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The Effectiveness of Ifá Divination in the Treatment Process of Àmódi

method of diagnosis for conditions that are suspected to be àmódi. This consensus came because they felt that there will be a better justification for the efficacy of traditional healthcare practice if the Western healthcare methods fail.

Once àmódi is queried and diagnosed, every babaláwo considers it an obligation to attend to patients that come seeking healthcare, because they (babaláwo), in principle profess that they have been called to a life of service, whereby they are under obligation to render help to all those who seek their assistance. It is said that a babaláwo:

must not refuse anybody his service on account of money – if any person is too poor to pay the customary pittance for divination, the babaláwo must divine for him free of charge; or if the person cannot afford the prescribed sacrifice, the babaláwo must take whatever he can afford and translate the will for the deed. It seems, in fact, that the babaláwo is under a vow of poverty, to spend himself in the service of the community, making just enough to keep himself; his real reward is being in the service of

rúnmìlà

(Idowu, 1996:78).

From the findings of this study, the ethical practice of ‗not refusing‘ a patient healthcare because of

rúnmìlà is no longer as pronounced as was portrayed in times pasts. But it was noted that babaláwo do not refuse patients either because of their ‗call‘ or for the ‗monetary rewards‘ that go with attending to patients. All the babaláwo interviewed were very disposed to offer services to any ailing client unless otherwise instructed by àwọn ìyà mi (the witches). This would only happen in the cases of àkótán (completely taken) whereby it is believed that the patient‘s body parts have been shared and cannot be returned.42

In such instances, the babaláwo believes that èșù and àwọn ìyà mi have refused the ẹbọ that was offered.

Once this happens, it simply means that there is no solution, and it is also believed that if any babaláwo continues to treat such a patient, he (babaláwo) may be punished instead, either by being killed or have the disease transferred to him.

Given all the above claims, and the belief in the power of ẹbọ, babaláwo believe that patients need them to perform ètùtù, ẹbọ, b or ìbọ (sacrifice to appease a particular divinity as prescribed in Ifá literary corpus) for there to be healing. These claims predispose the babaláwo to attend to patients who come to them.

4.7 The Effectiveness of Ifá Divination in the Treatment Process of Àmódi

42 Interview with Akogun Awo-agbaye, Ifatayo Awogbile on the 8th of March, 2011. He said that there was a pact between the à ọn ìyà mi/ọmọ aráyé‖ and the babaláwo on what can be treated and what must be left untreated. This pact is found in the story from Òsé-bùrètè (Òsé-Ìrètè), this story is the bases for the intervention and disposition that babaláwo has in attending to patients with àmódi.

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It was observed, and all the babaláwo that were interviewed held that healing does not begin to take place until after the ẹbọ is done and accepted by the aládìmú (the witness). Patients were observed to begin to recover only after the ẹbọ was performed and accepted (kí wọ n șe é, bí wọ n ti ń șe é, kí ó ba lè rí bí ó ti ń rí.). It was generally observed that there is no hard and fast rule about the time of recovery; it varied with the individual patient. This was attributed to the individual orí.

It was generally noted that once a proper diagnosis takes place and the prescribed treatment commenced, significant changes began and the patients were observed to improve until the completion of the prescribed treatment.

Table 4.13: Effectiveness of Ifá divination in treating àmódi

Patient Time line before traditional treatment Time of recovery

A 10 years 1 month

B 4 years 1 month

C 1 yr & 7 months 2 months

D 4 years 1 month

E 4 years 2 days

F 7 years 3 months

G 5 year Same day

H 8 months 2 months

I 8 years 3 months

J 10 year 2 month

K 3 years 6-7 days

L 6 months 7 days

M 4 years 6 months

N 2 years 3 months

O 3 years 1 week

P 1 year 3 days

Q 1 year 3 days

R 2 years 2 days

S 4 years 1 month

T 2 years 15 days

U 6 months 1 month

V Few months 1 week

W Over 10 years 2 months

(Source: author‘s compilation from fieldwork)

The timing of recovery from the findings of this research varied from patient to patient. The shortest ‗rate of recovery‘ was the same day the treatment commenced, and the longest time was six months. The variation in rate of recovery can be attributed to two main things.

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First is the experience and the ability of the babaláwo to diagnose and treat diseases without mistakes.

Mistakes may come about if a babaláwo lacks the required experience to tell the difference between the major cause of a disease and the resultant accidental causes of diseases. Second is that the rate of recovery may be determined by the nature of the disease aetiology. The findings from all the FGDs conducted during this study show that diseases that result from the breaking of èèwọ usually heal easier and faster once diagnosed, but diseases caused by àwọn ìyà mi, take longer time because they may or may not immediately accept the prescribed ẹbọ. This view is different from what was observed in the cases of patients P and Q who had their conditions caused by àwọn ìyà mi; they recovered in three days. This shows that there is no general rule for the rate of recovery.

In two patients (M and S) out of the twenty-three cases that were examined for this study, there had to be three sets of divination before total healing was recorded. Every patient that was observed in this research recovered fully based on (a) the observations made, (b) ó tán tàbí ò kù? and (c) the testimonies that the patients gave.

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