Healing Practices of the Ifá-Orisha Tradition

In the Americas, Ifá-Orisha religion is a syncretic practice that survived forced removal from the African continent, the enslavement of its followers, and subsequent centuries of subjugation and marginalization. Today, social and institutional oppressions continue to limit the degree to which Ifá-Orisha religious practice holds legitimacy as an independent and viable epistemology. The healing practices of this tradition deserve critical scholarly attention alongside other non-Western healing systems such as Ayurveda, Reiki, and Yoga, which have over time gained widespread Western and academic acclaim. As scholar-practitioners, we contend that there remains a significant disconnect between the numbers of Ifá-Orisha practitioners worldwide and its representation in American academia. The ethnographic interview data presented in the "Sacred Healing and Wholeness" symposium place Ifá-Orisha within a framework to understand how this practice helps people in their daily lives. This project is an exploratory exercise with the aim of guiding future empirical investigation into the healing interventions of Ifá-Orisha divination. Our reasons for wishing to participate in the symposium were broadly based in our belief of the Lukumi (the Yoruba people of Cuba) proverb "one tree does not a forest make," and we could not pass on the opportunity to share with like-minded scholars of the same or related cultures and spiritual paths.