Bàbáláwò is conventionally parsed as 'father of secrets' (baba, father; awo, mystery or secret), and the awo is the initiated priest of Ọ̀rúnmìlà: the person who may cast, who is held to have the corpus in memory, and who is responsible for the ebo the oracle prescribes. The training is long and largely oral — years of memorising ese ifá under a teacher, learning the proverbs, the plant knowledge and the ritual repertoire that a verse presumes — and it ends in initiation rather than in examination. The authority to read a verse is conferred, not claimed.