Spirits and Diviners

Spirits and Diviners play a large role in Mami Wata.  Without both spirits and Diviners, Mami Wata would not have such a large following.  She would not be able to attract her devotees and the diviners would not be able to diagnose Mami Wata as a cure of their problems. 

Seductress by night and kidnapper by day, she creeps into individual lives and creates chaos.  People chant:  'Mamy Wata is danger!'  Both males and females can serve as Mamy Wata priest, priestess, or diviner. They are often titled people whose parents and grandparents have served Mamy Wata before–however, any person may be 'called.'

It is the diviner who traditionally detects the affects or influences of Mamy Wata and indeed all the spirits and discloses the spirits' desires. Upon completion of the shrine, a diviner, who usually serves Mamy Wata, is called upon to consecrate it. 

Cult members and priests from surrounding areas come together to feast and dance.  Praises are echoed by cult members who are dressed in red and white and carry smaller paddles.  Candles are lit and the incense leaves a hazy circuitous path.  Rising and falling in rhythmic motion, the paddles push on to the world of mermaids.  Blurs of red and white are seen, a member falls to the ground, writhing, and screaming in a foreign voice.  The paddles stops; the boat glides.  One often continues to praise Mamy Wata constantly for a couple days after the initiation.  Many shrines have small alcoves hidden behind clothes or wooden doors, and it is here where Mamy Wata appears to talk with the priest. 

On specific days, a goat or white ram is sacrificed and cult members dressed in red and white meet along the riverbank to greet the new priest or priestess. (Book 2).