Irete-Otura

"Life is forever;
a baby's skin is soft;
a river streams fast;
a brook streams calmly"
was cast for the people in heaven
and for the people who were alive.
People in heaven and people alive,
Ifa says that when we wake,
we should say good morning.
Not greeting another person
is a sign of enmity.
Ifa, today I wake up and I say:
"May the offering be accepted".
Orunmila, today I wake up and say:
"May the offering give long life".
Ifa, today I wake up and say:
"May my prayers come true".
Ifa, I wish you good morning today,
please make my life sweet.
Orunmila, you wake up today in good health;
Ifa, you wake up, the leopard who
makes the fight deadly;
Ifa, you wake up today
in good health; child of Olire;
Ifa, you wake up today well, full of strength;
Ifa, you wake up today in good health,
owner of abundant palm wine
who must eat no black oil, for adin
is taboo for Ifa and all his followers;
Ifa, you wake up today well,
owner of much meat who doesn't
have to eat bones;
Ifa, you wake up today in good health,
owner of delicious ekuru in the town of Ido;
Ifa, you wake up today well,
you, who takes life as lightly as cotton;
Ifa, you wake up in good health today,
the orifice of the ear is not wide enough
for two persons to pass through together;
Ifa, you wake up well today,
were the orifices in the ears wide enough
for two people to pass through together,
I would have filled them with water, and then
have put my fingers into them, in order
to take the water home;
Ifa, you wake up today in good health,
tap me on the arm and make me rich;
Ifa, you wake up well today, good morning,
Ifa, you wake up today in good health,
Olukun-ranmu-ranmu who lives by the border;
Ifa, you wake up today well,
he who is the first to pick okra
is also the first to pick eggplant;
Ifa, you wake up today in good health,
he who is the first to pick eggplant
is also the first to pick the ororo
from the sofinni-tree.
Ifa, don't let it take long before you bless me,
Ifa, don't let it take long before you make me wealthy,
for the da'moniti herb never procrastinates
its effectiveness. Ifa,
let me not become poor before you bless me,
for there is never an end to making sacrifice.
My prosperity has now become as efun,
good people come from far to see me, good people.
You must come and make me rich with your money,
good people come from far to see and to honor me,
good people. You must come and make me rich
with your money, good people come from far
to see and to honor me, good people.
Ifa, please, if I have insulted you: forgive me,
two hundred are the leaves of forgiveness,
the ewe orijin, may the people
forgive me my sins, my mistakes and
my trespasses, two hundred orijin leaves.
For when the rooster crows in the morning,
it is his crowing that enables people
who have lost their way to find their way
back to the village, good people
come from far to honor me
with their money, good people.
Irete-Otura, Ifa says that he will
make me rich in my life, Ifa
says that he will make me rich,
Irete-Otura.
Some deeper aspects of this text, concerning the possibility of initiation.
Although not so openly said, there is a strong reference in this text to actual initiation into Ifa and/or some Orisha, and I am not a great advocate of initiations. No, I'm not regretting that I went through a couple of them myself... I wasn't fugged up beyond recognition, at least not much more than I already was since birth (wide and wicked grin)! However, when all comes down to essentials, initiation is allowing somebody else to mess with your head to an almost incredible degree... and the results have often been disastrous! You only need to look an the various forums and communities... the number of people who were either taken for a financial ride, or got the wrong Orisha on their head, or became crazier than they were before, or became in any other way victim of the dimwit who initiated them... that number is truly huge! I'm not saying that there are no good Baba's and Iya's because there are. However, the question "I've only encountered bad priests... can somebody finally direct me to a good one?" is much more frequently asked than "I've only encountered good priests... I've heard about bad ones, but I have no idea where they are?" So... although this text suggests initiation into Ifa, I tend to advise the client to give it some rest and start studying on their own instead, getting whatever information they can from not only orthodox but also unorthodox sources. By this I mean not only from the established priests, but also from well-informed "outsiders". In the end the client may not be able to wriggle away, but it might be wise not to tiptoe the orthodox line.

"Death doesn't know the Awo;
heaven doesn't know a doctor.
Death killed Olamba and
mightily worried the king of Ejio.
It killed Eji-Ogogo-Agbebikopon'wola.
The wind on the right side
gives the coconut leaf much trouble.
De wind on the left side
gives the coconut leaf much trouble."
Ifa was cast for Orunila Ogbonniregun,
who from Death or Iku was going to make
an Ifa man. He picked Excuse as a guardian.
Death who would have taken the Awo today,
make room, make room!
The Awo goes, make room, make room!
The Awo goes, make room, make room!
The illness that would have killed the Awo today,
make room, make room!
The Awo goes, make room, make room!
Some deeper information about the use of this particular text of this Odu:
This text or Igede can be used for a person
who has suddenly fainted, or might even be dying.
Mark the Odu Irete-Otura in the sand that the patient
is lying on, The sand must be kept in front
of the patient, his name will be called,
and then we say the above incantation.
Mind: we use the patients name instead of
the word "Awo"! Also, if we are afraid
of travel, we can also use this Igede.
In that case the sand should be taken
to the big tree in the Forest of Sacrifice,
or simply to any big tree before
we begin our journey.
Some deeper aspects of this text, concerning the possibility of initiation.
From whatever side the wind will blow, it will always blow the client trouble if he doesn't investigate some sort of Ifa-Orisha activity, initiation or life style. The client will not only in a metaphorical sense but also somewhat literally be able to change death into life. Although this Ese can basically be applied to anybody who needs healing or recovery, it is essentially directed towards an (aspiring) Awo which means that the client for whomthis appears may have part of their destiny neatly laid out for them. There really seems to be a path towards some sort of Ifa divination job, or at least some consultancy stuff related to that. Initiation? An orthodox Awo would now say: "Of course!" and he might even add: "And of course in my Ilé and it will cost you 15,000 dollars!" Well, I'm far from an orthodox Awo, and I dont initiate people to begin with. To be honest... I wouldn't know how. Sure, I know the protocols and the rituals, but very often I've seen them all fail in the hands of much more "qualified" priests than yours truly. So I'm far from sure if I could prevent such failure myself, so I don't even try.