|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One recipe is for a philtre to aid in seducing a woman: |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Take some voarafitry, take a few drops of water seeping from a rock, take some strong wind, take some anatariky, take some hazomiady, take some masindrano in which a woman bathed, some vahifineno creeping vine, bamboo thrown down by the cascade; take feathers from a brooding hen. Here are the association of geomantic figures. Ten Asimbola figures. Asimbola alone in the lala column, here they are. When you prepare them, take a little bit of the woman's sweat, get her under the spell, dedicate it while presenting it above the fire. Here it is. Here is its antidote. Take a little bit of the dirt on the door of the hen-house. Bathe it in it. Here it is. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The sikidy figure related to the problem is at the same time part of the medicine. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Part of the ombiasy's book found by Vig (1977:35) illustrates the relation between the sikidy configurations and the animal sacrifice (ala-fatidra). Vig was the first to report this association, which previous scholars had missed. The animals for sacrifice, as noted earlier, are disposed around the interior of the astrological house (see fig. 3). The association with the sikidy is noticeable, since the disposition of the sikidy figures parallels the house's spatial orientation, being linked to the cardinal points.18 These associations further demonstrate the strikingly intricate and comprehensive interrelationships of the Antemoro divination system, which has woven together the indigenous Malagasy belief with the Arab-influenced sikidy and astrology. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The ancestors' dominant role is reflected in the sikidy awakening invocations (Simon n.d.) and in prescriptions of all types. The ombiasy is not only an astrological seer but has become, in the Antemoro system, a mediator between the living and the ancestors. In a sense the Malagasy diviner is also a mediator of these distinct yet overlapping systems of knowledge as he dramatically manipulates the diagnostic means available to him in order to learn the ancestors' intentions. Our ongoing research reveals more and more about the complex code switching which the diviner manages in shifting from one system to the other as he refines the correct interpretation of the client's vintana. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The route taken is now known. The Muslims who came to the Antemoro many centuries ago brought an astrological system of divination at the same time that they brought Islam. Since astrology was not then a tenet of Malagasy culture (Hébert 1961), the Malagasy applied this system to their houses, which were rectangular like the Indian model of the zodiac, arranging it in the corners and on the walls. Evidence is now sufficient to assert that the Muslims who came to Madagascar were from the Persian Gulf and southward along the Gulf of Oman to the northwest corner of India. The Antemoro adapted this system and now, centuries later, continue to rely on it to ensure proper governance of the living by the ancestors. |
|
|
|
|
|