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ifá: geomancy patterns generated with palm nuts, opele, cowrie shells, etc. that refer to Ifa divination texts; a collection of Odu Ifa verses; iridology: by eye color (Greek īris [īrid-], 'iris' + -logiā, ' study ') isopsephy: by numbers and letters (Greek īsos, ' equal ' + psephos, ' pebble ')
Cowrie-shell divination refers to several distinct forms of divination using cowrie shells that are part of the rituals and religious beliefs of certain religions. Though best-documented in West Africa as well as in Afro-American religions, such as Regla de Ocha, Candomblé, and Umbanda, [1] [2] [3] cowrie-shell divination has also been recorded in India, East Africa, and other regions.
Monetaria moneta, common name the money cowrie, is a species of small sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. [1]This species is called "money cowrie" because the shells were historically widely used in many Pacific and Indian Ocean countries as shell money before coinage was in common usage.
To do so, they fix a cowrie shell to one end of an abacá stem pole and link the other end to the roof as a hinge, pushing on the pole to apply pressure on the fibre with the shell. [6] The fibers, which are very thin, are carefully stripped from the stalk with the use of a mounted blade, and then sun-dried. [1] [2]
1742 drawing of shells of the money cowrie, Monetaria moneta Cowrie shells The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped. The round side of the shell is called the Dorsal Face, whereas the flat under side is called the Ventral Face, which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening (), which is often toothed at the edges.
Monetaria caputserpentis, common name the serpent's-head cowry or snakehead cowry, is a species of cowry, a sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. [ 1 ] Distribution
The Marshallese recognized four main ocean swells: the rilib, kaelib, bungdockerik and bundockeing. [2] Navigators focused on effects of islands in blocking swells and generating counterswells to some degree, but they mainly concentrated on refraction of swells as they came in contact with undersea slopes of islands and the bending of swells around islands as they interacted with swells coming ...
Before the Spring and Autumn period, during the Shang dynasty, cowrie shells had been used as an early type of money. In the Zhou period, their use became more stylised with replica shells made of porcelain, jade or metal coming into use. Some sources suggest that early round coins were a highly stylised representation of the cowrie shells. [1] [2]