Côte d'Ivoire; Baule artist
Mouse oracle
Wood, metal, fiber
H. 15 cm (6")
Fowler Museum at UCLA, Museum Purchase, X84.1060
One of the three techniques the Baule use for divination is a mouse oracle. It has two chambers that are connected by a hole. A field mouse kept in the vessel rearranges small shafts of bone attached to a small tray when it moves from the lower chamber to the upper chamber at feeding time. The meaning of the resulting arrangement of the bones is interpreted by a diviner to determine the cause of misfortune (Ravenhill 1995). The Baule believe that because mice live close to or under the Earth, they are better able to contact asye, (“earth as power”) and the ancestors, thereby helping in the divinatory process (Vogel 1980). Phillip Ravenhill (1995) confirms this notion, adding that the mouse remains in direct contact with the Earth spirit even after it is captured since its urine and excrement escapes through a small hole in the bottom of the vessel.
