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by Orígbèmí Web
The most important factor in every divination is the diviner. In our everyday lives, we receive orientation from our friends, colleagues, neighbors, inquisitive persons, teachers at school and others, but instead we should be getting it from people who are actually able to point us to the right direction in life and who are, in doing so, unbiased.
It is all the better if we take the chance to receive an orientation based on experience and knowledge.
This is why we have priests called bàbálawo and bàbálòrìṣà and priestesses called ìyánifá and ìyálórìṣà – they are the orientators whose orientation is based on the instruments of divination that enable them to give us answers to our questions. In our philosophy, the orientators are trained to listen to and understand peoples’ problems and to know how to explain these problems to their clients. They receive this information from divinities and are trained to act as mediators between people and deities, meaning that their orientation is not based on their own imagination nor is it adapted to their own personal interests; rather, it is based on specific information they receive from the divinities via the divination system, here based on the Ifá divination (with ikin or ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀), the Òrìṣà divination (based on 16 cowries), or the divination with sacred obì nuts, used also as an offering to the Òrìṣà.
It is important that those who perform divinations are emotionally stabile and have sufficient self-control, that they are emotionally and mentally healthy with a well-developed sense of responsibility, and that they have spiritual dignity; furthermore, they should not be irritable or judgmental towards people.
Nowadays, it is difficult to talk about true divination, even though this notion was known in all ancient cultures and civilizations. More specifically, the so-called folklore divination is very widespread, but people fail to comprehend the difference between the two notions.
In case of a true divination, the divinator has a mission to learn of a person’s fate and takes a vow to improve the client’s life. We believe that divination is intended to make peoples’ lives easier and their orientation in life more accurate.
If you have the possibility of consulting with a person capable of being a spiritual orientator and protector of human life, then such a person can tell you what actions to take in your life that are in harmony with your mission as well as what not to do. In this way, you can avoid taking wrong steps and prevent things and achievements from being delayed because of your own ignorance.
If we knew everything about our existence in advance, we would live entirely different lives. Since we do not know everything, we need someone to guide our thinking and point us in the right direction.
The success of the divination procedure depends on how successfully the orientator manages to calibrate our thinking and help us understand our lives properly, thus leading us to take the right steps and reduce the number of mistakes in our lives to a minimum. This is also the fundamental reason why people take part in the divination.
Divinities know our “predestination”, but we are usually ignorant of our fate, our time, our lives, our existence, our actions, and orientation.
When divinators use the instruments of divination and acquire the knowledge of the divinities, they receive accurate information about the source of the problem and its potential solutions.
The success of these solutions depends only partially on the rituals determined by the divination. To a larger degree, success is contingent on the clients’ discipline and their readiness to take responsibility for their own lives.
For example, it is impossible to expect that a ritual will bring prosperity to our lives while we sit back and wait for it to start working; this is simply not the way things operate. The Òrìṣà Àjé (the goddess of opportunity, work, progress, money, and richness) is powerful, but she cannot deposit money into your bank account. By performing a ritual, we can ensure that someone starts to attract a specific energy and is accompanied by good luck. Subsequently, that person will be able to recognize an opportunity when it presents itself and rise up to the challenges it brings with it.
The ultimate success, however, depends on this person’s actions. Divinities help people through other people, meaning that the Òrìṣà Àjé is going to send a person into a client’s life with an offer of a job or a contract; this is why we should not wait for a miracle – the miracle itself will find us, but only if we allow it. Money, however, can only be a consequence of an action, and a ritual can only make the circumstances more favourable for someone, ensuring that the money starts flowing in and stays in one’s life. Many people do not have problems with “earning” money but with “keeping” it.
The same is true of other most frequently occurring problems that cause people to seek advice in the field of health, love, success, etc.
A true divinator is an educator, and how well the client understands the messages relayed by the divinities depends on the divinator’s experience, spiritual foundation, and wisdom. People tend to ignore messages urging them to change their behaviour and attitude; they all wish to get their solutions on a silver platter.
We have to be aware that the sweetest victories in our lives are those that include our own efforts.
When you fail to find answers to your questions within yourself or do not want to accept them, when you are turning a new page in your life (moving, a new job, an illness, etc.), when you encounter problems.
Divination is welcome whenever you need to look at a problem from a distance. Because the problem is a part of you, you cannot see it clearly.
Divination is recommended when you lack orientation and motivation in your life, when you are somewhat static and do not know how to move on.
Divination is not consolation, even though it will console you; it is not a prediction of the future, even though it will predict it. It does not provide excuses, only answers.