the blessing of the egbe, one's peers and companions
Ire gbogbo
all of the above together, the full hand of good fortune
Osogbo
Osogbo iku
death, or the end of a cycle
Osogbo arun
disease and sickness
Osogbo ofo
loss, and the loss of what one has
Osogbo egba
paralysis and the failure of the limbs
Osogbo ejo
litigation, court cases and accusation
Osogbo epe
curse and spoken harm
Osogbo ija
strife, conflict and quarrelling
Osogbo oran
trouble, a grave and heavy matter
Osogbo ota
enemies and open opposition
Osogbo araye
slander and the malice of 'the people of the world'
Osogbo aje
the action of Àjẹ́, the Mothers, and of witchcraft
Themes
IreOsogboIbiAjogunCounsel vocabulary
Meaning
Every odù is read under one of two aspects. Ìre is good fortune, the flow of a life with its destiny; osogbo (also called ibi) is misfortune, obstruction and the action of the ajogun, the class of forces that work against a person. Ìre is conventionally itemised — wealth, children, long life, a spouse, a house, the road, work, honour, victory, a good inner head — and the enumeration is not decoration: the tradition asks which ìre is being offered or withheld, not merely whether things are 'good'. The ajogun are likewise a list rather than a mood: death, disease, loss, paralysis, litigation, curse, strife, trouble. What the oracle produces is a reading of which of these is live, and the ebo that addresses it.