in the importance of water, first as the foremost
element in the cosmic order. Some myths claim
that water is a female deity who characterizes
coolness and ubiquity, and is thus available for all
purposes and cures. However, no method is used
in exclusion of the other.
Traditional Medicine SpecialistsIt is difficult to make a clear classification of heal-
ing agents or traditional medicine specialists who
could be male or female. Their functions overlap in
most cases because what Africans define as disease
or illness covers a wide range of personal and com-
munal problems of life. Some of the indigenous lan-
guages of the different peoples lack such distinctions
as those the scholars make. It is important to note
that they could be classified, roughly however, in
relation to their main and primary functions. There
are herbalists, diviners, and priest- and priestess-
healers. All of these could also be designated as
mediums because they serve as intermediaries
between the human and the spiritual. One other
kind of medium of special recognition among some
African peoples are the rainmakers. These healers
are made through family inheritance, deity chosen,
or voluntary decision. A conviction of the individ-
ual is, however, crucial to the practice.
All of these groups require some processes of
initiation or formal and informal training with
different and varied duration. The initiation usu-
ally requires the candidate to swallow some ritual
ingredients for empowerment to be able to see
beyond the ordinary so as to be able to deal with
all spiritual forces and with visible and invisible
cases. The training of herbalists, diviners, and
priests and priestesses takes a relatively longer
time, up to 7 or 9 years, because they have to learn
the mechanisms of dealing with all cases relating
to diseases ranging from personal to communal,
from domestic to economic, in matters relating
to life and death.
Herbalists
Mostly women, herbalists could be described as
medicine men and women par excellence because
they possess the science and art of making use of
several substances from animals and plants, as well
as supernatural forces, in therapeutic activities.
They acquire as much knowledge as they can from
their masters and mistresses. The competence of
an herbalist depends greatly on the depth of the
knowledge and skill of his or her tutor, the vege-
tative materials available in the training environ-
ment, the duration of the apprenticeship, the kind
of diseases that are addressed during his or her
apprenticeship, and his or her own level of intel-
ligence, as well as his or her attitude (patience,
endurance, faithfulness, painstakingness, etc.) to
the teacher.
A successful herbalist possesses knowledge of
and skill in using medicines, animals, insects, eggs,
and shells; the nature of physical objects; the
nature of spirits and the living-dead; and many
other secrets. All of the materials derive their effi-
cacy, power, and use from primordial origins, with
the effect that, as the practitioners would claim
among the Yoruba, the existential power and
names that they symbolically apply in their prac-
tice command healing on their clients.
Herbalists deal primarily with individual prob-
lems, paying much attention to each client to be
able to deal with such a case spiritually, psycho-
logically, and physically. They cure and prevent
diseases, and they intervene between the client
(victim) and the witches. They solicit the assis-
tance of spiritual forces who maintain ontological
equilibrium in the universe.
Herbalists, after their formal initiation and
having been known by several clients who
patronized their master or mistress, already gain
their own clients from those who are acquainted
with their skills while with their master or mis-
tress. Because Africans’ gregarious nature allows
the people to share in the experience of persons
who have one disease or the other, they are
familiar with those specialists who perform
those duties. They introduce such herbalists
when needed.
Herbalists diagnose patients primarily
through information by either the client or the
relatives. Herbalists also observe the client and
subsequently make consultation with spiritual
beings on the cause and possible remedy.
Regardless of whether the disease or illness is
known by name, consultation with the spiritual
world is common to the users. During the con-
sultation, herbalists plead on behalf of the sick
for the materials to be used to be efficacious.416 Medicine