• 1 Langage listed under code ISO639-3 in the Ethnologue (https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sif). The (...)
• 2 Programme RADICEL-K: http://radicel-k.huma-num.fr/radicelk (accessed 16 November 2022).

1The Seme, who number ca. 20,000, live in a territory of about 400 km² in the province of Kénédougou (figure 1), but only in six villages do they represent the majority. It appears they arrived in the 17^th century and speak a Kru language in a Mande and Gur environment (see Boyd et al, 2014).1 The vernacular terms transcribed according to the international phonetic alphabet (IPA) and the spelling agreed upon by a team of linguists are presented in a table appended at the end of the text.2 They do not appear in the body of the text, except in special cases, and are then transcribed in italics in a simplified form. The Seme admit borrowing many of their habits, with modifications, from the Toussian, who they settled near to when they arrived (see Fournier 2016 for a synthesis).

• 3 A practice common at the beginning of visual anthropology was thus adopted: see for example Colleyn (...)
• 4 This sequence was established by the present author through the careful study of the filmed images. (...)

3As one of the names given to the Seme diviner – gnmonton 'the one who sees' – indicates, the diviner would have second sight; in other words, he would perceive what is invisible to others. During the thirty minutes or more of a divination session, the diviner is in direct contact with the invisible. The rite takes place in a fascinating environment of cognitive blur and sensory saturation. The diviner recites or chants rapidly a text that abounds in specialised vocabulary, metaphors and proverbs. He also manipulates various objects (notably a stick and cowrie shells) that produce sounds. "If you want to understand what we do in divination, you have to watch us”, the first diviner I spoke to told me. Alas, in the face of so many stimuli, the human eye seemed a poor tool, even when accompanied by a notebook... A precise plan clearly organises the rite, but how to explain the numerous sequences that follow one another, repeated almost in identical fashion? The camera served as a powerful notebook and investigative tool.3 As several diviners quickly authorised the full video recording of some of their divination sessions, adequate material became available to carry out a systematic analysis. The precise sequence of the diviners' gestures, of the sounds produced by their divination equipment and of their spoken words could then be established.4 Successive sequences were identified, and how they each articulated with the whole. Diviners clarified the meaning of these sequences during repeated interviews. This made it possible to identify the existence of a general pattern of organisation of the divination session.

• 5 Even though the use of the term “fetish” to evoke strong objects that are not the receptacle of bus (...)
• 6 This work will have to be carefully carried out as Seme language is still not well known and curren (...)

4This work is presented in two articles. The first presents the organisation of a divination session. It analyses in detail the mechanics of the work carried out by the diviner: divinatory techniques and interactions with the various “fetish” objects in his equipment.5 Each manipulation of an object and each discourse is closely connected to concepts and institutions that constitute the foundations of Seme society. This first article closely follows the sequence of the divination session and gives a first-level explanation, so to speak, including only the information necessary to follow what is happening on the divinatory stage. In the oracular work thus dissected, gestures, words and sounds are closely associated and respond closely to each other in such a way that none of these aspects has more weight than another. In an introductory study such as this, however, it is not possible to treat all of them equally thoroughly. Only the general principles governing the diviner's discourse are presented, the detailed study of the oral texts and of the acoustic aspects will have to be the subject of later work.6

• 7 The position of the sacrificial chicken when it dies indicates the bush spirit’s consent or refusal
• 8 Over ten diviners from the region of Orodara in Burkina Faso shared the information presented here. (...)
• 9 There is no doubt that the generous sharing of knowledge by the Seme and their commitment to resear (...)

5As divination is a delicate and easy to disrupt moment, the diviners requested that their auxiliary bush spirits also give their consent before any recordings started. Divinatory sacrificial rites at the relevant bush spirits’ altars were therefore performed.7 The diviners gave their consent for the images to be disseminated in academic and scientific circles as a means to present Seme culture. 8Before and after the shooting, they presented divination and the main institutions of their society in long and repeated interviews that took place between 2010 and today. An integral copy of the recordings was given to them for their family archives.9

• 10 See Mottier’s (2016) comments on the freedom the camera can give to the ethnologist by giving him o (...)
• 11 The symbolic meaning of this stone, which serves as a prop for divination, will be explained in the (...)

6Nine divinations performed by several officiants were filmed at length in order to understand the sessions’ formal organisation. The very first recordings were of divinations for the research assistant or the author. These were followed by recordings of divinations for people known to the diviner or to the research assistant. To track the sequence of all the diviners' gestures, the first images were recorded in wide shot with a fixed camera. As the pattern of the sessions became clearer and it became possible to anticipate, close-ups were also taken to better read the diviner's gestures. As the diviner became more familiar with the camera and, having seen the footage, more committed to the project of archiving his own work,10 shots could be taken over the diviner’s shoulder or vertically, above the stone.11

• 12 This is different to divination among the Batammariba (Sewane, 2013), Kasena (Liberski-Bagnoud, 201 (...)
• 13 As a general rule, the client (man or woman of any age) does not explain to the diviner why he or s (...)

7Video excerpts of the divination sessions are presented throughout the first paper in a series of montages of short sequences that underline the unity but also the variations of the diviners’ method. Each montage illustrates one ritual sequences as executed by different diviners. Anticipating the broader perspective given in the second article, videos 7 and 8 show an animated sequence of the journeys described by the diviners, and a demonstration of the greeting gestures he says he is making. As requested by the diviners, the videos do not reveal any personal information (nature of the problem treated, identified cause and solution prescribed by the diviner). In this study, it is the diviner who takes centre stage, rather than the client or the relationship between them. Even though the client's problems are the subject of the session, and the client holds the divination stick along with the diviner, the former plays only a very minor role12 after he has whispered his problem onto an object to be placed on the divination stage.13 The diviner can even do without his presence. It is through the diviner's actions and words that the divination takes shape and it is in these gestures and spoken words that we must seek the keys to what is happening. As the main human actor in divination, the diviner is also a theorist whose comments are precious.

• 14 Fournier (2018, 2019, 2020), Fournier and Devineau (2021).
• 15 Especially, the work of Michel Cartry and his team (Condominas, 2010).

8The second article offers a broader perspective as it invites us to discover the other side of divination by revealing the links of the divinatory rite with the land and with the fundamental representations and institutions of Seme society: conceptions of the person, dwo initiation, marriage, territory... In order to reveal the structure of the invisible world with which the diviners interact, this second text also draws on interviews that are not strictly dedicated to divination and on published studies.14 As a great deal of work has already been carried out on the beautiful cultural constructs of divination and the invisible world in the cultural area to which the Seme belong15, this second article also places the representations specific to the Seme within this regional context.

• 16 The first bell will from now on be referred to as the “finger bell” and the second the “clapping be (...)
• 17 Further information on this cult will be given in the second paper.

11To evoke their divination, the Seme generally speak of the flat black stone on which the stick is rubbed and against which the cowries are thrown. Throughout the divination session, this lithophone is tapped by the diviner with different objects, most notably a short, forked stick and an ox horn that contains six cowries and a copper ring. Two metallic bells also help produce the particular acoustic environment of the Seme divination session. The first is a small finger bell that the diviner only uses with his left hand and which is identical to the one that women use to accompany their singing during wedding celebrations (Belliard 2014: 84 and 89). A second bell, with an internal clapper, appears to exist in this small format only for divination.16 It is reminiscent of the dwo, main cult of the society; every individual, male or female, begins his or her initiation during adolescence and continues it throughout life.17 Divination material also includes several small “fetishes”, objects made of plants (figure 2) which have already been described in a previous publication (Fournier 2018).

• 18 In this region of Africa, small invisible beings that live on the land side by side with humans are (...)

12Seme divination is characterised by alternating two divining procedures that are extremely common in West Africa: divination “through the stick” and divination by “throwing the cowries”. After taking a considerable time to set up and prepare his equipment, the diviner starts questioning his personal bush spirit (always female), who is also his divination assistant,18 with the help of the stick. He puts forward several proposals in the form of successive alternative propositions, e.g. "the problem is inside the house/the problem is not inside the house" until one of them is “accepted” by the oracle. To confirm or refute the answer given, he then performs a series of cowry throws on the stone. Afterwards, he takes up the stick again to propose two new alternative proposals and throws again the cowries. Through these procedures little by little he begins to understand the problem for which the session has been commissioned.

• 19 The Bissa strike metallic plates, not stones (Fainzang 1986: 130).
• 20 The Toussian confirm that they gave this divination to the Seme with the cult of Dwo (Daniela Bogno (...)
• 21 This is one of the main differences between Seme divination and that of the Toussian of the South, (...)

13Alternating several procedures during a single divination session is rather common in Voltaic societies (Moba Gurma in Togo, de Surgy 1986: 121; Tallensi in Ghana, Fortes 1987: 17-18; Lobi in Burkina Faso, Meyer 1991; Anufom in Northern-Togo, Baerends 2013: 165; Bwaba in Burkina, the author’s observations). What is unique to Seme divination is the technique of rubbing a stick on a stone. Divining by friction is common in Central Africa (Almquist 1991: 104; Devisch 1991: 113), but the equipment in that area is entirely made of wood and does not usually involve a stick (Retel-Laurentin 1974). Stones are usually used for divination in Western Africa (Blier 1991: 89), but they appear to be hit rather than rubbed (Maurice, 1986: 445, Liberski-Bagnoud 2010: 119, Sewane 2013).19 Divination “by means of a black stone” which is the subject of this paper appears as something particular to the Seme and their neighbours, the Toussian (Guilhem and Hébert 1964, 1965), from whom they borrowed it.20 In Seme villages other divination practices are certainly used (Cooksey 2004, chapter 3), but they have been borrowed from other societies and the Seme qualify these as foreign, especially those used by female diviners. Divination through a black stone is indeed an exclusively male practice and the only one recognized as truly Seme.21

• 22 A common living space that always shelters the enlarged family: a man, his wives and their children (...)

14Depending on the case, the session can be private or public. When private, it often takes place in the diviner’s divination house built for this purpose or in the open, in the diviner’s own compound.22 Private sessions can also often take place in the client’s house, inside a room or in a corner of the compound of the enlarged family’s collective housing. Nevertheless, if the client or the diviner need some privacy, a more remote place can be found. The sessions presented here were all held in these different types of locations. When preparing for the rites of dwo, black stone divination is usually consulted. This kind of session is performed before one or more of the initiates who are in charge of this initiatory cult. This is one of the reasons why the diviner has to be an initiate himself and why women cannot practice this kind of divination. Though women are also initiates of dwo, their initiation is less complete than that of men (Fournier and Devineau 2021). When someone’s cause of death needs to be identified, public divination, which is longer and involves more complex oral texts, is compulsory. This kind of session is carried out in front of the family, in the compound of the deceased.

• 23 It is the hide of a goat sacrificed during the diviner’s initiation. Once the hide is no longer in (...)

15Private divination sessions may be held in the divination house or in the open. The diviner usually sits on an animal hide23 or on a bag placed on the ground, whereas his client sits on a small low stool, such as are found in every compound. Some divination houses have a fixed adobe stand on which their unique stone can be placed. At least during the day, some diviners store some of the divination equipment in the divination house, especially the stick, either on the altar or on large potsherds lying close by. Every diviner also has a carrier bag in which he puts his equipment, including the stone, to take it with him when he does not work at home.

• 24 The diviner often tells an untrained client to “loosen the hold” because if the grasp is too strong (...)

16During the questioning phase of the session, the diviner and his client each hold one of the forked stick’s branches while keeping the stick vertically over the stone. The branch specifically reserved for the diviner often carries some sort of marking (see figure 2). As he is asking the questions, the diviner applies a regular back and forth movement to the stick which the client must follows. This requires some practice.24 If the stick stops moving and one hears a scraping sound, the diviner’s proposal has been rejected. The proposal is validated when the stick glides on the stone and one hears a succession of short clicks (video 1.1). To conclude an interrogation sequence with the stick, the diviner taps the stone with one single blow producing a very characteristic sound. The stick can express more than just a yes or no answer. It owns a gestural lexicon. At times, it may show upward movement, or draw circles or wavy lines on the surface of the stone. These infrequent movements are coded signals that can guide the diviner’s line of questioning or indicate where to make an offering. The same circular movement can, depending on the diviner or the context of the divination session, be a reference to the family house, a termite mound or an anthill. When the stick makes waves, it evokes sacred sites called the Waters. When the stick marks four points (symbolically a feminine number), it refers to the woman. If the stick taps the stone vertically several times, it is imitating the blacksmith's hand motions when working on iron. The sound produced is actually similar to that of a hammer hitting an anvil. The movement is a reference to the Anvil’s Altar. Such movements can be more or less frequent and varied depending on the diviner.

• 25 The bush spirits are said to use it as a drinking vessel.

20Whereas the stick answers the questions of the diviner through movement, the cowry does it through its position (video 1.2). An unique “open” cowry among the six means “yes” (figure 4). The use of a set of six cowrie shells can produce countless combinations and some of these combinations are coded figures with specific meanings. The use of a copper ring, which is thrown with the cowries, enables distinguishing one cowry from the others. The diviner asks questions aloud and the shells answer in their non-articulate language, but they are not silent because when they fall on the stone they make a slight noise. In this dialogue, the diviner seems to take the lead. Before each throw, he asks a conditional question, such as “if such a thing is true, then one cowry should come”. He can also ask that the cowry be placed within the ring. Then, using the horn that contains them, he throws the cowries and the ring onto the stone and observes the result. If the answer (a single “open” cowry) confirms the information obtained with the stick, he will then usually ask a particular cowry to present itself. To confirm the answer, the diviner can also ask the cowries to “separate” themselves. He then waits for three cowries to present their “mouths” and three others their “backs” (figure 5) or that two equal numbers of cowries fall to either side of a line he draws on the stone with his saliva. To request more pressingly an answer that is not forthcoming, the diviner taps with his index finger on the stone or might draw with his saliva points or circles on the stone to indicate where he wants the cowry to land. The diviner also sometimes uses the word “separate” to simply ask, by extension, that a single cowry distinguish itself from the others. When a shell has answered, it is put to the side. Depending on the size of the stone and the number of cowries that have already been set aside, this cowry is placed on the edge of the stone or on the half-pod of a big savanna tree (one of the fetish objects placed on the divinatory scene see below and figure 2).25 The interrogation (the cowry throws) then continues with the remaining cowries. It is only when no shell has answered that the whole set is once again consulted. A positive reply to the question is usually punctuated by the rhythm of the edge of the ox horn tapping the stone. It signals the end of this questioning phase. This gesture and his sound recall the procedure used with the stick and marks the end of this phase of questioning.

• 26 The skill of recognising these “figures”, formed by cowries or other objects that are thrown, is we (...)
• 27 Usually the heads of families take it upon themselves to consult the diviner with regards to any pr (...)

23In the dialogue that occurs during a divination session, the diviner never asks the cowries to fall in a specific arrangement except that of “separate”. The production of “figures” is left to the initiative of the divining power. The diviner is only there to see and interpret these arrangements.26 The experienced clients also know how to recognize and name some of these “figures” because the diviner calls out some of the “figure” names. 27

• 28 The Bissa diviners also distinguish cowrie shell “figures”; their meaning also depends on the figur (...)

24These arrangements are not, however, a strict code that speaks for itself the same way in every circumstance. They must be interpreted according to what has happened previously in the session. Depending on the identity of the “cowries” in a “figure”, the diviner will interpret it differently. For example, he will understand the importance of such and such a cowry making the “figure” for “an understanding”.28 It is during his post-initiation apprenticeship with a qualified master that the diviner learns to recognise and interpret these “figures”, which are few enough for a quick-witted diviner to learn them in about three weeks. The art of correctly interpreting them, however, takes much longer. It comes with practice and experience. It is here that the talent of a diviner lies. If there is some secrecy in divination, it has to do with these figures and the art of interpreting them, because this is the core of a diviner’s knowledge.

• 29 The notion of a single supreme god as creator of the world is shared by other societies of the 'Vol (...)
• 30 Orange strip, figure 6.
• 31 This always happens when the session takes place outside the divination house.

30The diviner always takes first the stone out from his bag, and with this emblematic object of Seme divination he asks for the tutelage of joso, the god “from above”. The latter is the ultimate cause of everything, creator of the world and maker of humans29, for the session that is going to start (video 1.3). The diviner lifts the stone and in silence performs a series of prescribed movements in one or several directions to greet joso.30 The objects are held high, some diviners making the gestures over their heads. This way the diviner can evoke all of the space and make reference to everything that is on earth and “belongs” to joso, without whom divination could not take place. Some diviners also use the movable stand to greet and then repeat the movements with the stone. This stand is made of palmyra palm and the diviners place on it the stone when there is no adobe stand.31 Usually, the diviner spits on both sides of the stone or on the stand before making the movements. The saliva helps tie the “words of truth” that will come out of his mouth, to joso (who is greeted above) and with Earth (on which the stand is going to be placed). Indeed, saliva, which is tightly linked to speech, is often considered in West Africa as a sort of speech equivalent (Hampâté Ba and Dieterlen 1961: 19). During the session, the diviner will again spit on a series of objects from his equipment which he thus connects to his spoken word.

• 32 Light green strip, figure 6.

33Once the stone has been placed on its stand, the diviner takes out the remainder of his equipment, arranges it carefully in front of him and prepares it.32 He pays special attention to the stick and the horn that transmit the “words” of the bush spirit, the horn representing the cowries within it. The diviner takes the horn and removes its cloth stopper. He often spits on it. Some diviners also greet the god-creator with it. In the first divination session, for example, the diviner performs the salutation sequence first with the stand, then the stone and finally the horn’s cloth stopper. Usually, the diviner cleanses the stone with the cloth which is imbued with a purifying plant powder (Fournier 2019) (video 1.4). All traces of any preceding words are thus eliminated, and these can no longer interfere with the message that will be delivered during the new session. The cleansing can take place at the beginning of every session, only in the morning, or only once during the diviner’s initiation.

• 33 Some diviners request both fonio and money, 200 (0,30 €) to 1000 Francs CFA at most.

35The diviner then places the finger bell in his left hand, starts a slow rhythmic chiming and takes the stick in his right hand. Some diviners spit on the extremity of the stick that will be in contact with the stone. Others just tap the stick on the stone three times while holding it vertically. Others still also tap the clapper bell, the horn, the ground and the small basket with the stick, in any order, as shown in the video. This kind of small basket made of palmyra palm leaves is used daily, but in divinatory oral texts, its name refers to the payment for the divination session. In the past, payment was made with a small quantity of white fonio (Digitaria exilis) placed within this basket. Today, a small sum of money is given.33 At the beginning of the session, before putting the payment on the ground beside the stone (coins visible in the images), the client “speaks in his heart over the basket” (silently) in order to put into it that which is troubling him.

• 34 Bright blue strip, figure 6.
• 35 A power central to divination, which will be described at length in the second article.

38The next step is a series of cowry throws which serve to ask the bush spirit if it is present and if the session can begin.34 Depending on the first answer given by the shells, this sequence can be very short “s” or last for several minutes “M”. If the first cowry that answers is kutyon,35 there is no need to continue because this shell “can speak for all the others”. Conversely, if another cowry answers first, one must wait until every single shell appears “open” on the stone. As such, this sequence can consist of multiple throws (up to 22 in the sessions filmed). The cowry that has answered is put to the side and the throws continue with the other ones. Before each throw, the diviner taps the side of the horn against the edge of the stone. This characteristic sound punctuates the phases of cowry questioning. Each throw is usually accompanied by a lengthy speech composed of proverbs and of comments on the position of the cowries (see the second half of video 1.2).

• 36 It would seem that if the stone is small, the shells are arranged in two lines. The arrangement “mo (...)

39Once the “bush spirit’s consent” has been obtained, the diviner aligns the six cowries on the stone in order of size from right to left or left to right (video 1.6). He places them in one or two lines with the “mouth” facing up or, rarely, against the stone.36 The ring is placed first or, less often, in second place around one or two cowries. If the ring is only around one then it is the cowry joso (creator), if not, the cowry ancestors is in the middle and joso is on the rim of the ring. Some diviners say the name of each cowry out loud as they set them on the stone.

• 37 The reception of a bush spirit is assimilated to a marriage; for women, marriage is synonymous with (...)

40Then the diviner presents the clapping bell to the cowries. He makes it turn once or several times above the shells usually in both directions. This action, referred to by the verb tajir “to honour, to reward”, appears to be only carried out in a ritual context. The word tajir is also used for the marriage sequence in which the young bride, who is leaving her family, is praised and receives presents to reward her for the services given. The name of the clapping bell, kè, is also the name of a sacred object in the dwo cult. This action praises the spirit and reminds the participants that the session is under the authority of dwo which can punish irregularities.37 When the direction of the movement changes between each turn or at the end of tajir gesturing, the diviner taps the surface of the stone or its edge with the clapping bell. At this moment, some diviners also tap several other items of the divination equipment. It is at the end of this sequence that some diviners make the client place his hand on the stone in order to present him to the bush spirit.

• 38 Some fetishes, for example anti-thefts, placed in the fields, are for private use. Others, such as (...)
• 39 These are the chiefs of the ancient villages which today form different districts in Orodara.

42Once the cowries are lined up on the stone in front of him, the diviner starts narrating in the present tense. As if in a sort of waking dream, he describes for several minutes (four to 12 in the sessions filmed) a journey to several different sacred places and the home of dignitaries (second part of video 1.3 and video 1.7). While narrating, he rings both bells simultaneously, quickly and rhythmically, and he also chants at a rapid rate, generating a particularly impressive acoustic environment. In thought and in words, the diviner thus visits different altars, some places dedicated to the dwo rites of adolescent male initiation and several communal fetishes present in the territory of Orodara.38 His trip also leads him to the “chiefs”. 39The journey described by the diviner is spatially coherent and could be undertaken in the real world.

• 40 “G”, bright yellow strip, figure 6.

44To indicate that he is greeting people and places, the diviner says one of two phrases, “I give you my hand” or “I give you my elbow”, both of which are in use on a daily basis (video 1.8). Everyone uses the first expression, but the second one is usually reserved for hunters. Many proverbs are included in the diviner’s narrative and a brief account of how his assistant bush spirit arrived must also be included.40 The diviner often also mentions deceased members from his own group of divination. Usually, the diviner will attempt at every session, as far as possible, to deliver an identical list of people and places but he is always careful to add “and my best greetings go out to those that I forgot to mention”. Forgetting someone leads to no consequences if an apology is made.

• 41 See second article.

45Such sequences are also common in other divination practices of the Voltaic cultural area.41

• 42 Bright green strip, figure 6.

47After the narrative of the journey, the diviner keeps ringing the bells and once more interrogates the cowries, this time to verify if the spirit is ready to speak, because the cowries are considered its words. To prepare the cowries for this interrogation, he performs certain gestures that he accompanies with some words.42 The way the diviner speaks to the cowries is ambiguous because he mixes praise with explicit or hidden threats. For example, he says: “I am not threatening you but…” and proceeds to explains that what he is doing aims to force “out the truth” and that liars are subject to punishment.

• 43 Bright green strip, figure 6.
• 44 Light blue strip, figure 6.

48Some diviners insist on marking the end of the sound sequence of the two bells by ringing the clapping bell on its own very slowly for a brief moment, then very rapidly in an irregular rhythm. Some may draw circles in both directions over the cowries with the clapping bell (a gesture called tajir) before placing it on the stone. Some may tap the clapping bell several times against the edge of the stone or use it to tap several items of the divination equipment. During this series of actions, the diviner maintains the clapping bell over the stone and the cowries and makes it touch the stone. These actions are represented in the table by the letters “G”, “E”, “e”, “B” and “X”.43 The diviner may execute all or some of them in the order that he chooses and there are numerous variations to how these units can be carried out (video 1.9). Then he puts away the cowries in the horn.44

• 45 Bright yellow strip, figure 6.

52Unit “e” (see table, figure 6) is performed with a fetish called shel, a loop made of a folded palmyra palm leaf, which takes its name from a verb signifying “to ask forgiveness”. This object is considered as having soothing properties and, therefore, it is used in several ritual occasions, for example, during blood sacrifices. The diviner makes the shel fetish come and go several times in front of the cowries (video 1.11), rubbing it gently against the stone, then makes it touch one by one each of the cowries. Some diviners spit on this fetish before making these movements. Some also say out loud the name of the cowry they are touching. Then, the diviner makes the shel touch the stone drawing circles on it around the cowries, while at the same time he describes aloud what he is doing. The diviners explain that these circles mean “we are together”. It is usually during this sequence that the diviner explains briefly how this “fetish” was acquired but this account can also be included in the long salutation phase,45 together with various other narrated accounts.

• 46 Totyan is a little “fetish” made of a tiny bundle of grasses used for roofing and tied in three pla (...)

54The unit represented by “G” is executed with “the bush spirit’s gourd” (video 1.12), the half-pod of a big savanna tree (already shown in figure 2 and described in note 25) which bush spirits would use as a drinking cup. Most diviners cover the aligned cowries with this object, convex side up. The diviner then performs over the pod the earth sequence “E” already described. Finally, he removes the pod after he has hit the stone several times with it. Tapping motions, identical to those performed with the pod, are made with the items called “the bush spirit’s root”, totyan and dwofan (some diviners present the last two items together).46 Following that, one diviner presents the divination stick. One diviner proceeds differently: he does not turn the pod, but places it concave side up on the stone, then he puts the items totyan, dwofan and “the bush spirit’s root” inside and adds the clapping bell. He then makes the earth threat over the stone and not over the pod. Regardless of how he proceeded with the pod, the diviner states the different threats associated with each of the items he is manipulating. The Earth is a powerful fetish that leads to death, totyan causes lepra, dwofan makes the body swell causing death, the bush spirit’s gourd can give stomach aches. The “bush spirit’s root” is a “fetish of the road”, say the diviners. Liars risk getting lost because of it; when they reach a crossroads, they will not know which way to go. It is at this point in the session that the diviner will most frequently narrate how he welcomed his auxiliary bush spirit.

• 47 Light blue strip, figure 6.

56Once he has finished presenting the different items, the diviner puts the cowries one by one in the horn with the help of one or two totyan fetishes and sometimes also with the dwofan fetish.47 Some of the diviners say out loud the name of each cowry as they push them inside the horn. Following that, the diviner places the item(s) used inside the horn as well (some even stir the cowries with them) and makes additional threats. He then removes the items and puts them on the ground near the stone or on the pod (video 1.13).

• 48 Pink strip, figure 6.

58The cowries are now ready for the diviner to start asking questions and verifying if the bush spirit is ready to talk.48 Before making the first cowry throw, the diviner taps the ground with the tip of the horn and the side of the horn against the edge of the stone. Some diviners also gently tap one or several items with the horn: the stick, the clapping bell, the basket (payment) at that moment. As already mentioned (see above and note 35), during this sequence, the answer of the cowry called kutyon to the first throw will determine how to continue. If kutyon is “open”, the first throw will be enough “s”, otherwise there will be several throws “M” because then each cowry needs to answer.

• 49 Bright green strip, figure 6.
• 50 Bright green strip, figure 6.
• 51 Pastel yellow strip, figure 6.
• 52 Bright yellow strip, figure 6.

59The “occasional units” “G”, “E” and “L” can be performed in any order, but they are always carried out during the same sequence.49 Conversely, the unit represented by “X”, “detachment”, can be performed at different moments of divination (video 14). It can take place when different items are used to make several threats,50 at the beginning of the questioning session51 (see below) or even during the long salutation phase.52 As the diviner’s hands are ringing the bells during the latter sequence, detaching is done through words. Otherwise, it consists of drawing a cross on the stone, on the ground or on both (in whichever order) with the finger bell, producing a characteristic sound. This unit is essential because it is destined to sever or “untie” possible invisible links that would hold prisoner the diviner or his auxiliary spirit, preventing them from carrying out their work correctly. The detachment is done “on the earth” and “on the stone” highlighting that it is addressed to both the visible and the invisible worlds, to the diviners as much as to other individuals. It is often combined with the threats done with earth.

• 53 In the Seme language, as in other languages from the region, the same word describes cultivated or (...)

62The diviner states aloud a proposal (see above) to his bush spirit. The latter answers yes or no to each proposition through the movement of the stick and the position of the cowries. Then the diviner makes a new proposition. Depending on the course of the session, this new proposition can be a step back or, on the contrary, a step forward in trying to elucidate the problem. As an example, one of the first questions asked is often “Is the problem in the compound? Is the problem not in the compound?” (which means within the family or not). When the bush spirit answers that the problem is not in the compound, the diviner orients himself towards a location in “the fields and the bush” and other questions follow.53 If the bush spirit answers that the problem is in the compound, the diviner then speaks as if he were entering the compound and exploring the vestibule which gives access to the common space shared by the extended family. He then pretends to explore the compound itself room by room. If the answers to all questions about the compound are negative, the diviner may come back to the first question and ask again whether the problem is in the compound or not. In this process, people may be mentioned, especially when witchcraft is suspected, but they are never identified precisely. More often than not, a lack of protection by an irritated power is identified as the cause of the client's problems. Even in cases of witchcraft, a power will be propitiated to remedy it. The diviner then tries to see what “reparation” to this power is needed in order to solve the problem. Here again a step backwards may be necessary. For example, the diviner may conclude at a certain point that a power called Water asks the client to wear a special shirt. After having asked in the binary style already described about the possible colours for this shirt without obtaining an answer, the diviner may go back to asking: “Is it really a shirt/ Is it not a shirt?” and may then follow another path.

• 54 When the client is asked to wear a special shirt or a ring it comes in addition to a blood sacrific (...)

63The general rule is that any reparation requires a blood sacrifice to a specific altar.54 The diviner first seeks to determine the species of the sacrificial victim (goat, sheep, chicken, guinea fowl) and then its sex and often its colour. Sometimes an offering of kola nuts, rice, etc. at a crossroads, to a person or to an anthill are enough. The Seme admit willingly that according to their own traditions, reparation always needs to be through a blood sacrifice and that plant-based offerings are a borrowing from Muslim tradition. These accommodations enable converts to resolve their problems without creating additional difficulties for them. When a client comes to inquire on how to influence his future (travelling safely, good results in an exam, etc.), the diviner also prescribes a sacrifice to a specific altar. In this case, the sacrifice will only take place if the request is fulfilled.