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ARTICLES 9.

byG.K. Nukunya

The Importance of geomancy in West Africa Is well known.

Its principal exponents include the Yoruba, Dahomey and the Ewe.
Although the Yoruba are generally credited with Its origin,, some
liorin Yoruba accounts quoted by Clarke suggest that It was learned
from the Nupe.^ Similar practices are also found among the Anago
Yoruba of Brazil and Cubans of Yoruba descent. Whatever its origin,
afa divination, as it Is called among the Ewe, has become Integrated
in diverse ways into the religious systems of all the societies which
now practise it. The only traces of Yoruba origin In the non-Yoruba
areas now are probably the unintelligible Yoruba language employed
in the process and the verses the diviners recite which are all based
at |fe, the traditional ritual centre of the Yoruba.
Whiie much has been written about the Yorubo and the
Dahomean systems notably by Bascom and Herskovfts respectively,
very little has been done on the Ewe side. In this paper an attempt
will be made to describe the technical procedures and other salient •
features in the Ewe practice.

* Dr. G.K. Nukunya is a Lecturer in the Department of Sociology.

1. This study formed part of the 1967 Summer Research School

organised in Ghana jointly by the African Studies Programme,
Northwestern University and the Institute-of African Studies,
Legon. Grateful acknowledgement Is made to the two
institutions* for financial support and other forms of cooperation
and to the following students for their assistance in fieldwork:
Joan Bragginton and Margaret Rosembloom of Northwestern
and Ernest Dumor, Brfgirre Kumapley and Susan Gilbertson,
of Legon.
2. Clarke, 1939, p.238,
ARTICLES 10.

The home of the Ewe-speaking peoples now lies in south-

eastern Ghana and the southern half of Togo. But they have not^
been living here for more than five centuries. They have a history
of migration which puts their origin somewhere in Yoruba country
around fhe present Dahomey-Nigeria border.
Before coming under European rule at the end of the last
century, the Ewe never lived under one political authority. They
were organised info a number of chiefdoms varying in size from a
few villages to large and powerful kingdoms like Anlo and Peki
comprising several towns and villages. Despite the absence of
political unity the Ewe share among others a common myth of origin
and history of migration; a common Ewe language spoken through-
out Eweland; and finally the consciousness of being one people.
The Ewe area described here is the Kingdom of A n l o ,
which lies in the extreme southeastern corner of Ghana, immediately
east of the Volta River, with an area of 883 square miles and a
population of 231,017 in I 9 6 0 , It is a low country whose land-
scape and economy are dominated principally by fhe large Kefa
Lagoon (which covers about a third of the area and separates the
littoral from the hinterland) and also by the numerous streams that
connect the Lagoon with the Volta River. During the main rainy
season which centres around June, large areas around fhe lagoon
are flooded for months while in the dry season, November to
January f fhe floods recede and the greater part of the lagoon
itself dries up ? yielding large incrustations of salt which provide
an important article of trade.
Or. the sea coast and in the villages surrounding the
lagoon^fishing is the chief occupation but Inland to the north the
people cultivate cassava, corn and vegetables. Other occupations
include cloth weaving on hand Iooms# basket making and poultry
farming.
| i ^ ^ ^ . in. t i u

1. 1960 Population Census of Ghana, V o l . 1 . The Gazetteer,

• Census O f f i c e , Accra, 1962, P, X X I I I .
ARTICLES 11.

Like the other Ewe groups the Anlo are parrilinea!. There
are fifteen agamous,. dispersed,, totemic clans whose local segments
form exagamous lineages. Two of the clans have royal dynasties
from whom the Awoamefia or King is alternately chosen.
There is a belief in a High God, Mawuy who like many
other such West African gods disappeared after creating the world
because of the frequent demands on him by his"people while he
lived near them. There is no organised worship for him: no priest-
hoodf shrine nor church. He is invoked by individuals in everyday
life and in times of crises, if is according to the Ewe themselves
a god of the thoughtful, not of the multitude. Next to Mawu are
the small gods or trSwo (singular, trS_) which are his creations,
deriving their powers from him and residing in nature objects like
streams, ponds, lagoons and forests. Unlike the High God the
trSwo have organised worship with shrines, priests and churches.
There are also a number of cults or voduwo owned by
certain individuals. Many Anlo voduwo are of foreign origin,
mainly Dshomean and Togofese ond the individual desirous of
establishing them travels to their places of origin where the
necessary fees are paid and the "rites performed. Membership
of both trS and vody_ (singular) cyts across lineage and clan
lines, though children usually join the gods served by their
parents.
But by far the most important supernatural beings are
the ancestral spirits toabe^gljawo, worshipped in a'body by
lineages and clans at festivals and also by individuals who
normally show their reverence by giving them the first morsel
of food or the first drops of water or drinks before satisfying them
selves. Individuals may also ask specific favours from their
ancestors through the leaders of their descent groups.
Afa, the deity worshipped by afa diviners^ bokowo
( ' 9> k2k£_) n a s a somewhat ambiguous position in Anfo
sn
ARTICLES 12.

religious system. It is popularly regarded as vodu_ rather than trS_.

It appears diviners themselves also regard It as such at least by <•
implication as evidenced in their greetings when the state of the
"vodu" (meaning the afa deity) is asked. But afa differs from vodu
in some important respects. Unlike vody_ it is not a possession cult,
and its intentions and wishes are revealed through sickness and
divination. Besides it is through afa that the wishes of all the other
gods and supernatural beings are revealed. Also each practising boke_
can both find out and procure a cure for sickness and misfortune where-
as in both JT5_ and vodu these functions are the prerogatives of the
priests. Because of these reasons and the highly specialised nature of
the divination coupled with the considerable respect accorded them,
diviners prefer to keep afa quite apart from both vody_and trj5_.
All the supernatural beings just enumerated including afa
are capable of sending death# sickness and other misfortunes on their
worshippers if neglected or offended in any way. On the other hand
their powers can be neutralized by witches and sorcerers who may
harm anyone regardless of his devotion to Mawu, tr5_# vody_, the
ancestors or afa.
The Anlo themselves generally attribute death to these
supernatural forces as well as to witchcraft and sorcery, rarely to
natural causes. Therefore soon after funeral ceremonies are completed
the relations of the deceased approach a diviner to find out which of
these forces has caused death. Almost invariably one or more of them
will be mentioned, which is just the answer the relatives themselves
expect, . If is only in the case of a very old man that it is said Mawu ,

1. Life expectancy, in Anlo is not great due probably to malnutrition

and widespread alcoholism. On a rough estimate it averages
about forty-five to fifty years for those who do not die in early
childhood whilst almost every mother before the completion of
her reproductive activities experiences either a still birth or the
death of an infant. Moreover in the fishing areas, drowning
and other accidents with this occupation are quite common.
ARTICLES 13.

has called him, the equivalent- of a natural death.

Yet fidning the cause of death Is only one of the bok$)Js_
many functions which may be grouped under the following headings;

(a) To warn individuals and groups of impending

misfortunes and to prescribe remedies for prevention.
(b) To advise Individuals and groups about possible
actions which may affect prosperity or health.
(c) To give explanations for misfortunes which have
already occurred,, such as famine, death or sickness.
(d) To find which ancestor is re In coma ted in « child,

The following is a sample of cases witnessed one day in a

diviner's house:-

1. A woman was to undergo a surgfco' operation and

wanted to know whether it would be successful.
2. A man brought a sick daughtet to find our what was
troubling her. He said treatment received at the
government health centre felled fo cure her,
3. A man who said he had been having bad dreams
came to know the cause.
4. A wornon whose prosperous business collapsed
suddenly came fo know why and fo remedy the
situation.

To this list may be added a footnote that in Anio <a large

section of the population has still not acquired any confidence in
European trained medical doctors and the hospitals. It fs stiff common-
place for the sick to approach diviners for diegnosis and cure. In such
ARTICLES 14.

an environment- the importance of the diviner Is considerable-

in a l l these cases the bok_£_ uses a complex system
of geomancy of which there are two methods in current use,
In one a rectangular wooden board is used. After a light greyish
powder has been sprinkled on i t , the diviner shuffles sixteen palm
nuts by rapidly pausing them from one hand to the other, his aim
being to have one or two nuts in one hand and" the rest in the other
hand. This however h not always possible after every shuffling.
In any case If two nuts ore left in one hand he marks one stroke,
if one nut he marks two strokes in the powder on the board, if
none or more than two nuts are left in one hand after the mani-
pulation then this <s not ominous ana the process is repeated t i l !
only one or two nuts are left ot a time, The process is completed
when eight ominous results am obtained, marked on the board in
two vertical columns of four groups of single or double strokes such
as shown in the diagram below. This combination of strokes deter-
mines the client's du, rnc:ssage,or kfjolj^ destiny, which are used
interchangeably. This method is so complex and lengthy that it
lakes several minutes *,o obtain the required ominous signs or strokes
and is consequently not employed In ordinary cases of consultation.

in the less compiex one the diviner uses gjjm_acja:, an

instrument- made of eight half-pods of the rare h_yku_ seed strung
at equal intervals on a cord about twenty inches in length, To
cast the gurrsacja the divine;" holds the middle of the cord to enable
the seed to present two columns of four groups on the mat. Each
of the half pods has concave and convex surfaces so that when
^ n e SHfliSQS. ' s fhrown on the mar or floor the pattern presented by
the surfaces determines Hie kjjolj or du-

Two important actions, performed simultaneously, precede

both processes of divination. The first is a prayer in somewhat u n -
intelligible Yoruba and Ewe lasting about eight minutes in which
the names of some famous diviners are invoked and an appeal made
ARTICLES 15.

to the afa deity to assist in revealing the truth. While the prayer is being
recited the diviner shuffles continuously an innumerable amount of articles
which he has emptied on the floor from his diving bag.' Before these
actions the client is expected to whisper his troubles on a coin which is
then placed on the mat, for,proper procedure demands that the client's
intention for coming to afa be kept secret from the diviner before the
>oli is revealed.
There are sixteen possible principal kpoliwo (pi.) resulting from
the diagram of strokes each of which may be applicable at a time. They
are arranged according to seniority as:

(1) DZONGBE (2) YEKU-MEDZI (3) WOLI-MEDZI (4) DI-MEDZI

1 1 11 11 11 11 1 1
1 1 11 11 1 1 11 11
1 1 11 11 1 1 11 11
1 1 11 11 11 11 1 1
(5) LOSO-MEDZI (6) DI-MEDZI (7) ABLA-MEDZI (8) AKLA-MEDZI
1 1 11 11 1 1 11 ' 11
1 1 11 11 11 11 11 11
11 11 11 11 11 11
11 11 1 1 11 11 1 1
(9) GUDA-MEDZI (10) SA-MEDZI 01) KA-MEDZI (12)TRUKPE-MEDZI
1 1 11 11 11 11 11 11
1 1 1 1 1 1 11 11
•1 1 1 1 11 11 1 1
11 11 1 1 11 11 11 11

\. The contents of a divining bag include almost everything the diviner can
lay hands on and may number nearly a thousand articles. Important items
dre cowrie shells, coins, palm nuts, beads, skulls of small animals all of
which are used in the process of vodzibabla described below.
ARTICLES 16.

03) TULA-MEDZI (14) LETE-MEDZI (15) TSYE-MEDZ! (16) FU-MEDZr1*

1 1 1 1 1 ...1- 11 11
11 11 1 1 11 11 1 1
i 1 11 11 1 1 11 11
i 1 1 1 11 11 1 1

It will be seen that all but one of the sixteen principal kpoliwo have
the suffix medzi (which means two in Yoruba) because in each case the number
and ord^i of the strokes in both columns are identical. In other words each
of the sixteen kpoliwo is a combination of two identical columns. No clear "
explanation has been given for the absence of the suffix in the case of
Dzongbe. Informants only said that strictly speaking it is also a medzi but
as the chief of all the kpoliwo it is not necessary to repeat its identical
combination.
Each of the sixteen principal kpoliwo can be combined with others
to form various permutations of ordinary kpoliwo. That is, one column of
kpoli Dzongbe for instance can be combined with one side of any of the
other fifteen kpjiiwo and vice versa to form other kpoliwo. Thus we may
have for example kpc*ii loso -guda which is a combination of kpol? loso
and kpoii guda. Such a kpuii will be represented in terms of strokes , ,
as:- , ,

1 11
w
11 U '
It will be seen that in the strokes for ioso-guda the strokes for loso are on
the right and guda on the left. This is because in every combination the
diviner reads from right to !eft. That is, if loso were on the left and guda
on the right we shall have a different kpoli altogether which will be known

1. This order of the figures corresponds exactly to Bascom's for the Yoru-
ba but differs slightly from both Herskovits for the Dahomey, and
Fiawoo's obtained from the same Ewe area. See Bascom 1966, p.428,
Herskovits, 1938, Vol. I I , p.210 and Fiawoo, 1958, p.69.
ARTICLES 17.

as guda - ioso represented in strokes as:~

II ? •>

In this way we have af least 256 different Jcjjgjjwo being combinations

of the sixteen majorkj3£Jjvyo_ with each other. But the ordinary
kpoiiwo have not fhe suffix medzi because their columns have no
identical number or order of strokes.

Each principal and ordinary kpy[i has proverbs, verses,

pithy sayings and a number of anecdotes cast in a vague way to
explain i t . These proverbs, verses e t c . , cover a number of contin-
gencies such as death, sickness, wealth or marriage. The anecdotes
as the diviner always emphasises ail come from Yoruba mythology
centred at lie i f e , the cradle of a l l Yoruba and indeed of all men,
according to the Yoruba. Thus the diviner introduces his narration
by the phrase, "Le efe mea . . " That is, "|n Ife of old . . . "..
There are also a number of taboos usually of food associated with
the articles in the verses and anecdotes.
The determination of the kgojj and its anecdotes, proverbs,
e t c . , is only a first step in the process of Afa geomancy. It is
further necessary to know whether the _kpo|_[ carries a good or bad
omen for the c l i e n t . This is determined by vodzibabla. The diviner
gives a nut and a coin or cowrie to the client to hold in his hands
separately and at random. By throwing the g_urr]aga_ two times he is
able to determine which of the articles is ominous. The nut carries
bad omen while the coin and the cowrie shell,a good omen. A bad
omen means that disaster is likely to follow if sacrifice is not made
to offset the impending danger while a good omen on fhe other hand
portends good fortune but only if validated by sacrifice. Sacrifice
accompanies every completed process of afa divination whether the
ARTICLES 1 ••;.

omen is good or riot The fype of socnFice to be performed in each

case i's determined by H".e kps*'?. *iv;r nature of the omen, the relevant
verses and the inferprcrnricris <~f! hy diviner. Should a client fail to
perform sacrifice hecoasff he. (e,:h 'he omens are good he w i l l face
misfortune instead. K o m ^ c , or divination without sacrificing and its
consequences are some oi the :.;x>sons which keep some people away
from diviners, for sacrifice:, o> " i l l be shown later are sometimes very
expensive and one w i l l not know before consulting a diviner whether
or not an expensive sonrii•>.-"•: -j'iW be demanded.
it hai, been F.bcv<n ;hor the anecdotes are cast in vague terms
which reveal or for^c^ir vory l i t t l e . Precision and detail may be
obtained by further threw inc! of the jgurnaga_or manipulation of the nuts
which may also involve ft.-rrher vocizibabja. Leading questions are
askft-J and the client 7K.y ;;yen be asked to say something about his
life history a."!--,; exp^W-vnces. For example, k£»)j£ Fumedzi is related
!o thir is ?evecied the first question put to a female
M
client o? chUd a;?rg oo& 'mf Are you pregnant?" If the answer
is no she may •.-•t nsked v./heiher any of her close relatives is pregnant.
jf the <.V:vA.'er h cujin in tb.3 negative, the diviner w i l l then say the
;. ;; f :n; ••-ill •;•.'.o,i r.oMCiive. !f *ho omens are good sacrifice should be
p;; k,nn :;i :o co;;firn; the safe delivery the kgp[i_portents . If they are
b o j .:•:. j..';,c,••,a,ir^y w i l i bring misfortune unless sacrifice for Fumedzi
h pfcHoii-vicJ., A rrvcse clier.i- on F:umedzi aiso faces similar questions
abouf his wife or fiirnafe relatives.

As ftu r-js ih's sfavjs oF the procedure is concerned there

oppacrs ; o be some difference between the Anio and other exponents
of vhs -.yjffitn. W h i l t amonq tho Yccuba if is the client who selects
the s(,'itable ve^? 'Trsona the Usi- of vsrsps narrcted by the diviner, '
the [we boko .?tlfn iiCirrcMitu! lii'?'- stories of the client's kpoli selects
•A'har [if: consi'jr'rs ! o be fhc- rno?' appropriate for his c l i e n t . He is

bascorn,
ARTICLES 19.

guided in his choice by such consideraHons as the complexion of

his client^ his weight, build and other physical traits as well as
other facts he is able to solicit from him. In this respect the Anlo
practice conforms substantially to that of the Dahomey where
"complete frankness" between the diviner and his client is
demanded,^ the only difference being that the Anlo client does
not reveai the nature of his problem to the b_oko_ before the
casting of the gumaga and the determination of the Jkgoflas is the
case in Dahomey,
Afa is both a deity and a system of divination. Actually
it is the deity of the system of divination that bears its name. How-
ever not all its servants are diviners. Although both male arid
female may serve it, only male servants may be diviners and some
of the latter too do not practise it either because their economic
activities do not allow them or because they fack the skill for i t .
To become a diviner one has to undergo an apprentice-
ship lasting at least three months after initiation. This period may
be extended to nearly three years if the novice is slow in mastering
the techniques. During the period of apprenticeship the novice
remains in his master's novitiate till he is rirually outdoored. The'
apprenticeship which may cost about £100 in cash and goods involves
memorizing all the figures and their verses, pithy sayings^ proverbs
and anecdotes as well as their accompanying sacrifices and herbs.
The technique of making a gymacja is also learned/ for every
practising boka_ must make his own
Training in afa technique is compulsory for every male
servant regardless of his prospective occupation. Although very
successful diviners live solely on income from divination, it is
usually not a full time business and may be combined with other
economic activities.

1. Herskovitsf op.cit. p.216.

ARTICLES 20.

Afa diviners are organised into Four sects: anago, dzisa,

mayehoe or zev> arid ajsycike... The anago differ from the others'
in certain respects. While they are forbidden to indulge in any
form of sorcery or magic, the others are c!osely connected with
these practices. And in ihe casting of the gjymag£ the anago throw
it with the middle handle falling towards the client whilst the
others throw it in the opposite diiecvion, tha* is with the handle
failing towards the diviner. The reading in both cases is however
the same, from top to bottom and right to left. But despite their
differences the four sacts cooperate in many ways such as dancing
and drumming and holding of common initiation activities.
i

The principal officers' for the seers are:-

^.QaJi? Dj?-isa_(Mayehoe, Arsyake)

] BoKa (Oludwo) 1. Oluawo

2. D?. op! bone 2. Dzogbana
3. A^.aba 3. A4,aba
4 . Selikpawo 4. Seiikpawo
5. Ordinary dlvlnera 5. Ordinary diviners

Ihe iViba or Oluawo is the- figure head but the Dzogbana is

the rno-it important leader, it is like having a society in which the
secretary's powers carry greater weight than the president's. In
this case the secretary will be the Dzogbana and the president, the
Baba or Oluawo. The A^aba assists the Dzogbana while the Seii-
kpawo serves as a messenger, a position which carries great influence
among diviners.

1, Some of these titles are also found among the Yoruba. Clarke
gives the following hierarchy of babalawo (diviners) without
giving their functions:
] . Oluawo
2, Akoda
3, Aseda
4, Arabo
5, Ordinary babalawo.
ARTICLES 21 .

It has already been mentioned how afa has become an

Anlo institution, and integrated into the traditional religious
system. Today very few Anlo apart from the bokowo know or
claim that it originated from Yorubaiand. Among that section
of the population which consults the diviners, belief in the
efficacy of the system is almost complete. The ordinary Anlo
traditional believer has nothing to complain about it even when
a number of the predictions and sacrifices fail to materialise.
According to their belief, the supernatural forces of afa control
all the elements of the procedure which others may ascribe to
chance. The prayers preceding the divination, the boko claims
and the client believes, help *o solicit supernatural participation
in the process. It is further believed by both diviner and client
that the former's initiation into the afa cult and rhe training he
has acquired all help to put him in a special ritual condition, a
relationship with the sacred, which helps him divine with super-
natural sanction. Another source of confidence for the client
derives from the anecdotes, verses, proverbs and the sayings
which explain the figures. Without exception they refer to
legendary characters who approached Afa with similar problems
as the client, sacrificed the things the diviner now demands for
sacrifice, and prospered, the belief being that since that legendary
character succeeded by sacrificing the very things now mentioned,
the present client will also succeed by following suit. This
corresponds very closely to Frazer's Law of similarity which,
despite Bascom's statements on the Yoruba to the contrary, finds
expression in many afa sacrifices in Anio. Two specific examples
will suffice. A barren woman on Fu-medzi was asked to make,
among others, an image of a baby, carry it on her back in the way
babies are carried by mothers and then leave it under any tree in a
flowering state. Also a client who was standing for an election was
asked to trample his opponent's mud image under his feet. The
implication for the law of similarity in these actions is clear. By
ARTICLES 22.

imitating a mother and coming into contact with a fertile tree the
client w i l l also achieve fertility and eventually become a mothe/.
The second client also, according to this belief, w l l ! defeat his
opponent after bearing him in rhe sacrifice.

To return to the question of confidence in diviners, their

general behaviour may also be mentioned.. Both as individuals and
as a group their deportment is expected to be above suspicion and
as they themselves o!ways emphasize,their professional white attire
which distinguishes them from others is meant to reflect their moral
purity, There are also a number of taboos which govern their
behaviour such as those forbidding them to quarrel in public and to
commit adultery. Moreover the knowledge displayed in memorizing
hundreds of verses, anecdotes and proverbs commends them very
highly to the ordinary Anio as men of high intellectual standing.
It has been suggested tor instance that the amount of energy, time
and knowledge that gnv.:, fn qualify a person cs diviner may be .
equivalent to if not greater titan what one requires f o r a Ph.D.
Whatever the merits <v' ihh claim, the respect for these men in a
folk society rnusi be r-irisidercblf!.
it must bej rne;:-iioneri once again that though their
predictions do not oiwjys <-ome Hue, as found in many other
systems of divination, fuik'res do noi result in any doubt about
the compettrics o\ officifincv of either the diviner or the system
as such, Explanations ond alibi*, including incorrect procedures
and the unhallowed condition of the client, are always provided
to cover all short-comings. Besides, a client who feels he followed
a l l the instructions of the diviner and stili failed to get the desired
result cannot be sure that nothing has been achieved or that the
advice of the diviner was wrong. In the absence of controlled
conditions he cannot be certain that if he had refused to take the

1. Ottenberg and Ottenberg, p.65.

ARTICLES 23,

diviner's advice, things would not have been worse.

These than ore some of the considerations which enthuse
conscience in clients. To Hie outside observer and fhe non-believer
however Hie patterns presented by the gunrciga and the number of nuts
remaining in one hand at- o time during divination are due to mere
chance, "How could the throwing of nuts reveal-the unknown?"
To these people therefore belief in such a system sterns from either
supersirition or the uncritical mind'; of clients and the members of
the society ar large. Today if is also the widespread belief among
rrian-/,,especio!ly ChristionSjthar diviners are frauds who use all sorts
of trickery to cheat their clients. In this regard reference is
frequent!1/ mode to the many failures diviner? encounter, while'
obvious successes are explained in terms of chance and coincidence.
It is quite true lhat despiie their professional codes of conduct,, un-
scrupulous dividers sometimes exist whose behaviour is very suspicious
and who can iherefore fend themselves very easily to charges of fraud.
Eci'joMy true is the fact ihot even among ihe usually respectable
diviners doubts sometimes urist cibou* the interpretation of the figures
as well os the predictions and the prescribed remedies. These weak-
nesses however do not affect the majority of them who are in general
sincere individuals having fervent belief in their procedures and pro-
fession Few if any will always go out to cheat their clients.
Yet there can be very little cheating unless the procedures
of the system itself makes this possible. Unfortunately a fa is not
altogether proof cgaingf fraud* Bascom mentions a number of instances
when this con be done among the Yoruba' some of which apply to the
Anlo too. Let's take firsf the throwing of the gumaga. Perhaps this is
the cnly stage where cheating Is not easy, The casting of the chain is
done in such a way that the diviner cannot influence its foil and the
figures. It hce; also been noticed among the Anlo (as Bascom did among

1, Dp, cit. p. 50.

ARTICLES 24.

the V'oruba) lhat in some gjJfngfia the seeds are joined by rather
inflexible cords which enable certain figures to show more frequently
than others. This is no cheating as such. The weakness here derives
simply from the diviner's inability to make a good.ajjmaga for himself.
Moreover as an informant claimed, even in an inflexible cord afa
will influence the full1.
It is easier to control the Figures derived from shuffling
the palm nuts since oniy the diviner can determine when it is lime
fo stop and check the number of nuts remaining in each hand. Thus
a diviner intent on cheating could continue shuffling until the
desired number of nuts remains in one hand, repeating this trick
through the whoie process. Yet it has been found from experience
and ciose observation that only a very clever divine?' can dishonestly
manipulate the nuts without incurring the suspicion of his client.
In any case this method is never used in ordinary divination but only
on special occasions when cheating will not benefit the diviner in
any way.
!t is when reciting the verses that the diviner can easily
falsify by simply inventing verses to suit the client's circumstances
if he surmises them- Perhaps the oniy safeguard against this is the
fear that the suspicious client may ask another diviner to re-
interpret the figures for him.
Sacrifice is another vulnerable aspect. Although the
sacrifice for the various kp.oiiwo_is determined by the applicable
verse, there is no fixed number or quantity of sacrificial objects
in each case. Undoubtedly this gives the best opportunity to the
diviner to cheat if he wishes to. According to informants afa
sacrifice is flexible enough to meet the pockets of every client.
It is claimed that if rhe kgojj demands sheep for sacrifice the
diviner can ask a poor client tc buy a piece of mutton from a

I. Ibid.
ARTICLES

butcher instead of slaughtering a whole sheep. Yet few diviners are

considerate enough to a Slow this. This is understandable in viewpf
the fact that the destination of all sacrificial objects after necessary
rites are performed, is the diviner's pof and kitchen.
\n his study among the Yoruba,Clarke suggests that the
diviner uses telepathy through which hs knows consciously or
unconsciously what the enquirer has whispered on the coin.
Since this fieldwork was limited to the Ewe area there is no direct
evidence to controvert the position o f someone who studied among
the Yoruba, As far as the Ewe are concerned, telepathy as an
integral part of a fa divination is fotoliy ruled out, and for what is
known of the Yoruba system both from the literature and from
observation of Yoruba bgbgjawo in Ghana, it can only be said that
most of its procedures do nor differ significantly from the Ewe system-
A more persuasive explanation may be empathy the acceptance of
which, however, tike telepathy-, would render all the complex
processes involved unnecessary., for it would mean that the figures
and the verses are only used to bamboozle the clieni, a contention
no one who has closely studied the systems in action will accept.
On the other hand only a belief in the efficacy of the afa deity can
change what Is overtly a chance operation into a veritable method
of knowing the unknown.

REFERENCES

Bascom, W.R. 1941 "The Sanctions of I fa Divination", Journal

2l 'hp Royal Anthropological Institute,
Vol.7].

1. Op. cit. p.,251..

ARTICLES 26.

Clarke, J . D . 1939, "Afa Divination", Journal of the Royal

Anthropological Institute, V o l . 6 9 .

Fiawoo, D . K . 1958, "The Influence of Contemporary Social

Changes on the Magico-Religious Concepts
and Organization of the Southern Ewe-
speakincj People of Gh'ina". Unpublished
pi'.D.. Thesis, 7dinbum University.

f •'••".-rsknvjir., M. J. '\93n. Da horn'.iy^ a 1_A! IS-i'-1'"••!_ We sr African Kingdo

(2'VolsV) N ;w~York ."

•^.-^-v/iiliar:*, P. Bascom, W.R. and Mcl.ellancJ, E.M, 1966

"Two Studies of Ifa Divinafion", Afnca_,

OHenberg or\(i O'renb »rg, 1 960 - Culture; and Societies of Africa .