Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa

604 Pages·1969·57.08 MB·English

by  William Russell Bascom

IFA DIVINATION
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IFA
DIVINATION
Communication
Between
Gods and Men
In West Africa
WILLIAM BASCOM
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
First Midland Book Edition 1991
Copyright© 1969 ·by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publisher. The Association of American University
Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only
exception to this prohibition.
Library of Congress catalog card number: 69-10349
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN 978-0-253-32890-8
ISBN 978-0-253-20638-l (pbk.)
10 11 12 13 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
CONTENTS
Preface ix
PART ONE: IFA DIVINATION
Chapter I. Introduction 3
Chapter II. Previous Studies 13
Chapter III. The Apparatus of Ifa Divination and the
Preliminary Invocations 26
Chapter IV. The Figures of Ifa 40
Chapter V. Specific Alternatives: Ibo and Adimu 51
Chapter VI. The Sacrifices and Medicines 60
Chapter VII. The Predictions 68
Chapter VIII. Professional Ethics 76
Chapter IX. The Diviners 81
Chapter X. The King's Diviners 91
Chapter XI. The System of Belief 103
Chapter XII. The Divination Verses 120
PART TWO: THE VERSES OF IFA
Ogbe Meji (1-12), 140-162 Qy~ku- (Q)w~mrin (1), 266-268
Ogbe - (Q)y~ku (1-3), 164-170 Iwori Ogbe (1-6), 268-284
Ogbe - (I)wori (1-4), 170-180 Iwori- (Q)y~ku (1-2), 284-286
Ogbe- (E)di (1-4), 180-184 Iwori Meji (1-7), 288-308
Ogbe- (Q)bara (1-4), 184-190 Iwori Ofun (1), 310
Ogbe- (Q)kanran (1-6), 190-202 Edi Meji (1-5), 310-318
Ogbe- (I)rosun (1-5), 202-212 Edi - (Q)kanran (1-8), 318-336
Ogbe- (O)gunda (1-3), 214-220 Edi- (I)rosun (1-2), 338-340
Ogbe - (I)ka (1-3), 220-228 Qkanran Meji (1-3), 340-344
Qy~ku Ogbe (1-4), 230-232 Irosun Qbara (1), 346-350
Qy~ku Meji (1-12), 232-258 Irosun Meji (1-2), 350-354
Qy~ku- (I)wori (1-3), 258-262 Irosun Qfi~ (1-2), 354-358
Qy~ku- (E)di (1-3), 262-264 Qw~mrin Meji (1-2), 360-362
v
vi Contents
Qw9nrin- (I)r~t~ (1), 362-368 Q§~ - (O)tura (1), 466
Ogunda- (I)wori (1), 368-370 Q§~ Meji (1-2), 468-470
Ogunda Meji (1-2), 37Z-374 Ofun Ogbe (1-4), 470-476
Qsa- (O)gunda (1), 374-384 Ofun (I)wori (1-4), 476-482
Qsa Meji (1), 384-386 Ofun- (E)di (1-2), 482-486
Ir~t~ Qkanran (1), 386-392 Ofun - (Q)bara (1-4), 488-494
Ir~t~ - (I)rosun (1), 392-398 Ofun- (Q)kanran (1-4), 496-502
Ir~t~ - (Q)w9nrin (1), 398-404 Ofun- (I)rosun (1-5), 502-514
Irete- Qsa (1-3), 404-416 Ofun- (Q)w9nrin (1-4), 516-522
Ir~t~ - (Q)§~ (1-2), 416-428 Ofun- (O)gunda (1-6), 522-534
Otura- (Q)bara (1-4), 428-440 Ofun- (Q)sa (1-3), 534-540
Otura Irosun (1-4), 440-446 Ofun- (Q)§~ )1-4), 540-548
Oturup9n- (O)tura (1), 446-450 Ofun Meji (1-6), 548-558
Ika Meji (1-3), 450-454. Parodies (1-4), 560-562
Q§~ Ogbe (1-4), 456-466
References Cited 565
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Qp~l~, Noko, Agbigba, and Eba 9
2. Marking the Ifa Figure 41
3, Piece of Calabash Shell Marked with Qkanran Ofun 116
LIST OF TABLES
1. The Sixteen Basic Figures of Ifa 4
2. The Ifa Figures and the Deities 44
3. The Order of the Basic Ifa Figures 48
4. The Rank Order of the First Sixty-One Figures 50
5, The Choice Between Two Specific Alternatives 52
6. The Choice Between Five Specific Alternatives ;·13
7. The Five Kinds of Good and Bad Fortune 57
8. Probabilities for Two Alternatives Presented in Sequence 58
9. The Choice of Adimu 58
LIST OF PLATES
(See section following page xi i)
lA. Two carved heads (~la or irin) of ivory and elephant bone.
lB. Two 9Prrlrr pods.
2A. A divining chain (gprrlrr) from Qyg.
2B. A divining chain from Ilara.
3. A divining bag (apo Ifa).
4A-B. Two beaded divining bags from Igana and Qyg.
5. A divining cup (agere Ifa, ajele Ifa) from Deyin.
6. A lidless divining cup.
7. A brass divining cup.
B. A divining cup from ~fgn Alaye.
9. A wooden divining bowl (gpgn igrrdrr) from Ifrr.
10. A divining bowl at Igana.
11. A circular divining tray (gpgn Ifa) from Igana.
12. A rectangular divining tray from Mrrkg.
13A-B. Three divining bells (irg Ifa) from Mrrkg and Ifrr.
14. Beating the set of sixteen palm nuts between the hands.
15. Marking a figure (odu) in wood dust (iyrrrosun).
16. The divining chain (gprrlli) dangled over a penny.
17. Choosing between specific alternatives.
18. The divining chain cast on the divining bag.
19. Samuel Elufi§oye, divining for his two "wives of Ifa."
20A-B. Conclusion of the divination.
21A. Two odu containers carried in the street.
21B. An origi in front of an Ifrr compound.
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PREFACE
Ifa is the most respected, in many ways the most interesting, system
of divination of five to ten million Yoruba in Nigeria1 and millions more of
their African neighbors and their descendants in the New World.
Unquestionably, the most important of the previous studies of Ifa is
that of Maupoil {1943), for Dahomey. Maupoil describes initiations and oth
er rituals, and ritual paraphernalia, in a detail that is not attempted here,
where the primary emphasis is on the Yoruba, and not on the worship of Ifa
as a deity, but on the method of divination, the manner in which it "works,"
and the Ifa verses that are of such fundamental importance to the entire sys
tem of divination. Neither study should be regarded as definitive, if only be
cause of the thousands of Ifa verses that remain to be recorded before they
are forgotten. Fortunately, this work is currently being pursued at the Uni
versity of Ibadan.
The established Yoruba orthography is followed, with ~for C, 9 for :>,
p for kp, ;; for sh, and with n representing nasalization except where it ap
pears initially or betwe~n two vowels; a, e, i, o, u have continental values.
In translating the verses in Part Two, I have usually taken the liberty of us
ing sh instead of ;;. In transcribing the Yoruba texts I have departed from
convention, for example giving "n(i)-igba-ti" as "at-time-that" in the inter
linear translation rather than "nigbati" as "when." Parentheses enclose
elided sounds; and hyphens join parts of Yoruba compound words and their
English equivalents. When two or more English words are required to
translate one Yoruba word, they are joined by colons, as in ''be:able" for
"le."
To avoid confusion it is important to note at the outset that If~ or lle
If~ is a city and Ifa is both a method of and a deity of divination. Qni is the
title of the King (Qba) of If~, and Qrunmila is another name for Ifa, the deity.
The Ifa diviners are known in Yoruba as babalawo.
1. The last official Nigerian census in 1952 gave 5,079, 746 Yoruba
(including 32,947 Its~kiri, a ¥oruba subgroup) out of a total population of
31,156,027. Otily gross figures have been released for the controversial
1962 census, which gave a total population of 53,200,000 for Nigeria, but
with no indication of ethnic affiliation. If one can put any faith in recent
statistics, the Yoruba may number 11,000,000. This estimate is reached
by multiplying the percentage of Yoruba in the Regions and Provinces of
Nigeria in 1952 by the population figures given in Tables 10 and 11 of the
Western Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, VI (1-2), 1964: 11-12. If recent fig
ures are exaggerated, as may be the case, those of the 1952 census were
probably underestimated and do not allow for interim growth. One recent
statement gives 10,250,000 Yoruba (West Africa, December 26, 1964: 1452).