The Concept of Prophesy in The Art and The Oracle by Alisa Lagamma

African art is known to be different by any Western art tradition, simply because African art is created on the basis that the form and the aesthetic of the work come second behind the actual function of the work. A prime example of this is African art that’s main function is divination. Divination, defined by Alisa LaGamma in “The Art and the Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination”, is the efforts to foretell future events or to discover hidden knowledge by supernatural means. African artwork of divination is created as a bridge between the living and the ancestral spiritual realms. This bridge isn’t reliant on the aesthetics of the work, but do show the merits of the diviner, which help increase the client’s confidence in the practice. Divination relies heavily on the wisdom of the diviner, who is trained usually from a young age, to interpret answers to their clients concerns and problems. This wisdom through interpretation focuses on being able to combine close worldly observatory skills with cultural traditions to ‘see’ the answers.

History of divination revolves around oral traditions and stories of the participating cultures, creating a myriad of different practices. Divination started becoming fad because people of different cultures started to seek the divine to understand their fate, though this is not the only reason for divination. We begin to see a trend in divination, as it deals directly with the universal concern of human suffering. Human condition is the primary focus, which deals with bodily affliction, dying, social conflict, destructive forces of nature, and the uncertainty that affects the community. (John Pemberton III, “The Art and the Oracle”, Divination in Sub-Saharan Africa, pg. 10) More popular reasons divination is practiced are a search for the meaning to life and the ability to discern personal destiny. E.M. Zuesse described divination as having three different types: intuitive divination, where the diviner spontaneously sees or knows the reality or the future; possession, where a spiritual being communicates through intermediary agents, such as the diviner or the artwork itself; and wisdom divination, where the diviner decodes seemingly random patterns found in nature. I will be focusing on the art of divination and the oracle in Yoruba, Nigeria and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing to life the stories that cement the practices of divination to the realities of the real world and explaining how different artworks are used in the divination process of each culture.

The Yoruba divination practices can best be explained through the Oyo culture who practice casting under Ifa divination. The Oyo culture immerged after the Ife culture, but remained characteristic of the Yoruba standard with its urban lifestyle and political system of sacred rulers. These standards are upheld through the practices of Ifa divination because Ifa priests, called Babalawo or “father of secrets”, realize the personal destinies of those that come to them by interpreting the odu Ifa, “a vast body of oral literature that contains the wisdom of the Yoruba” (LaGamma, pg. 17). We see political devotion to Ifa when viewing Ifa Divination Tray (Opon Ifa) in “The Art and the Oracle” by LaGamma. This specific divination tray is a wooden sculpture that once belonged to the king of Ardra, a state under the Yoruba. The royal possession of the tray suggests that it may have been used to fortify and protect the power of the Yoruba state. The Yoruba Bibeli, in online text published by the University of African Art, states that the Ifa oracle is infallible ad speaks nothing but the truth. This furthers the confidence of the Yoruba people in the divination practices. Casting divination, ironically, relies on signs interpretation instead of oracle powers; this means that the priest is the final call and that his wisdom of the signs determines the outcome of the divination.

Casting divination begins with the Ifa interpretation of the universe in terms of two halves of a closed calabash. We see these two halves represented in Carved Calabash, a gourd that has been scraped out, cut in half, dried, and carved to reflect the realm of the living (aye) and the realm of the spiritual (orun). This work “expresses the Yoruba cosmos as a union of structurally equal, autonomous elements, found repeatedly as the guiding principles in other artifacts.” (LaGamma, pg. 36) The actual casting act relies on 16 pine nuts, or the 16 signs of the odu, that connect the diviners to Orunmila, the “High God” who holds the secrets of odu that total to 256 odu.

The casting divination practice begins with the diviner calling upon Orunmila and an ancient Babalawo to witness the process with a tapper. LaGamma exhibits the Ifa Divination Tapper (Iroke Ifa), a carved stick of ivory that the diviner taps on the divination tray to invoke Orunmila, in her exhibit “The Art and the Oracle” (pg. 38-39). Next, the diviner shakes the 16 pine nuts in cupped hands and holds ikin in one hand and attempting to grab the group with the left hand. Depending on how many pine nuts stay in the left hand, the diviner will draw lines in the divination dust. Following eight successful casts of similar nature, the configuration in the dust will represent one of the 256 odu stories. This concludes the cast, allowing the diviner to answer the concerns of the client based on the corresponding odu story.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), is the powerful Kingdom of the Kongo. This kingdom relies on the Kongo Cosmogram, or the cycle the universe revolves through. This graph shows the recycling of souls through birth, life, death, and rebirth in the shape of a diamond, shows up on different artifacts throughout the D.R.C.’s history, weather they are represented on maternity figures, nkisi nkondi, or staffs. “Royal Arts of Africa: The Majesty of Form” states that the Kongo Kingdom was very concerned with the realm of the dead, relating to the Kongo Cosmogram where one passes through to the realm of the dead through a body of water. (pg. 202) This relates to the nature of the Kuba, Luba, and Yombe peoples who put great focus on the connection to the realm of the spirits in their divination practices.

Starting with the Luba culture of the D.R.C., we see a heavy reliance on oral tradition to mandate the divination practices. Mijibu wa Kalenga, a spirit medium who helped Kalala Flunga, son of a prince, overcome his tyrant uncle after his father’s death, making him the king of the Luba. This directly corresponds to the divination that selects the ruler of the Luba after the death of the former. Mijibu also determines how Bilumbu diviners and Mbudye, “men of memory”, derive their power. The Bilumbu, in particular, get their authority based on their ability to be grasped (kukwata) by spirits through spirit possession, the main divination practice of the Luba and the ownership of an adze. Ceremonial Adze: Female Heads (Kibiki or Kasolwa) (LaGamma, pgs. 59-60) shows an example of an adze of carved wood and forged metal. The story of Mijibu is shown through the Royal Spear: Female Figure (Mulumba) on page 70 of LaGamma’s catalogue “Art and the Oracle”. This royal spear, made of wood and metal, shows a woman figurine as the vessel between two different worlds (metal and wood parts, in representation). This idea corresponds directly with the Luba idea that women are the vessels of spiritual power between reality and the spirit realm. The story of Mijibu is represented in the form of the sculpture because Mijibu informed Kalala that his uncles was planning on pushing him into a pit of spears, so Kalala was saved and drove his own spear through his uncle and become the rightful leader of the Luba.

Luba spirit possession commences with the combination of percussive instruments and chants that allow the diviner spirit to be open for divination. Once possessed, the diviner takes on the identity of the spirit possessing him, drawing on his own body chalk designs and dressing himself in beads, furs, and headbands whose decorative patterns represent the power of the possessing spirit. If the diviner is a male, his wife sits on the right side of him and a sculpture of a seated or kneeling woman holding a bowl goes on his left. Female Bowl Bearer (Mboko) is shown in LaGamma’s catalogue, capturing an example of how knowledge and divination are visualized in Luba culture. This sculpture is incised clay and would have been key in spirit divination because it holds the beads and chalk that the diviner uses once he/she is possessed. We also see, again, the idea that women are vessels between the two realms. After the initial possession is complete, the client asks the diviner questions, which are answered the diviner after consulting the possessing spirit and shaking the Mboko vessel. Once the consultation is complete, the diviner interprets the configuration of the items that have appeared at the top of the shaken Mboko and creates a solution to the client’s problem. Divination Kit: Gourd and Elements (LaGamma, pg. 46) provides an example of a similar vessel used in spirit divination in Songye, D.R.C. Though this differs slightly from Luba divination, we can use it to look closer at the elements that are inside the shaken gourd, to provide more understanding of the divination process.

Lastly, the Yombe culture, a subculture of the Kongo, also derive their divination artifacts and practices from the Kongo Cosmogram. Nkisi Nkondi figures represent the Kongo Cosmogram because they are direct links between the spiritual realm and reality. Minkisi/nkisi means medicine, which plays on the figures purpose to fix physical and social crises by restoring the spiritual equilibrium between the two realms. There are many different types of nkisi figures, but more focus should be placed on the nkisi nkondi. Minkondi/nkondi means hunter, which also correlates to its purpose, to hunt out those that have made the spiritual equilibrium offset or unbalanced. We see the nkisi nkondi typically used to seek out moral revelation or expose witches, thieves, adulterers, and other wrongdoers.

Nkisi Nkondi are perceived to, in a way, house a spirit, so they are considered dangerous and extremely delicate. Only banganga/nganga, ritual expert, are to craft them because of their vast knowledge and wisdom about the different spirits and protection against their anger. The nganga are who expose the wrongdoers, on behalf of the victims. The role of the diviners comes in when the actual consultations take place. During a consultation with a diviner and an Nkisi Nkondi figure, one would present their crisis to begin the consultation. The diviner will have added materials into the stomach, back, and head that are considered “medicines” that evoke the spirit and lead them to address the crisis presented. One specific representation of an Nkisi Nkondi is shows in “The Art and the Oracle” by LaGamma (pg32). This particular Nkisi Nkondi figure is called Nkisi Nkondi: Mangaaka and is carved from Canarium scheinfurthii, a sacred tree, and has added elements of shells and clay and nails for medicines and other purposes. To represent the importance of the ails and iron rods protruding from the Nkisi, we look toward Nkisi Nkondi of the Yombe culture, specifically, as he is an ‘empowered figure’ made of wood, metal, glass, and mixed media. The sources of this image, “Royal Arts of Africa” by Blier (pg. 223), explains that the nkisi figures that are protruding with metal means that they have been empowered or activated, in a sense. This introduces the idea that the spiritual realm and reality work together to hunt the wrongdoers because the diviner places the nail into the figure during a consultation, and whoever is suspected has to attempt to remove the item. If he/she who is suspected cannot remove the metal, they are accused as the wrongdoer and convicted, furthering that the spirit inside holds the metal in the figure because they know the fate of the person trying to extract it.

In conclusion, divination is a cross-cultural practice where only the means and elements of oral traditions fluctuate. Artifact and artwork that are created for divination purposes typically follow the three forms that E.M. Zuesse presented in his studies and reflect a connection between the spiritual and visible realms. Okediji highlights in “Yoruba Cultural Studies” that practices of divination aren’t totally solid in their history because of the fact that it is such a cross-cultural idea. Cultures are constantly adopting and changing their divination practices to fit into new ways of thinking that may have originated in a different culture. This can also be elaborated on, as divination is still a part of African tradition today. “Because I was in pain, I just wanted to be treated”: Competing Therapeutic Goals in the Performance of Healing HIV/AIDS in Rural Zimbabwe” by Tonya Taylor shows us that healers in Zimbabwe still use divination practices like spirit possession to heal the members of their communities.

Divination practices vary over many different cultures in their different forms, but they always have root in fundamental beliefs of tradition and society. Artworks of these different practices always connect the visible to the invisible, creating a link that can solve problems, define fate, and heal. Though only a few divination practices were mentioned and only a few cultures were exploited, there are more varieties of divination and beliefs that govern the destinies of African cultures. Some examples are spider divination and friction/rubbing divination. Without the understanding of divination, one cannot even begin to understand African people and their artwork as a whole, because divination isn’t just the understanding of the practice, it’s the understanding of the society as a group and the individuals who reside in them.