The Meaning and Method of Afa Divination among the Northern Nsukka Ibo

Author(s): Austin J. Shelton

Source: American Anthropologist , Dec., 1965, New Series, Vol. 67, No. 6, Part 1 (Dec.,
1965), pp. 1441-1455
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/669157

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The Meaning and Method of Afa Divination
among the Northern Nsukka Ibo

AUSTIN J. SHELTON'
State University of New York
New Paltz, N. Y.

G K.* PARK (1963:195)

forth that pointedofout
the working that
social the argument
systems had not been
among preliterate put
peoples
hinges critically on divination, that "divination has as its regular consequence
the elimination of an important source of disorder in social relationships,"
adding that "typically, divination is called for in cases of illness and death,
and in other life-crises," situations which "call for decision upon some plan
of action which is not easily taken." The present paper is partly a follow-up
of Park's more general and theoretic study; I wish to present in specific detail
certain social functions of afa divination, the importance of the caster of afa,
and some of the method of casting and reading of the afa among the northern
Nsukka Ibo.
The Nsukka Ibo are primarily an agricultural people who supplem
farming in most areas by gathering and in some places by hunting, and
all Ibo many are involved in trade as well. Their social system is broad
gerontocratic, and villages are usually autonomous units divided into e
amous clans headed by the eldest man or onyisi, who is the keeper of
drua (a group of spear-like staffs constituting an entity related to the an
tors) which he daily worships. The clans are subdivided into agnatic loca
patrilineages, each headed by its eldest man, and the lineages are comp
of extended families which are either elementary or compound.
To the Nsukka Ibo the world tends to be a not always clearly define
blend of material and spiritual forces, with the spiritual in the ascend
insofar as most serious material happenings are ascribed ultimately to
work of the spirits. The spirits, briefly, are of two groups: those who be
mortal time after time-the ancestors, who are reincarnated, live, and
die to be reincarnated again, although not always, along with certain tric
spirits such as ogbanje who torment mothers by being born as children
constantly die and are reborn; and those spirits who are always immor
the high god, Chukwu and his various creative manifestations, and the
berless intermediary spirits called dlusi. Not personalized, but in a sense
of the magico-spiritual world is undefined ogwu or "medicine."
In Ibo societies life expectancy is not great (it averages 40 years if o
lives to the age of five), and the people are subject to numerous and ra
constant ailments ranging from leprosy and smallpox to the common
which often is followed by death from combined bronchial pneumonia,
laria, and dysentery. Furthermore, matters such as impotency and steri
1441

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1442 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
are not understood, and are of high frequency be
factors including substandard diet and constant if
of the unknown and even of the known.

THE AFA AND RELATED PARAPHERNALIA

The words agba'afa (more properly, agb'dfa) mean "ca

"word" (afa), thus the caster is called onye n'agb'dfa which
(onye) "and," but here meaning "who" (n') "casts afa." A com
for afa is the word eha or aha, the letters f and h often being in
in Nsukka Igbo.
Physically, the afa consist of four strings or chains each c
half-shells of the seeds of the bush mango (ujuru, Irvingia
more commonly of the almond (dpipi, Pterocarpus osum). T
usually about 12 to 15 inches in length, and the half-shells a
evenly spaced on the strings. Commonly, the strings also c
shells (connected often to the end of each string) or bits of p
sea-shell purchased from traders at Onitsha, 80 miles to th
buttons. (See Fig. 1) The actually significant parts of the afa
apipi or ujuru half-seeds; there are four strings and four apip
because, in part, of the deep significance of the number fo
northern Ibo, which is exemplified by the market days or d
(Consult also Horton 1956:18-20) The pattern of the apipi w
are cast is the actual afa-and the pattern is formed by the
tween "open" (half-seeds falling with the interior concavity
"closed" (with the exterior convexity upwards).

j;:: i::::::!: i$ j::: j:::::

MIO

.. . . . .. . . .. .. .

anel XX~i
. ........... . .. .

.......... .......

FIG. 1. Afa of

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1443

The afa are stored in the shell of a tortoise (nzbekwu)

(ca. 4" long by 1/2" diameter) piece of sacred qfo wood (D
or, more often, wood from one of the several varieties o
Qgbu (Ficus spp.), ejulosi (Newbouldia laevis), or ichiker
The wood is used by the afa caster as a means of truth
part and on the part of the person seeking advice from
ignating the patterns of the afa. The storage of the afa
is also importantly related to this matter of truth. As m
afa-reading explained:
In the old days (i'digb6) the afa-caster always used the shell of
keep the afa, because Tortoise is the way the Ibo people (Afdigbo) lea
through the stories told about Tortoise in the olden times and even t
great sacrifice is irhbkwu, because he lives in the earth, and that is th
(i.e., the great dlusi of the earth). Sometimes in the rainy season, To
earth, because it is soft then, and when the dry season comes he goes
and he sleeps there, waiting for the rain to come again. People can fin
dry season and they can dig a little bit and find him there, in the eart
believed that a story of Tortoise always told a truth, and the afa tell
kept in the house of Tortoise.

The origin of afa divination is unknown by the presen

informants and, for that matter, apparently by ethnolo
Ibo usually say that the afa were cast by the ancestors, o
when the casting of afa began, although in the village-
widely believed that afa divination was introduced at an
in the past by pygmy dibeas (medicine-men) called Ash
ferred to often as Uha'ntshie "belonging to nishie"). It is re
of divination among the northern Ibo, the most impor
"divination," which is actually less a means of divination
For example, if two villagers are contesting one another
craft or thievery, each claiming that the other is a wi
might be required to publicly touch the ofo staff and sw
If the guilty one falsely swears, the ofo, it is believed (a
will kill him or bring upon him serious mental or physical
tion is resorted to as an alternative usually after the af
but yields no answer to a serious contest of the sort wh
tioned, but strictly speaking it is not divination but the dif
just from the unjust in certain village judicial cases not p
spiritual beings. Divination, in the context of this paper
mination of that which is not empirically ascertainabl
the correct course of action among alternative possibil
logically be selected.
THE CASTER OF AFA

Correctly the northern Igbo proverb says that:

&ha npo na mnbdkwu anigi

Afa sitting (in) tortoise shell (does not)
agba onwoya.
cast (read) itself.

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1444 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
Designated by the afa pattern for ?nbekwu (Tort
things: as general advice it signifies, "What you
not speak cannot speak by itself, for it must be
the proverb refers to the truth of the Tortoise folkt
caster of afa, who reads the afa, and for the afa t
cast by the caster in order to have meaning of a
mants, all of them onyisi (clan elders), attama (-dlu
titled men, manifested the same attitude about afa
reconstructed passage:
The afa-caster is important in every place, not because he
("chief") or like an onyisi or like an attama, or like anybody
are sick must go to him first to discover what spirit made the
end the sickness. If somebody is bothered by witches who are
to the afa-caster, even if the person troubled is onyisi or so
dies, or before he dies, the people must take the sticks of the
caster who will find out from the afa which stick belongs to
known things, the people must go to the afa to learn the mea
who can read the afa and tell them the truth. If he does not
kill him.

One becomes a caster of afa by obtaining the par

being made by an attama or by an older caster of
are afa-casters) and sold to the aspirant who can
sincerity in learning the art. The tortoise shell can b
who has made a special sacrifice of nhbekwu to t
preferably the aspirant would make such a sacrifi
phernalia, the aspirant goes to an afa-caster and
teach him. If the answer is affirmative, the aspirant
a given day to begin his study, which, if conducted d
to six months of diligent memorization of the secret
into which the afa can fall (numbering in the mil
there are merely several thousand because almost
der or in various parallels have the same meaning
pears for his first lesson, he brings with him a c
nuts, and palm wine as preliminary payment. Dur
is customary for him to bring food and palm-win
at the conclusion of the study he will usually pre
gift of money (from ?1 to ?5).
Such are the preliminary matters; before I giv
casting afa, it will be useful to explain a few of th
of afa divination in northern Ibo society.

THE SOCIAL IMPORTANCE OF AGB'AFA

As I mentioned above, afa divination is used for two broadly over

purposes in northern Ibo village society: to determine that which ca
ascertained through empirical means, and to choose the correct cou
action among several probable alternatives.
1. Determination of the Unknown-The Ibo world is populated by n

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1445
of spiritual beings who are in most instances protectors and
kind, but who-somewhat like the Ibo-are very jealous of th
reputation. If they are ignored (through failure of worship),
being offered a chicken on a festival day when a goat or she
pected), blasphemed (by having "untruth" told about them)
(by someone's stealing from a person under the protection of th
witchcraft being practiced against a human "child" of the sp
will promptly retaliate by bringing disease, madness, low p
crops, infertility of women, and other troubles, including death
guilty of the wrong. Consequently, when misfortune strike
the person first consulted is the afa-diviner, because no one
even common sense to understand why a misfortune has falle
of the usual, anticipated sort. The afa will tell which partic
brought the calamity, possibly tell precisely the motives o
list the types and amounts of sacrifices required to appease
to illustrate broadly the function of afa in ascertaining the u
the movement of the majority of the people of Umu Inyere in I
their original residential area close to their stream to an area
away, and a change of placement of compounds from the or
packed village to a community in which at present the comp
separated, with broad paths running among them. The follow
furnished me by a group of elders, including attamas, of Umu In

Iyi' Aw9 (the village dlusi) owns Umu Inyer6, and about thirty years
people move to the present place in Imilike. The people used to live along th
a pestilence came upon them, and full grown men were dying off rapidly, a
the old men had to consult ogba'dha (onye n'agb'dfa), and the afa said th
scended upon them because of her mightness, not because the people of the
bad. There was a narrow path through the village leading to her stream, an
powerful that she moved along the path and killed people who crowded her
So when the people moved to their present place, they built their houses w
much room, so that when Iyi Awo goes through the village she has plenty

In almost all kinds of sickness, the victim or his closest blo

consult the afa, although practical steps might at the same
For example, if a man shows the signs of smallpox (akrNkpd
the afa to learn what caused it and what he must do to rid himself of the
scourge, but at the same time he is isolated from the rest of the peop
know well that the disease is contagious. Similarly, if a pregnant wom
comes sick, experiences unnatural discharges, or otherwise is distress
afa are requested to tell which 6ilusi can be given sacrifices in order
the woman to have an easy delivery and a healthy baby, although the
also practices some home medication.
Mental distress is often considered to be brought on a person by a
and can be lifted by sacrifices. One day at the shrine of Okpo in Imil
observed an aged woman arrive with a trussed-up dog, two yams, p
a calabash of palm wine, kola nuts, and black salt. Her offering was t
rather than to the %lusi offspring of this major Mlusi, and when she exp

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 1446 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
her situation to the Attama, who would immediately
prayers to the spirit, she said:
I am Okike -, and my home is at Obollo'&k&. I had many childr
son did not die. He lived, and when he became a young man saving
I went to ogba'dha and the iha said that Chukwu (the high god)
did nothing wrong. That was four moons ago. But my son's spirit d
dead. Every night his ghost comes into my head and he looks
talks, and sometimes he sweats from his farm work, and sometim
was a small baby. I can never sleep, because his ghost did not go
went to ogba'e'ha and this time the &ha said that my son did not w
dead, and that I should carry good things to Okpo and ask Okpo to
and he must join the other people there. So I bring these good thi
help.

Significant about this case of mental distress and cases of actual illness is that
without having consulted the afa, none of the sufferers would know what to
do. If one were to attempt a guess about the identity of a spirit which brought
on an affliction or which could otherwise alleviate distress, one could sacrifice
daily for a lifetime and perhaps never satisfy the proper spirit who would
meantime, according to Ibo belief, bring even greater calamities to the vic-
tim. The afa is, therefore, the means of determining what cannot be arrived
at either through logic or even chance.
Cases of infertility or impotency are similarly handled. The individual
goes to the afa-diviner to learn why she cannot bear children, and what she
can do to become fertile. As Ugwuja Attama of Owerri-ezoQba told me,
From the afa it can be told if Ntiy or some other dlusi wants something, so a barren
woman or even a man comes and asks to see if one of the spirits can be found who can help to
get a baby; so the afa is cast to discover which spirit will help the people get a baby from
Chukwu, and how many months it will take for the baby to come. The number of months pass,
and if the spirit helps the people to get a baby, the father offers the sacrifice that he promised
-a goat or a sheep, or whatever the afa told him the spirit wanted. Sometimes the afa might

tell thespirit
if the woman thather
helps sheto
must
get become
a baby, inyiama
so when(devotee
the babyofcomes,
the fertility ,lusi named
she installs Inyiama)
her own inyiama
shrine in her house and she follows the prohibitions for inyiama.

The afa are also necessary for making certain important identifications,
such as the naming of a successor to an attama (shrine-priest), the identifica-
tion of a returned ancestor, and the spirit-ownership of an albino. Among the
Nsukka Ibo the shrine-priest, who is the intermediary between the alusi and
the villagers, is the attama (lit., "Lord" of "spirits"), a position which is
semi-hereditary, retained by a particular patrilineage. This results from the
fact that the Igala conquered Nsukka in the past and placed an Igala shrine-
priest in each village as the agent in control of the non-ancestral division of
Ibo religion. When a successor to an attama must be chosen, which sometimes
occurs while an attama is alive, and sometimes shortly after his death, the
candidates consist of those men of his lineage who have been nominated
through dreams, in which they felt or heard the alusi calling them, and through
decisions of the lineage elders. The candidates each bring a small, marked
stick to the elder, who carries the group of sticks to the afa-caster, instructing
him to see which person the afa wants to be the next attama. Casting is then

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1447
conducted until one of the particular sticks is definitely
without the diviner's knowledge of the persons to whom the
and the new attama is thus selected. In this manner an individual essential
in the maintenance of social cohesion in a village is chosen by means which
can furnish no excuse for social disorder through aroused jealousies among
candidates or supporters of candidates for the attamaship.
The individual referred to as onye lalu madu is the returned ancestor
among the Nsukka Ibo-a child is born, and people might suspect because of
certain physical features or character traits that the child is a particular dead
ancestor who has been reincarnated. In such a case, the parents take the
child to onye n'agb'Mfa to have the afa identify which particular ancestor has
returned, or to verify their belief. In some cases the afa will indicate that the
child is not actually a returned ancestor (rarely, however), or is one from
such a distant past that he cannot be named precisely (more common). In
many cases, however, identification will be more exact. The following, for
example, was told me by the onyisi of Amauikwa Clan of Umu'hikaka in
Ih6'Nsukka: "My father is ludlomo." (ludlo= "ancestor"; mo="my") This
means that he, the onyisi, would be called onye ludloge ("person ancestor is"),
and means that his own father is his particular ancestor or, considered op-
positely, that he is a reincarnation of his own father. This was determined
when he was an infant; his father died before he was born, and when he was
less than three years of age he began to manifest traits of his father, so his
mother took him to the caster of afa, and the onyisi's ancestral identity was
thus established.
Albinism is fairly common among the Ibo (although perhaps simply mor
noticeable than among Europeans), and is something of an important occur
rence: when an albino is born, the people consider the child to be actually t
offspring or slave of some ilusi. According to Attama Iyi'Akpala of Umu
AMkpume in Oba:

Those one
whenever people are called
of these 9banze
strange and is
children the name
born to aofblack
the ,lusi
motherto and
whom they
black belong,
father it is becau
becau

an ,lusi did it, and the Qbanz6 must be returned to the ,lusi. An Qbanz6 can be called O
Iyi'Akpala, and that means: Obanzi who belongs to Iyi'Akpala. To find out which Alusi se
the banz' and wants it back, we must go to the afa, and the afa will then tell the name of th

,lusi, so the parents can give the Qbanzi, who is osa (i.e., slave), back to the spirit who owns it.
2. Deciding the Correct Course of Events-This second broad category of
the social function of afa is obviously related to the first, for it, too, concerns
the determination of the spiritual or the otherwise unknown and unknowable.
In a case of thievery or loss of goods, for example, the victim will first go to
the afa-diviner to see what must be done. As Attama Ukwu'gwu of Ujobo
Obi'gbo Village in Oba explained, "the afa might tell the man that he must
make a sacrifice to one Mlusi, Ukwu'gwu or some other one, or it might just
tell him that he must go to his home and pray to Chukwu for recovery of his
property. The man who reads the afa is very important in discovering thieves,
because he can read the things of the afa, which knows all the things that

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1448 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
men do not know." Attama Iyi'Akpala of Umu Mkpu
the matter of theft, said:
When a man has some things stolen, he comes to me and tells m
to the afa-caster. If the afa say that the man must sacrifice to Iy
and this will make Iyi'Akpala angry at the thief, and she sends Ab
spirit of the parent dlusi) to find the thief. Aber? then goes at n
spirit (mmuo-dnyase). No one can see her, because she is a spirit
knows she has come to him, and she says he must return the stole
things. The thief then goes to the afa-caster to see which dlusi wa
he will be free from his wrong.

On this same subject, Attama Okpo of Imilikani expla

A person might be suffering from thieves, so he will go to ogb
him that he must install an Abere shrine of his own in his com
thieves. So he will go to the big Abere called A bbre'me Ove ("Abe
kani) and remove a small piece of cloth, make his sacrifices for Ab~
by his compound.

Another major source of worry is that of witchcra

witchcraft is being exercized against him, which might b
to empirically determine the cause of misfortunes, h
mediately to the afa-caster. The afa might indicate th
him, but rather an 6lusi who either simply wants an off
has been somehow offended by him, and will inform
what particular sacrifice. On the other hand, the af
that a witch is bothering him, and it will indicate the na
help he should obtain in combatting the evil force. T
variably suggest that the victim seek the help of a d
too-chiefly because the caster will continue casting t
("medicine") appears in the afa, for the diviner know
victim requires anti-witchcraft medicine which can
a dibea.
Judicial cases are not, precisely speaking, "solved" by the afa, although
part of judicial proceedings involves afa. After the elders have reached a
decision and have delivered their verdict on a case, the afa-caster is sum-
moned to have the afa determine the particular sacrifice required of the
plaintiff and of the defendant. Once the sacrifice is made, the judicial matter
is settled, but the elders alone cannot announce what the sacrifice must be
unless the case falls into a particular category in which sacrifices are cus-
tomarily the same.
These, then, are a few examples of the function of the afa in the northern
Ibo village, although they are not all the examples one could draw upon, for
afa are cast in the making of all important village decisions. Without the afa,
the people would be completely at the mercy of myriads of potentially and
often actually antagonistic forces and powers. The continuing influence of
the afa, despite education, is suggested by the fact that in just one of the
numerous villages surrounding the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, during
the period from October, 1962, to May, 1963, a total of 39 different university

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1449
students came to one of the two casters of afa. Other students went to the
other caster, and to casters in other villages, but I have no actual figure
about these.

THE METHOD OF AFA-DIVINATION: ONE CASE

A villager with a serious problem comes to the caster of

usual greetings to the diviner and his family who might be
declares: "I come for onye n'agb'afa to read the afa for me."
squats down across from the caster, who takes out his torto
out the beads and the small stick, and places the shell aside.
picks up the strings and throws them out, one string at a t
lie in parallel rows, the ends of the strings toward the caste
cant. The caster then taps each set of afa with the stick, an
stick with his right hand to the supplicant, who holds it i
and asks, "What brought my sickness?" or whatever might
his problem or the means of alleviating it. The supplicant
stick to the caster, who commences to cast the strings of afa.
In casting, the diviner follows a prescribed pattern: Str
No. 3 are cast simultaneously, No. 1 held in the right hand,
the strings being drawn toward the caster, raised upwards i
straight outward so that the ends of the strings fall towar
Then Strings No. 2 and No. 4 are cast in the same way. Afte
have been cast, the afa can be read, and during the reading
the significantly-patterned apipi with the stick, saying, "
and this") or n'ka, n'ka, n'ka, following such indication of t
the "word" of the afa, although he will not always spea
sometimes he will tap the patterns and simply stare at the
again without a comment. The afa "word" is in secret lang
in ordinary Igbo, and it cannot be understood by the suppli
the caster speaks the secret word he must translate it-not i
lents-but into the appropriate advice for the supplicant. In
illustration of the method of afa-casting, I will translate in
English) only those few terms from the secret language ne
my explanation of the method of afa-divination.2 In the c
representing a single cast of the afa, the capital 0 stands for
and C refers to a "closed" one. The supplicant's problem is
serious sickness-"chest-pain" which probably was recur
common in the rainy season.

Cast No. 1

1 2 3 4
a. O C C O
b. O O O O
c. O O C O
d O C O C

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 1450 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
Meaning: all in line a.

1+2 = obi ogoli

2+3 = ogoli ose
3+4=ose' ha. In Igbo this is Igg'uke, "make sacrifice" to "t
Instruction by afa-diviner to supplicant: "You will have to g
things and bring them out with other food for your people."

Cast No. 2

1 2 3 4
a. 0 0 C 0
b. 0 C C C
c. C 0 0 0
d. 0 0 0 0

Meaning:
la+2a = otur~'~'t

2a+4a= =te abq. This refers to Oye day, one of the four days of the Ibo week.
3a+4a = uhu te'. In Igbo this is Akashi, or cocoyam.
2b+3a= 8t9 uhu

Instruction: "On Oye day you must bring the foods to your people. One of the foods is
"kashi."
Cast No. 3

1 2 3 4
a. C 0 C C
b. C C C 0

c. C 0 C 0
d. 0 C 0 0

Meaning: all in line a

1+2 = pbara ohu. In I
2+3= oha'pbara. In Ig
2+4= ohu ogute. In Ig

Instruction: "You mu
and you must kill some

Note: At this st
solved by the afa:
cant's sickness, and

Cast No. 4 (Se

1 2 3 4
a. C C C O
b. O O C O
c. C O C C
d. O O O C
Meaning:
la+2a= ost ogutg. In Igbo this is Chi, the emanation of Chukwu, the high god.
2a+3a=ijite pbara. In Igbo this is manu, or palm oil.
2a+4c =ijitt'gale. In Igbo this is ang, or meat.
3a+4c = pbara &gale. In Igbo this means gi echezona, suggesting "do not forget."

Instruction: "The afa says that it is Chi whom you have offended. On an Oye day, Chi wants

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1451
nkashi and palm wine and blood from an animal, and palm oil and meat fr
You must not forget these things to give to Chi at the onuchi (lit., "mouth" of
Chi) in your house, and to give good things to your people."

Cast No. 5

1 2 3 4
a. C 0 0 C
b. C 0 0 C
c. 0 C 0 C
d. C 0 0 0

Meaning: all non-functi

la+2c = ekd oture
2a+3a = oturM'ebi
3a+4a =obi pbard
Cast No. 6

1 2 3 4
a. C C C 0
b. C 0 0 C
c. C 0 0 0
d. C 0 C 0

Meaning: all in line a. A

1+2 = akwd'gwutle'.
1+3 = akw6'goli.
1+4 = akwu tW.
2+4= ijite td.

........... ........ ?3?....::? ::??

i K2l'ji`:::::::i:i:l ~ ::~:.::?:j ::: . j

~I.I?~iii~ii 1Ilow P
: ~ :"; ~ i:?c'~j............... : Ronowntt
otoR O ~o: ........

:t it
........ - .. . .. . .. .

...........
..........

lost.,i
0:o, W*
KM: K: --- -
K:" m"R,::ooR*S.

-KElX* ....
OR - W KR~in
M ;:R."
.X Ko.-R .?
:Roto_
Roo
% :R.3f?lx.X;:g

XR.rj~j:
::X m.? ioo--

::
,R .......
:?j:~~'2No
.. . . . .. .. . .
:X xoi ........~s

K.K. ?ooi
~T? :19
ooj~o. g -xo?R;R
K~totooo:` . . . .......
s

.-.--%-% El Wo 1 hi::?

R'RR : 5'.
in ?oio

x SWI :o:'
...... . . .

........ .. %-. . . . ..........

Ito: ... ............

FIG. 2. Af

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 1452 American Anthropologist [67, 1965

i i!i~ii i l i i li !i ii i i iiii ..... i i i i i i ii~iii i~i~i i

ii~~~ ~ ~ ~..... ......... .i ii~

!i i i~ i :i . ......... ........... ...........ii~ i~ii i iii ,, i ! i i ii ii 7 ii
!i~ i~ iii "':" i i~i !! ! iii i~i iiii ~ iiiiiiii......... ....... ........liiiii~
!!ili i ii~i iiiiii ii: ii... ............. ..... .. ...;!ii~ii
S:!i ii i i iii ii! ii i~iiii~iiil iiiiiiili~iliiiiiii iiili ! i . ......... ..ii i
.......... .....iii~ iiii! !i: i!ii~!ii~i~ ~iiiiiiiiiiiiii~iii~!!liiiiiii ~

........... :=iiliiii721!~ iifi=ii ~iii iglii~!2iiiii: iiiiiiiiiiii;i;igii !ii~ii!!i!i~i71si iii!)iii ; i ; gi~lliiliiiiiiii:ii~ iii 1!i i:i;i ~iiiii! i ~~~i ~:!si::11i7iiii:i ;iiiii!!lii:i:!ii5:~ !;:i 2i! 2ii15:i!i;;)ii:~l :~ ;ii,~ ~i i~ ? i!iTii:? 2i5

FIG. 3. Afa in pattern of okara eturikpa. See chart of Cast No. 15.

Note: the problem still existing is the need to identify the particular animal
for the blood sacrifice. In Cast No. 5 above, the pattern la+2c was ekd oture,
which in Igbo means azo or fish; this is considered unsuitable for the blood
and meat sacrifice, because the Ibo consider the fish not to be a bleeding
animal. The afa is cast eight more times without furnishing any significant
information relating to the particular problem of identifying the kind of ani-
mal required for the sacrifice by the supplicant to his Chi. On the fifteenth
cast, however, a pattern of some significance occurs:
Cast No. 15 (See Fig. 3)
1 2 3 4

a. O C C C
b. C O C C
c. C C O C
d. C C C O
Meaning: all in line a.
1+2 = okara eturikpa. This occa
2+3= eturikpa eka.
3+4= ka obara.

1+4= eturfikpa
2+4= 6kara .bara.
pbara.

Instruction: "Ikayi ma gi anya Nli8

(Observe though your eye buries
onwogi, ma obugi abuzi."
yourselves, spirit still lives cricket)
and

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SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1453
Note: Ikayi ma gi'anya refers to common sense of intelli
erb means, "No matter how intelligent you may be, yo
yourself-with the exception of the cricket, who can b
live." Thus the diviner explains to the supplicant: "You
the afa tells you to do, and you will become more intelligen
Ten more casts are made, but still the particular animal for
is not revealed by the afa. Finally, the revelation occurs:
Cast No. 26 (See Fig. 4)
1 2 3 4
a. C 0 0 0
b. C C C 0
c. C 0 0 C
d. C C C C
Meaning:
la+2a= akw6'hu.
3b+4c =ohu galU.
la+4d=akwo galU. In Igbo this is dturo (ewe) or ebele (ram).
Instruction: "The afa has told the kind of animal your Chi wants. It is a sheep. You must
take the sheep to your onuchi and sacrifice it there, along with the other things, and give them to
Chi and to your people."

With this, the supplicant makes a payment to the diviner, thanks him for
having read the afa, and departs for his home, where he will immediately
prepare for the sacrifices which, presumably, will remove the sickness from
him.

.i .. . .. .

..........i~iii

...................
:::::::.:.........

X.Xiiiiiiii

. .. .. .. ..

....... ...:::
. ... . . . . . . .

..........

FIG. 4. Afa in pattern of akwo 8galu. See chart of Cast No. 26.

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1454 American Anthropologist [67, 1965
CONCLUSION

Afa divination among the northern Ibo is the determination of tha

is not empirically ascertainable and the decision of the correct course of a
among alternative possibilities which cannot logically be chosen.
function analogous to that described by Park (1963:199) insofar as i
the need for decision-making out of the client's hands. Afa divinatio
a large extent mechanical, constantly establishing the existence of
merous spiritual beings inhabiting the Ibo world, and removing resp
ity from the society or its members to make decisions about the g
punishment of most wrongdoers. Thus it constantly re-establishes th
macy of customary law, social order, especially regarding gerontocrac
depends strongly upon ancestralism and chi-reincarnation, and alusi
and ritual.
Afa divination at first glance appears to be a system of chance, the diviner
in certain respects being a "spinner of a wheel of fate, which is wiser than
any human judge" (Park 1963:198), but "chance" must be qualified by the
facts that (1) the possible diagnoses or courses of action or responses indicated
by the afa are not limitless, and especially (2) in cases such as the determina-
tion of that spirit which can help one fend off witches the caster exercises
definite control often by continuing the casting until what he knows is ap-
propriate advice appears in the afa. Turner's recent statement of the truism
that "the observation of diviners at work and the study of their apparatus
reveal that in African societies beliefs may include a multiplicity of types of
mystical evildoers, who practise a wide variety of ways of causing mystical
harm" (1964:318) is germane here, but it should never be supposed that
"multiplicity" is endless or that purely chance solutions are all that the afa
can offer. Where the word "probability" is apropos in relation to afa divination
is in the nature of each particular case brought before the caster: each case
will possess a number of precedents which will act as probability guides to
the caster. If, for example, a barren woman approaches the caster, the latter
knows that, as a rule, the spirits who most often help in such cases are Inyiama
or the parent alusi or Chukwu, the high god; the most probable cause of the
woman's distress is thus assumed to be some offense against or neglect of one
or more of these spirits. So if the afa indicates a different spirit entirely-
such as the masculine Onumuno, the elder brother of Inyiama-the casting
will not necessarily halt at that point, for Onumuno's antagonism will nor-
mally be considered a result of his anger at the neglect of one of his fellow
spirits more closely concerned with matters of fertility than he is. The caster
will usually continue casting until the reason for Onumuno's anger is re-
vealed, and this reason will appear as some offense against one of the spirit
"specialists" in fertility.
Through his function rather than because of his personal reputation, the
caster of afa is undoubtedly the most important person in the northern Ibo
village, for virtually all life-crises require his services ;nsofar as such crises

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 SHELTON] Afa Divination among the Ibo 1455
are believed to be caused by the alusi or other beings o
be reached or understood through material means or thr
The afa in the hands of the caster is thus considered to
call a "knower of secret things," or an omniscient enti
bridges the gap between the unknown and those people
is the "voice" of the spirits and of Chukwu, the high g
means of solacing the emotionally distressed, the discov
and thieves, the physician prescribing the correct ther
agent aiding elders and others in solving innumerable pr
a degree of accepted objectivity impossible for the people to

NOTES

1 This study is a result of the author's field work among the northern Ibo of
Eastern Nigeria, from 1961 to July, 1964. Vowel pronunciation is that of Fren
symbols are used: ' = nasalized; p = sound of aw, as in paw; u= slightly shorter th
put.
2 The author is an initiated afa-caster, although only a neophyte in comparison with Ibo
practitioners. Important in the learning of afa-divination is the necessity of maintaining the
secrecy of the art, which is socially too important to be put to the risk of misuse by Ibo (fortu-
nately few in number) who might wish to prey on their less-educated fellows.

REFERENCES CITED

HORTON, W. R. G.
1956 God, man, and the land in a Northern Ibo Village-Grou
PARK, G. K.
1963 Divination and its social contexts. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,
XCIII, Part 2 (July-Dec.), 195-209.
TURNER, V. W.
1964 Witchcraft and sorcery: taxonomy versus dynamics. Africa XXXIV:314-325.

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