How an ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ forms a signature

Tradition described: Yorùbá / Ìṣẹ̀ṣe

How an ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ forms a signature

The ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ is a chain — of cord, or of metal links — carrying eight half-shells, four on each side. The halves are commonly the split seeds of the ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ tree, though other materials, including brass and ivory, have been used. Each half has an inside and an outside: a concave face and a convex one.

The diviner holds the chain by its middle and lets it fall so that the two sides lie parallel, forming two columns of four. Each half-shell lands with one face up. On these pages, as in the sources, a concave (inner) face upward is recorded as a single mark, |, and a convex (outer) face upward as a double mark, ||. Read top to bottom, the four on the diviner's right give the right column of the Odù and the four on the left give the left column — and the right column is named first.

One throw, then, produces a complete Odù. The ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ is the quicker instrument and is used for everyday consultations; the sixteen ikin, which need eight separate manipulations for one Odù, are the more solemn one. Both produce the same 256 signs by the same two-mark logic, which is why the cast page here can identify a pattern from either.

What the chain cannot do is read. A pattern is a pattern; what the sign says is in the verses, and in the training of the person reciting them.

Editorially reviewed against the sources named

Next on the path: What are ikin?All articlesThe House of Ifá