Orunmilá

Who He Is

Orunmilá (Òrúnmìlà) is the orisha of wisdom, knowledge, and divination. He is the witness to destiny (elérì ìpín): he was present when each being chose its odù — its path — before Olódùmarè, prior to birth. For this reason he is the only one who knows what has been traced for each person, and it is to him that one turns to learn one’s own destiny.

He is intimately linked to Ifá, the Yoruba oracular system — one of the most complex bodies of knowledge of humanity, recognized by UNESCO as intangible heritage. The babalawo (“father of the secret”) consults Ifá by casting the opele or the ikíns, and reads, in the combinations of the odù, the counsel of Orunmilá.

Domains

• Wisdom — deep knowledge, the intelligence that understands.
• Divination — the reading of destiny through Ifá.
• Destiny (odù) — the path chosen before birth, which Orunmilá witnessed.

In-Game Perspective

Orunmilá is the guardian of recorded destiny — a function nearly identical to that of the Wiki’s Akashic Records: the archive of all that has been chosen and traced, accessible only to those who know how to read it. The oracle of Ifá is, in a Yoruba key, the same principle that drives akashic knowledge in the game.

See Also

• Ewá
• Oxalá
• Akashic Records
• Olódùmarè (Yoruba source-principle)