Ifa Philosophy

Listen to these children recite the Ifa scripture.  Isn't it time we return to our roots?  This is our inspiration.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLNWvGwKlWI&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuM3c5g-CVo

they're already being taught polygamy?

Chei, na wa for you Mr. Idin'leke.  You are invoking Ifa on Nairaland. You want the pentecostals to come and lynch you.  Anyway sha, Aboru, aboye to you.

Ela descend, Ela descend, Ela descend, Orunmila descend, Orunmila descend, Orunmila descend,
If you're at the farm come hither, if you are by the riverside come hither, If you are in Iwonran-Ola, come hither
A nursing mother does not hear the cry of her baby and remain standing
but runs hastily, gegege, like the rat of Agege. 

This is a partial translation for those that don't understand. 

Here's what the King of Edu has to say on that subject.

Okan soso poro l'obinrin dun mo l'owo oko
One single wife is the sweetest for a husband
Bi nwon ba di meji
Nwon a dojowu
Bi nwon ba di meta
nwon a di eta ntu ile
Bi nwon ba di merin
Nwon a di iwo lo rin mi ni mo rin o
bi nwon ba di marun
Nwon a di lagbaja ni o run oko wa tan l'ohun susuusu
Bi nwon ba di mefa
Nwon a di ika

etc etc.  this can be found in Oyeku meji. 

Ela boru, Ela boye, Ela bosise

While I'm not an initiate of Ifa I do love the tradition but I don't think you could hardly call what I know a knowledge of any depth.  However I can do some research for you as to the numerical significance of what you are talking about.  I think that your best bet though is to have a chat with some knowledgeable awos. 

As regards the marrying of multiple wives, you really cannot rule out the fact that many of our men just can't keep their penises in their pants when they see a girl they like, whether they are already married or not.  And that applies to Christians as well as traditionalists.

Im outside of Nigeria, in US. 

Of course the only way to eradicate polygamy is to make it expensive by taxing any man that has more than one wife and then hire women to enforce the tax rule.  But then do not be surprised when you find that majority of the women enforcers are falling in love with married men with one or more wives.  lol.  "The forbidden fruit is forever appealing to mankind"  Tpia, what do you say dear?

On the number mysteries, I believe it should be an academic research backed by a grant.  An Ifa priest might understand the mystery but may not understand the formation of numbers well enough to make the connection of the binary base.  The mathematician may not have understanding of the inner secrets in the number code even though the Ifa priest is willing to sketch their arrangement in the series.  But I got your point. . . it is deeper than it appears on surface!

Very true and Great way of looking at it too.  In esoteric study duality or number two is a conduit for cosmic energy.   

During the 80s in Kano, followers of maitatsine, a religious cult, were credited with certain powers.  Those powers include the ability to suspend time, action and space; to accelerate kinetic motion; the leader, maitatsine himself was reputed to have power to disintegrate and re-integrate his body. 

In like manner, Igunnu masquerade, in Lagos have similar ability to suspend time, action and space.  This has been witnessed many times by people in audience. 

In sci-fi movies, Westerners show that it is possible through physics to disintegrate and reintegrate a body.  In fact it is commonly done in Nickoledeon with little children but I admit thats done with camera staging to make it appear like a "beaming" of the material body out of a location and its reappearance at a different and distant location within a snap of seconds.  You know anything Oyinbo plays with it on his tv screen, he is already advanced in its study and has perfected its application. 

It should not be difficult for you being in Lagos.  There are certain books that would I recommend.  Anything by Wande Abimbola.  Who Will Mend Our Broken World is a good one.  And Ohun Ijinle Enu Ifa.  Ohun Ijinle has verses from each of the 16 major Odu.

Another good source for yoruba language and culture are books by Modupe Oduyoye, one of our top linguists in Nigeria.  He is especially interesting because he studies the relationship of Yoruba language to it's religious concepts.  A book I liked a lot was Yoruba Religious Discourse. 

For more verses of Ifa I would also recommend a book by Ayo Salami called Ifa-A complete Divination.  This has 2 verses from almost all the 256 odu of Ifa.  Ifa has 16 main signatures which combine with each other in couples to make 256 combinations.  When they combine with themselves they are called eji and these form the major odu.  When they combine with others they are called omo Odu, minors, or Amulu. 

For instance the first 4 odu are Ogbe, Oyeku, Iwori, and Odi.  When Ogbe combines with itself you get the major odu Eji Ogbe.  Likewise with Oyeku you get Oyeku meji, and then Iwori meji, and then Odi meji.  When they combine with each other you get combinations such as Ogbe'yeku.  Iwori s'ogbe.  Ogbe'di.  Odi oyeku. 

There is also a signature called Irete.  When Odi combines with Irete we get odus like Idinrete.  Hence the name of our co nairalander.  Idin Ileke O yi biri biri (waistbeads that twist round and round).

I'm sure that if you asked around you will have no problem finding awos in Lagos that will be happy to teach you, and you don't even have to be a practitioner.  You might have to pay a little if you want formal lessons though.  They have much knowledge of herbs and medicines too that are very useful.  I've found that they are always very happy to discuss Ifa with outsiders. 

Pastor,

Thank for the information on those combinations.  Is it possible for an Odu to stand alone without a combination?  What are the posiible effects when taken individually, first as a stand alone and, then as a combination? 

I don't want to pre-empt your response but intuitively, I will say the combination has to do with the duality of life force - the conduit path from Aye (physical) to Orun (meta physical) and back.  In astrology this energy was represented by Gemini and ruled by planet mercury.  Mercury was denoted the messenger of the gods or the path between the mortal and the immortal and in Gemini we see the symbolism of the duality of nature. 

It's said Ifa was introduced to the Yorubas by Oduduwa or one of his descendants.

Is this true?

If so, where was Ifa brought from? ie who were the original practitioners of ifa?



_{I posted this question on the other Ifa thread as well.}

thanks.

there seem to be differing schools of thought on the origins of ifa.

One theory says it was the religion of the original inhabitants, later adopted or modified by Oduduwa.


Another says Oduduwa or one of his royal grandchildren introduced and legalized it in Yorubaland. An Oba (Ajaka) was dethroned for doing so. However, later on it became widespread and almost like the state religion.

_{Currently studying some aspects of African/Nigerian history.}

What I will like to know is WHEN will the people who KNOW, put this whole thing down in a SINGLE irreproachable, reference book similar to the Bible, or the Talmud, or the Sanksrit Texts, or the Koran?

And bequeath it with the same ''Holy'' tag lavished on the above?

WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY WAITING FOR?

Ifa teachings are more fundamental and in a sense, purer, than the above, which  - if you go back far enough - are diluted variants of African philosophies.

There must be a Committe set up by Ifa intellectuals, to codify Ifa Wisdoms into a single Text for all time.

A religion like Ifa is in dire need of a solid written text. It actually helps to confer respectability on it in this day and age, and will surely draw in more adherents. A lot of  the ignorance surrounding these African philosophical systems derives from their inacessibility.

Ifa came for Arabs??

Is that some sort of joke?

Oduduwa certainly was no Arab even though he came from the Nile Valley. You may not realise it, but Egypt and the Nile Valley were originally centers of Black African civilization which practised a religion very similar to Ifa, for thousands of years up till the 7th century AD, when the region was invaded by Arab Jihadists, thus accounting for the present Arab populations in those regions, and the traditional history of many ''sub-Saharan'' groups of having migrated ''from the north'' in antiquity.