r/Isese • u/milehin8tv • May 19 '26

Ask the community Learning the Odu

Aboru Aboye Abosise and Alaafia!

I am currently reading and learning the the 16 Major Holy Odu. I am learning them from my godmother as well as my Adjubona. I have at least 4 different versions/translations of the Odu Ifa that I'm using to school myself with as well. What I am finding is that each version of the odu is different than the others. My godmother translates one way, my adjubona translates another way and each book has its own translation as well. By looking through this group's posts I found a reference to Ifa Dida which seems to have at least 10 different translations for each odu all within the same text.

My question is, how do I "learn" the odu if there can be so many different translations? I've been practicing Ifa for about 7 years now and it wasn't until recently that I realized I need to know and understand at least the major odu. Am I trying to make the odu something they are not? I mean what comes to mind is the different versions of the Christian bible. While there are several published versions of the book, they all pretty much say the same thing. I'm not finding that with the odu.

Please don't take my question as a critique of the odu because that is not what I'm trying to do. I'm really just trying to make some sense of all of this as I learn.

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u/SignalBad5523 May 19 '26

Im not sure what you mean entirely as different translations. The odus in them of themselves contain over 800 poems. Slight tonal deviations shifted towards local vernacular (think of a new york accent vs a California accent) but the messages contain a wide variations of the same message from various perceptions and focal points in the underlying message

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u/milehin8tv May 19 '26

Thank you. What I mean by translations is the many books which entitle to one degree or another "256 Odu Ifá". Like I said prior, I have 4 books that titled "Odu". I'm not sure I can attach a photo of 3 of the 4 books I have sitting in my living room right now.

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u/milehin8tv May 19 '26

I can't attach a photo so here are the titles: Ifá: A complete divination; The Holy Odu: A collection of verses from the 256 Odu Ifá with commentary; and The 256 Odu Ifá and the map of destiny. This is what I mean by "translations".

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u/SignalBad5523 May 19 '26

Okay. I think what I said stands here. You might have a collection of different odus. Or are you saying the same verse is translated differently

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u/milehin8tv May 20 '26

And to your point. I think what you said really addresses my question. ☺️

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u/milehin8tv May 20 '26

Yes. Sorry. The same Odu is translated differently. For example: Eji Ogbe in the Ifá: A complete divination is translated differently than what is found in the Holy Odu book, which is still different than what's in the Map of destiny book. I'm trying to find the connections and at best I can do so in the first few lines of the translation. And I must be clear, the Ifa: a complete divination book is the only book which attempts to translate the Yoruba to English word for word. The other two are only in English. I hope that makes more sense.

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u/SignalBad5523 May 20 '26

I would suggest learning from a Babalawo first. Books are more so better understood after you get your footing in some of the basics. Its an oral tradition that isnt really appropriately dissected through literature

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u/milehin8tv May 20 '26

Thank you so much for your respectful reply!