BELIEF IN GOD
Before the Bremen missionaries reached West Africa in the 19th century, the Anlo-Ewe knew God and called him "Mawu". When they invoke his presence, they elaborate on the name: "O Mawuga Sogbolisa, Kitikata adanu wo to amesi wo asi wo afo."This means the Great God who created hand and foot. But they have worshipped him through their traditional intermediary deities. Some of them are: Yewe, Eda, Nana, Mamiwota, Afa, etc. Before medical science was known in West Africa, the priests of these deities healed our patients.

The traditional healers do not take God's Supremacy lightly. He created the universe and everything in it: water and herbs. Because they use water and herbs to treat their patients, the healers always give God credit when their patients survive. Their usual expression is "God has blessed our efforts. If someone is ill, you only let the person wash him or herself with the water in the basin before the icon" or wash him or her with the herb water and the sick person will recover.

A West African god of thunder and lightning, Yewe, is worshipped among the Fo of Benin and the Ewe of Togo and Ghana. It is called Shango among the Yoruba of Nigeria. Like African Christians who adopt what we are told are Christian names, the initiated members of Yewe are given the Yewe names. The new name would be announced at the member's graduation performance to inform the community and to forbid the public from calling the member by his or her old name. Anyone who calls the member by his or her forbidden name after the official introduction will have committed an offense against the member and the deity. The offender will be summoned and tried before a jury of priests and the Yewe elders according to the laws of the religion. If the offender is found guilty, he or she will pay a heavy fine.

Afa, the younger brother of Yewe, is the West African astral god of divination. It originated in IIe -Ife in Nigeria among the Yoruba who call it Ifa. The Fo of Benin call it Fa and the Ewe of Togo and Ghana call it Afa. As a visionary deity, Afa sees the past as well as the future and communicates that through "Agumaga" to a diviner. Agumaga is a divining chain with four concaves on each side of the chain and looks like a horseshoe when held by the loop. The diviner holds the loop-like head and throws it on a mat to communicate with Afa in the spirit world to answer questions. When the divining chain lands on the mat, the concaves are guided by both the spirits of Afa and the client to turn in an unpredicted manner to reveal the sign that would answer the client's question. The first "kpoli" or sign that reveals itself would answer the question. The client also may ask questions for clarification. When the process is over, the diviner will analyze the literature of the kpoli that answers the question and what the client needs to do or not to do to experience his or her good wishes.

Consultation with Afa is not limited to individuals. Groups may consult on group issues. A social dance group may consult a diviner to find out if their group's perfomances would be successful. If they would not, would there be anything they could do to assure their success. Also, elders of all the other deities, including Yewe, consult Afa diviners to know what their deities want done before their annual festivals begin.

Membership in Afa is by personal choice. Unlike Yewe, the members do not adopt new names after initiation; they keep their given names. Both members and non-members perform its music provided the non-members wear white clothing like the members. But non-yewe members do not perform alongside the members unless the performance is at a funeral of a member. On that day only, the non-members will perform alongside the members and sing the Yewe songs with immunity. That day's performance is always referred to as "free-for-all." A non-member who sings the songs a day after the free-for-all performance violates the moratorium and he or she will pay a stiff fine.

Supremacy of God is recognized among Afa members also. After invoking the names of the major kpoliwo or signs, the officiating priest will call another sign, "Kpoli, Gudafluwogbe" to deliver the congregation's requests to God, to leave the bad omens there, and to bring God's benediction to the members.

Anlo-Ewe Christians have denigrated Afa. They put an accent mark on the second "a" to change the meaning of the word to "half." They claim that anything that is half could not amount to much. Without an accent, the followers say the name means, "Afa na wo" meaning that after initiation, one would find relief. Most of the followers have found the relief that they sought.

My father was one. An avid bible reader, he chose Christianity over Afa but was initiated when doctors in the Gold Coast could not cure him. During his long illness, his maternal uncles, who were members of Afa, divined for him. The "kpoli" that answered the question indicated that he would recover if he was initiated into Afa but he would not concede. To see doctors, he was carried to the hospital but when they got closer to the hospital, he would ask to walk. Every time they went to the hospital, the doctors found nothing wrong with him and they carried him away. When the pressure to be initiated mounted, he threatened to sue anyone who would dare suggest initiation into Afa. But when he was running low on money, he relented. After his initiation in 1940, he became a strong believer, still read the bible, until he passed away in 1970.

WELLNESS ADVISER
We usually accept our doctor's advice for good health. Like our doctors, Afa is also a wellness adviser. Like a doctor writing prescriptions for his or her patients, Afa advises its followers to balance their physical, emotional, and spiritual components if they want to achieve good health. To balance these components, each member must observe its "kpoli" or sign's dietary and color of clothing restrictions. I was not surprised when my doctor told me not to consume hot pepper. When I did, even in moderation, my head felt as if it would shatter.

Dietary restrictions may have saved my Uncle Kpogo's life. He had snuffed tobacco up until he became a member of Afa. After a casting, he went to a senior priest for a second opinion. The senior priest looked at the marking of the "kpoli" that had answered the question and asked my uncle if he had any tobacco powder with him. He wanted some. The priest snuffed some and asked my uncle to sniff some. After he snuffed it, the priest told him never to sniff tobacco again in his life. Arriving home from the priest, he met a friend who wanted some snuff. Following the priest's advice, he snuffed for the last time and gave the balance away to his friend.

Intervention healing is also possible for Afa priests. Like doctors, diviners can diagnose an ailment and know whether they are capable of healing or not healing the patient. They will use the Agumaga for the diagnosis. If they aren't able to, they will say "kpoli" or the sign "Wolixodi" said that if human beings were not mortal, an Afa priest would not die. He will always use his agumaga to determine what to do to heal himself. "Wolixodi" is the combination of number three and four of "Dunowo" or the twins.

Afa divinity has 16 "Dunowo" or twin signs, but there are a total of 257 "Kpoliwo" or signs. From 1-16 are the twins and the combination signs are called "viklewo"i.e. the 17th. It is the combination of the 13th and the 15th signs of the twins. In casting, the signs are not formed manually. They are formed when the Agumaga is thrown on the mat. ( see the signs below)

Because "Kpoliwo" are astrally connected, there might be some similarities between them and zodiacal signs. But "kpoliwo" are neither based on one's date of birth nor assigned to anyone by the high priest of the religion. Each member's sign will emerge through the initiation process. This process is objective and influenced only by the spirits of the person and the divinity.