CHAPTER TWO

IFA AS A REPOSITORY OF KNOWLEDGE

2.0 Introduction

This chapter examines Ifa as a repository of knowledge, Ifa divination as a process of knowledge

acquisition. When people consult Ifa, they have the belief that Ifa will reveal the knowledge of the

unknown to them and thereby claim to have known or obtained knowledge about their objects of enquiry.

S. B. Oluwole1 defined Ifa, “as a repository, or storage of Yoruba knowledge. Ifa encompassing all aspect

of human knowledge.” African philosophy has proved itself as an independent philosophy of a continent,

region and people. Knowledge is very paramount in every culture and society, the basic assumption of a

people is what defines their theory of knowledge. Epistemology is a branch of philosophy; it is concerned

with the theory, science and principles that guide peoples knowledge. Epistemology raises many

questions including: how reality can be known, the relationship between the knower and what is known,

the characteristics, the principles, the assumption that guides the process of knowing and the achievement

of findings. Hence, we shall critically evaluate and establish Ifa as a repository of knowledge and the

relationship it has with African knowledge in general.

2.1 Epistemology and Knowledge Acquisition

Alston(1989)2, “epistemology is the study of knowledge. Epistemologists concern themselves with a

number of tasks, which we might sort into two categories. First, we must determine the nature of

knowledge; that is, what does it mean to say that someone knows, or fails to know, something? This is a

matter of understanding what knowledge is, and how to distinguish between cases in which someone

knows something and cases in which someone does not know something. While there is some general

agreement about some aspects of this issue, we shall see that this question is much more difficult than one

might imagine. Second, we must determine the extent of human knowledge; that is, how much do we, or
can we, know? How can we use our reason, our senses, the testimony of others, and other resources to

acquire knowledge? Are there limits to what we can know? For instance, are some things unknowable? Is

it possible that we do not know nearly as much as we think we do? Should we have a legitimate worry

about skepticism, the view that we do not or cannot know anything at all?” Omoregbe(1998) 3,

“epistemology is the study of human knowledge, the study of the nature of human knowledge, its origin,

its scope, its limits, its justification, its reliability or otherwise, its certainty or otherwise.” The term

“epistemology” comes from the Greek "episteme," meaning "knowledge," and "logos," meaning, roughly,

"study, or science, of." "Logos" is the root of all terms ending in "-ology" – such as psychology,

anthropology – and of "logic," and has many other related meanings.

The word "knowledge" and its cognates are used in a variety of ways. One common use of the word

"know" is as an expression of psychological conviction. For instance, we might hear someone say, "I just

knew it wouldn't rain, but then it did." While this may an appropriate usage, philosophers tend to use the

word "know" in a factive sense, so that one cannot know something that is not the case.

We can really understand the basic assumption of epistemology through the question it asks: What does

it mean for someone to know something? What is the difference between someone who knows something

and someone else who does not know it, or between something one knows and something one does not

know? Since the scope of knowledge is so broad, we need a general characterization of knowledge, one

which is applicable to any kind of proposition whatsoever. Epistemologists have usually undertaken this

task by seeking a correct and complete analysis of the concept of knowledge, in other words a set of

individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions which determine whether someone knows

something. There are components of knowledge, which includes: belief, Truth, Justification, and

Knowledge.

a. Belief - Let us begin with the observation that knowledge is a mental state; that is, knowledge exists

in one's mind, and unthinking things cannot know anything. Further, knowledge is a specific kind of
 mental state. While "that"-clauses can also be used to describe desires and intentions, these cannot

constitute knowledge. Rather, knowledge is a kind of belief. If one has no beliefs about a particular

matter, one cannot have knowledge about it.

For instance, suppose that I desire that I be given a raise in salary, and that I intend to do whatever I can

to earn one. Suppose further that I am doubtful as to whether I will indeed be given a raise, due to the

intricacies of the university's budget and such. Given that I do not believe that I will be given a raise, I

cannot be said to know that I will. Only if I am inclined to believe something can I come to know it.

Similarly, thoughts that an individual has never entertained are not among his beliefs, and thus cannot be

included in his body of knowledge.

Some beliefs, those which the individual is actively entertaining, are called occurrent beliefs. The

majority of an individual's beliefs are non-occurrent; these are beliefs that the individual has in the

background but is not entertaining at a particular time. Correspondingly, most of our knowledge is non-

occurrent, or background, knowledge; only a small amount of one's knowledge is ever actively on one's

mind.

b. Truth - Knowledge, then, requires belief. Of course, not all beliefs constitute knowledge. Belief is

necessary but not sufficient for knowledge. We are all sometimes mistaken in what we believe; in other

words, while some of our beliefs are true, others are false. As we try to acquire knowledge, then, we are

trying to increase our stock of true beliefs (while simultaneously minimizing our false beliefs).

We might say that the most typical purpose of beliefs is to describe or capture the way things actually are;

that is, when one forms a belief, one is seeking a match between one's mind and the world. (We

sometimes, of course, form beliefs for other reasons – to create a positive attitude, to deceive ourselves,

and so forth – but when we seek knowledge, we are trying to get things right.) And, alas, we sometimes

fail to achieve such a match; some of our beliefs do not describe the way things actually are.
Note that we are assuming here that there is such a thing as objective truth, so that it is possible for beliefs

to match or to fail to match with reality. That is, in order for someone to know something, there must be

something one knows about. Recall that we are discussing knowledge in the factive sense; if there are no

facts of the matter, then there's nothing to know (or to fail to know). This assumption is not universally

accepted – in particular, it is not shared by some proponents of relativism – but it will not be defended

here. However, we can say that truth is a condition of knowledge; that is, if a belief is not true, it cannot

constitute knowledge. Accordingly, if there is no such thing as truth, then there can be no knowledge.

Even if there is such a thing as truth, if there is a domain in which there are no truths, then there can be no

knowledge within that domain. (For example, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then a belief that

something is beautiful cannot be true or false, and thus cannot constitute knowledge.)

c. Justification - Knowledge, then, requires factual belief. However, this does not suffice to capture the

nature of knowledge. Just as knowledge requires successfully achieving the objective of true belief, it also

requires success with regard to the formation of that belief. In other words, not all true beliefs constitute

knowledge; only true beliefs arrived at in the right way constitute knowledge.

What, then, is the right way of arriving at beliefs? In addition to truth, what other properties must a belief

have in order to constitute knowledge? We might begin by noting that sound reasoning and solid evidence

seem to be the way to acquire knowledge. By contrast, a lucky guess cannot constitute knowledge.

Similarly, misinformation and faulty reasoning do not seem like a recipe for knowledge, even if they

happen to lead to a true belief. A belief is said to be justified if it is obtained in the right way. While

justification seems, at first glance, to be a matter of a belief's being based on evidence and reasoning

rather than on luck or misinformation, we shall see that there is much disagreement regarding how to

spell out the details.

The requirement that knowledge involve justification does not necessarily mean that knowledge requires

absolute certainty, however. Humans are fallible beings, and fallibilism is the view that it is possible to
have knowledge even when one's true belief might have turned out to be false. Between beliefs which

were necessarily true and those which are true solely by luck lies a spectrum of beliefs with regard to

which we had some defeasible reason to believe that they would be true. For instance, if I heard the

weatherman say that there is a 90% chance of rain, and as a result I formed the belief that it would rain,

then my true belief that it would rain was not true purely by luck. Even though there was some chance

that my belief might have been false, there was a sufficient basis for that belief for it to constitute

knowledge. This basis is referred to as the justification for that belief. We can then say that, to constitute

knowledge, a belief must be both true and justified. The study of knowledge is one of the most

fundamental aspects of philosophical inquiry. Any claim to knowledge must be evaluated to determine

whether or not it indeed constitutes knowledge. Such an evaluation essentially requires an understanding

of what knowledge is and how much knowledge is possible. While this entry provides on overview of the

important issues, it of course leaves the most basic questions unanswered; epistemology will continue to

be an area of philosophical discussion as long as these questions remain.

2.3 African Epistemology and Worldview

Jimoh and Thomas (2015)5, African epistemology deals with what the African means and understands

when he makes a knowledge claim. This consists of how the African sees or talks about reality.

Concerning how the African sees or talks about reality, Asante writes; “there are several elements in the

mind of Africa that govern how humans behave with regard to reality: the practicality of wholism, the

prevalence of poly-consciousness, the idea of inclusiveness, the unity of worlds, and the value of personal

relationships.” These constitute the elements of the African mind. They frame the African conception of

reality, and they are the basis on which cognitive claims are made by the African. From the earliest times

there was an underlining commonality in the African apprehension of the universe, environment, society,

and the divine. This is because while the self remains real and the material is concrete for the African,

both the self and the material however remain interwoven by custom and tradition with the latter based

upon human correlativity. Therefore, the African conceives reality as one large system in which
personalism is expressed in concrete consubstantiation of spirit. African theory of knowledge, like other

epistemologies is a social or cultural epistemology. It is an epistemology that is deliberately situated

within a particular cultural context. When we talk about a phenomenon as being within a cultural context,

we are talking about bringing it within the rational framework of the said cultural context; in this case,

African culture. “The way in which epistemic rationality and its related concepts are instantiated, ‘filled

out’ as it were, the concrete content that they are given in terms of linguistic descriptions and social

customs, varies a great deal from one cultural context to another.” The body of knowledge, that is, the set

of established facts that are accepted as true in the society, differ from one age to another. For instance,

what would count, as a good theory, a widely accepted or a satisfactory explanation of a given

phenomenon in traditional African society would differ from that which would count as satisfactory in

contemporary African society. Such difference would also be noticed in the methods of acquisition of

knowledge as well as the certification or justification of knowledge. African epistemology, according to

Barry Hallen(2007)6 is the African theory of knowledge, which includes the African conception of the

nature of knowledge, the means used to gain knowledge, the criteria for the assessment of the validity of

knowledge, the purpose of the pursuit of knowledge, and the role that knowledge plays in human

existence. The adjective African applied to a people implies that that people, given the specificity of their

location in the world and their experience in human history, have as African people a specific way of

understanding and explaining the world and the complexity of the human condition. At the same time,

given that Africans are members of the unique human family of Homo sapiens, African epistemology

naturally exhibits similarities with and differences from epistemologies developed. As a species of

naturalized epistemology, ethno epistemology treats all human epistemological activities as fully natural

phenomena to be described, understood, and evaluated from a broadly anthropological and fully a

posteriori perspective. In this spirit it examines the entire gamut of human epistemological activities

ranging from those of ordinary folk and cognitive specialists (for example, diviners, shamans, priests,

magicians, and scientists) to those of epistemologists themselves. Ethno epistemology includes both

domestic and non-domestic epistemological practices, and accordingly regards Western epistemological
practices as simply one among many alternative, contingent epistemological projects advanced by and

hence available to human beings. In this manner it aims to decenter and provincialize the definitions,

aims, assumptions, methods, problems, and claims of Western epistemology. Sengha(1999) 7, African

epistemology is the African theory of knowledge, which includes the African conception of the nature of

knowledge, the means used to gain knowledge, the criteria for the assessment of the validity of

knowledge, the purpose of the pursuit of knowledge, and the role that knowledge plays in human

existence. The adjective African applied to a people implies that that people, given the specificity of their

location in the world and their experience in human history, have as African people a specific way of

understanding and explaining the world and the complexity of the human condition. At the same time,

given that Africans are members of the unique human family of Homo sapiens, African epistemology

naturally exhibits similarities with and differences from epistemologies developed by Westerners. Like

African metaphysics, African epistemology is deeply rooted in African tradition. Originally, the tradition

of a people is the effect of their experience; and since philosophy is a reflection on human experience, it

follows that African tradition, which entails African religions, root culture, oral literature, traditional arts,

fables, proverbs, idioms, rituals, music, dance, folklores and myths, are the content of African

epistemology. According to G.E.Azenabor (2002), defines African philosophy as the reflection of African

and non African, on how Africans (whether ancient or modern) make sense of their existence and the

world in which we live, based on the African cultural experience and reality.

As earlier said, African epistemology is metaphysically and spiritually inclined. The tradition in African

philosophy relates more with the spiritual and supernatural elements in nature which give emotional and

aesthetic satisfaction to the average African person. Thus, the ideal life as exemplified by African

epistemology is to co-exist as one with nature. In doing this, great emphasis is placed on spirituality and

an understanding of the world via a spiritual source because African epistemology regards the

experiential world and the non-experiential world as causally related.

fact that reality is beyond the empirical world of space and time; that everything which exists is charged

with life forces or spirits i.e. all beings possess a spiritual backing. It also presents the hierarchical order

of life forces, which is, God, divinities, ancestors, spirits, man, animals, plants and minerals. The superior

forces have a direct influence on the lower ones, which can only influence the higher forces indirectly via

spiritual works or otherwise. On the justification of African Epistemology, African culture can be defined

from many angles. By African culture we mean folklore, history, etiquette and many other things. The

truth is that African epistemology which entails African culture is simply composed of these things and is

a complicated unit that can be divided into several categories. It would have been so wonderful to dive

into the world of African wonders and artifacts and start a long journey for information and discovery.

Unfortunately, our society seems to ignore that priceless inheritance we received from ancestors to

contribute and give to our posterities. To start with, there are so many languages, so many cultures in

Africa alone. There are hundreds of nations with specific mentalities and national priorities. Hence,

information on various cultures in Africa is necessary for appreciating our race.

Nonetheless, culture investigation takes centuries to build and discover all the secrets. Thus, it is

necessary to create an epistemic platform where African ideas and theoretical creations can be

documented, harnessed and fully developed, in a manner akin to the west, but with our own

specifications. This is one of the major agendas (amongst others) which African epistemology as a

discipline is set out to do. Nobody will dare to deny the fact that every culture makes a special

contribution to the development of the world. But no matter how attractive any of these cultures seem, it

is vitally important to know our own African culture, a culture of your family and your nation is our

heritage and epistemic responsibility. We are to bring up pride, respects and love for our culture in our

world, and we can only do this by giving it an epistemic backing.

expanded as a result of post discoveries. But, the oral method of transmitting and preserving African

tradition has definitely slowed down its epistemological advancement. For a theory of knowledge to

grow, there must be adequately documented material from antiquity which posterity can systematically

augment on. But, the oral nature of African tradition presupposes that a lot of vital information about the

African experience would have been lost via the death of so many unknown African philosophers. This

has obviously affected the speedy growth of African epistemology. Therefore, when African

epistemology as a course of study is integrated into the academic curriculum, it would automatically

evolve within a framework whereby information on the African worldview would be adequately

documented and harnessed. Talking about Yoruba epistemology, is a way of reflecting about a

component or a region of African Epistemology which off course has semblance with African

epistemology in General.

2.4 Yoruba Intellectual Culture

Olugbile O.(2009)9, held that, “the Yoruba world view is centers around a continuous battle between

forces of good and evil.” The Yoruba world view emanated from IFA(oracle) the Yoruba system of

divination, Ifa is the encyclopedia of the Yoruba knowledge. According Oluwole S.,” Ifa is the repository

of the Yoruba Knowledge”. Reality of the unverse, man, and all other beings are emanated and narrated

in the Yoruba Ifa as the secondary source of Yoruba knowledge. The Yoruba divination system enabled

diviners to invoke the word of God through the teachings of Orunmila, the Yoruba deity of wisdom,

prophecy and ethics. Esu (Eshu), who is in charge of spiritual justice, as well as the god directly in charge

of transportation of ebos, lends his authority or ase to the oracle for the purpose of clarifying the issues at

hand and providing direction to those seeking guidance. Ifa divination rites provide an avenue of

communication between the spirit world and that of the living.

Iyanifa (an initiated priest). Babalawo can be translated as "father of the secrets". The babalawo provides

insights about the current circumstances impacting the life of a person requesting this information and

provides any necessary information to aid the individual. Awo is a reference for devotees in Orisa

worship. It includes Babalawos, Babalorishas, Iyalorishas and even uninitiated devotees. Ifa was able to

establish “two truth reality” in the Yoruba culture. Two Truths IFA teaches us that "tibi tire la da Ile aye,"

meaning reality is a union of opposites.

.So, wherever I see a female, I know a male is somewhere around; wherever I see a fortune, I know a

misfortune is around the corner; wherever I see "zero," I know that "one" is around the corner; wherever I

see an action, I know a reaction is an inch away; whenever I hear about a god, I am prepared to hear about

a devil; and whenever I hear about heaven, I'm prepared to hear about hell.

Finally, another important aspect of Yoruba worldview is “ORI” the concept of Ori in the Yoruba socio

cultural belief is very complex and interesting. According to Adeyemi., Ori is a metaphysical concept

important to Yoruba spirituality and way of life. Ori, literally meaning “head,” refers to one’s spiritual

intuition and destiny. It is the reflective spark of human consciousness embedded into the human essence,

and therefore is often personified as an Orisha in its own right. In Yoruba tradition, it is believed that

human beings are able to heal themselves both spiritually and physically by working with the Orishas to

achieve a balanced character, or iwa-pele. When one has a balanced character, one obtains an alignment

with one’s Ori or divine self.

Alignment with one’s Ori brings, to the person who obtains it, inner peace and satistaction with life. To

come to know the Ori is, essentially, to come to know oneself, a concept extremely foreign to Western

philosophy. The primacy of individual identity is best captured in a Yoruba proverb: “Ori la ba bo, a ba

f'orisa sile”. When translated, this becomes It is the inner self we ought to venerate, and let divinity be.

Ajayi and Timothy (2001)10, Yoruba culture consists of folk/cultural philosophy, religion and folktales.
They are embodied in Ifa-Ife Divination, known as the tripartite Book of Enlightenment in Yorubaland

and in its diaspora.

Yoruba cultural thought is a witness of two epochs. The first epoch is a history of cosmogony and

cosmology. This is also an epoch-making history in the oral culture during which time Oduduwa was the

head, the Bringer of Light, and a prominent diviner. He pondered the visible and invisible worlds,

reminiscing about cosmogony, cosmology, and the mythological creatures in the visible and invisible

worlds. The second epoch is the epoch of metaphysical discourse. This commenced in the 19th century in

terms of the academic prowess of Bishop Dr. Ajayi Crowther. Although religion is often first in Yoruba

culture, nonetheless, it is the thought of man that actually leads spiritual consciousness (ori) to the

creation and the practice of religion. Thus, it is believed that thought is an antecedent to religion. Today,

the academic and nonacademic communities are becoming more interested in Yoruba culture. More

research is being carried out on Yoruba cultural thought as more books are being written on the subject.

Ori is another important aspect of Yoruba culture it occupies a significant place n Yoruba philosophical

tradition.

What is Ori-Inu? According to Ogunade R. T.(2010) Ori-inu (literally, “inner-head”) is “the

individuality element or that which is claimed to be responsible for one’s personality”, “it is the real

essence of being, the personality-soul, which guides and helps a person before he is born, … through the

passages of life, at death, and finally goes back to Supreme Deity, its Creator, to give an account of man’s

conduct on earth; it “rules, controls, and guides the life and activities of the person, it also serves as a

man’s double or guardian angel or counterpart”. From these interpretations and meanings of Ori or Ori-

inu, it is categorically clear that Ori-inu is a person’s spiritual element or being which is invisible but

actively present when one is being created, throughout life, at death and when one appears before the

Creator in judgement. The spiritual essence of Ori-inu is evident in the fact that it “is closely related to

God and it is given to man by God Himself”. In this regard, Ori-inu can also be considered as a divine

assistant delegated by its Creator to assist a person right from creation, throughout life and until the
person comes back to God. Since it is spiritual in nature it possesses the ability to know with deeper

insight, circumstances, situations and events surrounding the life of its client. This is the reason why Ori-

inu is expected to help one navigate the storms of life. Hence the Yoruba will say: ki Ori ki o sin e lo o

(may Ori go with you or may Ori prosper you). Ori-inu is also expected to assist an individual fulfill

his/her destiny only if the person’s iwa (character); evil forces, vicissitude of life; other factors; and

earth’s perversed/polluted nature allows it.

The State of the World at the Entry of Human Beings

After the creation and the equipping of the earth according to Yoruba creation story, “a man

called Oreluere headed a party of beings, created for the purpose of inhabiting the earth, and came down

to the newly created solid earth”. This was the first time human beings will inhabit the earth. They began

to increase and multiply. At this point of human’s occupation of the earth, it would appear as if there were

two categories of human beings who were the first set of people to occupy it. Because after, Oreluere and

his team, Olodumare (God) further commissioned Orisa-nla to mould man’s physical parts from the dust

of the earth. … But it was Olodumare’s prerogative, absolute concern, to make the physical form a living

being by putting in it the essence of being or life.

This account has it that at the beginning there was so much peace and joy. The creation enjoyed

harmony, and good relationship with the Creator . At this stage of human existence on earth, it might not

be wrong to say that there was no pollution; there was no evil; the destinies of those present at that time

had not been altered. There was beautiful communion and fellowship between human beings and the

spiritual world, to the extent of people going to heaven to request for whatever they needed. This

fellowship soon ended.

heaven and earth. The relationship between God and human beings became sour. Human character,

behaviours and attitude must have angered God so much that He “moved far away. There are different

sides to what must have happened. Some traditions have it that a woman with a dirty hand touched the

face of heaven. Others say that a man misbehaved in heaven by being gluttonous. Whatever may have

caused the separation, one thing is clear about the motif of all the accounts, and that is human beings

sinned. The bliss of heaven and the one-time “Garden of Eden” that the people enjoyed disappeared. The

well-being of human beings became disrupted from this moment on. It may also be correct to say that this

discord marked the beginning of bad destinies for human beings. Hitherto people’s destinies had been

unpolluted. Since we have two categories of people (one set directly from heaven and the other set from

Orisa-nla), we were not told which of them misbehaved or sinned. We can only assumed that the people

made by Orisa-nla must have been the cause; or that the other set of people were influenced to sin and

thereby connived to offend the Creator.

However, it is crucial to note at this point that both Oreluere, his team and human beings moulded

by Orisa-nla came to earth with good Ori; unpolluted Ori; unaltered destinies. This is because, contrary to

the views that Ori-buruku (bad inner-head; ill-luck personality soul; or tragedy-laddened inner person) is

also as a result of one’s lot from heaven, the Yoruba believe, as enumerated by Awolalu and Dopamu

that:

It is believed that basically, all Ori is good as derived from the Supreme Being. But the

condition of man in the world, how he spends his life in relation to his environment, and

his general conduct, can always make a change in the state of his Ori. In the light of this,

man can have good Ori or bad Ori depending on various factors. A person’s character

may spoil his good Ori and even make it bad to the effect that his whole course of life is

adversely affected. Sorcerers, witches and evil men can make a man’s good Ori to

deteriorate.
From the above, it is clear that God did not make any Ori to be bad. There is no appearance of evil in the

abode of God. Ori originated from God to human beings. Ori was very good as at the time it was leaving

heaven for earth. This is further strengthened by the Yoruba Odu corpus according to Ogbe Egunda,

which says:

Iwa nikan lo soro o,

Iwa nikan lo soro;

Ori kan kii buru lotu Ife,

Iwa nikan lo soro

Character is all that is requisite,

Character is all that is requisite;

There is no destiny (Ori) to be called unhappy in Ife city.

Character is all that is requisite.

In addition, the Yoruba also have a saying: eni lori rere ti ko niwa, iwa lo ma a bori re je (However happy

a person’s destiny may be, if he has no character, it is (lack of) character that will ruin his destiny (Ori).

Eri okan is Ori’s police to nudge people from time to time when they are derailing, and also to give

adequate attention to their Ori. This is why the propitiation of Ori by the Yoruba makes a lot of sense.

1.5 Conclusion

We have seen from the preceding sections that that ”Ifa is the repository of the Yoruba Knowledge”.

Reality of the unverse, man, and all other beings are emanated and narrated in the Yoruba Ifa as the

secondary source of Yoruba knowledge. The Yoruba divination system enabled diviners to invoke the

word of God through the teachings of Orunmila, the Yoruba deity of wisdom, prophecy and ethics. Esu
(Eshu), who is in charge of spiritual justice, as well as the god directly in charge of transportation of ebos,

lends his authority or ase to the oracle for the purpose of clarifying the issues at hand and providing

direction to those seeking guidance. Ifa divination rites provide an avenue of communication between the

spirit world and that of the living. Ifa as a Repository of knowledge gives an understanding of secrets of

invisible spiritual forces is possible, only through direct interaction with them. That is why in religious-

magic Yoruba tradition, one of the major roles has a discipline named Ifaiyа – that is intended to establish

connection with the spiritual forces that have their own self-consciousnesses. Discipline Ifaiyа contains

ogbon inu – the aggravated intuition, мsotele – forseeing of the future, alala – communication with Orisha

through dreams, egungun – obsession by the Spirit of Ancestors and Orisa’gun – obsession by Orisha

(Irunmole). Yoruba names obsession by the word “ini”, what means “I”. That refers that it is a unification

with the transcendental spiritual forces which are outside of human consciousness.

The Yoruba religion (Ifa), learns the followers first of all they should pay attention to igoke or to spiritual

growth and if the follower will succeed in it, money, health, success will come as necessary component

for a proper life. For Ifa followers it is important to be able to make the decision according to “ eri-okan “

(clear understanding, the ability to distinguish a correct act from wrong. The literal translation of a word

«eri-okan» is feeling of your heart). Ifa (also known as Orunmila or Orunla) is the name of the god of

knowledge and wisdom; Ifa is used to refer to the divination  process related to the god of knowledge and

wisdom; there is a  body of knowledge also called Ifa (Ifa Literary Corpus). This body of knowledge is

the Sacred Text of Yoruba Religion and all its denominations in Africa and Diaspora. There are some special Ifa

poems that function as incantations or  powerful words. When uttered, believers think that the words can

reveal truth in the sense that whatever they state will happen. These Ifa incantations are used mainly for

medicinal purposes. But for the purpose of this write up, our aim is to consider the epistemological

connections of Ifa, especially as a repository of knowledge