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W. HOSTE, B.A., OX FETICHISM — 



but spirits of a superlmman order, as Dr. A. T. Scliofield. 

 member of the Council of this Institute, well says in his work 

 Modern Sjyiritism.'^ We cannot believe . . . that any 

 human beings, however depraved, can in their sj^irit-form after 

 death descend to the horrors that accompany so many cases of 

 ' possession,' the secrets of so many seances or the dreadful 

 experiences of so many spiritists. Surely to call these denizens 

 of the pit ' discarnate spirits,' is not to honour the dead but to 

 dishonour them and to reach the incredible. Humanity may 

 descend to the bestial ; but not to the de^^ihsh without actual 

 ' possession ! ' " Yet though such things are concomitant of 

 spiritism, we are asked to accept it as the ally of Christianity. 

 I think we may weirshrink from such an alliance. 



Fetichism has two distinct sides : for the lay negro it is 

 exoteric — a kind of protective superstition, akin to the use of 

 charms, mascots, etc., in Europe; and for the prof essional witch- 

 doctor on its esoteric side it corresponds fairly closely, as we 

 have seen, with modern spiritism. 



Fetiches serve many ends. They are (1) protective against 

 evil spirits and so prophylactic against disease and death ; 

 (2) detective of evil spirits and of witches, their human confeder- 

 ates ; (3) curative of disease ; (4:) incentive to affection, and 

 (5) predictive (i.e., of auspicious days for ceremonies, journeys, 

 etc.). 



The cult of the African for the departed is professedly not based 

 on filial piety as in China, nor on faith in the Supreme Spirit, 

 but on fear. As Henry Drummond has said, " Fear of Spirits 

 is the National religion of the negro. Spirits have good memories 

 — a nasty way of wiping off old scores against surviving relatives 

 or enemies. Hinc iU<e lacrymcB ! 



These spirits are supposed to be of two kinds — bad, called 

 oviluhi (in Umbimdu), and a rarer variety, ahamba, or good 

 spirits, who do no harm and can be safely ignored. A native 

 who dies becomes ipso facto an ochilulu'f or evil spirit, and goes 

 to a place of suffering to make amends for his sins, but still 

 retains his power for mischief, ^yh.en accident or sickness 

 or death occurs in a village, it is the work of some e^'il spirit 

 either seeking to attract attention to itself and enlist the interest 

 of sorrowing relatives or avenging itself for past injuries. 



* Page 98. 



t Ovilulu, plural ; ochilidu, singular. 



