Divination

Ijo peoples, Nigeria, diviner and shrine. Photo by Martha G. Anderson. 

What past event or encounter may be the cause of this?  Was a neighbor inadvertently insulted in such a way that he or she is now causing the affliction through witchcraft?  Was an important sacrifice to an ancestral spirit forgotten? Is some Earth spirit trying to gain the victim's attention through sickness, so that it can then offer guidance and skill once proper recognition is given to the spirit?  The path that the diviner helps to trace takes many twists and turns through all the irrelevancies of one's past to the "real" cause of some misfortune. Divination helps to determine the right path, so that the agent of affliction can be identified. When people have the sense that they have discovered the true cause of some difficulty, then they often feel more secure and courageous, for with the cause identified, they can find a solution to the problem.  By looking back to the past, the hope is that the present can be altered so that a better future may be anticipated.