"Most of the Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Americas were from the Yoruba nation of West Africa, an ancient and vast civilization. In the diaspora caused by the slave trade, the guiding concepts of the Yoruba spiritual tradition took root in Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, and the United States. In this introduction to the practice, the author provides an overview of the Yoruba tradition and its influence in the West. He describes the 16 Orisha, or spirit gods, and shows us how to work with divination, how to use the energy centers of the body to internalize the teachings of Yoruba, and describes how to create a sacred place of worship"--