
not able to fully train Tata Gaitán as he
left Cuba to return to Africa, dying in
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Mexico during the attempt, which left
Tata Gaitán to get much of his training
from Oluguery’s brother in Ifá, Ño
Blas Cárdenas.
During this same period in the
1860s, Adechina moved to Regla,
which is across the bay from Havana.
There he founded the famous cabildo
de la Virgen de Regla, the saint asso-
ciated with the oricha of the sea
Yemayá, thus helping to give root to
Ifá in the Havana area with it even-
tually becoming the stronghold of Ifá
in Cuba. Over the years, Adechina
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became such a revered and powerful
babalawo that people from all walks of
life were known to spontaneously
kneel and kiss his hand when they
would encounter him on the street. Up
until his death on January 27, 1905,
Adechina selflessly taught his godchil-
dren and their godchildren. After his
death, Adechina’s cabildo was led by
his daughter Josefina, affectionately
known as Pepa, and became famous
for the massive processions they
would hold for Yemayá every Sep-
tember 7 (the feast day for the Virgin
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de Regla) with batá drums layered with
the songs sung in her honor.
I chose to put the patakí taken from
Adechina’s oddun at the beginning of
this chapter to illustrate how closely
Adechina’s life followed his oddun in
Ifá, Obara Meyi. Every babalawo is
born as a child or personification of
one of the Ifá odduns. As expected,
the child of Obara Meyi is almost cer-
tainly predestined to lose everything
up to, and even including, their very
clothes, only to rise again over time
like a phoenix from its ashes to
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become even greater than before.
Adechina lost everything when he be-
came enslaved and drug off to Cuba,
but over time he was able to achieve a
greatness and success in Cuba that he
may not have achieved if he had re-
mained in Africa. Obara Meyi is also
an oddun of wisdom where the chain
of learning from teacher to pupil was
born just as most of Cuban Ifá comes
from Adechina’s teachings. This
oddun is also one of the principle
signs of commerce and financial suc-
cess that certainly came to the ex-slave
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Adechina, giving us an outstanding
example of how the events and traits
in a person’s life will reflect the oddun
they embody.
Adechina was truly a great babalawo
not merely due to his seemingly inex-
haustible wealth of knowledge, wis-
dom and compassion, but because Ifá
and babalawos would not even exist in
Cuba if it weren’t for his selfless ac-
tions. His willingness to risk life and
limb—not once but twice—to give
birth to Ifá in Cuba and nurture it to
fruition is just now bearing fruit.
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Thanks to him, Santería is now a
world religion and a treasured part of
Cuban heritage and culture.
In an ironic twist, Santería has now
come to the aid of the religion in
Africa itself, as the explosion of inter-
est in Santería has led more and more
people to explore the religion’s roots.
In turn, the sudden leap in interest
from outsiders has caused many
Yorubas, taught to look upon their
own religious roots as backwards and
primitive, to look at their heritage with
new eyes and with a renewed sense of
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pride. Oricha worship in Yorubaland,
which was in serious decline due to
the effects of colonialism and the atti-
tudes that came with it, is now grow-
ing by leaps and bounds.
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pride. Oricha worship in Yorubaland,
which was in serious decline due to
the effects of colonialism and the atti-
tudes that came with it, is now grow-
ing by leaps and bounds.
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and only Oggun and Oshun’s territories
seemed to be exempt from her preda-
tions. This attracted the attention of the
other orichas, so they held a meeting
where they decided to go to the house of
a famous Man of Knowledge who lived
in Ara Ifé Ocha, to try to get to the bot-
tom of this situation.
When they arrived, they saw that this
Man of Knowledge was divining using
dark seeds split in two and connected
with a chain. He also wore a necklace of
green and yellow beads. They didn’t
know why he used these things, but they
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looked suspiciously like those used by
Ochún and Oggún, and the chain looked
just like the one Death used to tie up her
victims. None of the orichas dared to re-
port their suspicions to Olófin out of fear
that this Wise One might be a friend of
Death’s.
This went on for some time, until one
day Obatalá appeared on earth, saying,
“I trust I am not late.”
After the orichas finished saluting
Obatalá, he continued, “I am Olófin’s
representative, and in accordance with
Olófin, I envelop the good and I expose
the evil. You have not dared to say any-
thing about this Wise Man because you
feared he might be a friend of Death;
therefore, I was forced to come here.”
Obatalá looked up toward the heav-
ens, saying, “I was given sixteen rays of
sunlight by Olófin and was ordered to
seek unification among all of you. But
due to your lack of understanding and
each of you believing you have more
power than the other, the results have
not been good even after such a long
time.
“Here we are, in the sacred house of
Ifá where Olófin also lives. This place
you do not wish to acknowledge, because
you don’t wish to recognize that this
Wise Man you see before you is the direct
spokesperson of Olófin, here to deliver
Olófin’s mandates and to whom Olófin
has entrusted her powers. This old Wise
One, whose name is … Orunmila.”
At this, Orunmila came over and
saluted Obatalá and proceeded to con-
sult Ifá. The oddun that appeared de-
manded they immediately bring the
green and yellow beads together and put
a white flag up in the house. He went on
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to explain that the green was his own
identifying color and that the yellow be-
longed to Ochún, who represents half the
world, gold, the blood that runs through
our veins, and life itself. The seeds and
the chain belonged to Oggún, who repre-
sents the other half of the world and who
is the oricha of death by order of Olófin.
He continued, “That is why Death has
not killed anyone here in Ara Ifé Ocha.
Now that you acknowledge Olófin’s
wishes that you unite and recognize me
today, tomorrow, and for always, I will
put these idefás (Ifá bracelets) on each of
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you so you will be under my protection
and so the doors will always be open for
the children of Olófin.”
Ever since then, the orichas have lived
together, and to this day this unification
is reflected in the homes of santeros and
babalawos, where you can see the
orichas living together in the same
canastillero cabinets.
“The lives of all who have passed
away are in the memory of Ifá.”
When Adechina and so many other
oricha priests were brought to Cuba as
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slaves, they were determined to re-
create their culture in this hostile new
land, but they faced monumental hur-
dles along the way. In Africa, every
oricha had their own religion with their
own initiation ceremony, each very dif-
ferent than the other orichas, and only
priests of that particular oricha and
babalawos were allowed to attend the
ceremonies. Therefore, in Yorubaland
you had, and still have, hundreds,
maybe even thousands of orichas,
each with their own separate religions.
But the chances were slim to none
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that Yoruba culture would survive in
Cuba in this form. So their culture
might persevere, the alagua laguas
(highly respected elders) formed mu-
tual aid societies organized as cabil-
dos, and created a new Lucumí culture
where a number of major adaptations
were conceived.
Using the knowledge found in Ifá’s
odduns, combined with the ritual
knowledge remembered by the most
respected oricha priestesses and
priests, they organized the orichas
into a pantheon based on the
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relationships found in Ifá’s patakís.
This was a major development be-
cause now instead of having many
oricha religions as in Africa, the Lu-
cumís had constructed one religion
for the many orichas. This process,
however, was often anything but
smooth as various factions wielded
their considerable power in defense of
the traditions they held dear. In fact,
not long after Ña Monserrate
(Obatero) was forced to relocate to
Matanzas with the help of Adechina,
she found herself embroiled in
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another epic battle of wills … and
orichas.
Living in Matanzas was a powerful
santero by the name of Ño José Ikú-
daisí. With Ño José, the personal rela-
tionships santeros and babalawos
have with the orichas took a very
strange twist. For some unknown rea-
son, Yemayá had somehow angered
Ño José Ikúdaisí, and he had
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another epic battle of wills … and
orichas.
Living in Matanzas was a powerful
santero by the name of Ño José Ikú-
daisí. With Ño José, the personal rela-
tionships santeros and babalawos
have with the orichas took a very
strange twist. For some unknown rea-
son, Yemayá had somehow angered
Ño José Ikúdaisí, and he had vowed
never to have anything to do with the
powerful oricha of the seas! When the
parents of the now-famous Ferminita
Gomez took their daughter to be
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initiated, Ño José Ikúdaisí refused to
initiate her to Yemayá, consecrating
her to Ochún with the name Ocha Bí
instead. Soon after her initiation,
things began to go horribly for her. A
short time later, Ferminita Ocha Bí
went to Obatero’s cabildo to seek
help. The elder santera saw the young
initiate with the shells, and during the
consultation it came up that the
source of Ferminita’s troubles was
that she had been initiated to the
wrong oricha and that she should
have been consecrated to Yemayá. Ña
Monserrate immediately took the
steps necessary to re-initiate Ocha Bí
to Yemayá. Of course this did not sit
well with Ikúdaisí, and it was only a
matter of days before the war began.
In Matanzas people still talk about this
war that was fought not only on a
political realm, but in the realm of the
orichas between two extremely pow-
erful santeros.
The opening battle began when one
night Ikúdaisí went to the door of the
Obatero’s to perform a magical ritual
to teach Obatero a lesson, but his
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plans were dashed when Changó pos-
sessed the sleeping Obatero who ran
to the door to confront Ikúdaisí. Find-
ing himself face-to-face with the en-
raged Changó, the santero was scared
out of his wits. Accounts say that he
stumbled, fell, and then ran all the way
home in a panic. Changó then per-
formed rituals to remove the ogu
(witchcraft). When Changó left Ña
Monserrate’s body, she was confused
and had to be informed what had tran-
spired by her neighbors who had been
awakened by the uproar. When the
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santera was told what had happened,
she was furious.¹
This war went on for months until
finally one day Changó showed he had
less patience than his daughter
Obatero. He again possessed the san-
tera and grabbing an eduara (thunder
stone), Changó openly stomped over
to Ikúdaisí’s house in the middle of
the day. Standing right in Ikúdaisí’s
doorway, the mighty oricha held up
the thunder stone and began to roar
prayers to the heavens. Immediately,
the skies began to darken and a huge
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thunderstorm erupted over Matanzas,
and Changó stomped off. Moments
afterward a lightning bolt hit right on
the spot where the oricha had been
standing. The next day Ikúdaisí died
mysteriously and Obatero was consid-
ered the winner of the war.²
Through agreements, alliances,
struggles, and outright wars such as
this one the Lucumí religion was
formed. It was now organized in such
a way that the familial relationships
between the orichas were emphasized.
For instance, in Nigeria Yemayá is the
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oricha of the Ogún River whose wor-
ship is centered at Abeokuta, while
Ochún rules the Ochún River, having
her center of worship at Oshogbo. In
Lucumí, we emphasize the relation-
ships where, for example, Yemayá and
Ochún are sisters with Yemayá ruling
over the seas and Ochún presiding
over all the fresh water such as
streams and rivers. Many of the details
of the orichas’ relationships with one
another are recounted in the itáns
(histories or parables) found in Ifá.
The alagua lagua elders also
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received yourself. So with each santera
or santero receiving a number of
orichas during their initiation, it be-
came possible for them to participate
in initiations for all the different
orichas. This innovation gave the
Lucumí religion the flexibility needed
to ensure the survival of the different
orichas in Cuba. In Lucumí, priests of
all the different orichas come together
to form a community who interact and
participate in ceremonies for each of
the orichas. During the Lucumí kari-
ocha the new initiate receives several
orichas and all the orichas are saluted,
prayed, and sung to during the cere-
mony. This is very different from Nige-
ria where only priests of one oricha are
allowed to be present. The only excep-
tion is that babalawos may participate
in the various ceremonies for the dif-
ferent orichas due to their exclusive
knowledge of all the deities. To this
day it is still next to impossible to per-
form initiations in the New World in
the way they are done in Yorubaland.
Traditionally in Yorubaland, oricha
priests often did not receive their
orichas and all the orichas are saluted,
prayed, and sung to during the cere-
mony. This is very different from Nige-
ria where only priests of one oricha are
allowed to be present. The only excep-
tion is that babalawos may participate
in the various ceremonies for the dif-
ferent orichas due to their exclusive
knowledge of all the deities. To this
day it is still next to impossible to per-
form initiations in the New World in
the way they are done in Yorubaland.
Traditionally in Yorubaland, oricha
priests often did not receive their
oricha as part of the initiation process
was undesirable and even nonsen-
sical. Why give birth to and worship a
young version of the oricha when you
could go to the shrine and directly
worship the ancient one that has been
worshipped and gained power there
for centuries? Many of the oricha reli-
gions would also look upon the idea
of receiving one’s own oricha in full as
being overly individualistic, which in
turn could threaten the position of the
main shrine and its internal hierarchy
of priestesses and priests. In Cuba on
the other hand, a single centralized
shrine would constantly be in danger
of being confiscated or destroyed by
the white ruling class. With every
priest having their own oricha, each
santera became their own secret cell
of the religion.
It must be remembered that besides
being a religion and a culture, Santería
was also very much a resistance
movement where slaves could actively
oppose the slave owners’ culture by
secretly retaining and living their own
culture. In fact, the plots to initiate
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several armed uprisings were born in
the Lucumí cabildos, such as the fa-
mous Cabildo Changó Tedún, whose
leader José Antonio Aponte is said to
have attempted a massive rebellion in
1812. Merely being in the religion was
considered an act of resistance in and
of itself by both blacks and whites.
And during many periods in Cuban
history, santeras and santeros had to
keep the religion very much under-
ground to avoid the harsh punish-
ment, or even death, they might re-
ceive if they were discovered.
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Also very importantly, the Yoruba
drumming traditions were brought to
the shores of Cuba and spread by
babalawos such as the master carver,
drummer, and Ifá priest Atanda (Baba
Eyiogbe), the master drummer Añá Bí,
and Adechina himself.³, ⁴ The conse-
cration of the drums as well as the
rhythms of the orichas became partic-
ularly strong for the batá drumming
tradition, with its three drums conse-
crated to the oricha Añá by babalawos.
In Africa the rhythms played on the
batá drums were for Changó and
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eggun, so the other orichas’ rhythms
had to be adapted to the batá drums.
Other drums, although rarely seen
these days, such as those for Olokun,
were also built, consecrated, and
played by babalawos who passed on
their knowledge to Cuban santeros.
Less significant changes were also
made, such as in some of the ewe and
eran (plants and animals) to accom-
modate the fact that not all of the
plants and animals used in Africa
could be found in Cuba. The most
crucial plants, such as the plants
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known as achés, which are indis-
pensable for initiations, were imported
from Africa and others were either
substituted or dropped altogether. The
Native American influence on Santería
is most strikingly noticeable in the use
of two of their most sacred plants,
corn and tobacco, in many rituals.
Corn, although of Native American
origin, is now used ritually by the
Yorubas in Nigeria as well.
The hybrid makeup of the Anagó or
Lucumí language mirrors the coming
together of the various Yoruba, Native
American, and Spanish cultures that
came to define the Lucumí culture,
allowing our cultures to survive and
even thrive in extremely hostile terri-
tory. The Anagó/Lucumí language is
derived from a number of Yoruba cul-
tures such as Oyó, Ifé, Iyesa (Ijesha),
Takua, Iyebú (Ijebú), and Egguado
(Egbado) with influences from other
Afro-Cuban cultures such as Arará
(Fon), Bantu, Taino Indian, and the
Cuban Creole culture with Spanish
influence. The language was altered to
accommodate the different Yoruba
dialects, particularly the Oyó and Eg-
bado influence. Most noticeable was
the new Lucumí/Anagó dialect’s loss
of the Yoruba languages’ tonal struc-
ture, which was replaced with accents
taken from the main Cuban language,
which is Spanish. Although many
times the accents would approximate
those tones to some degree, the Span-
ish influence remains strong.
Since much of the Anagó/Lucumí
language is based on a mixture of di-
alects from at least 200 years ago
when the Yorubas were brought to
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Cuba en masse, we must sound very
strange to modern day Yorubas. De-
spite the dated and mixed dialect,
some Lucumís were still able to hold
conversations with Yoruba sailors they
encountered landing at Cárdenas port
in Matanzas, Cuba as recently as the
1950s. But since the Lucumí dialect is
based on a version of Yoruba that is
more than 200 years old, the Lucumí
speakers must have sounded much
like a person from the days of the
American Revolution would sound to
us today in the United States.
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The different dialects, as well as oró
iyinle, archaic words used in secret as-
pects of odduns such as incantations,
were brought together to help form a
new Yoruba-Cuban language called
Anagó. In similar ways, the alagua
laguas who headed the cabildos
pulled together the various regional
Yoruba oricha cults to forge a religion
with a condensed pantheon of the
most important orichas from the var-
ious regions of Yorubaland. Modern
English became much more than the
Anglo and Saxon Germanic languages
after it absorbed Norse and local
British languages as well as the French
of the Norman invaders. In a similar
way, Lucumí culture became more
than its source culture by forging the
elements of all the cultures affecting
them to create a unique Lucumí cul-
tural identity.
Several aspects of the Lucumí cul-
ture and religion never existed in Cuba
or Africa before being created by the
alagua laguas in Cuba in the 1800s
and early 1900s as well.
In his truly ground breaking work
The Cooking of History, Palmié revealed
how ethnologists, starting with Fer-
nando Ortiz in the 1930s and carried
on by virtually every ethnologist since,
made Santería valid by showing how
its roots came from the Yoruba peo-
ples of what is now southwest Nigeria.
Marveling at how much of the lan-
guage and culture had been retained
by babalawos and santeros, the re-
searchers began to look everywhere
for signs of Yoruba culture, which was
immediately noticed by the santeros
. Those studying the
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santeros refused to see the santeros’
agency in assuming the aspects of
Western culture that suited their own
needs and desires, or more impor-
tantly, that the way the santeros used
Western culture for their own ends
was an act of resistance in and of it-
self. The early babalawos’ and san-
teros’ genius in their artful repur-
posing of Western and Christian cul-
ture allowed the orichas to not only
survive but to thrive in the Diaspora,
whereas in the African homeland
oricha worship is barely surviving.
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Ethnologists since Ortiz have thus fo-
cused almost exclusively on the Yoru-
ba aspects of the religion that had an
unintended effect on the very religion
they were studying. Santeros, now see-
ing that the Yoruba aspects of their
religion gave them a new found valid-
ity, began to alter the religion to make
it more Yoruba so they might gain
more acceptability and respect from
Cuban society. Certain babalawos and
santeros went as far as to take infor-
mation they found in the ethnologists’
own libraries and adding it to the
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religion to make it more Yoruba.⁵ The
ethnologists were thus responsible for
the Yorubization of the religion, and
over the years more and more san-
teros accepted the ethnologists’ myth
that Santería was a somehow de-
graded form of a pure Yoruba religion,
and have continued to try to change
the religion to fit this warped view-
point. Unfortunately, this myth is still
believed by many ethnologists and
santeros alike.
Although changes were certainly
made to ensure the survival of the
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religion, remarkably the Lucumí alagua
laguas managed to preserve rituals
and rules of the religion that now ap-
pear to have been lost even in their
homeland in Africa. Wande Abimbola,
who is the Awishe (official spokesper-
son) for all of African Ifá, acknowl-
edges in his book Ifá Will Mend a Bro-
ken World that the Diaspora managed
to keep alive a number of the rituals
and rules that have been forgotten in
Africa.
William Bascom is widely consid-
ered to have been the foremost
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academic authority on the Yoruba up
until his death in 1981.⁶ Bascom, along
with his Cuban-born ethnologist wife,
spent years studying the religion in
Havana and Matanzas. Bascom and
his famous French colleague Pierre
Fatumbi Verger are known for writing
the most intensive studies comparing
Yoruba and New World versions of Ifá
and oricha worship to date. In 1965
Bascom came to the startling conclu-
sion that the religion is actually much
stronger in Cuba than it is in Yoruba-
land. Further, Bascom agreed with
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Verger on his prediction that before
long the Yoruba might be traveling to
Cuba or Brazil to learn about their own
religion.
That prediction came true fifteen
years later in the form of none other
than the Ooni of Ifé, traditional spir-
itual and political ruler over the entire
Yoruba people, and the Awishe Abim-
bola. Scholar and obá oriaté Miguel
Ramos affirms he was present at a
1980 meeting where Wande Abimbola
informed the group that he had been
sent there on a mission by the Ooni.
He was to investigate the oricha Tradi-
tions in the Western Hemisphere to
see how New World priests could aid
in recuperating some of what had
been lost in Africa.⁷ Remembering
such details is strong evidence that
the differences we see in traditional
Lucumí were well-thought-out
changes, rather than the kind of hap-
hazard ones that would result in the
kind of degradation and loss of ritual
knowledge that would befit the ac-
cusations that are sometimes leveled
against the Lucumís. It also points to
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the oft-neglected fact that Yoruba cul-
ture changed in Africa as well as it had
in the New World.
Cultures, like languages, are living
things that grow and change. As they
come in contact with each other, they
adapt and borrow from one another.
The Yorubas absorbed elements of
culture from other Yoruba subgroups,
neighboring nations, as well as influ-
ence from colonialists. The Lucumís
in turn melded a number of Yoruba
cultures and languages, along with as-
pects of other African cultures that
had come to Cuba, as well as some
Taino Indian and Spanish influence.
Therefore, effectively the Lucumí reli-
gion might be considered in some
ways to be a regional variation, but
still its own entity.
The effects of colonialism and slav-
ery were every bit as damaging for the
Yorubas who remained in Africa as it
was for the slaves taken to Cuba. For
instance, slave raids became so ex-
treme that entire towns were burned to
the ground with every member of the
town being sold into slavery. It has
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been said that virtually the entire
population of Ketu, the center of
Ochossi worship (the oricha of the
hunt), was sent into slavery in Cuba
and Brazil. Thus, Ochossi almost
ceased to exist in Africa because virtu-
ally all of the priests ended up in Cuba
and Brazil where Ochossi became an
important oricha. The ability to
accommodate and adapt useful as-
pects of other cultures is one of the
Yorubas’ most impressive charac-
teristics.
It is probably this trait that helped
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the early slaves to adapt to their new
world so successfully when they cre-
ated the Lucumí religion. And, most
famously, the early Lucumís cleverly
hid their religion behind the guise of
the Catholic saints that they had been
forced to worship, causing the religion
to be known as Santería and its priests
as santeras/os. But the early Lucumís
went much farther than to merely hide
the orishas behind the saints. They
deliberately subverted Christianity to
fit their own culture. Using only the
aspects of the western religion they
found useful and which fit their own
worldview, the Lucumís changed
Christianity to fit into a Lucumí frame-
work rather than the other way around.
To find evidence of this, you simply
have to ask a santera or santero to de-
scribe any of the saints. You will
quickly realize they are not describing
a saint at all, but an oricha. And you
will be hard pressed to find a santera
who is able to describe even the most
basic characteristics or history of any
Catholic saints. Furthermore, you will
find virtually no evidence of Christian
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concepts or worldview in Santería. So
rather than the saints and name San-
tería being evidence of Lucumí sub-
mission to a conquest by slave own-
ers, instead we find an intentional sub-
version of the western religion which
became an act of resistance in and of
itself.
These adaptations gave the Lucumí
religion the flexibility to survive and
even thrive in its new home in Cuba.
In fact, not only has this flexibility al-
lowed Santería to survive, but to grow
exponentially to become a world
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religion in its own right.⁸
Ifá in the United States
The first step in the globalization of
the Lucumí religion was when it
crossed the Florida Straits into the US.
Ifá and the Lucumí religion in general
came to the United States in the form
of the babalawo Pancho Moro (Ifá
Morote). The famous musician, Mario
Bauza, would travel to Cuba regularly
to receive spiritual guidance from the
elder babalawo Quintín Lecón, and
each time he would attempt to
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persuade Lecón to come to New York.
Finally, in 1946, the Associación de
San Francisco headed by Lecón, sent
his godchild Pancho Moro to New
York to bring the religion to the United
States. What eventually would become
a thriving Lucumí community grew up
around Pancho Mora in New York. On
December 4, 1955 Pancho Mora held a
tambor for Changó. Two attendees,
Julito Collazo and Francisco Agua-
bella, were religious batá drummers
who had moved to New York from
Cuba after a tour with the Katherine
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Dunham Dance Troupe. Attendees
were stunned when these two began
to sing the old Lucumí chants, and
soon many of the attendees were
packed tightly around the two, lis-
tening attentively.
Julito Collazo and Francisco Agua-
bella were the first sacred batá drum-
mers to come to the United States.
Julito’s mother, Ebelia Collazo, was a
well-known santera in Cuba who had
been initiated in Regla, Cuba, by the
famous and immensely powerful
Latuán, who ruled over much of
vana’s religious practice. Julito was ex-
tremely knowledgeable about the reli-
gion, although he was not initiated as
a babalawo until the 1980s when he
made his Ifá in Cuba at the hands of
the famous elder Quintín Lecon,
padrino of Pancho Mora. Just a couple
of years later, he participated in the
first plante (kofá and abo faca initi-
ation ceremony) in San Francisco on
August 8, 1988. It was during this cere-
mony that I had the good fortune of
meeting Julito, who became my oyug-
bona.
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Slowly the community began to
spread from this small core of knowl-
edgeable practitioners, but it wasn’t
until 1961 that the first person was
initiated as a santero on US soil. The
first initiation was performed in New
York City by the pioneer Mercedes No-
bles (Oban Yoko), a priestess of
Changó, the oricha of fire, thunder,
dance, and drum. During the 1960s
and ‘70s the religion gained popularity
among the growing Cuban-American
population as many Cubans came to
the United States to escape the
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revolution. Involvement in the tradi-
tion became seen by many as a mea-
sure of one’s Cuban-ness and as a
means to retain their Cuban identity in
the alien culture of the United States.
It also gave Cubans an alternative way
to gain prestige; in Miami, white
Cubans—who just a few years before
had disparaged Santería because to
them it was associated with lower-
class blacks—began to be initiated as
santeros and babalawos.
Although Pancho Mora arrived in
1946, the first documented priest as
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well as the first babalawo to come to
the United States, it wasn’t until 1970
that babalawos started to be initiated
on US soil. Up until then, those wish-
ing to be initiated as Ifá priests were
forced to travel to Cuba to have the
ceremonies performed. History re-
peated itself as once again, due to the
absence of Odun/Olófin, initiations of
new babalawos had to wait until
someone could sneak the sacred at-
tributes of Odun/Olófin into the coun-
try, this time from Cuba. Finally, a
babalawo by the name of Carlos Ojeda
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(Osá Rete) was able to have his Olófin
smuggled in from Cuba, reportedly by
a Trinidadian diplomat. The first
babalawos were initiated in Miami by
Diego Fontela, using Ojeda’s Olófin
within a year. Since his was the only
Olófin in the country, any babalawo
who wanted to initiate someone to Ifá
in the United States had to borrow
Ojeda’s Olófin. For years, this gave
Carlos Ojeda unprecedented power in
the United States as he effectively con-
trolled who would and would not be
initiated in the entire country.⁹
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In the early days, there were few
well-trained and experienced babal-
awos, olorichas, and drummers in the
United States, and many of them
would only teach those willing to
undertake intensive apprenticeships
similar to those undergone in Cuba.
This kind of apprenticeship was unfa-
miliar to many Americans and proved
to be unpopular. This led many practi-
tioners to begin to look toward other
resources to learn from, and many
budding young priestesses and priests
began to pore over ethnographic
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works such as those by Ortiz and
Cabrera. These, as well as the few
books written by actual practitioners,
became virtual bibles for many practi-
tioners in the United States who used
them to fill the gaps in their knowl-
edge of the religion.
Santería began to become popular
outside the Cuban-American commu-
nity as more and more people found
themselves attracted to this alluring
Cuban religion that was so deep,
mysterious, and powerful. For some,
particularly African-Americans,
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information from ethnological books
about Yoruba Ifá and oricha worship
began to have a greater influence, and
some practitioners began to incor-
porate practices hailing from Africa.
Others cherry-picked aspects of
African practices to justify changes.
For instance, some Lucumí iworos
used William Bascom’s Sixteen
Cowries as evidence that they could
now read all sixteen signs of the dilog-
gún, though the same book cautioned
that the vast majority of priests in
Africa read only the first twelve signs
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just like the Lucumís.¹⁰
In the 1970s, as books on Ifá for the
exclusive use of babalawos made their
way to the open market we started see-
ing some santeros using the books to
read the shells as if they were Ifá.
Needless to say, this is hardly tradi-
tional and an insult, not only to babal-
awos but to the santeros who worked
so hard and sacrificed so much to pre-
serve the rich oral traditions asso-
ciated with the diloggún.¹¹
Some felt that if a practice was used
anywhere in Yorubaland it justified
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grafting that practice on to their own
invented forms of the religion, re-
specting neither the Lucumí or the
African traditions. More traditional
practitioners consider this to be a slap
in the face of our ancestors; the slaves
who displayed such courage and ge-
nius in the face of immense hardships
to preserve our traditions. In fact,
some consider such inventions to be
the greatest single threat that our
tradition faces today.
The religion began to be extremely
fractured in the US, and myriad
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variations and inventions in religious
practices began to appear, often justi-
fied with, “That’s how it’s done in our
ilé (oricha house).” Many such in-
novations are referred to as inventos
(inventions) or worse by many tradi-
tional Lucumí practitioners. It became
more common for a godchild to leave
an ilé than in Cuba, where the level of
attachment, loyalty, and respect ex-
pected of a godchild is much greater.
In the US it is not terribly uncommon
for a godchild to remain in an ilé for
only a short time and jump from ilé to
religion collecting initiations.
The general health of the religion
improved dramatically when the
Mariel Boatlift began in 1980. With the
massive influx of Cubans from a wide
range of races and classes came a
large number of knowledgeable
olorichas and babalawos. Many of
them found themselves appalled at
the lack of knowledge and the way rit-
uals were being carried out in the US.
If these newcomers met resistance
from those who saw them as a threat
to their dominions, they also found
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many people who were eager to learn
from experienced priestesses and
priests.¹² Not long after this it became
somewhat easier for people to travel
to Cuba, either legally with permission
from the US State Department or by
evading the laws and entering Cuba
via Mexico or Canada. The Cuban gov-
ernment encouraged the surreptitious
travel by not stamping the passports
of Americans entering from Mexico or
Canada, relying only on the Cuban
visas for documentation of their entry
and exit. This allowed more people to
become initiated or simply go to learn
in Cuba, and after 1979 exiled Cubans
were allowed to enter Cuba again, and
were free to connect or re-connect
with elders on the island.
African-Americans were among the
first to travel to Nigeria in search of an
even more African form of the religion.
Although many of the early pioneers
had been initiated in the Lucumí tradi-
tion, the African-Americans were op-
posed to any traces of Christianity
such as saints, which they associated
with slavery. As the tradition had its
become initiated or simply go to learn in Cuba, and after 1979 exiled Cubans were allowed to enter Cuba again, and were free to connect or re-connect with elders on the island.
African-Americans were among the first to travel to Nigeria in search of an even more African form of the religion. Although many of the early pioneers had been initiated in the Lucumí tradition, the African-Americans were opposed to any traces of Christianity such as saints, which they associated with slavery. As the tradition had its
roots in Yorubaland, they were eager
to go to what they considered to be
the source of everything in Santería,
and while the oricha traditions had
changed in Africa these trailblazers
helped to open up a dialogue between
Africa and the Diaspora. This new
interest from overseas helped the
struggling oricha traditions in Africa to
gain popularity once more, and have
been aided by their Lucumí sisters and
brothers along the way.
One of the earliest pioneers, Walter
Eugene King (Ofuntola), became the
initiated as an oloricha in Matanzas,
Cuba, on August 16, 1959. By October
1970, he had founded the Yoruba Vil-
lage of Oyotunji in Sheldon, South
Carolina. He began the careful reorga-
nization of the Orisa vodu priesthood
along the traditional Nigerian lines,
becoming initiated to Ifá in Abeokuta,
Nigeria, in 1972. In 1977, apparently
following William Bascom’s advice
that the Yorubas might go to Cuba to
learn about their religion, Ofuntola
brought in the Lucumí oriaté Ernesto
Pichardo to consecrate the orichas
Babalú Ayé and Oba for Oyotunji in
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the Cuban tradition. In June 1981,
Ofuntola returned to Nigeria, this time
to the sacred city of Ifé, where he was
granted an audience with the Ooni
(King of Ifé), who ordered his coro-
nation as an obá, and he became His
Royal Majesty Obá Ofuntola Osei-
jeman Adelabu Adefunmi I. In the
summer of 1985, he commissioned
Ernesto Pichardo to initiate one of his
wives as a priestess of Babalú Ayé. As
Oyotunji was in need of songs for the
orichas, Oyotunji’s Master Drummer
took advantage of Pichardo’s visit to
record the Lucumí songs sung by
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Pichardo during his visit. Thus, Oy-
otunji artfully combined several reli-
gious practices from the Yoruba of
Nigeria, the Fon of Dahomey, and the
Lucumí of Cuba to fit their needs, cre-
ating what might best be described as
a kind of hybrid Orisa-Lucumí-Vodun
religion.
On occasion, the differences be-
tween Santería and how the religion is
now being practiced in Africa and by
neo-traditionalists in the US have cre-
ated friction between the groups.
Sometimes these differences in rules
and rituals cause many heated
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exchanges between the two groups.
For example, in the last twenty years
some areas such as Ilé Ifé have begun
to initiate women as Ifá priests, which
has become the cause for friction be-
tween the two groups. The neo-
traditionalists claim the Lucumís are
sexist for refusing to recognize women
Ifá priests, and the Lucumís counter
that any Ifá initiation is invalid if
Odun/Olófin (a manifestation of the
Supreme Being) is not present in the
igbodún. Remember, Odun was con-
sidered so crucial that in the 1800s, it
led Adechina to risk his life to return
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to Africa in order to receive Odun and
return to Cuba so babalawos could be
initiated on the island. This view re-
garding the importance of Odun’s
presence during Ifá initiations are still
shared by Yoruba nations such as the
Ijebú, Ode Remo, and Ibadan.
The Lucumís have also found them-
selves being criticized for changes
made to ceremonies over the years,
such as the receiving of several
orichas during the initiation rather
than merely receiving Elegguá and
their tutelary oricha. The role of obá
oriaté, the expert master of
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ceremonies presiding over the initi-
ation of new santeras or santeros in
the Lucumí religion, became a matter
of contention, as this position does
not exist in Africa.
As I have mentioned, in Nigeria
oricha worship consists of hundreds if
not thousands of separate religions,
and the babalawos are the only priests
who work with them all. Neo-
traditionalists as well as a number of
Yorubas are now propagating the idea
of Ifá as the umbrella religion for the
disparate oricha cults found there.
This becomes similar to the Cuban
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model, except in place of oriatés and
olorichas performing most aspects of
oricha initiations, the African model
would have the babalawo officiate over
each and every one of the rituals in an
oricha initiation. In fact, neo-
traditionalists have openly stated that
if their view were to prevail, the role of
the oriaté would cease to exist entirely
and their position would be com-
pletely usurped by the babalawos who
would perform all the rites in the initi-
ation ceremonies for the orichas. As
attractive as one might think this
would sound to Lucumí babalawos,
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with all the frictions that have at times
transpired between oriatés and babal-
awos, Lucumí babalawos are vehe-
mently opposed to this. Although the
present role of the oriaté may not have
existed in Africa, it became an impor-
tant part of our religion as it evolved in
Cuba. Though in the past the babal-
awos may have performed the work
that is now the role of the oriatés,
since at least the 1930s the oriatés
have been the ones directing
initiations.¹³, ¹⁴ Soon after, the babal-
awos and the oriatés apparently came
to an agreement defining the roles of
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the oriaté and the babalawo during
initiations, and the Lucumí babalawos
have honored that agreement ever
since.
Though elders of both traditional
Lucumí and African forms of the reli-
gion generally hold an immense
amount of respect for each other, the
fact remains that in a number of ways
they are now different religions, with
different histories and different forms
of adapting to the conditions facing
them. Two hundred years of sepa-
ration has led the two traditions to as-
sume different trajectories, but the two
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of Ifá fully came to pass as the exodus
to the United States served as the
springboard for the globalization of
the religion that is now being prac-
ticed all over the world. Practitioners
can be found not only throughout
Latin America, particularly in
Venezuela and Mexico, but also in
France, Austria, England, the Nether-
lands, and even Russia.
The secrecy of La Santería is still
maintained as we are still actively
persecuted and discriminated against.
This fact was illustrated in 1993 by the
landmark case of The Church of the
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Lukumi Babalu Aye vs. The City of
Hialeah contesting laws enacted in
Hialeah, and copied by many major
cities in the United States denying our
religion’s right to perform animal
sacrifices. The case, brought before
the Supreme Court by the church and
the ACLU, resulted in a major victory
for the Lucumí religion and other reli-
gions with similar practices. Although
the Lucumí argument prevailed the
persecution persists in the United
States and elsewhere. In 2009, the
practice of animal sacrifice in our reli-
gion was back in front of the federal
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courts in the case of Jose Merced,
President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha
Texas, Inc., vs. The City of Euless
where the religion once again pre-
vailed against a city determined to end
the practice of animal sacrifice. This
discriminatory attitude becomes all
the more amazing and more than a lit-
tle ironic when virtually every study
you find remarks on how the religion
is growing exponentially worldwide.
All indications point to a rapid expan-
sion, although the secrecy sur-
rounding the religion prevents an
accurate count of how many
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practitioners there actually are. One
conservative estimate found in Migene
Gonzáles-Wippler’s Santería: The Reli-
gion is as high as one hundred million
in Latin America and the United States
alone, although I personally believe
that number is a bit high.
Through the hard work and sacrifice
of the alagua laguas, who are our
most-respected elder babalawos and
oricha priests who arrived as slaves,
and from a multitude of Yoruba oricha
religions, gave birth to one all-
inclusive religion that became known
as La Regla Ocha, Lucumí, or La
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Santería. Rather than being a degraded
form of Yoruba religion, as some
would suggest, the Lucumí religion is
its own religion, derived from the
Yoruba religions brought to Cuba by
Yoruba slaves. On Cuban shores these
same African slaves and their direct
descendants gave birth to the new
Lucumí culture, religion, and identity.
The Lucumí tradition or La Regla Ocha
(the way of the orichas) is one religion
worshipping all of the orichas instead
of many religions worshipping each of
many orichas, which is perhaps the
biggest difference between our African
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brethren and us. The priest of Changó,
of Ochún, of Yemayá, of Obatalá, of
Ifá, the babalawo, and the obá oriaté
can all say, “We are Lucumí!” The Lu-
cumís have withstood the greatest of
hardships and not only survived, but
have thrived. Holding to the principles
and means by which the alagua laguas
used to ensure the survival of the cul-
ture, together the Lucumís have the
numbers and the power to thrive and
grow for generations to come.
The new religion that was given
birth to is uniquely Cuban, but its
African roots quickly become apparent
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to anyone who finds themselves at a
Lucumí ceremony with its African-
derived songs, dances, chants, and
prayers. The Lucumi religion is mostly
Yoruba, but it is the Yoruba of Adechi-
na, Adé Bí, Efunché, Latuán, and
Obatero, and it is their genius and
courage that we follow. From Africa to
the hostile land that was Cuba they
brought the orichas inside them-
selves, sometimes literally, and trans-
formed it into the religion it is today.
That religion has not only survived,
but it has thrived and become a world
religion.
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At the beginning of virtually every
ritual is the moyuba. The moyuba
means “I salute you,” and that’s ex-
actly what it is. It usually begins with
saluting Olófin and soon carries over
to saluting our egguns, all the babal-
awos in our Ifá line, all the olorichas in
our line in Ocha, and all the members
of our family who are ibae. This is fol-
lowed by identifying ourselves by our
birth name, our oddun, our name in
Ifá, and our name in Ocha. The moyu-
ba tells the orichas who we are and
where we came from, because where
we came from is who we are. The
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prayer continues with “Emí awó ni
Orula (I am a priest of Orula).” Once
initiated, this is the other part of who
we are: we are Lucumí. Our language,
our culture, our songs, our prayers,
the way we dress, everything we do in
our lives is Lucumí. It is who and what
we are.
Somos babalawos … Jurado para
ayudar la humanidad.
Somos babalawos Ifareando en la
Habana donde se Ifarea al duro,
sin guantes.
Somos babalawos …
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We are babalawos … Sworn to aid
humanity.
We are babalawos … Working Ifá in
Havana, where they work Ifá
the hard way, without gloves.
We are babalawos …
[contents]
Chapter Six
Orichas and Powers
One day Olófin gave the command that
there would be peace on earth, and so all
was calm in the world—for a time.
Eventually Obatalá Ayáguna noticed
that Olófin wasn’t paying attention. Al-
though Obatalá is the oricha of peace
and tranquility, Ayáguna is the manifes-
tation of Obatalá at his most fierce and
warlike. Ayáguna didn’t enjoy disobeying
Olófin, but he was too enamored of the
warrior life to quit.
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One day, Obatalá Ayáguna was wag-
ing a particularly bloody battle, cutting
off heads left and right with his machete,
when suddenly Olófin appeared. Having
heard rumors of war, he decided to visit
the earth without warning to see if the
rumors were true.
When Ayáguna saw Olófin, he quickly
wiped his machete across his chest to
hide the blood from Olófin. To this day,
Obatalá Ayáguna always wears a red
sash.
“War will not come to the world if
Ayáguna does not give the order.”
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The orichas are the gods and god-
desses ruling over forces of nature as
well as human endeavors. They are
also the manifestations of the different
aspects of Olófin, who divided many
of the powers among each of the
orichas. In Yorubaland there are hun-
dreds, if not thousands, of orichas,
with some not worshipped or even
known outside of the city or town
where they are located. While many of
the orichas were created directly by
Olófin, a few were once human beings
who, due to their great acts on earth,
rose to the level of oricha upon death.
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One of the meanings of the saying
“Ikú bi oricha (death gives birth to the
oricha)” refers to those who became
orichas.
However, there are other forces as
well. There are the irunmole (forces),
who have power much like the orichas
but are often more unpredictable and
even dangerous. The irunmole in-
cludes the orichas and also such
forces as ikú and arun. Among tradi-
tional Lucumí practitioners, some-
times the gods and goddesses are di-
vided between those who speak
through the diloggún, called ochas,
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and those who speak exclusively
through Ifá, referred to as orichas.
Then there are what we refer to as
powers. These are forces that are con-
sidered greater than orichas but less
than Olodumare. Ochas are prepared
and given exclusively by santeros,
while the orichas and Powers are fabri-
cated and given exclusively by the
babalawos. There is an exception to
this rule: Odudua, or Oddua, who
should be prepared by iworos and
babalawos working together. During
the preparation of Odudua, the iworos
and babalawos often work in the same
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room, separated only by a white sheet.
Of course, the more powerful some-
thing is, the more potentially dan-
gerous it is likely to be. This is true
whether we are talking about orichas
and powers or mundane forces such
as nuclear energy or the electrical out-
let in your home. Nuclear energy is ex-
tremely powerful, powering the sun
and stars, but without the proper pre-
cautions being taken, the results can
be devastating. The same applies to
the orichas and powers. That’s why we
say “you don’t play with the orichas,”
as one takes them lightly at their own
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peril. Even sweet orichas like Yemayá
and Ochún have dangerous sides.
Yemayá may be the all-loving Mother,
but she is also responsible for sinking
the Titanic. The beautiful, coquettish
Ochún is loved but also greatly feared.
Some say it’s better when she cries
than when she laughs, because when
she laughs we don’t know whether she
is truly happy or angry and about to
strike and perhaps kill. The deadly
flash flood is also Ochún, and in her
path of Ibú Ikolé she is considered the
queen of the dark witches. Finally, we
see that even Obatalá, the oricha of
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peace and the mind, has a side to him
that is anything but peaceful. The path
of Obatalá, known as Ayáguna, is far
from peaceful and contemplative,
which is Obatalá’s stereotype, and is a
powerful warrior rivaling Changó who
has a love for fomenting revolution.
When a person receives an oricha,
they are usually received in the form of
stones, nuts, or a container with a
carga, or load, such as the load that is
placed in Echu Elegguá’s cement
head. It may be hard to grasp that this
is an oricha and a living being, not
merely a representation like a statue,
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but just as you and I inhabit our flesh
and bone bodies, the orichas are born
through ceremonies and brought
down to inhabit these stones and
ekines. We are then able to care for the
orichas in our own homes by feeding
them, communicating with them, and
so on. Over time we get to know and
love our orichas as we build and deep-
en our relationships with them.
There are two ways to receive
orichas. Adimú orichas, which are re-
ceived without actually becoming a
priest, and those that are received as
part of the initiation as an oricha priest
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or a babalawo. Although adimú
orichas need to be taken care of for
life, they don’t need anywhere near the
kind of kind of commitment that
becoming a priest requires.
Echu Elegguá
When the world was still young, Echu
Elegguá cured Olófin of a grave illness.
Olófin asked Elegguá what he wanted in
return. Echu, who had suffered hunger
and mistreatment in his life, responded,
“I wish to always be the first to eat and
to live at the door so I will always be
saluted first.”
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Olófin, remembering the circum-
stances of Echu’s birth, smiled and re-
sponded, “So it shall be my son. Being
the youngest and smallest, you will also
be my messenger and the greatest on
earth and in heaven, and without your
approval it will never be possible for any-
one, human or oricha, to do anything.
To iban, Echu.”
“Echu turns right into wrong, wrong
into right.”
With one word, Olófin made Echu im-
mensely powerful—perhaps the most
powerful oricha of all. Echu is the
owner of all roads and doors in life,
and he is the gatekeeper of all aché
that created the universe, and he holds
the key to the particular aché of each
of the orichas. Echu is the gatekeeper
standing at the crossroads between
the two worlds and he is the mes-
senger entrusted by Olófin and Orula
to deliver ebbós to the other world.
He is also extremely unpredictable
and complex, making him the most
misunderstood of all the orichas.
Echu stands at the crossroads of all
things—between this world and the
other, between good and evil, between
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light and dark—and offerings are often
placed at a crossroads for him. Echu
is also an oricha of contradictions; he
is young and old, big and small, and
good and evil all at the same time. In
the odduns he is often seen turning
great misfortune into even greater for-
tune and vice versa. Because of his
ability to bring about great misfortune,
often through trickery, he is often mis-
takenly associated with the devil by
outsiders.
Echu is the divine enforcer for
Olófin and for Orula, and he is the
oricha they send to deliver their
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rewards or their punishments. Echu is
everywhere and sees everything, mak-
ing him invaluable to Orula. In addi-
tion, Echu is the form in which Ifá ex-
plicitly acknowledges the huge role
that randomness, chance, and the un-
foreseeable play in our lives. Many
people dread Echu because the un-
foreseen can be disastrous and be-
cause of his fame for causing incal-
culable confusion and destruction. He
is also well-known for his ability to
change the appearances of things so
that we are tempted into making bad
choices based on those appearances.
Some give Echu offerings simply in
hopes that he won’t bring ruin into
their lives or what they are attempting
to accomplish. Chance and the un-
foreseen can also work in our favor,
and Echu is capable of bringing about
great good into our lives and changing
the worst situation into the best. As
unpredictable as he is, Echu is indis-
pensable because without his aid and
permission, nothing can come to pass
for humans or orichas, and as dan-
gerous as Echu can be, he can also be
the most miraculous.
When Orula came to this world,
Olófin gave him Echu Elegguá to
accompany and aid him, and they
have been inseparable ever since. In
his infinite wisdom, Orula made Echu
his closest personal assistant, and
over time he also became Orula’s
closest friend. Orula is the only oricha
who can keep Echu’s more dangerous
tendencies under control, which is
why he can only be received in full
from a babalawo.
One of the greatest mysteries re-
garding Echu and Ifá was touched
upon at a ceremonial dinner in the
1950s when Bernadito Rojas posed a
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deeply profound observation, “We
don’t know whether Elegguá is Orula
or Orula is Elegguá.” His father then
countered with an even deeper mys-
tery in response: “We don’t know if
Orula is Olófin or Olófin is Orula.”
Thus, the two generations of babal-
awos pointed to the great mystery that
is the continuum between Echu,
Orula, and Olófin.¹
During any ceremony, Echu is the
oricha that is saluted first, and he is al-
ways given the first offerings. Cere-
monies are then closed with the words
“to iban Echu (it is sealed, with
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tremendous edge in life. In Ifá, Echu
has many paths, as every oricha has
their own paths of Echu who accom-
pany them, and each of the 256 odd-
uns in Ifá has their own Echus. Even
our own orí has its own Echu, called
Echu n’Ipako.
I am often asked what is the differ-
ence between the Echu given by a
babalawo and the Elegguá given by a
santero. A lot of the confusion comes
from the words themselves because
Elegguá (or Elegba) is actually one of
Echú’s titles, and we often refer to
Echu as Elegguá or as Echu Elegguá.
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In practice, the title Echu is most often
used to describe him at his full range
of power, which includes him at his
most dangerous and unpredictable.
There are other differences as well.
The Echu a babalawo gives contains a
number of ingredients, depending on
the particular camino (path) of Echu
being given. Each of the hundreds of
paths of Echu is made differently and
carries a different carga as well as odd-
uns that have been activated and
empowered, and each path of Echu
has different characteristics and spe-
cialties. Without the intervention of
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Ifá, Echu is simply too powerful and
dangerous for a person to receive,
much less bring into their home.
Since the Echu prepared by the babal-
awo is much too powerful and dan-
gerous to put to someone’s head, an
Elegguá must be prepared by iworos
for the initiation of a new santero. The
santero’s Elegguá can be thought of as
an Echu Lite—calm enough to be suit-
able for putting to a person’s head.
These Elegguás given by the santeros
are a subset of Echu, which are all
fashioned in essentially the same way,
consisting of a specially consecrated
stone. The name of that Elegguá is not
revealed until the third day of their
initiation as a santero if that is their
path in life. We also never refer to the
santero’s Elegguá as Echu except
when we are referring to the name of
the particular path of Elegguá. Some
santeros refuse to have anything to do
with the Echus prepared by babalawos
out of fear of Echu’s immense power
and ability to wreak havoc when an-
gered.
May Echu always open our roads for us
and guard them well.
Orunmila
One day Obatalá wanted to test Orun-
mila to see if he really had the wisdom
to be the advisor to Olodumare and all
the orichas. After all, Orula was a very
young oricha.
He went to Orula and asked him to
make the best food in the world to serve
him and his children. Orula agreed and
went to the market and bought all the
ingredients for the dinner. After cooking
all day, he served the dinner to Obatalá
and his children, who were truly en-
chanted with the meal. When the father
of the orichas asked Orunmila what he
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had served, Orunmila replied that it was
tongue.
“Why is that?” Obatalá inquired.
“Because with the tongue you can say
everything good, and besides it is with
the tongue that you give aché,” re-
sponded Orula.
“I see.”
The next day Obatalá asked Orun-
mila to cook the absolute worst food in
the world. Again, Orula agreed and
headed off to the market. That night the
response of the diners was far different.
They were all grumbling and spitting the
food out of their mouths. When the meal
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had served, Orunmila replied that it was
tongue.
“Why is that?” Obatalá inquired.
“Because with the tongue you can say
everything good, and besides it is with
the tongue that you give aché,” re-
sponded Orula.
“I see.”
The next day Obatalá asked Orun-
mila to cook the absolute worst food in
the world. Again, Orula agreed and
headed off to the market. That night the
response of the diners was far different.
They were all grumbling and spitting the
food out of their mouths. When the mealhi
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was done, Obatalá asked Orula what he
had cooked that was so awful, to which
Orunmila replied, “Tongue.”
Surprised, Obatalá said to Orula, “I
see. And what did we have last night for
the best food in the world?”
“Tongue.”
“And why is that?”
“Because with a bad tongue you can
disgrace yourself, and with a word you
can start a war and bring down a na-
tion. And with a good tongue you can
save humanity.”
With that, Obatalá gave his approval,
and Orula was made advisor to
e orichas.
Orunmila, often shortened to simply
Orula, is the oricha of wisdom, knowl-
edge, and divination. He was given the
title Elerí Iküín because he is the only
oricha who knows all destinies includ-
ing those of every human being, the
orichas, and the universe. His name
means “only the other world knows
who will be saved,” referring to his
role of divining and saving as well as
his knowledge of the destiny of every-
thing that exists coming from his di-
rect connection to Olófin. As the
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oricha of Ifá and divination, Orunmila
knows everything, whether it is in the
past, present, or future. Orula is the
omniscience of Olodumare. Also
known as Ifá, he is the system of div-
ination personified. In the oddun
Ogbe Funfunló Orula heals a broken
world, but the world is perpetually
breaking just as Orula is perpetually
healing it again.
Osun
Olófin’s babalawos habitually got to-
gether to hold councils to solicit from
Olófin all the things they needed to best
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perform their tasks as administrators on
earth. At one of these councils, Olófin
asked what they needed most, already
knowing that they had a lot of enemies
in the world who constantly attacked
them with black magic. All of them sat
there not knowing what to say and then
started to say many things, but they
could not manage to fully comprehend
the true scope of what Olófin was asking
them.
When it was Ika Roso’s turn to speak,
he began to outline that what they need-
ed was someone to warn them of any
abnormalities when they appeared on
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earth.
Olófin’s interest was piqued. “Just
what would this thing that you suggest
be like?”
Ika Roso replied, “Osun could warn us
of anything abnormal coming.”
Olófin smiled and responded, “To
iban Echu,” and from that day forward,
thanks to Ika Roso, the babalawos have
Osun.
Osun is the messenger of Olófin and
Orula, and when received with the
warriors is a short staff with a bird and
bells hanging from the cup holding
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the secret ingredients on top. This
staff of Ifá protects your life, your
health, and your luck, and it is your
first line of defense. In the 1980s, Ifá
songs used by babalawos to praise
Osun in Ijebuland were found to be
identical to those used in Cuba.
Osun has a stand and is kept in a
high spot in the home. If Osun falls, it
should be taken very seriously. The
owner should immediately go to their
babalawo godfather so Osun can be
fed and have their situation inves-
tigated through Ifá to ascertain the na-
ture of the threat and what measures
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are necessary to protect the life and
health of the person. As Lydia Cabrera
notes in her book El Monte, a few san-
teros began constructing their own
versions of Osun in the 1950s, but
these Osuns are hardly traditional
since Osun is an oricha who resides
squarely in the realm of Ifá.
Osain/Osayín
Osain was a powerful and fearsome sor-
cerer who lived alone in the wilderness
and knew the deepest and darkest se-
crets to all the plants living there. He
jealously guarded his knowledge, and the
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powers he had gained in the wilderness
made him extremely dangerous.
One day Osain decided to go to war
against Orula, and before long Osain
made life impossible for him. Finally sick
of suffering, Orula decided to see what
could be done. He saw himself with Ifá,
and it was revealed that a fearsome sor-
cerer had gone to war against him. He
needed to make an ebbó to Changó with
twelve oil lamps and twelve odduara, or
thunder stones, sacred to the oricha of
fire for his aid in the upcoming battle.
While Orula was making the ebbó,
Osain was gathering his most powerful
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herbs in order to finish off Orula once
and for all. Orula lit the lamps, and as
soon as he began the accompanying
invocation from the oddun, a huge light-
ning bolt struck the wilderness where
Osain was searching for plants, starting
a huge inferno.
Osain soon found himself trapped and
surrounded on all sides by the inferno.
The screams could be heard all through
the forest as the flames consumed Osain,
leaving him horribly disfigured with only
one arm, one leg, and one eye. Soon
after, Orula heard plaintive sobs and
whining, and when he went to
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investigate he saw the horribly burnt
Osain. At that moment he knew who his
enemy had been all along. Then and
there he demanded Osain must serve
Ifá, share his secrets with him, and give
him permission to use all the plants of
the forest. Osain immediately agreed,
and since then Osain has worked closely
with Ifá.
Osain is the oricha of plants and their
magic. He carries within him all the
secrets of the wilderness and the pow-
erful magic found there. Osain is
indispensable in Ifá and Lucumí
Osain/Osayín
Osain was a powerful and fearsome sor-
cerer who lived alone in the wilderness
and knew the deepest and darkest se-
crets to all the plants living there. He
jealously guarded his knowledge, and the
powers he had gained in the wilderness
made him extremely dangerous.
One day Osain decided to go to war
against Orula, and before long Osain
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made life impossible for him. Finally sick
of suffering, Orula decided to see what
could be done. He saw himself with Ifá,
and it was revealed that a fearsome sor-
cerer had gone to war against him. He
needed to make an ebbó to Changó with
twelve oil lamps and twelve odduara, or
thunder stones, sacred to the oricha of
fire for his aid in the upcoming battle.
While Orula was making the ebbó,
Osain was gathering his most powerful
herbs in order to finish off Orula once
and for all. Orula lit the lamps, and as
soon as he began the accompanying
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invocation from the oddun, a huge light-
ning bolt struck the wilderness where
Osain was searching for plants, starting
a huge inferno.
Osain soon found himself trapped and
surrounded on all sides by the inferno.
The screams could be heard all through
the forest as the flames consumed Osain,
leaving him horribly disfigured with only
one arm, one leg, and one eye. Soon
after, Orula heard plaintive sobs and
whining, and when he went to inves-
tigate he saw the horribly burnt Osain.
At that moment he knew who his enemy
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had been all along. Then and there he
demanded Osain must serve Ifá, share
his secrets with him, and give him per-
mission to use all the plants of the forest.
Osain immediately agreed, and since
then Osain has worked closely with Ifá.
Osain is the oricha of plants and their
magic. He carries within him all the
secrets of the wilderness and the pow-
erful magic found there. Osain is
indispensable in Ifá and Lucumí reli-
gion in general because virtually every-
thing sacred in the religion has been/
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washed in omiero, the powerful and
sacred lustral liquid made from the
plants belonging to Ifá and the
orichas.
The Osain received from babalawos
is very similar to Palo Monte’s prenda
or nganga, the containers that serve as
the foundation of the palero’s (priest)
magic and is sometimes called the
babalawo’s prenda. Like the palero’s
nganga, the Osain contains special
plants, animals, dirts, and bones. It is
the babalawo’s defense against pow-
erful witchcraft such as that used by
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paleros, who work the negative side of
their religion.² The containers housing
Osain’s secrets can take several
shapes depending on what Ifá calls for
during divination.
Babalawos use their Osains when
they need to go to war for themselves,
for their godchildren, or for their
clients. Because Osain is the owner of
all the palos (sticks), it is not sur-
prising that their construction is very
similar to the palero’s nganga and can
be used for positive or negative works
when necessary.
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Babalawos also prepare amulets,
called oniche Osains, that are used to
defend a client or bring them good
fortune. Some are also prepared for
the orichas to strengthen them and to
use as tools. Women are not allowed
to receive Osain in any form until after
they have stopped menstruating, for
the protection of the woman’s health.
Olokun
When Olófin commanded that children
be made in the world, Olokun sent down
his daughter Aje, who was very ugly but
had all the riches in the world. When he
arrived, Olokun turned her over to a
group of men who lived on the seashore,
but they simply ignored her and went on
their way, forgetting about Olokun and
his daughter. Annoyed, Olokun went in
search of the men, and the same waves
that had announced riches now an-
nounced death and destruction.
Orunmila was very poor, and Elegguá
went to visit him. Afterward, they went
to a secret location to take a look at
Olokun’s riches. Orunmila wanted to
pick the most beautiful items, and Echu
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advised him that he could choose all he
wanted but could not take anything. Aje
passed by and told him to pick one, so
Orula did.
Echu turned to Orunmila and said,
“You have ruined me!” All the riches
were pulled into the sea, and now they
were both penniless.
Meanwhile, Echu left Orunmila’s side
and went to Olokun’s house. When the
riches returned to the depths of the sea,
Olokun wondered why they had come
back. Then it hit him “Where was Aje!?”
Echu said to Olokun, “Don’t worry.
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She’s at Orunmila’s house and she’s just
fine.” The news pleased Olokun to no
end, and he decided he would reward
Orula handsomely. From that instant,
Orunmila was astoundingly rich and
had many healthy, strong children,
thanks to Olokun.
Olokun, whose name simply means
“owner of the sea,” is not properly a
Yoruba deity but instead hails from
Edo people in the kingdom of Benin.
He is the owner of the depths of the
sea and is an exceptionally powerful
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and mysterious oricha. Incalculably
rich, he lives surrounded by the dead
in the darkest depths of the ocean. He
is unknown and unknowable and is
the keeper of unfathomable secrets.
Over the years Olokun became incor-
porated into the Yoruba pantheon and
traveled to Cuba with both Edo and
Yoruba slaves. The crocodile, the
python, and the manatee are Olokun’s
most sacred animals, and to this day,
on occasion, a crocodile is sacrificed
to the oricha by babalawos in Cuba in
order to gain Olokun’s blessings and
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protection.
Olokun can be received from a
babalawo or an iworo, but the Olokun
that the santeros give is a path of
Yemayá called Mayelewo (Agana Erí in
the Matanzas area) who is extremely
close to Olokun and has a deep rap-
port with him. Physically the two types
of Olokun are quite different. The
Olokun de santero lives in a terra cotta
or ceramic pot that is filled with water.
On the other hand, the Olokun de
babalawo lives in a pot covered in
seashells and is accompanied by
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members of Olokun’s royal court,
each in their own tiny pot that hangs
from the larger pot. Also the Olokun
de babalawo comes with his own
Echu. The ceremony for receiving this
Olokun is also much more involved
and intense, and includes a full itá
where Olokun gives his advice
through an oddun that accompanies
the initiate for life. This itá is per-
formed using the Table of Ifá with four
babalawos present to interpret the
odduns that are revealed. The san-
tero’s Olokun is much simpler; being
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composed much like any oricha re-
ceived from a santero. Two of the
greatest differences between the two
are when one receives an Olokun de
santero. There is no itá received with
an Olokun received from a santero,
and the Olokun de santero must al-
ways be kept full of water, whereas the
Olokun born in Ifá has an itá and is
kept dry or almost dry. This does not
mean that the Olokun de santero is
not effective, for it most certainly is,
and some feel the added expense and
effort in receiving the babalawo
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Olokun is not necessary.
There is a ceremony where Olokun
is fed at a deep spot in the sea, but it
is extremely dangerous. There used to
be a ceremony in Cuba where Olokun
was fed at sea, followed by the danc-
ing of Olokun’s masks to the rhythms
of Olokun’s special drums. Each time
this ceremony was performed, a babal-
awo was expected to die as a result.
This ceremony ceased being observed
after Tata Gaitán died soon after per-
forming the ceremony in 1944.
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Oddua/Oduduwa
In the earliest days of putting the world
in order, Orunmila and Oddua were two
brothers who were exceptionally close
and lived in Ifé, where they were experi-
encing a lot of misery. One day they de-
cided they would travel to other lands to
see if they could find something to help
Ifé. They also decided that each would
leave their daughter with the other.
Orunmila brought Poroyé and Oduduwa
brought Aloshé, both daughters of
Ochún. After passing through many
lands they came to a forest. Orunmila
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and his daughter began to feel hungry,
but since they had no food Oduduwa
said, “Take care of Aloshé so I can go out
and try to find something to hunt.”
But Oduduwa couldn’t find anything
to hunt so he said to himself, “I can’t let
my beloved brother and his daughter suf-
fer from hunger.” He then grabbed his
tongue and with a knife cut off a big
chunk of his tongue. He then dumped a
little iyefá in his mouth, lit a fire, and
cooked his tongue covered with herbs
and brought them to Orunmila so that
he and his daughter could eat.
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As Orunmila was so hungry, he de-
cided it must have been a miracle from
Olófin.
Afterward, Oduduwa stuffed a piece of
coconut in his mouth and was able to
speak perfectly! Then they continued on
their journey until they came to a very
arid spot, but Oduduwa was losing
blood fast and fatigue was debilitating
him, so he had to tell Orunmila, “My
brother, I am injured and have lost a lot
of blood, so you take the road and keep
checking the Niger River. When I feel
better, I will catch up with you.”
“Let me see the wound; perhaps I can
cure it.” At seeing what was once his
brother’s tongue, Orunmila suddenly
understood his sacrifice and began to cry
inconsolably. Orunmila then went into
action. He grabbed a piece of coconut
and whittled it down to the same size
and shape as the old one. He then sat
and marked a number of odduns to cure
his brother, activated them with their
prayers, and stuffed the iyefá into
Oduduwa’s mouth. Soon the bleeding
stopped and they went to the Niger
River together.
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There Orunmila turned to his brother
and said, “Since your tongue is now
made out of coconut, I will speak for you
and for me. I am going to go far and find
my fortune. I will leave my daughter
Poroye with you to take care of.” And,
grabbing his ecuele, he was off in an in-
stant.
As time passed, Oduduwa began to
hear of his brother Orunmila’s fame as a
diviner and was very happy for this, but
as it turns out one day Poroye became
gravely ill and died. Oduduwa, despair-
ing from the events facing him, cried out,
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“Oh, how great is my pain! Well then,
my daughter will also die so that my
pain will accompany him.” Seizing a
knife, he killed his very own daughter.
Oduduwa then set about making a
great tomb on the west side of a ceiba
tree and buried the two daughters, crying
bitterly the entire time.
The very next day Orunmila came to
visit. Shocked by Oduduwa’s mood, he
began to ask about his daughter
Poroye—almost before saluting his
brother.
Oduduwa’s words came pouring out of
him. “Oh, my brother! What a great
pain I feel! Yesterday your daughter died
of an unknown disease, and I … thinking
about the pain you would feel when you
would be informed about this … I killed
my own daughter to accompany her so I
could suffer just the same as you.”
Orunmila responded, “Take me to
where they are buried.” Upon arriving,
Orunmila said to Oduduwa, “Do you
agree how powerful we are when we
bond together?” Oduduwa nodded
solemnly.
“Now let us call our brother Orun,
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Ikú’s husband.” Orunmila prepared his
Table of Ifá and Oduduwa his agogó
bells and they both called Orun, who ap-
peared immediately and asked the
brothers what they wished.
They replied in unison, “We need you
to return our daughters to life.”
Orun then responded, “Okay, then.
You will have to do this and this and this
and this …” (Nobody but Orun, Orula,
and Oduduwa know exactly what was
done to bring the two girls back to life.)
When they opened the grave back up,
both of their daughters were alive
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Whereupon Orunmila and Oduduwa
made a pact to always have mutual re-
spect and never do anything to harm the
other, and to seal the pact they made a
special teja marked with odduns on it.
From that day forward, they have re-
spected each other and been united, and
that is why Oduduwa only speaks
through Ifá.
Oduduwa, also known as Oddua, is
the oricha who presides over the se-
crets of life and death and rules the
line between the two. Oddua often
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manifests as a formless, spiritual
mass of enormous power that lives in
the deepest, darkest shadows of the
night. Oduduwa is one of the greatest
mysteries we have. Oddua is respon-
sible for creating the first land out of
the waters that covered the early world
when Obatalá, who was originally sent
by Olófin to do the job, drank too
much palm wine and fell asleep. The
first land created was Ilé Ifé itself.
A lot of confusion surrounds
Oduduwa as the human founder of
the city–state of Ifé and of the Yoruba
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people who had the same name,
which has caused many people to mix
the two over time. Others have con-
cluded that they are one and the same,
and that Oduduwa is a deified ances-
tor. Every year in Ilé Ifé, the Ooni’s
ekin nuts for Oduduwa are fed as part
of Orunmila’s yearly festival.
Olófin/Odun—God in My
Closet
One day Odun decided to come to the
world to visit Orunmila, but the form
she took upon arrival was very, very
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strange. Her skin was extremely pale, al-
most translucent; she had no arms or
legs, and she was nearly blind. In fact,
she appeared more like an albino snake
than a woman.
When she arrived on earth, the first
women she encountered teased her
mercilessly for her looks. There were no
bounds to the cruelty they heaped upon
what they thought was a helpless crip-
ple. Little did they know about the ter-
rible and wonderful power hidden within
her—a power allowing anything she said
to come to pass; with a word she could
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They told him he should make her his
wife but he must first make ebbó quickly
so Odun would not kill the people of
earth out of anger. Orunmila immedi-
ately made an ebbó, and when Odun ar-
rived, eating the ebbó calmed her. This
was truly fortunate, as the women had
angered her so much she was on the
verge of killing everyone on earth.
She asked, “Who made this ebbó with
all my favorite foods?”
Echu responded, “It was Orunmila.
He wishes to marry you.”
Odun responded with a faint smile,
kinds of good on him, and she would
share the secrets of her immense power
with him. She would change his burdens
into blessings, and if anyone tried to
harm him she would annihilate them
completely. Finally, she gave Orunmila
a stern warning: “Do not trifle with me.
Do not let your children, the babalawos,
trifle with me. I am not to be played
with.”
She continued, “Without my presence
at initiation, that person does not have
Ifá and may not divine with Ifá. And a
babalawo will finally be complete when
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he receives me. To iban Echu.”
Orula immediately agreed, and Odun
became his most important wife and the
true source of his power—and, in turn,
the power of his priests, the babalawos.
Olófin is the Creator of everything in
the universe.³ Although extremely re-
mote, Olófin is considered the least
distant of the three manifestations of
the Supreme Being in our tradition.
Olófin is also known as Odun, and as
such, she is considered by many to be
the wife of Olodumare. Their
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relationship is sometimes depicted as
two calabashes sealing and containing
the universe. Many consider Olófin to
be just another title of Olodumare,
and that the Olófin/Odun received in
Cuba actually contains both genders,
and what babalawos receive in Cuba is
that closed calabash of Olodumare
(Olófin) and Odun.
Odun is the mother of all the odd-
uns that make up Ifá and the universe
as the ultimate source of the babal-
awos’ power, which is why Odun is
sometimes referred to as Igba Iwá
Odun (Odun, the calabash of all exis-
tence). The only way a person can
work with odduns is through her,
which is why her presence is indis-
pensable for the initiation of an Ifá
priest in Afro-Cuban Ifá, as well as in
the areas of Yorubaland, which haven’t
lost this secret. Besides the patakí
above, there is another oddun where
Ifá flatly states that anyone who at-
tempts to be initiated without her igba
(receptacle) present will accomplish
nothing and Orula will not recognize
that person as his priest. As explained
earlier, Odun was so crucial for Ifá
initiations that Adechina was willing to
risk life and limb to return to Africa,
receive her, and smuggle her back into
Cuba so Ifá might survive on the is-
land. The patakí above also illustrates
how dangerous Odun can be when
she is angered. She can blind or kill
those who trifle with her in any way.
Olófin should only be received by
babalawos who are elder in years and
knowledge and have proven them-
selves to be worthy of this tremen-
dous responsibility.
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Olófin is physically received by very
few babalawos chosen by Ifá who
show their elders they are experienced
and have good character. They are
then known as Olofistas or omo
Odun, and make up the highest grade
of babalawos. Those babalawos with
whom she lives with must follow strict
rules regarding how she is cared for.
She must be kept in her own area,
usually a small, dark, specially pre-
pared room or closet, locked away
from the prying eyes of the uninitiated.
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Orí Eledá
Once there was a man who was always
asking for help from the orichas and his
Orí but never gave anything in return.
One day the man went to be seen with
Ifá and was told to make ebbó to avoid
being taken from the world, but he re-
fused. Not long after, his Orí came for
him and began to unceremoniously drag
him, kicking and screaming, from his
house by his feet.
As they passed Ogún’s house, he
screamed for help. “Ogún, save me!” But
Ogún, seeing that it was Orí dragging
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him away, merely shrugged his shoul-
ders, as he could do nothing to help. As
they passed Changó’s house, he
screamed for help again, but Changó
couldn’t help him either. This happened
with each of the orichas, and none of
them could do anything to help.
Finally, as they passed by Orula’s
house, the man cried out one last time.
Orula came out and asked Orí whether
he would release the man if he could
guarantee he would make the necessary
offerings. Orí hesitated, for he was ex-
tremely angry, but finally relented and
agreed. And from then on, the man al-
ways made his offerings on time.
Orí (also Erí or Lerí) literally means
head, but in Ifá it is much more than
just the container we keep our brain
in. Often referred to as Orí Eledá, or
Orí the creator, your orí is your own
personal creator who creates and rules
over every aspect of your life. This in-
cludes your talents, your personality,
everything you are, and everything you
are going to be. One’s orí is a piece of
Olodumare that resides in each of us.
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Even more, your orí is an excep-
tionally powerful deity in its own right.
More powerful than the orichas them-
selves, as we saw in the patakí above,
your orí can affect every part of your
being, including your health, your
luck, and the way your life unfolds. In
another patakí, the orí is responsible
for giving the orichas their roles and
placing them on earth. Your orí is your
spiritual DNA, so to speak, and for
those whose destinies include becom-
ing initiated as olorichas, the initiation
fuses their orí with their tutelary oricha
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Olodumare that resides in each of us.
Even more, your orí is an excep-
tionally powerful deity in its own right.
More powerful than the orichas them-
selves, as we saw in the patakí above,
your orí can affect every part of your
being, including your health, your
luck, and the way your life unfolds. In
another patakí, the orí is responsible
for giving the orichas their roles and
placing them on earth. Your orí is your
spiritual DNA, so to speak, and for
those whose destinies include becom-
ing initiated as olorichas, the initiation
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fuses their orí with their tutelary oricha
that accompanies them to this world,
allowing them to attain greater bal-
ance, alignment, and power.
We all have a spirit double who lives
in the other world as well. This is our
orí in its purest form, and the more we
are attuned to this undiluted version
of ourselves, the greater and more ful-
filled we become. Offerings made to
your orí, usually made in the form of
the ritual known as keborí eledá, are
shared with your double in the other
world.
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There is another manifestation of
orí that resides wholly in Orun, the
other world. Known as orí acueré, it is
the archetype from which all orís are
born. This quintessential orí rules over
and controls the destinies of every-
thing that has an orí, whether it be a
bird, a human being, an oricha, or
Odun herself. Everything in the uni-
verse has a destiny and orí rules over
them all.
In Africa it used to be that only elder
babalawos and kings were allowed to
receive Orí Acueré. This should not be
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confused with the orí often seen in
Africa consisting of a leather cone with
sand that has had the oddun Ofún Bile
marked in it and forty-one cowries at-
tached to it. This is a shrine to our Orí
inú, or personal orí, and not Orí
Acueré. It is unknown if they still have
the older one in Yorubaland, but in
Cuba this deified archetypal Orí
Acueré can only be received by elder
babalawos who have already received
Olófin/Odun, illustrating Orí’s im-
mense importance in Afro-Cuban Ifá.
One way of understanding this is to
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consider your personal orí as your
individual consciousness, and the
archetypal Orí Acueré as a kind of
Cosmic or Absolute Consciousness
from which all consciousness em-
anates and spans the universe. It is
possible for a person whose personal
orí is fully in alignment with Orí
Acueré to apprehend the information
constituting the universe directly.
From there the person can direct their
consciousness, allowing them to play
a much bigger part in the day to day
creation of the universe around them.
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Or, as Ifá tells us in the refrán from
the oddun Baba Eyiogbe, “Wisdom,
understanding, and thought are the
forces that move the world.”
[contents]
Chapter Seven
Initiations
When the world was still very young
Orula was sent to earth in search of a
land called Ilé Ifé, the spiritual capital of
the world, where he was to teach Ifá and
the proper way to live to the people who
lived there. When Orula came to the
world with his Ifá, he arrived at a place
called Onika, which was on the shores of
the sea. Leading out from Onika were
sixteen roads, and Orula patiently began
taking each road to its end, one at a
time. Each road was more difficult than
the last, and on his travels he encoun-
tered all the peoples of the world, but
none of the roads led to Ilé Ifé.
There was finally only one road left, a
desolate path leading straight into the
shifting sands of the desert. Orula fol-
lowed this last road until he was stum-
bling blind through the sand, his clothes
in tatters, and with no food or water. As
he was about to give up out of despair,
through clouded eyes he thought he
spied a tiny oasis with a small pool of
water and somehow managed to crawl
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his way over to it.
When he arrived at the oasis, he found
three sacred trees. An iroko, an araba,
and a palm tree were growing next to
the spring. Orula was delirious as he
cried out to Olófin that he had failed his
quest to find the sacred city of Ilé Ifé and
that he was tired of the endless traveling
and hardship.
Suddenly Orula heard a thunderous
voice saying, “The more you look, the
less you see. You do not even see what is
right in front of your own nose.”
The voice then ordered Orula to take
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his Ifá in his hands, submerge the ekin
nuts in the spring, and throw the water
into his eyes and over his back. As he did
so, he heard singing. “Alagba nfo gede …
oju, alagba nfo gede … ofo.” ¹ When he
looked up his eyes were clear, and just in
front of him was the entrance to Ilé Ifé.
And from that day forward that spring
with its three sacred trees became the
first Igbodún for the initiation of new
babalawos.
“The best way to know nothing is to
try to learn everything at once.”
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At OrishaNet.org I am asked more
questions regarding initiations than all
of the other subjects combined, with
at least three quarters of the e-mails I
receive being about initiations. Often
enough they are straightforward re-
quests to be initiated, but important
questions regarding initiation also
come in on a regular basis. How do I
know if this is the right path for me?
What kind of commitment will be ex-
pected of me? What steps do I need to
take to get initiated?
Is Santería the Right Path
for Me?
The first piece of advice I can give is
unless there is a real emergency, take
your time to learn about the religion to
see if it’s right for you. Santería is an
exceptionally serious religion requiring
serious commitment with serious
amounts of work involved, especially
in the higher levels of initiation. As
santeros and babalawos we live our
religion twenty-four hours a day seven
days a week. Even what, when, where
or how we eat, sleep or even make
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love can be affected by what the
orichas ask of us. You should also
take your time in choosing your god-
parents, the priests whom you will be
entrusting with your spiritual well-
being and advancement. Are they seri-
ous about the religion themselves?
Are they honest and helpful toward
their godchildren? And, although
priests in our religion often lead ex-
tremely busy lives, your madrina (god-
mother) or padrino should be willing
to give you a reasonable amount of
their time and it should not be entirely
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about money. Santeros and babalawos
have to eat too and should be paid de-
cently for the work they do, but if you
can’t get even a moment of their time
without money being involved you
might want to think twice before mak-
ing what should be a lifetime commit-
ment with them.
On the subject of money, the
would-be initiate should know that
they are not buying an oricha or an
initiation. The derecho (money) they
pay for the initiation is ritual payment
for the actual work being done and the
materials needed for the initiation.
Many initiations require an immea-
surable amount of work from multiple
highly trained priests, and that costs
money and it is only right that the ini-
tiate pay for this labor. This is accom-
panied by the sad fact that most peo-
ple in our society will not appreciate
an initiation unless the cost makes it
dear to them.
The Orichas Make the Final
Decision
Whether someone is to be initiated at
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any level in Santería is up to Ifá and
the orichas. Most of the time the way a
person finds out is when it comes up
during a consultation with Ifá or with
the shells that a person needs to re-
ceive one or more initiations. An
oricha can also come down and pos-
sess one of their priests who tell you
that you need to receive an initiation.
One may also be told they don’t need
initiations or that they should not re-
ceive certain initiations at all. There
are also odduns that may say the per-
son is not suitable for that particular
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priest for one reason or another.
There are some rules of thumb that
can be helpful. If you go to a priest
who tells everyone that they need to
receive the whole pantheon of orichas
and initiations immediately even if
everything is going great in their lives,
it should pop up some warning flags.
While it can happen that the orichas
will want you to receive a lot of initi-
ations quickly it is an extremely rare
occurrence. In more than twenty years
of working as a priest in the religion I
have experienced the orichas calling
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for this only a handful of times. Not
everyone is meant to be in the religion,
much less become a santero or babal-
awo.
In my own case, the very first time I
was seen with Ifá the oddun that came
up was the one where the Table of Ifá
was born. In that oddun Ifá said that I
needed to become a babalawo, as I
was born to be an Ifá priest, and that I
had been practicing Ifá in heaven be-
fore coming to this world. But even
then my padrino-to-be told me that
whether or not I was to become a
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babalawo had to be confirmed by Ifá
directly when I received my abo faca.
By confirming everything with Ifá and
the orichas every step of the way, we
avoid running into problems and can
be sure of success. We can also be
sure that the orichas will be content
with us.
What Kind of Commitment
Will Be Expected of Me?
In the beginning initiations, such as
receiving the elekes (necklaces), the
commitment is serious but not terribly
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onerous. For instance, you are ex-
pected to go to your godparents’
house on the anniversary of their initi-
ations as priests. On the feast day of
their oricha you are to go with a plate,
two coconuts, two candles, and a
derecho if the godparent is a santero;
or a plate, two ñames (Caribbean
yams—Dioscorea rotundata), two can-
dles, and the derecho if they are a
babalawo. You are also expected to go
and help with basic chores such as
cleaning or plucking chickens any time
your godparents have a ceremony.
Many times it is while doing these
chores that godparents will teach you,
and you generally learn a lot from
helping them.
When you actually receive an oricha,
such as Echu Elegguá and the warriors
Oggún, Ochossi, and Osun, you are
expected to take care of that oricha for
life. Initiation as a santero or babalawo
is a very big and lifelong commitment,
so the decision on whether or not to
be initiated into the priesthood should
be taken very seriously. Those who are
initiated on a whim and later decided
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to abandon the orichas risk incurring
the wrath of their own orichas, and
that does not usually end well. Not
everyone is born to be a santero or a
babalawo.
How Do I Find an Ilé?
Again, you should take your time
choosing the right ilé. Are the godpar-
ents close to their orichas? Are they
concerned with teaching their godchil-
dren to learn our religion and culture
well? In this religion we don’t learn
through classes or seminars but learn
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directly from our padrinos. Most of
our learning is done while working to
help our godparents.
If a babalawo or oloricha is kind
enough to invite you to a ceremony
you are being offered a great oppor-
tunity and should go. Ask what you
can bring and what you should wear.
This will show them that you are being
respectful and serious. In fact, being
respectful every step of the way is ex-
tremely important. You are dealing
with priestesses and priests in a reli-
gion and culture based on respect so
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if you are rude and demanding they
will not want to have anything to do
with you.
If you receive an initiation and sim-
ply wait expecting your madrina or
padrino to sit you down and teach you
secrets about the orichas without pay-
ing your dues and working you will
probably do a lot of waiting and very
little learning. In fact, initiations only
allow us to be in the room during
ceremonies for that oricha. From there
it is up to us to take the initiative and
help our madrinas and padrinos with
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Guillermo. But for all of us knowledge
is something to be earned, not
bought, sold, or given away.
Which Initiation Goes
First?
In the strictest ilés a person would
often receive their guerreros and kofá
or abo faca before receiving their
elekes.² This is because the kofá or
abo faca ceremony is typically when a
person finds out the identity of their
oricha. This way they are sure to re-
ceive the necklaces for their oricha.
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Otherwise the elekes will have to be
prepared as if the person is a child of
Obatalá, and make any necessary
changes once the initiate learns the
identity of their oricha. With that being
said, once again it is all up to Ifá and
the orichas. Sometimes Ifá will say the
person needs their elekes first. There
are also ilés that give the necklaces
first. Neither way is really wrong. It de-
pends on the Ocha house you belong
to.
There are initiations like the elekes
that are performed solely by the
iworos, and the iworos perform the
vast majority of the rituals within the
initiation of the oricha priest called the
kariocha. Because this is a book on Ifá
we will focus on the initiations re-
ceived through Ifá from the hands of
the babalawos.
During one’s lifetime a person
might be called on to receive a num-
ber of other orichas through Ifá. For
instance, one might need to receive
Olokun, the owner of the sea and its
depths, and Oddua, the most powerful
oricha in Olófin’s court who
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represents both life and death, which
we learned about in Chapter Six. These
immensely powerful orichas are both
received with in-depth itás and impart
a tremendous amount of aché to our
lives.
Guerreros
The guerreros, or warriors, are the
fundamental initiation in the religion.
Receiving the guerreros is a big step
because it formally makes a person
part of an ilé with all the attendant re-
sponsibilities and obligations. The
most obvious is the need to go over to
your oluwo’s (babalawo godfather’s)
home for the anniversary of his initi-
ation as an Ifá priest and the cele-
bration of Orunmila’s birthday.
The babalawo begins the process by
performing a special divination with
ecuele to find out which camino of
Echu accompanies the godchild-to-be
out of the more than 250 possible
paths of Echu. They also find out what
stones or other objects are needed be-
cause each path of Echu is con-
structed differently. Each of the paths
of Echu has special strengths, and
some of these paths require special
care and treatment. Echu is crucial for
communication with the orichas, as
well as keeping our doors and roads
open while closing those that wish to
do you harm.³
Besides Echu, Oggún, Ochossi, and
Osun are also received when the guer-
reros are prepared by a babalawo.
They all live near the front door of the
house, except for Osun, who is placed
in a high place within the home.
Oggún is the oricha of war as well as
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the blacksmith of the orichas. This is
why technology often starts as
weapons and only later gets used for
more peaceful purposes. Oggún de-
fends us and our homes, and helps us
to find work. Ochossi is the oricha of
the hunt and uses bows, arrows, and
traps to capture his prey. He is also
the policeman of the orichas and be-
cause of this the police are sometimes
referred to as Ochossis. Ochossi also
defends us, helps us to avoid traps,
and guides us to hunt the good things
in life. The warriors are close friends
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and always travel together which is
why they are received as a group.
Twenty-one days after you receive
your warriors, you should have an en-
trada (entrance) where your Guerreros
are fed at your home. This is the
beginning of your reciprocal rela-
tionship with your Guerreros and will
continue most often with weekly Mon-
day offerings of candle, rum, cigars,
and water along with their special
prayers. Over time instruction is given
as to how to give obí to the warriors to
ask them simple yes or no questions.
Iworos also give their own version
of the warriors, but there are a couple
major differences between the two ver-
sions. First, instead of receiving Echu
in full the initiate receives an Elegguá
whose name and path will be learned
if and when they are fully initiated as a
santero in the kariocha ceremony. The
Echu given by the babalawos cannot
be used in the kariocha ceremony be-
cause Echu is simply too powerful to
be put to someone’s head, so an Eleg-
guá must be prepared for the initi-
ation. Second, santeros aren’t(
empowered to give Osun, which is
specifically an Ifá staff. Osun watches
over the well-being of the initiate and
will fall over to warn the initiate of im-
pending danger. Despite the differ-
ences the warriors given by santeros
are also effective as many people who
have received them will attest. The
warriors are the first line of defense for
initiates and are depended on to fight
and win their battles.
One Thanksgiving afternoon a per-
son came to my home three times.
Apparently a friend of his had decided
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that he had been the victim of some
sort of witchcraft and that we had
been the source. With each visit the
person became more agitated and
more threatening. On the third visit he
resorted to a death threat. I ran to con-
front him about it, but he had already
left.
A couple months later he appeared
at our neighborhood supermarket,
where I confronted him, but he
stomped off. When we went to leave
the store I realized the entrance might
be a good spot for an ambush. I went
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ahead and as the automatic doors
opened I leapt out to one side to lend
an element of surprise to anyone who
might be waiting. Fortunately no one
was waiting there, but a couple of men
who had seen the confrontation had a
story to tell.
Apparently the man had indeed in-
tended to ambush us and had gone to
his car to retrieve a sword he kept in
the trunk, but as he pulled the sword
out a burly black man in a van parked
next to him said, “What the (blank) do
you think you’re doing?”
Our wayward neighbor simply re-
sponded, “(blank) you.”
To this, the man in van pulled out a
.357 Magnum and put it right into our
would-be attacker’s face. With that,
our neighbor threw his sword on the
seat, jumped into his car, and sped
off. From that day forward, whenever
he saw us, he would hurriedly cross to
the other side of the street to avoid us.
Oggún fought our battle for us that
day, and we did not have to lift a fin-
ger. That is why we say “may Oggún
always fight your battles for you” when
we give the warriors to a new initiate.
Kofá and Abo faca: The
Hand of Orula
The ceremony known as kofá for
women and abo faca for men is the
fundamental initiation into Ifá. This
initiation bestows the Orula’s bless-
ings on the person as well as placing
them under the wise oricha’s protec-
tion. During the three-day initiation
the initiate receives Orula, who will
live in a small porcelain or wooden
container, and will receive an extensive
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itá where their destiny is revealed. The
babalawos will close the itá with an in-
quiry into which oricha is the initiate’s
Olorí oricha (Owner of the Head) or
tutelary oricha.
On the last day an iddé (bracelet)
made of green and yellow beads is put
on the person’s left wrist in a short
ceremony. This bracelet, whose full
name is idefá (Ifa’s iddé), identifies
them as one of Orula’s children and
ikú cannot take them without asking
Orula’s permission due to the ancient
pact Orula made with Death. Not all
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parts of Africa have this exact cere-
mony but there are two rituals that are
performed everywhere for babies to
help the child be properly situated in
the world. These are Ikoshe W’aye
(stepping into the world) and Imorí
(knowing the head). They later receive
an initiation known as ishefá that is
very much the equivalent to the kofá
and the abo faca.
Though for the most part the kofá
and abo faca ceremonies are very sim-
ilar, women undergo more ceremonies
than their male counterparts. Women
who have received their kofá are
known as apetebís and are the care-
takers of Orunmila. An apetebí is con-
sidered to be elder to the men who
have received abo faca, and they are
allowed to participate in ceremonies
that are closed to abo faca initiates.
The apetebí is considered the right
hand of the babalawo and are highly
respected.
One of the roles of the apetebí is to
dance for the babalawos when there is
a drumming ceremony for the orichas
because babalawos are prohibited
from dancing. While the drummers
play the songs for Orula the apetebís
dance in a circle around the babal-
awos, and the babalawos put money
to each apetebí’s head as they pass.
This derecho is payment for their work
and is used to buy items for the apete-
bí’s oricha or Orula.
When we receive kofá or abo faca
besides putting us under the protec-
tion and blessings of Orunmila, we are
informed of our itan (road or destiny).
Probably the most important part of
the initiation, the itá is a deep
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divination using the Table of Ifá that is
performed by three or more babal-
awos. Orula, who was given the title
Elerí Iküín by Olodumare, is the only
oricha allowed to witness our des-
tinies being bestowed upon us. There-
fore, Ifá is the only oricha empowered
by Olodumare to reveal that destiny to
us. During the itá the true nature of
the person is revealed along with in-
depth advice on how to best live out
our lives. By following Orunmila’s ad-
vice the person can advance in life and
avoid the pitfalls that can happen to
most people.
As part of our destiny we are often
given a number of ewós pertaining to
the oddun that must be followed.
These prohibitions are not a punish-
ment but are intended to protect us as
with the godchild who was prohibited
from eating pork. By revealing our
path in life Ifá gives us the means to
live out our lives in the most fulfilling
way possible. Unfortunately, most of
us spend our days undoing ourselves
working counter to our own destinies,
and only finding problems in life(
because of it. Our destiny is the story
of our lives as it is played out against
the backdrop of the universe. Al-
though most of our destinies were
written before we were even born,
there are many things we can do to
better or worsen our fate. This is the
meaning of the refrán “Each person is
as Obatalá made them, but what we
become is up to us.”
Each oddun has irés and osogbos,
its own good and bad fortunes, that
are the consequences of how we live
out our destinies. We say that how our
lives will end up depends on how we
live our oddun in life. A person can do
the things that will ensure they mostly
receive the irés of their sign or they
can act in such a way that will force us
to experience mostly the osogbos and
their consequences. This is what we
call living our irés or living our osog-
bos. Ultimately our fate is in our
hands.
Ocha/Kariocha
Commonly referred to as “Making
Ocha” the kariocha is the initiation of
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a new iworo. Although it is properly in
the terrain of the oriatés and santeros,
I had to include this ceremony be-
cause it can be such a perfect example
of how well things work when the ori-
atés, babalawos, and iworos cooperate
in perfect harmony.
It appears that at one point babal-
awos had a much larger role in the
kariocha ceremony than they do now.
In some lineages babalawos were in
charge of shaving the head of the new
initiate and on some occasions even
carrying out the itá performed on the
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third day of the kariocha. On these
occasions, even the itá was some-
times performed using the Table of Ifá
instead of the orichas’ shells. Agree-
ments were later made that defined
the roles of the obá oriaté and the
babalawo in the ceremony. Although
no solid evidence has been found,
most people in Cuba believe that
some sort of agreement was made be-
tween the legendary Tata Gaitán and
the seminal oriaté Obadimeyi. The
babalawo’s role in the ceremony was
greatly lessened and is now relatively
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light with many of the jobs now the re-
sponsibility of the oriaté.⁴
Many babalawos still blame Tata
Gaitán for making this agreement that
lessened the babalawo’s role in the
kariocha. These babalawos believe this
agreement ultimately created a slip-
pery slope allowing certain oriatés to
attempt a power play on the babal-
awos and allowing them to perform
ceremonies and initiations that are
traditionally part of the babalawos’
role. However, all evidence shows that
during the time of Tata Gaitán and
Obadimeyi only the deepest respect
was shown between babalawos and
oriatés. It wasn’t until long after the
deaths of both Tata Gaitán and
Obadimeyi that any of these problems
began to appear. The fact is, the oriaté
has been responsible for most of the
kariocha ceremony, with the babal-
awos only exercising the roles listed
above since as far back as the 1930s
and this should be respected. The obá
oriaté is indispensable in the religion
and the depth of their knowledge is
worthy of the greatest respect. Their
immense knowledge and wisdom
make these specialists second only to
the babalawos. Babalawos and oriatés
are the two summits of the Lucumí
religion.
Making Ifá: The Initiation
of the Babalawo
The initiation of a babalawo is called
making Ifá. The initiation is excep-
tionally intensive, and like the kariocha
initiation of the iworos, lasts for one
week. For the ceremony to be consid-
ered valid by Orula as well as other
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immense knowledge and wisdom
make these specialists second only to
the babalawos. Babalawos and oriatés
are the two summits of the Lucumí
religion.
Making Ifá: The Initiation
of the Babalawo
The initiation of a babalawo is called
making Ifá. The initiation is excep-
tionally intensive, and like the kariocha
initiation of the iworos, lasts for one
week. For the ceremony to be consid-
ered valid by Orula as well as other
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babalawos Olófin’s canister, also
called Igba Iwá Odun or Odun’s cal-
abash of all existence, must be in the
room. Her presence lends the new ini-
tiate her aché and enables them to
work with the odduns of Ifá. New
babalawos actually begin their training
during the week long initiation, a big
difference between making Ifá and the
kariocha ceremony is that the new
santeros must wait at least three
months to start learning in earnest.
After this there are two more levels
or grades in Ifá. One is kuanado that is
a ceremony empowering the babalawo
to use the knife to sacrifice four-
legged animals and allows the babal-
awo to initiate new babalawos. The
second is when a babalawo achieves
the highest grade in Ifá upon receiving
Olófin or “God’s Mysteries.” These
initiates, commonly called Olofistas or
omo odun are rare because Olófin is
to be given only to those babalawos
who are not only very experienced and
knowledgeable, but also uphold the
very highest ethical standards.
Chapter Eight
Ebbó: Sacrifices and Offerings
One day Olodumare declared a contest
between Ebbó and Ogo to see which one
was strongest. Olodumare declared that
whoever could go one week without food
would be declared the winner and would
become his close personal assistant.
Everyone expected Ogo to win because
he was strong, fast, and often achieved
spectacular results. Ogo always worked
alone, feeling he didn’t need to share his
fame or his rewards with anyone.
Furthermore, Ogo didn’t mind doing all
kinds of work no matter how injurious it
might be as long as he was well paid.
On the other hand, Ebbó took his
time working methodically to ensure
everything he did was done correctly so
the results would be certain. Ebbó never
forgot to give a share to Echu and would
often share with the other orichas as
well. Ebbó also refused to do any harm
to others, an attitude that only furthered
the impression that he was weak.
On the first night of the competition
Ebbó was already feeling weak when
Echu suddenly appeared with food and
drink. “You have always shared with
me,” declared Echu. “Now it’s time for
me to return the favor.”
By the third day Ogo succumbed to
his hunger and began to dig through a
trash bin in search of scraps to eat. Echu
seized Ogo and dragged him before
Olodumare, who declared Ebbó the win-
ner of the contest. From that day for-
ward, Echu carries ebbós directly to
Olodumare—after Echu takes his share,
of course …
“I can do anything; ebbó is great
through the will of Olodumare.”
The babalawo sits on the mat, a round
hardwood table with sacred symbols
engraved on its rim lying between his
outstretched legs. This is the Table of
Ifá, the babalawos greatest tool, whose
inside diameter is covered with the sa-
cred iyefá powder. Set neatly beside
him is the rooster and scalpel that will
be used in the sacrifice. The babalawo
begins to wipe the iyefa dust with a
brown paper packet in counter clock-
wise circles, while tapping the edge of
he Table with an irofa (tapper) made
from a deer antler. He is performing
the ebbó katero, one of the most pow-
erful rituals at the babalawo’s com-
mand. Marked on the Table of Ifá are
more than forty odduns. Each has its
own special power and job within the
ritual. The babalawo must now acti-
vate each of the odduns by using the
correct prayers and songs learned
through countless hours of memo-
rization and practice. With the prayer
“Oché Turá Echu awatetete (Echu,
come quickly)” the Ifá priest begins
the seemingly endless litany of prayers
and chants.
The spot in front of the Table of Ifá
where the client would sit is empty,
because this time the client is the
babalawo himself. A large tumor had
been found in the babalawo’s pelvic
region and a life threatening surgery
has been scheduled for the following
week. Today the babalawo must work
hard to save his own life through the
power of Orula and Ifá’s odduns. Al-
though wracked with pain the babal-
awo completes the painstaking rituals
that take well over an hour. He con-
cludes the ceremony by taking the
package to Echu, entrusting the oricha
with the task of delivering the ebbó to
Olodumare.
With the part of the ceremony em-
ploying the Table of Ifá completed the
babalawo then sacrifices the rooster to
Echu, letting the blood drip over the
concrete face set in a conch shell,
which contained and embodied the
powerful Messenger of the Gods. The
cowrie shell eyes seem to gleam as the
oricha devours the offered blood.
Finally, the scalpel is put to Ogún
while asking the blacksmith oricha to
ensure the surgeon’s work is a suc-
cess.
Ebbós are the sacrifices, offerings,
and cleansings used in Ifá to help us
rid ourselves of negativity, overcome
obstacles, and help us attain more ful-
filling lives. While many ebbós are not
as complex as the one just described,
all ebbós have one thing in common.
They express the reciprocal nature of
our relationships with the forces of na-
ture and human endeavor. We share
with them so that they may share with
us. Ebbós are the system of efficient
solutions built into Ifá divination, and
like the one performed above, they are
often specifically prescribed by the
particular oddun that appears during
an Ifá consultation. For many outside
our tradition, the fact that some ebbós
involve animal sacrifice makes it the
most controversial and misun-
derstood facet of our tradition.
There are many different kinds of
ebbós, and although each has its own
purpose and meaning, Ifá prescribes
almost all during an osode. An ebbó
may be given to the egguns, or an
oricha to enlist their aid, or they may
be offered to appease forces that
might otherwise harm us. The ebbó
may also take the form of a limpieza
(cleansing), or it could even be a com-
plex ceremony designed to set into
motion a series of events described in
one of the odduns in Ifá. The ingre-
dients of an ebbó can include fruits,
plants, various objects, rituals, or ani-
mals depending on the nature of that
particular oddun and the particular
challenge facing the client. Through
these acts we are able to avert dis-
aster, improve our lives, and achieve
balance with the forces around and
within ourselves.
Reciprocity
Offerings and other ebbós should
never be seen as a bribe to the egguns
or orichas, but instead as part of a
mutual relationship we learn to main-
tain with the powers that make up the
world around us. The idea that we
should have a direct relationship with
nature based on a continual give-and-
take is a fundamental principle of Ifá.
In fact, reciprocity is the central prin-
ciple behind many of Ifá’s ebbós and
is the basis of our daily dealings with
egguns and the orichas as well—it is
very simple really. We take care of the
forces and beings of the world around
us, and they take care of us. It is the
same give-and-take that marks any
relationship, whether it is with a
friend, spouse, or the orichas and
other Powers themselves. After all,
what would you think of a person who
constantly asked for things but never
showed any real gratitude and did
nothing for you? Even the most altru-
istic and giving person would quickly
tire of such treatment and come to the
conclusion that they are being used. It
is no different with the dead or the
orichas. With time this constant give-
and-take helps us to build incredibly
strong and lasting relationships with
our egguns and the orichas. Remem-
ber that we don’t act as if the orichas
are real living beings. They are living
beings. Anyone who has spent time in
our tradition has no doubt of that be-
cause we have experienced far too
many things to come to any other con-
clusion.
Ebbó as Resolution
In a world built up of numerous con-
flicting forces the ebbó is our fore-
most weapon for attaining or regain-
ing balance. When a client comes to
us in osogbo, or with something
impeding their iré in their lives it is up
to the babalawo, through the wisdom
of Ifá, to come up with the proper
ebbó to put that client’s life in order. It
should be mentioned that a person
doesn’t necessarily need to have done
something wrong in order to be out of
balance. We are in constant inter-
action with the forces and people
around us, and therefore can come
into contact with any number of things
that can bring harm to us. A person
may come into our lives bringing with
them some form of negativity that can
affect us. Someone may wish us harm
out of envy, dislike, or even just be-
cause, or we may stumble on
something through no fault of our
own that could have an ill effect on us.
There is any number of reasons why
our lives might get thrown out of bal-
ance, and because balance is such a
tenuous thing, we often need to act in
order to regain balance in our lives.
Christians believe that the cruci-
fixion was a sacrifice that cleansed the
world of sin for all time. Of course for
santeros such a sacrifice would be
impossible because we see ourselves
as being part of a world that is con-
stantly changing to maintain a delicate
balance. So for us there is no conceiv-
able way to make a single ebbó that
would cover all situations for all time.
For all of us sacrifice is a necessary
and desirable part of life, and just as
we make sacrifices for the happiness
and well-being of our human loved
ones, we must also make the appro-
priate sacrifices to the forces around
us to ensure our own well-being.
Types of Ebbós
As mentioned above, there are a num-
ber of different kinds of ebbós each
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serving different purposes and having
different meanings. The most com-
mon ones are used for cleansing,
strength, and protection. The most
common types of ebbós can be found
below.
Sarayeye
Also known as a limpieza, Sarayeye is
one of the most common ceremonies
performed to cleanse a person of
negativity. In this ritual fruits, plants,
animals, or sometimes cigar smoke or
cologne are passed over the person’s
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body to absorb any negativity on the
person before they are offered to the
dead or an oricha. The ingredients and
what is done with them is prescribed
by Ifá during the consultation to en-
sure the ceremony is as effective as
possible because it is precisely what
the orichas themselves ask for.
In most cases animals that have
been sacrificed are cooked and eaten
by everyone attending the ceremony
so all may partake of the aché, but the
sarayeye is an exception. The reason
for this is that after the cleansing
ceremony the bird has become satu-
rated with the person’s negativity, and
anyone eating the bird would also be
affected by that negativity. Therefore,
in the case of a Sarayeye the animal’s
remains must be disposed of at a
location the oricha or eggun chooses
and never eaten.
Unfortunately, improper disposal of
animal remains has brought our tradi-
tion a lot of negative and unwanted
publicity. It is not uncommon in some
areas to see a segment on the six
o’clock news reporting that the
carcass of an animal has been found
in the middle of a public area, such as
a park, and that it is likely to have been
part of a Santería ritual. Of course the
media often makes the situation worse
than it really is by making additions
like showing a photo of a kitten or
puppy during the segment, while
adding utterly inaccurate and negative
descriptions of our religion. The fact
that we don’t sacrifice kittens and pup-
pies doesn’t seem to matter. The fact
is that, besides small birds such as
chickens, guinea hens, and pigeons,
the only animals we sacrifice are
goats, sheep, bush rats, and turtles.
To be fair, we must shoulder some
of the blame for these incidents due to
some practitioners’ insensitivity to the
feelings and rights of others. Too
many times animal remains have been
unceremoniously dumped where they
can be found by some poor soul who
will react in shock, disgust, and fear.
This type of situation is easily avoided
by taking a little extra care and time
disposing the remains of the animal.
For instance, if a bird must be taken to
the manigua (the wilderness), it is
usually not too difficult to find an area
where people aren’t likely to go, and
put the remains in thick brush where it
can’t be easily found. And many times
we can bury the animal, making it un-
likely that some hapless mom with her
children in tow will stumble upon it.
Thus, a few extra steps can drastically
reduce the number of incidents and
negative publicity that follows such
grisly discoveries. We need not be
apologetic for our traditions, but nei-
ther should we flaunt them in the face
of those who are least likely to under-
stand them. This is an area where our
customary secrecy, carried over from
when we were even more actively
persecuted, serves a very useful pur-
pose.
Keborí Eledá or Rogación
The keborí eledá or rogación de la
cabeza is a ceremony designed to
cleanse, strengthen, refresh, and pro-
tect our Orí Eledá. Our orí is the des-
tiny or path in life that we chose be-
fore coming to this world and is the
most direct connection we have to the
divine. Our orí also determines our
luck and such resources as intel-
ligence, our particular talents,
strengths, and weaknesses.
Our heads are not just a home for
our brains, but contain our destinies
as well as being our most important
resource. If our orí is in poor condi-
tion, it can affect every aspect of our
lives and everything can go sour, in-
cluding our luck and our health. A
weakened or overheated head can also
have a tendency to be confused and
“off.” On the other hand, a strong and
refreshed head will have much more
clarity, calm, and alignment. During a
rogación certain ingredients are ritu-
ally applied to the head while the
appropriate ceremonies are being per-
formed. There are various types of ro-
gación, some of which can only be
performed by a babalawo. Even
though the rogación is a relatively sim-
ple ceremony, it’s importance and
strength cannot be underestimated.
This ceremony is performed as part of
virtually every initiation as well, so
your orí will be in accord with the cere-
mony and to achieve the maximum
possible alignment during initiation.
Rompimiento
The rompimiento or breaking cere-
mony is used to forcibly separate a
person from a negative force or being.
It can be performed by a santera, a
palero, or a babalawo. It is performed
by breaking or tearing the clothes of
the client before being given a cleans-
ing with herbs or other materials and/
or a cleansing bath. The rompimiento
must be performed by a priestess or
priest who is of the same gender as
the client as it involves nudity.
Ebbó Misí (Baths)
Ebbó Misí are baths either prepared
ceremonially using fresh herbs be-
longing to the orichas, or using ingre-
dients such as flowers, efún (a type of
white chalk commonly called by its
Spanish name cascarilla), cologne, or
any number of other ingredients.
Many times the person is able to per-
form the prepared baths themselves at
home. A priestess or priest, however,
must perform some baths and in
those cases the same rules apply as
with the rompimiento to prevent any
sort of impropriety from occurring.
Paraldo
The paraldo is the most effective cere-
mony performed to separate malev-
olent forces such as obsessive or
negative spirits that may have become
attached to a person or sent to attack
them by another person. In fact, a par-
aldo could be best described as an
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extremely powerful type of exorcism.
The paraldo is a ceremony that can
only be performed by a trained babal-
awo because it involves the forces of
multiple tremendously powerful odd-
uns to tear the negative eggun from
the person and entrap them. Once en-
trapped the exorcized spirit is dis-
patched where it can do no more harm
to the person. This is an exceedingly
sensitive ceremony and can be dan-
gerous if done incorrectly.
Initiation
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For some people it is their destiny to
become a practitioner of our tradition
and may require multiple initiations in
order to achieve balance and align-
ment and to move forward. On occa-
sion, a person will be called to be fully
initiated in either the oricha and/or Ifá
priesthood. Initiation into the priest-
hood is an extremely serious step be-
cause it is a life-changing event and
should be considered a lifetime com-
mitment. Initiation as a priest also re-
quires a huge commitment from the
initiate and can be considerably
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difficult. For instance, when a person
is initiated as a santero, or oricha
priest, they are expected to wear only
white clothing, cannot touch other
people, or take anything from their
hands for an entire year. For three
months they must eat while seated on
a mat using only a spoon and cannot
look into a mirror, in addition to other
challenges. Full initiation as an
oloricha or babalawo is definitely not
something to be taken lightly.
Advice
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Often during the course of an osode
consultation Ifá will give advice to the
client in addition to or in place of
other offerings. This may include
taboos such as foods, types of cloth-
ing, or places to be avoided or empha-
sized. For instance, Ifá may tell us to
wear white clothes for a certain num-
ber of days, not to eat some certain
foods such as pork or eggs, or to
avoid going to certain places or doing
specific activities. Sometimes though
Ifá will ask us to make major changes
in the way we act in general and
ward other people. In my experience
I’ve found that many clients have the
most difficulty with this one. People
are much more willing to go through
the most elaborate and expensive
cleansings and ceremonies than to put
in the work necessary to change as-
pects of their personality that are caus-
ing problems and holding them back.
And following advice usually doesn’t
cost the client a dime.
Ebbó de Tablero (Ebbó
Katero)
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The ebbó katero just may be the most
powerful weapon in the babalawo’s
arsenal. The ritual is extremely com-
plex, sensitive, and time consuming
but it is one of the most powerful rites
for cleansing and empowering our
clients. It involves the direct use of
power of various odduns marked,
prayed, and sung using the Table of
Ifá during the course of that ebbó. The
babalawo then breaks these odduns
by rubbing a packet containing the
ingredients of the ebbó over the odd-
uns marked on the table, infusing this
packet with the power contained with-
in these odduns. Each of these odd-
uns serves a particular task in the
ebbó. For example, the oddun Oché
Tura sets the ebbó in motion, empow-
ering it with the oddun’s aché while
the oddun Ocana Yekun is a gate-
keeper who is called so the ebbó will
be allowed to enter the world of
orichas and eggun. All of these odd-
uns are prayed and sung to honor and
compel the forces around us to help
the client who has come to us for aid,
and to lend their forces to the ebbó
and for whom the ebbó is performed.
From there the client takes the ebbó
and places it at the feet of Echu, who
is in charge of delivering it to Olodu-
mare. The ingredients and animals of
this ebbó are then distributed as
designated through Ifá divination. The
different items in the ebbó may be
claimed by different orichas or may
need to be taken to a special spot like
a hill or wilderness area. For instance,
oranges in an ebbó may need to go to
Ochún, while Yemayá might claim a
watermelon but it may need to be
given to her at the ocean. Only babal-
awos can perform the ebbó katero be-
cause they are the only priesthood
empowered to set the forces of the
odduns in motion by marking them,
reciting their prayers and songs, and
performing the rituals associated with
them. These abilities are bestowed on
the babalawo by being initiated in the
presence of Odun, who is the ultimate
source for all the powers contained
within the odduns.
As mentioned above, an ebbó per-
formed on the Table of Ifá will often
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contain ingredients used by a client in
ancient times to resolve their situation
in the stories that accompany an
oddun. In this way the events of that
oddun are replayed setting into mo-
tion the events described in that
oddun.
Babalawo performing Ebbó
Katero
One day Olodumare decided he
wanted to send children to the world,
which up until this time was popu-
lated by only adults. The problem was
the world was separated from heaven
by a tremendous chasm. He called
upon the orichas for their help in re-
solving this situation. One by one the
orichas would grab some of the chil-
dren and attempt to leap across the
abyss with all their force, but in order
to grab the edge on the other side,
each oricha found they had to let go of
the children, who would then tragi-
cally fall to their deaths. Even the
most powerful orichas failed as they
were inevitably forced to release the
children to grip the edge of the abyss,
as the chasm was simply too wide for
even the most powerful oricha to land
on their feet.
Finally, Olodumare went to Orun-
mila to see if he might be able to re-
solve the problem. Orunmila told
Olodumare that he would need five
days with which to see the situation
and make the appropriate ebbó.
When Orunmila consulted for himself
the oddun Ogbe Tumako came, which
called for an ebbó that included a
rooster for Echu and a white cloth.
Orunmila made the ebbó. At the end
of the five days Orunmila went before
Olodumare carrying the cloth and
asked for two of the children to carry
across. When Olodumare handed over
two of his children, Orunmila used the
white cloth to fashion a kind of sling
or papoose for himself and put the
children on his back inside the folds of
cloth. This freed his hands so that he
was able to grab the edge of the world
once he passed over the abyss. Thus,
he was able to bring all of Olodu-
mare’s children in ones and twos to
this world. In appreciation for having
resolved the situation through wisdom
instead of brute force, Olodumare
called on Orunmila to stand before
him and show his hands.
Olodumare then spat on each of his
hands, giving Orunmila his aché and
with it the power to act as his second
in command. “And from this day for-
ward, any oricha who wishes to do
something must ask your permission
and will have to depend on you.”
When a client who is having prob-
lems getting pregnant comes to be
seen with Ifá and the oddun Ogbe Tu-
mako appears, the client will likely be
asked to make the same ebbó as
Orunmila did, including the white
cloth. With these ingredients, the
babalawo will then call that oddun into
action, along with the use of the
correct prayers and songs. In this way
the events described in the oddun can
be re-enacted so that they will play out
in the life of the client and help to con-
ceive. At this point I should make it
clear that this is not simply imitative
magic where ingredients symbolizing
the desired result are used to accom-
plish the desired end. The patakís are
stories with great power, and through
the use of these ebbós the events
illustrated in the patakís are re-enacted
as the oddun in question is marked
and the prayers and songs used to
greet and empower that oddun are
performed.
Animal Sacrifice
Probably the single most misun-
derstood aspect of Santería pertains to
animal sacrifice. Often those outside
of the religion see the act of animal
sacrifice as cruel, barbaric, and need-
less. The hypocrisy behind this be-
comes evident when you consider the
fact that every time we eat a steak or
enjoy a chicken sandwich living beings
have been killed for that meal, and in
the eyes of Olodumare life is life and
the life of a plant is of equal impor-
tance as the life of an animal or
human. The fact is, all of us feed on
the death of others. There is no way of
avoiding it. We must also keep in
mind that one day each of us too will
give up our lives for the benefit of
other beings on this planet. In modern
society the actual slaughter of these
living beings is kept carefully hidden
so we don’t have to face the act of
killing behind every meal we eat.
Sacrifice in some form is part of
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almost every religion in the world. Ju-
daism has a ceremony known as kap-
parot performed just before Yom Kip-
pur, the Jewish Day of Atonement,
where a chicken is used to cleanse the
practitioner before being slaughtered
making it virtually identical to our
Sarayeye rite. Even Christianity is
based on sacrifice. In this case Jesus
is the sacrifice who died to cleanse the
world of sins. In Islam believers going
on Haji or pilgrimage are directed to
sacrifice a lamb or goat. And farther
east Hindus perform animal sacrifice
during the Yatral Jatra (festival) for
Kandhen Budhi and during the Bali
Jatra.
The orichas need the blood and the
plants that make up the omiero in
order to thrive and to aid us in our en-
deavors. These things are so crucial to
our traditions that blood, stones, and
herbs have been described as the core
of our way of life. Animals slaughtered
en masse by the meat industry are dis-
patched with much less care than we
show the animals we sacrifice. The
sheer number of songs, prayers, and
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rites that accompany every step of the
animal sacrifice attest to the respect
and regard given to the animals that
are giving their lives so that ours may
be bettered.
Remember the babalawo at the
beginning of the chapter whose life
was saved through performing the
ebbó? That babalawo was me. I had
gone to the doctor three times due to
ongoing pain in my lower abdomen,
where I was told to simply eat more
fiber. I had pretty much given up on
the doctors and was hoping that
whatever was causing the pain would
sort itself out over time. But one day
when I saw myself with Ifá while on a
trip to Northern California, an oddun
appeared ordering me back to the doc-
tor, as my life was at stake. This time I
put a lot more pressure on the doctor
to have me thoroughly checked out.
Still unconvinced anything was seri-
ously wrong with me, she prescribed
some pain pills and ordered a CAT
scan to “rule out anything crazy.”
That’s when they found a grapefruit-
sized tumor in my pelvic region.
A suitable specialist was found,
surgery was quickly scheduled, and I
consulted Ifá and found I needed to
do the ebbó katero to ensure the oper-
ation would be a success. The surgery
proved to be a long and difficult one.
When I awoke from the anesthesia, the
surgeon’s first words to me were that I
was a tough little guy and that I had
lost forty percent of my blood during
the surgery. I shouldn’t have survived
the surgery at all and will be eternally
grateful to Orunmila, Obatalá, and
Ogún—and to that little bird. I owe
Chapter Nine
Odduns
In a land called Nilé, when anyone died
they had to go to a special priest called a
Borokaton, who was more of a witch
than a priest and was dedicated to traf-
ficking with the dead and acting like a
fortuneteller. The Borokaton used a tall
clay pot that he claimed contained the
secret of heaven within it.
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Before long they would hear the voice of
the dead person coming from the jar.
Also, any time a child was born they
would use the jar to learn which spirit
was the child’s protector.
But there was a man named Gogo
who went to the obá of this land, in-
forming his liege of a man named
Mokobí Awó who knew a system called
Ifá, which he used to divine everything
people needed to know about the past,
present, and future. One year there came
a huge drought, and it was a disaster.
They went to every Borokaton in the person died, their family
would take two hens and go to this
Borokaton, who would then go to work.
land, but none of them knew how to
make the rain come. Then the obá
remembered what he had heard about
this man named Mokobí Awó and called
for him.
When Mokobí Awó arrived, he saw
the obá with Ifá and marked the ebbó
needed to make the rain fall anew and,
in the process, prove Ifá was a True Seer.
Later the babalawo was called before
the Royal Court to explain Ifá. Mokobí
explained that Ifá consisted of sixteen
Meyis or Olodus. And when Olodumare
wanted to create something, he would
use these sixteen Olodus, who each in
turn had sixteen omolus, each of whom
brought something different, and each
Ifá was the owner of its own language.
He continued, telling them that all
newborns had to be presented to a
babalawo within the first three months
of birth for divination to learn the child’s
destiny and which oricha they should
worship.
Ifá knows the history of everything in
the universe, both in this world and in
Orun, the other world. He has command
over the sacrifices that would make
things right and to open the doors of the
Other World to reveal the truth. And
that each thing must be made happy
first in Orun in order to be happy in this
world thanks to Elegguá and Ifá.
“The odduns of Ifá are stronger than
any sorcery.”
Ifá is a spiritual matrix containing
everything in existence and every pos-
sible human experience. This matrix is
made up of a grid composed of 256
odduns, cosmic archetypes repre-
senting the organization of aché in
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nature as well as the human situations
that we may encounter in life. They are
the living repositories containing the
totality of the knowledge and infor-
mation making up the world around
us. And as we have seen, in Ifá the en-
tire universe is regarded as being
made up of knowledge and infor-
mation and the world consists of
information in conjunction with the
consciousness apprehending that
information. It is through knowledge,
understanding, and consciousness of
that information that change occurs in
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good or bad, by performing a simple
ritual along with a prayer. But what the
beginning babalawo doesn’t know is
when you translate the accompanying
prayer for the ritual, it is simply asking
the spirit to “enlighten me”!
Ifá’s joke here reminds me of a story
from Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism about
Chao-chou’s famous stone bridge. It
was said that the bridge would impart
enlightenment to anyone who crossed
it. Monks would go on pilgrimages to
see the bridge, sometimes traveling
hundreds of miles on foot. When they
finally arrived, however, they found the
famous stone bridge was merely a
bunch of logs over a stream, but just
as with Ifá’s trick, upon seeing this
“famous stone bridge” some would
indeed attain sudden enlightenment.
But the real punch line lies in the
fact that knowledge or information
apprehended in the right way really
can make anything happen, good or
bad. The babalawo is given another
clue in a refrán from the same oddun.
“Wisdom, understanding, and thought
are the forces that move the world.”
This is the ultimate secret of the uni-
verse.
What Is an Oddun?
Named after their mother Odun, the
word itself can be translated to chief
or head, it also implies something big
and bulky. They make up the core of
Ifá. Everything in existence comes into
being in these odduns and in them
you can find the histories of each of
the orichas as well as all of our reli-
gion’s customs, ceremonies, and rit-
uals. In fact, our entire oral tradition
can be found within the odduns of Ifá.
Therefore, the babalawo is trained not
only to be a diviner and a healer but
also to be the caretaker of our oral
traditions. Orunmila and Odun gave
birth to the original odduns, which are
organized into sixteen Olodduns (kings
of the odduns or meyis) that consist
of the same pattern on each side.
These sixteen eventually gave birth to
the omolus (children of the kings, or
combination odduns), which make up
the remainder of the 256 odduns.
Although the omolus often share
characteristics of their parent odduns
they are considered individuals, and
are much more than merely the
combination of the meyis that gave
birth to them. This is one of the
characteristics of Ifá that separate it
from the traditional diloggún divina-
tion used by iworos to divine the will
of the orichas.¹
+
11
0 0
0 0
0 0
A Meyi (in this case Obara Meyi)
+
01
11
01
10
An Omoluo (Ogundá Fun)
These odduns are like a huge data-
base containing a massive amount of
information or knowledge within
them. Each oddun has its own plants,
ceremonies, ritual recipes, offerings,
things born in the particular oddun,
patakís, refránes, and advice called
dice Ifá (Ifá says) to orient and guide
the person being seen by the babal-
awo. Each oddun even has its own
path of Echu containing secrets and
keys to working with the oddun to be
shared only among babalawos. Odd-
uns also have their own orikis and suy-
eres (chants) that accompany them.
One class of orikis, called llamadas,
are used to call the odduns and set
them into action. These llamadas are
ultimately the keys to unlocking the
powers of everything in the universe.
They are often short in length because
their only purpose is to set the oddun
into action. Others are longer and
more involved because they are the
specific incantations used to bring
about a specific effect. The power that
makes these llamadas work comes
from the goddess Odun who is the
ultimate source of the odduns and
who rules over them. This is why she
must be present during the initiation
of every babalawo and why those who
have received her are considered the
highest rank within the babalawo hier-
archy.
Every oddun contains a myriad of
ancient parables called patakís graph-
ically illustrating how that oddun
works in your life, how you got there
and where that path is headed. The
use of stories to describe the how
each of the odduns works in day-to-
day life is genius itself.
Odduns also include refránes,
which are proverbs describing the na-
ture of the oddun condensed into one
or two sentences. The patakís and
refránes are poetic, profound, and
multi-layered like an onion—you gain
deeper insights as you peel off each
layer. As mentioned in the intro-
duction there is hardly a day that goes
by that I don’t re-visit a refrán or patakí
and find new depth and meaning to it
that I never saw before. I live for these
moments of eureka! Although only a
babalawo is consecrated to interpret
the patakís and refránes, you don’t
have to be a babalawo to learn from
them.
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the babalawo’s recitation.
These verses not only contained the
stories and possible ebbós associated
with the oddun. They often contained
proverbs usually in the form of the
names of mythical babalawos who
consulted Ifá in the poem. For exam-
ple, the babalawos’ names in one of
the patakís in Chapter Six were If You
Teach Someone to Be Intelligent, They
Will Become Truly Intelligent and If
You Teach Someone To Be Stupid,
They Will Become Truly Stupid. This
was a clever means of imbedding the
the babalawo’s recitation.
These verses not only contained the
stories and possible ebbós associated
with the oddun. They often contained
proverbs usually in the form of the
names of mythical babalawos who
consulted Ifá in the poem. For exam-
ple, the babalawos’ names in one of
the patakís in Chapter Six were If You
Teach Someone to Be Intelligent, They
Will Become Truly Intelligent and If
You Teach Someone To Be Stupid,
They Will Become Truly Stupid. This
was a clever means of imbedding the
proverbs into the verse itself.
To practice Ifá in the traditional
Yoruba way you must be completely
fluent in the Yoruba language, which
makes it difficult for a non-Yoruba to
learn, and in Cuba few people spoke
Yoruba fluently. Then there was the
issue of different dialects that might
be spoken by the few people who were
still Yoruba speakers. Therefore the
ese Ifá, as useful as it had been in
Yorubaland, became impractical on
the island. So the early babalawos ex-
panded on the Yoruba Eyo Ifá to
transform the ese verses into stories,
calling them patakís or important
things. The word patakí reveals the
thinking of the old babalawos because
the stories, proverbs, and depth of ad-
vice they give are indeed the important
things within the ese Ifá. Thus, the
early babalawos were able to construct
an equivalent to the ese Ifá that could
be used successfully in Cuba.
Spiritual Database
The odduns put together form an im-
mense spiritual database. Along with
the advice given by an oddun there are
a myriad of sacrifices and offerings or
cleansings called ebbós intrinsic to
that oddun. These ebbós allow the
babalawo to provide a solution that is
particularly suited to that oddun and
its path. While some of these ebbós
can be used for more than one oddun
many are specific to only that Ifá sign
and could be ineffective if a person
does not have that sign come up dur-
ing divination. Some odduns require
the babalawo perform a ritual when-
ever it appears during a consultation.
For instance, when a certain oddun
shows up the babalawo would im-
mediately put epó (palm oil) to the
mouth of everyone in the room. There
are also various iches and recipes that
help achieve certain results spoken
about in the oddun, such as winning a
court case, healing a disease, or
achieving financial success. Some-
times though a person will be told not
to chase after money as their hunger
for wealth will destroy them. In fact, in
Ifá money is considered cursed by its
very nature and when we see the
For instance, when a certain oddun
shows up the babalawo would im-
mediately put epó (palm oil) to the
mouth of everyone in the room. There
are also various iches and recipes that
help achieve certain results spoken
about in the oddun, such as winning a
court case, healing a disease, or
achieving financial success. Some-
times though a person will be told not
to chase after money as their hunger
for wealth will destroy them. In fact, in
Ifá money is considered cursed by its
very nature and when we see the
destruction caused by the corrupting
effects money has had in the world we
see the wisdom of Ifá.
In January 2008, hundreds of babal-
awos gathered in Havana for the Letter
of the Year ceremony to learn what the
new year would bring. A patakí from
the oddun of that year, Iwori Rote,
spoke of a young man surrounded by
businessmen who fawned over him
due to his money and possessions.
They turned from being brown-nosing
sycophants into his worst enemies
overnight, leaving him without a home
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or his life savings. Of course this is ex-
actly what happened to thousands,
perhaps millions of people that year
and the world economy was very near-
ly destroyed in the process.
Each oddun also has numerous
plants associated with it, and their
powers are invoked through prayers
and songs from their respective odd-
uns when we use the plants. For
example, we sing “Osain ewe bana oyu
awa, ewe bana o forire” to unlock the
powers of the ewe bana (soapberry)
plant that comes from the oddun
Ogbe Sa. This song can be translated
to “Osain, soapberry plant which is
under your watchful eye, O soapberry
plant bring us your blessings.” Osain
is the oricha of the herbs and the
wilderness.
Most of our customs and rituals are
re-enactments from our ancient past
and originate in our odduns. Our en-
tire oral tradition is recorded in the
odduns so they also serve as divine
precedents. Disagreements are often
resolved by drawing on the wisdom
coming from them and sometimes
you will see one elder challenge an-
other by demanding what oddun a rit-
ual or custom originated. A younger
priest must be very careful about
questioning an elder in this manner,
however, because most often they will
not be answered for the young priest
will be considered too big for their
britches and unworthy of being taught.
In our religion knowledge is slowly ac-
cumulated over many years and is
much too precious to be given away
simply because a young and inexpe-
rienced priest demands it. “The ears
uninteresting and serving little pur-
pose. Instead, our histories are meant
to ensure the survival of our culture,
knowledge, ethics, and worldview. We
tell our history and perform the rituals
from our past to continue our culture
and knowledge in the present to en-
sure them for the future.
Every oddun has long lists of the
things born and ruled over by it. These
include anything found in nature and
every possible human experience. The
information and advice in an oddun
can be extremely detailed, even down
to what foods you should or should
not eat. Each oddun has its own na-
ture and personality that is inherited
by everything and everyone, human or
oricha, born under the auspices of
that oddun. By knowing and using the
right keys to unlock the power of that
oddun a babalawo can affect any of
the things ruled by the oddun.
Just like people each oricha came to
this world accompanied by an oddun.
This oddun is called their oddun
isalayé, and their life stories can be
found within this oddun isalayé and
other odduns. Sometimes when a
babalawo is faced with having to make
a sacrifice to one of the orichas and
doesn’t have that oricha on hand,
there is a ceremony where the babal-
awo can use the oddun combined with
certain prayers and rituals to make the
sacrifice. Of course, besides an
oricha’s oddun isalayé, there are a
number of odduns where the oricha
speaks and the oricha figures promi-
nently.
As each oddun is a living being and
a power unto itself each oddun has
one or more paths of Echu associated
with it to act as its messenger and em-
power it. People often find it is neces-
sary to receive an Echu belonging to
their oddun in kofá or abo faca. Each
of these paths of Echu is made differ-
ently, some having twenty or more
ingredients besides the standard
ingredients that can be found in all
Echus. Even modern inventions and
events such as nuclear bombs, space
travel, and biological warfare can be
found in the patakís accompanying the
odduns. In one patakí scabs taken
from smallpox victims were used by
priests of Babalú Ayé, the oricha of
diseases, to infect enemy nations with
the dreaded disease. This history illus-
trates a detailed understanding how
diseases were spread that predates
Pasteur by hundreds, if not thou-
sands, of years not to mention the ac-
tual concept of biological warfare.
Odduns in Practice
Every oddun has specific powers that
can be drawn upon to resolve any situ-
ation we might be faced with, and
babalawos always eager to expand
their arsenals spend lifetimes col-
lecting secret recipes and incantations
associated with them. I am constantly
amazed at what a simple afoché (pow-
der) made by marking the right odd-
uns on the Table of Ifá can accom-
plish.
When I was a relatively new babal-
awo I had a young mother come to me
in desperation. She and her only son
were facing a court case and were
looking at deportation. I knew we had
a monumental task in front of us and
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months later I got a call from her ask-
ing for help with another issue. Of
course I asked about what had hap-
pened at the deportation.
“Oh, that,” she said as if it were
nothing. “The judge said we could stay
in the country. Now about this new
problem …”
Such is the life of a babalawo.
During the ceremony known as the
Ebbó Katero sometimes as many as
forty or more odduns are used, mak-
ing it one of the most potent weapons
in the babalawo’s arsenal. Every time I
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go to Havana Padrino Miguelito gives
me more odduns to add to my ebbó
making it longer and longer. But when
he tells me what the new odduns are
used for and how they will make my
ebbó more powerful I go about
memorizing the new prayers. And
sometimes all you need is the correct
prayers from an oddun or two to solve
your problems.
One day Padrino Miguelito and I
were making the long drive through
the Cuban countryside on our way to a
ceremony in the midst of a huge
storm. By the time we reached the
halfway point, the storm had become
so powerful that we were endangered
by it, with water pouring down in
buckets and lightning striking all
around us. Padrino Miguelito began to
recite special prayers from two odd-
uns that had the power to stop the
rain and wind. Within minutes not
only had the storm subsided but the
sun was shining as if the downpour
had never existed. As luck would have
it, less than a week later I would have
the need to use those newly learned
prayers myself when a severe rain
threatened to ground all the planes at
the airport. Again, within minutes the
downpour subsided and the sun reap-
peared to take the place of the tem-
pest.
Everything in existence originates in
the odduns, and with enough knowl-
edge of them anything can be accom-
plished.
[contents]
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entered Orula’s house she immediately
slipped on the slimy ooze on the floor. As
Death was falling Elegguá seized her
scythe and Ogún instantly tangled her
up in chains.
Changó yelled, “Do you not see that
this is Orunmila? And now you will pay
for your evil designs!” And with a mighty
roar Changó unleashed a huge ball of
flames from his mouth, burning Ikú se-
verely. Changó then raised his axe and
was just about to bring it down on
Death’s neck when Orula entered the
room.
“Wait,” shouted Orula, and Changó
stopped his ax mere inches from Ikú’s
head.
“I am not going to finish you off
today, Ikú,” said Orula. “I will save your
life but we must make a binding pact,
here and now. I realize it is your task to
bring an end to everyone’s life and I
know it is a necessary one,” Orula con-
tinued. “But from now on you cannot
take me or any of my children without
my permission.”
“Very well,” agreed Ikú, who had little
choice but to accept Orula’s offer, “but
how will I know your children?”
“You will know my children by the
iddé of green and yellow beads that they
shall wear, and from this day forward
you shall never take any of my children
without my permission. To iban Echu.”
“The world is broken. Orula will
mend it.”
Aché and balance are the two inter-
locking concepts underlying Ifá’s
exceptional effectiveness and power
and are crucial to fully understanding
Ifá. Virtually everything we do in Ifá is
aimed at achieving, maintaining, or
restoring balance with the powers
within and around us. These prin-
ciples form the basis of Ifá philosophy
and our worldview informing every-
thing from our ceremonies to our
ethics and morality.
Aché: Power
We live in a world of power—a living
power that permeates everything that
exists. Originating at the moment of
creation, it pervades everything in the
universe. This power is called aché
and every force or object has its own
particular type of aché that can be
used to almost any end imaginable.
Everything we see around us is
made of aché and without it nothing
would occur. In fact, aché is some-
times defined as the power to make
things happen. Pure aché is raw,
undifferentiated power and knows no
good or evil. It simply is, and from that
pure aché, all that we consider good
or bad is manifested. Any kind of
effectiveness, luck, talent, or success
comes from a person’s personal aché.
How do we access this power? Well,
there are a number of ways. We can
access this power through rituals and
offerings to the egguns, the orichas,
and our own orís. Then there are initi-
ations where we actually receive pow-
ers or even have orichas melded with
us during the initiations as oricha
priests and as babalawos. We can at-
tain power through certain types of
dreams and babalawos can access and
acquire power directly through Ifá’s
oddunsarchetypes of aché. Representing all
the different ways that aché can mani-
fest the odduns form a grid or matrix
of aché in all its forms with each
oddun having its own personality and
function. The odduns rule over every-
thing in the universe and each have
special powers, prayers, songs, rituals,
and secrets to activate them. And it is
knowledge of the odduns that allow
the babalawo to acquire such im-
mense power. Knowledge or infor-
mation is what underlies every force
and every element in the universe. themselves.
The odduns are the cosmic
Therefore, for the Lucumí babalawo
knowledge is power.
Sometimes aché is defined as au-
thority or command because it is seen
as the source of all command and au-
thority among the Lucumís and the
Yoruba. Although an obá is usually
born into that position rituals are per-
formed on them to confer the aché
necessary to rule. In the religion, each
person is infused with aché during
their initiation, which gives them the
authority and ability to practice as an
oloricha or babalawo. This authority is
not only licencia. It is also to be in-
fused with the aché that gives us the
power to work in these roles.
Aché in its more powerful forms can
be extremely dangerous if not ap-
proached correctly, and there are rit-
uals during the major initiation cere-
monies that are designed to ensure
the neophyte is strong enough to be
able to withstand the tremendous
power of the aché they are infused
with during their initiation. In the case
of the olorichas the actual power of
the orichas are aligned and fused with
their orí, and in the case of a babalawo
Orunmila’s aché is fused with their
being.
Aché is something we are born with
but can also be acquired. We are born
with the aché that defines our person-
alities and talents, as well as our luck
and success, but it must be cultivated
or it can be lost. If that occurs rituals
must be performed to help restore
that aché. On the other hand, living
our lives and our destinies well will
help us accumulate aché. It can also
be acquired through rituals to the
egguns, orichas, other forces and
sometimes through certain kinds of
dreams.
All forms of aché originate in Orun
and are reflected in our world. Orun is
ancient, primordial, and outside of
historic time and space yet is present
here and now. Echu is the gatekeeper
between these worlds, making him
indispensable to Orula and to the
babalawo. The crossroads between the
worlds is represented on the opon Ifá
or Table of Ifá, one of the principal
tools enabling the babalawo to create
openings to access this aché. Even we
originate in the other world, which is
why we say “The world is a market-
place, the other world is our true
home.” Although we spend our earthly
existence here in the world we must
never forget where we come from and
where we will eventually return. The
more we live in alignment with this
other world the better and more fruit-
ful our lives will be.
As we discussed earlier, Olodumare
and Olófin largely retired from many
of the day-to-day functions of running
the universe and divided these duties
among their intermediaries, the
orichas. So instead of going to Olodu-
mare or Olófin for our needs we go to
the oricha who rules over the area of
life that we are seeking guidance in.
This raw power becomes less dif-
fused and becomes more defined as it
is divided up into the different types of
aché under the domain of the various
orichas. For instance, we might go to
Ochún who embodies the aché ruling
over matters of the heart for help in
our love lives, or we might go to the
it is a likely sign you are presently in a
state of iré and in tune with the pow-
ers in and around you, particularly
your orí.
Sometimes it is revealed that a per-
son requires a short ceremony called a
keborí eledá or rogación de la cabeza.
This ritual, whose ingredients range
from the very simple to the very com-
plex, is designed to propitiate,
strengthen, and cleanse your orí. The
effects of this brief ceremony are felt
immediately. One feels calm, re-
freshed, and airy. I have even had
people feel so euphoric afterward that
they need their spouse to drive them
home. The effects can be far-reaching,
with improved luck, clarity, and tran-
quility. Even one’s general success
and health have been affected after the
ritual has been performed. Every as-
pect of your life can be improved with
this relatively simple ceremony. It is
not surprising that there are many
types of keborí eledás depending on
the person’s needs and the wishes of
their orí. These range from the sim-
plest rogación to a keborí eledá with
specialized ingredients and extra cere-
monies that align the person’s head
directly with Olófin, and which can
only be performed by babalawos. This
ritual is pivotal and is performed be-
fore virtually every initiation. Decep-
tively simple and short, it just may be
the most important type of ebbó avail-
able and should be performed regu-
larly to keep oneself properly aligned.
Again, for the Lucumí babalawo,
knowledge is power and power is life.
As we saw in Chapter One knowledge
is what underlies every force and every
element in the universe. This power is
not only alive but is what imparts life
to every living being. In Ifá, power and
the ability to live in balance is
achieved primarily through gaining
knowledge. It is the possession of
knowledge that helps us to access this
aché by putting us in closer contact
with the forces underlying all of nature
and learning to work with those
forces. Knowledge is acquired through
learning and understanding the rituals,
patakís, refránes, and songs. The cere-
monies we perform and experience
imbues us with that knowledge as
well. And finally, our experiences in
life, both good and bad, show us how
these forces unfold and help us to
gain a deeper understanding of how
they work.
Balance
A young woman travels down a thin
path bordered by a white line on one
side and a black line on the other.
Cautioned to stay within the lines, she
carefully winds her way through the
darkness toward her encounter with
only small candles on the floor to help
find her way.
The Lucumí worldview is tremen-
dously sophisticated, embracing para-
doxes and opposites as part of a com-
plex and constantly changing balance
rather than the rigid and simplistic
dualistic view of the world found in
most Western European thought. In
Ifá we see the universe as well as our-
selves as being in a constant struggle
to achieve, maintain, or restore bal-
ance. This is because we are sur-
rounded by a multitude of forces
perpetually confronting and inter-
acting with one another each with their
own trajectories and aims, and each in
a constant state of flux and change.
In the Western worldview where the
universe is viewed as a battleground
between good and evil we quickly run
into insurmountable paradoxes. For
instance, what if a person had killed
Hitler at an early age? Wouldn’t that
make that person a murderer even if it
had saved millions of Jews, Gypsies,
gays, and dissidents? The Western
view of the world also places us
separate from, and at odds with, the
world around us. This view also often
goes as far as to separate us from our
own bodies, which are considered to
be base and corrupt by nature. In Ifá
that is considered to be an overly sim-
plistic and ultimately untenable view
of the world.
Another way of looking at Ifá’s view
of balance is to think of ourselves as
spending our lives walking down that
path bordered by a white line on one
side and black line on the other, or,
between the two legs of the oddun we
were born under. If we stray too far to
one side or the other we will find our-
selves out of bounds or out of balance
and facing serious problems. In other
words we too are constantly attempt-
ing to maintain balance between black
and white, good and evil, life and
death. Instead of viewing the world as
an eternal war between good and evil
the Lucumí lives in a holistic world
where bad can be good and good can
be bad. Our patakís are filled with
examples illustrating just how bad
acts can, and often do, lead to a good
our behavior nature will intervene and
achieve balance in a much more cata-
strophic way. This could happen with
devastating rises in sea levels, extreme
weather, expansions of deserts, the
mass extinction of species, or even
trigger a new Ice Age. Balance will be
achieved one way or another, even if
humans become extinct in the
process.
One of a babalawo’s first acts in
virtually any ritual is to salute the
dead, the orichas, and Ifá with a long
prayer known as the moyuba. As part
of this moyuba it is customary to in-
clude “Iba irunmole yikotún, iba
awamole yikosí.” This prayer salutes
the 400 powers to our right and the
200 powers to the left. These numbers
aren’t meant to be taken literally; they
acknowledge the vast number of pow-
ers or forces that surround us. These
forces include things such as the
orichas and other forces that from our
point of view we consider good, such
as the irés of health, gains, and intel-
ligence as well as forces we often con-
sider bad such as death, disease, or
of this moyuba it is customary to in-
clude “Iba irunmole yikotún, iba
awamole yikosí.” This prayer salutes
the 400 powers to our right and the
200 powers to the left. These numbers
aren’t meant to be taken literally; they
acknowledge the vast number of pow-
ers or forces that surround us. These
forces include things such as the
orichas and other forces that from our
point of view we consider good, such
as the irés of health, gains, and intel-
ligence as well as forces we often con-
sider bad such as death, disease, or
without anything to eat or the ability to
create new life—not to mention the
problems that would come from se-
vere overpopulation. Also, if we lived
forever we would never feel the ur-
gency or need to accomplish anything
in our lives. Without death life would
be truly miserable and ultimately not
worth living.
We do not attempt to subject the
world to our will. Instead we align our-
selves with the powers that surround
us. Especially with our own orí and
being that we are able to lead a more
fulfilling life and to overcome the
obstacles that life presents to us. In
this spirit Ifá often deals with the ma-
lign or evil forces through mollifi-
cation rather than attempting to open-
ly combat them. “Skill is of more value
than force.”
So there must always be balance be-
tween the forces of the universe or
everything would be in a state of ab-
ject chaos. If we look around us we
see it is so, even on a cosmic level, as
without this balance of forces there
would be nothing preventing the earth
from flying headlong into the sun, or
the universe from flying apart. It is
Orunmila’s job, with the aid of the
much-maligned Echu, to achieve and
maintain balance between these
forces. We sometimes speak of Echu
as being the 401st Irunmole on the
right as well as being the ruler of all
the Ajogun or Irunmole to the left.
Thus, he is allied with eggun, the
orichas, and all the irés, and at the
same time with the forces that bring
the calamities in life. And so it must
be. It is Echu’s unique role in the
universe that makes him Orunmila’s
closest friend and most valued helper.
This privileged relationship between
Echu and Orunmila is one of the
things that make Ifá so powerful.
In the oddun Ogbe Funfun Nlo it is
said that the world is broken and that
Ifá will mend it. In reality, the world is
constantly being thrown out of bal-
ance and Orula is constantly fixing it.
Balance is a precarious thing, or as the
martial artist Bruce Lee once put it
“Balance is running like hell to keep
it.” The fact is that the world is
continuously out of balance and has
new balances being achieved to
accommodate those changes. Thus, a
certain amount of imbalance is neces-
sary for growth and change but ulti-
mately balance must be restored, but
is temporary. The only constants are
change, balance lost, and balance re-
gained, only to be lost and regained
again. The need for imbalance for the
world to advance is illustrated in the
following patakí, which shows that
even war can be a necessary thing.
continuously out of balance and has
new balances being achieved to
accommodate those changes. Thus, a
certain amount of imbalance is neces-
sary for growth and change but ulti-
mately balance must be restored, but
is temporary. The only constants are
change, balance lost, and balance re-
gained, only to be lost and regained
again. The need for imbalance for the
world to advance is illustrated in the
following patakí, which shows that
even war can be a necessary thing.
When Olófin assigned the different
types of aché to the orichas Obatalá
Ayáguna was chosen to be a warrior
and the creator of revolutions, and
wherever Ayáguna went he ruled by
force of arms and spread revolution
over much of Africa.
One day Olófin sent for Ayáguna
and asked him, “Why do you start so
many revolutions if my wish is to have
peace for all?”
To this Ayáguna responded, “With
all due respect, you are always seated
upon your throne, far away from it all,
and your blood does not coarse
through your veins in the same way as
ours.”
The ceaseless combat continued be-
tween Ayáguna and his neighbors and
Olófin was constantly trying to reign
in Ayáguna’s warlike behavior. Fi-
nally, Olófin decided to see if his quar-
relsome nature would be tempered by
a change of location so Olófin sent the
warrior Obatalá to Asia, and it is said
that during this time Ayáguna was
also given the task of teaching Ifá to
the Chinese.
When Ayáguna arrived in China he
found the people were far too passive
and peace loving. When he tried to
teach them Ifá he found they were
only interested in telling the future
and refused to follow Ifá. Ayáguna
thought to himself, “They will have to
learn to fight for their own good, or
they will forever be ruled by tyrants.”
He also decided to only teach them a
lite version of Ifá with only six parts to
their signs instead of eight.
Intent on teaching them a lesson
the warrior Obatalá went to a
neighboring country and instilled the
idea that the Chinese were passive
and therefore ripe for conquest. Then
he returned to China where he rallied
the people there and informed them
that their neighbors were coming to
invade them and that they were now
forced to fight. Thus, he went about
traveling the world, fanning the
flames of discord and war among
humanity.
Finally, some people went to Olófin
to complain that Ayáguna was con-
stantly provoking wars. Olófin then
went to the warrior Obatalá saying,
“Please, my son. I wish peace. I am
peace. I am Ala Morere, the White
Flag of Peace.”
To this Obatalá Ayáguna replied,
“Without discord in the world, there is
no progress. Without revolt, and the
threat of revolt, there is only tyranny
and peace and harmony through
tyranny is a fraud. Yes, it is messy, but
that is how the world moves forward.”
Olófin, seeing the truth in Ayágu-
na’s words, said with a deep sigh,
“Very well. Thus the world willwent to the warrior Obatalá saying,
“Please, my son. I wish peace. I am
peace. I am Ala Morere, the White
Flag of Peace.”
To this Obatalá Ayáguna replied,
“Without discord in the world, there is
no progress. Without revolt, and the
threat of revolt, there is only tyranny
and peace and harmony through
tyranny is a fraud. Yes, it is messy, but
that is how the world moves forward.”
Olófin, seeing the truth in Ayágu-
na’s words, said with a deep sigh,
“Very well. Thus the world willacquire a new balance. In much the
same way everything in the world re-
quires imbalance in order to grow and
change. This invaluable concept is
also reflected in the proverb at the
beginning of the chapter with its impli-
cation that the world is perpetually
broken, just as Orula is perpetually
mending the world. As odd and con-
tradictory as it may seem, imbalance is
actually an important part of balance.
On a personal level, when our
virtues and strengths become unbal-
anced, they become our vices andweaknesses. For example, spontaneity
is a great virtue. It enlivens us and
those who around us, and enables us
to successfully confront unexpected
situations and to think well on our
feet. However, when spontaneity is
thrown out of balance it becomes
impulsiveness, and we become flighty
and unstable. In the extreme we can
become dangerously erratic. On the
other hand, to be reliable and stead-
fast can also be a virtue. The ability to
persevere allows us to succeed against
all odds where others fail, and it
actions or inaction and sometimes we
are thrown out of balance through the
intervention of other forces or people.
The central means of achieving,
maintaining, and restoring balance to
our lives is ebbó. Often it is much
more than a simple offering of can-
dles, fruits, or animals and may in-
volve complex and sophisticated rit-
uals, such as the ebbó katero, or an
initiation to put us in alignment with
one or more orichas.
In Ifá rather than make a futile at-
tempt to fight the forces that areSearch Inside The Book
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harmful and more powerful than us,
we may instead seek to appease and
assuage them. For example, if ikú
wants to take us in order to feed the
earth we might offer to give the earth
something else such as a chicken or
goat to hold things off for the time
being. Thus, through Ifá a deal is bro-
kered and balance is achieved in a way
that is not catastrophic to ourselves or
those that are dear to us.
There may be no better way to illus-
trate our view of balance than to ex-
plore one of the most important, andunfortunately most misunderstood
concepts in Ifá. Iwá Pele.
Iwá Pele and Mo Iwá Fun
Oniwá
Usually translated as good character
or gentle character, the concept of iwá
pele has not only become overused,
but also grossly oversimplified, espe-
cially when thought of in the Western
European sense of the word character.
How does this good character match
up with the fact that we are all born in
one of the 256 odduns in Ifá whereg
there is a vast variety of personality
types or types of character to be found
within these signs? Does the idea of
iwá pele really denote a cookie-cutter
idea of an ideal of good character, or
is true iwá pele a much more variable
and fluid concept? And just how fluid
and variable is that concept?
First of all, the mere definitions of
the words iwá and pele show a far
greater depth and complexity than the
Western words “good character” offer
us, and show a profound under-
standing of the human condition not
there is a vast variety of personality
types or types of character to be found
within these signs? Does the idea of
iwá pele really denote a cookie-cutter
idea of an ideal of good character, or
is true iwá pele a much more variable
and fluid concept? And just how fluid
and variable is that concept?
First of all, the mere definitions of
the words iwá and pele show a far
greater depth and complexity than the
Western words “good character” offer
us, and show a profound under-
standing of the human condition notoften seen in the Western world. The
term iwá has been translated alterna-
tively as character, existence, and des-
tiny in dictionaries, and the famous
Yoruba author Wole Soyinka defines
iwá as personality. These definitions
reveal an important aspect of our
worldview where character, existence,
and destiny are not separate and dif-
ferent ideas. Instead they are parts of a
greater whole. For us the destiny we
are born with not only defines our
character, but paints an accurate pic-
ture of what our existence will look like
as well. Therefore character, existence,
and destiny are inseparable from our
point of view.
Next, the word pele is variously
translated as calm, gentle, cautious,
and serious, which when taken to-
gether suggest a general state of calm
thoughtfulness and balance. There-
fore, a more accurate definition of iwá
pele could be character brought into
balance through the careful and
thoughtful application of a thorough
knowledge of our destiny. Needless to
say, this definition is a far cry from the
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vague, yet rigid, idealized behavior we
would associate with the words good
character in the Western sense. Like
most idealized behavior, the problem
is that no one could possibly live up
to such a definition of good character.
What isn’t so well-known is that the
term iwá pele is often accompanied by
a traditional Yoruba phrase that isn’t
mentioned in many of the books or
discussions on iwá pele. “Mo iwá fun
oniwá” translates to “acknowledge
each person’s own individual char-
acter.” This gives us a different view
than offered by the oversimplified and
westernized idea of good character.
The idea is that a person’s ideal
character or existence can vary widely
depending on the oddun that defines
each individual destiny. Furthermore,
what is correct behavior for a person
born in one oddun can be detrimental
or even disastrous to a person born in
another oddun, as each of us are born
with different assets, strengths, tal-
ents, and weaknesses as well. To illus-
trate the true nature of the concept of
Mo iwá fun oniwá, here is a patakí
entitled Those Who Imitate, Fail:
There was a farmer who had a beau-
tiful and beloved horse who refused to
be dominated or controlled by anyone.
No matter how much the farmer tried
this horse just simply could not be
tamed. Over time the horse’s owner fi-
nally realized he could never control
the beautiful beast, and not having
the heart to kill or sell it, he decided to
set it free.
The ox, seeing how the horse had
won its liberty through his acts of
rebellion cleverly decided to employ
the same tactic to win his freedom.
The ox became fiercely rebellious,
refusing to work and breaking through
his pen every chance he got. At first
the ploy worked as the ox’s owner kept
feeding and taking care of him. But as
time went on the ox got fatter and fat-
ter until finally one day the owner
gave up on the ox much as he had
done with the horse. But instead of
setting the ox free the farmer simply
sold the rebellious ox to a local butch-
er for meat.
rebellion cleverly decided to employ
the same tactic to win his freedom.
The ox became fiercely rebellious,
refusing to work and breaking through
his pen every chance he got. At first
the ploy worked as the ox’s owner kept
feeding and taking care of him. But as
time went on the ox got fatter and fat-
ter until finally one day the owner
gave up on the ox much as he had
done with the horse. But instead of
setting the ox free the farmer simply
sold the rebellious ox to a local butch-
er for meat.
Here we have two individuals per-
forming the same actions with two
completely different consequences.
Through identical acts of rebellion one
animal gained its freedom while the
other became dinner. Not being true
to your own destiny and existence
could not only end in failure, but can
even lead to disaster. One person’s
meat can be another person’s poison.
None of this should be taken as li-
cense to act badly and simply blame it
on your oddun. This is what is referred
to as living your osogbos that will
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Chapter Eleven
Women and Feminine Power
in Ifá
When Olófin created the world, the six-
teen Meyis and Oché Turá were sent
down to earth to put the world in order.
As they all prepared to leave, they were
told that although Oché Turá was below
the Mejis, they must rely on her help in
everything they did and declared her to
be the Owner of Aché.
When the Mejis arrived on earth, they
simply didn’t see why they needed to/count on her help. After all, she wasn’t a
Meji, and she was just a woman.
But the Mejis soon found that every-
thing they attempted ended in failure.
Nothing worked. Rain did not fall,
plants did not grow, animals only lived
for a short time before dying, and illness
and famine covered the world. In short,
all their great plans came to nothing,
and everything they attempted was
quickly spoiled.
But that was not the worst of it. Upon
learning of the Mejis arrogance and lack
of respect, Olófin sent Changó down topunish the sixteen Mejis’ while they were
holding a meeting. Changó hurled a
huge lightning bolt down, burning the
sign Oché Turá into the Table of Ifá and
setting fire to the house.
Suddenly Olófin appeared and de-
creed, “From this day forward, every
babalawo must write Oché Tura on the
right and at the top of the Table of Ifá
every time they perform ebbó. To iban
Echu.”
From that day on, we mark Oché
Turá first whenever we make any kind of
ebbó on the Table of Ifá—otherwise the
ebbó will not be effective.
“Before a king can become sacred, a
woman must give birth to him.”
The role of women and feminine
power is crucial to Ifá. Odun/Olófin,
the manifestation of the Supreme
Being from whose womb all creation
sprang forth, is the highest power that
can be received in Ifá and is the true
source of Ifá’s power. Without her
presence there cannot be an initiation
of an Ifá priest, and without the inter-
vention of the apetebí there can be noebbó will not be effective.
“Before a king can become sacred, a
woman must give birth to him.”
The role of women and feminine
power is crucial to Ifá. Odun/Olófin,
the manifestation of the Supreme
Being from whose womb all creation
sprang forth, is the highest power that
can be received in Ifá and is the true
source of Ifá’s power. Without her
presence there cannot be an initiation
of an Ifá priest, and without the inter-
vention of the apetebí there can be noIfá initiation. Without women and
feminine power there is no Ifá and no
babalawos.
Virtually everything in Ifá and San-
tería revolves around a balance of
shared power between the male and
female. At the very top the manifes-
tations of the Supreme Being Olodu-
mare and Odun/Olófin are conceived
as two parts of a closed calabash, con-
taining this universe and all the oth-
ers, where the two aspects of the
Supreme Being become one. Odun/
Olófin is the source of all creation and
are considered females with the other
half being males, and each oddun also
has a female and male side.
The concept of a closed calabash
with two halves touches upon almost
everything in our tradition. Ifá and
Ocha are considered two parts of the
calabash of one single religion, each
with a different role and with both
parts depending on one another. With-
in both Ifá and Ocha you see both
male and female aspects. In the
Lucumí religion, women have tradi-
tionally played a powerful role, and
almost every rama of the religion has a
woman as its root. The balance of
power between women and men is re-
flected in the cabildos where La Regla
Ocha was formed. The vast majority of
the cabildos were jointly headed by a
babalawo and a powerful santera. Of
all the cabildos, the Cabildo Africano
Lucumí was probably the most influ-
ential of all and is considered to have
been the epicenter of Lucumí culture.
It was headed by the seminal babal-
awo Adechina along with the female
cofounder Ña Caridad Argudín(Aigoró), who was likely to have been
the ultimate root of the largest branch
of the religion, the Pimienta. Within
the rolls of that one cabildo you can
find the roots for most of the ramas
that exist today.
Many ilés reflect the balance of
power of the old cabildos. They are
jointly headed by a babalawo and an
apetebí who is also a santera, with the
babalawo in charge of the Ifá cere-
monies and the apetebí in charge of
Ocha ceremonies and initiations. The
apetebí is the babalawo’s most
Something Orula does not permit his
priests to experience. In Ifá virtually
everything that surrounds Orula is fe-
male. In the oddun Irete Meyi we find
the traditional salute to Ifá and his
priests: “Iború, Iboya, Ibocheché.” This
is translated to “sacrifice offered,
sacrifice accepted, sacrifice is
blessed,” which was originally the
names of the three women who saved
Orunmila after falling into a pit, while
the apere (receptacle) in which Orula
lives is considered female as well.
In Lucumí Ifá the apetebí isconsidered to be the babalawo’s right
hand, and she has access to places
and ceremonies closed to all except
for babalawos. They are also in charge
of much of what goes on during the
ceremonies. The apetebí is also con-
sidered senior to any of the men who
have received abo faca by virtue of
having gone through certain cere-
monies, which the men do not. During
any Ifá ceremony, the apetebí is in
charge of everything outside of the
room where the babalawos are work-
ing, and her word is law. In fact, theSearch Inside The Book
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apetebí is the only non-babalawo who
is directly saluted by babalawos by
saying, “Apetebí iború, apetebí iboya,
apetebí ibocheché.”¹
In Afro-Cuban Ifá, the apetebí is
absolutely necessary for the initiation
of a new babalawo. There are cere-
monies that must be performed by the
apetebí, including one so crucial that
without it the initiation is not com-
plete, and the would-be initiate cannot
become a babalawo. There is also an
added benefit. In gratitude for her
indispensable help Orunmila adds tenyears to the life of the apetebí who per-
forms this ceremony.
The woman who performs these
ceremonies, traditionally the initiate’s
wife, also becomes part owner of the
new initiate’s Ifá. This means that she
can never be refused access to that Ifá
under any circumstances, as well as
other things. This fact has led some
babalawos to have their mothers per-
form these ceremonies out of fear of a
break up. If there is a divorce the for-
mer wife can walk right up and com-
plain about the spouses to their ownIfá and there’s nothing that can be
done.
One Ekin or Sixteen?
In a number of traditional African lines
women receive sixteen ekin nuts in
their kofá as opposed to traditional
Lucumí Ifá where the woman receives
one or two ekin nuts depending on her
sign. Some neo-traditionalists feel this
is an expression of Cuban machismo
and misogyny, but the practice of giv-
ing women a single ekin called Ekó Ifá
(often shortened to Ekofá or Kofá) wasprevalent in Africa as late as 1899, as
described by the Yoruba author James
Johnson. Therefore, there is no ques-
tion that our practice of giving one
ekin has a history in Africa. The fact of
the matter is, Ifá is Ifá, whether you
have one ekin or a hundred. The
important thing is that Ifá will hear.
On the other hand, there is a little-
known ceremony where an apetebí re-
ceives a full hand of sixteen ekins, and
it is one of the most beautiful cere-
monies in Ifá. Called Adele Wa Ni Ifá
Tolú, the ceremony elevates the
apetebí to the status of apetebí ayafá
(wife of Ifá), which is the highest level
a woman can reach in Ifá. During this
initiation she receives all sixteen ekin
nuts and a new oddun defining her life
destiny, which supersedes the oddun
from her kofá.² At this point she can
and should learn more about Ifá’s
odduns. Many ayafás exhibit an im-
pressive amount of knowledge about
the odduns, although she still cannot
divine with the ekines or ecuele. In
fact, the apetebí ayafa can even use the
ecuele if her husband or child is ill.Only an apetebí who has performed
the ceremonies to complete a new
babalawo’s initiation is eligible to have
this ceremony performed. It is a truly
beautiful ceremony that I am not al-
lowed to discuss with anyone except
babalawos or apetebí ayafás.
In the United States, there are peo-
ple who have come to the mistaken
conclusion that apetebís are servants
to the babalawos. There is one website
claiming the word ayafá means slave
of Ifá. Apparently this website has
their own dialect of Lucumí or Yoruba,as Ayá means wife in both languages,
and as many of the most famous and
powerful olorichas in the history of the
religion were also apetebís, this is a
conclusion that defies belief. For in-
stance, indisputably the two most
powerful santeras in Havana, Latuán,
and Efunché were both married to
babalawos and were their apetebí
Ayafas. Latuán was married to the
great babalawo Bernabé Menocal
(Baba Eyiogbe), and Efunché was mar-
ried to the babalawo Jacinto Fer-
nandez (Kaindé). Efunché and Latuán
were so powerful nobody worked in
the religion without their approval.
The idea that these two olorichas, who
utterly dominated Havana, would be
subservient to anyone is laughable at
best. Aurora Lamar (Obatolá), who is
the root of what is by far the largest
rama of the Lucumí religion, was mar-
ried to a babalawo as well.³ What’s
worse, to imply these santeras were
subservient slaves to their babalawo
husbands is extremely demeaning to-
ward these women. In fact, the babal-
awos’ tendency to marry powerful
women rather than fear them might
point to a healthy attitude toward
women that was probably rare in the
late 1800s.
The apetebí ayafá, carrying Orun-
mila, leads the babalawos into the Ifá
ceremonial room on the day of the Itá.
During the Itá she carries the ekines to
the babalawo who is seated in prepa-
ration to divine with them. At the end
of the ceremony she dances the ekines
out of the room carrying them on her
head at the head of the procession.
Despite all of this the role of women
is also one of the most misun-
derstood subjects in Afro-Cuban Ifá
with accusations of misogyny and sex-
ism laid at the feet not only of babal-
awos but of Ifá itself. While unfortu-
nately sexist babalawos exist Ifá itself
is anything but sexist in nature. Where
does this perception come from and
how much truth is there to the charges
leveled against Ifá? Much of the confu-
sion surrounding the perceived sex-
ism of Afro-Cuban Ifá has been
caused by the aftermath of the appar-
ently modern practice of initiating
women as iyanifás in some parts of
Yorubaland. The prohibition against
this practice is often held up as evi-
dence of an inherent sexism in Afro-
Cuban Ifá, particularly by practitioners
of present-day African traditions in the
United States, with some even claim-
ing the prohibition is a purely Cuban
invention. Is this true? First let’s look
at why we have this prohibition in the
first place.
In the oddun Oché Yekún, Orula
states unequivocally that Odun must
be present for a person to be initiated
as a babalawo and that without her
presence Ifá will not recognize them
as a babalawo and the person will
have accomplished nothing. Below is
an excerpt from the African version:
If one wishes to become a babal-
awo,
He must enter Odun’s grove.
But if he does not first propitiate
Odun in her Apere (receptacle)
He will accomplish nothing.
Ifá will not know that the person has
come to be initiated as a babalawo.Orunmila will not recognize his
child.⁴
This is why traditional Lucumí
babalawos do not recognize anyone
who has not been initiated in Odun’s
presence as an Ifá priest. Therefore,
women cannot be initiated as Ifá
priests because Odun prohibits
women from being in her presence.
This is due to the cruel treatment she
received from the first women she en-
countered when she came to this
world. Following is another excerptvfrom the African version of this patakí:
Because Odun is the babalawo’s
power.
Ifá says, if the babalawo possesses
Ifá, he must have come before Odun.
The power that Odun gives him
says that.
No woman must look upon her
form.
From this day no babalawo is com-
plete without Odun.
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in Igbodún will not be able to con-
sult Ifá.
As you can see, the babalawo is
nothing without the primordial femi-
nine power Odun/Olófin as she is the
ultimate source of all of the babal-
awos’ power. Lucumí babalawos will
not consider violating Odun’s prohi-
bitions for she is not only powerful
but also extremely dangerous when of-
fended. The absolute necessity for her
presence at the consecration of an Ifá
priest led Cuba’s first babalawo,Adechina, to risk life and limb to travel
back to Africa and return to Cuba so
he could bring her back to the island
as we discussed earlier. For Lucumí
babalawos the initiation of anyone as
an Ifá priest without Odun being
present is considered an offense to
Odun and to the immense sacrifices
made by our ancestors as well.
What does history say about the
initiation of iyanifá in Africa? There are
claims that iyanifás have been around
for hundreds, if not thousands, of
years. If that’s the case we shouldhave little trouble finding records of
their existence among the numerous
sources who have documented Ifá in
Yorubaland over the last two hundred
years. As it turns out just the opposite
is true.
Dr. William Bascom, universally
recognized as the foremost academic
authority on Ifá in the twentieth cen-
tury, also stated that only men can be-
come babalawo. During his extensive
field studies in twelve different cities
he never encountered or heard of a
single female Ifá priest acting as a
diviner. Numerous sources from
Yorubaland going back to the early to
mid-nineteenth century clearly state
that only men could become Ifá divin-
ers, and none mention women Ifá
diviners. In fact, there is no source
mentioning the existence of Iyanifás in
Yorubaland before the 1970s.
In 1992, the king of the South Car-
olinian Oyotunji African Village, Ade-
funmi, was pressured by the women
of Oyotunji to be initiated as Ifá
priests in Dahomey, in spite of the fact
that Adefunmi’s credentials as Obá
came from the Yoruba spiritual capital
of Ifé. This was because the babal-
awos in Ifé still refused to initiate
women at the time.⁵ Since then, Ifé ap-
pears to have begun initiating women
as Ifá priests.
Over the years I have come to the
conclusion that the iyanifá likely came
into existence due to the extremely de-
structive effects colonialism had upon
the traditional religions in Yorubaland.
For more than a hundred years Chris-
tians or Muslims, who will not allow
traditional practitioners to attend, have
run most of the schools in Yoruba-
land. For generations children have
been taught that the rich culture and
spirituality of the traditional religions
are merely bush religions consisting
of nothing more than a jumbled mass
of ignorant superstitions. This led to a
steep decline in the traditional reli-
gions in Yorubaland, and along with
that came the fear that the knowledge
and traditions of Ifá would be com-
pletely lost. This may very well have
led babalawos who, lacking any male
children willing to spend the years ofSearch Inside The Book
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she may have less seniority than them.
Anyone who looks around them can
see that the natural order of things is a
balance of power between male and
female, with neither one being supe-
rior. From the closed calabash that
contains the universe itself, to the
closed calabash of the ilé oricha joint-
ly administered by the babalawo and
the oloricha apetebí.
Apetebí iború, Apetebí iboya, Apetebí
ibocheché.
[contents]
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Chapter Twelve
Tata Gaitán
Ochossi was a hunter dedicated to trap-
ping and hunting for the other orichas,
but they never gave him anything in re-
turn. This situation continued until one
day Oshossi decided to go to Orula, who
told him he should travel to another
town and work as a blacksmith. Ochossi
went to this other town and worked for a
week before Ogún saw him and took
Ochossi on as an apprentice. After a
while Ochossi went to another town and
learned another trade. He went from
town to town in this way, learning var-
ious trades, and came to know quite a
lot about everything.
Then one day it happened that Olófin
began to look for someone to be king of
a great kingdom. As the word spread,
many knowledgeable and wise people
came to Olófin in hopes of becoming
king, but even the wisest and most
knowledgeable knew a lot about only
one or two things. Only Ochossi knew a
bit about everything, so Olófin made
him king.
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learned another trade. He went from
town to town in this way, learning var-
ious trades, and came to know quite a
lot about everything.
Then one day it happened that Olófin
began to look for someone to be king of
a great kingdom. As the word spread,
many knowledgeable and wise people
came to Olófin in hopes of becoming
king, but even the wisest and most
knowledgeable knew a lot about only
one or two things. Only Ochossi knew a
bit about everything, so Olófin made
him king.
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“Each of us is as Obatalá made us,
but what we become is up to us.”
The batá drums usually used to salute
the orichas stop and a new set of
drums is brought out to thunder forth.
They are the drums specially conse-
crated for Olokun, the powerful oricha
who rules the depths of the ocean.
On New Year’s Day 1943 a dancer
advances forward wearing burlap and
her dress covers her so not one bit of
flesh is seen, with huge breasts
formed from bundles of rags that
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bounce when she walks or dances.
The priestesses surrounding her cover
her with finely decorated burlap
shawls and cover the floor where she
steps with fine silks befitting her roy-
alty for this is Sumúgagá of Olokun’s
royal court. Sumúgagá, whose name
alludes to her enormous breasts, fer-
tility, and the ability to nourish the
world, is surrounded by twenty-one
elder priestesses dancing around her
with cupped hands under their
breasts. Another dancer advances
wearing the mask of the daunting
oricha Olokun himself. Dancing the
mask of Olokun is Tata Gaitán. He is
the obá of the religion in Cuba and the
most knowledgeable priest, especially
regarding Olokun’s secrets. For the
other babalawos performing the cere-
mony the joy of the event is tempered
by the knowledge that a babalawo is
expected to die soon after a Dance of
Olokun’s Masks is performed. But no-
body would have ever guessed that
this time it would be Tata Gaitán him-
self who would be the one to die after
dancing the masks and that this would
be the last time Olokun’s masks
would ever be danced in Cuba.
The legendary Tata Gaitán (1861—
1944), whose full name was Eulogio
Rodriguez Gaitán (Ogundá Fun), was
not only one of the most famous and
powerful babalawos to have ever lived
but he was the only person ever in-
stalled as the obá, ruling over the en-
tire Lucumí religious community in
Cuba. He is considered the root of the
rama of Ifá I belong to, even though it
is properly a sub-branch of the
Adechina branch of Ifá.¹
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Not only was Tata Gaitán a great
babalawo, but he was a very powerful
and feared palero in the Bantu religion
of Palo Mayombe. Practitioners there
could use the enchained spirits of
their ngangas for any purpose accord-
ing to their will. Commonly known by
the nickname Tata, which is the title
given to palo priests, he was more
than capable of defending himself
against all comers. He was also a
member of the ultra-secret Abakua
Society from the Calabarí region of
Africa, whose ancestors were said to
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have had the ability to change into
leopards. Gaitán was not initiated as a
santero and received his orichas be-
fore passing to Ifá. This is not uncom-
mon for children of the warrior
orichas Elegguá, Ogún, and Ochossi.
Despite the fact he had only santos
lavados or washed orichas (had re-
ceived the orichas without actually
being initiated as an oloricha), he was
known to have mastered every aspect
of both Ocha and Ifá. Hundreds of
people in ilés from all parts of Cuba
had the good fortune of hisparticipation at their initiation as a
santero. Despite the fact that some
now claim a babalawo must be initi-
ated as an oloricha to work in the initi-
ation of an oricha priest, this is not
traditionally the case. There is no
oddun that supports such a notion
and neither Adechina or Tata Gaitán
were ever denied entrance to any cere-
mony even though they were not initi-
ated as santeros first. Despite that fact
the vast majority of babalawos make
Ocha first, and unless Ifá says other-
wise, my advice is to always be
Oluguere and Ño Blas Cárdenas were
among the first to be initiated to Ifá by
Adéchina on Cuban soil even though
both Oluguere and Cárdenas had been
brought from Africa as slaves. They
both shared the oddun in Ifá Oyekún
Meji as well.²
Tata Gaitán first had to find the
mysterious Ño Cárdenas. All he knew
was that Ño Cárdenas was thought to
be living in seclusion somewhere in
the Matanzas area. Armed with only a
special prayer for the Ifá oddun shared
by his padrino and his mentor-to-be
he searched high and low, near and
far, with no results. Finally he came
upon an old santera who knew Ño
Cárdenas, and although Tata Gaitán
was a stranger to her she gave him
precise directions to the remote cave
where he had hidden himself. When
Gaitán arrived at the cave Ño Cár-
denas demanded to know who he was
and why he had come. Tata Gaitán re-
sponded by prostrating himself at the
feet of his elder and reciting the prayer
taught to him by his padrino
Oluguery. Ño Cárdenas immediatelyrecognized it as the prayer Oyekún
Meji taught to him and Oluguere by
their padrino Adechina. Eulogio fur-
ther explained to his elder that he was
the godchild of Oluguery who had di-
rected him to seek Ño Cárdenas be-
fore leaving for Africa. Satisfied that
Tata Gaitán was who and what he said
he was, the older babalawo asked the
young babalawo to sit in the cave and
rest, and he would begin teaching him
after he was rested. Ño Cárdenas was
curious how Tata Gaitán was able to
find his cave, and the young babalawotold him about the old santera who
had given him such detailed direc-
tions.
“She talks too much,” Ño Cárdenas
responded curtly. A few days later, the
old santera was dead.
After the thorough grilling Tata
Gaitán was accepted as Ño Cárdenas’s
pupil and was able to continue his
training with the elder. He taught the
young babalawo the songs, the
prayers, and hundreds of ceremonies.
The young Eulogio had such excep-
tional intelligence that he was soonwell on his way to becoming a great
master of ceremonies. After training
with Ño Cárdenas for a number of
years, Tata Gaitán went back to train
further with his oyugbona Adechina.
In the time-honored fashion, Tata
Gaitán cared for the elderly Adechina
washing his feet and grooming him.
Always eager to learn and willing to
apply himself to the tasks no matter
how long or difficult he became
known for his profound knowledge of
Ifá and particularly for his exceptional
knowledge of the secrets of Olokun,
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the powerful oricha of the bottom of
the sea. In fact, Gaitán was credited
with being the first Cuban-born babal-
awo with knowledge of how to dance
Olokun’s masks, and with his death
he became the last.
The feeding of Olokun in the middle
of the sea and the dancing of Olokun’s
masks was an exceptionally delicate
and dangerous ceremony. So much so
that a babalawo was expected to die
every time the masks were danced. If
any mistakes were made during
Olokun’s masked dance, or sacred
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objects fell to the ground, it would
spell disaster not only for the dancer
but for the community as well. This
fear is taken very seriously by the
babalawos who are old enough to
know. In 1958, the letter of the year
was Ofún Nalbe in osogbo with
Olokun ruling over the year. Olokun
was demanding that the babalawos
dance her masks in order to appease
the hot-tempered and dangerous
oricha. The babalawos were so afraid
that they spent hours finding an alter-
native offering that Olokun would
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accept instead of dancing the masks.
Finally they succeeded.
This was a particularly delicate situ-
ation as the oddun Ofún Nalbe warns
that many people will die from guns
fired in acts of vengeance. The oddun
also warns of war and confrontations,
especially those sparked by economic
issues. Ofun Nalbe advises any new
government to avoid taking on the
vices of the previous one. Of course,
we now know that Ifá was predicting
the upcoming success of the Cuban
Revolution. In fact, the oddun for 1959
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Baba Eyiogbe whose proverb “A King
Dies, A New King is Crowned,” clearly
refers to Bautista being replaced by
Castro as a response for not listening
to the people, although in this in-
stance he did not actually die. In that
case Ifá’s prediction came to pass
within one day.
At the end of the 1800s, the first
Apertura del Año/Letra del Año
(Opening of the Year/Letter of the
Year) ceremonies were first performed
in Cuba. Now the Letter of the Year
Ceremony, where babalawos from all
Baba Eyiogbe whose proverb “A King
Dies, A New King is Crowned,” clearly
refers to Bautista being replaced by
Castro as a response for not listening
to the people, although in this in-
stance he did not actually die. In that
case Ifá’s prediction came to pass
within one day.
At the end of the 1800s, the first
Apertura del Año/Letra del Año
(Opening of the Year/Letter of the
Year) ceremonies were first performed
in Cuba. Now the Letter of the Year
Ceremony, where babalawos from allSearch Inside The Book
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parts of the world gather to learn what
the new year will bring, is one of the
most awaited events in the santeros
year. However, for all of the prophe-
cies for the year by far the most impor-
tant part of the ceremonies is the
Opening of the Year Ceremony, which
precedes this divination. These special
ceremonies performed directly to the
various positions of nature as well as
the orichas and the eggun were all per-
formed to ensure well-being for the
community and the world. At the close
of the nineteenth century the
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ceremony was performed for the first
time at the Cabildo Africano Lucumí.
Adechina (Obara Meyi), Oluguere
(Oyekun Meyi), the famous drum cre-
ator Olu Aña Marcos García Ifálolá
(Baba Eyiogbe), Tata Gaitán (Ogundá
Fun), Bernardo Rojas (Irete Untedi),
and José Carmen Baitista (Ogbe
Weñe) were the babalawos who
helped accomplish this.
In 1902, due to Adechina’s health
problems Tata Gaitán had to take over
directing the Letter of the Year Cere-
mony. In addition to the babalawos
mentioned above they now had the aid
of Secundino Crucet (Osalo Fobeyó),
Bernabé Menocál (Baba Ejiogbe),
Quintín Lecón García (Oturaniko),
and José Asunción Villalonga (Ogun-
damasa). When Adechina died in
1906, Tata Gaitán had Bernardo Rojas
direct the ceremony under his tute-
lage. The last Opening of the Year
Ceremony during that time was held at
Bernardo Rojas’s house in 1959 short-
ly before his death on May 9 was di-
rected by Joaquín Salazar, and wasn’t
held again until 1962.In 1910, Tata Gaitán became the
only person to ever be consecrated as
obá of the religion in Cuba receiving
the titles Ashedá and Araba in the
process. Ashedá is the name of Orun-
mila’s first disciple and Araba is the
largest and most sacred tree in the
religion. Araba is also the title of the
head of all babalawos in Ilé Ifé. No
one on the island had ever had this
honor bestowed on them before or
since. Presided over by the African-
born babalawo José Asunción Villa-
longa, head of his own Ifá lineage, theceremony must have been impressive
and Eulogio Gaitán is said to have rid-
den across the entire city mounted on
a pure white horse as part of the rite.
Tata Gaitán was not the eldest babal-
awo in Cuba but became recognized
as the most knowledgeable one
through his hard work and in fol-
lowing the example of his oddun. He
became exceptionally well versed in
many aspects of the Afro-Cuban reli-
gions, so in the end Tata Gaitán be-
came a king in much the same way as
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chapter.
In 1916, Tata Gaitán bought a man-
sion at 35 Palo Blanco in a well-to-do
area of Guanabacoa, Cuba. Palo Blan-
co wasn’t the original street name, but
was taken from the phrase Pa’ Lo’
Blanco, translated to Para Los Blan-
cos, meaning “For Whites Only.” It
was named this with the intention to
warn away blacks from this exclusively
white part of town during the time of
Spanish dominance. The street is now
named Aranguren.
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institutions in the history of the
Lucumí as vice president Tata Gaitán
used the experience, training, and
knowledge to operate his own home
under the same principles of mutual
aid to the Lucumí community that had
guided the great cabildos. Tata Gaitán
turned his palatial home into a
community center with an open-door
policy where he took care of his elder
babalawos and young babalawos who
often traveled hundreds of miles to
train under him. He also looked after
his neighbor’s children, local street
kids, and even the nuns from the local
parish. He helped just about anybody
who came to him for aid and assis-
tance. Tata Gaitán became the subject
of a popular hit song in the 1930s Un
Brujo en Guanabacoa (A Wizard in
Guanabacoa) popularized by Abelardo
Barroso and others about an imagined
visit to a babalawo.
Tata Gaitán died in 1944 shortly
after dancing the masks of Olokun,
and for years no babalawo attempted
to dance the masks out of fear they
too might die if they made a mistake.
The babalawo’s death was a big event
in Cuba, with the largest papers like El
Crisol and El Alerta carrying the story.
It is said that shortly before he died
Tata Gaitán asked his ahijados to
sever his head and bury it separately
so other paleros wouldn’t be able to
use his skull to make an nganga and
enslave his spirit. Tata Gaitán had
good reason to be concerned. The
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Epilogue: One Babalawo’s
Story
I am a babalawo from the Tata Gaitán
rama of Lucumí Ifá.¹, ² Although there
are a few different branches, Lucumí
Ifá is one because all of our lines inter-
mingle and are virtually identical to
one other. Lineage is more a matter of
pedigree than practice.
It was more curiosity than anything
that led me to the appointment with
the babalawo at the botanica (Santería
supply store) near the apartment inSan Francisco’s Mission District
where I lived. Although I didn’t know
what to expect during the consul-
tation, I certainly did not expect the
events that would occur that after-
noon. Events that would turn my life
upside down and change my life com-
pletely.
On the day of the appointment I was
greeted by a short, effusive man who
introduced himself as simply Pete and
I was ushered to the back office where
the consultation would occur. After a
series of prayers Pete threw an ecueley
onto the little mat on his desk. He
looked at the sign and then gave me a
piercing look, saying only “Hmmmm.”
He then handed me a stone and a
shell, telling me to shake them in my
hands and separate them, one in each
hand. He threw the chain twice more
and asked for my left hand, which held
the stone. He then told me the sign
had come in something called iré,
which meant I had come on the posi-
tive side of the sign. He then followed
this with a number of questions, each
time repeating the process of having
me shake and separate the stone and
the shell and then throwing twice and
writing in his notebook. Finally, he
seemed to be satisfied with the results
of his questions and began to speak,
starting nearly everything he said with
the words “Ifá says …”
“This is the oddun or sign where the
Table of Ifá was born, and Ifá says you
were born to be a babalawo. You have
to become a high priest in this reli-
gion, like me. Ifá says you were prac-
ticing Ifá in heaven before you were
born, but we’ll need to confirm all this
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when you receive your abo faca. The
abo faca is the first initiation in Ifá for
men.”
He paused and then began to tell
me things about myself that nobody
else knew—I mean nobody. Orula was
talking about things that even my best
friend never knew. It was as if Ifá was
saying to me, “In case you have
doubts about any of this,” or perhaps
Orula was trying to rattle me. If that
was the case, it worked. After the con-
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to settle my nerves.
He told me that in the meantime I
should receive my elekes,³ which he
described as like a baptism into the
religion. He then told his wife, a
priestess of Ochún and apetebí to pre-
pare a set of necklaces for Obatalá. It
was a lot for me to process. I had
gone for a simple consultation only to
be told that I was to become a high
priest in a strange religion I really
knew little about. I later discovered
Pete Rivera was the first babalawo in
San Francisco. I had managed to
stumble on the only babalawo in the
entire city, and I had been living just
one block away from his shop for
years. Little did I know at the time that
this man would become like a second
father to me and would guide and
shape my spiritual life.
I received my necklaces a few weeks
after the consultation. At the end of
the ceremony I saluted my new god-
parents for the first time. First I salut-
ed my new madrina, throwing myself
level on the floor with my hands at my
sides followed by crossing my arms
across my chest and asking for her
blessings. Then padrino taught me
how to salute a babalawo by leaning
forward and touching the floor with
my right hand and saying, “Oluwo
iború, Oluwo Iboya, Oluwo
Ibocheché.” Then padrino wrote the
words down and handed it to me, say-
ing, “A short pencil is better than the
longest memory.”
That night as I slept I had a partic-
ularly vivid dream. It was incredibly
clear. If anything it was clearer and
more vivid than in my waking life. In
my dream I was in a cave with a large
group of santeros all dressed impec-
cably in white. They were all saluting
me as if I were a babalawo saying,
“Iború, Iboya, Ibocheché.” Who were
these people and why were they salut-
ing me? The dream was so intense
and confusing that I went the very next
day to the botanica to ask about it.
Padrino Pete told me the santeros in
my dream were egguns and that in
Africa they used to bury people in
caves before they buried people in the
ground. But why were they saluting me
my dream I was in a cave with a large
group of santeros all dressed impec-
cably in white. They were all saluting
me as if I were a babalawo saying,
“Iború, Iboya, Ibocheché.” Who were
these people and why were they salut-
ing me? The dream was so intense
and confusing that I went the very next
day to the botanica to ask about it.
Padrino Pete told me the santeros in
my dream were egguns and that in
Africa they used to bury people in
caves before they buried people in the
ground. But why were they saluting me
ike that? I wasn’t even a santero much
less a babalawo?
Padrino Pete shot back, “Don’t you
remember what Ifá told you? He said
you were practicing Ifá before you
even came to this world. It will be very
interesting to see what Ifá says when
you receive your abo faca.” In the
meantime, I didn’t need the paper
Padrino Pete had given me anymore.
The salute to a babalawo had been
burned into my soul in that dream.
It was almost a year before Padrino
Pete was able to organize the first abofaca and kofá ceremonies in San Fran-
cisco on August 8, 1988. As there
weren’t that many babalawos in the
US at the time, padrino had to fly
babalawos in from all over the country
for the ceremony. It was confirmed
there that I was to make Ifá and
learned that my oricha was Obatalá. I
am an oluwo, a term commonly used
for a babalawo who is initiated first as
an iworo or santero before passing on
to Ifá. I had been encouraged by my
godparents to take my time and to
learn before getting initiated so it was
four years before I was initiated as a
santero. I made Obatalá in San Fran-
cisco on August 17, 1991, and had the
great good fortune of receiving much
of my in-depth training from my oyug-
bona, the famous Cuban oriaté
Guillermo Diago (Obá Bí). At the time
of my initiation he already had more
than fifty years as a priest of Changó
under his belt. I was thrilled on the
third day of my initiation when
Obatalá gave me the name of Efún
Muyiwá through shell divination. I had
been given the honor of receiving the
name of the oriaté who had directed
Padrino Guillermo’s own initiation. In
1995 I made Ifá in Havana, Cuba, and
all of my subsequent initiations were
performed there as well even though
Padrino Pete himself had been initi-
ated to Ifá in the United States.
Typically you make Ifá in the place
your padrino was initiated but the
death of Pete’s padrino changed every-
thing. Pete’s padrino, who was also
my grandfather in Ifá Domingo
Sanchez (Ogbe Che), had an oddun
prohibiting him from carrying
firearms. The night my grandfather
violated that prohibition was the night
he died. Domingo had received a dis-
tressed phone call in the middle of the
night telling him that his business was
being broken into. Domingo instinc-
tively grabbed his revolver and rushed
to his store and ended up facing tragic
consequences. Members of the mafia
gunned him down in the street outside
his business. Because of the mob con-
nections the babalawos were too
frightened to attend the itutu (memo-
rial ceremony) traditionally performedfirearms. The night my grandfather
violated that prohibition was the night
he died. Domingo had received a dis-
tressed phone call in the middle of the
night telling him that his business was
being broken into. Domingo instinc-
tively grabbed his revolver and rushed
to his store and ended up facing tragic
consequences. Members of the mafia
gunned him down in the street outside
his business. Because of the mob con-
nections the babalawos were too
frightened to attend the itutu (memo-
rial ceremony) traditionally performed
and no one when it came to per-
forming his responsibilities to Ifá.
Although my Padrino Pete made his
Ifá in the United States my Ifá initi-
ation was performed in Havana be-
cause Pete wanted to make absolutely
sure the initiation was performed to
the highest standards possible. Also,
tradition dictates that the first person
a babalawo initiates should be per-
formed at the hands of one’s own
padrino. In his case, because his own
padrino Domingo Sanchez had died
my Padrino Pete opted to fulfill this
obligation with his grandfather in Ifá
Erminio Ogbe Funfunlo in Cuba. Be-
cause the Ifá was arranged in Havana
by my great-grandfather in Cuba who
was ninety years old, almost all the
babalawos working the ceremony were
elders. The only exception was the obá
who would direct my initiation as mas-
ter of ceremonies. This obá, Miguelito
Perez (Ogbe Dandy), only had five
years as a babalawo at the time and
was the youngest babalawo there. He
may have been young but he had beenSearch Inside The Book
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Miguelito became my oyugbona for
the rest of my initiations. Finally, when
Padrino Pete became too ill to teach it
fell upon Padrino Miguelito to take
over the role of training me in my
padrino’s name as well. Later I re-
ceived Odun (Olófin) and Orí from
Miguelito as well.
Miguelito Perez Alvarez has shown
endless patience to me over the years,
answering my ceaseless barrage of
questions, taking me under his wing,
and making sure I have the proper
fundamento when working Ifá. He is
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an endless source of knowledge and
wisdom, and for me epitomizes what
it means to be a great babalawo.
Although Padrino Pete may not have
as much technical knowledge as Padri-
no Miguelito he made up for it in
aché, the mysterious power that fills
the universe and makes things hap-
pen. He always just knew what cleans-
ing or offering would be needed, and
with him even the plainest ceremonies
were always enormously effective.
When I think of the amazing amount
of aché Padrino Pete has I am often
reminded of a story about Miguel
Febles (Odí Ka), which the Havana
babalawos like to relate … and debate.
One day Miguel Febles was with Fran
Cabrera and said to him, “The babal-
awos think that everything is just
throwing the ecuele and nothing
more, but you also have to divine
using your aché.”
“That’s spiritism not Ifá,” Fran re-
sponded.
“No, it is not spiritism, it is Ifá.”
At that moment a man passed by
who was a complete stranger to both
of them. Febles said to the man, “You
have thirty-three pesos and twenty-
two centavos in your pocket,” and
then asked the man to check his pock-
ets. When the man emptied his pock-
ets he had exactly thirty-three pesos
and twenty-two centavos, not a cen-
tavo more or less.
Pete Rivera always had an amazing
amount of aché. I don’t know how
many times he would call for some-
thing during an itá or consultation and
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