Ile Ire
Owonrin Sogbe

Where Wisdom Meets Destiny

Babalawo Ifadare Olaifa

IThe forgetting

The elders say every soul chose its destiny at the feet of Olódùmarè — and forgot it at the gate of birth.

So we wander. We feel the pull of something we cannot name. A heaviness that isn't ours. A calling that won't quiet. You may be feeling it now, reading this.

You are not lost. You are remembering.

Àború Àboyè Àbóṣíṣẹ́ ✦Ògbó Àtó ✦Àṣẹ ✦Orí ✦Ìwà Pẹ̀lẹ́ ✦Àyànmọ́ ✦Ọ̀rúnmìlà ✦Ẹbọ ✦Ìre ✦Ifá ✦Àború Àboyè Àbóṣíṣẹ́ ✦Ògbó Àtó ✦Àṣẹ ✦Orí ✦Ìwà Pẹ̀lẹ́ ✦Àyànmọ́ ✦Ọ̀rúnmìlà ✦Ẹbọ ✦Ìre ✦Ifá ✦Àború Àboyè Àbóṣíṣẹ́ ✦Ògbó Àtó ✦Àṣẹ ✦Orí ✦Ìwà Pẹ̀lẹ́ ✦Àyànmọ́ ✦Ọ̀rúnmìlà ✦Ẹbọ ✦Ìre ✦Ifá ✦Àború Àboyè Àbóṣíṣẹ́ ✦Ògbó Àtó ✦Àṣẹ ✦Orí ✦Ìwà Pẹ̀lẹ́ ✦Àyànmọ́ ✦Ọ̀rúnmìlà ✦Ẹbọ ✦Ìre ✦Ifá ✦

Baba seated among herbs prepared at the Ile

Leaves, vessels and sacred objects arranged at the Ile

A white pigeon resting on a cowrie-covered vessel of the Ile

IIThe keeper of the tray

He left home to learn Ifá — and did not return for fourteen years.

Babalawo Ifadare Olaifa was born in Nigeria, into Ifá ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ̀ — the tradition was his birthright, the sound of the verses the sound of home. When the call came, he left everything to learn Ifá, and for fourteen years he did not go back.

Two more years of study followed in an Ifá institution, and then his freedom was completed. He returned to his village, raised his temple, and began the work he still carries: sitting with you at the tray.

Walk with his story

“Orí is the one who walks with you. No god can bless what your own head has not accepted.”

A teaching of Ifá

IIIThe ways of return

Every road home begins with a question.

Ifá Divination Reading

A full consultation with the ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀ to read the odù speaking over your situation, with the ẹbọ or offering it calls for.

Ìṣẹ̀fá — Hand of Ifá

The rite in which your odù of destiny is revealed and you receive your hand of Ifá. Ìṣẹ̀fá can be received remotely or in person, arranged with the Ile after a first reading.

Ìtẹ̀fá — Initiation

Full initiation as a priest of Ifá. Ìtẹ̀fá must be received in person at the Ile in Lagos, Nigeria — until a temple is made in the US. Arranged after a first reading.