OUR CUSTODIAN - OBA ÀTẸ̀GBÈ HEAD DIVINER
Dr. Ifábùkúnmi O. Adéwálé, our Oba Ategbe, is a renowned practitioner and scholar of traditional Yoruba medicine and religion. He is the medical director of Adewura Natural Medical Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, and Adewura Natural Remedies in the United States and has developed numerous herbal remedies. Combining traditional Yorùbá culture and Western academic study, his approach has provided a unique and comprehensive perspective on science, culture, and health, making him a veritable doctor of traditional medicine, a Babaláwo, an Oníṣègùn, a pharmacognosist, and an ethnobotanist.
He is the author Introduction to Ancient Yorùbá Divination Systems; Introducción a los Sistemas Antiguo de Adivinación Yorùbá; The Plants of Traditional Medicine, Volume 1; IFÁ OHÙN OLÓDÙMARÈ (IFÁ Voice of Almighty God); The Medicinal Attributes of ÒRÌṢÀ Plants, Part 3: Plant Songs and Omiẹ̀rọ̀; Yorùbá Nomenclature of Traditional Plants and Healing; Introduction to Yorùbá Culture and Religion; and he has been a featured speaker on Yorùbá traditions in many forums.
Born in Epòró, Emùré-Èkìtì, Èkìti State, Nigeria, Dr. Adéwálé is an nth-generation Babaláwo and Oníṣègùn. He comes from an extensive line of healers and priests. Under the tutelage of his father and uncle, two highly regarded Babaláwo and healers of their time, he received extensive training in divination and healing. This rigorous training prohibited him from engaging in formal schooling after his primary education. However, because of his inquisitiveness and persistence, they allowed him to attend college on one condition: that when his schooling was completed, he would return to his spiritual commitments as a practitioner of traditional medicine.
Inspired by change, he enrolled at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology (with special honors). He was trained as a biosystemic plant taxonomist and conducted a postgraduate research project in pharmacognosy. The combined knowledge of these disciplines led to the development of his first major commercial product, Cleaner 109 Mixture. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in computer science.
Dr. Adéwálé has committed his life to educating and healing. His personal botanical garden contains over one thousand plant species and has become an important teaching site to ethnobotany students. Over the past decade, he has sat on various committees of the Lagos State Board of Traditional and Alternative Medicine. He also serves as secretary to the International Congress of Orisa Tradition and Culture.
Dr. Adéwálé’s acclaimed presentations have made him a popular lecturer on traditional Yorùbá medicine and on topics such as “Introduction to Yorùbá Culture and Religion”; “ÒRÌṢÀ and Medicinal Plants”; “Orí: The Graph of Human Destiny”; “An Introduction to the IFÁ Divination System”; “Introduction to the Mysteries of Ẹgbẹ́: The Intuitive Power of Connectivity”; “Ẹgbé: Ethics, Drumming, and Divination”; and “Olókun: the ÒRÌṢÀ of Ocean.”
He has been a featured speaker on Yorùbá traditions for many forums including forty-two of the fifty states within the United States of America. He has lectured in France, Germany, England, the Caribbean, and all throughout Africa. Dr. Adéwálé’s acclaimed presentations have made him a sought-after lecturer on traditional Yorùbá medicine. His most recent appointments include posts at the New York Open Center and the University of Georgia.
