The Life of Oyeku Ogbe
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 Staff of Egun
The Pagugú — written in some libretas as Bastón de Eegún — is born in Oyeku Ogbe. Before this odu there were no staffs for the ancestors; the dead were addressed by name, by libation, by the floor itself. With Oyeku Ogbe the staff arrives. The staff gives the dead a handle in the world of the living. When the Pagugú is raised in the cuarto and the misa is being given, the dead recognize the handle as theirs and come close enough to be addressed.
The consultando of this signo, especially if he has Ifá or is on the path to Ifá, will at some point be required to raise his own Pagugú. This is not metaphor. It is liturgical. The staff is constructed, fed, and seated according to the lineage's protocols; once seated, it becomes the consultando's primary mediation with the line of his Eegún.
The Patakín Corpus — 1 to 7
Presented in strict numerical order as in the source Tratado. Click any title to read it.
01The Sons of Oyekun Cure Their Father
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Rezo: Baba odajun ra unlo lori eshesi odo orisha. Ebbo: akuko (rooster), adié (hen) — both — a net (tarraya) hung across an open doorway of the house; done within three days.
The father of Oyekun was very sick, and Oyekun himself was in a bad way with money and worn out with worry. He went out walking, in despair, and met Obé, who was traveling in search of a rooster, a hen, and a coconut. Obé asked Oyekun what was wrong. Oyekun told him how exhausted he was from trying to cure his father and finding no remedy. Obé told him he had come from Eyité looking for the rooster, hen, and coconut he needed, because there were none to be had there. Oyekun said: "Tomorrow I will get them for you." Obé asked at what hour, and Oyekun said at two o'clock without fail. Obé said that if so, at that hour he would bring the remedy for his father.
The next day they met at the agreed hour, and Oyekun gave Obé what he had promised. Obé told him: "Go to your house and buy a rooster, a hen, and a goat. Put the rooster's blood on his head, and burn the goat; take the ash of its hair and smear it over the blood." He also told him to get Swiss chard and ashes. It is asked whether the sons of Oyekun cure their father, and it is also asked whether the sick one must be bathed with the blood of the rooster and the goat.
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