In addition to these changes in spirit mediums,
their voices may change, they may have broken
speech patterns, they may reverse sentence struc-
tures, and there may be an overall change in their
grammar or language usage. Spirit mediums con-
tinue to be an important part of the African reli-
gious experience. Today they are being sought out
more frequently because of the despondency that
people are experiencing with modern Western reli-
gious practices.
Oftentimes in ancient and present-day Africa
and the diaspora, spirit mediums are consulted
when there is no medical or physical explanation
for a person’s problems or when there is a consis-
tent pattern of calamity in a person’s life.
Edona M. AlexandriaSee alsoHealing; Seers
Further Readings
Gottlieb, K. (2006, May 1).Queen Nanny of the
Maroons—The Mother of a Nation. Retrieved May
24, 2006, from http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/
articles_culture/nannymothernation.shtml
Patrick, P. L. (n.d.).Language,Faith and Healing in
Jamaican Folk Culture. Retrieved May 24, 2006,
from http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/
papers/LgFaithHeal.html
Stefanidakis, S. (2001).What Is Trance Communication?
Retrieved May 24, 2006, from http://www.fst.org/
trance.htm
SPIT
Spit, or saliva, is almost entirely pure water. It
consists of only about 1% solid material. The rit-
ual significance of spit in African tradition has in
the beginning been that of a creative agent, but it
has almost always afterward been visualized as a
transformative and healing agent.
The great importance of spit to the ancient
Egyptians may well be indicated by its location in
the realms of myth, divinity, medicine, and social
practice. In theMedew Netjer, a large vocabulary
pertaining to spit, spittle, and other cognates
amounts to more than 20 words and expressions,
thus indicating the relative importance of spit to
the ancient Egyptians.
The first written reference to spit in the his-
tory of humanity occurs in the earliest Creation
Story of the African people, the Kemetyu cre-
ation myth. Here, Itm, Atum, the Creator
Divinity, creates Shu, the Divinity of Air, and
Tefnut, the Divinity of Heat, with and from
Hispsg, his spit. In this archetypal instance, spit
is a creative agent in the realm of divinity.
Numerous examples of the creative force of spit
as well as other applications of this popular
medical remedy follow in thePyramid Texts, the
Coffin Texts, and other parts of the spiritual lit-
erature of ancient Egypt. A wide range of beings
and things, including some divinities, pharaohs,
demons, plants, animals, and the Earth, are the
products of ritual spitting, which is covered
by such notions as creation, blessing as well as
cursing, washing as well as healing, venom,
decay, and death.
The ritual significance of the spit lies in the
fact that it comes from inside of the person or
being. This represents the essence or vital
aspect(s) of the person or being and so his or her
power. This is demonstrated in the story of Isis
and Ra, in which Isis employs Ra’s spit, mixed
with Earth, to gain his secret knowledge and so
power over him.
This notion of spit as a healing and thus a
transforming agent is securely based on a bio-
chemical fact. Spit is the only source of a potent
chemical calledhistatin, a protein with antifungal
properties. Histatin functions as a healing agent,
inhibiting the growth of yeast and bacteria and so
hastening the healing of wounds.
This is undoubtedly the basis of the practice of
spitting on things, along with licking them,
which are said to have magical (or ritual) appli-
cation in theBook of Going Forth by Day, a
seminal ancient Egyptian text.Spitting and lick-
ing are employed as healing actions in Chapters
17, 72, and 102 among several others in the
Book of Going Forth. In Chapter 146, an epithet
for a protective female divinity is “She Who
Licks,” an epithet that recalls the protective ges-
ture of a cow that licks her young. It is the same
with many other animals. The importance of spit
is further emphasized in a number of ancient
Egyptian creation stories.634 Spit