࿊ · From A to T
The 34 terms, in alphabetical order
Every definition stands on its own: it answers the question without asking for more context. Where it helps, it points to the page of this site that goes deeper — an Odù page, the pantheon of the orishas, or the gateway to the treatise.
Aleyo
An aleyo is a person who takes part in the religion without being consecrated: someone who consults, attends and learns, but has not made santo and has not received Ifá. It is not an insult — almost everyone started as an aleyo. On this site, the Aleyo plan is the open door to read the 256 Odù.
Ashé
Ashé is the life force and spiritual authority of the Yoruba tradition: the power that makes a spoken word come true. People, orishas, plants and words all carry some ashé, and the consecrations pass it on. To answer a prayer with «ashé» is to seal it: so be it.
Awó
Awó means «secret» in Yoruba. It is the title of the priest of Ifá: Awó ni Orunmila, keeper of the secret of Orunmila. Babalawos use it among themselves as a mark of respect, and the eldest Awó lead the major ceremonies.
Babalawo
The babalawo («father of secrets») is the priest of Ifá, consecrated before Orunmila to handle his oracle. In the consultation he casts the sign with the ékuele or the ikines and reads the Odù that came out. He does not guess: the Odù already says what it says, and his office is to know it.
Diloggún
The diloggún is the cowrie-shell oracle: the divination system of the Regla de Osha, read by the santero and the santera. It speaks with the same letters as Ifá, but the santero reads up to letter twelve; from thirteen on, the question goes to the babalawo, because those letters are spoken by Orunmila.
Ebbó
The ebbó is the sacrifice or work that the Odù marks to move a person's path: to hold the iré in place or to turn the osogbo away. It can be a cleansing, an offering, a head rogation or a major work, and the sign always marks it — never the taste of the priest. The patakís repeat one lesson: for the one who makes ebbó, the road opens.
Eewó
An eewó is a taboo born from a sign: something a person must not eat, do or wear because of the Odù they carry. It is not a sin and not a whim — each eewó comes from one concrete path of the sign and protects from its osogbo. That is why there is no universal list of taboos: the eewó of one sign says nothing to a person with another. Every Odù page on this site lists the eewó of the sign, with the reason behind each one.
Eggún
Eggún are the spirits of the dead: the ancestors of blood and of religion. They are attended with coconut, water and light before the orishas are worked with, and in the oracle many iré and osogbo arrive «lese Eggún», by the hand of the dead. The moyugba names them one by one.
Ékuele (okuele)
The ékuele — also written okuele, and opele in Yorubaland — is the divining chain of the babalawo: eight pieces of shell or metal joined by a small chain that, falling on the mat, draw a full Odù in one throw. It is the tool of the daily consultation; the ikines are kept for the great ceremonies.
Eshu (Elegbá)
Eshu — Elegbá, Elegguá — is the orisha who owns the roads and the doors: the messenger who opens or closes, the first to eat in everything. In Ifá he is inseparable from Orunmila: he carries the ebbó to its destination and tests the people of the patakís. His page is in the pantheon of this site.
Ìbí
The ìbí is what was born in the sign: what that Odù brought into the world for the first time. The corpus announces it with a formula heard across all 256 signs: «here is born». A custom, a law, a trade, a natural fact — everything that exists entered the world through some Odù.
Ikines
The ikines are the palm nuts consecrated to Orunmila: the highest instrument of the oracle of Ifá. The babalawo works them in the great ceremonies — the itá, the opening of the year — and their count gives the sign that is marked on the board. For the daily consultation, the ékuele is enough.
Iré
Iré is the blessing: the good that the sign brings for the person — health, victory, money, children. It never comes alone: the oracle says where it comes from, and that surname matters (iré ariku, long life; iré ashegun otá, victory over enemies). The opposite of iré is osogbo.
Itá
The itá is the ceremony where the Odù that goes with a person for life comes out, with its eewó, its warnings and its road. It takes place when a consecration is received: the santo, the mano de Orula, Ifá. Unlike the sign of a consultation, the Odù of the itá does not change — it is «your» sign.
Iyawó
The iyawó is the person just consecrated in the Regla de Osha: someone who has just made santo. For one year and seven days they dress in white and keep a strict rule that protects them while they are «born» in the religion. The word comes from Yoruba and is usually understood as the «young bride» of the orisha.
Iyefá
Iyefá is the sacred powder of Ifá, made from dried yam or other consecrated matter. It is spread over the board of Ifá; on it the babalawo marks the sign and prays the Odù, and with it the ebbó is sealed and sent on its way.
Letra del año
The letra del año («letter of the year») is the Odù that rules the year: the sign that the babalawos bring out in ceremony at the close of December 31, with its ruling orisha, its iré, its osogbo and its advice. It speaks for everyone, but it does not replace the personal sign: it says how the year comes, not how each head comes.
Lukumí
Lukumí is the name the Yoruba heritage received in Cuba: the ritual language, the songs and the religion that enslaved Africans kept alive and reorganized on the island. From it come the Regla de Osha and Cuban Ifá. This treatise follows the Lukumí tradition.
Mano de Orula
The mano de Orula — Awofakán for a man, Ikofá for a woman — is the entry ceremony of Ifá: in its itá, the person receives their first personal Odù and their eewó. It is the door for those who will not become babalawos, and most believers receive it.
Meyi
Meyi means «double». The Meyi are the 16 major signs of Ifá, the ones that come out when both halves of the Odù are the same: from Eyiogbe to Ofun Meyi. They rule over the other 240, open the branches of the treatise, and the whole corpus is born from them.
Moyugba
The moyugba is the prayer of permission that opens every religious act: Oloddumare is greeted, the dead elders of the house are named and then the living ones, and only then does the work begin. Nothing is done without moyugba: first the permission, then the work.
Odù
An Odù is one of the 256 signs of the oracle of Ifá: a full chapter of its word, with its prayer, its patakís, its iré and osogbo, its eewó and its ebbós. It is drawn with two kinds of mark in four double positions, and nothing that happens to a human being falls outside one. All 256 are in this treatise, one by one.
Omoluo
The omoluos are the 240 combined Odù: the ones born when two different Meyi cross, one figure on the right and one on the left. The name joins the two signs that form it: Ogbe Yeku carries Ogbe on the right and Oyekun on the left.
Oriaté
The oriaté is the master of ceremonies of the Regla de Osha: the one who leads the itá of the consecrations and reads the diloggún in the room of santo. He is the highest liturgical authority of Osha; in Ifá, that place belongs to the senior babalawos.
Orisha
The orishas are the divinities of the Yoruba religion and of its Lukumí heritage: forces of nature with their own history, character and roads — Eshu, Obatalá, Yemayá, Shangó, Oshún, Oyá and the rest. Every Odù records which orishas speak in it and why. The full pantheon is on this site.
Orunmila (Orula)
Orunmila — Orula, in everyday speech — is the orisha of wisdom and the owner of the oracle of Ifá. He is called Eleri Ipin, «witness to the choice», because he was present when each person chose their destiny before birth. His oracle invents nothing: it remembers what was already said.
Osha (Regla de Osha)
The Regla de Osha — «santería», in its popular name — is the worship of the orishas as it took shape in Cuba: its consecrations, its drums and its own oracle, the diloggún. It is not the same thing as Ifá, although in Cuban practice the two branches grew together and complete each other.
Osode
The osode is the consultation of Ifá: the session where the babalawo casts the sign with the ékuele, asks whether it comes in iré or in osogbo and from where, and marks the ebbó that answers it. The Odù of the osode speaks of that matter and that moment; the sign for life comes out in the itá.
Osogbo
Osogbo is the adverse side the sign points to: ikú, death; arun, illness; ofo, loss; eyó, tragedy. Each one carries a surname that says where the shadow comes from. It is not a sentence: it is a warning, and it is answered with ebbó.
Patakí
A patakí is a sacred story of an Odù: the path that grounds what the sign says. It is not a fable for decoration — it is sacred jurisprudence, the case that set the ruling applied to whoever draws that sign. This treatise keeps its 5338 patakís whole, never merged and never trimmed.
Rezo
The rezo is the fixed prayer of each Odù: the words in the Lukumí ritual language with which the babalawo calls the sign over the board. Each of the 256 has its own, and learning them by heart is part of the office. The súyere is its sung companion.
Santero
Santero and santera are the priests of the Regla de Osha: the iyalosha, «mother of santo», and the babalosha, «father of santo», consecrated to run its ceremonies and read the diloggún. They are not babalawos: each branch has its own oracle, office and hierarchy.
Súyere
The súyere is the ritual song that goes with the rezo of the Odù at the moment of the board. It is sung in call and response: the leader calls and those present answer, and every sign and every ceremony have their own. The song also carries ashé: it does not decorate, it works.
Tablero de Ifá
The tablero de Ifá (opon Ifá) is the wooden tray where the babalawo spreads the iyefá and marks the sign in the great ceremonies. Its rim often carries the carved face of Eshu, who watches the oracle. For the daily consultation the ékuele is enough; the board belongs to the ceremonies.
The word is not lost.