INTRODUCTION

Culture is defined as the essential thing or element to know about people if one would

truly like to understand and make prediction about their behavior.1 Generally, conflicts arise

from the fact that, due to the diversity of the people, they become ambiguous to understand; in

their inter-personal relations, coming from various horizons, each and every one holds his origins

at heart, and is most at times not opened enough to embrace the newness introduced by the other.

Furthermore, it could be implied that, our various cultures are imbedded in what constitutes our

religion; since all religion is the product of a particular culture, and it is our set of beliefs. In this,

we can evaluate how notorious we are in our religion, involving rituals, ceremonies, festivals,

music dances, divinations, myths and legends.2 We aim at defining knowledge and presenting its

three basic requirements, thus assess how rampant horoscopes, divinations and witchcraft are in

our cultures.

1
Cf. Tatah Mbuy, The Faith of our Ancestors, Sala diStampa: Roma 2012. 54
2
Cf. Ibid

1
 1- DEFINITION AND REQUIREMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is the awareness of something or someone. As such it can refer to a theoretical or

practical understanding of a subject matter. For Plato, there was a distinction between knowledge

and true belief that led to the definition of knowledge as justified true belief. In other words, the

precondition for possessing knowledge must involve truth and belief. And so follows the three

basics requirements of knowledge i.e. Truth, Belief and Justification.3

Truth requirement holds that there could be an intrusion of a false proposition at some points,

but attributing knowledge to someone means that the person possesses true proposition; he got

things right. Belief requirement requires that, what one believes in should be so i.e. true, to create

a coherence between belief and knowledge. And finally Justification considers that knowledge is

not just true belief because it can be gained haphazardly.

3
Cf. Remi Prospero F., Lectures notes on Gnoseology, CATUC, Bamenda 2022 (Unpublished).

2
 2- HOROSCOPES, DIVINATIONS AND WITCHCRAFT

Horoscopes, Divinations and Witchcraft are very much rampant in our cultures today and

surely because from the onset, they are elements constituents of these cultures. They are a set of

belief in which the people were brought up so much so that with the progressive changes in our

environment and the lack of sufficient knowledge, the people run up to fortune tellers to discover

what they expectantly start awaiting for the future. In some sense, these are beliefs imbedded in

the people’s culture or religion which gradually lost ground and are increasingly gaining it again

due maybe to the anxiety inhabiting people mind at the time.

So, Horoscope and Divination have practically the same connotation which is a positive one.

Horoscope originates from the Greek words ώρά, time and σκοπος meaning observer. Horoscope

is the observer of time.4 This is a method of divination that regards events and relates them to the

point in time that they represent. And so, Horoscope and Divination is the practice of seeking

knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means; in other words, the skill or act of

saying or discovering what will happen in the future. 5 Witchcraft from the onset in people’s

traditional setup is considered an evil act because it causes more harm than good to the other as

that is its perfection. So it is the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others.

These are then the beliefs believed in our cultures. So the question arising is, how far can we

asses these considerations while taking into account the basic requirements of knowledge i.e.

Truth, Belief and Justification?

4
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horoscope, 25-04-22, 5:50pm
5
Cf. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013 4, 444.

3
 3- RELEVANCE OF HOROSCOPES, DIVINATIONS AND WITCHCRAFT AS REGARDS TO

TRUTH, BELIEF AND JUSTIFICATION

As abovementioned, the assertion according to which Horoscopes, Divinations and

Witchcraft is very rampant in our cultures actually stands its ground because that is what define

the people as it is part of their culture whose togetherness or wholeness constitute their religion;

their belief. As such, we can hold that people have the knowledge i.e. are aware if these practices

thus, believe in it especially as the number of practitioners grows and being rooted in their

traditional roots make reference or use of it sometimes as it is the case in our African Traditional

Religion whereby, the place of these practitioners especially diviners is well held because they

have their role to play in the community as to maintain harmony and one’s physical well-being

through right relations with his family and his community. 6 Moreover people have experienced

the ill and malice to be downplayed by a fellow member through supernatural powers. All these

involve the requirements of knowledge: Truth, Belief and Justification.

Another problem arises then; that of the form vested by Horoscopes and Divinations

nowadays and as daily does the number of diviners increase as compared to our traditional setups

where they were people set apart, and as such the means sometimes become frightful as they

involve no more only discovering what is going to happen in the future but also making

disappear any obstacle withstanding our way; it can be a person that will necessarily know

misfortune through witchcraft by the belief instilled in him that the person is actually an

opponent. There exists evil which is a lack of good. So, there are of two types: the evil we

commit and the evil we suffer from which both take the form of moral, physical or metaphysical

6
Cf. Anthony Yilaka, Lectures notes on African Traditional Religion, CATUC, Bamenda 2020
(Unpublished).

4
evil.7 Isn’t it that what is being pinpointed most often as witchcraft is simply the result of what

should have happened at any time being that time? Couldn’t it be a matter of coincidence

between the happenings?

CONCLUSION

Knowledge is awareness of what is true, worth believing and properly justified.

Horoscope, Divinations and Witchcraft are surely means to discover the future but should not be

used negatively as it is often coined in our cultures; the reason why, it is becoming all the more

rampant. Furthermore, these are elements that make up the body of believe of any traditional

setup, it is imbedded in the people’s traditional root. But the difficulty nowadays resides in the

fact that, they were gradually losing ground and out of a sudden, they are gaining once more, but

no longer viewing how organized it was in the traditional setup i.e. everyone now can become a

diviner so much so that, diviners, instead of being the source of reunion as their role in the

community become sources of division; they become divider instead of diviner and for selfish

purposes. Their sayings gradually become a coincidence rather than a knowledge on which

someone can tranquilly cling.

7
Cf. Kizitor Laiven, Lectures notes on Text of Augustine, CATUC, Bamenda 2021 (Unpublished).

5
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

COLIN MCINTOSH Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge 20134.

DUROZOL G. & ROUSSEL A., Dictionnaire de Philosophie, NATHAN, Paris 1997.

MBUY TATAH, The Faith of our Ancestors, Sala diStampa: Roma 2012.

SULLIVAN J. Daniel, An Introduction to Philosophy, TAN Books, Charlotte 1992.

FONKA REMI PROSPERO Lectures Notes on Gnoseology, CATUC, Bamenda 2020

(Unpublished).

Laiven Kizitor Lectures Notes on The Texts of Augustine, CATUC Bamenda

2020 (Unpublished).

YILAKA ANTHONY Lectures Notes on African Traditional Religion, CATUC,

Bamenda 2020 (Unpublished)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horoscope, 25-04-22, 5:50pm