Osa-Wori - the story of the Shaman and the Vulture

There’s an old and endearing Pataki (story) associated with the Odu “Osa-Wori”, it speaks of competing interests and the importance of doing your Ifa work and not worrying about whether it will succeed.

It tells the story of the “vulture” and the villagers that wanted to eat him as they ate other birds.  “Osa-Wori” was cast for the “vulture” who was told to make an Ebbo (offering) of Kola nuts to Esu to prevent his enemies from eating him. The worried vulture heeded the advice and placed the Ebbo to Esu at the crossroads between heaven and earth.

The villagers who wanted to eat the vulture, pleaded with a shaman to go to heaven and ask Olodumare (God) if the vulture could be eaten like other birds. The shaman departed to heaven and on his way there he found the Kola nuts at the crossroads between heaven and earth, unbeknown to him that these were the Kola nuts that the vulture had offered to Esu. The shaman took the Kola nuts to later give to Olodumare when he got to heaven. When the shaman arrived, he was so happy to be in heaven, Olodumare thank him for the Kola nuts and invited him to stay.  

The worried vulture noticed that the Kola nuts were gone and asked Esu if the Ebbo had been accepted, Esu told the vulture, you’ll find your answer when you visit Olodumare, the vulture took Esu’s advise and went to see Olodumare. While there, Olodumare offered the vulture some Kola nuts, the vulture recognized them as the same ones he had offered Esu and proceeded to tell Olodumare his story and why he had made that Ebbo. Olodumare told the vulture to return to earth in peace, that his Ebbo had indeed been accepted. The villagers never saw the shaman again and thus never got their answer.

There’s a proverb that goes something like this… “If we don’t see the shaman, we cannot eat the vulture, the shaman is in heaven and the vulture is on earth”.

Love and Blessings!  Javier Lujan {Babalawo Ifajuitan}