Omo Oshun Ayanfe the Iya Ile Awo Orisa, Baba, and I were sitting at
the dinner table after entertaining some guests. Baba asked Ayanfe if
she knew what medicine she had given to her guests that evening. We
looked at each other and thought, reaching for an answer that would
not come. After an extended silence, Baba provided us with what then
became both fascinating and obvious.
You gave them your food, your water, and your hospitality. These
are some of the most powerful medicines of Oshun. When Oludumare was
sending the first six of the Irunmole to earth, Orunmila counseled
them that they should take a female with them. They refused Ifa's
advice. When they arrived on earth, they soon broke out in quarreling
among themselves and in time they returned to heaven complaining to
Olodumare that they could find no peace on earth. Olodumare asked
them if they had followed Ifa's advice. So the Irunmole were told
that they should return to earth, this time following Orunmila's advice.
Orisa Obatala went to Orisa Oshun and asked her if she would return
to earth with them. Oshun refused and then bargained that she wanted
chickens and other foods and necessities, and that she wanted to be
carried. Three of the Irunmole carried Orisa Oshun to earth. It was
Orisa Oshun, the power of the feminine principle, that brought balance
to the condition of the other Orisa and helped to establish the principle
that a man should have a wife.
When someone eats your food, drinks your water, and enjoys your
hospitality Omo Oshun, you deposit your powerful ase in them and they
are forever connected to you. If they honor you, what you have given
them will be nourishment and healing for them. If they turn against
you and speak ill of you, Orisa will make your medicine turn against
them.
To this day at the Oshun Festival, the High Priestess of the House
of Oshun is carried by three male attendants on their head.
Iba se Orisa Oshun
Iwo ni Oluwa Awo Ilaju
Homage to Orisa Oshun
You are the owner of the mysteries of civilization
