Orisa and Egungun, What is IFA?

Ifa literally means "table of divination." Orumila, the Prophet/Oracle, received prophetic information and taught it to human priests. Ifa is the indigenous religion of many people and lingual family groups from as west as Ghana to as South as Northern Gabon. The most famous cultural/lingual group and believed progenitors of Ifa have been the Yoruba. Other major groups of the area associated with the religion of Ifa are the Edo speaking peoples of the Southwestern area and some sub groups of the Igbo. The religion of Ifa is one of the few "earth based" religions that has an oracle and system of divination based on mathematical quadragrams, while maintaining a pantheon of deities that control aspects of nature.

Ifa as a practice and system of belief is a way of understanding how the different forces within nature interact with one another and ourselves. It is an encompassing method of thought and belief based on the concepts of nature. It is a religion of the worship of the forces of nature that teaches accepting the balance or ase (ashe) in all things. Ifa teaches that life is set on a balance; of struggle and attainment, of good things which should be desired and sought after, while understanding that to attain them one must have fortitude, fervor, and enthusiasm as well as the open understanding that struggling to attain something builds character and dicipline. Ifa teaches to use humility when faced with danger or agression.

Ifa can be used to identify it’s adherents and offshoots like those of the Santeria tradition. Ifa can be used as a term to describe a body of believers like Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddists or Bodirarma and their theology/philosophies. Ifa has a concept of God, an oracle, angels, and a being that is not stronger than God but can either enhance or destroy. This will be explained in the cosmology section.

What is Orisa?

Orisa means "select head." These select heads or powers/deities are born of nature and ascribed to a force in nature. For example the oldest of all the Orisa, Ogun (in southern Nigeria he is called Egitan), is a male deity in nature that is the spirit of the mountains, the deep forests, rocks, and minerals like iron and iron ore. This deity is the owner and the spirit of the hearts of all living matter, medicine and specialized skills like surgery, carpentry, masonry and metal-smithing. Because of his nature, Ogun is the owner of conflict and its ultimate resolver. Master of all things crafted, including tools and weapons of war, Ogun’s manner of justice and resolution can be likened unto the story of King Solomon in the Judeo-Christian bible. There is no plea bargain with Ogun, and part of his eesence within the nature of all things is to bring justice to its bare, neccessary essentials, regardless of the consequences. In fact, Ogun’s final wrath (the consequences of war [or conflict] or its aftermath) is the consequence of justice. Worship of these select heads are basically the worship of the forces of nature. Parables and stories in which human personification is employed are exclusively used for teaching purposes. Contrary to western interpretation, the Orisa are not Supra-natural; they are one in nature, and act just as these forces act within nature. They could be savage and cruel like a ravenous earthquake, or as calm and soothing as a surf at sunset or a babbeling brook.

What is Egungun?

Egungun mean the spirits of the ancestors materialized. The spirits of the ancestors are worshiped in strict reverence for several cultural and theological reasons. The first cultural premise to visit is the belief that nothing goes on in one’s current material life without there first being a struggle of ancestors. Among the Yoruba of Nigeria there is a rephrase: "You stand on the shoulders of your elders." This phrase speaks to the works of the living. Their struggles, likes and desires meant nothing without recognizing that their ancestors had a hand in getting them to point of "struggling," of "liking," or of "desiring" in the first place. That is why food and libation are openly shared and left open as means of showing reverence for the dearly departed. Respect for one’s ancestors in Yoruba society is also evidenced by the fact that they burried their dead under the floor of the main common house. The ancestors are not treated as spirits but souls with light who take up as much space in this plane of existence as in the next – souls that must be remembered and, at times, even reckoned with.

Worship is mainly comprised of building staffs that are regularly "fed" and blessed and used in rites strictly used in the worship and divination used for Egungun. These staffs are used to call an ancestor down by pounding against the ground. Some secret societies are organized primarily around the worship of ancestors. Egun Societies are very secretive and are heavily involved in Egun worship, and have their own systems of divination (consecrated cowry shells) as opposed to the common methods associated with Babalawo/Babalorisa (ikin, opele, and kola nut). The New World tradition of ancestor worship is somewhat based on Alan Kardec’s mesa blanca method where a table and 8 glasses surrounding a larger 9th glass are used along with a black metal crucifix or any cruciform. Candles and incense are also utilized. Pictures of the deceased and objects that were close to those being remembered are placed there. Offering of food, coffee and libation are left. Egun tables that are consecrated have to be fed an offering of blood so as to activate the table and surrounding area to attract the ancestors. These Egun tables/shrine can then be used to divinate from using a cowrie method.

New World Traditions?

Obe/Obey, Nago, Shango, Santeria/Regla de Santeria/Ocha/Regla de Ocha/Lucumi/Regla de Lucumi, Candomble/Umbanda/Macumba, "Yoruba," Espiritismo, Las sietes potencias, Voodun and Voodu are all variants of Ifa brought to the New World by Dahomey, Nigerian and Niger Yoruba, Edo speaking peoples from Southern Nigeria and possibly others conquered by these people. These offshoots or brands of Orisa worship are all part of Ifa, but retain their separate identities due to their intermixing with Native American and European beliefs. Further, the repression found in European, Islamic, and Judeo-Christian ethnic-based slavery, which allowed for the seizure/capture and re-sale of West Africans in the Americas, pushed the religion in directions never theoogically traversed. Adherents accepted the traditions of the larger cultural groups in places where they were a minority. It also meant emphasizing or de-emphasizing aspects of the religion in accordance with survival needs and the availability of resources. For example, the type of Ifa practice found in Brazillian Candomble developed without Babalawos. Babalawos were summarily killed upon arrival to the Americas because they did not divinate the outcome of or predict the existence of slavery.

The most common New World Ifa practices are the Cuban based Santeria/Ocha/Lucumi, Haitian-based Voodu and Brazil’s Candomble. These traditions tend to be more popular due to Western curiosity and/or scorn. These traditions have also been the focus of research by many anthropologists as well as by many a hollywood movie writer. Of these three New World Ifa practices, the two closest to Ifa as practiced in Nigeria is the Santeria/Ocha of Cuba and Candomble of Brazil. The key difference between these two Ifa variants is in their treatment of the position of High Ifa Priest or Babalawo. What is commonplace to Babalawos in Ifa practice in Africa are the following:

Bablawos are Initiates of other Orisa as well as Orumila;

Babalawos are taught tribal medicine, midwifing, herbology and how to counsel and listen to others;

Babalawos are House leaders who directly teach and are schooled by others, not only in how to be a servant of Ifa/Orumila, but also in how to be a servant of other Orisa as well;

Babalawos are not bi/homosexual;

Babalawos are the arbitors of Ifa divination and Iyalawos or Iyalorisa can not divinate for others in the same manner.

Santeria has Babalawos for strict divination for Orumila and they do not head up a House of Orisa worship. The socio-cultural power of the Babalawo is limited, comparatively speaking, when one looks at many Babalorisa and Iyalorisa. The stages of initiate development are as follows:

1. Awo: "Awo" is used to describe someone at the first stage of belief in the religion who has no power (religious or otherwise) and is at the beck and call of Ifa, Orisa and Egungun as well as his or her Padrinos. They receive a white "eleke" (glass-beaded necklace) and generally wear white at all ceremonies. Some houses have ceremonies of induction for Awo where they are given their white eleke and also told to "montar una `poveda" (build an egun table made in the Kardeckian tradition).

2. Elekes: The stage where the Awao receives elekes made for him/her consecrated by the actual Orisa shrine made for the Padrino/madrina of the house. They may also receive their warrior elekes at this stage or the elekes representative of the Orisas that are key in Santeria Ifa/Orumila, Ogun, Ochosi, Obatala, Yemoja, Eleggua, Oshun, Shango, and Oya (hence Ocha may have come from ocho meaning eight).

3. Guerreros: A stage where the Awo receives his elemental Orisas or shrines dedicated to these Orisas. Usually compromising of the following Orisas Ogun, Sango, Ochosi, Elegua, plus 2 other male Orisa that are associated with warriorship but are regional and differ from house to house.

4. Orisa Lava’o: A stage of initiation where the Awao recieves a shrine to a certain Orisa for worship and praise. the shrine is not a complete Orisa nor a mere altar. It is a combination of both. This Orisa shrine is called Orisa lavao or Orisa washed. For example, an Awo is foreordained to become a Priest/ess of Obatala, but he/she has had divination for a certain reoccurring condition/problem.

5. Initiation: Receivership of actual Orisa closest to person. This may vary. This traditon among the Yoruba is to receive one’s "mother and father," an Orisa that is close to you and calls you, and another – usually a female Orisa – to balance and aid you in all things.

Candombles main distinction from Africa is their use of native rites and the fact that they have no Babalawo within the hierarchy of the religion. The highest posts are Mae de Tereiro (Mother of the sacred territory which is the house where the Orisa are kept) and Pae de tereiro (Father of the latter). These posts are dissimilar to the Cuban role of Padrino/Madrina and Babalorisa/Iyalorisa.