The Secret of Ifá: Divination and the Teachings of Orunmila

Descripción

This book/paper is a scholarly article written by Bade Ajayi, published in the journal Yoruba (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 68-73). The study focuses on the "secret" of Ifá: how the 240 Omo Odu (minor Odu) are derived from the 16 principal Oju Odu. The author explains that each principal Odu has two "arms" (left and right), and when one arm of a principal Odu combines with one arm of another principal Odu, an Omo Odu is formed. The right arm is considered more powerful as it determines the real message of Orunmila. The study uses Apola Ogbe (the 30 Omo Odu derived from Eji-Ogbe) as a case study, listing all 30 combinations (e.g., Ogbeyeku, Oyekulogbe, Ogbeweyin, etc.). The author analyzes the phonological processes involved in these derivations, including vowel elision, contraction, and tone changes, and notes that some derivations cannot be explained by linguistic rules alone, requiring cultural evidence to account for their origins. The text is presented in both English and French (with a French abstract) and includes references to prior work by Abimbola (1970, 1977), Bascom (1969), and McClelland (1982). It is a technical linguistic and anthropological study for scholars of Ifá and Yoruba language.