Ifá is the divination system and body of knowledge at the heart of Yorùbá tradition. Its corpus is organised into 256 Odù: 16 principal Odù known as the Ojú Odù or Olódù, and 240 combination Odù formed when two principal Odù meet. Each Odù carries its own ese Ifá — verses, stories, proverbs and prescriptions preserved and recited by babaláwo across generations.
1. ÈJÌ OGBÈ — Light, clarity and beginnings — the first and senior Odù.
2. Ọ̀YẸ̀KÚ MÉJÌ — Night, the ancestors and endings that make room for renewal.
3. ÌWÒRÌ MÉJÌ — Insight, investigation and seeing beneath the surface.
4. ÒDÍ MÉJÌ — Protection, the womb, sealing and safeguarding what matters.
5. ÌROSÙN MÉJÌ — Ancestral memory, inheritance and the weight of lineage.
6. Ọ̀WỌ́NRÍN MÉJÌ — Movement, reversal and the turning of circumstances.
7. Ọ̀BÀRÀ MÉJÌ — Speech, abundance and the power of the spoken word.
8. Ọ̀KÀNRÀN MÉJÌ — The heart, conflict and decisive confrontation.
9. ÒGÚNDÁ MÉJÌ — Iron, labour and cutting a path where none existed.
10. Ọ̀SÁ MÉJÌ — The wind, the mothers and sudden, far-reaching change.
11. ÌKÁ MÉJÌ — Restraint, hidden things and the discipline of caution.
12. ÒTÚRÚPỌ̀N MÉJÌ — Endurance, burden-bearing and health of body and household.
13. ÒTÚRÁ MÉJÌ — Peace, blessing and the coming of good counsel.
14. ÌRẸTẸ̀ MÉJÌ — Foundation, pressing down and building on firm ground.
15. Ọ̀SẸ́ MÉJÌ — Sweetness, victory and the flow of favour.
16. ÒFÚN MÉJÌ — Purity, white cloth and the completion of the cycle.