When the Source of all being, Olodumare, stretched forth His/Her hand to create the universe, He/She had but a single companion and witness: Orunmila. Orunmila is the Divine Oracle, The Voice of God, The Witness of Creation who dedicates His being to guiding and shaping the destines of those who call upon Him.

Orunmila (known also as Orula, Orunla and, for various reasons, Ifa) speaks for each and all of the Orishas with a voice that is ultimate and true. Orunmila is considered the penultimate Orisha, and within His scope is contained all knowledge and wisdom, the secrets of the universe and the secrets of the heart, the sum total of everything that has, is or will happen is contained within Him.

Orunmila speaks and manifests his work on earth through the skills and knowledge of His initiated High Priests—The Babalawos. A Babalawo is a highly initiated, highly specialized member of the Santeria clergy. Most commonly, a Babalawo is first an initiated Santero—or Santeria priest—with many years in the religion before being called to study the mysteries of Orunmila. When this occurs, the initiate will undergo an intense and beautiful series of additional ritual initiations and, from that point on, will dedicate himself to entirely the service and study of “Ifa”.

The term “Ifa” originally referred to the enormous corpus of 256 “Odu”, or signs, which correspond to the sacred stories of the Yoruba people, called “patakis”. The Babalawo interprets the Odu during divination in order to hear the voice of Orunmila, but “Ifa” has also come to refer to Orunmila’s priesthood, worship, and to Orunmila Himself.

Ifa consultation is a life enriching process that provides us with important guidance to our ultimate happiness and fulfillment. For this reason, it is important for those who worship the Orisha’s to be seen by Ifa regularly—(once a month is standard unless something big comes up requiring something additional), as the energy of each reading persists for a period of thirty days. Ifa consultation is a fundamental cornerstone of Orisha worship.

A session with a Babalawo can give you deep insights into yourself and divine the guidance of the Orisha's for improving your life-- Ifa divination can enrich your life in many ways.

During a consultation with Orunmila (also called a “consulta” or “registro”), the Babalawo will pinpoint and explore the forces, energies and actions that have shaped a person's life, and then predicts where these forces will lead. But the true benefit and power behind an Ifa consultation is that Orunmila also knows the ritual and practical secrets which can shape and mold these energies into the most beneficial possible outcome! Orunmila not only predicts, but prescribes, and His sage advice can guide you to the richest, fullest life possible. Ifa consultation helps us to live up to our fullest postential.

People often find the Religion when they are having problems with business (partners, money, career, jobs), love and relationships, health, legal difficulties and the like. The advice of Orunmila is sought for these issues and many more. The power of this Religion is well known, even legendary in this regard.

Sometimes people have problems with others that are trying to get them fired or evicted or they simply want to ensure they have every advantage available working for them.

Once Orunmila and the Orishas have demonstrated their ability to help solve the most pressing issues, you begin to understand the advantage of maintaining the balance that living your life in harmony with Orunmila provides.

Or course, there's no need to wait till there's problems to seek the help of the Orishas through a consulta. From politicians to movie stars, entrepreneurs to stay at home moms - people from all walks of life are looking to improve their opportunities, correct difficulties and eliminate problems.

The Religion is known for its "hands on" guidance and practical, real world ability to help improve your life. We don't believe that "our riches are waiting for us in heaven" as some Religions do. We believe that the Orishas will help us to accomplish success in THIS life (as well as heaven).

With millions of followers in the USA alone, it is one of the fastest growing Religions world wide. Perhaps J-Lo knows something after all. :-)

How it Works

When a person comes to a Babalawo (a High Priest of Orunmila) to be seen for an Ifa consultation, the Babalawo will employ Orunmila’s sacred diving tools—most commonly the diving chain called the "opuele" or, in very special cases such as discovering one's guardian Orisha, the Table of Ifa.

The sacred opuele is a beautiful and powerful divination tool. It is composed of eight medallions connected by a metal chain. These medallions may be composed of bone, stone, tortoise shell or kola nuts, for example (many natural traditional materials are used, as long they provide two sides that can be differentiated from one another--each medallion may have one convex side and a concave one, for example, or one darkly colored side and a light one). When the opuele is cast (or “thrown”) in divination, the patterns it creates speaks with the voice of Orunmila—the voice of God, supreme Orisha of destiny and divination.

An Ifa consultation begins with an extensive sequence of traditional prayers and invocations in Yoruban called the “Moyuba”, with which the Babalawo honors and calls upon Olodumare, the Orishas and eguun, and invokes the attention and advice of Orunmila. He then casts the opuele, noting the pattern in which it falls. These patterns form the “Odu” of which the reading is comprised.

Ifa teaches that everything in existence—including events and situations—is engendered and accompanied by an odu. Each Odu encompasses and embodies detailed ancient Yoruban parables called patakis. These patakis are lyrical, metaphysical expressions of reality—the blueprints of our universe passed down orally in the form of sacred stories for countless generations. Through them, God, the Orishas, and the Ancestors speak, advise, guide, and prescribe.

The Odu are expressed in Ifa divination through a binary code of ones and zeros (all existence results from the dynamic imbalance of something and nothing—it has been said that everything in the universe lies between one and zero), resulting in a combination of the 256 possible patterns or Odu.

The odu which falls for an individual will either come “ire” or “osogbo”. Generally speaking, osogbo tends to manifest and focus on the more restrictive, negative aspects of any given odu, while ire tends to indicate blessings and focuses on the positive. But ire and osogbo are not as clear cut and simple as “good” and “bad”. There are many shades of grey—and countless possibilities therein.

You'll also learn which Orisha is working to bring you the blessings spoken about in the reading or which Orisha is going to help you to solve the problems.

Most Ifa divinations take no more than an hour, but Orunmila and the Orishas often have much to say to a person, and some consultations are much longer. It’s all, inevitably, up to the Orishas.

Consultations are $75.

While we are not currently scheduling Consultas at this time, feel free to email babaeyiogbe@houseofifa.com.