FA,
the god with 16 eyes,IFA, whose divination system seems to be based on the same 256-dimensional Clifford Algebra Cl(1,7) as the D4-D5-E6-E7-E8 VoDou Physics Model, is probably not only the source of all Human Religions, but also divination systems such as I Ching (64-dimensional), Tarot (78-dimenisonal), etc., and the abstract structures of the Natural Physical World such as Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Consciousness, Cosmology, etc.
Here is an Introduction to VoDou Physics.
| Structure | Examples | Sikidy | Physics | Music | References |
0 Tao, Simplex Physics
1 bit
2 superposition qbit
4 spacetime
16 fermions Ilm-al-Raml
256 Cl(8) IFA 2-1CA
65,536 Torah Genes
2^32 ~ 4 x 10^9 Genome Base Pairs
2^64 ~ 16 x 10^18 Brain Electrons Planck
2^128 ~ 256 x 10^36 Brain GraviPhotons Uncertainty
2^256 ~ 65,536 x 10^72 Particles in Universe
FA,
the god with 16 eyes,brought a system of learning to the people of the Cradle of Civilization based on the 2^4 = 16 Tetragrams or Quadruples of sets containing either 1 or 2 elements (such as nuts, shells, beans, calabash, metal (brass, copper, aluminum, silver, lead, iron, etc.), wood, ivory, pangolin or crocodile scales, fish or turtle bones or shells, etc.).
The Orisha FA is also known as IFA, as Orunmila, and as Orunla. The system of learning was brought to Humans by the messenger Orisha known as Legba and as Eshu.
Another Orisha, Ogun, brought technology such as iron and steel to Humans to help them improve their society, When Ogun saw that Humans used the technology for war and oppression, Ogun withdrew from contact with Humans and Human society stagnated. The Original God Oludumare, also known as Olurun, did not like that and sent other Orishas to convince Ogun to resume contact with Humans. Many Orishas failed, but the beautiful Oshun, the Orisha of Rivers, persuaded Ogun resumed contact with Humans. Oshun really loved Chango, the Orisha of Fire, Thunder, and Lightning, but Chango married Oya, the Orisha of Winds. Ogun married Oshun's sister Yemaya, the Orisha of the Sea.
There is a lot more to the relationships among these Orishas, and there are other Orishas.
Here is the traditional Yoruba sequence of Tetragrams, in which:
Note that in divination practice, 1 nut = 2 marks = odd = binary 1 and 2 nuts = 1 mark = even = binary 0, a practice that not only looks "right" from the point of view of pure mathematics, but came about because FA (knowing that Legba liked to do the opposite of what he was told) put one palm nut in Legba's hand when FA wanted Legba to open two of FA's eyes, and put two palm nuts in Legba's hand when FA wanted Legba to open one of FA's eyes.
1 2 3 4
o oo oo o
o oo o oo
o oo o oo
o oo oo o
5 6 7 8
o oo o oo
o oo oo oo
oo o oo oo
oo o oo o
9 10 11 12
o oo oo oo
o o o oo
o o oo o
oo o oo oo
13 14 15 16
o o o oo
oo o oo o
o oo o oo
o o oo o
Here are the 16 Tetragrams in a binary number sequence:
0
o
o
o
o
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
o o o o o o o
o o o oo oo oo oo
o oo oo o o oo oo
oo o oo o oo o oo
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
oo oo oo oo oo oo oo
o o o o oo oo oo
o o oo oo o o oo
o oo o oo o oo o
15
oo
oo
oo
oo
Since 256 = 2^8, each of the 256 Odu can be represented by an Octagram.
The Opele chain with 8 two-sided medallions represents the 256 Octagrams and the 256 Odu.
If each of the 256 is represented by a small square in a 16x16 matrix of squares,
a given Opele sequence, where + = oo and - = o,
| +/- | +/- | +/- | +/- | +/- | +/- | +/- | +/- |
corresponds to a given Odu small square as follows:
If the 1st Opele element is +, go to the red diagonal set of 128 small squares;
If the 1st Opele element is -, go to the blue off-diagonal set of 128 small squares;
If the 2nd Opele element is +, go to the dark upper 64 small squares of the 128;
If the 2nd Opele element is -, go the the light lower 64 small
squares of the 128;
Then use the 3rd and 4th Opele elements similarly to get down to 16 small squares;
Then use the 5th and 6th Opele elements similarly to get down to 4 small squares; and
Finally, use the 7th and 8th Opele elements similarly to get down to the 1 small square Odu that corresponds to the given Opele sequence of 8 +/- elements.
The 16 pairs of identical Tetragrams (Twins, or Meji pairs) form the Diagonal of the 16x16 Square of 256 Odu.
If you take pairs of the 256, you get 256x256 = 65,536 = 8^6 = 16^4 = 2^16.
If the 16 Twins are regarded as a new independent set of 16, you can then form the Cube of 256x16 = 16x16x16 = 4,096 triples of Tetragrams.
If you take pairs of the 4,096, you get 4,096x4,096 = 16,777,216 = 8^8 = 16^6 = 2^24.
The 16 triples of identical Tetragrams (Triplets) form the Diagonal of the 16x16x16 Cube of 4,096 Odu.
If the 16 Triplets are regarded as a new independent set of 16, you can then form the HyperCube of 4,096x16 = 256x16x16 = 16x16x16x16 = 65,536 quadruples of Tetragrams of 65,536 Odu.
Since 65,536 can be factored into 256 x 256 = 2^8 x 2^8 = 2^16, the HyperCube of quadruples of Tetragrams is also
65,536 = 2^16 = 2^(2^4)) = 2^(2^(2^(2))) plus 1 = 65,537 is the largest known Fermat Prime Number.
Since 65,536 Octagram Odu can be factored into 2^16,
they correspond to the subsets of the set of 16 Tetragrams.
If you take into account that a set of 16 can be ordered in 16! = 20,922,789,888,000 different ways,
you expand the number of possibilities into 16! x 2^16 = 20,922,789,888,000 x 65,536,
or about 1.37 x 10^18 possible Odu.
16! x 2^16 is the order of the Weyl Group of the B16 Lie Algebra Spin(33) whose Clifford Algebra is Cl(33).
Cl(33) can be factored into the tensor product Cl(33) = Cl(25) x Cl(8) = Cl(17) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) =
= Cl(9) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) = Cl(1) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) x Cl(8).
Since Cl(1) = C = Complex numbers,
Cl(33) = C x Cl(8) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) x Cl(8) is the complexification of 4 copies of the 256-dimensional Cl(8) Clifford Algebra whose Lie algebra is Spin(8)
and whose Weyl group has order 192 = 4! x 2^3 = 24 x 8.
There are 16,777,216 = 16^6 = (2^4)^6 = 2^24 Sextuples of Binary Tetragrams =
= 2^24 TwentyFour-tuples of Binary Lines =
= (2^2)^12 = 4^12 Twelve-tuples of Binary Bigrams =
= (2^3)^8 = 8^8 Octuples of Binary Trigrams =
= (2^4)^6 = 16^6 Sextuples of Binary Tetragrams =
= (2^6)^4 = 64^4 Quadruples of Binary Sexagrams =
= (2^8)^3 = 256^3 Triples of Binary Octagrams =
= (2^12)^2 = 4,096^2 Pairs of Binary Twelve-grams =
= 2^24 TwentyFour-grams of an extended I Ching.
These structures are closely related to Golay codes and the Leech lattice.
The 2^24 structure is directly analogous to the Real 24-cimensional structure of the Leech lattice.
The 4^12 = (2^2)^12 structure is analogous to the Complex 12-dimensional structure of the Leech lattice.
The 16^6 = (2^4)^6 structure is analogous to the Quaternionic 6-dimensional structure of the Leech lattice.
The 256^3 = (2^8)^3 structure is analogous to the Octonionic 3-dimensional structure of the Leech lattice.
There are 256^8 = (2^8)^8 = 2^64 Octuples of Octagrams.
= 2^64 SixtyFour-tuples of Binary Lines =
= (2^2)^32 = 4^32 ThirtyTwo-tuples of Binary Bigrams =
= (2^4)^16 = 16^16 Sixteen-tuples of Binary Tetragrams =
= (2^8)^8 = 256^8 Sextuples of Binary Octagrams =
= (2^16)^4 = 65,536^4 Quadruples of Binary Sixteen-grams =
= (2^32)^2 = 4,294,967,296^2 Pairs of Binary ThirtyTwo-grams =
= 2^64 (about 1.8446 x 10^19) SixtyFour-grams of an extended I Ching.
These structures are related to the ratio of the Planck Mass to the Proton Mass,
which is about sqrt((2^127) - 1),
or about sqrt(2^(128 - 1)),
or about 2^64 / sqrt(2).
Acccording to Conway and Sloane, Sphere Packings, Lattices, and Groups (2nd ed, Springer-Verlag 1993), Quebbbemann's 64-dimensional lattice has kissing number 2,611,200 and center density (3/2)^24, while the lattice P64c has center density 2^22.
___
/ \
oo o
| |
o o
| |
o oo
| |
oo oo
In a good world, everyone has full knowledge of all things, there is joy everwhere, and, because everyone has inner power, good character, and wisdom, life is without anxiety or fear.
People must continue to go to Heaven and return to Earth after death until our world is a good world for everyone. Many good things of Heaven that are not now on Earth will thus be brought to Earth in due course.
If you undertake any evil actions, good spirits will turn their backs on you and see to it that you feel the repercussions of your evil actions when you return to Earth after your death.
To become good, you must attain wisdom (Zhen), help those who need help (Shan), and forebear from doing anything that might harm the world's prosperity (Ren).
Here are some comments on 16 of the 256 Odu.
Another way to find a particular Odu among the 256 is to place 16 objects in your left hand,
and then try to pick them up with your right hand.
If you pick up all of them, or if 3 or more remain in your left hand, then try again.
If 1 remains, you have o. If 2 remain, you have oo.
Repeat this 8 times in the pattern
___
/ \
2 1
| |
4 3
| |
6 5
| |
8 7
You can use the same order for the elements of the Opele chain.
Traditionally, the 16 objects are nuts or shells. I like to use 16 small cuboctahedra, because, since each cuboctahedron has 12 vertices, the 16 have 16x12 = 192 = 8x24 = 2^3 x 4! vertices, the order of the Weyl group of the Spin(8) Lie algebra of the 256-dimensional Clifford algebra Cl(8). Also, the cuboctahedron is a central figure of the 24-cell that is the root vector polytope of Spin(8).
o o
o o
o o
o o
One who repays kindness with evil will cut down the banana tree (kill the goose that lays golden eggs).
o o
oo oo
oo oo
o o
Compare the Feynman Lectures in Physics to books and papers written by Committees.
o o
o o
oo oo
oo oo
o o
o o
o o
oo oo
oo o
oo o
oo o
o o
o o
o oo
o o
o oo
oo o
o o
oo o
o o
oo o
o o
o oo
oo oo
oo oo
o oo
oo o
oo o
oo oo
oo o
o oo
o o
oo oo
o oo
o oo
o o
Without spirits and other humans to work with them, humans are useless.
In case of conflict among them, humans should know when to hold, know when to fold; know when to stand and fight, know when to run.
oo oo
oo o
oo o
o o
oo oo
oo oo
o oo
oo o
o oo
oo o
o o
o o
oo oo
o o
o oo
o o
o oo
oo oo
o o
o oo
The Sikidy process of Madagascar is an interpretive process that starts with quadruples of Tetragrams. Since 4 Tetragrams contain 16 bits of information, there are 2^16 = 65,536 quadruples of Tetragrams.
The process starts with the 4 Tetragrams arrayed as a 4x4 Square, and then combines the 4 columns and 4 rows of the Square as follows:
Here is a graphical representation of the Sikidy process (where R denotes row of the 4x4 Square):
4R 3R 2R 1R 4 3 2 1
\ / \ / \ / \ / |
8 7 6 5 |
\ / \ / |
\ / \ / |
\ / \ / |
\ / \ / |
10 9 |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
\ / |
11----------------12
The Sikidy process does not add any information to the 16 bits of information in the chosen quadruple of Tetragrams. It only processes that information to show how it looks from various perspectives.
16 Tetragrams correspond to the 16-dimensional U(4) = U(1)xSU(4) = U(1)xSpin(6) Lie Algebra that is the subalgebra of Spin(8) and produces Gravity and the Higgs Mechanism plus a U(1) propagator phase.
12 Tetragrams of the Sikidy process correspond to the U(1)xSU(2)xSU(3) 12-dimensional Standard Model Lie Algebra.
Each Oru has 24 toques [compare the 24-cell and the 28 Torah Cantillation Signs]. The connections between rhythms and IFA show how music, mathematics, and nature are interrelated. For example, in Africa, rhymes are used to teach children about numbers and arithmetic. African music and rhythms have spread to other parts of the world, such as India, where scales (ragas) and rhythmical sequences (talas) have profound meaning. Here is part of a toque for Ogun.
Drum rhythms also have been used in Africa as a basic language for
human communication. The book "The Information" by James Gleick talks
about African drum languages, which enabled Africans to communicate
over hundreds of miles by relaying drum messages from village to
neighboring village, and he says:
"... the drum language ... of Africa ... was a language of a single
pair of phonemes ...
All that mattered was for the drums to sound two distinct notes, at an
interval of about a major third ...
the drum language ... allocate[d] extra bits for disambiguation and
error correction ...
For the african drummers, messages need to be about eight times as long
as their spoken equivalents
...
[ After World War II when electronic communication became widely used
in Africa ]...
the drums ... began to fade from the African scene ...".
This shows that the basic African culture (from which my Cl(8) Clifford
algebra is derived) had an binary error-correcting code with 8-bit
words which reminds me of the binary Golay code [24,12,8] of length 24,
dimension 12 and minimal distance 8 in which an octad is a codeword of
distance 8 from the origin.
The octads are a Steiner system S(5,8,24) which is a set with 24 points
and a collection of distinct octads (8-subsets) such that any 5-subset
is contained in exactly one 8-subset.
The classical Golay code [24,12,8] leads to a quantum code [[24,0,8]]
that maps a quantum state space of 24 qubits into 24 qubits, correcting
[(8-1)/2] = [3.5] = greatest integer in 3.5 = 3 errors, and detecting
8/2 = 4 errors.
So, Gleick's book pointed out to me that Ancient African drum language
is basically applied quantum information theory, just as Ancient
African divination is basically the Clifford algebra of E8 physics.
Egypt was the mouthpiece. ...".
They were the probable source of ways to cope with the changed circumstances of the post-Ice Age world, including agriculture, mining,written communication, and organized armies, thus forming a Global Early Civilization with a Global Early Language.
Diodorus of Sicily, author of Bibliotheca Historica, lived in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Richard Poe, in Black Spark, White Fire (Prima 1997), quotes Diodorus as saying: "Now the Ethiopians ... were the first of all men. ... the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris having been the leader of the colony ... Osiris ... gathered together a great army, with the intention of visiting all the inhabited earth and teaching the race of men how to cultivate ... for he supposed that if he made men give up their savagery and adopt a gentle manner of life he would receive immortal honors. ..."
Poe also cites linguists who think that AfroAsiatic Languages originated in the Abyssinian Highlands, and radiated out therefrom about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, which is consistent with the Abyssinian Highlanders being the repository of a Global Early Language which they reintroduced to the post-Ice Age world.
The People of the Cradle of Civilization included people who are now known as the Fon people of Benin (Dahomey), in whose language it is called FA; the Yoruba and Benin Edo of Nigeria, in whose language it is called IFA; and the Ewe of Togo, in whose language it is called AFA. IFA is the oracle god who directed creation, formed the universe, formed the Earth, taught humans about divination, medicine, and language. From the Cradle of Civilization it spread to:
The man who discovers that he is being boned by an enemy is indeed a pitiable sight. ... his eyes become glassy and the expression on his face becomes horribly distorted ...he sways backward and falls to the ground ... after a while he becomes very composed ... unless help is forthcoming in the shape of a counter-charm ... his death is only a mattter of a comparatively short time. ...".
One way to follow the history of IFA is to look at the sequence of the 16 Tetragrams. The traditional Yoruba sequence shown above corresponds to the following 16 Odu:
0 Ogbe - light - birth of Orunmila (wisdom)
15 Oyeku - dark - Oludumare's Earthly creations
9 Iwori - ask diviner for advice
6 Edi - watch out for obstacles
12 Irosun - crouch and wait and plan
3 Owonrin - weather storms
14 Obara - cooperate (each hand washes the other)
7 Okanran - follow plans
8 Ogunda - Ogun - use technology wisely
1 Osa - overcome fear
13 Ika - you reap what you sow
11 Oturopon - raise children well
2 Otura - govern wisely
4 Irete - if you refuse to sacrifice something,
you may lose it anyway
10 Ose - truth protects good and destroys evil
5 Ofun - Oludumare creates Earth, the 16 Odu,
the Orishas, and humans
The number before each Odu is the binary number corresponding to the pattern of that Odu. The descriptions of each Odu are not at all complete, they are just some characteristic ideas that it is sometimes useful to associate with each Odu. Each Odu has other very important aspects that are not described here, as you can see, for example, by clicking on the links at Ogbe, Edi, and Irosun, which links describe some other aspects of those Odu.
The pronunciation FA was probably introduced into Mandarin after 1000 AD, during a Sung dynasty. Prior to that time, the pronunciation of the character began with P- instead of F-. For example, the Tang dynasty Mandarin pronunciation was PIUAP, which is similar to its pronunciation in Southern Chinese languages such as Cantonese. It is possible that the similarity of the Chinese pronunciation FA and the African FA is a result of African influence on China through contact by Chinese ocean voyages around 1000 AD. It is also possible that the Chinese pronunciation FA has nothing to do with Africa, and is due to some other influence (contact with Mongols or other groups, or something completely different) that occurred around 1000 AD.
How do we know today about the various pronunciations in past centuries of the same written character? Since about 601 AD, Chinese linguistic texts used rhyming tables, adapted from Indian linguistic rhyming tables. Prior to that, the rhyming structure of the Book of Poetry (6th Century BC - roughly the time of Confucius) gives some information.
Since the I Ching only uses 8 trigrams, the I Ching is based on only half of the 16 Odu Tetragrams.
Baba Eyiogbe says "... It is indeed part of the Ifa tradition that Ifa was brought to China, but in a more limited form. This is sometimes attributed to a warrior path of Obatalá, Obatalá Ayaguna. This path of Obatalá is the Ifa diviner for the other paths of Obatalá as well (when Orunmila does not do it directly). ...".
My best guess is that, since Ofun is a very important Odu and since Ose is paired with Ofun, the I Ching did not use the first 8 of the traditional Yoruba 16 Tetragrams, but that the first 6 and the last two (Ose and Ofun) were used.
0 Heaven Ogbe - light - birth of Orunmila (wisdom)
7 Earth Oyeku - dark - Oludumare's Earthly creations
1 Lake Iwori - ask diviner for advice
6 Mountain Edi - watch out for obstacles
4 Wind Irosun - crouch and plan action
3 Thunder Owonrin - weather storms
2 Fire Ose - truth protects good and destroys evil
5 Water Ofun - Oludumare creates Earth, the 16 Odu,
the Orishas, and humans
The number before each Odu is the binary number corresponding to the I Ching Trigram, which is the same as the binary number of the corresponding Odu (mod 8). The number is followed by the I Ching name of each Trigram.
The 4 pairs Odu/Trigrams is analogous to the Later Heaven Lo Shu I Ching arrangement, thus indicating that the traditional Yoruba order of the Tetragrams of FA shown above is similar to the Later Heaven Lo Shu I Ching arrangement, while the binary number order of the Tetragrams of FA shown above corresponds to the Earlier Heaven Ho Tu I Ching arrangement by Fu Xi .
As in the I Ching, many other arrangements of the IFA Tetragrams exist, as do many arrangements of the 16x16 = 256 pairs of IFA Tetragrams.
The following diagram, in which the letters H E L M Wi T F Wa correspond to the I Ching Trigrams, shows how the I Ching fits inside IFA, using the I Ching ordering of the 16 Tetragrams of IFA.
________________________________________________________________
| H | E | L | M | Wi| T | F | Wa| | | | | | | | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16|
_________|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 1 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Ogbe |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 2 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Oyeku |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 3 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Iwori |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 4 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Edi |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 5 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Irosun |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 6 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Owonrin |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 7 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Ose |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 8 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Ofun |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 9 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Obara |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 10 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Okanran |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 11 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Ogunda |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 12 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Osa |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 13 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Ika |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 14 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Oturopon|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 15 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Otura |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
| 16 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
|Irete |___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
It seems to me as though Vedic divination and Tai Hsuan Ching are based on the Triality aspect of the 256-dimensional Cl(8) Clifford algebra of IFA, while I Ching is based on the 64-dimensional Cl(6) Clifford subalgebra of the Cl(8) of IFA.
in which he refers to both the symbols of the 16 Tetragrams of IFA and the 28 Lunar Mansions of Chinese Astronomy. In Europe IFA became confused with Western Astrology so that much of the meaning of IFA was lost or distorted in European Geomancy of 16 Tetragrams. When the I Ching was introduced into Europe, it was treated as a separate system based on 8 Trigrams, rather than a subsystem of the the 16 Tetragrams. Since the Europeans had access to a lot of written Chinese material about the I Ching, and since IFA has been primarily an oral/intuitive tradition, and since the Europeans relied heavily on written transmission of knowledge, in Europe the 8 Trigrams of I Ching (a part of IFA) retained more of its original meaning than the 16 Tetragrams.
Tarot might be related to IFA in ways similar to the relationship of IFA to Urim v'Tumim.
Carl Jung, who around 1921 AD developed a theory of Personality Types, was greatly influenced by the I Ching, and thus indirectly by IFA. He described 8 = 2^3 types, based on 3 binary choices, similar to the 8 Trigrams of the I Ching:
Interactions among people with each of the 8 Personality Types would then, like the I Ching, fall into 8x8 = 64 different types of interaction.
From the 1920s to World War II, Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers expanded Jung's Personality Types from 8 to 16 = 2^4 by adding another binary choice:
The additional binary choice of Briggs and Myers makes a theory of 16 Personality Types and 16x16 = 256 Interaction Types that is closer to the 16 Tetragrams and 256 Odu of IFA.
When World War II broke out, they developed the Myers-Briggs Type Index (MBTI) (a registered trademark) with the hope that it would increase people's understanding of each other and hopefully prevent future wars. The MBTI began to be used in the USA to help assign wartime job applicants to the jobs most suited to them. To help people understand the underlying structure of the MBTI, Chris Lofting has a web page on the relationships between the MBTI and the I Ching.
According to The Vodou Quantum Leap, by Reginald Crosley (Llewellyn Publications 2000), in Haitian Vodou, the gods begin with androgynous Nana Buluku, who produces Mawu and Lissa (male and female twins/spouses) and Ogou, the god of civilization who reveals metallurgy to humans. The symbol of Ogou is a sword, like the symbol of Luu Dongbin. The messenger god, Legba, is seen in Haiti as walking on crutches with a broken leg, like Tieguai Li. The diagram on the book cover is a superposition of 8 copies of a Veve diagram, in 8 colors of the rainbow. The many images of the Veve correspond to the Many Worlds of Sum Over Histories Quantum Physics. In Vodou, Veve diagrams are like signatures of spirits, somewhat analogous to Taoist Talismans.
Reginald Crosley describes Haitian Vodou in terms of Quantum Physics using physics models that are currently conventional and fashionable, saying, for example,
"... According to some new theories developed by subatomic physicists, we may be sharing our reality with another world made up of invisible intangible shadow matter or dark matter operating in at least ten dimensions. ..... The entities of the ... shadow world ... crave for the ... actions ... of ordinary reality. Thus, they enter into some ... connection ... with earthlings ...
... vodouns are spiritual entities, or shadow-matter entities that have had a long commerce or interaction with human beings. Some would be the shadow-matter component of... human beings. ... [which have] basic constituents
- the ... visible body or corp-cadavre...
- the semedo ... Gros Bon Ange ... a duplicate of the person in shadow matter. ...
- the selido ... Ti Bon Ange ... a psychic parcel coming from Mawu, the Creator. ... At death, it returns to Mawu ... It does not receive any reward or punishment. It is in itself a network of information ...
- ... sekpoli ... most likely a shadow entity, a vodoun, that enters into composite state with an individual through Fa initiation. ...
... The Fa initiation allows the individual to see the future. ...".
I very much like Reginald Crosley's description of Vodou, but I think that, if he were familiar with my physics model, he would find it to be more uselful in describing Vodou than the currently conventional and fashionable physics models.
My D4-D5-E6-E7 Physics Model is based on the Cl(8) Clifford Algebra that is related to the 16x16 = 256 Odu of IFA.
The Clifford Algebra structure is a common connection among such things as Physics, IFA., Consciousness, and Abstract Life.
Since IFA.is a basis for my physics model, I sometimes call it VoDou Physics.
This page is based in part on facts from the following books: Santeria, The Religion, by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler (Llewellyn Publications 1989); Terrestrial Astrology, Divination by Geomancy, by Stephen Skinner (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1980); The Sacred IFA Oracle, by Afolabi A. Epega and Philip John Neimark (HarperCollins 1995); The Sirius Mystery, by Robert K. G. Temple (Destiny Books 1987); Burnham's Celestial Handbook (3 vols.) (Dover 1978); Africa Counts, by Claudia Zaslavsky (Lawrence Hill Books 1973); The World is Sound - Nada Brahma, by Joachim-Ernst Berendt (Destiny 1983); Issues in the Development of the MBTI, by Gordon Lawrence (Center for Applications of Psychological Type, Gainesville, Florida 1998); The Vodou Quantum Leap, by Reginald Crosley (Llewellyn Publications 2000); Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Marilyn Nance has an excellent web page - DON'T GIVE UP!
Other web sites can be found from Sweden to Georgia.
My favorite movie related to Ifa is Eve's Bayou.
Eve's Bayou credits include
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