Home›Sources›Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New WorldSourcesSixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New WorldCitation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/sixteen-cowries-yoruba-divination-from-africa-to-the-new-world.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/sixteen-cowries-yoruba-divination-from-africa-to-the-new-worldCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-sixteen-cowries-yoruba-divination-from-a, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/sixteen-cowries-yoruba-divination-from-africa-to-the-new-world}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXWilliam Bascom's study works from his own documented ethnographic fieldwork on the sixteen cowrie, merindilogun, divination system within Yoruba religion, tracing its odu and associated deities and its transmission to the Americas from that direct fieldwork basis rather than secondhand description. That firsthand grounding, checkable against the specific verses and practices the book documents, is the study's real evidentiary strength. This record has not independently traced further scholarly revision of Bascom's specific transcriptions since 1980. Use it for established scholarly facts about this divination system and its odu and its documented transmission; a foundational academic ethnographic study, not the tradition's own practitioner instruction, which needs a source produced from within the tradition for that voice.FactsCross-Tradition ConnectionsClaims Backed By This Source (172 claims)Comments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)FactsAssessmentReliability TierWell-attested1William Bascom's study working from his own documented ethnographic fieldwork on the sixteen-cowrie merindilogun divination system within Yoruba religion, tracing its odu and associated deities and its transmission to the Americas from that direct fieldwork basis.NotesWell-attestedWilliam Bascom's scholarly study of the sixteen-cowrie (merindilogun) divination system in Yoruba religion and its transmission to the Americas, covering the odu and associated deities. Use for established scholarly facts about this divination system and its odu; a foundational academic ethnographic study, not the tradition's own practitioner instruction.CitationAuthorWell-attestedWilliam BascomPublisherWell-attestedIndiana University PressPublication YearWell-attested1980Source TypeWell-attestedBook (scholarly)Cross-Tradition ConnectionsAssociated WithAmericas, Continents Well-attested This source names Americas directly: "deities and its transmission to the Americas from that direct fieldwork basis rather than secondhand description."Source Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New WorldWilliam Bascomtier 1Claims Backed By This Source (172 claims)This source backs 172 claims across the atlas. As facts: 108 well-attested. As cited relationships: 34 holds. Plus 30 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.Disposition By TopicDiloggun Signs, 71 claims: 32 well-attested, 23 holds, 16 general references.Articles, 50 claims: 48 well-attested, 2 general references.Open Questions, 16 claims: 14 well-attested, 2 general references.Deities, 11 claims: 1 well-attested, 5 holds, 5 general references.Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.Sacred Objects & Ritual Items, 7 claims: 2 well-attested, 3 holds, 2 general references.Cultures, 4 claims: 2 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.Practices, 2 claims: 1 holds, 1 general references.Regions, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.Categories, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.Well-attested108ArticlesA Diloggun Name with No Ifa TwinA Name Held in CommonA Name with Two SpellingsA Record Made Under PressureA Town Office With a Global AudienceCommercial Manuals and Why They Are Weak SourcesCut Flat on One Side So It Can Fall Two WaysDescribing an Office Without Publishing Its InitiationErindinlogun in Nigeria, Diloggun in CubaHospitality Underneath the LiturgyHow a Diloggun Throw Is ReadLater Scholarship on Regla de OchaNamed as Closed, Not ReconstructedNine Mouths, One Continuous CorpusOlodumare, the Orisha and a Plural Faith TodayOne Name, Two Casting MethodsOne Throw from the MaximumReading a Source's ProvenanceSixteen Cowrie Shell Signs of the Lucumi Diloggun SystemSixteen Cowries, and How the Book Was MadeThe Consultation as a RelationshipThe Fourteen-Mouth ThrowThe Institutional Home of DiloggunThe Libreta and the Unpublished RecordThe Midpoint of the Parent SignsThe Names of the ReligionThe Nut That Asks and Gives at OnceThe Odu Corpus Beyond West AfricaThe Orisha, and a Divination System With Its Own LiteratureThe Priest Who Casts for the TownThe Senior Sign, Under Two NamesThe Shell That Is Money, Ornament and OracleThe Sign That Names the SystemTranslation Through Two LanguagesTwo Priesthoods, One AncestryVariation Between HousesWhat Ethnography Can and Cannot ReachWhere Diloggun Departs from IfaWhere the Common Corpus Runs OutWhere the Names Turn NumericalWhere This Account StopsWhy the Prescriptions Are WithheldCategoriesDiloggun SignsCulturesYorubaDeitiesYemojaDiloggun SignsEji OkoEjila SheboraEyeunleIrosunMarunlaShowing 1 to 50 of 67 entities carrying this claim. NextHolds34CulturesYorubaDeitiesOgunOrunmilaOshunShangoYemojaDiloggun SignsEji OkoEjila SheboraEyeunleIrosunMarunlaMerindilogunMerinlaMetanlaObaraOdiOfunOgundaOkanaOsaOsheOwaniPracticesKola Nut OfferingSacred Objects & Ritual ItemsOpon IfaSekereSourcesSixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New WorldGeneral References30ArticlesSixteen Cowrie Shell Signs of the Lucumi Diloggun SystemThe Odu Corpus Beyond West AfricaCulturesYorubaDeitiesOgunOrunmilaOshunShangoYemojaDiloggun SignsEji OkoEjila SheboraEyeunleIrosunMarunlaMerindilogunMerinlaMetanlaObaraOdiOfunOgundaOkanaOsaOsheOwaniOpen QuestionsHow far had Cuban Diloggun diverged from Yoruba erindinlogun before the earliest written records of Cuban practice?How much of the Diloggun corpus exists only in unpublished libretas, and what is the provenance of the notebooks that survive?PracticesKola Nut OfferingRegionsYorubalandSacred Objects & Ritual ItemsOpon IfaSekereComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year