In outline, and without the ritual detail that belongs to initiation: Èṣù is saluted first, because no odù is spoken until he has been acknowledged; the question is put; the odù is cast — with the chain in one movement, or with the palm nuts four marks at a time; the figure is marked out in iyẹ̀rọ̀sùn (the wood dust) on the Ọ̀pọ́n Ifá, the carved divination board, so that both the awo and the client can see it; and then the awo works through the verses he holds for that figure until one is recognised as the client's situation. The recognition is tested rather than asserted, which is the function of the ìbọ̀ — the two casting pieces, one taken as 'yes' and one as 'no', with which the awo puts the verse's own questions to the oracle.