Conjure: Survival of African Religious Structure, Part 2 – Ashe’

 There are innumerable religious traditions on the continent of Africa, and within a great number of them is the power to ‘call-forth’ or the ability to use the body and voice as a conduit to focus the spiritual powers of the unseen world to impact upon the realm of the living.  In the Yoruba tradition this ability can be summed up in the word: ashe’.[1]  Ashe’ like the word ‘amen’ provides emphasis to any and all spiritual conversations.  As well it represents the embodiment of the divine life force that exists within and throughout all things in the seen and unseen worlds.  Will Coleman in the article “‘Amen’ and ‘Ashe’’: African American Protestant Worship and Its West African Ancestor”, states: “‘Ashe’’ is something like an all-pervasive spiritual energy. But it is also a term comparable to ‘Amen.’ It could be translated as ‘so be it.’”[2]   For the Yoruba, ashe’ is the divine word handed down from the supreme deity Olorun[3] its’ self, which enables communication between deities and mortals. 

The Yoruba belief system is ancient with no clear origin date.  Yoruba people believe they are descendants of the Goddesses and Gods of their pantheon whom are themselves mere manifestations of Olorun.  The deities of their pantheon, of which there are hundreds, each embody aspects of the material world.[4]  For instance, Eshu is the spirit of change and individuality, Ogun is the God of iron, Oshun is the Goddess of love and so forth.[5]  Further, Yoruba deities are equipped with the looks and personalities of humanity, which makes them accessible to humans, unlike Olorun.  That is to say, the supremacy of Olorun is so much that It cannot be reached by humans, which is why intermediaries or lessor Goddesses and Gods are necessary for the Yoruba people. 

Furthermore, each of the lessor deities has certain requisites for humans who wish to connect with them, such as particular dances, items, costumes and/or gifts.  The offerings are dependent on the particular personality of the specific deity being revered.  For example, Legba, a trickster, requires an offering of tobacco, while iron must be present for Ogun to make his presence felt.[6]  Failure to acknowledge the specific requisites of a particular deity is blasphemous and may be met with divine justice: crop failures, disease, death of family members, loss of prestige, etc.  The lessor deities were created through the ashe’ of Olorun as It has the ultimate power to bring into existence or make-things-happen.   However, to be clear, ashe’ power by itself is inherently neutral, and can only become good or evil at the will of the user.   

Also, ashe’ was given to particular avatars on Earth as conduits for human empowerment, specifically, the royal python (ere), the gaboon viper (oka olushere), the earthworm (ekolo), the white snail (lakoshe) and the woodpecker (akoko).[7]  Other representations of ashe’ for the Yoruba exist within inanimate objects such as certain sculptures and other works of art.[8]  Moreover, for the Yoruba, when human personality is combined with the power of ashe’ a sense of certainty or coolness (itutu) is born.[9]  Coolness is the gentle but serious nature that exists within human beings as a result of strong character and a keen understanding of ashe’ power.
In the New World, the Yoruba belief system did not expire during the process of enslavement, instead it evolved as the Yoruba people did.[10]  Many Yoruba deities began to appear in various folk belief systems of enslaved Africans in the Americas and the Caribbean.  Meaning, the Yoruba belief system took on (and maintains) a number of different identities in the Western Hemisphere, such as: Vodun, Condomble’, Santeria, Macumba and Umbanda.[11]   This phenomenon was made possible because of the strong philosophic foundation of the Yoruba.  That is to say, the Yoruba developed their belief system in such a manner that it is conceptually grounded and not dependent on conversion.  Thompson explains, “The Yoruba remain the Yoruba precisely because their culture provides them with ample philosophic means for comprehending and ultimately transcending, the powers that periodically threaten to dissolve them.”[12]  During the middle passage and settlement in the Americas, the Yoruba religion simply evolved and took on a number of different names and diverse manifestation, but is still essentially governed by the power of ashe’.

To explain further, through syncretism many of the Yoruba Goddesses and Gods were easily replaced with Catholic saints because of the many parallelisms that exist between the Saints and the Orishas.[13]  For instance, the Virgin Mary can be worshipped and adorned the same way Oshun is because they share a gentle nature.[14]  Or, Eshu becomes ‘the Devil’ upon Catholic conversion because they share a precarious disposition.  This syncretic process was not made possible simply because the deities share similar characteristics, but instead by the ability to “make it so” through the signification of words and symbols, through ashe’.  That is, the use of ashe’, to name, to call-forth, or to create through voice and action, provided the parameters to ease the conversion of Africans in the New World.

In North American Christian Churches, ashe’ became amen, but the idea behind the expression was never lost on Africans who were converted to the religion of their masters.  More precisely, the difference between the expressions is merely semantic, nothing more.  Amen like ashe’ provides emphasis to the preacher’s words on Sunday, strengthens individual prayers, as well it accompanies shouts of jubilation for African Americans attempting to make manifest the desires of the soul.  Both expressions ensure that the messages of mortals will be heard by the Divine.  Like the Yoruba, African Americans depend heavily on the ability to bring-forth through the word, and amen allows that, just as ashe’ does. 

Due to the fact that the Yoruba religion was able to survive the conversion experience of Africans in the New World, it is likely the only traditional African religion that not only survived the Maafa (African Holocaust) intact but continues to thrive outside the continent of Africa.  This speaks to the strength and versatility of the Yoruba belief system.  In that, the tradition survived the middle passage but did so by evolving to fit the temporal and spatial context in which it found itself in the New World.  This is not to say that other African traditions and cultures did not survive the Maafa, such a perspective would be rather shortsighted.  Instead this is to argue that the versatility of the Yoruba tradition, which emphasizes the power to “make it so” through ashe’, has enabled the tradition to grow in the Americas.  In essence, I am proposing that ashe’ is the same as ‘amen’: the basis of all conjuring power for Africans in the New World where the human voice becomes a conduit of supernatural power in the natural world, thereby allowing Africans in the Americas to continue to develop and nurture a sense of identity and being-ness.



[1] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 5. 
[2] Will Coleman. ""Amen" and "Ashe": African American Protestant Worship and Its West African Ancestor." CrossCurrents 52, no. 2 (2002): 158. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24460537.
[3] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 5.  Olorun is neither male nor female, and is the quintessential embodiment of Ashe’.
[4] Molefi Kete and Kariamu Welsh Asante.  African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity.  (New Jersey: Africa World Press, 1996), 53.
[5] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), xv.
[6] Will Coleman.  Tribal Talk: Black Theology, Hermeneutics, and African/American Way of “Telling the Story.”  (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000), 7-12.
[7] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 5.
[8] Ibid., 6-7.
[9] Ibid., 13.
[10] Maya Deren.  Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti.  (New York: Documentext, McPherson & Company, 1970),
[11] Stefania Capone.  Searching for Africa in Brazil: Power and Tradition in Condomble’.  (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010).  Jacob U. Gordon " Yoruba Cosmology And Culture in Brazil: A Study of African Survivals in the New World." Journal of Black Studies 10, no 2. (December 1979): 231- 244.
[12] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 16. 
[13] Maya Deren.  Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti.  (New York: Documentext, McPherson & Company, 1970), 55-56.
[14] Robert Farris Thompson.  Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art and Philosophy.  (New York: Vintage Books, 1984), 17.