At the political level, a community wants to
enjoy the blessing and continual healing of the
spiritual beings that are associated with the
people; hence, the choice of the ruler, the chief,
engages the people’s mind. It is the duty of the
diviners in some of the communities in Africa.
Furthermore, whenever there is communal crisis
that arises from the wrath of some deities who are
offended, the diviners are called on to find out the
cause of the disease or illness and to inquire of
the solution to the problem.
When the diviner is consulted, he inquires
through his divination instruments. He goes into a
period of recitation of the verses of what the
signature of the divination reads until the matter
is revealed. He then confirms from the client
whether the divination is correct. He prescribes
the necessary rituals. The rituals prescribed usu-
ally include blood and food items to be shared by
human, spiritual, and natural entities. Certain desig-
nated places are prescribed where the rituals are to
be laid. Some items may be instructed to be shared
by a group of people so designated by spiritual
beings according to the oracle. Such cases that are
brought to diviners include barrenness, seeking
the divine will on marriage, the cause of prema-
ture death, causes and cures for protracted dis-
eases, divine will for the town, bringing order into
communal chaos and crisis, and so on.
PriestandPriestessHealers
The third category of healing specialists
includes priest and priestess healers, who also
serve as mediums between the human and spirit
beings as well asthe living dead. In the Akan com-
munity, for example, priest healers who handle
various health needs can be classified into three
main categories: herbalists, diviners, and birth
attendants. As some scholars have aptly noted,
their assistance is sought out as soon as a crisis or
trouble erupts in the community. They provide
not only physical relief, but also emotional and
spiritual assistance and comfort.
Healers are connected to cults of deities. They
address similar cases as herbalists and diviners,
but within the function of the cult. Each deity has
a unique and specialized function among the
Africans. There are deities connected with certain
needs and certain diseases. Certain deities focus
on childbearing and child-nursing cases, some on
farmland and for proper crop yielding, and some
with important seasons such as rain. These priests
and priestesses also use certain instruments of rev-
elation to be able to prescribe solutions to the
needs of their clients. They offer their clients spe-
cial foods that are claimed to be the food of the
deities to which they are attached. They instruct
on the taboos to observe for restoration of health.
However, there are some special classes of mediums
who are distinguished from priests and priestesses.
One of these is the rainmakers.Contemporary Appropriation
The practice of African medicine, particularly
herbal medicine, has found relevance in global
medical discourse. Most herbalists have botanical
gardens where herbs and roots are plucked and
processed to heal diseases. Western medical prac-
titioners, pharmacists, and those concerned with
human well-being have discovered beyond a
doubt that indigenous Africans have the material
resources, spiritual sensibility, and competence in
terms of indigenous knowledge of the contents
and uses of medicinal plants.
It has been suggested that Western biomedicine
had a strong historical connection to religious
beliefs and practices. The attempt at dealing with
medical issues without recognizing the relevance
of indigenous knowledge and religious sensibility
of the diversity of people around the globe to the
Africans is obnoxious to holistic therapy. This
recognition is why some African peoples have
found it necessary to engage the twin practices,
that is, side by side, of Western biomedicine and
African medicine. This does not suggest incorpo-
ration, but recognition and compromise.
Furthermore, the intensity and sporadic influ-
ence of African indigenous medical practice on a
new form of Christianity (the Pentecostal and
Evangelical) explains the resilience of African
medical practice. Biomedical practice, however,
needs to be appreciated as scientific improve-
ment helps to unearth and advance the some-
what secret, hidden, and private knowledge to
public space and utility. Rather than continue to
describe African medical practice asalternative,
a term derogatorily used to show that it is
inferior to Western biomedicine, and engage in418 Medicine