What You Should Know about Fa or Divination
Called Ifa in
Yoruba (Nigeria) and Afa in Mina (Togo), Fa is commonly known as the oracle, or
in more simple word as divination. Some people regard it as an esoteric science
which consists in reading the past, the present and the future. Others will
call It the messenger of God and of all deities because in African spirituality, Fa appears as the médium, the spokeman between humans and God or deities since face-to-face communication with God has been impossible so far. None of these viewpoints is wrong but to go
deeper, Ifa stands for a spirit that has the ability of divination. It is known
in spirituality as the holder of all knowledge about the past, the present and
the future. You can't accede to African spiritualiy without taking by Fa (otherwise you have taken the wrong way). Divination is the very first step, the key that opens the door to African spirituality. Ifa or the divination is what can tell you who you are, what energy governs you, what spiritual clan you belong to, and what should be your lifestyle for a peaceful and successful life. This spirit can be seen by people trained for that, but this is so complex and demanding, that a great deal of alternatives has been settled by
our forefathers and we inherited them. So, there are many ways to do divination. In that trend, we have the divination by the Fádé (the nuts) or by Akplè (the chain), divination by cowries, divination by colanuts, divination by mirror, by water, and divination via talking fetishes like Aguè.
Despite the great varieties of ways to do divination that exist in african spirituality, the process of Akplè remains, if a book, the best-seller though that process itself embodies limits. For works that concern a whole tribe, a whole community, a family ritual or cérémonies, the only way people refer to is the reading by Akplè.
Why do people prefer Akplè to the other ways of doing divination ?
Among all the different types of divination that exist people will prefer Akplè because everybody can see the signs that come out and the work (the sacrifie) is done with the expertise of different priests attending the divination if it is a tribe concern. When you take a reading and you are not satisfied with the interprétation by the priest, you can bring the sign to any other expert of Fa to learn more because the degree of acquisition of Fa varies from one priest to another. So, if people trust more Akplè, it is because the divination takes place in everyone's eyes and they can see what sign is out and refer to adequate sources when there is any room for doubt whereas for a mirror or water reader, only the priest knows what he sees in his prepared mirror or water, and common sens supports that he may make mistakes while interpreting. Anyway, the water or mirror reader are not useless. They rather fill some gaps that we face with Akplè. For instance, when something is lost in a house, in an institution or in a village, the Akplè priest will not be able to provide details about how, who and where to find it. Consulting Fa via Akplè can guide you in three different ways: 1- Fa can tell you that what is lost will not be found back, 2- Fa can tell you that it will be found but in bad state, 3- Fa can tell you that it will be found if some sacrifice is carried out. Those are the three points you can go to an Ifa priest to check in such a situation. It is at this specific point that the Tokanto (water or mirror reader) becomes more important. He will not only tell you who took the stuff, how it was stolen, what happened to it but also where it is at the moment you are taking the reading, because in this type of reading everything shows up in the water or mirror like on a TV screen. But, please, all mirror reader is not Tokanto. An ordinary Mami priest can own a mirror to do divination, he is rather seeing some Mami spirits talking to him and he interprets. Many other spirits, even manmade stuffs can be used via mirror for divination which often contain big errors. That is one of the reasons why most people content themselves with the Akplèkanto (the Akplè priest) though coming across a true and skillful Akplekanto today is very demanding as well.
Despite the great varieties of ways to do divination that exist in african spirituality, the process of Akplè remains, if a book, the best-seller though that process itself embodies limits. For works that concern a whole tribe, a whole community, a family ritual or cérémonies, the only way people refer to is the reading by Akplè.
Why do people prefer Akplè to the other ways of doing divination ?
Among all the different types of divination that exist people will prefer Akplè because everybody can see the signs that come out and the work (the sacrifie) is done with the expertise of different priests attending the divination if it is a tribe concern. When you take a reading and you are not satisfied with the interprétation by the priest, you can bring the sign to any other expert of Fa to learn more because the degree of acquisition of Fa varies from one priest to another. So, if people trust more Akplè, it is because the divination takes place in everyone's eyes and they can see what sign is out and refer to adequate sources when there is any room for doubt whereas for a mirror or water reader, only the priest knows what he sees in his prepared mirror or water, and common sens supports that he may make mistakes while interpreting. Anyway, the water or mirror reader are not useless. They rather fill some gaps that we face with Akplè. For instance, when something is lost in a house, in an institution or in a village, the Akplè priest will not be able to provide details about how, who and where to find it. Consulting Fa via Akplè can guide you in three different ways: 1- Fa can tell you that what is lost will not be found back, 2- Fa can tell you that it will be found but in bad state, 3- Fa can tell you that it will be found if some sacrifice is carried out. Those are the three points you can go to an Ifa priest to check in such a situation. It is at this specific point that the Tokanto (water or mirror reader) becomes more important. He will not only tell you who took the stuff, how it was stolen, what happened to it but also where it is at the moment you are taking the reading, because in this type of reading everything shows up in the water or mirror like on a TV screen. But, please, all mirror reader is not Tokanto. An ordinary Mami priest can own a mirror to do divination, he is rather seeing some Mami spirits talking to him and he interprets. Many other spirits, even manmade stuffs can be used via mirror for divination which often contain big errors. That is one of the reasons why most people content themselves with the Akplèkanto (the Akplè priest) though coming across a true and skillful Akplekanto today is very demanding as well.
