Chapter 15

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Charms and Amulets
Ṣẹ́gun Ṣóẹ̀tán

Introduction

I
n this age and time, scholarship on African indigenous science and medicine is very
scanty, if at all in existence. Humanity populates new ideas, thrash old customs, and
refine moribund cultures. The quest for new elite culture has profoundly changed
belief systems and iconoclastic operations, which were regarded as modus operandi
of ancient times. Nowadays, no one fears darkness as there is electricity and other
renewable energy forms to provide illumination. The ocean has become our passage
for millennia. The firmament and the skies have routinely become our playground. On
a daily basis, jet planes, rockets, and drones fly from one end of the world to another.
Some no longer care about ancient ideologies, the cultural praxis of our history, which
seem to be buried in the bygone years of mediocrity.
People now recreate the world in their own ways, wanting, in their limited wisdom
and cogitation, innovations and creativity thought to surpass their forebears. People
make bulletproof vests, parachutes, life jackets, and other safety devices that will help
safeguard lives. One hardly thinks of the legacies of the ancient people, especially
in the areas of science and technology. While the Western world, that is, Europe and
America, may not be so guilty of this sin of negligence, African nationals are greatly in
the habit. Both literate and nonliterate Africans, on daily basis, reject the rich ancient
wisdoms of the continent and desecrate the once venerated practices that birthed the
recorded innovations of the continent while aping western modernism.
As a result of the neocolonialist’s distaste for African sensibilities, most importantly,

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their knowledge of oral literature and cosmic permutation, indigenous knowledge

creation has become calcified, jejune, and, in some instances, mortified. It is ironic,
though, that while indigenous African knowledge are being mortified at alarming rates,
the majority of Africans profess to be either Christians or Muslims who believe in their
holy books, the bible and Quran, respectively. In both the Bible and the Quran, there
are over one thousand verses that are prayers for prevention of evil and protection from
enemies and that seek benevolence from the elements. These verses are based on the
spoken words that are divinely construed. In a similar vein, Yorùbá charms and amulets
evoke the same forces to seek protection, ward off evil forces, and seek good fortune
from the elements that the universe is composed off: the transcendental powers. Even
in their crudest forms, charms and amulets represent two dominant themes that have
come to distinguish the Yorùbá people as philosophers, scientists, and technologists.
This work brings to the fore the material benefits of charms and amulets to the Yorùbá
people on one hand and, on the other, its constitutiveness as both a religious practice
and science.

What are Charm and Amulets?

Èyí a wí fín ọgbọ́, ni ọgbọ́ ń gbọ́
Èyí a wí fún ọgbà, ni ọgbà ń gbà
Whatever we tell Ọgbọ́, ọgbọ́ is what it hears
Whatever we tell Ọgbà, is what he accepts – a Yorùbá incantation
If one knows how to recite chants, especially incantatory ones, he or she is either an
unbeliever or a soul condemned to burn in hell—this is the general assumption in
modern-day Nigeria that has become a religious enclave for Christians and Muslims.
Certain verses of the bible and the Quran embody spiritual supplications that are
amenable only to transcendental powers which operate beyond human cogitation and
rational knowledge, such as Psalm 119 and Surat Ayat Al-Kursi, respectively. But this
is a postcolonial world, a world that is defined by European modernity and American
ideologies, a global world that emasculates the periphery while bolstering the center.
The center is defined by technological advancement and economic superiority.
Knowledge production in the context of the maligned margins has been greatly
undermined. There is always erroneous and egregious reactions to reified practices
such as include charm and amulet making. Serving utilitarian purposes, a charm is not
in any way a satanic or demonic practice; instead, it is a symbolic code that speaks to
both the terrestrial and the extraterrestrial forces. It is a universal practice whose uses
and functions permeate all cultures and modernity. A charm juxtaposes knowledge of
the cosmos, a permutation of the elements to yield desired results, which is sometimes
represented through the use of amulets. Amulets, therefore, are insignia or symbols
prepared to be worn or hanged around the body to implement the efficacy of certain
charms. In certain cultural circles, amulets are regarded as magical symbols worn by
people to protect themselves from malevolent forces, evil eyes, and misfortunes and as
well as to seek good luck from benevolent forces. In many ways, charms and amulets
describe a belief in supernatural powers and the ability to summon these powers to do
one’s bidding.

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Among the Yorùbá people, the use of charm is as ancient as the creation of the
earth. It is a practice that has evolved, changing forms through the ages and periods
(precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial). Charms and amulets refer to a belief system
or a natural science that bundles synergic exchange between the transcendental
heavens and the immanent earth hidden in scientific forms held secret among the
initiates schooled in the communicative codes that unlock the pathway to the earth
portal. The science that produced charms and amulets is rooted in religion, which
itself is a product of mythology (Scheub, 2000: x). Therefore when one mentions and
discusses charm and amulets as used among the Yorùbá people, he or she refers to the
religious beliefs of the people and their mythology. In the history of the Yorùbá nation,
long before colonialism, charms and amulets were the products of the best minds,
created by those versed in esoteric knowledge beyond lay cogitation. These erudite
minds were, in most cases, hunters and herbalists who were believed to commune with
spirits and ghosts and able to tap into spiritual powers. Since “every spirit belongs
to Spirit, we draw life from this potent force that connects all of creation” for no
animate or inanimate object exist in isolation; this “Spirit,” is the fuel of our activities”
(Doumbia and Doumbia, 2005: 4-5). The knowledge that produced charms is mostly
revelatory and experimental: the former is transcendental and the latter comes to the
initiates through permutation of ideas and change of formula.
Charms are a byproduct of religion, and they allude to theological assumptions
that connect other sacrificial rites. Their nuclei are composed of pantheon worship,
notably Ifá divination. The Ifá corpus contains the chronicles of the deities, people,
and objects in anthropomorphic relationship. What charms do in most cases is allude to
these anthropomorphic events. By doing so, charm ingredients transmogrify to bring
about efficacy by animating the objects. It is this profound believe in primordial life
that sustains the efficacy of charms and amulets in the culture.

Classification of Charms
In precolonial Yorùbá culture, charms and amulets profoundly sustained humanity and
existences: prevent evil, sustain social order, seek good fortune, and serve medical
needs. Everyone used charms and amulets. In a society that had no western hospitals,
clinics, or medical facilities like those in existence today, charms and amulets greatly
complement traditional medicine. In this time, every natural object was imbued with
potency to function as charm ingredients. Materially, charms and amulets are composed
of herbs, animal parts, and other objects within the natural flora and fauna. What really
determines the type of material that a charm is made up of depends on the objective
and purpose of the charm. Charms are divided into two broad categories: incantatory
and non-incantatory composite charms.

Incantatory Composite Charms

This type of charms contains different objects and materials ranging from herbs,
leaves, animal parts, and earth. Usually, a composite charm has a principal material
without which the charm’s efficacy would be lost. This principal material reacts with

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other secondary materials to effect the purpose of the charm. Most composite charms
are ignited through incantation. When composite charms are made, the material
elements in their compositions may not be effective until incantations are said. These
incantations signal a moment of reaction by calling on the secret names of the combined
elements. In some instances, incantations allude to primordial events. In this regard,
both the materials combined and the incantations become the charm. This is why it is
so difficult to separate incantation from charms and amulets.
In a composite charm, the elements work together in a set of formula that the
incantation sets in motion. Like modern-day chemistry, where an atom of oxygen reacts
with two of hydrogen to create water and is represented as H2O. Elements combine in
composite charms either as matrixes within the alluded event, or as a chain in cosmic
logic that must not be delinked for efficacy. Some examples include:

A kì í bínú agbe tòun t’aró,

A kì í bínú àlùkò tòun t’osùn,
A kì í bínú odídẹrẹ́ tòun ti ìkóódẹ,
Aráyé, ẹ má bínú mi o. (excerpt from personal data collection)

No one hates the blue turaco in its blue hue,

No one abhors the cuckoo bird with its beauty,
No one dislikes the parrot with its colorful tail,
May people never hate me.

This incantation reveals its composition: the blue turaco bird, the cuckoo, and the
parrot. For this particular charm to be effective, the incantation has to bind the objects
together. The incantation uses the elements of attraction in the bird to call forth
affection on the client making the charm.

Non–Incantatory Composite Charms

Unlike the incantatory composite charms, this type of charm requires no incantation
before it is effective. The efficacy of charms in this category is contingent upon
spoken words or actions from external objects; these external objects could be human
or animal. Most of the non-incantatory composite charms work by bringing object
materials that react naturally together and by allusion. The Yorùbá believed that when
certain objects are paired together, especially herbs and animal parts, they combine
their natural energies to cure or prevent diseases and ailments. Most therapeutic Yorùbá
medicines are in this category; they require no incantations. Examples include a cure
for headaches and stomach aches and even an elixir for prolonged child labor, in which
case the patients are only given powder made from combination of animal and plant
materials, or àsèjẹ. In certain regards, non-incantatory charms are kinesthetic, requiring
no spoken word but perfomative action. One example is mágùn, a sexual monitoring
charm that is usually placed on a woman who is suspected of being promiscuous.
Whatever the material composition of mágùn, its efficacy is not assured until a victim
performs the action and the elements combine to effect a damaging reaction that may
result in death or paralysis. Religion informs the use of charms and amulets in Yorùbá

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culture. There is the belief that every object has a secret name given by God before
humans arbitrarily named things. Therefore, if one can decode the secret names of
objects, he or she can command entities to do his or her bidding. Great herbalists,
hunters, and initiates are said to possess such highly effective power, which they
deploy in time of great adversary and difficult.

Uses of Charms and Amulets

Naturally, charms and amulets were essential for survival in the precolonial period.
They served different purposes: for protection, for fortune seeking, for winning wars,
and for conquering empires. Against the general assumptions that surround fabrication
of charms and amulets in the contemporary period, possessing and using charms and
amulets then had no correlation with piety, holiness, evil, or fetish, as claimed today.
Because of their ease of use and ability to surmount the elements, charms become a
necessary tool in precolonial society and culture. What modern society cannot achieve
in terms of modern technology was achieved through the use of charms and amulets.
There are charms (Kánàkò) that can speed up travel, which was important in an age
where people walked long distances to their destinations (Awólàlú, 1979: 70). There
is the egbé charm that has the ability to make a man disappear in case of disaster and
chaos. In addition to these two, the ayẹta charm repels bullets.
Geographically, Yorùbáland is located within a tropical rainforest, where dense
foliage easily hides dangerous animals such as lions, tigers, and leopards. For
successful hunting in that kind of forest, egbé, no doubt, is a good charm to possess.
Because people today enjoy the luxury of modern facilities, they seldom appreciate the
efforts of the precolonial gurus who invented the use of charms and amulets to ease
their lives. Driving a car is similar to people in the distant past using Kánàkò, that is,
making use of different knowledge to get the same result.
As with all knowledge, there will always be the positive and the negative sides
of every innovation; while some will deploy charms to tackle societal upheaval and
mitigate situations, others may use them for other nefarious and inhumane activities. On
the whole, charms could be deployed for both private and public uses; private connotes
individual uses of charms while the public utilization represents the collective uses
of charms and amulets by societies, communities, families, and clans. Other uses of
charms and amulets highlighted by Awólàlú (1979), include but not limited to: curing
certain ailments, gaining success in different enterprises, and warding off attacks of
enemies (74).

Ingredients for Making Charms and Amulets

To prepare charms and amulets, one needs different types of ingredients. These
ingredients depend on the type of charm or amulets produced. Whether incantatory
composite or non-incantatory composite, charms differ in their material compositions.
There are super charms and minor charms. For super charms, elaborate preparation
and ingredients are needed. The ingredients are, in most cases, many, expensive and
scarce. Minor charms are composed of few items and materials that can be easily

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sourced locally. The fact that one charm is minor and the other super does not in
any way suggest lesser efficacy but indicates the severity of the purpose for which
the charm is made. What is important, however, is that “we combine objects that are
energetically” suitable to match the intention of our charms (Doumbia and Doumbia,
2004, 40).
Examples of super charms include wealth portion (òògùn ajé), invisibility charm
(àfẹ́ẹ̀rí), disappearance formula (egbé), bulletproof charm (ayẹta), and coital bolt
(mágùn). For the minor charms, examples include antidotes for poisons (aporó),
favor-induced charm (ẹ̀yọ́nú), and curative charms (òògùn orí fífọ́, inú rírun). To make
charms in either category, one needs to combine animal and plant materials. Usually,
animal products such as hide, bones, eyes, nails, claws, and feathers are the most
commonly used ingredients for the super charms. These components are often crushed
together in a mortar and mixed with African black soap (ọṣẹ dúdú) or heated until
they make a powder. In other instances, super charms may require blood, especially
for money-making charms; the blood is either mixed with other animal and/or human
body parts. A minor charm requires minimal effort and ingredients. One can grind
animal parts together and mix the paste with ọṣẹ dúdú or soak certain medicinal plants
in aqueous solutions. Also, gums, resins, and cowrie shells are potential ingredients
for charms. Other ingredients are, but not limited to, fecal droppings, snail slime, old
clothes, footwear, earth, rainwater, spring water, semen, human genitals, menstrual
blood, yokeless eggs, animal horns, fallen meteor, seaweed, chameleons, snakes,
tortoises, placenta, and fetus. Almost anything could be used as ingredients for charms
in Yorùbá culture.

Charms and Amulets in Modern Day Yorùbá

Culture
On the surface, the general notion is that the use of charms and amulets is fast
disappearing from our modern cosmopolitan societies. However, the truth is that
charms and amulets are profoundly deployed to solve modern problems, even among
literate and highly educated Nigerians. Making and using charms and amulets in
contemporary time is shrouded in hypocrisy and Pentecostal egoism. The period
after colonialism is notorious for its ruination of African culture and religion. As a
carryover effect, colonial subjects in the independent nations maligned their cultural
heritage, desecrated ancestral religions and worship, and followed the colonizers’
religions. Christianity and Islam substitute for traditional worship, and those practicing
traditional religions were hunted and severely punished (see Ousamane Sembene’s
Ceddo).
It is this absurdity in behavior and the carryover effects of colonialism that informs
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò’s (2010) assertion in his book How Modernity Preempted Africa that
“if we adopted a historical approach to colonialism, we will find that its modern
inflection set in bold relief the peculiarities of the variety that took root in Africa and
can therefore give us more adequate etiology of Africa’s evolution in its aftermath”
(3). The aftermath of colonialism, as indicated by Taiwo, suggests a hybrid culture, one

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that is grafted in the peculiarities of the brutal forces of colonial subjugation of African
cultural advancements. However, despite the elite’s criticism of charms as backward
practices, thousands of Nigerian politicians fortify themselves with numerous charms.
They visit herbalists, diviners, and medicine men in the cloak of the night to make
charms and amulets. Even though elite Africans claim that the use of charms and
amulets is counter to the theological tenets of their professed religions, they rely more
on the use of charms and amulets in their political businesses. Nigerian dailies carry
news of such stories, especially during election periods.
It is a common sight during political campaigns to see opponents assail each other
using charms and amulets. Perplexed by the incessant destruction and vandalization of
pipelines in Nigeria, the federal government in 2014 commissioned the Oòduà Peoples’
Congress (OPC), a vigilante group known for its members’ possession of highly potent
charms, to help guard oil pipelines and other installations in the oil-producing states of
Nigeria. This move by the federal government justified the utilitarian uses of charms
and amulets even in our contemporary age and modernity. Apart from this corporate
use of charms and amulets, certain individuals in Nigeria today still make and use
charms. Even though Christianity and Islam have both undermined the growth of
African traditional religions, yet many people in Nigeria still hold tenaciously to the
efficacies of charms and amulets despite their attendance at churches and mosques.

How Charms and Amulets Work

In a typical chemistry class, one is taught how elements combine to form compounds
or how atoms combine to form elements. In that regard, one is taught different laws
and theories. One such example is Avogadro’s Law, which teaches the operational
definition of gases in relation to temperature and pressure. This chemical law, like
many of its kind, provides a theoretical base when working with gases. It is one of the
numerous chemical blueprints that define the systematic process of scientific findings
in pure and applied sciences. As a principle, it reflects the chemical properties of gases
and their behaviors in certain conditions. Thus, in any experimentation with gases,
one must adhere to the stated principles at all times to get the desired result. When one
goes outside of the theoretical matrix, he or she skews the formula and its arrangement.
It is the same with charms and amulets: They follow laws and cosmic theories.
Unfortunately, African indigenous knowledge was never theorized but practiced. It
is this lack of theory that denies their place in the canon alongside larger epistemic
arrangements.
The argument around African indigenous knowledge creation has never been
about its existence or nonexistence but about its provability: How can one say charms
are scientific when they have no known theoretical principles similar to other orthodox
medicine and medical practices? It is incumbent on modern scholars and practitioners
to establish some theoretical assumptions for this body of knowledge so that its agency
is not subsumed within the global scientific practices. The elements that combine in
charms are not always the physical elements produced in laboratories; rather, they are
mostly transcendent elements: physically charged cosmic forces that are provable by

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the esoteric permutation of the universe, which has always been the nucleus of the
world from time immemorial. These physically charged elements are abundant within
different environments and knowledge about them is acquired through extensive study,
practice, and experimentation.
Charms work by combining these elements in the right proportion to get the
desired result. One observes laws similar to Avogadro’s Law in making charms, too.
One cannot combine negatively charged elements together in a charm: Where one
element is positive, the other must be negative. This implies that charges must be
cyclic so that energy can flow continuously without disruption. How one determines
positively charged or negatively charged cosmic elements is based on extensive study
to become a diviner or medicine man.
Consider a charm that contains the ingredients àlùkò, or blue turacco” (Corythaeola
cristata), and lékèékèlé, or cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis). The efficacy of this charm,
which includes two birds as ingredients, relies on a set of pattern or cosmic laws of
hue saturation. Beyond the fact that these two ingredients belong to the avian species,
they share no physiognomic properties, just like helium shares no physical property
with oxygen. Instead, they have beautiful colors that can be contrasted: the blue color
of the turaco contrasts with the white color of the egret. These birds are regarded
as wealthy birds in Yorùbá beliefs. The white color of the egret is synonymous with
purity, cleanliness, and good health, which are hallmarks of a wealthy individual. The
blue color of the turaco is highly touted as elegant and almost royal; it is a symbol of
affluence and class. These values possessed by these two birds are called forth by the
individual making the charm, who seeks the benevolent forces to bless him or her as
nature blessed the two birds with good looks and poise.
While one cannot represent this combination with an equation like ( = β, one can
still understand that there is a law guiding this body of knowledge, or the law of object
affinity. The law of object affinity works around the idea of selecting elements or charm
objects based on their cosmic affinity to naturally combined similar to modern-day
chemistry, where certain elements like the group seven elements (or halides) undergo
electron affinity with other elements to make them a complete compound.

Conclusion
Christians, Muslims, or traditionalists make charms through different means. When
one seeks protection through spiritual invocations from forces higher than our
humanity by calling on transcendental powers to aid supplication and to do one’s
bidding one presupposes a confidence in those forces. He or she graft his or her faith
in the suspected potency of these transcendental powers. Therefore, one makes and
consumes symbolic representations of these symbols, integrating their effervescent
presence with our mundane lives. Sometimes, people wear those symbols next to their
bodies, syncretizing their energies with vital parts of their body in order to achieve
equilibrium of spirit and essence. At other times, they chant verses to call forth these
transcendental powers when facing dangers and/or chaotic events.
Christians hang the effigy of Christ dying on the cross in their homes and cars.
Muslims write different holy texts on walls, and some carry an object with Allah’s

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name inscribed on it in their pockets. This and many more uses of symbols and other
paraphernalia are indications of a universal believe in the efficacy of charms and
amulets. Oògùn is not in any way demonic; it is a science that is unparalleled in western
hermeneutics. It is a thought process that shows complete understanding of how
elements function in the cosmos. It embodies scientific knowledge that is construed
differently from modern-day chemistry and other forms of orthodox wisdom. Yorùbá
charms open up for us a new path of research that, if well undertaken, is capable of
transforming the African continent, redefining indigenous knowledge, and eventually
announcing Nigeria and Africa to the world as veritable sites imbued with natural
capability for knowledge production.
Ironically, there is no society that does not have charms and amulets, only that
such are couched in terms amenable to their specific ways of life. When people get
sick, they go to doctors for treatment. They may take medicine or receive shots to treat
their sickness or prevent other infections. Modern technology has provided airbags
in our automobiles to protect against sustaining injuries during car accidents and rear
cameras to help navigate blind spots that hitherto posed danger to driving and safety.
People rely on all of these things that involve using elements around us to make life
easier. Similarly, charms are transposable commodities aimed at making life easier
and maintaining law and order. It is the people’s attitude, especially, European and
American gentrification of knowledge within constrained boundaries that exclude
bodies of knowledge, such as charms and amulets, from the global scientific canons.
Hegemonic arrogation of epistemic knowledge to the global North undermines the
global South as a marginal space incapable of verifiable epistemology. And until
this attitude is cast off, negative attitudes about the production and distribution of
indigenous knowledge, of which charms and amulets are examples, will perennially
persist in Africa.

References
Awolalu, J. Omosade. Yorùbá Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites. Burnt Mill, UK: Longman
Group Limited, 1981.
Ceddo. Directed by Ousmane Sembène. Senegal, 1976.
Doumbia, Adama and Naomi Doumbia. The Way of the Elders. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn
Publications, 2004.
Scheub, Harold. A Dictionary of African Mythology. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000.
Taiwo, Olufemi. How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2010.

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