Ifá or Fá is a geomantic system originating from Yorubaland in West Africa. It originates within the traditional religion of the Yoruba people. It is also practiced by followers of West African Vodun and certain African diasporic religions such as Cuban Santería.
According to Ifá teaching, the divinatory system is overseen by an orisha called Orunmila, who is believed to have given it to humanity. Ifá is organised as an initiatory tradition, with an initiate called a babaláwo or bokɔnɔ if they're male and ìyánífá if they're female. They are mostly male, but women have also been initiated. Its oracular literary body is made up of 256 volumes (signs) that are divided into two categories, the first called Ojú Odù or main Odù that consists of 16 chapters. The second category is composed of 240 chapters called Amúlù Odù (omoluos), these are composed through the combination of the main Odù. They use either the divining chain known as Ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀, or the sacred palm (Elaeis guineensis var. idolatrica) or kola nuts called Ikin, on the wooden divination tray called Ọpọ́n Ifá to mathematically calculate which Odu to use for what problem.
Ifá is first recorded among the Yoruba people of West Africa. The expansion of Yoruba influence over neighbouring peoples resulted in the spread of Ifá, for instance to Fon people practising West African Vodun. As a result of the Atlantic slave trade, enslaved initiates of Ifá were transported to the Americas. There, Ifá survived in Cuba, where it developed an overlap with Afro-Cuban religious traditions such as Santería and Abakuá. Growing transnational links between Africa and the Americas during the 1970s also saw attempts by West African babalawos to train and initiate people in countries like Brazil and the United States.
Definitions
According to traditional lore, Ifá began in the city of Ile-Ife in Yorubaland. Since that point, its practice has spread throughout lower Nigeria and westward into coastal Benin and Togo and then in Ghana. It has also been taken to the Americas, where it is practiced within some African diasporic religions.
The term Ifá is the Yoruba language name for the practice. In the Fon language it is called Fá, and among the Ewe and Mina languages it is Afa. The Yoruba system of Ifá is deemed more time consuming, and requires more sacrifices, than the Fá system among the Fon. In the Fon-dominated Ouidah, therefore, some people think of Yoruba Ifá as being more potent than their own local system. Some people who have been initiated into Fon-style Fá thus later go through additional ceremonies to be initiated into Yoruba-style Ifá.
Belief + Sixteen Principal Odu Name 1 2 3 4 Ogbè I I I I Ọ̀yẹ̀kú II II II II Ìwòrì II I I II Òdí I II II I Ìrosùn I I II II Ọ̀wọ́nrín II II I I Ọ̀bàrà I II II II Ọ̀kànràn II II II I Ògúndá I I I II Ọ̀ṣá II I I I Ìká II I II II Òtúúrúpọ̀n II II I II Òtúrá I II I I Ìrẹ̀tẹ̀ I I II I Ọ̀ṣẹ́ I II I II Òfún (Ọ̀ràngún) II I II I + Sixteen Principal Afa-du (Yeveh Vodou) Name 1 2 3 4 Eji-Ogbe I I I I Ọyeku-Meji II II II II Iwori-Meji II I I II Odi-Meji I II II I Irosun-Meji I I II II Ọwanrin-Meji II II I I Ọbara-Meji I II II II Ọkanran-Meji II II II I Ogunda-Meji I I I II Ọsa-Meji II I I I Ika-Meji II I II II Oturupon-Meji II II I II Otura-Meji I II I I Irete-Meji I I II I Ọse-Meji I II I II Ofun meji II I II I
Theology In Yorubaland, divination gives priests unreserved access to the teachings of Ọ̀rúnmìlà.Lijadu, E. M. Ifá: ImọLe Rẹ Ti I Ṣe Ipile Isin Ni Ilẹ Yoruba. Ado-Ekiti: Omolayo Standard Press, 1898. 1972. Among the Fon, Ọ̀rúnmìlà is known as Fá. In the Fon language, fa literally means "coolness" and evokes the concepts of mildness, softness, peacefulness, and equilibrium. This is deemed appropriate because the tutelary practice of the divination system, Fá, is thought to promote coolness and to dislike hot things. Among the Yoruba, this concept of coolness is also important, but is referred to as tutu, a term bearing no linguistic associations with Ifá.
In the West African religions that incorporate Ifá divination, the spirit-deity known among Yoruba people as Eshu-Elegba, Eshu, or Elegbara, is deemed the intermediate communicator relaying Ifá's will both to humanity and to other spirit-deities. Among the Fon, Eshu is termed Legba, and among the Ewe and Mina, he is Elegy. Ifá divination rites provide an avenue of communication to the spiritual realm and the intent of one's destiny.Adéẹ̀kọ́, Adélékè. "'Writing' and 'Reference' in Ifá Divination Chants." Oral Tradition 25, no. 2 (2010).
Among the Fon, it is the female spirit Gbădu who is regarded as the source of Fá's power. She is deemed to be the wife of Fá. Her presence is required for new initiations. She is believed to offer significant protection for people but her veneration is thought dangerous unless a person is initiated. It is for instance believed that women must be kept apart from her presence, for if they get near her they may be struck barren or die.
System
Odù Ifá
Ifá consists of 256 binary signs. The Yoruba term odù instead appears in Fon as a dù.
In Fon, the sacred palm nuts are called fádékwín. A "divining chain" is referred to in Yoruba as a òpèlè and in Fon as an akplɛ. It may comprise eight halves of a nut, tied together. The way in which it falls then reveals one of 256 possible signs.
To perform the divination, the babalawo will often be seated on a mat. Before casting the divining chain the diviner may sing to call forth Fá. In Fon, the divining tray is called a fátɛ. In West Africa, the quality of the fátɛ may indicate the babalawo's financial success; some who have a small client base may use only a plastic or cardboard tray, while those with access to greater funds may pay for an elaborate, purpose built wooden fátɛ.
Another ritual object is known to the Yoruba as ọ̀pá òòsùn and to the Fon as a fásɛn. This consists of a metal staff, four to five feet tall, that is capped at the top with a metal disk and sometimes a metal rooster. When a fásɛn is created, it is washed in specific leaves and the blood of 16 giant snails; this task is performed by women, secluded from the view of men. Any chickens sacrificed to the fásɛn are only eaten by women.
There are sixteen major books in the Odu Ifá literary corpus. When combined, there are a total of 256 Odu (a collection of sixteen, each of which has sixteen alternatives ⇔ 162, or 44) 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. Yoruba people consult Ifá for divine intervention and spiritual guidance.
Among the Yoruba, divination trays are usually circular although can be quadrangular; conversely, this latter shape is most common among those trays used by Fon speakers.
Messenger sign
In addition to the sixteen fundamental signs, Ifá divination includes a major sign, which is the combination of Ọse and Otura, from right to left (Ọse-Tura).
+ Ọse-Tura I I II II I I I II
That sign must be written each time a ritual is performed: Ọse-Tura is the messenger and the carrier of the sacrifice. It is closely associated with the god Èṣù in the system of Ifá. That Messenger sign was known in Arab and Latin medieval geomancy as the Morning Star.Dianteill, E. (2022). Venus, Issa, and the Moon Dog, International Journal of Divination and Prognostication, 3(2), 125-170. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/25899201-12340025
Babalawos
An initiate of Ifá is called a babaláwo in Yoruba and a bokɔnɔ in Fon.
Traditionally only heterosexual men are allowed to become babalawos, with women and homosexual males being excluded. Some gay men have nevertheless been initiated; in both Cuba and the United States, for example, several babalawos have initiated their openly gay sons. Moreover, despite the traditional prohibition on women taking on this role, the scholar of religion Mary Ann Clark noted that by the early 21st century, female practitioners were "becoming institutionalized in some religious communities" in the United States, where they were known as either iyalawo (mother of secrets) or iyanifá (mother of Ifá). Female practitioners have also been reported in Mexico.
The restriction on female initiation is explained through the story that the oricha Orula was furious that Yemayá, his wife, had used his tabla divining board and subsequently decided to ban women from ever touching it again. Among the Fon, one tradition maintains that women do not need to be initiated into the traditions of the female spirit Gbădu—who is Fá's wife—because they already have the power of creation within them. According to Fon diviners, keeping women and Gbădu apart ensures a conceptual state of coolness. This extends to a taboo on women eating any of the meat from animals sacrificed to Gbădu.
Once an individual is initiated as a babalawo they are given a pot containing various items, including palm nuts, which is believed to be the literal embodiment of Orula. Babalawos provide offerings to Orula, including animal sacrifices and gifts of money. In Cuba, Ifá typically involves the casting of consecrated palm nuts to answer a question. The babalawo then interprets the message of the nuts depending on how they have fallen; there are 256 possible configurations in the Ifá system, which the babalawo is expected to have memorised. Individuals approach the babalawo seeking guidance, often on financial matters, at which the diviner will consult Orula through the established divinatory method. In turn, those visiting the babalawos pay them for their services.
Initiation
Initiation as a babalawo requires a payment to the initiator and is typically regarded as highly expensive. In Benin, Fá initiation usually takes less than a week, whereas initiations into the cults of other vodún may take several weeks or months. A distinction is made between an initiation that called yǐ Fá ("to receive Fá"), which is often seen as a "first initiation" into Fá's veneration, which offers his protection, and the priestly initiation, at which a person is said to Fázùnyí ("receive Fá's forest").
Among the Fon, the sacred forest of Fá is called fázùn; this is differentiated from ordinary forest by shredded palm fronds, known in Fon as asàn and in Yoruba as màrìwò. It will be here that new initiates are led; they will be accompanied with animals for sacrifice, by existing initiates singing praise songs, and by a person leading the way carrying a fásɛn. A figurine of the spirit Lɛ̌gbà may be brought along for the ritual, invoking this deity to guard the initiates' passage into the forest. Offerings will be given to him, and divination employed to check that he accepts them.
In the forest, the new initiate will be given a kola nut to eat, to bring him in communion with Fá. All present may then place their hands together on the fásɛn, to which a rooster may then be sacrificed. The newcomer's eyes will be washed in a herbal mixture called Gbădùsin. The neophyte will then be blindfolded and then led into the sacred grove of the fázùn, where the secret teachings of Fá are revealed to them. Divination will be used to determine under which of the 256 signs their priesthood will be born. The selected sign indicates to which spirits they should pay particular attention and to which taboos they must observe. This may involve avoiding eating certain foods, wearing certain colors, or engaging in specific actions. The initiate's head will then be shaved as a symbol of their initiation and they will be ritually bathed and wrapped in white cloth. A celebration follows, in which a goat may be sacrificed to Fá and the participants eat its meat.