Download or read book African Divination Systems written by Philip M. Peek and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume of finely crafted case studies is also the vehicle for an important general theory of divination.... this is a book overflowing with ideas that will powerfully stimulate further research." -- Journal of Ritual Studies "The essays in this collection provide a very useful overview of both the diversity of African divination systems and of recent approaches to their study." -- Choice This unique collection of essays by an exceptional international group of Africanists demonstrates the central role that divination continues to play throughout Africa in maintaining cultural systems and in guiding human action. African Divination Systems offers insights for current discussions in comparative epistemology, cross-cultural psychology, cognition studies, semiotics, ethnoscience, religious studies, and anthropology.
Download or read book Reviewing Reality written by W. E. A. van Beek and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2013 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From crab divination in the Cameroon to friction oracles in the Congo Basin, from reading cast objects in Mozambique to spirit possession in Cote d'Ivoire, from Sudanese ebony diviners to South African Xhosa healers, divination systems throughout Africa serve their communities by answering questions and resolving problems. Divination helps people chart a course in their lives through a deeper understanding of past and present. This important book reveals the extraordinary diversity and complexity of African divination systems, focusing on self-knowledge, social reality, and intercultural and historical relations. (Series: African Studies / Afrikanische Studien - Vol. 50)
Download or read book The Book of African Divination written by Raymond Buckland and published by Destiny Books. This book was released on 1992-09-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on diverse African traditions, the authors take us on a fascinating journey of magical divination practices--from Venda tablets and divining bowls to Zulu "bone" casting, Yoruba seashell casting, and Tikar spider cards. • Comes complete with an eighty-card divination deck based on the Tikar spider cards • Illustrates in detail how to make and use many different traditional tools of African divination • Explains the history and myths behind the methods • Includes sample readings to help the reader evaluate results • Interest continues to build in the ways and wisdom of tribal people
Download or read book Art and Oracle written by Alisa LaGamma and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2000 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-eight African cultures are represented here by artifacts created to communicate with ancestors, spirits, and gods, about such issues as health, conception, and determination of guilt or innocence. Issued in conjunction with an April-July 2000 exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, this catalog contains extensive ethnographic, descriptive, and interpretive text in connection with each of 50 pictured pieces, as well as a 13-page essay about divination in Sub-Saharan Africa (by John Pemberton III) and an introductory essay by LaGamma. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Sixteen Cowries written by William Russell Bascom and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1980-05-22 with total page 804 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " . . . a landmark in research of African oral traditions." —African Arts " . . . a significant contribution to the understanding of Yoruba religious belief, magic, and art." —Journal of Religion in Africa Yoruba texts and English translations of a divination system that originated in Nigeria and is widely practiced today by male and female diviners in the diaspora. A landmark edition.
Download or read book Divining the Self written by Velma E. Love and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-06-29 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Divining the Self weaves elements of personal narrative, myth, history, and interpretive analysis into a vibrant tapestry that reflects the textured, embodied, and performative nature of scripture and scripturalizing practices. Velma Love examines the Odu—the Yoruba sacred scriptures—along with the accompanying mythology, philosophy, and ritual technologies engaged by African Americans. Drawing from the personal narratives of African American Ifa practitioners along with additional ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Oyotunji African Village, South Carolina, and New York City, Love’s work explores the ways in which an ancient worldview survives in modern times. Divining the Self also takes up the challenge of determining what it means for the scholar of religion to study scripture as both text and performance. This work provides an excellent case study of the sociocultural phenomenon of scripturalizing practices.
Download or read book African Cowrie Shells Divination written by Zolrak and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2019-04-08 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the Cowrie Shells and Learn How to Read the Messages of Ifá and the Higher Spiritual Planes Divination with cowrie shells is one of the oldest known spiritual practices in the world. Originated by the Yoruba people of West Africa, cowrie shell divination is a powerful technique for connecting to the wisdom of ancestors, spirits, and deities. This book shares the history of cowrie shell divination and shows you how to open the portals of spiritual communication with the shells and related divination systems, such as cola nuts and coconuts. Written by a long-time practitioner, African Cowrie Shells Divination provides the meaning of the sixteen shell combinations as well as tips and variations for readings based on the specific question being asked. Discover the powerful messages of the Orishas and the mystical divination techniques of Candomblé, Santería, and other traditions of the African diaspora. Explore the instructive stories known as patakkís and apply their guidance to your life. The cowrie shells are sacred magical tools. With the history, theories, and hands-on instructions in this guide, you will learn how the shells can be used to answer your most important questions and achieve your true destiny.
Download or read book Ifa Divination written by William Russell Bascom and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1991-03-11 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The sacred texts of Ifa, repository of the accumulated wisdom of countless generations of Yoruba people, are an invaluable source not only for all students of African oral literature and Yoruba civilization, but also for future generations interested in the continuing vitality of Ifa divination and a Yoruba way of life and thought." —Henry Drewal This landmark study of Ifa, the most important and elaborate system of divination of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, remains a monumental contribution to scholarship in anthropology, folklore, religion, philosophy, linguistics, and African and African-American studies.
Download or read book African Religions written by Jacob K. Olupona and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book connects traditional religions to the thriving religious activity in Africa today.
Download or read book Along an African Border written by Sonia Silva and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The divination baskets of south Central Africa are woven for a specific purpose. The baskets, known as lipele, contain sixty or so small articles, from seeds, claws, and minuscule horns to wooden carvings. Each article has its own name and symbolic meaning, and collectively they are known as jipelo. For the Luvale and related peoples, the lipele is more than a container of souvenirs; it is a tool, a source of crucial information from the ancestral past and advice for the future. In Along an African Border, anthropologist Sónia Silva examines how Angolan refugees living in Zambia use these divination baskets to cope with daily life in a new land. Silva documents the special processes involved in weaving the baskets and transforming them into oracles. She speaks with diviners who make their living interpreting lipele messages and speaks also with their knowledge-seeking clients. To the Luvale, these baskets are capable of thinking, hearing, judging, and responding. They communicate by means of jipelo articles drawn in configurations, interact with persons and other objects, punish wrongdoers, assist people in need, and, much like humans, go through a life course that is marked with an initiation ceremony and a special burial. The lipele functions in a state between object and person. Notably absent from lipele divination is any discussion or representation in the form of symbolic objects of the violence in Angola or the Luvale's relocation struggles—instead, the consultation focuses on age-old personal issues of illness, reproduction, and death. As Silva demonstrates in this sophisticated and richly illustrated ethnography, lipele help people maintain their links to kin and tradition in a world of transience and uncertainty.
Download or read book The Book of Divination written by Ann Fiery and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The secrets of your future lie hidden-- tucked away in the stars or inscribed in the palm of your hand. Let The Book of Divination help you decipher the mysteries. Steeped in fortune-telling history and lore, these gorgeously illustrated pages possess a world of ways to divine what lies ahead"--Amazon.
Download or read book Arts of Being Yoruba written by Adélékè Adéèkó and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-17 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a culturally significant way of being Yorùbá that is expressed through dress, greetings, and celebrations—no matter where in the world they take place. Adélékè Adék documents Yorùbá patterns of behavior and articulates a philosophy of how to be Yorùbá in this innovative study. As he focuses on historical writings, Ifá divination practices, the use of proverbs in contemporary speech, photography, gendered ideas of dressing well, and the formalities of ceremony and speech at celebratory occasions, Adéékó contends that being Yorùbá is indeed an art and Yorùbá-ness is a dynamic phenomenon that responds to cultural shifts as Yorùbá people inhabit an increasingly globalized world.
Download or read book If Divination Knowledge Power and Performance written by Jacob K. Olupona and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark volume compiled by Jacob K. Olupona and Rowland O. Abiodun brings readers into the diverse world of Ifá—its discourse, ways of thinking, and artistic expression as manifested throughout the Afro-Atlantic. Firmly rooting Ifá within African religious traditions, the essays consider Ifá and Ifá divination from the perspectives of philosophy, performance studies, and cultural studies. They also examine the sacred context, verbal art, and the interpretation of Ifá texts and philosophy. With essays from the most respected scholars in the field, the book makes a substantial contribution toward understanding Ifá and its role in contemporary Yoruba and diaspora cultures.
Download or read book African Traditional Religion in the Modern World 2d ed written by Douglas E. Thomas and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African traditional religion encompasses a variety of non-dogmatic, spiritual practices followed by millions around the world. Some scholars argue it is related to the Nubian religion of Egypt's Dynastic Period. In an expanded second edition, this book examines the nature of African traditional religion and describes common attributes of various cultural belief systems, with an emphasis on West Africa. Principal elements studied include sacrifice, salvation and culture, modes of revelation, divination, and African resilience in the face of invasion and colonization. The religious experiences of black people throughout the Americas are also covered. The author finds the cosmology, symbolism and rituals of the Yoruba culture to be the fundamental bases of African traditional religion, and draws similarities between the oral and written literature of West Africans and that of New World practitioners. The influence of Islam and Christianity is also discussed. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book African Magic written by Heidi Holland and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa's traditional beliefs - including ancestor worship, divination and witchcraft - continue to dominate its spiritual influences. Readers in search of a better understanding of the continent will be enriched by this book's timely exploration of sub-Saharan Africa's natural philosophy. The author's meticulous research reveals that, whereas technology-driven Western societies prefer to rely largely on logical explanations, many Africans continue to obey their intuition - trusting in images, dreams and divination to rationalise misfortune and illness. African Magic explains why so many Africans understand the relationship between people and unfortunate events not through the Western concept of chance in the case of accidents, or germ theory in the case of illness, but through belief in witchcraft. The book records a collection of true stories which illustrate this traditional belief system. Included are the famous Malawian diviner whose prophecies were considered so accurate that people flocked from neighbouring countries to consult him; a group of Western-trained Mozambican psychologists who successfully refined cross-cultural therapy by working with traditional healers to combat post-traumatic stress syndrome among child soldiers; Ghanaian and Zimbabwean 'witches' living in a nightmare world where popular belief becomes their reality; and a Zambian archbishop whose attempt to embrace traditional African beliefs provoked serious conflict within his Christian church.
Download or read book African Personality and Spirituality written by Anthony Ephirim-Donkor and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2015-12-17 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a divine pronouncement among the Akan that all human beings are children of God (Nana Nyame), none a child of the earth (mother); meaning that human beings are spiritual in origin, descending directly from God via the Abosom (gods and goddesses). Every person then has a deity as father (Ᾱgya-bosom), recognition of which existentially enables a person to fulfil one’s career or professional blueprint (Nkrabea). Intrinsically, therefore, human beings embody the very essence of the Abosom, which manifests itself behaviorally and psychologically in a manner identical to those of the gods and goddesses. African Personality and Spirituality: The Role of Abosom and Human Essence therefore addresses ultimate existential concerns of the Akan, revealing the essence of the primeval gods and goddesses and how they transform themselves into human beings, as well as the psychology of personality characteristic attributes, the phenomenon of spirit alightment, and other manifestations of the gods and goddesses, and the imperative of ethical existence and generativity (Ↄbra bᴐ) as basis of eternal life.
Download or read book Recreating Africa written by James H. Sweet and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2004-07-21 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the cultural lives of African slaves in the early colonial Portuguese world, with an emphasis on the more than one million Central Africans who survived the journey to Brazil, James Sweet lifts a curtain on their lives as Africans rather than as incipient Brazilians. Focusing first on the cultures of Central Africa from which the slaves came--Ndembu, Imbangala, Kongo, and others--Sweet identifies specific cultural rites and beliefs that survived their transplantation to the African-Portuguese diaspora, arguing that they did not give way to immediate creolization in the New World but remained distinctly African for some time. Slaves transferred many cultural practices from their homelands to Brazil, including kinship structures, divination rituals, judicial ordeals, ritual burials, dietary restrictions, and secret societies. Sweet demonstrates that the structures of many of these practices remained constant during this early period, although the meanings of the rituals were often transformed as slaves coped with their new environment and status. Religious rituals in particular became potent forms of protest against the institution of slavery and its hardships. In addition, Sweet examines how certain African beliefs and customs challenged and ultimately influenced Brazilian Catholicism. Sweet's analysis sheds new light on African culture in Brazil's slave society while also enriching our understanding of the complex process of creolization and cultural survival.
