"The palmtree at the crossroads
Is the one which feels the cutlass and
Two people cannot sleep on a duiker hide
Were the ones who cast Ifa for OLOKUN
They said that someone would suffer a loss that year
The sacrifice is two pigeons and 2,005 cowries
OLOKUN did not sacrifice
- Holy Odu OdiOkanran

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Later that year, Olokun's cow died and she displayed it as if it were a human corpse. She then advised her family to say that she had died and to assemble the diviners to consult Ifa on the matter. The diviners came but none of them could reveal the appropriate messenger; they all proclaimed that it would be well following the death of Olokun. The family asked if there was still another diviner available. The awos referred the family to Iru, Tail. When Iru arrived, he consulted Ifa and announced that Olukun had not died, but had suffered a loss. 

At that point, Olokun came out from her hiding place. She said that she would take Iru as her diviner because he had chosen the correct iranse, messenger. Iru name the sacrifice and Olokun performed it. She then proclaimed that, from that point onward, wherever the diviners go, they must bring Iru along with them. And so, the awos began to sing: 

Mo mire'le a mu'ru
Iru l'Oni Ife lo

I am going home to get Iru
Iru is what the Oni of Ife uses

May you live the medicine that will heal your life and the lives of the people you serve. Ase. May your suffering open the road of destiny for you and your families. Ase. May you be like the tail, which was called last but became forever indispensable. Ase."

Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.OrisaLifestyle.com

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