figuration known as Irete Tura, which indicated the presence of both Ochosi, in the dominant position, and Elegba, on a secondary level, But the weakness or ambiguity of the successive throws hadn't really convinced him Ochosi was for me. He'd made the additional casts, even waiting for Iya Orite to be the one to pose the definitive yes-no question, to be sure.
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Had this been Africa, and had I been a real initiate, he would at this point have begun to recite the appropriate verses from my dominant odu. Then he would have told me the apataki which fit the odu and verse. After that, he would have helped me relate the meaning of the verses and the parable to my life. In America, where most clients have no acquaintance with the odu, or with verses, or with parables, priests generally summarize. ''Well, the reading looks good, but you need to be more careful with your money, or take better care of your wife," etc.
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For me, the Oba also had to explain the nature of my new spirit, about whom I knew little. Ochosi, he said, lives and works alone. My only companions were Ogun and Osanyin, the reclusive wizard of herbs and medicines, who, like Ochosi, lived deep in the forest. Ochosi is syncretized with St. Norbert, the Catholic saint who is sometimes depicted in forest garb with a dog. No wonder, it occurred to me, Robin Hood was one of the great heroes of my boyhood.
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I was an important spirit, the Oba explainedone who went forth to bring back sustenance for the people. Yet I did not wish to live among them. As Ochosi, I was a networker. I linked people together through sharing the information from my solitary travels. The Oba said it would be good for me to work in or around a "structured environment," by which I think he meant a job, but that I also must be free to move, search. I would never have a long relationship with a woman, because I would be too solitary. I was a spirit who went between the world of men and of nature, and preferred the latter.
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