Orunmila — also called Ela and Agbonniregun — is the orisha of wisdom and the owner of the Ifa system. The tradition says he was present when Olodumare created the world and when each person knelt to choose their destiny, and that he witnessed and remembers. This is the basis of divination: he is not consulted because he decides anything, but because he was there. He does not punish, does not reward, does not take offence in the way the more volatile orisha do, and has no dramatic myths of anger. His emblems are the divining tray, the opele chain, the sixteen palm nuts and the iroke tapper. The relationship between Orunmila and Esu is functional and constant — Orunmila knows and Esu carries — and no divination proceeds without acknowledging Esu first. Babalawo are his priests specifically, which is why Ifa priesthood is distinct from the priesthood of an individual orisha.