Ifa divination

The Ifa divination process in Santeria or Yoruba Religion requires special instruments to assist in divination to transcribe the wisdom of Orunmila through babalawo.

The process of divination easier just needs the okpele, string bark which has 8 according to how the fall will odduara of Ifa. For most major guesses used the opposition and the Iroko, fundamental Ifa divination, a central ritual within Yoruba religion. The board, which can be adorned with carved images, sprinkle, and serves as a template in which sacred signs (oddus) related to the person concerned is being looked at, are plotted as the starting point for analysis. In contrast to these temporary signs, the permanent backdrop of the carved motifs on the board and the artistic exegesis iruke are the forces that shape human experience and the universal needs filled for those seeking enlightenment.

The utensils used for divination include.

A group of 16 Ikin, known as kola seeds, which are used to create binary data.

To start the ritual, the babalawo puts the board in front of him and rhythmically rattled on, with the tip of iroko, invoking the presence of past diviners of Ifa, calling Orunmila, the Orisha of divination.

There are many seeds or Ikin but only specific types can be used to Ifa divination. The seeds are grouped in one hand, then the guesser to try to pass all your other hand to see it and count the seeds that were left on the other hand, waiting to be one or two seeds, the duration of this process, the diviner marks single or double it in powder is on the board, until you have created one of the 256 oddus there.

Each of these oddus is related to a group of verses called Esses, related to Yoruba mythology, and used to the process of divination. These verses represent thousands of years of observation and are filled with predictions, worldly and spiritual requirements to resolve situations that appear in the odduara.

After getting the odduara that governs the situation or event, then determines whether the odduara babalawo comes with Ire (which can be described as ill-luck, even if it means more) and Osobbo (which are impediments or obstacles to achieving the objective.) after this process the diviner determine the necessary gifts, spiritual, disciplinary and behavior to be performed by the person receiving divinatory counsel (ebbó)