It is a story with a lesson (as with all Odu’s) I’d like to share with you all. Here today I will tell one of my favorite stories from the odu Ogbe/Osa. The scriptures/chapters and verses from our Odu Ifa are too vast to be contained into any book so it is handed down orally. This is why an Awo will study Ifa for at least twenty years before he becomes independent of his Oluwo, and also a Babalawo if he is wise will continue to study Ifa until the day he makes his transition. There is no one Babalawo who knows all the verses to each Odu, but the more a Babalawo learns of each Odu, the more competent he is. This may sound like Chinese to most of you, but put simply, Odus are simply your life path and every single thing along that journey – there is an odu for it.Įach Odu has over 4000 interpretations/verses/stories which pertains to the human being for whom it appears when consulted by a competent Babalawo. The explanation on this is much.Īn Odu references all situations, circumstances, actions and consequences in life based on the uncountable Ese (poetic tutorials) relative to the 256 Odu coding. Odu can also be likened to the womb, here the reference is to life. These 16 are the “Mejis” ( Meji means two in Yoruba) or the sixteen Kings (although the 16 major Odu’s are feminine energies) and 240 permutations (born from the 16), equaling 256. Now, in Ifa there are 256 Odus, of which there are 16 majors.

Your odu (your destiny) can be discovered only through Ifa initiations. So it is something that the soul spirit chooses before it comes to earth. But the difference with an Odu is that it is not determined whenyou are born, but instead it comes with you from “heaven” (or the realm from where you came). I suppose it can be likened to the Astrologers way of determining someone’s chart based on how the planets are aligned at the time of your birth. That live energy tells your life destiny on this earth. Everyone on earth has an odu they were born with. This story is from the sacred “scriptures” of Ifa specifically from the Odu Ifa nicknamed Ogbe/Sa or otherwise called Ogbe (ug-beh) Osa (Oh-Sah).Īn odu is a live energy.

I greet you all in the traditional Ifa initiate greeting.

Italian explain ifa odus