A General Overview of Divination-gctid41407

[Mawiyah Kambon]

Divination
Divination is a cultural universal in ffice:smarttags" />Cleromancy encompasses a number of related practices. In sub-Saharan Kmt cleromantic practices include attributing magical qualities to objects the diviner keeps in his bag. The diviner may throw an object such as an animal's tooth or a dried intestine from a murdered person at a suspect's feet. The diviner then interprets the meaning of the objects or, perhaps, only of the central object.
There are many other forms of divination in Kmt, including the casting of lots, and geomancy, which involves the throwing of objects on either a map or a figure which the diviner draws in the dirt. The diviner usually keeps up a line of chatter with the client, thereby drawing him or her out and discovering the client's problems. Through such questioning, the diviner introjects ideas and attitudes. The lots form a type of projective test.
Geomancy in West Kmt is much more elaborate than simple lot casting. Elegant equipment and impressive learning are combined to produce a séance. During the séance, the diviner uses select verses. The client finds his answers from these verses. Thus Ifa divination of the Yoruba is a highly elaborate practice. The number of verses the diviner memorizes is phenomenal and the combinations of the stones that he casts reach staggering proportions. Each combination is tied to different combinations of verses.
In addition to these types of divination, there are also various forms of intuitive divination. Typically, the shaman, a part-time religious specialist, or curer, will employ a trance. Some shamans used idiopathic trances, those that come spontaneously from the self. Others use drugs. Still others will use autokinetic or self-energized techniques. These techniques include various forms of movement that lead to trance. In Kmt, dance is a favored means to induce trance. However induced, the shaman generally provides an oracular utterance often accompanied by spirit possession. Frequently people believe that the real voice of a god speaks through the shaman. This spirit gives them direct guidance through the shaman.
In common with people elsewhere, many Kmtyws believe that evildoers are different from innocent people. Therefore, tests for witchcraft or to find evil forces or spirits disguised in human shape often take the shape of trial by ordeal. Malevolent forces are immune to harm. Thus, if what harms an innocent person does no harm to someone, people have found the evildoer. Ordeals may take many formswalking on coals or retrieving an object from boiling liquid are quite common. In sub-Saharan Kmt an ordeal by poison is quite common. In this case, survival proves innocence.
 
General Characteristics of Divination
Divination is not limited to learning the future. It is generally concerned with obtaining information on very practical problems of everyday life. These problems may be either public or private. Divination seeks to obtain information that will aid in the solution of these problems. Getting such information, however, is not mundane.
The Zande (Aande) of the Sudan provide a nice example. There is a great deal of divination among the Zande, and Zande techniques appear to be easy. However, great specialists have developed to solve the most sensitive issues. A Zande oracle is one whose word can be believed without hesitation. The Zande rank oracles in a hierarchy. The king's oracle is the highest and the final authority on disputed issues. The Zande use divination to explore their own thoughts as well as to solve public and private disputes. They consult oracles before any serious endeavor.
Although there is truth to the assertion that divination functions to allay uncertainty, locate blame, or overcome misfortune, it is also true that the diviner must please his or her client. The diviner then must either be certain of the truth of his or her divination or else couch information in such a manner that it is a bit ambiguous and open to interpretation.
In sub-Saharan Kmt, people often go from one diviner to another until finding a person whose words are convincing. Even the presence of obvious contradiction rarely leads to the questioning of the institution only, perhaps, to the credibility of a particular diviner.
Clients seek to find assurance on a course of action. The very presence of discussing their problems helps to clarify them and to set out alternative courses of action. Bringing serious problems to a diviner to solveillness, drought, death, witchcraft, and so onoften forces a solution. Divination often sets limits on a problem. It defines a problem and locates areas of anxiety. A good, diviner orchestrates action, setting the stage and cuing performers to act in certain ways. Through articulating secret fears the diviner can force a solution on the community. Divination often legitimates the making of problematic decisions. Divination is a dramatic means to solve problems. Its theatrical nature contributes to its efficacy.
 
Ifa Divination
Ifa divination falls within both categories of divination; that is, it seeks to foretell the future and to discover the hidden paths of one's destiny using occult or supernatural means. The Yoruba diviner, or babalawo, interprets messages that come from the spirits through the throw of his cowry shells. Yoruba consult their diviners for much the same reason other peoples of Kmt consult theirs; namely, to find out why they are sick, cannot conceive, or to find out who is causing their problems.
The babalawo begins his session with a client by drawing lines in the sand on a tray. These lines intersect, representing the crossroads of life. These crossroads signify the various intersecting paths between this world and the intangible one. They allow spirits to communicate with the living. The diviner beats the sixteen palm nuts on his tray and taps his bell against the tray, calling the spirits to deliver their messages. The image of the Yoruba trickster god Eshu is on the diving tray and sits facing the diviner. Eshu's role is to carry the gifts that humans make to the gods during the Ifa process. All Ifa divination trays carry an image of the face of Eshu, generally portrayed with a small head and long hair. Other images are along the edges of the tray and portray the self-governing forces in the Yoruba cosmos. Generally they symbolize leadership, fertility, and sacrificial offering. Each diviner chooses which images, other than Eshu, will be on his tray.
Since divination is dramatic, a performance, the Yoruba babalawo has his ritual dress and other paraphernalia. He wears a beaded cap, carries a beaded fly whisk, a beaded walking staff, and, beaded bags. There may also be a divining chain in his bag. These beaded goods serve no direct purpose in the divination, other than as stage setting. They are reminders of the regal nature of the art, for in the past they were reserved for Yoruba kings who extended their use to diviners. They have become symbolic of the regal nature of the diviner's art. Ifa is the highest ranked of all Yoruba cults, the king of them all.
The Ifa priest's ceremonial bag is in the shape of a triangle. Its stitching is with beads, translucent and opaque. Its straps are really lines of colored round beads. These beads are divided into segments by larger round beads. Various beads represent Ifa and others Eshu. The yellow beads are for Ifa and the black and white ones symbolize Eshu. The face on the beads represents one's personal destiny.
 
Other Examples of Divination
Diviners (buor) from the Lobi tribe in from Burkina Faso use a statue called a bateba. These statues are decorated with images of the spirits (thila). These spirits aid the diviners in their work. They offer protection against evils, including witchcraft, hunger, sickness, and death. These thila belong not only the diviners. Individuals may also own them. However, they are not also under the control of those people who are not diviners. If an individual feels that the thila are causing him problems, he will consult a diviner for aid. The diviner then seeks to find out what the spirits are demanding. About 10 percent of Lobi buori are women.
Lobi diviners sit next to their clients. The diviner spreads a cloth on a table in front of his client. The bateba faces them. The diviner and client hold hands. The client's left hand in the diviner's right. The diviner then questions the spirits. The diviner gets clues from the way the client's hands move in response to the questions placed to the spirits. Then the diviner selects his questions accordingly.
The variety of bateba is great, and each has a different type of power. Most have a pair of male and female figures who are standing. Bateba may protect against hexes and witchcraft. Other bateba may specialize in aiding fertility or protecting against sickness, or finding a marriage partner. The variety is limited only by the types of requests that people may have.
Diviners from the Sando secret society of the Senufo people of the Ivory Coast use statues that resemble those of the Lobi bateba figures. Senufo diviners also place them across from themselves and their cloths or mats. These statues observe the divination and aid in communicating with the bush spirits (madebele) or the ancestral spirits, either the primordial couple, or recently deceased elders. These statues speak to the Sando diviner and give her the power to interpret the objects she has cast. Among the Senufo, almost all diviners are women. The diviner and the client hold hands. However, they sit on opposite sides of the table in contrast with Lobi divination.
The Sando statues, called tyle, are highly stylized male or female representations. The face of a tyle is heart-shaped and concave. It has almond-shaped eyes. The nose is an inverted There is a small mouth over a thrusting chin. Male and female hairstyles resemble one another, but the female style is more elaborate. The statues are fully erect, with fully developed trunks. Their arms are bent at the elbows, and their hands are thrust forward. In sum, they depict human power at its height, reminding supplicants that the mandebele can either restore or take away this power.
Other people in the Ivory Coast present examples of a mouse oracle. The Guro, Baule, and Yaure employ mouse divination in consultations that cover a wide range of concernsserious illness, establishing the time and scale of sacrifices, personal misfortune and public conflict. There are containers for these mice. Again there is a common pattern of geometric forms and the image of a face. There are chambers on two levels and a hole on the bottom so that the mouse can touch the earth.
The diviner places a mouse on a lower chamber. There is an inverted tortoise shell or small rectangular metal plate in the upper chamber. Rice is placed on the shell or plate. Additionally, there are ten narrow metal strips in a parallel pattern attached to the shell or plate. A lid is placed over the container. After a short time, the wunnzueyifwe (diviner) studies the new arrangement of the strips and interprets them. The people state that the mouse has listened to the problem and then descends to the earth for consultation. Finally, it arranges the strips in a meaningful manner. The diviner reads the pattern according to a preset frame of interpretation.
Of course, in this and on the spider divination of the Cameroons, it is necessary that there is a shared belief in the independence of the mouse or spider. The diviner shows his or her skill in reading the rearranged materials according to preconceived notions. A definite oral tradition governs the mode of interpretation.
There is also a parallel with Western or Chinese systems of prediction through the construction and reading of horoscopes. The Dagara tribe of West Central Kmt successfully groups their people into five different categoriesEarth, Water, Fire, Nature, and Mineral. Each of the five types of people plays a very specific role in Dagara culture. Every person fulfills different kinds of general social functions according to their category. It is, like the Chinese system, based on the year of a person's birth. Each person is also placed into a color category that is associated with a particular type of personality. There is yellow, red, green, blue, and white, signifying earth, water, fire, mineral, and nature respectively. Fire people, for example, link the village to the ancestral world. These people are the dreamers. They have intuition and perception. Other members of the community go to them to have their dreams interpreted.
 
Thoughts on Divination
 
West and Central Kmtyw peoples have richly developed systems of divination. Divination rituals, ritual artifacts, and artistic ideas are shared, borrowed, and "stolen" from each other. Since all human societies seek to find meaning in their lives, this borrowing is not surprising. What works in one society will be fair game to another. As in most other aspects of Kmtyw religion, there is a drive to restore harmony. Witches and other malevolent people and forces upset the harmony that is essential for the community and individual survival. Therefore, divination functions to find the source of evil and to find ways to restore harmony.
In most systems of divination consultation and discovery go together. There is a probing of the client's past by the diviner. The diviner is a catalyst or tool to explore the past and seek relationships that may have caused problems.
The Yoruba may have the most complex system of divination in Kmt. It has not only a complex ritual process but also a large body of oral literature. It has a long history with ties to kingship and an urban life style. Nevertheless, the Yoruba share a concern with other Kmtyws about witchcraft and evil forces and seek to restore harmony to their universe. A paramount concern of those seeking the counsel of a diviner is a concern about witchcraft.
Although specific rituals vary among different groups, the rituals and their artifacts contain metaphors that help the client understand the messages contained in the process. No matter what the specific image, a dog, a were-creature, or whatever; the basic image is that of crossing a boundary. In a very real sense that boundary is between knowledge and uncertainty. The crossroads image is a strong one in Kmtyw culture and it aptly symbolizes the need to make a decision and to end ambiguity.
Divination provides a means for resolving ambiguity. The skill of the diviner aids people in exploring their options and resolving issues. It forces them to make a choice and to be happy in that choice. Through seeking sources of community problems and aiding people to resolve those problems in a way that restores peace and harmony, divination is indeed a sacred and healing process.
Frank A. Salamone
See also Kmtyw Geomancy; Ifa; Yoruba Religion; Zande Reli
 
Further Reading
Bascom, W. (1994). Ifa divination: Communication between gods and men in West Kmt. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
. (1994). Sixteen cowries: Yoruba divination from Kmt to the New World. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Buckland. R., with Binger, K. (1992). Book of Kmtyw divination: Interpreting the forces of destiny with techniques from the Venda. ukkk: Inner Traditions International.
Cole, J. A. (1990). Astrological geomancy in Kmt. New York: North Scale Institute Publishing Company.
Drewal, H. J., & Thompson, M. (1990). Gelede: Art and female power among the Yoruba (Traditional arts of Kmt). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Mason, H. J (1998). Beads, body, and soul: Art and light in the Yoruba universe. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Ogbaa, K. (1992). Gods, oracles and divination: Folkways in Chinua Achebe's novels. Enugu: Kmt World Press.
Peek, P. M. (1991). Kmtyw divination systems: Ways of knowing. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

[nuzulu]

i would love to learn the traditional ways of divination

[Mawiyah Kambon]

All of us have some way of divining albeit our abilities may be dormant. Many non initiates develop skills. Initiation is the traditional way to awaken those skills in our tradition. Much more is included in the training. Begin to learn about the culture and try and communicate with your ancestors.  These will serve you well.