How did the orisha Orula obtain the divinatory board? ≫ Pataki

orula represents wisdom, intelligence, mischief and cunning. It is he who knows the fate of everything that exists and can act to change it.

He is the soothsayer who has the knowledge of the secret things of the human being and nature, has all the accumulated knowledge about the history of mankind and is therefore the soothsayer and owner of the Oracles.

The wise Orisha represents security, support and comfort in the face of difficult life situations. Its attributes are related to the art of divination and predicting the future. It has 2 hands of Ikines, an otá (stone) and a cedar tablet, board (Opón Ifá or Até Ifá).

On sacred board of Orula There are legends and patakies that explain how it came into his hands, an extremely sacred and important element through which the wise man can consult the future and the destiny of all men on earth.

Pataki by Orula and her father Obatalá

They say that Orula was born as the son of the wise man Obatala y Yemu, at the time when his father had just punished the owner of the iron Ogun, the eldest son, for taking advantage of his mother.

Obbatalá was furious at the betrayal in his family and for that reason when Orula was born, he took the child and buried him far from the house under a ceiba tree.

Time later he was born ShangoBut he was such a beautiful child that Obatala could not harm him and gave him to Dada, the eldest of his daughters, to take care of him as if he were her own son.

Dada took Shango to see his father and the boy asked why his mother was always crying.

Little by little, Obatalá explained why, and Shangó grew up hating Ogún.

When I was already a man Elegua, his brother, asked his aging father to tell him about Orula and as he did so, Obatalá felt very sorry for what he had done with his little son.

The sacred ceiba tree that shelters Orula

Elegua then said that he had seen in one place a man buried up to his arms under a ceiba tree and that he had brought him food.

So Obatalá ran in search of his son and indeed, he found him in the ceiba tree and there he knelt and begged him for forgiveness, asking him to go home with him.

But Orula refused and told him that nature had provided him with everything he needed for his work as a fortune teller.

Obatala, however, wanted to do something for him, and took wood from the tree and built a board for it. Thus, his father said to the sage Orula: