Ethics of the Dibia

- Kalma Kalma — the Igbo law of retributive justice (= karma): "because of Kalma Kalma the fire left the pot and killed what was inside." No sensible Dibia does evil though he knows both polarities. Njo ja-echelu onye melu ya — evil waits for its doer. Osi ogili ga-edelu aka ya n'ile — the ogili-cook inevitably tastes her own fingers (you share in the good or evil you generate). Oghe otolo o debelu ohu ya n'uzo idei? — does the cholera-maker squat over the floodwater channel? Onye na-alu ana, ana ana-alu ya — who desecrates the land is destroyed by the land.

- The chilling exception: onye solu utu ana — one who ritually "married the land," closing his own lineage; having nothing left for karma to burn, he is dreaded as capable of anything.

- Fees: Eliluo m na elilughi aha-egbu Dibia; o elighaa m — taking the appropriate reward (or less) never destroys a Dibia; overcharging does. Excess gifts are only acceptable when freely brought at the annual festival.

- Poisoning and psychic attack are banned outright; only aju (momentary psychic dizziness) sits in the permitted twilight zone — Kaa sili si akuna nsi, a si si efena aju. Archetypal Dibias avoid even that, and the masquerade-testing practice inwa, to keep their hands clean for the ultimate appeal of isalu enu aka — showing open palms to the Most High.

- Idobe iwu, sota nso, bu Dibia Ekwueme — keeping the laws and taboos is what makes the Dibia whose word comes true. Ebe mmadu na-azo nwa mmadu ka o na-azo onwe ya — in saving another's child, one saves oneself (the mandatory closing of Nnobi ogwu-prayers).

- Onye Idedu aha-ele ogwu — a spiritually dull ("Idedu") person cannot potentiate ogwu.