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30. Diviner's Staff: Birds (Osun Babalawo)
Yoruba, Nigeria
Iron; H. 115 cm (45 1/4 in.)
19th–20th century
Drs. Daniel and Marian Malcolm Collection

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30. Diviner's Staff: Birds (Osun Babalawo)

n southern Yorubaland, distinctive wrought-iron staffs used by healers and Ifa divination priests feature motifs that evoke a gathering of birds, which celebrate Osanyin, the god of herbal medicines.1 Diviners venerate Osanyin, who guides their use of leaves in preparing "medicines" for their clients.2 The vocations of diviner (babalawo) and healer overlap somewhat, and both are devoted primarily to battling witchcraft on behalf of their clients, a goal that may be accomplished through the mere possession of such a staff.3 This unifying attribute acknowledges the unique combination of wisdom, effective action, and authority that underlies their power and influence.4 However, while babalawos' vast knowledge of nature affords most of them a dual role that includes the practice of medicine, not all healers are knowledgeable about divination.

Representations of birds in Yoruba ritual arts (see also cat. nos. 14, 44) evoke the mystical power (ase) commanded by female elders, referred to as awon iya wa, literally "our mothers."5 This procreative power has the potential for being either beneficial or destructive. Acknowledgment of its fundamental importance in the realm of political authority is reflected in the representation of clusters of birds at the top of royal crowns.6 Within the context of art forms associated with the divination process, birds are often represented as witnesses to divination consultations with Orunmila (also known as Ifa), the god of wisdom and divination.7 Thus, a bird depicted at the apex of an Ifa staff is referred to as the "bird of Ifa." Such birds are believed to invoke the power of the hawk (asa), symbolizing the diviner's ability to address problems expediently and effectively.8 The bird imagery of divination paraphernalia also draws inspiration from Ifa poetry, which recounts that eye kan ("the lone bird") was bisexual and could not give birth. After consulting Ifa and making the appropriate sacrifices, eye kan took up residence in the house of the diviner and was thenceforth known as eye ile ("the bird of the house").9

The scepter shown here is an especially elegant tribute to the potentially boundless reaches of a diviner's influence. At the top of the long iron shaft, its finial takes the form of two birds, one slightly larger than the other, rendered as silhouettes facing opposite directions.10 The contours of the forms create a dynamic series of sweeping curves—the beak, crest, neck, wings, and body—unified by an additional pair of wings at the base. Although these are represented in metal, the fluidity of the lines imbues the composition with an ethereal quality. Iron is chosen as the medium for the staffs of diviners and healers because it is also used to make tools to cut and collect plant ingredients for healing and to make weapons against destructive forces.11

The prototype for diviners' staffs is associated with Orunmila. Such staffs have become the attribute of important Ifa priests such as the Ojubona, a leader among diviners.12 They may carry these in public processions to signal the fact that they are preparing to cast Ifa or to mark significant occasions, such as the initiation ceremony of a new priest.13 As one of his most valued possessions, a diviner's staff is placed in front of his home as both an emblem of his vocation and as a protective safeguard.14

1. Yoruba 1989, p. 38.

2. Bascom 1969, p. 84.

3. Black Gods and Kings 1976, p. 11/1.

4. Yoruba Art and Aesthetics 1991, p. 42.

5. Henry John Drewal and Margaret Thompson Drewal, Gelede: Art and Female Power among the Yoruba (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983).

6. Yoruba 1989, p. 38.

7. See cat. no. 12, n. 3.

8. Henry John Drewal, "Art and Divination among the Yoruba: Design and Myth," Africana Journal 14, nos. 2–3 (1987), p. 42.

9. Ibid., p. 34.

10. While the staffs owned by diviners and herbalists are usually described as being indistinguishable from one another, some scholars have suggested that staffs with a single bird, bells, and inverted cones on their finials are diviners' staffs and that those with more than one bird are herbalists' staffs. Black Gods and Kings 1976, p. 11/2.

11. Ibid., p. 11/3; Drewal, "Art and Divination," p. 142.

12. C. O. Adepegba, Yoruba Metal Sculpture (Ibadan, Nigeria: Ibadan University Press, 1991), p. 29.

13. Yoruba 1989, p. 41; Adepegba, Yoruba Metal Sculpture, p. 29.

14. Drewal, "Art and Divination," p. 140.