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The House of Ifá

An introduction to the Odù, the ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ and the living divination tradition of the Yorùbá people.

Ifá is a living Yorùbá religious, philosophical and divinatory tradition. What follows is for education and exploration: the structure of the sign system, and what scholars have recorded about how it is used. A traditional Ifá consultation involves trained practitioners and a transmitted body of knowledge that software cannot reproduce, and nothing on these pages stands in for one.

Introduction

Ifá is consulted with objects that form a pattern — eight positions, each a single or a double mark — and read by people who have spent years learning what the patterns carry. The pattern part is arithmetic and is documented; the reading part is a tradition, and is not. These pages keep the two apart.

Start with the Learn path if the words are new. The sixteen principal Odù are below it, with the 256 combinations behind them. The cast page lets you enter a pattern from a physical chain, or watch a simulated one form — and tells you plainly which of the two it is.

A path through it

In the order that makes each step make sense. The experience is built to encourage learning before casting.

  1. What is Ifá?
  2. Meet Ọ̀rúnmìlà
  3. The 16 principal Odù
  4. How 16 become 256
  5. How an ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ forms a signature
  6. Explore the 256
  7. Enter or simulate a pattern
  8. Understanding ẹsẹ̀ Ifá
  9. The role of a trained diviner

Three different things

  • Learn

    What Ifá is, who Ọ̀rúnmìlà is, what an Odù and an ẹsẹ̀ are, the objects and the people — descriptive, sourced, unhurried.

    Start reading

  • Explore the Odù

    All 256 structural combinations: search them, filter the sixteen from the 240, or pick a right and a left leg and see what they make.

    Open the 256

  • Cast, or enter a pattern

    Type in the eight positions from a physical chain and the site names the Odù; or run a simulated cast that says, first, that it is a simulation.

    Go to the cast page

The 16 principal Odù

The Ojú Odù — the sixteen patterns that appear when both legs show the same figure. Each is a Méjì (“twin”). The number beside each is its place in the ordering profile chosen below, which is a seniority order used in one region, not a ranking of importance for the reader.

Ordering profile

The sequence of the sixteen principal Odù as Abimbola presents it, widely used in southwestern Yorubaland. It is a seniority order, not a numeric one.

  • 1

    Eji Ogbe

    Eji OgbeRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, single mark, single mark, single mark. Left leg: single mark, single mark, single mark, single mark.

    Structural note Four single marks. With Oyeku it forms the first pair of the corpus in the southwestern sequence, the two figures being each other's inverse.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Eyiogbe

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 2

    Oyeku Meji

    Oyeku MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, double mark, double mark, double mark. Left leg: double mark, double mark, double mark, double mark.

    Structural note Four double marks — the inverse of Ogbe, and second in the southwestern sequence.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Oyeku Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 3

    Iwori Meji

    Iwori MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, single mark, single mark, double mark. Left leg: double mark, single mark, single mark, double mark.

    Structural note Double, single, single, double: singles enclosed by doubles. Odi is its inverse.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Iwori Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 4

    Odi Meji

    Odi MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, double mark, double mark, single mark. Left leg: single mark, double mark, double mark, single mark.

    Structural note Single, double, double, single: doubles enclosed by singles — Iwori inverted.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Oddi Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 5

    Irosun Meji

    Irosun MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, single mark, double mark, double mark. Left leg: single mark, single mark, double mark, double mark.

    Structural note Two singles above two doubles. Owonrin is its inverse.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Iroso Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 6

    Owonrin Meji

    Owonrin MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, double mark, single mark, single mark. Left leg: double mark, double mark, single mark, single mark.

    Structural note Two doubles above two singles — Irosun inverted.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Ojuani Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 7

    Obara Meji

    Obara MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, double mark, double mark, double mark. Left leg: single mark, double mark, double mark, double mark.

    Structural note A single mark at the top over three doubles. Okanran is the same figure turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Obara Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 8

    Okanran Meji

    Okanran MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, double mark, double mark, single mark. Left leg: double mark, double mark, double mark, single mark.

    Structural note Three doubles over a single mark at the bottom — Obara turned upside down.

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 9

    Ogunda Meji

    Ogunda MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, single mark, single mark, double mark. Left leg: single mark, single mark, single mark, double mark.

    Structural note Three singles over a double at the bottom. Osa is the same figure turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Oggunda Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 10

    Osa Meji

    Osa MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, single mark, single mark, single mark. Left leg: double mark, single mark, single mark, single mark.

    Structural note A double at the top over three singles — Ogunda turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Osa Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 11

    Ika Meji

    Ika MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, single mark, double mark, double mark. Left leg: double mark, single mark, double mark, double mark.

    Structural note Double, single, double, double. Oturupon is the same figure turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Ika Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 12

    Oturupon Meji

    Oturupon MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, double mark, single mark, double mark. Left leg: double mark, double mark, single mark, double mark.

    Structural note Double, double, single, double — Ika turned upside down.

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 13

    Otura Meji

    Otura MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, double mark, single mark, single mark. Left leg: single mark, double mark, single mark, single mark.

    Structural note Single, double, single, single. Irete is the same figure turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Otura meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 14

    Irete Meji

    Irete MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, single mark, double mark, single mark. Left leg: single mark, single mark, double mark, single mark.

    Structural note Single, single, double, single — Otura turned upside down.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Irete Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 15

    Ose Meji

    Ose MejiRight leg, top to bottom: single mark, double mark, single mark, double mark. Left leg: single mark, double mark, single mark, double mark.

    Structural note Single and double alternating from a single at the top. Ofun is its inverse.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Oshe Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked
  • 16

    Ofun Meji

    Ofun MejiRight leg, top to bottom: double mark, single mark, double mark, single mark. Left leg: double mark, single mark, double mark, single mark.

    Structural note Double and single alternating from a double at the top — Ose inverted, and last of the sixteen in the southwestern sequence.

    Lukumí spelling, unverified: Ofun Meyi

    Structural facts only

    • Wande Abimbola, Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976) — page reference not yet checked
    • William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969) — page reference not yet checked

An Odù that appears in a divination is not a personality sign. Nothing on these cards describes a person, and the site will not tell you that you “are” an Odù.

Sources & further reading

Where a statement on these pages relies on one work, the work is named beside it. The three below carry the structural facts.

  • Wande Abimbola

    Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus (1976, Ibadan: Oxford University Press Nigeria)

  • William Bascom

    Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa (1969, Bloomington: Indiana University Press)

  • UNESCO

    Ifa divination system — Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2008)

    https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/ifa-divination-system-00146

Sources & further reading

The House of Ifá is an educational section. Satin Cradle is not a babaláwo, an ìyánífá, a priest, an initiated practitioner or an oracle, and does not offer consultations. Nothing here is needed for any practice.

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