Diloggún

Divination with cowrie shells; how the tradition answers questions.

The diloggún is the cowrie shell divination system used within Santería to establish what is at play and what is needed.

In the diloggún sixteen cowrie shells are cast, and the priest or priestess counts how many land with the open side up. Each number corresponds to an odu, a sign with its own stories, proverbs, advice and offerings. From the combination of casts an answer follows. The odus contain thousands of patakí, which the initiate must know by heart. There is also Ifá, a more extensive divination system performed by the babalawo, priest of Orula.

The difference with dream interpretation is essential. A dream is personal and uncertain; the diloggún is a traditional system with fixed rules and a long training. That is why the tradition often refers a dream to divination: the dream asks the question, the shells give the answer. Dreamkin performs no divination and gives no odus.

This is why a dream in Santería is never the last word. Where a dream gives a signal, the diloggún gives an answer, read by someone trained for it.

The diloggún is also used at important moments in an initiate's life, such as at an initiation, where an extensive reading, the itá, gives direction for the rest of life. What is said there is often written down and kept by the initiate, as a guide that lasts for years.

Anyone wanting to know what a striking dream means for their own life turns within the tradition to their padrino or madrina, not to a book or a website.