In this Pataki of Ikú we will tell you about how the cunning soothsayer Orula was able to deceive her, but before this, we must begin by telling you that Ikú in the Yoruba Religion is the representation of death itself.

It appears unexpectedly and when it does, it takes with it all those who have completed their time of life, thus being in charge of leading humans to the afterlife.

Ikú arrives in the dark appearance of a skeleton of a man, dressed in black, walking outside the house of those whose time has come.

And it is at that moment that it enters through some orifice of the house, so that it can take the souls with it.

And that is how it happens in this Pataki of Ikú, where he went to take Orula, the soothsayer, whose life was claimed by death, but thanks to his cunning they had to make a pact.

It is worth mentioning that in this Ikú Pataki we will not only show you how Orula cheated death, but also how Orula was the only deity who made a pact with Ikú.

The wise soothsayer and messenger of the word of ifá, who ordered him at death itself to respect all his children, to hold in his left hand the ilde and necklace of Orunmila.

If you want to know much more about this Patakí of Ikú, and how all Orula’s children have protection against it, you should continue reading this article.

Pataki of Ikú(Death) and Orula the soothsayer par excellence

This Pataki of Ikú tells us that the well-known and great soothsayer Orula lived happily in a village that feared him and spoke ill of him, even wishing that death would take him away as soon as possible.

But the soothsayer was much more astute, he saw on his sacred board the presence of Ikú and told himself that he should do ebbó (cleansing).

For this, he should make a rogation with a yam, and then, he should smear the hairs of the vianda (which is a fruit) on his face.

So it was that in this Pataki of Ikú, he shows how death went to look for Orula for the first time, deceived him, told him that there was no Orula living there and so death left.

But Ikú didn’t want to leave empty-handed, so he went knocking on neighbours’ doors to find out about their whereabouts. 

This is how he realised that Orula had deceived him, so he went back to take a closer look at his house, until he realised that Orula the soothsayer lived there.

Orula saw death return and cunningly devised another way to try to evade it, so he invited it to dinner and at that dinner there was plenty to drink.

This Pataki of Ikú speaks of how death fell fast asleep, at which point Orula took the opportunity to steal his most powerful weapon, with which he killed people.

After Ikú woke up he could see that he did not have his weapon, so he had to beg the soothsayer to give it back to him.

The covenant of protection to the children of Orula through this Patakí of Ikú

So after a long time of pleading with Orula, he decided to make a pact with Ikú to secure not only his life, but also that of all his children.

He told Ikú that if he gave him back his gun, he would not be able to kill any of his children, unless he himself authorised it.

These were the words of the soothsayer par excellence Orula, in this Pataki of Ikú:

«From this day forward I will place a mark in my colours, green and yellow, on the left hand of each and every one of my children; with this mark you shall respect their lives, until the time has come for them to leave the earth.

It was thanks to the ebbó that Orula was saved, and by means of the necklaces and handles that the soothsayer gives to his children, he saves them from evil, darkness and misfortune.

It is worth noting that this whole story was known and bears the name of the Pataki of Ikú, showing how the children of the soothsayer cannot leave this world if their time has not really come.