The Increase in Occultism in African Modern Society
Africans have increased their beliefs in occultism immediately after their independence. Their life perception is that the use of scientific studies has failed to meet their demands and therefore they sought to solve their problems through the use of occult powers. This led to the emergence of use of the occult powers in the modern culture of Africans (William, 1998).It is investigated that the major cause of the increase of this in the postmodern fertile environment are the poor economic status of Africans and their primitive traditions has intensified the increase use of this powers. The abnormal increase in the acceptance of occult powers is also hastened by the aggressiveness of African leaders to gain power more so in the political arena. This forced African leaders to seek for these powers to gain political competitive advantages. Many countries in Africa also use occultism to attain good health and to escape bad fortune which may come on their way. There is also increase in modernity of occultism where there is introduction of astrology to perfect its application. The use of occult powers has dominated the field of politics, religion and people’s way of life to reach post modernity level. The organization of occultism is nowadays very good to the point that it becomes acceptable by almost every body in Africa.
Introduction
Occult is a supernatural power which is very common in African societies. African believes that there is a supernatural power that can help them solve their daily problems. In the African societies, there is over dependent on occult more than Christianity. It is on the increase because the majority of Africans are very poor and ignorant and therefore they are being deceived by few individuals who intend to enrich themselves materially. In African communities the occult power comprise of the belief that somebody can change from human being to another different animal, the possibility of examining and curing disease through casting it out of the sick and causing someone to get an accident (William, 1998). These powers are deeply rooted in the lives of Africans that Christianity alone can not save them from this agony. In Africa the level of witchcraft, paganism, sorcery and contact with spirit have emerged widely in modern society more so among the youths who are on the struggle to overcome their economic crisis. The older generations are also taking part in this practice to maintain and keep their families stable. The young generations are majorly affected because they want to lead a fantastic life which they cannot afford. They struggle to get love through the magic power which sometimes leads them to death or the death of the loved ones.
Christianity Blame
There is high increase of occultism in Africa because of the failure of Christianity to convert the behaviors of Christian believers. This is because most of the people who involved in witchcraft and other occult have strong contact with Christianity though they are disillusioned to accept witchcraft. In Africa there are very many churches which do not advocate for strong Christian faith that can cultivate spiritual values in the lives of believers and therefore they do not strongly accept that God is above everything and can weaken the demonic powers. It is not that all the churches do this but some are just like social clubs where God is not taken as a supernatural being (William, 1998). They do not recognize God to be moving supernaturally among his people to solve their problems at their point of need. Human being is in two fold, there is spiritual and physical existence whose needs must be met but when the spiritual dimension is not satisfied in church then the person has to look somewhere to fulfill the spiritual need. Lack of satisfaction of spiritual needs in the church forces the Christian believers to practice occultism to meet their spiritual needs. The church therefore has a strong responsibility to make the congregation to experience God supernaturally by delivering good teachings through their doctrines. The failure of these churches cause many people to look for alternatives where their problems can be solved instantly with the magic powers by the magicians.
African Poverty
The poverty of most Africans also leads to a drastic increase in occultism and overdependence on supernatural powers. Most people seek magic powers to get rich and to make their businesses flourish in sales. The belief that somebody can make their business to have very many customers attracts people to the witchcrafts to amass wealth quickly. Poverty also influences very many people to pretend to have supernatural powers so that they can deceive others that they can cure certain diseases yet their intention is to have financial gain. They therefore use fictitious powers as a source of their daily livelihood. Poverty has also made many people to depend on the occultism since some African believes that their poverty is caused by certain people who are believed to posses the magic power in the community (William, 1998). This belief increased the witchcrafts and sorcery in African communities.
African Tradition
The way of life of Africans is also a contributing factor in the increase in occultism in Africa. Their tradition is that some members of the community are possessed with certain powers which can provide solutions to some problems in the community (Aloysius and Obiwulu 2008). This belief therefore forces them to visit witch doctors so that those rituals are done to them. Most African communities believed that there are diseases which cannot be treated in hospitals but their cure is only through the magicians whom they believe that has supernatural powers to diagnose and cure the disease. Traditionally Africans believe that occult powers is available in the communities and those people with such powers have the ability to perform certain things which cannot be done by any ordinary human beings. They believe that those powers can make them reach their destiny. This traditional belief attracts very many people to occultism in order to ascertain their Worldly desires. There is also increase in occultism because Africans believe that there are two Worlds which contain spirits. The first World is where they live and the other is the underworld inhabited by the ancestral spirits which regulates them on their daily activities and they are silenced by offering sacrifices. They trust that there is a supreme being and the deities who must be worshiped for any body to be successful. The deities are the agents of the Supreme Being who are sent to coordinate the things in the underworld. In that kingdom human beings are the least but must offer sacrifices to the deities so that they can be appeased to stop troubling the world. The hierarchical existence of beings in the African communities allow them to admit that other people in the community have supernatural powers which can even cause death to some people when commanded. This forced Africans to depend on the supernatural powers which they believe that they are part of in a hierarchical order. Some Africans believe that supernatural powers can be received when certain initiations are done and these powers can be used to influence other human beings to do extra ordinary things in the World (Oguejiofor, 2006). This ability attracts many to accept the existence of supernatural powers and adopt that way of life.
Aggressiveness for Power
Most Africans believes that they can receive influential powers from magicians. These make them to visit witchcrafts to be very influential in the society. Politicians go to witchcrafts to be able to woo very many people to be in their camp during political campaigns to meet their political gains. They believe that supernatural powers from magicians can empower them to be the most renowned politician in the country. They also believe that the supernatural powers can make them remain in power for a very long time and therefore they have to depend on the powers of the witchcraft. This high demand for power even attracted very many musicians in Africa to practice occultism because they have the notion that the magicians can make their music to attract the attention of very many people in the World. The belief therefore attracted very many people in the modern society to join occultism to be very influential in whatever they do. The power struggle among African induce very many people into the practice of illuminati which is believed by African communities to have some powers to increase public influence.
Availability of Incurable Diseases
The outbreak of very many incurable diseases in the African communities have also influence many people to join occultism to find solutions to their illness. They therefore struggle to use supernatural powers to diagnose and to get the cure of the disease. The magicians will deceive them that they can cure the diseases but with their strong faith in the supernatural powers from magicians they trust to heal them. The Diseases such as AIDs and cancer they believe that are caused by the power of demons from somebody possessed with a supernatural power and therefore their solution can only be attained through the occultism. They also attend to those who have the magic power after they have lost hope from in all the steps that they have followed to treat the disease and their only alternative is to visit the witch doctor for the final test.
Acquisition of Occult Powers
The occult powers can be achieved through basic ways. It can be naturally gifted to posses the supernatural power to treat and cure certain disease in World. This is the way African communities believe and therefore they use their gifted power to practice occultism. The power is also believed to be acquired when there is a strong association with the person with such powers .this makes the person to be allowed to buy such powers for business purposes. This is indicated when someone pay dearly to get charm and amulets. These materials are used by the members of the community to gain protection which they believe are contained in the charm they have. African has a belief that the occult power can be purchased from medicine men who claim to have transferable occult power.
Conclusion
In the African set up there is a drastic increase in the use of occult power. This is because Africans have a funny belief that makes them be attracted to use occult powers in their daily lives. Their tradition is also rooted in the belief that there is a supernatural being which lives in the other World to control the way they live. They believed that human beings are the least in the leadership of supernatural being (Oguejiofor, 2006). The agents who are in the middle are the deities which must be appeases by offering some rituals. This belief makes many people to accept occult power since they believe they can die if they have disobeyed the commands of the community. Many people are also believed in the occult power in Africa because of their economical status. This is because they trust that occult powers can enrich them materially. The belief affected very many people who therefore have to invite the occult powers to fulfill the wealth acquisition goal. It is therefore not that the belief in occult power can save the situation of a person but people should believe in God who is the source of every thing.
