A throw of merindinlogun, resulting in four "open" shells (odù irosun).

Merindinlogun is the number 16 in the Yoruba language and literally means "twenty less four" or "four taken from twenty". The number sixteen holds important significance in Yoruba mythology as it was the purported number of original divinities that established life on earth.

The term also designates a cowrie-shell divination method practiced in the the Yoruba religion, and of several Afro-American religions derived from it, that uses sixteen cowrie shells.

The same 16 Odus are used in every single divination system used by the Yoruba. In the merindilogun, the number of shells up is associated with a certain odu (ex: five shells up represent "Oshe" and eight shells up represent "Ogbe"). This system of divination is used when consulting the Orishas, as opposed to the ikin or opele which are only used to consult Ifa.

[edit] References

• Abraham, Roy Clive (1958). Dictionary of Modern Yoruba. London: University of London Press. 

• Fatunmbi, Awo Falokun (1992). Awo: Ifa & the Theology of Orisha Divination. New York: Original Publications. ISBN 0942272242. 

• Bascom, William (1993). Sixteen Cowries : Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253208475.