Onboarding: Section Index
Guide to the eight files in the onboarding section, what each covers, and which to read first depending on what brought you here.
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Guide to the eight files in the onboarding section, what each covers, and which to read first depending on what brought you here.
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.
Dis section na di simple-language entry into di corpus. Four explainers give accurate working picture of Ifá, di òrìṣà, Yorùbá history and Yorùbá thought inside about one hour reading each. Glossary cover every Yorùbá term wey dey used anywhere for di corpus. Pronunciation guide dey make di diacritics easy to read. Learning paths give four arranged routes wit time estimates. FAQ answer di questions wey people dey really ask, including di ones wey hard to talk.
Nothing here require say you must do anything else first. E good make person check di pronunciation guide before di rest, because na fifteen minutes e dey take and e dey make every Yorùbá word for di corpus easy to read.
01. Ifá in Fifteen Minutes. Di whole divination system: wetin Ọ̀rúnmìlà, Èṣù, di babaláwo, di Odù, di ẹsẹ, di ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀, di ikin and di ọpọ́n be; how consultation dey actually run, including di fact say di client no dey talk di problem out; di exact mechanics of di two casting methods; and di binary structure properly explained, separating wetin really dey dere from di claim say Ifá na di origin of computing, wey no be so.
02. The Òrìṣà in Fifteen Minutes. Wetin òrìṣà be and di two kinds of origin wey tradition give; di major figures, Ọbàtálá, Ọ̀rúnmìlà, Èṣù, Ògún, Ṣàngó, Ọya, Ọ̀ṣun, Yemọja and others; how devotion dey actually work, shrine, offering, praise, drumming, possession and festival; and wetin di pantheon no be.
03. Yorùbá History in Fifteen Minutes. Four thousand years in one run wit dating confidence marked throughout: origins for Niger-Benue confluence, Ilé-Ifẹ̀ and di classical period, Ọ̀yọ́ and im constitutional structure, di nineteenth-century wars and di Atlantic trade including Yorùbá participation inside am, mission and conquest, di making of "Yorùbá" as single identity, and di twentieth century reach now.
04. Yorùbá Thought in Fifteen Minutes. Orí and di inner head; àyànmọ́ and why di destiny system no be fatalism, including Àjàlá di potter and di three ways wey person dey take get destiny; ìwà and why di Ifá corpus put character above sacrifice and above destiny; ọmọlúàbí and di named virtues; àṣẹ; and di Yorùbá analysis of wetin person be.
05. Glossary. Over three hundred Yorùbá terms wey dey used across di corpus, arranged alphabetically, each wit full diacritics, literal meaning where etymology dey documented, plain definition and pointer to di section wey treat am fully. Etymologies wey people dey repeat well well but never get strong proof dey marked as contested instead make dem present am as fact.
06. Learning Paths. Four arranged routes wit time estimates: di curious newcomer, di diaspora Yorùbá wey dey reconnect wit heritage, di reader wey come specifically for Ifá as information system, and di parent wey wan teach children, di last one wit age-by-age sequence and two cautions.
07. FAQ. Di real questions, wey get direct answers wit sources, including whether human sacrifice dey before, Yorùbá participation inside slave trade, whether dis na religion or culture, whether person fit practise without initiation, whether e dey appropriative for non-Yorùbá person to participate, whether women fit get initiation into Ifá, and whether you must choose between dis and your faith.
08. Pronunciation Guide. Wetin di diacritics dey do: subdots as separate letters, tone marks as pitch, di two together, di consonants wey no be wetin dem look like, nasal vowels, syllable shape, ten words wey good make person get right, and links to free audio resources.
If you want one hour: di explainer wey match wetin bring you come here, den di conceptual map for foundations section.
If you want a route: file 06, learning paths, wey get four of dem.
If you came for the binary structure of Ifá: file 01, and read everything instead of skipping go di binary section, because na di mechanics dey give di binary section meaning.
If you were taught this heritage was demonic: start for foundations section wit di file on demonization, den come back here.
Keep open in another tab regardless: di glossary and di pronunciation guide.
What Ifá is, how the divination actually works step by step, how the binary structure produces 256 addresses into a memorised corpus, and what is true and false in the claim that it is an ancient computer.
Four ordered routes through the corpus with time estimates, for the curious newcomer, the diaspora Yorùbá reconnecting, the reader who came for Ifá as an information system, and the parent teaching children.
Alphabetical glossary of Yorùbá terms used across the corpus, each with diacritics, a literal gloss where one is documented, a plain definition, and the section that treats it fully.
Direct answers to the questions readers actually ask, including the uncomfortable ones about human sacrifice, the slave trade, initiation, appropriation and faith.
What an òrìṣà is, how the pantheon is organised, who the major figures are, how devotion actually works, and why the demon framing does not describe any of it.
Four thousand years compressed into one pass, from the Niger-Benue confluence through Ifẹ̀ and Ọ̀yọ́ to the nineteenth-century wars, conquest and the present, with dating confidence marked throughout.