Ìyá Ọ̀ṣun, the Mother of Us All

The Odù came down from heaven to put the world in order. There were sixteen of them.There was also a seventeenth, and she was a woman.They cleared a grove for Orò. They cleared a grove for ¿¿pá. They prepared a grove forEégún.They made no provision for ¿¿¿un.She said nothing. She sat down and carried on with her work, which was hair-plaiting, andshe waited to see how they would manage. They never knew she was an àj¿¿.Nothing they did after that was successful. They went to Eégún and the world stayedcrooked. They went to Orò and the sickness got worse. They went to ¿¿¿¿¿ and the rain didnot fall. Every power they could think of was a man, and not one of them could do it.Then they went to ¿¿¿un - and she fed them, and they could not bring themselves to say whythey had come.It took the Creator, counting, to say it plainly. Sixteen. Seventeen.A story from ¿¿¿¿¿ Túrá - the verse Ifá priests still recite over every sacrifice.A painted graphic novel retold from ¿¿¿¿¿ Túrá, with the Yoruba verse, a glossary, and a closing note on why this verse is spoken at every sacrifice.