Ifá

Ifá is a Yoruba religion and system of

divination. Its literary corpus is the Odu Ifá.
Orunmila is identified as the Grand Priest,
as he is who revealed divinity and
prophecy to the world. Babalawos or
Iyanifas use either the divining chain
known as Opele, or the sacred palm or kola
nuts called Ikin, on the wooden divination
tray called Opon Ifá.
Sixteen Principal Odu

Name 1 2 3 4

Ogbe I I I I

Oyẹku II II II II

Iwori II I I II

Odi I II II I

Irosun I I II II

Iwọnrin II II I I

Ọbara I II II II

Ọkanran II II II I

Ogunda I I I II

Ọsa II I I I

Ika II I II II

Oturupọn II II I II

Otura I II I I
Irẹtẹ I I II I

Ọsẹ I II I II

Ofun II I II I

Sixteen Principal Afa-du

(Yeveh Vodou)

Name 1 2 3 4

Eji-Ogbe I I I I

Ọyeku- II II II II
Meji

Iwori- II I I II
Meji

Odi-Meji I II II I

Irosun- I I II II
Meji

Ọwanrin- II II I I
Meji
Meji

Ọbara- I II II II
Meji

Ọkanran- II II II I
Meji

Ogunda- I I I II
Meji

Ọsa- II I I I
Meji

Ika-Meji II I II II

Oturupon- II II I II
Meji

Otura- I II I I
Meji

Irete- I I II I
Maji

Ọse- I II I II
M ji
Meji

Ofu meji II I II I

Ifá is practiced throughout the Americas,

West Africa, and the Canary Islands, in the
form of a complex religious system, and
plays a critical role in the traditions of
Santería, Candomblé, Palo, Umbanda,
Vodou, and other Afro-American faiths, as
well as in some traditional African
religions.

History
The 16-principle system seems to have its
earliest history in West Africa. Each Niger–
Congo-speaking ethnic group that
practices it has its own myths of origin;
Yoruba religion suggests that it was
founded by Orunmila in Ilé-Ifẹ̀ when he
initiated himself and then he initiated his
students, Akoda and Aseda. Other myths
suggest that it was brought to Ilé-Ifẹ̀ by
Setiu, a Nupe man who settled in Ilé-Ifẹ̀.
According to the book The History of the
Yorubas from the Earliest of Times to the
British Protectorate (1921) by Nigerian
historian Samuel Johnson and Obadiah
Johnson, it was Arugba, the mother of
Onibogi, the 8th Alaafin of Oyo who
introduced Oyo to Ifá in the late 1400s.[1]
She initiated the Alado of Ato and
conferred on him the rites to initiate
others. The Alado, in turn, initiated the
priests of Oyo and that was how Ifá came
to be in the Oyo empire. Odinani suggests
that Dahomey Kings noted that the system
of Afá was brought by a diviner known as
Gogo from eastern Nigeria.[2]

Orunmila came to establish an oral literary

corpus incorporating stories and
experiences of priests and their clients
along with the results. This odu corpus
emerges as the leading documentation on
the Ifá tradition to become a historical
legacy.

Yoruba canon
In Yorubaland, divination gives priests
unreserved access to the teachings of
Orunmila.[3] Eshu is the one said to lend
ashe to the oracle during provision of
direction and or clarification of counsel.
Eshu is also the one that holds the keys to
ones ire (fortune or blessing)[4], thus acts
as Oluwinni (ones Creditor), he can grant
ire or remove it.[5] Ifá divination rites
provide an avenue of communication to
the spiritual realm and the intent of ones
destiny.[6]

Igbo canon
In Igboland, Ifá is known as Afá, and is
performed by specialists called Dibia. The
Dibia is considered a doctor and
specializes in the use of herbs for healing
and transformation.[7]

Ewe canon
Among the Ewe people of southern Togo
and southeast Ghana, Ifá is known as Afá,
where the Vodun spirits come through and
speak. In many of their Egbes, it is
Alaundje who is honored as the first
Bokono to have been taught how to divine
the destiny of humans using the holy
system of Afá. The Amengansi are the
living oracles who are higher than a
bokono. A priest who is not a bokono is
known as Hounan, similar to Houngan, a
male priest in Haitian Vodou, a derivative
religion of Vodun, the religion of the Ewe.

Odù Ifá
Divination tray

There are sixteen major books in the Odu

Ifá[8] literary corpus. When combined, there
are a total of 256 Odu (a collection of
sixteen, each of which has sixteen
alternatives ⇔ 16^2, or 4^4) that are
believed to reference all situations,
circumstances, actions and consequences
in life based on the uncountable ese (or
"poetic tutorials") relative to the 256 Odu
coding. These form the basis of traditional
Yoruba spiritual knowledge and are the
foundation of all Yoruba divination
systems. Ifá proverbs, stories, and poetry
are not written down. Rather, they are
passed down orally from one babalawo to
another.

International recognition
The Ifá Divination system was added in
2005 by UNESCO to its list of the
"Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity".[9]

Notable followers
21 Savage, British-American rapper
Osunlade, musician, record producer, DJ
Wande Abimbola, Nigerian linguist
See also
Babalawo
Iyalawo
Orunmila

References
1. Johnson, Samuel (1921). History of
the Yorubas from the Earliest of Times
to the Beginning of the British
Protectorate. Nigeria Bookshops.
2. "Afa in the African Diaspora" .
3. Lijadu, E. M. Ifá: ImọLe Rẹ Ti I Ṣe Ipile
Isin Ni Ilẹ Yoruba. Ado-Ekiti: Omolayo
Standard Press, 1898. 1972.
 4. https://aseire.yolasite.com/meaning.
php
5. [1] Archived September 25, 2015, at
the Wayback Machine
6. Adéẹ̀kọ́, Adélékè. "'Writing' and
'Reference' in Ifá Divination Chants."
Oral Tradition 25, no. 2 (2010).
7. "Igbo Medicine" .
8. Sixteen major 'books in Odù Ifá
Archived July 2, 2008, at the Wayback
Machine
9. "Ifa Divination System" . Retrieved
5 July 2017.

Further reading
Chief FAMA Fundamentals of the Yoruba
Religion (Orisa Worship) ISBN 0-
9714949-0-8
Chief FAMA Practitioners' Handbook for
the Ifa Professional ISBN 0-9714949-3-2
Chief FAMA Fundamentos de la Religion
Yoruba (Adorando Orisa) ISBN 0-
9714949-6-7
Fama, Chief (1994). Sixteen mythological
stories of Ifá = (Ìtàn Ífá mẹ́rìndínlógún).
San Bernardino, CA: Ilé Ọ̀rúnmìlà
Communications.
ISBN 9780964424722.
Chief FAMA FAMA'S EDE AWO (Orisa
Yoruba Dictionary) ISBN 0-9644247-8-9
Chief FAMA The Rituals (novela) ISBN 0-
9644247-7-0
Awo Fasina Falade Ifa: The Key to Its
Understanding ISBN 0-9663132-3-2
Chief Adedoja Aluko The Sixteen (16)
Major Odu Ifa from Ile-Ife ISBN 978-
37376-6-X
Chief Hounon-Amengansie, Mama
Zogbé (Vivian Hunter Hindrew) Mami
Wata: Africa's Ancient God/dess Unveiled
Vol. I ISBN 978-0-615-17936-0
Chief S. Solagbade Popoola library, INC
Ifa Dida: Vol 1 (EjiOgbe - Orangun Meji) ,
ISBN 978-0-9810013-1-9
Chief S. Solagbade Popoola library, INC
Ifa Dida: Vol 2 (Ogbe Oyeku - Ogbe
Ofun) , ISBN 978-1-926538-12-9
Chief S. Solagbade Popoola & Fakunle
Oyesanya Ikunle Abiyamo - The ASE of
Motherhood ISBN 978-09810013-0-2
C. Osamaro Ibie Ifism the Complete
Works of Orunmila ISBN 1-890157-05-8
William R. Bascom: Ifa Divination:
Communication Between Gods and Men
in West Africa ISBN 0-253-20638-3
William R. Bascom: Sixteen Cowries:
Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New
World ISBN 0-253-20847-5
Rosenthal, J. ‘Possession Ecstasy & Law
in Ewe Voodoo" ISBN 0-8139-1805-7
Maupoil, Bernard. "La Geomancie
L'ancienne Côte des Esclaves
Alapini, Julien. Les noix sacrées. Etude
complète de Fa-Ahidégoun génie de la
sagesse et de la divination au Dahomey
Dr. Ron Eglash (1997) American
Anthropologist Recursion in
ethnomathematics, Chaos Theory in
West African divination.
Bàbálàwó Ifatunwase Tratados
Enciclopédicos de Ifá (Colección
Alafundé) , ISBN 978-0-9810387-04
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
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