Oyeku — Closure, Darkness, the Womb of Night

Oyeku is the second Olódù, composed entirely of double marks (II II II II), the inverse complement of Ogbe in the hierarchical order of the sixteen principal Odù. Bascom documents that Oyeku governs ikú (death), the ancestral realm (ilé ayé ọ̀run), and the generative darkness from which new cycles of existence emerge. The ese Ifá associated with Oyeku teach that the Egúngún (ancestral spirits) dwell in this sign's domain, and that the darkness it represents is not malevolent but gestational — the necessary closure that precedes every new birth within the ongoing cycle of àtúnwá (reincarnation).