Orunmila as orisa rather than as a divination system: who he is, why he alone witnessed the choosing of destinies, his relationship to Esu and to Olodumare, and his cult. The Ifa corpus itself is covered in 05-ifa.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Ọ̀rúnmìlà na the òrìṣà of wisdom and divination, and e hold one position wey no other òrìṣà hold: e dey present when each person choose their destiny, and na only am remember wetin dem choose . Everything wey the Ifá system dey do depend on this one. Person wey dey consult Ifá no dey ask for prediction; wetin e dey ask na make the only witness remind am of the terms wey e agree to but don forget.
This page cover Ọ̀rúnmìlà as an òrìṣà. 05-ifa cover the Ifá corpus, the 256 Odù, the instruments, how dem dey train the babaláwo, and how divination dey work, and this file deliberately no repeat all those ones.
Ọ̀rúnmìlà, dem dey generally break am down as ọ̀run (the otherworld, heaven) plus mọ (to know) plus ẹ̀là or another related element, and dem usually translate am as "only heaven knows who will be saved" or "heaven knows the means of deliverance." The breakdown no dey fully certain and different derivations dey circulate; make person treat any single etymology wey dem talk with confidence as just proposal.
Ẹlẹ́rìí Ìpín, witness to destiny, or witness to the choosing of destinies. Na this be the main title and e state the whole theological position.
Àgbọnnìrègún, na name wey dem dey use for Ọ̀rúnmìlà, for some account as a different earlier figure and for others as another name. Sources get different view and this text no resolve am here.
Dem dey use Ifá for both the divination system and, for normal talk, for Ọ̀rúnmìlà himself, and people no dey consistently separate the two. Some sources take Ifá as the system and Ọ̀rúnmìlà as the òrìṣà wey get am; others take dem as the same thing. This ambiguity really dey inside Yorùbá usage.
Bàbá, father, and Ẹdú, and the greeting Àbọ̀rú Àbọ̀yè, wey be the standard greeting for babaláwo.
The position, as the tradition explain am . Before birth, each person go kneel down before Olódùmarè and choose orí, an inner head, wey dey carry their destiny: wetin dem go do, wetin dem go get, how long dem go live, and how dem go die. As dem reach the world, the person go forget wetin dem choose. Ọ̀rúnmìlà dey present when dem choose am and e no forget.
Na why divination dey work be this, and na why e no be fortune-telling . Wetin Ifá dey bring out no be the future but the terms, and the reason to bring dem out na because person fit work with destiny: e fit reduce the effect of bad side through ebọ, and person fit miss the good side if dem fail to do wetin e require. 04-cosmology cover orí, àyànmọ́, and ìpín in full, and 05-ifa cover wetin consultation really involve.
Two result dey wey make sense to mention. First, Ọ̀rúnmìlà no dey decide anything. E dey report. The authority belong to Olódùmarè and the choice na the person own. Second, the system no be fatalism, because to know the terms na wetin strictly make intervention possible.
The pairing na structural. Ọ̀rúnmìlà know wetin dem must do; Èṣù dey carry am. Divination wey prescribe sacrifice depend on Èṣù to deliver am, and Èṣù dey present for all 256 Odù as messenger for each one. The sources describe dem as close working partners, wey Èṣù dey independent instead of make e dey subordinate. 08-esu cover this from Èṣù's side.
Dem frequently pair the two together for story, and the pattern wey dey repeat itself na say Èṣù go create or reveal the problem and Ọ̀rúnmìlà go give the diagnosis .
Dem put am among the primordial divinities inside Awolalu classification, those ones wey exist before the world take this current form and come out from Olódùmarè without human involvement . E no be, according to standard accounts, human being wey dem turn to deity, and na this distinguish am from Ṣàngó and from Ọdùduwà.
E position relative to Olódùmarè close pass most òrìṣà, and Ifá texts describe am in terms of say e dey close to the supreme being and say dem delegate work give am . But dem no dey worship am as supreme being himself, and readers suppose dey aware of twentieth and twenty-first century presentations of Ifá as standalone monotheistic religion wey get Ọ̀rúnmìlà for head, wey be modern development connected to the return-to-tradition movement and to diaspora institutionalisation. 09-orisa-today talk about that development.
Colours na green and yellow, or for some accounts brown and green, and the special bead for babaláwo na the ìdè, green-and-yellow beaded string wey dem dey wear for wrist.
Materials. The ikin, the sixteen sacred palm nuts, wey be the highest instrument. The ọpọ́n Ifá, the divination tray. The ìróké, the tapper. The ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀, the divining chain. Dem cover all these ones for 05-ifa and for 07-arts, and dem be working instruments just as dem be cult objects.
Ọ̀sẹ̀ Ifá, the Ifá day, na the second day for the Yorùbá four-day week and dem also dey call am Ọjọ́ Awo, the day of secrets or of the initiated. 23-the-ritual-year cover the week.
Priesthood. The babaláwo, father of secrets, from bàbá plus ní plus awo (secret, mystery, cult). The corresponding female title wey dem dey use now na ìyánífá, and the matter of women initiation to Ifá na something wey people dey actively drag for Nigeria and for diaspora, with plenty literature on top am. 05-ifa talk about the training and the controversy.
Make you note say babaláwo na specialist inside Ifá, and this one na different professional structure from the òrìṣà-cult priesthood wey dem describe for 02-how-orisa-worship-is-organized . The two no be the same office and holding one no mean say person get the other.
Ìtàdógún, the sixteen-day cycle wey babaláwo dey consult for himself and for im clients, na wetin dey structure the professional calendar.
Ọdún Ifá, and for Ilé-Ifẹ̀ the Agbọn Festival for Òkè Ìtasẹ̀, the hill associated with Ọ̀rúnmìlà, wey be important annual gathering of babaláwo. Specific dates dey vary and this compiler no verify dem.
World Ifá Festival na modern institution wey dey bring practitioners from Nigeria and diaspora together, and just like the World Sango Festival, na something wey develop for twentieth and twenty-first century instead of form wey dem inherit from past.
Cuba, Lucumí: Orula, dem still dey call am Orunmila and Orunla. Dem join am with San Francisco de Asís, feast day na 4 October. How dem dey practice am for Cuba still maintain the difference between the babalawo, wey dey serve Orula and dey work Ifá, and the santero or santera, wey dem initiate to an oricha and dey do the sixteen-cowrie divination; the relationship between the two of dem na active and sometimes serious institutional matter for Cuban Lucumí. Plenty Cuban people dey wear the idé de Orula, the green-and-yellow wrist bead, including many people wey dem never initiate otherwise, after dem do the mano de Orula ceremony.
Brazil, Candomblé: Orunmilá / Ifá. E dey important to note say the Ifá divination system no survive enter Brazilian Candomblé the way e take appear for Cuba. Dem dey do Candomblé divination with cowries, jogo de búzios, wey correspond to the Yorùbá mẹ́rìndínlógún, and the sixteen-nut Ifá system with im babalaô specialists no dey common like dat at all. Dis na one of the clearest structural differences between the two main diaspora traditions, and e dey important make person note am because e dey show say how dem pass the tradition down na selective, no be complete everything dem carry enter. 08-diaspora treat dis matter.
Esu as orisa in his own right: the messenger who carries sacrifice, the keeper of the crossroads, the activator of ase, the one who tests. The Satan conflation is handled in 04-cosmology; this page is about what Esu actually is.
The orisa of leaves and of the knowledge of what plants do, the one-limbed body, the iron staff of birds, and the relationship between Osanyin and the practising herbalist.
The competing scholarly definitions of òrìṣà, why "god" and "idol" are bad translations, what the numbers 201 and 401 are doing, and how òrìṣà relate to Olódùmarè and to the dead.
There is no Yoruba church. Òrìṣà devotion is organised town by town and lineage by lineage, with local priesthoods, local shrines, and local festivals, and this page explains how those structures work.
The cosmology, mythological narratives, priesthood structure, sacred geography, and Atlantic diaspora trajectories of Ọ̀rúnmìlà, the Yoruba divinity of wisdom and witness of destiny.
Ifá is a Yorùbá system for reaching a decision by casting a signature, retrieving the memorised verses filed under it, and reasoning from the precedents they contain.