The Life of Ogbe Irete
The continuous biography of this odù's own spiritual evolution — celestial works, then earthly works — told as one unfolding life. Click any title to read it.
The Etymology --- Ogbe Ate, the One Who Is Aplanado
The opening sign-name carries the chapter's first cosmological signature. Ogbe Ate --- and the closing refrán in the chapter's discipline names the consultor as aplanado --- flattened. The chapter does not sweeten this. The consultor is structurally pressed flat --- by the office, by the cerebrum-cerebellum war, by the iku that enters and leaves his house, by the calumnia of women, by the prison-time even when the right is on his side. The discipline of the awo is to walk the structural-flatness without complaint.
A second name belongs to this awo: Ogberekuntele. The chapter is direct: Ogbe Ate recibe el nombre de Ogberekuntele, por ser el gran traidor. Patakín 2 institutes this --- the great traitor who is the awo's own structural-twin. The chapter teaches that the consultor of Ogbe Irete is not betrayed by an external other; the betrayer is the structural-double of the betrayed. The babalawo at the chair will hear the consultor's complaint and will surface this carefully --- the betrayer is, structurally, the consultor's own self.
The Patakín Corpus — 1 to 25
Presented in strict numerical order as in the source Tratado. Click any title to read it.
01Where Ozain Came to Live with Shango
›
Ebbó. Ayapa, akuko meyi, ota, gbogbo tenuyen.
The story. In the land of Yewa lived an asiwere (a man sick of the head) who was son of Aroni. One day he gathered many living substances and put them inside a güiro. But the embrujo turned out so great that the güiro sounded and buzzed like a beehive. Horrified, the asiwere took it to the lagoon and threw it in.
When the water entered the güiro, it received a new ashe, rose to the surface, and spoke as a person.
One day Shango, having a great war, looked with Orunmila and this Ifá came up. He was instructed to make ebbó with odu-ara, akuko meyi, ayapa, gbogbo tenuyen, and owó merindilogun, and to place the ebbó in the lagoon. When he arrived, he saw the güiro floating and speaking. He called it with a rezo; the güiro came to the shore. Shango placed the odu-ara inside, gave it a zunzun, a colibrí, and an ayapa, and afterward took it home --- and from that moment Ozain lives with Shango.
Nota. In this sign, Ozain must be received.
Aclaratoria. Asiwere in Yoruba means crazy or person sick in the head; demente.
The babalawo's reading. The institutional founding of Ozain's residence with Shango. Five institutional facts:
First, Ozain comes to Shango from the lagoon, not from the bush. The chapter teaches the cosmological-water-origin of this particular Ozain.
Second, the güiro that speaks as a person is the original cosmological-form of Ozain. The babalawo of this sign carries the institutional memory: Ozain was born speaking.
Third, the rite of receiving Ozain in this sign requires the placement at the lagoon --- not the bush. The chapter is precise about geography.
Four, the structural-trinity of zunzun-colibrí-ayapa is the institutional offering. The two flying creatures plus the turtle.
Five, the chapter's institutional discipline: en este signo hay que recibir Ozain. Non-optional.
You’ve reached the free preview.
Create a free account to continue reading every published patakín in Ogbe Irete, use the study filters, save bookmarks and favorites, and enter the members-only community.