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Bade Ajayi INTRODUCTION Divination is a phenomenon found in all races at all times. It is universally concerned with practical problems of everyday life. The divinatory arts are many and a broad understanding can only emerge from a survey of actual practices in various cultural settings. Divination is of various forms. Forms such as palmistry, dream interpretation, and astrology are popular in highly developed societies. Diviners are also of different kinds; they include many types of media who communicate with the dead, and crystal gazers, all of which are popular in the Western world today. Like the other peoples of the world, the Yoruba have various forms of divination. They include Erindinlogun which involves the casting of sixteen cowries. Agbigba, which employs a set of separate strings with four markers each, and iyanrin tite (sand printing). Others are obi dida (kolanut casting)', omiwiwo (water gazing), owo wiwo (palmistry/ owo wiwo (money gazing), atipa or abokuusoro, wiwo oju (eye gazing) and digi wiwo (mirror gazing). Of all these methods of divination employed by the Yoruba, Ifa divination is considered the most important, the most reliable, and the most popular.2 We are aware that scholars3 have analyzed the structure of ese Ifa (Ifa verse). But in this chapter, our attention is focused on the totality of what happens from the moment a client enters a babalawo^ house till he departs after 113

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offering a prescribed sacrifice. Babalawo is the diviner or Ifa priest. THE STRUCTURE OF IFA DIVINATION PROCESS4 The early stage Ifa divination session begins as soon as a client gels to the Babalawo1 s house. First, he greets the diviner after which he then tells the diviner what his/her mission is. The Babalawo asks the client to whisper his/her problem to the divining chain. The Babalawo then holds the opele. a common divinatory object and "pays homage" to some unseen power. After that he starts divining. Ifa divination process has a structural which distinguishes it from other forms of divination among the Yoruba. Ifa divination process can be divided into three broad structural parts, namely prologue, narrative, and epilogue. The prologue begins the process, followed by the narrative, and ends with the epilogue. Although there are a number of subsections, each of the three major divisions adopted in this study cohesive unit. The internal structure of each division is as follows: 1. The Prologue (a) Babalawo divining for an Odu5 to emerge. (b) Emergence of an Odu 2. The Narrative (c) Interpretation of Odu sign (d) Narrating Related stories. (e) Explanation of the Message contained in ese Ifa (Ifa verse). 3. The Epilogue (f) Client's view of the Revelation. (g) Details findings with the use of Ibo. (h) Prescription of Sacrifice. (j) Performance of Sacrifice. CRITERIA USED FOR THREE DIVISIONS

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The three-fold division is adopted after a careful observation of the process of Ifa divination. The criteria used for the trichotomy are the consideration of the content, the form and the sentence types that characterize each part. The prologue contains essentially the homage, seeking the support and blessings of the spiritual powers and invoking their presence in the divination process. The narrative part consists of the story of the past events or incidents which serve as a precedent to the case at hand. Also contained in the narrative is the interpretation of ese Ifa. The most important parts of the epilogue are the sacrifice and the rites which will be prescribed. The form of presentation is another criterion upon which the three-told division is based. The prologue is rendered essentially in verse form. The language here is partly esoteric as the Babalawo directs the invocatory utterance to the super-natural powers and partly in prose {sometimes in verse) so that the artist (the Babalawo) might have effective communication with his clients. What he expresses in esoteric verse is often explained or interpreted in prose form for the client. The epilogue is usually more in verse than in prose form. This is because the Babalawo is supposed to direct his appeal to the gods or goddesses as the case may be and some spirits whom he asks to bless and accept the offerings. The most recurrent sentences in the prologue are in imperative form. For example: Onmmila a gbo o, Akinoosa, B 'o ha li ri ni o wi o, Ma fire pebi, mafibi pere. (Orunmila you certainly heard, Akinoosa [a brave deity], Tell exactly what you heard, Don't call a good thing a bad one or vice versa.) Then we have the narrative part of the process. In this part, the diviner plays the role of an interpreter and messenger (one who 115

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is merely passing on messages and information). He would tell the client what Ifa said. For instance, he will say: Ifa ni ki Oniyen ntbo, Ifa pe oitn o ni i je ki eleeni o (e. (Ifa said that the person should offer a sacrifice). (Ifa said that he would not let the person be disgraced.) The third structure we need to consider is the epilogue. Like the prologue, the epilogue is dominated by imperative sentences, but also punctuated by questions, as if to express anxiety on the part of the client, and the Babalawo. A typical question is Kin ni a bo ru lebo (What we offer for sacrifice?). And when an Odu says ire (blessings), the Babalawo would have to find out Ire kin ni? Ire owo? Ire aiku? (Which kind of blessing? Blessing of money? Blessing of long life?). Every Ifa divination manifests these three-fold division. INTERELATION OF STUCTURAL PARTS When a man is faced with some problems such as the fear of death or of enemies, or is in want of something, he consults Orunmila through the Babalawo ( the diviner of Ifa priest) for advice and guidance. The mans belief is that the Babalawo is the only trusted traditional "consultant pharmacist" and herbalist who is capable of solving his problems. And to do this, the Babalawoi seeks the support of the deities and other supernatural beings to be effective. So he goes into invocation. The interpretation of the Odu (the sign that the babalawo interprets) that appears after the invocation is narrated to the client. Where there is need for clarification the Babalawo also provides it. In the process the client is also given some prescriptions of what he is required to do and invariably some kind of offering or sacrifice is prescribed. The client invariably goes home feeling satisfied and believing that if the prescribed sacrifice is performed the problems which took him to the Babalowo would be solved. MERITS OF THE THREE-FOLD DIVISION As discussed above, the three parts of Ifa divination process - the prologue, the narrative and the epilogue are closely related. 116

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The three-fold division enables us to see the process as a unit. Furthermore, the division signifies the form, content and language structure of the divination process. From the foregoing it can be said that every Ifa divination manifests the threefold division we are trying to present in this chapter. The three-fold structure is therefore a proof that the narrative does not exist in isolation. It is preceded by a prologue and followed by an epilogue. APPLICATION OF THE THREE-FOLD DIVISION Several Odu 5 emerge during the series of Ifa divination processes which we observed during our research. The following is an excerpt of the cases when Eji-Ogbe (the premier Ifa corpus) emerged during the divination process we observed. This example is used here to illustrate the three structural parts. We will present the matter first in Yoruba in order to preserve our recording, and then attempt to translate into English as nearly as we can best render it. Ibere Babalawo: f!4 wo di opele mu laarin, o na an siwaju re) Onmmila o gbo o, Akinoosa. Balogun lode orun, Olimmoran lode Owo, Arihinin rohunun, O gbo ohun to wi o, Iwo lawo, emi logberi, B 'o ba ti n ni o wi o, Mafirepebi, mafibipere. Iwaju opon o gbo, Eyin opon o gbo. Olumu lotunun, Olukunran losi. Aarin opon o^gbo ita orun. lleo gboAghalagude, Atiwaye ojo, atiwo oorun, Aje iwo naa gbo; O gho ohun ti olowo yii wi o, Ire! (Babalawo da opefe) Babalawo:Eji-Ogbe-Ogbe, baba Ifa (Odu to hu) 117

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Ire ni Ifa I 'ohun ri. Ire owo, aya, omo (awo gbe opele sanle) Beeko, ni awo yii? (o gbe opele sanle leeekeji) Owo otun (Owo-eyo to duro fun bee,ni ni adibo/onibeere kokoju sile). Itan(Ifa) . Babalawo: (Awo bere si i so ohun ti Ifa wi, o n ki Ifa) Eni te da Eji-Ogbe, Ifa ni ki oniyen rubo. Ifa I'oun o nij'oju o ti i. Ifa pe gbogbo ohun ti elemi ba ti dawole ni o ma yori si daadaa. If ape ki oniyen o rubo aje, ko rubo obirin, ko rubo omo, pe ire to tori re dafa si, pe ire naa o sun un bo. Edudu o wule du, Okunkun won o wule kun. Jalagba I' awo aghara. A difafun Atenilara awo okun. Edudu o wule du. Okunkun won o wide kun, Jalagba I 'awo aghara. A difa fun Atenlara awo osa. Edudu o wule du, Okunkun won o wule kun, Jalagba lawo agbara, A difa fun Atenilara awo atan omi Atenilara awo okun, Eni ti o ba ni lowo ko ni isinmi. Bee ni ti awo osa, Bee ni ti atan omi. Orunmila lo wa da/ape awon atenilara yii, mateela le pefoun, oun o le te bayii? Won ni ebo ni ko ru, Orunmila si rubo. Atenilara awo okun lontko a ape aje. /fa pe ki eleeni o rubo aje. Atenilara awo osa loruko a ape obirin, Ifape ki oniyen o rubo obirin Atenilara awo atan ami I'oruko a ape omo 118

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Ifa pe ki Oluware rubo omo. Orunmila lowo lowo, o lobinrin, o si bimo, ni inu re wa dun ni n se?: Ori mi apere, Aya mi afobi kan Orisa-agbo ko ma ma je ki Atenilara o te ni. Ifape oun o ni ije ki eleeni o te. Ifape oun o oje ire o to oniyenkm. Agbebo adie, oke mefa, eku ati eja ni ebo re. Ipari (Ikadii) Onibeere: Eseun awo. Gbogbo ahun ti mo daniyan ni eja, nigbatia kifa. Mo setan lati ru ebo ti e ka silefun mi. (Onibeere rubo, babalawosigk ebo naa siwaju.) Babalawo: Nigba ti a da Ifa fun Ajibade, Eji-Oghe lojade, 0 ni ire. k kin ni? Oni ire aje, ire aya, ire omo. Kin la o se? O ni ebo ni ki a ru. Ni igbom gbooru lo ru ebo tia ka silefun un. Ebo naaniyio, Ifa. Je kojinjekoda.jek to ode orun, je ki ebo re to owo Eledaa. (Awo kifa lo hi ile bi eni) Eji-Ogbe dakun ba ni se e, fiye denufiye dekun, jive de gbogbo am, Olalekun., Ominikun, atatabiakun... Oyeku Meji wa a ba ni se e...Ko o fiye denu, ko o fiye dekun, koo fiye de gbogbo ara. Eji iwori waa ba wa se e... Ogundabede waa ba wa se e... Okanransa waa ba se e...Okanransa wa a gbebo naa. Okanransa awo ofo ile lo difa funle, okanransa awo aso lo difa f'aso. Won lawon meteeta o wa rubo. Oko rubo, ile rubo, aso naa rubo, won o ku, won o run, won n se: A i i gboku oko, A i i gboku aso, A i i gboku ile, Aft bo gbo. Je ki Ajibade o gbo kangeje ofapajo,je oferigijobi Okanran o two, o ni b 'oun o niyo, oun o gbonara sebo (habalawo gbon opele si ebo, o gbe le onibeere lowo). Gbogbo ohitn to banfowo gbamu, majeobaje. (Awogbeebo si ori ile) To ba kan ile tan orun elebo ni i lo. (Won gbe ebo lo idi Esu). Adimula : O gbo Ifa o Adimula 119

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Biku ba n bo, bo o, Ban-in ba n bo o, bo o, Bese ba n bo, bo o, Begba ba n bo, bo o, Eire aje, ire aya, ire omo, ire aiku pari iwa Ba n ho, ko o si i sile. (Onibeere si owo re mejeeji to da de opele)6. Prologue Babalawo: (The priest holds the divining chain in the middle and streches it forward) Orunmila you heard? Akinoosa The officer in heaven, the knower in the town of Owo. One that sees everything, You heard what the client said silently. You are the knowledgeable one. I am an ignorant person. That he said you heard, I did not hear it. Tell exactly what you heard. Don't call a good thing a bad one nor bad, a good one. Front of the divining tray you hear. Back of the divining tray you hear. One on the right, one on the left. Middle of the divining tray you hear, open air in heaven. The ground (praised) Agbalagude: you heard The dawn and the sunset. Goddess of money you also heard, - . You heard what the owner of this money said. Goodness! (Babaiawo casts opele) . ..- . Eje-Ogbe: father of Ifa (Babaiawo names the Odu that emerged) Ifa said he saw blessing, is it blessing of money, wife and children? (Babaiawo casts opele again) 120

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This broken plate signifies "No" (he casts opele a second time). The right hand (the concealer dropped cowry shells indicating "Yes" to the question). Narrative7 Babaiawo: (The priest interprets and narrates Ifa message) The people for whom Eji-Ogbe is cast, Ifa requested him to offer a sacrifice. Ifa said he would not let the person fall into disgrace and disrepute. Ifa said whatever that person might lay his hands on would prosper. Ifa instructed the person to perform sacrifice in respect of money, wife, children, that he would have all required blessings in abundance. The blackness was not merely blackened Darkness was not merely darkened Jalagba was the priest of erosion. Is the one who performed Ifa divination for Atenilara the priest of the sea? The blackness was not merely blackened, Darkness was not merely darkened, Jalagba was the priest of erosion, is the one who performed Ifa divination for Atenilara the priest of the sea? The blackness was not merely blackened, Darkness was not merely darkened. Jalagba was the priest of large water Atenilara the priest of Ocean He who has no money has no rest of mind, So it was in the case of the priest of sea The same was that of large water. It was Orunmila that consulted his priest if he could have the three in his possession, he would not be disgraced. They

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instructed him (Orunmila) to offer a sacrifice. Orunmila performed the prescribed sacrifice. Atenilara the priest of Ocean is the name of money, Ifa said the person should offer sacrifice because of money. Atenilara the priest of sea is the name of women Ifa instructed the person concerned to offer a sacrifice because of a wife Atenilara the priest of the large water is the name of children Ifa instructed the person to offer a sacrifice because of children Orunmila had money, he had wives, and he had children, he felt happy and began to sing; My head is a good one My chest that is touched with kolanut Orisa-agbo does not permit Atenilara to disgrace me Ifa said that he would not let that person be disgraced. Ifa said that the person would be blessed. A hen, three Naira [Nigerian currency], rat and fish constitute The sacrifice to offer. Epilogue Client: Thank you, the priest. You have touched all the things that I had in mind. I am now prepared to perform the prescribed sacrifice. (The client offers the sacrifice and the Babalawo places the offering in front of him). Babalawo:(directing his attention to the divinity) When we divined Ifa for Ajibade, Eji-Ogbe emerged. It said blessings. Blessings of what? It said blessings of money, wives, and children. What shall we do? It said we were to offer a sacrifice. Instantly, he performed the prescribed sacrifice. This is the offer, Ifa,

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Please let the sacrifice be accepted in heaven and let it reach the Creator. (The priest at this point narrates many related stories). Eji-Ogbe. please help us, assist us and whole-heartedly support us in this offer. Olalekan. Ominikun, atatabiakun Oyeku Meji please come and bless this offer - please pardon us, whole-heartedly support us. Eji-Iwori come and support us. Ogundabede come and join us - Ojekulogbe come and join us Osetua come and support us - Okanransa come and accept the sacrifice. Okanransa the priest of hoe divined for hoe. Okanransa the priest of ground divined for the ground. Okanransa the priest of clothes divined for clothes. The three of them were instructed to offer sacrifices. He performed a sacrifice, ground performed a sacrifice, and clothes also performed a sacrifice. They neither died nor fell sick, they started saying: No one hears the death of a hoe, No one hears the death of a clothe, No one hears the death of the ground. Let Ajibade grow very old, let him dance with his arms (when he could not stand to dance); let him eat kola nut when he is toothless - Okanran has no salt, it said if it has no salt, it would shake its body over the sacrifice (the Ifa priest shakes opele on the sacrifice and places the offering on the palms of the client. (The priest places the offering on the ground). Once it touches the ground, it goes to the world beyond (the offering is taken to the Esu shrine outside the priest's house). Adimula: (Blessing offered after taking offering down). You hear Ifa, Adimula - When disease is coming, cover him up. When ese (paralysis) is coming, cover him up; if egba (a deadly desease) is coming, cover him up. But when the blessings of money, wives, children and long life are coming, uncover him. (The client removes the two palms with which he covers the divining chain).

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THE PROLOGUE This structural part of Ifa divination process consists of divining for an Odu to emerge. The main function of this part is to introduce the performance of If a divination that leads to the emergence of an Odu. After the client has told the Babalawo of his or her intention, whispered to the opele as instructed by the diviner, he (the Babalawo} pays homage as usual to the unseen powers. He then casts the divining chain for a decisive Odu to emerge. It is noteworthy that the appearance of an Odu marks the beginning of the structure of Ifa divination process. In the excerpt, Eji-Ogbe, the first principal Odu depicting blessings of all sorts appeared. It is the duty of the Babalawo to find out details as to which kind of blessing the client should expect. The Babalawo did so in the last three lines of the prologue. THE NARRATIVE The second main part of Ifa divination process is often marked1 interpretation of the Odu sign, or narration of the stories connected with tin The interpretation (the first few lines of narrative part) has much of the ] Ifape or Ifa ni (Ifa said that). This part may be in prose or verse or a combination of the two forms, depending on the narrator. For example, a Babalawo may sing the whole narrative, exemplified above, while some others like Chief Agboola Fasina8 whose text we have reproduced here presented the ese in pro; verse. Under narrative, the message of Orunrnila is communicated to the and the Babalawo would want to ensure that he is understood; hence he used prose to make his points explicit. Events reported in the narrative are generally accepted as true. The credibility of the narrative is further supported by a cosmological j in which relations between human beings, divinities, ancestors and other mythological figures are viewed as a projection of relations between people in a particular society.9 By recounting consultation believed to have ai happened, the 124

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Babalawo is able to induce the client to identify situations: or relevant to his own case. The client now believes and sees a precedent even his present problem would also be overcome. Offer of sacrifice is very important in Ifa divination. Whether \ revealed is fortune or misfortune, the client is expected to perform the pres sacrifice. In the text, the client was asked to offer a sacrifice so that he might have money, wives and children. Ifape ki oniyen o rubo owo, obinrin, ko rubt (Ifa requires that the person offer a sacrifice in order to have money, wives, and children). Here the items of sacrifice are not specified but in some cases, to offer are listed (see the last statement in the narrative part of the excerpt). THE EPILOGUE The explanation given to the Babalawo as to the applicability; narrative to his (client's) own case and the offer of sacrifice form the c theme of the epilogue in the excerpt. Orunmila, for whom a similar divination was performed, offered the prescribed sacrifice and he was blessed money, wives, and children. Perhaps it is this incident that encouraged present client to offer the same sacrifice instantly, with the hope of g equal rewards- blessings of money, wives, and children. Normally, the function of the epilogue is to signal conclusion of the divination process. It must be emphasized that in most cases, the prescribed sacrifice is offered, but it might not be performed immediately. Rim ebo ni igbe ni, aim ki i gbeeyan (It is the making of sacrifice that brings blessing; neglect of sacrifice pays no man) is the warning every Babalawo gives when narrating the relevant .stories. When performing the sacrificial rites, several Odu are presented and certain texts of these Odu are sung to bless the offering. The Odu that are specifically meant for sacrificial rites 125

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include all the principal Odu mostly from Eji-ogbe) Ogundabede, Ojekulogbe, Iworiwofun, Obarabogbe,Owonrinsogbe,Okanransa and Osetua, all of which are collectively called Agbebodo (those that make a sacrifice acceptable). As mentioned earlier, any jf the 256 Odu can emerge at the first casting of opele during a divination session. It is from such Odu that a relevant ese lfa will be sung when performing he sacrifice. Then, the Eji-Ogbe, Oyeku Meji, Iwori Meji and as many of the principal Odu as the Babalawo picks relevant stories from the above specific minor Odu are presented. Each story, or song is punctuated with deep hearted prayer for the clients. As emphasized by our informant Babalawo (Olaifa Ajayi. Oyedele Isola and Anafi Ajala), it is not compulsory to narrate ese Ifa from all the principal Odu and the minor Odu mentioned above at a particular offering. The Odu that first appears, then Eji-Ogbe and the two or three other Odu that first appears, then Eji-Ogbe and the two or three other might be sufficient for a sacrificial rite, depending on the circumstance. CONCLUSION In the foregoing, an attempt has been made to show what happens from the time a person approaches a Babalawo for consultation till he (the client) departs. The part played by the Babalawo at the different stages of the sacrifice has been shown. We have also specified the essential Odu (out of the 256 Odu in the Ifa corpus) from which relevant stories are to be narrated in the process of Ifa divination generally.

NOTES

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Kolanut and bilternut methods of divination are restricted in what they can forecast primarily because they lack the verses associated with Ifa. 2. Most of the various forms of divination among the Yoruba take their sources from Ifa divination, confirmed Awo Yemi Elebu-Ibon, the Awise of Osogbo, and Awo Oyedele Isola of Beesin compound, Oyo. Among others, Ogunbiyi (1952) AvroJaJu (1979) Bascotn ([969) and Olatunji (1984) have described some of the forms of divination among the Yoruba. 3. See the following texts: Abimbola, W.,1975, Sixteen Great Poems of Ifa. UNESCO ------------, 1976, IFA: An Exposion of If a Literary Corpus^ O.U.P. Ibadan. Nigeria Ajayi, B., 1988, A Descriptive Analysis of Eje-Ogbe, the Premier Ifa corpus. M. Phil. Thesis, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Bascom. W. 1969, Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and men in West Africa, Indiana University Press. Olatunji, O.O 1984, Festures of Yoruba Oral Poetry. University Press, Ibadan, Nigeria. Prince, R.. 1965, Ifa: Yoruba Divination and Sacrifice. Ibadan, Ibadan University Press. 4. Akinnaso (1983) uses these terms when analyzing Erindinlogun, another form of divination among the Yoruba. 5. An Odu in this context is a sign which the Babalawo interprets in the process of Ifa divination. When the Odu is verbalized, it forms a collection of stories (ese Ifa) having a similar theme. 6. The structure of Ifa divination process was collected when I went to divine from Awo Oyedele Isola within May and June 1986, for the purpose of research. 7. This narrative has interpolations, which are not stated in the data because they are not part of the structure. These interpolations can be regarded as introductions, explanations and/or questions for further clarifications by 127

1.

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the diviner. We have to note that a different Babalawo may have this narrative in a different way depending on his imagination, gesture, and competence in the Odu corpus and the use of words. 8. Agboola, F. (1972), Oju/owo-Eeki-Ifa^Part 1, Univ. of Lagos Press. 9. Akinnaso, F. N., 1983. The Structure of Divinatory Speech: A Soc to linguistic Analysis of Yoniba " Sixteen Cowry " Divination. Ph.D, Thesis, Univ. of California, Berkerly.
+

Adapted with permission, from Bade Ajayi, "The Structure of Ifa Divination Process," vol. 12, no 1, 1987, pp. 13-21 ^,

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