Orunmila

deity · Nigeria · West Africa

Orunmila is the Yoruba orisha of wisdom, divination, knowledge, and prophecy. He is the custodian of the Ifá divination system, which contains 256 sacred verses (Odu) that encode the entire knowledge of the universe. Present at creation, Orunmila witnessed everything that would happen and recorded it in the Ifá corpus. He taught humanity the art of divination through Babalawos (fathers of secrets), the initiated priests who interpret sacred palm nuts and the divination chain. Orunmila represents destiny, fate, and the power of knowledge. UNESCO recognized the Ifá divination system as a Masterp

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