Even if black Africa is no longer today this continent unknown to Europeans, many false interpretations hover over magic, witchcraft, clairvoyance and marabouts. Long before Western civilization penetrated its continent, African magic was considered a set of rites and beliefs of a religious and secret nature. For the African it was a religion, but also the element of identification of an entire community. We did not convert we initiated, and these two words did not always have a precise border. If so-called modern cults place a prophet at the center of the liturgy (intermediary between God and men), African religious ceremonies were a communion with the dead ancestor. A particularity emerges from this concept: the multiplicity of prophets, each family having its prophet, the dead patriarch. Finally, the nature of worship was different from one tribe or ethnic group to another, but with one thing in common: the offerings. Even today, these practices resist modernity in deep Africa. It is not uncommon to find convinced Christians practicing a dual religion with ancestor worship. Why this reflex of conservatism? Because the African fears one thing more than any other: the curse. Not being in “phase” with the ancestors can arouse their anger. The victim thus falls prey to mysterious and inexplicable phenomena: illnesses or a succession of failures attributed to spells.
THE WIZARD RAISES THE SKULL OF THE EARTH THROUGH INCANTATIONS Magic in Africa has its places of worship, its altars. You cannot go there freely; you must be prepared and initiated by the village sorcerer. Among the Bamilékés of Cameroon, a people very attached to traditions, when a patriarch dies, his skull is dug up after a few years, then preserved in an altar built for the occasion.
The skull removal ceremony is quite a rite, with few allowed to attend. The sorcerer raises the skull from the earth by incantations - there is no material action on the ground - and shelters it in an altar, generally a small box located at the back of the compound. The family must, at specific times, place offerings in the form of goat or sheep blood, eggs and plantain cooked in palm oil. Among the Laoussians of the Ivory Coast, a tribe living near the sea, magic is concentrated on water, the spirit of the ancestors being supposed to live in its depths and manifest in the form of an animal. The example of the crocodile, sacred among the Baoule tribe. is an illustration of this. In this case, it is the river or the sea that serves as the altar. During the ceremony, the priest dives into the water. It comes out without getting wet. SUCH VOODOO PRIEST OPENS HIS BELLY WITH A KNIFE AND HEAL IMMEDIATELY. Magic in Africa is also a means of healing and disenchantment. This is the whole meaning of the voodoo rite. Benin is particularly distinguished as Land of Voodoo, but the cult, originating from the African continent, has different names. In Cameroon, in the Bassa country, it is called Njingo and is practiced in the deep forest. Voodoo heals the sick by spiritual means and the ceremonies are most often difficult to bear for neophytes; one voodoo priest cuts his stomach with a knife and heals immediately, another locks himself in the burning flame for a fewmoments without succumbing. All these gestures have an explanation; they serve to make contact with the spirit of the patient. Note that healing is not always effective, just as science nor magic are infallible. If magic has positive purposes, the same is not true for witchcraft, which has always been rejected and hunted down in traditional African society. There is still confusion today in the advertising pages of certain magazines where African clairvoyants and healers claim the title of marabout.
THERE ARE MORE MARABOUTS IN THE WEST THAN IN AFRICA In reality, the marabout is neither a clairvoyant nor a healer. This title is attributed to a leader, a founder of a religious brotherhood or to a pious Muslim who has acquired a reputation for holiness and whose memory is commemorated. One of the originalities of the marabout is that he is selfless. How is it that today people proudly give themselves this title? Because the African Muslim feels more confident in the presence of a marabout, for his kindness and piety. In the West, we notice that he has more marabouts, for his kindness and piety side. This activity has become a real industry.
We are entitled to wonder what is the degree of effectiveness of these clairvoyants or healers. No one can really say. Customers must find what they are looking for there, since the activity is growing. However, not all marabouts established in the West today have an odor of holiness. As in all professions, there are bad apples.
In Africa, the healer is generally selfless. When an operation is successful, it is up to the consultant to make a gift, if he wishes, most often in kind because tradition repugns any mercantile exploitation of a gift received by the grace of the gods.
IN FRANCE, CONSEQUENTIAL PRICES ARE GUARANTEES OF SERIOUSNESS. A well-known clairvoyant in Paris to whom we asked the question of the reasons for this drift in France, replied: “To be credible here, you have to display substantial prices, otherwise no one takes you seriously” continues “there are, in our profession, many charlatans who take advantage of the credulity of people in distress. They are managed by European businessmen who have implemented a very aggressive commercial strategy. They recruit an African, install him in premises and ensure he has a clientele through the purchase of advertising space; » Our interlocutor, on the defensive, concludes “there are good clairvoyants among Africans, only the lure of gain leads some to say anything. We cannot cure everything, contrary to what many people say. But the bidding war will undermine the credibility of African clairvoyants and healers in France.” Faced with this situation, some African clairvoyants want to clarify the situation. We even talk about creating an order. But what criteria will be required to be recognized as a marabout 7 How can we judge that this or that person has gifts?
It is appropriate to establish a code of ethics for the profession. The future of African clairvoyants and healers established in Europe requires an effort of credibility which consists of putting forward the relief of their patients before financial considerations. JULES KEMAJOU.
- this article was published in Destiny - shadows and lights
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