What Does Ifa Say About Soul Ties?
This post is in response to a question from @Josephine Gomez . The phrase “soul tie” is not a traditional Ifá term. So we do not want to force Ifá to use language that does not come from the tradition. But that does not mean Ifá has nothing to say about soul-ties. When most people say “soul tie,” they are usually describing a connection that feels heavy, hard to release, or difficult to understand logically. It may feel emotional, sexual, spiritual, or energetic. A person may feel tied to someone even when the connection is no longer healthy, peaceful, or aligned. From an Ifá perspective, the closest way to understand this is not to ask, “Is the connection with this person a soul tie?” The better question is: Is the connection with this person placing me in iré or osogbo? That is where Ifá gives us a clearer lens. Irè speaks to blessings, alignment, peace, elevation, and favorable spiritual conditions. Osogbo speaks to imbalance, difficulty, misfortune, disturbance, heaviness, or conditions that work against a person’s well-being and destiny. So while Ifá may not say, “This person has a soul tie,” divination may reveal that a person is in osogbo because of an affiliation, relationship, sexual connection, spiritual entanglement, emotional attachment, promise, vow, trauma bond, or harmful connection to another person. That matters. Because sometimes people really can become tied up in situations that disturb their Ori. Ori is a person’s destiny, spiritual head, inner consciousness, and personal alignment. When a connection to another person begins to disturb someone’s Ori, it may show up as confusion, heaviness, obsession, loss of peace, repeated conflict, emotional instability, spiritual tiredness, or the feeling that the person cannot fully return to themselves. This does not always mean witchcraft is involved. Sometimes the cause is emotional attachment. Sometimes it is sexual bonding. Sometimes it is trauma. Sometimes it is grief.