The Life of Ose Meji
The continuous biography of this odù's own spiritual evolution — celestial works, then earthly works — told as one unfolding life. Click any title to read it.
The Sacred Descent of Wealth --- The Birth of Wisdom Through the Fall of Strength
In the earliest days, when heaven and earth still spoke one language, Olofin sent money down from the sky --- a glittering rope of cowries descending like light itself. The orishas rejoiced, for this was the promise of abundance. Yet, before they could touch it, Ifá warned through Orunmila: first consult, first sacrifice. Power without guidance becomes a curse.
Ogun, Shango, and the others mocked him. Why divine when fortune is before us? With tools of iron and force of hand, they clawed at the mound of wealth. Each one who dug for the riches was buried by it --- Ogun, Shango, Olokun, Sanpanna --- crushed under the avalanche of their own desire. Only Orunmila, who moved with patience and offered two doves and mashed yam to the spirit of money, was spared. He approached not as conqueror but as servant. He whispered to the mound, I feed you, that you may feed me.
So through reverence he drew the treasure home, and seated himself atop the cowries of wisdom. From that hour the teaching became fixed: the force that seeks to seize wealth destroys itself, but the one who feeds wealth becomes its master. This was the first lesson of Oshe Meyi --- that strength without discipline leads to ruin, and humility unlocks fortune.
The Patakín Corpus — 1 to 17
Presented in strict numerical order as in the source Tratado. Click any title to read it.
01How Money Came From Heaven to Earth
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Osegun Meyi was not famous in heaven for any spectacular work --- only for his combative character. Yet it was he who revealed how money came down to earth.
A priest named Orokun Aro Koose Munukun --- the knee of the cripple does not bend --- performed divination both for Money itself, when it was preparing to descend, and for the orishas, so they would know what to do to enjoy money's benefits. Each deity was told to make a sacrifice of sixteen doves, sixteen hens, sixteen rats, sixteen fish, sixteen akara, and sixteen eko. Instead of doing the offerings individually as prescribed, the deities pooled their sacrifices into one communal offering.
After the sacrifice, money descended from sky to ground in the form of cowries. The orishas gathered to discuss how to carry it home. Orunmila warned them not to touch it without a fresh divination. Ogun challenged him: Why divine over food already on the table? Orunmila let them go.
Ogun took his hoes and dug deeply into the mound, setting aside what he could extract. As he dug, the upper layer collapsed and an avalanche buried him alive, leaving four cowries on his chest. Sanpana went next and was buried with sixteen cowries on his chest. Shango, Olokun, and others suffered the same fate.
When no one returned, Orunmila came to investigate. He found them all dead. He gathered the cowries from each one's chest and tied them in separate bundles. Greed, he said, is what sent the first generation of deities back to heaven. Money pursued without discretion becomes the avalanche that buries the pursuer.
He went home and consulted Ifá. He was told to sacrifice two doves, two ladders, and four U-shaped bolts. He drove the bolts into the four corners of the money circle, offered the doves at the mound's edge, and sprinkled mashed yam around it --- yam and dove being money's favorite foods. He chanted, no one kills the one who offers food, and asked money not to destroy him as it had destroyed the others. He climbed the ladder and excavated little by little from the top. He brought the entire mound home.
From that day, Orunmila sat upon the money --- which is why his shrine is adorned with a throne of cowries, and why in serious divinations the priest must seat Orunmila on a throne of cowries first. He invited the eldest children of the dead deities and gave each of them the exact number of cowries he had found on their parent's chest. That is how those children received their tools of divination. Ogun's children use four; Sanpana's and Shango's use sixteen.
When Oshe Meyi appears, the consultant is advised to pursue money with caution and discretion, lest it bury them.
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