The Amazing Power of Traditional African Spirituality

Last Updated on June 8, 2024 by The Unbounded Thinker

After studying history for a while, I discovered that Traditional African Spirituality was so powerful that it enabled traditional Africans to do what we now consider impossible.

For instance, it enabled Africans to master the art of divination: there are several true stories of African prophets who accurately predicted the future.

Syokimau is the best example of a Traditional African who mastered the art of divination. She predicted the coming of the Europeans by informing her people that ‘she saw a long snake belching fire and smoke (train), and in it, there were people with skin like meat who spoke unintelligibly like birds and carried fire in their pockets’ (Wikipedia).

African diviners, such as Syokimau, predicted the future through the help of dreams and spirits. In African spirituality, dreams were considered an important source of guidance, and diviners analyzed them to decipher their prophetic messages about the future.

African diviners used chants and offerings to invoke spirits who conveyed important messages about the future. They communicated with these spirits while in an altered state of consciousness achieved through sensory deprivation, psychoactive substances, prayer, drumming, or dancing.

Besides divination, Traditional African Spirituality enabled African spiritual leaders to understand magic. The spiritual leaders used magic to heal people, protect communities against malevolent forces, obtain information from the spirit world, ward off illness, and induce higher states of consciousness.

Some Africans used magic for evil purposes. According to Jomo Kenyatta, in his book, Facing Mount Kenya, ‘magic that was used for evil purposes was feared, not only did it cause death when administered to a person, but its nearness to a homestead was considered as bringing misery and suffering which would dog the footsteps of those who dwelled therein.’

African spirituality also involved communication with the dead. Mediums entered a trance state that allowed spirits to guide them and convey messages to their loved ones. Mediumship was founded on the truth that the soul survives death and it can communicate through symbols to the living.

Some Africans, especially West African magicians used magical practices and rituals to make dead bodies work on their farms. According to my research, these magicians sprinkled a portion made of sex organs, the human skull, pure vegetable oil, human teeth, a Sea Snake’s brain, and an Iguana’s tail on dead bodies to awaken them.

Other than promoting supernatural abilities, Traditional African Spirituality encouraged people to be kind to everyone, including strangers. For this reason, Africans supported the disadvantaged and provided free food, water, and sometimes gold and silver to strangers.

Traditional African Spirituality encouraged people to pray regularly: Africans prayed every morning and evening. In some African communities, every family had a shrine that family members used for daily prayer.

Traditional Africans valued prayer because they believed it helped them to connect with Higher Powers, promoted communal well-being, and defended them against negative energies.

I believe many Africans were able to see spiritual entities we can’t see today due to their prayerful nature, which strengthened their connection to the spirit world.

According to Traditional Africans, the gods lived in every living thing. This belief was important to nature because it prevented deforestation and reckless hunting.

In conclusion, although many modern individuals, including Africans, look down upon Traditional African Spirituality, it was powerful as it protected nature, promoted virtue, and enabled people to acquire supernatural abilities.

Thanks for Reading. SHALOM.

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