Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa. Nwando Achebe

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       Spiritual Monarchs

       God, Goddesses, Spirit Mediums, and Rain Queens

      The modjadji or rain queen of Lovedu, South Africa, is¹ believed to be the living embodiment of the rain goddess. She has special powers. Also referred to as the Khifidola-maru-a-Daja (transformer of clouds), the modjadji guarantees the seasonal cycle and controls the clouds, rainfall, and fertility of the crops. Like rain queens, spirit mediums are believed to be embodiments of the spirits or the ancestors. It is a form of possession in which a person serves as an intermediary between the gods and society. In hierarchical societies, such as the Nyamwezi, spirit medium societies provide women with the most-direct avenues for active participation in politics and religious life. Spirit mediums can achieve measures of power that place them above men and all mortals.

      In African societies, deities, the most powerful of whom is the Great Creator God, serve as the true political heads or spiritual monarchs of their communities. Next in rank to God are the lesser gods and goddesses. Personifications of natural phenomena, the most influential are gendered females, deities in charge of the waters and the land. These deities are the moral judges of conduct and wield power indiscriminately.

      Starting with the African Great Creator God, this chapter locates the sources of female/women’s ritual and political power, which I refer to as the female spiritual political constituency, within various African communities. In the pages that follow, I center the leadership of (fe)male gendered spiritual forces such as goddesses, oracles, female medicines, and their human helpers (e.g., priestesses, diviners, spirit mediums, and prophetesses)—the real rulers of African kingdoms, paramounts, towns, and communities. I anchor my discussion in regional case studies that speak to the power, gender, and metaphor of God, the ultimate leader of the spiritual political constituency, and the power, authority, and influence of (fe)male lesser deities, rain queens, spirit mediums, priestesses of the gods, priests of the goddesses, and traditional medicine workers and healers. First, we must understand how African society is organized politically.

       The Female Principle in African Politics: The Female Spiritual Political Constituency

      In Africa, there are basically two political constituencies: the spiritual and the human. The spiritual political constituency is made up of divinities: male and female functionaries who derive their political power from an association with the spiritual world. These spiritual functionaries or leaders are organized in a hierarchical manner (see worldview diagram, figure I.1, in the introduction).

      The human political constituency (see chapter 2) is made up of executives who achieve their political potential as human actors in the physical realm. The text that follows delves into the spiritual political constituency, starting with the most powerful of these spiritual entities, the African Great God.

       The Power of God

      African cosmological accounts submit that God is the origin of all things. All-knowing and all-powerful, Great or High God is the supreme being who created the world, nature, animals, and humans. The 512 nations that make up present-day Nigeria have descriptive names for God. The Igbo, for instance, call God Chukwu, which means “the Great One from whom beings originate.” They also call God Chineke, “The Creator of all things.” The Edo refer to God as Osanobua (or Osanobwa), meaning “the Source of all beings who carries and sustains the world or universe”; and the Nupe call God Soko, meaning “the Creator or Supreme Deity that resides in heaven.” Other West African groups like the Mende of Sierra Leone also have descriptors for God. For them, God or Ngewo is “the Eternal One who rules from above.”²

      Ngai is the Supreme Being of the Gĩkũyũ, Maasai, and Kamba people of East Africa. Although Ngai’s abode is in the sky, Ngai’s special dwelling place on earth is the Kirinyaga mountain ranges; hence the Gĩkũyũ also refer to God as Ngai wa Kirinyaga. In Tanzania, there is no equal to the Ruanda people’s Supreme Being Imana. The southern Sudanese Dinka call God Nhailic (“That which is above”) or Jok, meaning “Spirit” or “Power.” To the Nuer of Sudan, God is Kwoth, and Kwoth is not the sky, the moon, or the rain; Kwoth reveals Her-/Himself through these natural phenomena.³

      Among the Batswana of southern Africa, God is Modimo (Molimo), meaning “One who dwells on high or the High One.” Among the Zulu, Great God is called uNkulunkulu, meaning “Great, Great One” or “Old, Old, One.” The Zulu regard God, also called Mvelinqangi (the First Out Comer), as the ancestor of all. Some southern African Nguni groups call God Qamata (The First One), and Umdali (Creator).⁴ Among the Baila and Botanga of northern Zambia, God is known as Leza (the One who does what no other can do).

      African peoples believe that God is eternal and immortal. One of the names that the Kono of Sierra Leone call God is Meketa (the Everlasting One).⁵ God is also invisible, incomprehensible, mysterious, beyond understanding, and unpredictable. God may never be questioned or cursed. Radically transcendent and immanent, God is above and greater than all else. God is not limited to a particular place or time, God cannot be confined to heaven or earth. God is everywhere. God dwells among us and within us. The Kono of Sierra Leone express this reality in another one of the names that they give God, Yataa, meaning “God is the One you meet everywhere.”⁶

      In spite of these attributes, God is not usually worshipped directly, but is paid high respect. In some African nations, God does not have any priests or dedicated shrines, hence the intimation by some scholars that the African God СКАЧАТЬ