International African Institute

Ifa Divination in Igala Author(s): J. S. Boston Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct., 1974), pp. 350-360 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1159055 . Accessed: 22/09/2011 13:30
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[350]

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA

J. S. BOSTON
AT the level of belief Igala religion is rather unsystematic and comprises belief
in a number of different spirits whose mutual interrelationship is not very clear. A Western observer would tend to rank the various spirits in terms of their order of magnitude or degrees of power. At the top of the hierarchy would come Ojo, the supreme being and creator. Another spirit with wide powers in Igala belief is Ane, the spirit of the earth. Then there are various oracle spirits known generically as ebo, with the function of giving protection against witchcraft. Their congregation may be large or small according to the success of the spirit in unmasking witches by striking them with illness and making them confess to their wrongdoing. Operating within a more restricted range are the ancestor spirits who are the guardians of wellbeing in particular clans, lineages, or lineage segments. Within the complex of ancestor worship falls the dyadic relationship between an individual and his personal ojo or guardian spirit. The guardian has responsibility for the destiny of its ward. Finally there are fetishes, ode, which are made and worshipped by individuals, and which are believed to ensure success in daily life by affording protection against the misfortunes that witchcraft and sorcery can bring. Igala do not conceive of their religion in terms of a static relationship with spiritual beings ranked in a fixed hierarchy. They regard interaction between the world of the living and that of spiritual forces as a dynamic process in which the balance of forces is constantly shifting. Their religious system is a contingent one rather than strictly hierarchical. And the key to the flux and changes of emphasis that dominate their belief is the system of divination called Ifa. Through Ifa an Igala can discover the balance of forces that may affect his life at a particular moment. No major undertaking, such as a long journey, a marriage, a court case, or simply choosing a house site, is undertaken in Igala without consulting Ifa. Similarly in times of stress and difficulty Igala resort to Ifa to discover the spiritual causes underlying unfavourable events. If a funeral ceremony goes wrong, for instance, or if a sacrifice seems to have been rejected by the spirit it was intended for, Igala begin to divine to discover the cause. Ifa brings system and order into the religious world by defining anew the obligations that bind both parties in a ritual relationship. The Igala have two principal methods of divination, called Ifa anwa and Ifa ebutu. The name anwa indicates that in the first method seed pods of the anwa tree are used.2 They are split in half and the half pods are linked to form four chains or strings. Each chain comprises four half pods linked together by short pieces of string.
I My intention, in this paper, is to present the Igala ethnography as a record, and I have not attempted to compare this Igala material with studies of Ifa divination in other parts of Nigeria. Any attempt to make comparisons would begin with Ifa divination among the Yoruba, who are closely related to the Igala. See W. R. Bascom, Ifa Divination (1969). Bascom's monograph contains a useful bibliography. 2 The botanic name of anwais Afzelia Africana. Other hard seed pods can also be used. For example pods of oro aipell.e (Irvingiasp.) are used. Small square pieces of calabash are sometimes used in place of seeds.

IFA DIVINATIONIN IGALA 551 The essence of anwadivination is to note whether the half pods fall face down or face up when the chainsare cast in front of the divineron to the ground. In the other the method, Ifa ebutu, diviner makes a series of marks on the surface of a smooth sand or dusty earth. These marksare set out in lines of four and can be of patch of two kinds, eithera double verticalmarkor a single verticalstroke.A double vertical mark is describedas being face down or closed, dade,in the same way that a half pod lies dadewhen its convex back surfaceis uppermost.The single vertical stroke is said to be open or face up, bite,using the same term that is used for the anwa pods that lie face up. Each verticalcombinationof four marksis as completein itself as the patternproduced by the fall of one divining chain. But here the similaritybetween ends since each line of pods or of marksin the sand has its Ifa anwaand Ifa ebutu own name, and the procedurefor interpretingthe combination of patternsis different in the two forms of divining. In anwa divinationthe divinerlays his four chainsout in frontof himin fourvertical and parallellines. He addressesthe oracle by means of a small bone or short stick which is touched against his lips when questions are being put and then tapped lightly across the seed pods so that none are left out. The first questions asked at the beginning of a session are a test to see whether the chainsare working properly on that occasion. The diviner asks, 'what killed Ogbe?', and makes the first cast, picking up the two right-handstrings and throwing them forward,followed by the two left-handstrings.Ogbe is the title nameof one of the Igala king's senioreunuchs. There is a traditionthat one holder of the title was murderedand that the dead man makes his presence felt in Ifa by producing the patternwhich indicates that Ogbe died a violent deathby being stabbedwith an iron weapon. So as soon as the pattern for iron appearsthe diviner is satisfiedthat Ogbe has come and that the chains are speaking the truth. If the right patternfails to appearafter the initial question has been varied severaltimes on the theme of Ogbe's death,the set of stringsis put aside for the day, and another set tried out. When the divineris satisfiedthat Ogbe has come and that the strings are working properlyhe puts the first question brought by his client and casts the strings again. In readingoff the answersto the initial test and to subsequentquestionsthe diviner follows a complexpattern,as follows. The stringsare readin pairsgiving the following combinations(if we call the four chainsA, B, C, and D): DA, DC, BA, DB, CA, AD, AB, CD, AC, BD. The name of each pair is formed by joining the names of the patternformed by each string. Thus if the last chain's pattern is called Akwu and the first one Oche the name of the pair is AkwuOche. Each pair of patternshas a particularmeaning which may be retainedin the form of a proverb, or in a short phrase. Most divinersare content to readoff six or seven pairsfrom the patternspresented to them by each cast. But an expert diviner may, in his mind, transposehis position to the place opposite where he sits and read off the stringsfrom there. This position is called olodudu, morning sun, or East. Following this he moves, mentally, to the North of the square and reads horizontally across the strings, and when this is completehe concludesthe sequenceby going to the South side and readingoff pairs in the horizontalrows from there.

352

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA

2

olodudu 3 ojukpali oluane

I

ogane 4

EGO From positions two and three the pairsare read off in the following order: AD, AB, CD, AC, BD, DA, DC, BA, DB, CA. Fromposition4 thereadingof pairsfollows the sequencethatwasgivenforposition . In anwadivination there are sixteen patternsthat can be produced by the falls of one chain. These basic falls, eda,with their namesand praisenames or meaningsare
as follows :3

v Olete
/ /

onw imotoki meju chenw, a de oga ogujo. A carefulchild that looks after an old person who is ill. This pattern was said to stand for an old man, walking with a stick. Enw konwajea nachikwun. The thing that it will eat has no bones. A sacrificewith meat is called for.

eat A catwilleatpalmoil andmeat,butit cannot thebones.

Unaki ma mene ko. ki Fire that knows not the person that lit it. It runs to the front and will win the race. Ajo ki ma momayien. Lawsuit that does not know its own full sibling. This patternstandsfor a woman who has grown old and is unableto go about, but is nevertheless still impressive.
Ebite, open.

Qbala
x

V Qra

Atunukpa
/

Ebi x/^~~ ~bring

In Ifa means that the door is open, there is a clear way through. Ukpekupart of a hoe handle. When a person dies they a hoe. This pattern means that something hidden has been brought to light, it can be seen clearly. ki ale. Omanibe bonu This talksabout a young maidwith beadsaroundher neck.
The sensible child is the one that goes with the chief.

/ Oche
x

Eka

3 In the diagrams on the left a tick represents a half seed pod lying face up (bite) while a cross represents a half pod lying face down (dade).

x x x

Okono (Qkala) /
x x

IFA DIVINATIONIN IGALA 353 Oli ki a dagogo kola. Stick that makes the bell talk. Means food preparedfor the ancestors, something with blood.

a tanyi. Agbogojenwtanyi
Anywhere that food is there will be laughter. Its meaning is laughter. lye ki bi oji imefuojin. The mother that gave birth to Oji does not know what is inside Oji.

Oloru

x x

Oji
x

Thisone is likethe stomach, one knowswhatis inside no it.

,/
x

Ogoli
x x

ola oyino Okpologodo efugba ki magbebi Words can be hidden in the stomach,but not hunger. Nothing is concealed, it stands on four legs (and one can see that there is nothing underneath. This means a knife or cutting instrument that is used to kill an animal, cut a rope or a stick, etc.

v .Egali
x x x x

Oyekwu (akwu)

This speaks of people meeting together, or of witchcraft. Abenemefanajokijali ma. Takes on six people in a lawsuit and beats them all. Of the sixteen brothersin Ifa this one is the strongest. When their mother was arrestedthe other brotherswent one by one to the king to beg for her release,but were refused. Then ogwuto went to beg and behaved with such great politeness that no one could refuse him anything. a Iyenwa hi ote oha atanwdodeti Ohiemini omionugo bekpe, a olugbe kpa min. His mother is cooking beer, his father dwells by the side of the Niger. I myself am wet through, and do not sufferfrom thirst. A compliantperson who will follow where others lead.

I V/
x

OgwuAo (Ejita in combinations)

x I

Ofu

354

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA

/ V/ v~~~/ ~market
Otula

I onw wuhi gbogidi agidi,onobule unyioko. He says he hears loud quarrelling, a woman gets her reputationin her husband'shouse. The noise indicatesthat things are happening,as when the
is in full swing or when the engine of a car is working.

In addition to these sixteen basic meaningsthat emerge when the strings are read separately,another series of meanings emerges when the strings are read in pairs. chains.But there is anothermeaningfor the combinationof the two, which has the name, oreka.And there is another meaning for the reverse combination, ekora.It is not possible,for reasonsof space,to give all the meaningsof the pairshere,because they number over two hundred. But I give below, as an example, the meanings which the patterneka can have in combinationwith itself and with the fifteen other basic patterns.In this list the meaning includes a praise name (or 'name of power') which is given first, in Igala. This is followed by a translationof the Igala sentence. In the last sentenceI give the conventionalmeaning of the pattern. eka okala (ekohala) a kawuhi lyokon. pjala,enwa chawpt.o pjobi Evil day ojala, something happens on the right hand and An ill-omened day, a bad day for doing things. ekotule
prevents the left hand from going to the farm. For example the patterns called ora and eka have their own meanings as individual

IbajiKpejai ajugwan. Ibaji (people) catch fish but will not give one a proper greeting. This standsfor a fish. hi chaka nyilechaha. Qjoki nyewo This refersto God, the supremebeing and creator.
God is in every town and in the whole world.

ekogwute

ehanabo is (nabo the Ibo term for twice) ekebi

alulea wowomin. A person walking does not rest his hands. A journey. agbitiki maje kagididefoom. This concerns something in the sky.
(translation uncertain).

ekofu

ojobe cheji,i dilei d.ojegwu.

If a person has two spirit guardians he is not in this world but in the world of the dead. The personal guardian spirit or spirit of destiny, called
.jo.-

ekoche

IFA DIVINATIONIN IGALA 355 ile. hi anechechi ajugbeamoma silent earth that eats up the seed of the children of this world. This means ane,the land. omanypkolebi. Women give birth because childrenare good. This refers to a small child. onwomanibeki bonu alejei. It is the child with sense that (is chosen to go) with the chief on a journey. This refersto someone's house, the questioner'shouse. i ukponw a du chokolobia. (A person) uses his cloth in acting the part of a young man. This means a cloth. onwtachihwu hwulugbe, kebode ugbodu ngbo a nyomo ge will He is tachihwu kwulugbe, a stupid, clumsy person go to the place where an ebo(oracle spirit)is ? This means an oracle spirit, ebo. i ebielo chiili,ichebo abakpa fe. By the blood spurting out (you may know that) the Moslem's sacrificehas been accepted. This refers to the blood of a sacrificial victim. we anagbo ki ma nokwute. is An old person who has no ohwute. (Okwute an ancestral staff used in making sacrifice; old men possess them but not women.) Someone's mother. ojigbo muanegboanefekete. ifi White hairs come to an old head, when the land is old it turns to sand. An old person. we. enugwa gwojo If you know any greetings, greet your ojo (personal guardian,and spirit of destiny). This refers to someone's oo. anuwo anohpe. Hilly land has hollows. A hilly place; hills.
Bb

ehatunuhpa

ehora

ehobala

ekete (ea olete)

ekegali

ekogoli

ekahwu

ekaoloru

ekodi (ekoji)

356

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA

In anwadivination the diviner does not recite the praise names of the different patternsin order to arriveat an answerto the problem set before the chains.Instead he goes straightto the meaning of the pair, which is given here in my last sentence, and buildsup an interpretation readingoff a seriesof pairs.One short examplewill by make this point clear. In August 962 I was present at a divination sequence being conducted for a young baby. The parents were thinking of performing the egwele ceremonyfor the child, the fourteenth-day ceremonyin which the house is purified aftera birth. The fatherput the question, 'If we performthe egwele ceremonyfor this will it stayin this world ?' The chainswere cast and fell in the following order. baby, akwu oloru oloru eka eka ora The diviner recited the names of the first five pairs with their meanings. (A orakwu-Kpakachi type of oracle spirit or ebo) oreka-It is on the way olofuakwu-Itis travellingon its way here
ora oloru-Nothing will happen to this one

ekakwu-An old person

The diviner concluded that an ebo,Kpakachi,was looking for a sacrificetogether with an old person, who was the child's guardian spirit (ojo). The reference to Kpakachiwas explicit in the chains, whilst the mention of pjpby the diviner was an inference suggested by the circumstances the divination and by the referenceto of an old person. Having obtainedtwo specificsuggestions the divinerwent on to test their validity by asking a series of questions relating to this first interpretation.He asked whether it would be good for the child if sacrificeswere made for Kpakachi and the child's .oj, whether the child would die if all this were done, whether both sacrifices should be made or only one, and so on. The answerseventuallyeliminated the sacrificeto the child's guardianspirit, and confirmedthat all would be well if the oracle spirit receivedan offeringof a cock. In Igala there are few professionaldivinersand the typicaldiviner abifawho uses the anwamethod is an old man connected to his clients by ties of kinship or friendship. Fees are only paid to a diviner when seriousillness occurs, beyond the skill of membersof the patient'sfamily. In these cases a professionalmedicineman, obochi, is called in and he either divines himself or consults a professionaldiviner. In the vast majorityof cases no fee is paid and the divination is carriedout by someone who knows the backgroundof his clients. In these circumstances diviner does the to not think it wrong to relatethe interpretation the client'sbackgroundso that the diviner becomes personallyinvolved with the interpretation. instanceone of the For common themes in divinationis the inferencethat the client (or patient if illness is involved) is concealingsomething which should be openly discussed.Typicallythis interpretationrefers to quarrellingwithin the client's or subject'sfamily and to ill feeling that lies just underthe surfaceof normalfamilylife. This is only one example of the way in which the divinerbuilds up his interpretation fromhis knowledgeof the to the questions. In fact if other experiencedmen are present at the background divining sequence the interpretationis built up collectively, with the other men adding remarksand echoing the diviner's comments with readings of their own.

IFA DIVINATIONIN IGALA 357 of Ifa anwais very widely diffusedin Igala and it is usual at divining Knowledge sequencesto find more than one man with knowledge of the basic patternsand a fair understandingof the pairs of chains. is Knowledge of the second form of divination,Ifa ebutu, even morewidely diffused than the knowledge of anwatechniques. Probablyover half the adult men in Igala can operatethe sand oracle and although it is regardedas less reliablethan the anwa method sand divining is in constantuse and is relied upon to provide the answerto everydayproblemsof healthand prosperity.The procedurefor sand divinationis as follows: The diviner sits on the ground and smoothes a patch of sand or of dusty earthin front of him. He then holds his right hand in front of his mouth and calls the praise names of the Earth deity, Ane. anemagedo-landthat fears not. ahwuabojo-this could not be translateddirectlybut was said to mean that odugbo whateveris put on the ground, the earth does not refuse. The diviner then makes a dotted line across the sand in front of him, using the second or third finger of the right hand, and making dots at random.This is called enanya. Startingfrom the right-handside the diviner marks off alternatedots along the line until he is left with eithera single dot or a pair of dots at the left-handend of the line. The rest of the line is then scrubbedout, leaving only the pair or the single dot on the left. The result is then scored at the edge of the patch nearestthe diviner by making a single short vertical mark for one dot or two short vertical lines for a pair of dots. This procedureof obtaining a score is repeatedthree more times after the first score so that the diviner finisheswith four scores. These four sets of marks are drawnon the sandin a verticalline or column, one score below the other in their order of appearance.A complete column with its four double or single marks is said to form a house, unyi.And the double and single marks are describedin the same way as the seed pods of the anwamethod. They are either bite,open (a single or finger-mark) dade,closed (a double finger-mark). This whole operationis then repeatedthree times in the centre of the sand patch to produce a total of four houses which are then laid out in a row side by side in order of their appearance(beginning on the right). This set of four houses then 'gives birth', bi, to a second set of four which are laid out to the left of the first set of houses. As the following diagram shows, the second set of four houses are obtainedby reading across the rows of the first set.

!1 11 1 I l I! 1 1
second four houses, the children,amoma.

i l

I I I

i
Ii I

first four houses (readacross the rows from right to left to get the second set).

358

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA

From this first row of eight houses, a furtherfour houses are 'born' by comparing adjacentpairs in the first row. The following diagram shows that if the adjacent marksare both closed they produce anotherclosed mark.If adjacentmarksare both open, a closed mark results (because two single marks in the sand produce a pair when brought together). An open mark (i.e. a single dot) is produced only by the conjunction of a closed and an open mark (a double and a single mark, giving an odd number).

I I II II

11 I I I II I I I I I II I11I I I I I II II

I 11

Ii

11 I 11 I

I I 11

I I I I I

From these four houses a further two are 'born' and this pair are combined to produce a single house which is set out below them as shown in the diagram.The patternis now completeexceptfor the last house. This is obtainedby combiningthe figure on the extremeright in the top row and the middle house of the bottom row. This last house is placed to one side on the right-handedge of the pattern.

I 11 I I I I II II II I I II I 11111 II I I I I I I I I I

II I I II! 1 I III I I Ii II I

I1I

There are sixteen basic figures in sand divination,sixteen being the total number of permutationspossible with a column of four double or single marks.Each figure hasits own name,and also has a properposition which is saidto be the 'house' of that figure. The following diagramsets out the sixteen figureswith each one in its own house, that is in the correct position in relation to all the other figures.

k DIVINATION IN IGALA
I I I II I II I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I A c

359

Alumuku Alekwumola Okwubaja

I I I I I I I I

Ateliki

Alubiala

Etemete Dahili
A aI I I

Qlaika
I I I I I

Anikocheje

I
I

OnuchuDahili
I I

Atamain

Achika

Inachaja

I I I I

I I I I

Enikiladi
I I I I

Otuba

Ajema

Okwubadala

When a figure appears in its own house Igala say i megejiand apply the appropriate one of the sixteen basic meanings to the figure. These sixteen meanings run as follows:

anikoch/ej something made of iron, something strong a man olaika etemete dahili a journey alubiala someone's mother a journey ateliki an illness attacking someone okwubaja alekwumola a young woman or a young girl alumuku death onuchudahili witchcraft a four-footed animal atamain achika someone's father anikiladi okwubadala otuba ajema
inachaja laughter quarrelling a house or houses someone with a black heart a meeting or gathering

When the last house has been marked out on the sand, a little to one side on the right, the diviner looks at it and interprets the meaning by putting together the meaning of the house actually there and the meaning of the house which belongs to that position, as in the complete table of houses. For example, if alumukuis in ajema's house it could mean people gathered for a funeral. From this pair the diviner works backwards to see which house is in possession of alumuku'sposition and he goes on working out the paired meanings until he reaches a house in its correct position. This completes the first reading. A second reading can be obtained by counting up the single marks (omi) that open or close houses in the whole pattern. When counting

IFA DIVINATION IN IGALA 360 up marks in this way no attention is paid to double marks, but only to the single marks which occur either at the top or bottom of the houses. If there are over ten marks the ten is disregarded, so that eighteen would count as eight for example and sixteen as six. Having obtained this number the diviner counts off houses,4 starting from the top right-hand corner until he reaches the given total. The house picked out in this way forms the first house in the second reading. The diviner works backwards as in the first reading by naming the house in occupation and linking its meaning to that of the house which owns that position. The second reading continues, like the first, until the diviner reaches a house in its correct position. In sand divination as in the anwa method the diviner is guided by his knowledge of the circumstances in deciding how to interpret the results of his inquiry. My informant told me quite openly that not all the houses which show up are involved in the interpretation. The diviner and his clients decide between them what is relevant, and pick out the main points of the interpretation. For example, if an oracle spirit is referred to, the diviner and his client will try to identify the spirit in question by their knowledge of the background and from any clues given by the Ifa pattern. All the men present are thinking in terms of sacrifices to be made in order to avert some misfortune or to secure some blessing. And their knowledge of quarrels and difficulties in social relationships is especially relevant to the task of interpretation. Divination serves as a catalyst in making public facts that have been kept in the background or partially hidden. Ifa reminds everyone that social disturbances produce ritual upheavals.
REFERENCES
BOSTON, J. S. I970. 'The supernatural aspect of disease and therapeutics among the Igala.' African Notes

5 (Ibadan), (3).

I97I. 'Igala medicines and fetishes', Africa, xli. 3.

Resume
DIVINATION IFA EN PAYS IGALA diffdrentsesprits auxquelscroient les Igala ne sont pas ordonnes hierarchiquement, ou en revelant l'intervention des forces spirituellesdans toute systematiquement.Cependant, situation, l'oracle Ifa introduit l'ordre et une systematiquedans la religion. Cet oracle est consulte avant que toute ddcision d'importance (telle que le choix du lieu de residence, un l'opportunite d'entreprendre long voyage) ne soit prise. II existe en pays Igala deux types de divination. L'un (Ifa anwa)utilise I6 sortes de feves disposes en quatrefils ou chaines,quatrefeves a chaquechaine. L'autre(Ifa ebutu) repose sur les signes inscritsavec les doigts sur une surfacelisse de terreou de sable. II existe, pour l'un et l'autre type d'oracle Ifa, I6 figures possibles, dont chacune porte un nom et renvoie a une significationconventionnelle. Existent, en outre, plus de deux cents noms et significations secondaires, correspondantaux diffdrentscouples de chaines ou de marques sur le sable. La connaissancede ces deux types d'Ifa est largementrepanduechez les Igala. Les circonstancespropres a chaque cas sur lequel ils sont consultes guident les devins; leur connaissancedes querelles et des relations sociales rompues est particulierement precieuse pour la phase d'interpretation.L'Ifa rappellea chacun que les infractionsa l'ordre social entrainentdes bouleversementsrituels.
LES
4 But the last house to appear in the configuration, which is set out on the right-hand side, is not included when dots are being counted.