09/10/2024
The one who is not working is not working.
THE POSITION OF THE ORACLE IN OUR LIVES
Oracle consultation (divination) is defined as prediction.
It comes from the Latin word "Divinatus, Divinare", foresee.
The art and practice of forecasting
future events or the unknown, through oracles or occultisms.
A prophecy, prediction, or omen.
Divination is the art of having vision, insight and perception of luck, misfortunes and the future.
Can something be done by the seers' prayer or through an Ifa priest, or some other priest of another deity, through some other kind of
oracle.
By êgún, suàngó, Olokún, etc, priests that predict the future when possessed are also a diviner.
With particular reference to the Divination of Ifa, it is done in one of the four ways by
priest of Ifa.
It can be done with a four-part Obi, thrown to the floor and interpreting the proclamation of the du emerged through Obi's pieces.
The reach of the oracle by
four parts of Obi is limited and only highly experienced Ifa priests see and
they say a lot about this.
Divination is done very often with Opele, which is able to translate the complete scope of the Ifa oracle.
We will later see that there are 256 Odus in Ifa delinquent body.
Some major Olodus names are in number sixteen.
The remaining 240 are simply called Omos Odus.
However, all of them are treated by their individual names.
When Opele is released, the priest reads aloud the Odu who came forward to inform the consultant.
Immediately the name of the Odu is mentioned, the priest immediately chart the trajectory of that Odu relevant to the question asked.
Suppose a man preparing to travel from heaven to earth goes to a priest of Ifa in heaven to consult the oracle and the priest chooses to use Opele,
after releasing his opele, Ogbe-Oligun comes out.
Ifa priest will simply recall the sacrifice Ogbe-Oligun made before departure to land in the beginning of time.
If on the other hand Ogbe-Oligun appeared in a divination
land to a man who wants to travel, Ifa priest will also recall Ogbe-Oligun's experience in a similar situation when he was in
world.
The Odu appearing through this oracle instrument is similar to the stars astrologers read when a person is born.
The priest of Ifa has a knowledge of what each Odu did in heaven and during his life on earth.
If someone consequently goes to the oracle and a particular Odu appears, the priest only remembers the
particular event in the life and work of that Odu, pertinent to the matter in question and informs the consultant to do the same thing Orúnmìlá did in similar circumstances.
If he recommends sacrifice and it is done accordingly, the counselor surely
will somehow get the help that Orúnmìlá got in the same situation.
The third form of divination is Ikin. This consists of 16 palm leaves transferred between the two palms of the hands.
Ifa priest asks consultant to touch his head with the 16 Ikin and the priest starts to mess up
the ikins between the hands
Using his left palm as a base for the Ikin, he tries to remove them all by hand
right.
If for example he removes all of them getting two Ikin on the left palm, he will draw a line on the Opon-Ifa (Ifa tray) with Iyerosun or divinatory powder.
He also scores two lines if only an Ikin remains on the left hand.
He goes through this process doing eight times until he fills out the Odu and makes it appear on the tray.
This first Odu that pops up on the tray, which will supply the
info the priest will interpret later.
After scoring the first Odu, go and seek confirmation through the same process by obtaining the second Odu.
To complete the process he finally questions if there is any obstacle in the consultant's matter.
If it is revealed by the third marking on the tray that there are obstacles, the priest will continue to ask the cause and the type, before
stating what has been done in this respect by the consultant.
Details of this process will be explained later.
The fourth and most important oracle form is one that takes its place when a person is preparing his own settlement of Orúnmìlá or when he is initiated in Ifá.
What is when he is heading to igodu
The process takes the same form
before but at the moment the first Odu that comes out in Igbodu, if destiny and whose name will be revealed and called the initiate of Orúnmìlá.
The historical life of that Odu is narrated to the beginning and his life will go on
experiencing same problems and expectations as those of Odu.
Where the sacrifices, as well as the Orishas, ebos and solutions seen in the narratives of this odu, which provides the initiate with the solutions and victories, will be told by the Priest to the initiate.
May we always be blessed
