What We Seek is Already Here: The Pluralistic & Interspiritual Nature of Ifá-Òrìṣà Traditions
- 6 days ago
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One of the most profound and impactful cultures on the world spiritual landscape is the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria. Yoruba culture gave birth to a religious tradition that many people refer to as Ìṣẹ̀ṣe (tradition) and more commonly known as Ifá. Some people refer to Ifá as a spiritual tradition that was established at least 2500 years ago or around 500 BCE.1 The spiritual practice of Ifá focuses on self-actualization, the cultivation of one’s character, living in harmony with the forces of nature known as Òrìṣàs (deities), and learning from the wisdom of our ancestors. These tenets support each person in manifesting their destiny which can lead to making positive contributions to one’s family, community, and the world at large. It may be surprising to learn Interspiritual beliefs also exist in the philosophy and practice of Ifá. Before exploring the similarities between Ifá and Interspirituality, it is important to look at how Ifá and the spiritual traditions that grew from it, became a collective of Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions comprising at least 100 million practitioners estimated to be anywhere between the 8th to 10 largest world religion according to various scholar-practitioners.2
Yoruba and Dahomey cultures gave birth to various spiritual paths which will be referred to as Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions throughout the rest of this article.3 During the transatlantic slave trade, Africans from these regions carried the traditions of home in their hearts and minds. According to theologian and Ifá priest, Dr. Will Coleman, “the power and knowledge of the spiritual traditions of Kongo, Yoruba and Dahomey people was transmuted and unpacked throughout the various colonies of the Americas and configured into modifications of the core spiritualities.”4
In Trinidad, Yoruba’s indigenous spirituality took on an expression now known as Shango or Trinidad Orisha. In Cuba, it became Regla de Ocha, Santeria, or Lucumi. In Brazil, the traditions grew into Candomblé, Quimbanda and Macumba. In Haiti, the spiritual beliefs of the Dahomey people became Vodou. Dr. Coleman states, “These offspring spiritualities thrived both within and alongside the Catholicism and Protestantism of their European captors.”5 The resilience of millions of practitioners’ ability to survive under the duress and violence of slavery and colonization led to Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions’ evolution. It is now a fast-growing tradition in the United States and western hemisphere.6
An important figure and spiritual being in Ifá-Òrìṣà practice considered to be responsible for the universal appeal of these traditions is Ọ̀rúnmìlà. He is the father of Ifá divination and source of universal wisdom who witnessed the destiny of each human being before they chose to incarnate into this world.7 One of Ọ̀rúnmìlà’s praise names is Afedefeyo which means, “he who speaks all languages.” Therefore, Ọ̀rúnmìlà is a universal linguist. There are 256 oral scriptures in the Ifá divination system. The first scripture is called Èjì Ògbè. Medical doctor and Ifa practitioner, Dr. Amy Gardner, shares a story from this scripture that illustrates how Ọ̀rúnmìlà was responsible for Ifá tradition making its way to various parts of the world:
Kindness and compassion are never wasted
Benevolence never fails
Be extremely attentive
That generosity may not perish
Cast Ifá divination for Ọ̀rúnmìlà
When he initiated three disciples
First, Ọ̀rúnmìlà initiated opón (Ifá divination tray)
And sent opón to the land of Àwúsí, the Americas
Where he became a leader of the community
Second, Ọ̀rúnmìlà initiated ajere (the vessel for medicines)
And sent ajere to Odòròmù Àwúsè, the far reaches of the African continent
Where she became a ruler
Third, Ọ̀rúnmìlà initiated ìbò (consecrated diagnostic tool)
And sent ìbò to Iwonrán in the Orient, to the place where the sun rises
Where s/he became a ruler of the people
Benevolence is rewardedCompassion and generosity endure
Through acts of good character.8
From the Ifá divination verse of Èjì Ògbè, we can surmise the purpose of this spiritual tradition to spread beyond the continent of Africa was to demonstrate how characteristics of compassion, benevolence, and generosity naturally develop when we open ourselves to sharing our wisdom with others. These values are similar to what Wayne Teasdale expressed in The Mystic Heart when he wrote about the Interspiritual concept of sharing commonalities across religious practices and how that can lead to, “the ultimate goal of more human responsibility to one another and the planet as a whole.”9
Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions appeal to people of the African Diaspora and throughout the world because these religions and spiritual paths are not exclusive. It is common for some practitioners to follow more than one tradition because the philosophy of Ifá-Òrìṣà paths does not espouse superiority over other faiths nor restrict devotees from practicing other belief systems. The pluralistic nature of Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions promotes religious integration (equal value of incorporating religious beliefs), over acculturation (assimilating or conforming to the religious beliefs of a dominant group or culture).
Harvard Divinity School professor, Dr. Tracey E. Hucks, highlights African American Ifá-Òrìṣà devotees with Interspiritual beliefs and pluralist practices in her groundbreaking book, Yoruba Traditions & African American Religious Nationalism. An Òrìṣà priestess who Dr. Hucks interviewed said,
“I have no trouble going to Christian church. They singing to Jesus, I’m signing to Esu (an Òrìṣà). I know in my mind we singing to the same person. I can go to the mosque and have no difficulty because I know in my mind Allah and Olodumare (a name of the Divine in Ifá-Òrìṣà tradition), are one and the same.”10
Chief Aina Olomo, now an ancestor, was an honored Ifá-Òrìṣà priestess and Interfaith minister. She was committed to the spiritual advancement of Yoruba theological concepts. Dr. Hucks emphasized Chief Olomo’s words from Olomo’s book, The Core of Fire, where she gave insight into her practice of Christianity and Islam before she came into the Ifá-Òrìṣà tradition.
“I did not have to throw away or completely ignore the religious tenets that had given my family spiritual solace for generations. Because of ancestral veneration I could integrate them into my African spirituality…. It does nothing for the already damaged self-esteem to belittle or dismiss the religious beliefs of our immediate fore-parents.”11
These devotees never used the word “Interspiritual” to describe their beliefs and practice, yet it is what they embody and live. This conscious way of being in the world is not surprising because similar sentiments are expressed in the Ifá divination system.
Howard University professor and Yoruba Ifá priest, Dr. Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá, emphasizes how Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions, which he calls Yoruba Religion, offers practical guidelines on how people can connect across difference throughout the world. In his book, Yoruba Culture: A Philosophical Account, he shares an Ifá divination verse of the scripture Otura Meji. In the story Ọ̀rúnmìlà is surprised when he discovers his children practicing Islam after he trained them in indigenous Yoruba spiritual practices.
They were touching the floor with their foreheads
They were standing up
They were kneeling down
They were getting up
Ọ̀rúnmìlà was just observing them in amazement.
They were performing these rituals five times a day.
Ọ̀rúnmìlà had been told the following which helped him understand what he was seeing his children do:
The cattle egret, bird of Muslims
Takes flight from atop the opoto tree
Then perches atop the lime tree
But also gains a lot of wisdom in the process.12
My spiritual godfather in Ifá-Òrìṣà tradition would often share the adage, “S/he who knows one book, knows none,” emphasizing the importance of becoming familiar with the views of other religious traditions to combat ignorance and realize our connection to each other. It is evident in the above story, Ọ̀rúnmìlà determined it was beneficial for his children to gain wisdom from another religion.
I am moved when I witness the expansive nature and fluidity Ifá-Òrìṣà practitioners display in the world. Many devotees embody a deep sense of pride. We know despite a concerted effort to destroy the sacred teachings of indigenous African spiritual systems like Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions, they survived due to the cultural memory that lives in our ancestors. When African American Ifá priest and author Oba Ifágbemi Faseye Babatunde, interviewed one his teachers in Nigeria, he was offered this advice,
“…our knowledge is applicable for the world but we can only interpret from the lens in which we see the world… It is left to those of you there to create a bridge of how to take what we have taught you here, with what you know from your parents and experiences in your own countries and do the work of making it work for where you live… Your Ifá may look and sound different than my Ifá but it is still Ifá because we are all the same children under the same heaven.”13
The open heartedness expressed by Oba Ifágbemi’s mentor is palpable. Love is the medicine we need if we desire to live in a world that personifies the inclusive tenets that Ifá-Òrìṣà traditions and Interspirituality promotes.
In Practical Foundations of Ifá, Oba Ifágbemi shares an Ifá divination verse of the scripture Ose Osa offering sage guidance, “Love is the most superior. Let us show love to each other.”14 May it become our reality in this lifetime and the next. Ase’.
**A shorter version of this article was first published in the 2025 anthology, Interspirituality – The Future .**
NOTES & CITATIONS
1) Jo Anna Hunter, My Journey to Aganju: The Orisa so Hard to Find (San Antonio, Texas: Black Madonna Enterprises, 2019), 132.
2) An estimate of practitioners numbering one hundred million was stated on a panel of scholar-practitioners at CCCADI’s 2016 conference, Orisha Sacred Traditions, at City College on February 28, 2016, in New York City.
3) I am using Ifá-Òrìṣà as an umbrella term to refer to all religious and spiritual traditions that originate from Yoruba and Dahomey cultures given the commonalities they share in spite of distinct respected differences in cosmology and worship.
4) See more on Dr. Will Coleman’s explanation of African traditional religions, Ifá and the slave trade: https://guides.library.duq.edu/c.php?g=1318133&p=9693636
5) Ibid
6) See NPR weekend edition segment with Rachel Martin, “Ancient African Religion Finds it’s Roots in America”: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/215298340
7) To learn more about Ifá divination and why UNESCO created a project to safeguard this ancient oracle system, see: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/Ifá-divination-system-00146
8) Amy H. Gardner, Incorporating Divine Presence, Orchestrating Medical Worlds: Cultivating Corporeal Capacities of Therapeutic Power and Transcendence in Ifá Everyday Practice (UC Berkley Dissertation, 2010), 92-93. This is the English translation of a verse in the oral scripture of Èjì Ògbè in the Ifá divination system. I have slightly altered some of Gardner’s translation for clarity.
9) See Wikipedia entry on Interspirituality which quotes Wayne Teasdale’s work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interspirituality#cite_note-2
10) Tracey E. Hucks, Yoruba Traditions and African American Religious Nationalism (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2012), 240.
11) Ibid, 241.
12) Kọ́lá Abímbọ́lá, Yoruba Culture – A Philosophical Account (Birmingham, United Kingdom: Iroko Academic Publishers, 2006), 102-103.
13) Oba Ifágbemi Faseye Babatunde, Practical Foundations of Ifá – A Handbook of Ifá View and Practice (Oracle Ifá, LLC, 2022), 13-14.
14) Ibid, 33.
Author Bio
Iya Rev. DeShannon Barnes-Bowens is a spiritual psychotherapist, writer, and professional development trainer who focuses on spiritual self-development, healing spiritual injury, vicarious trauma & sustainable self-care. In 2001, she began practicing Ifá-Òrìṣà spirituality and was initiated as a priestess in 2006. Iya DeShannon was ordained as an Interfaith Minister at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in 2010. She later served as seminary co-director, ordaining 130 ministers during her tenure. She is the author of Reclaiming Wholeness: Identifying & Healing Spiritual Injury (2026) and Hush Hush: An African American Family Breaks their Silence on Sexuality and Sexual Abuse (2007, 2015). For more information visit www.ilera.com.
