Ebó Offering

Ebo in Yoruba tradition refers to spiritual offerings or rituals of release. This track frames personal surrender as sacred offering — not as loss, but as conscious choice to release what no longer serves.

Key Translations:

• Mo rúbọ = I make an offering / I sacrifice
• Mo rúbọ sí ina = I offer to the fire
• Ohun tí kò tọ̀ = what is not right/fitting
• jọ̀wọ́, jẹ́ kí o lọ = please, let it go
• Mo rúbọ sí omi, mo rúbọ sí afẹ́fẹ́ = I offer to water, I offer to wind
• Ẹbọ, ìbànújẹ lọ = Offering, let sorrow go
• Ìnira lọ = let suffering go
• orò wọ̀lú mi = peace enters me

Key Themes:

• Conscious release — offering fear and doubt to transformative elements
• Gratitude for what was — blessing what must be released
• Sacred emptiness — making space for renewal

Musical Elements: Deep hand drums and minimal drone at hypnotic 78 BPM create trance-like ceremony. Whispered Yoruba phrases layer with clear English verses. The bridge becomes almost a cappella with handclaps, emphasizing the intimate, personal nature of offering. Production is intentionally sparse — the emptiness itself becomes sacred space.

This is the album's pivot point — the moment of surrender that makes transformation possible.

[Intro]

{ad-lib whispers: ẹbọ… ẹbọ…}

Ẹbọ (Yoruba) = offering, sacrifice, ritual. Whispered as invocation, setting the sacred intention. The repetition creates ceremonial space.

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[Verse 1]

Mo rúbọ, mo rúbọ sí ina

Yoruba: "I make an offering, I offer to the fire" = conscious act of giving something to the transformative flame. Mo rúbọ = I sacrifice/offer. Sí ina = to the fire (the element that purifies and transforms).

Ohun tí kò tọ̀, jọ̀wọ́, jẹ́ kí o lọ

Yoruba: "What is not fitting, please, let it go" = releasing what doesn't serve, what doesn't align with your truth. Ohun tí kò tọ̀ = what is wrong/not right. Jọ̀wọ́ = please (polite request). Jẹ́ kí o lọ = let it go (permission to release).

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[Pre-Chorus]

I place my fear on the glowing coals,

Placing fear on glowing coals = offering your fear to the fire to be consumed, transformed. The glowing coals = active transformation, heat that changes form. This is intentional, ritual surrender.

I place my doubt in the listening bowl.

Placing doubt in the listening bowl = giving your uncertainty to a sacred vessel. The listening bowl = a receptive space that witnesses without judgment. Water bowls are used in Yoruba rituals to receive offerings and divine messages.

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[Chorus]

This is my ebo—my open hands,

Ebo = the offering. My open hands = posture of surrender, release, giving. Empty hands ready to receive. The offering IS the openness itself.

I give the river back to the sands.

Paradoxical image: giving the river (flow, life force, what moves) back to the sands (origin, earth, stillness). Returning what flows to its source, acknowledging that all movement comes from and returns to stillness.

I give my shadow to the flame,

Giving shadow to the flame = offering your unconscious patterns, fears, and hidden pain to the fire for illumination and purification. Shadow becomes fuel for light.

I step out whole in my true name.

After the offering, you emerge whole (complete, healed, integrated) in your true name (authentic identity, divine essence). The release reveals who you really are.

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[Verse 2]

Mo rúbọ sí omi, mo rúbọ sí afẹ́fẹ́

Yoruba: "I offer to water, I offer to wind" = giving to the elements. Omi = water (emotions, flow, cleansing). Afẹ́fẹ́ = air/wind (thoughts, breath, spirit). Each element receives and transforms what you release.

Carry the old stories past the cliff's edge.

Old stories = outdated narratives, past identities, inherited traumas. Past the cliff's edge = beyond the boundary, into the abyss, letting them fall away completely. Release them to the wind and let them be carried away forever.

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[Pre-Chorus — repeat]

I place my fear on the glowing coals,
I place my doubt in the listening bowl.

(Same translation — reinforcing the ritual of release)

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[Bridge — whispered/chant]

Ẹbọ, ẹbọ, ìbànújẹ lọ

Yoruba: "Offering, offering, let sorrow go" = Ìbànújẹ = sadness, grief, sorrow. Lọ = go, depart. The whispered chant becomes a direct command for sorrow to leave.

Ìnira lọ, orò wọ̀lú mi

Yoruba: "Let suffering go, peace enters me" = Ìnira = pain, suffering. Orò = peace, tranquility. Wọ̀lú mi = enters me. As suffering departs, peace naturally fills the space left behind.

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[Outro]

I begin again—clean and bright.

The result of the offering: begin again = rebirth, fresh start. Clean = purified, emptied of what didn't serve. Bright = illuminated, clear, radiant.

Mo rúbọ. Axé.

Mo rúbọ = "I have made my offering" (completion). Axé = the blessing, the life force, the power. "So it is. It is done. The sacred energy is activated." The ceremony is complete.