Wahya Circle PM
Thursday Thoughts

Beginning Practicum
Ifa Divination

Looking back at all the places we have visited, we notice some divination is site specific as we travel across the world.

For example, the prophecies of the Oracle of Delphi, only took place at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Other practices of divination, like augury or haruspicy, could take place anywhere the tools for divining are present. In this case, birds in flight or an animal and purified grounds.

In a previous Lesson, we learned the meaning of “Ifa”. The word Ifa refers to the mystical figure Ifa or Orunmila, regarded by the Yoruba as the Deity of Wisdom and Intellectual development. The Ifa divination system is applied whenever an important individual or collective decision has to be made. An example of this may be an upcoming marriage or business dealing.

The follower of the this Path would go to an Ifa priest for guidance. The Ifa priest, or babalawo, literally translates to "father of secrets" or "father of ancient wisdom". As you recall from the video, this is because the babalawo is a channel for a “Being greater”.

LINK: Ifa Synopsis Video

Divination 101
Ifa - A Little More

In the absence of medical therapies, Yoruban females who cannot conceive will consult a male diviner-priest (babalawo). The babalawo performs the Ifa ritual to explain and reverse a “woman's misfortune” if she is attempting to conceive. Ifa is considered their most important and most reliable system of divination in Yoruba. It enables supplicants to understand the will of the Supreme Being Olodumare (also known as Olorun or Creator God).

Olodumare empowered Orunmila, the God of Divination, to speak for the numerous Yoruba deities (orisha) through the divining ritual. Do you recall what we learned of Olodumare previously in Wahya Circle?

During a consultation, numerical patterns, obtained by passing sixteen palm nuts from hand to hand, are recorded on a divination tray.

Each pattern corresponds to a sacred verse, of which there are 256, that contains both the prediction and the required sacrifice. The babalawo, who has taken many years of apprenticing, interprets these patterns. A diviner's equipment, carved by artists in the community, includes a divination tray (opon Ifa), a tapper (iro Ifa), cups (agere Ifa) to hold the palm nuts, and a storage container for the sacred paraphernalia (opon igede).

Yoruba sculptors typically carve the opon Ifa in the shape of a square, rectangle, or circle, most times out of Iroko wood in a prescribed magickal way. (Between 15 and 46 centimeters) The center of the tray is always depressed to accommodate pulverized wood or yam flour on which the diviner marks a deity's message in symbolic strokes.

Geometric patterns or figures drawn from Yoruba mythology or daily life decorate the raised border. The hole bored into the top of this tray originally carried an "eraser" made of a cord of fifty cowrie shells that the diviner used to clear the tray during the divining ritual.

Among the images on the raised border is that of the deity Eshu. Although only Orunmila knows God's will, it is Eshu—the divine messenger and guardian of the divining process—who carries the client's sacrifices to the deities and other spirits. He is placated with an offering at the beginning of the ritual and begged not to garble messages as that may cause catastrophe in the end.

Eshu's image may appear once or, as exemplified by the elaborately carved Dallas tray, at each of the four cardinal points. He is depicted as a face and as a full-length figure wearing his trademark long-tailed cap and brandishing a club.

Where only Eshu's face is depicted, he is wearing a half-shaved hairstyle with hornlike forms projecting from his head. The hairstyle and horns are symbolic. According to an oral tradition, because of his deep affection for Orunmila, Eshu interrupted having his head shaved so he could come to the aid of his friend.

The horns symbolize Eshu's great generative powers. In addition to the four images of Eshu on the raised border of the tray, the sculptor carves a complex program of symbolic scenes depicting Yoruba royalty, religious rituals, and scenes from Orunmila's life.

At the beginning of a ritual the diviner taps the edge or the center of the divination tray with an iro Ifa, or "tapper," to attract the attention of Orunmila, Eshu, and other deities, family ancestors, and ancestral diviners. Ordinary tappers are carved of wood, while those belonging to very successful diviners are made of expensive and prestigious materials such as copper alloy or ivory, like the one pictured.

The king (oba) held exclusive rights to own ivory, and only those who had his permission had access to this precious material. The conelike shape of the tapper clearly indicates that it was carved from the tip of an elephant tusk.

In Yoruba thought, the cone is an ideogram for life force (ashe), which animates everything in the universe. It is therefore an appropriate form for an object that is used to invoke and celebrate all the spiritual forces present at a divination ritual.

Ifa tappers invariably depict a female figure posed in the kneeling position wearing only waistbeads and modestly covering her genitalia with a decorated fan. The kneeling position is that of the supplicant, but in Yoruba tradition it also refers to an individual's existence before being born on Earth, when one knelt during the Ritual of Choosing his or her head (ori), the seat of one's destiny.

There is also the profound belief that women are more effective than men in honoring, soothing, and cooling the gods so they will favor mankind.

Beginning Pharmakeia
Kola Nut

The Indigenous Elders of West Africa reported that the OBI came to AIYE (Earth) with his two sisters, OBI ABATA and OBI GBANJA. OBI ABATA, the type used in DIVINATION is made up of FOUR LOBES that are split open and used as both an ORACLE and as OFFERINGS to the ANCESTORS and ORISA.

The FOUR LOBE KOLA NUT is sacred and used for divining purposes. The others with three lobes and better are used in other ways. (Medicinal)

It is the OBI ABATA that is a staple ingredient in most sacred IFA/ORISA rituals and celebrations. The other OBI are used in various ways it is the four lobed OBI, also known as IYA OBI, (MOTHER OF OBI) that will be the FOCUS for divining purposes.

The OBI GBANJA is the KOLA NUT that only possesses two lobes. OBI GBANJA is not used in OBI divination, although it is consumed by people for secular reasons, mainly due to its high concentration of caffeine and is a stimulant.

Be aware that it is mainly OBI GBANJA that is found in stores that Offer KOLA NUTS for sale.

PER IFA: ONE SHOULD CAREFULLY EXAMINE THE KOLA NUT - MAKING SURE THE OBI ABATA HAS 4 LOBES WHEN LOOKING FOR OBI FOR DIVINING PURPOSES AND RITUAL MAGICK.

Think About It

It is felt that there is connection between the worlds divination processes and the items used symbolically, such as the “shape” of things and “recipes” for magicks used. Do you see the similarity? We will continue to discuss this thought as we go through other divinations.

Thursday PMQ2

General - Journal - Book of Shadows

SUBMISSION: NONE
There is no Submission for today, but we do ask that you contemplate a moment about the Lesson to connect it with the previous one we examined regarding African diaspora practices. We will look at others.

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