tradition
Yoruba Ifá
A Yoruba system of divination and associated orature in which a trained babaláwo recites verses for a client’s situation.
Also known as Ifá
Meetings with this tradition
Yoruba Ifá is connected to Oracle.
English often calls Ifá an oracle. The comparison is a translation convenience; Ifá is a verse-and-lot system with a babaláwo, not a Pythia on a tripod.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
connected to · sourced · culturally specific
Eshu belongs to Yoruba Ifá.
Bascom’s account of Ifá places Eshu at the opening of the rite: messages do not pass without him.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
belongs to · sourced · culturally specific
Divination belongs to Yoruba Ifá.
Ifá, as Bascom describes it, is a named West African system of verses and lots. It is not a dialect of Greek oracles.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
belongs to · sourced · culturally specific
Lots is used in Yoruba Ifá.
Ifá, as Bascom describes it, uses palm nuts or a chain to produce a figure for which verses are recited. The lots are Yoruba equipment.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Opon Ifá is used in Yoruba Ifá.
Bascom describes the opon Ifá as the carved tray on which Ifá lots are cast. Instrument of that ethnography’s Ifá, not cowrie-as-lot and not a tarot table.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Ikin is used in Yoruba Ifá.
Bascom describes ikin, the sacred palm nuts of Ifá, as the lots cast on the tray. Instrument of that ethnography’s Ifá, not the opele chain and not the opon Ifá board.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Opele is used in Yoruba Ifá.
Bascom describes the opele as the divining chain of Ifá, used when the palm-nut set is not cast. Instrument of that ethnography’s Ifá, not the opon Ifá tray and not ikin.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Yoruba culture · West Africa
Cowrie is used in Yoruba Ifá.
Ifá divination as Bascom describes it uses palm nuts and related apparatus; cowries appear in Yoruba and neighboring lots-practices. Shell as a divinatory piece is not Atlantic currency.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · partially sourced · culturally specific
Yoruba culture
Yoruba culture contains Yoruba Ifá.
Ifá is an institution among Yoruba-speaking peoples. The culture is not identical with the divinatory system.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
contains · sourced · documented
Meetings in this tradition's context
Eshu is used in Divination.
Ifá communication, as Bascom describes it, requires Eshu as messenger between client, babaláwo, and òrìṣà. This is not Delphi and not tarot.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Eshu is associated with Trickster.
Eshu tests, misdirects, and opens roads. Calling him “the Yoruba trickster” is a comparative label; the òrìṣà is not Hermes in another hat.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
associated with · sourced · culturally specific
Because Eshu can open or close a path, fortune in Ifá is partly a matter of whether the messenger is correctly acknowledged.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
associated with · partially sourced · culturally specific
Bascom describes the opele chain as the Ifá instrument that falls into a figure when the palm nuts are not cast. A named lots-chain of that ethnography, not ikin, and not the opon Ifá tray.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · sourced · culturally specific
Yoruba culture
Casting cowries is a lots-technique in several West African and diaspora practices. Method-type, not one rite and not a slave-trade ledger.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
used in · partially sourced · documented
Eshu is associated with Cowrie.
Eshu as Ifá’s messenger belongs to the same West African ritual world in which cowries can be lots. Do not make Eshu a coin.
from William Bascom · Ifa Divination, 1969
associated with · interpretive · culturally specific
sources
- Ifa Divination · William Bascom
William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa.