HISTORY THE ANCIENT ART OF DIVINATION

Nigeria, West Africa, Ifa Divination, Odu, Babalawo

What is Ifa and Ifa divinity?
Ifa Divination: There are a total of 256 Odu in Ifa. These comprise of 16 main, i.e. the right hand, Orunmila, having the same mark or signature with the left, Esu. The rest 240 are termed 'Amulu' or mixture with the right and left hands having different marks.

According to Abimbola, each of the 256 signatures or Odu has a total of about 800 poems attached to it , thus a total of 256 X 800 poems found in Ifa alone; Out of which the Babalawo would look for one that matches the Odu cast to chant. Orunmila is the only one that knows and could chant all the verses. These verses were taught to his students and passed through generations till it is the turn of our present day Babalawos. However, because of so many factors, many of these poems have been lost and are still being lost daily.

Ifa can simply be said to be the religion or divinity brought into the world by Orunmila. He is the custodian of the Deity, moral, economic, language, origin, and metaphysical orders of the Yoruba nation and of its believers throughout the world.

The basics involve the priest or the mediator called Babalawo or Balawo (elder in the priesthood order) who are consulted by clients for solution to life's numerous problems. As the life of man is enmeshed in a lot of riddles, seen or unseen, the quest to know the obscured becomes juxtaposed by the fear of the unexpected and unknown. As Abimbola posited in his book, Oju Odu Sixteen, chapter 10, he said:

"Had it been that all dead beings were buried in coffin, Iroko trees in the forests would have gone into extinction. Cast divination for hundreds of Beings, hundred of Beings were coming from the city of heaven to earth.
Had it been that all dead beings were buried in coffins Iroko trees in the forests would have gone into extinction. Cast divination for 'Struggle and Strive', Struggle and Strive were coming from heaven to earth. We are only struggling. All of We are only striving.
Those that are destined to be exceedingly rich are not many. We are only struggling, All of us we are only striving.
Not all of us are destined to have good women as wives. We are only struggling, All of us we are only striving. Those that are destined to have exceptionally brilliant children are not many. We are only struggling, All of us, we are only striving."

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