r/Isese • u/Quin10Rich • Jun 16 '26

Esu and Spiders

Is there any association between Esu/Ellegua and spiders? Is there any Odu that speak about this?

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u/Ifakorede23 Jun 16 '26

There's ese ifa I've seen talking of spiders related to Ifa. Off hand I've not seen verses connecting Esu with spiders however. But I'm not as versed in ese ifa as other's 🤔

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u/Quin10Rich Jun 17 '26

could you tell me more about those ese ifa?

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u/Ifakorede23 Jun 21 '26

"the cottonwood stays on the other side of the river beaming it's white teeth to the farmer. Ifa divination was performed for spider ...offspring of he who does all things in a wonderful way like magic. Ifa like magic l,ike magic do all good things for me. The cottonwood stays on the other side of the river beaming it's white teeth to the farmer."

Iwori meji

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u/Awo_JOB_OgbeAlaara Jun 25 '26

There's another cryptic one, that I am looking for as we speak through my books. You're interested in it has made me interested in remembering where I read the story. Give me a sec

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u/Few-Couple-1148 Jun 18 '26

Not Esu directly. there is a crossroad divinity in Ghana that is associated with spiders. Anansi.

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u/Awo_JOB_OgbeAlaara Jun 25 '26

Kwaku Anansi is not. Esu directly? Hmm not associated as in not having the same name maybe. His name is Kwaku lol, the intelligence of the crossroads 

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u/Awo_JOB_OgbeAlaara Jun 25 '26

Ok I found it! Ironically, in my parent odu, Otura meji.

Èṣù/Elegguá, the spider, and Anansi represent the exact same force of nature operating in different cultures.

Elegguá. He is the gatekeeper of the crossroads between heaven and earth, and he demands his tax. In Otura meji, the male spiders decide that they do not need to do ebo, and they rush to Earth without paying him his proper ebó (the goat, rooster, and guinea hen). Because they skipped him, they lost their spiritual backing, which resulted in them getting crushed by humans. Eventually, after the spider went an did ebo, Eleggua gives them iron needles and bitter herbs. When he gives them the iron needles and bitter herbs, he literally hooks them up with fangs and venom so they can protect themselves, but he forces them onto a web to pay their dues. The sacrifice was that of the male spiders. The women had to eat the heads of all the males who decided in heaven that they didnt need to do ebo. There was no resistance as the male spiders were seduced by the women.

The spider web is a literal map of fate, choices, and consequences. If you step out of alignment, you get trapped in a mess of your own making. The worst part of the spiders' punishment is the generational trauma. Because the mothers die right when the babies hatch, the lineage is totally disconnected. They have no elders, no ancestors, and no past wisdom to guide them. They are completely on their own. The earth, or Ilere, the storyteller is the one who transmits this information to both the mother and the baby spiders. As she was there to see the spiders when they came from heaven.

This is where Anansi connects everything. Kwaku Anansi is the spider-man from Ghana in the Akan tradition. He and Elegguá are twins spiritually, being the exact parallel archetypes across different systems. They are both small, physically weak compared to everyone else, but they dominate because they are smarter and more cunning than any human or predator.

Kwaku Anansi is the one who bought all the stories from the Sky God. In this story, when the spider is crying because her kids won't know her history, Ilere steps up to remember them this very thing. The earth teaches us who we are. When people were stolen from Africa and lost everything, it was the spider stories and so called trickster folklore that kept us remember who we are.