Among the West African Yoruba, àjẹ́ is the power of the feminine, of female divinity and women, and àjẹ́ is the women themselves who wield this power. Women who are àjẹ́ have held power in religious, political, judicial, and economic domains, and àjẹ́ have also been branded as witches, feared, and persecuted. Oral history, myth, and ritual assist in understanding the roles and functions of the Yoruba àjẹ́ as well as reactions to their power from pre-colonial to contemporary times. Through appreciating àjẹ́ we reclaim the timeless female power of transformation.
Annette Williams is chair and core faculty in the Women’s Spirituality program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She holds a doctorate in Philosophy and Religion with specialization in Women’s Spirituality. Her dissertation, Our Mysterious Mothers: The Primordial Feminine Power of Àjẹ́ in the Cosmology, Mythology, and Historical Reality of the West African Yoruba, was a recipient of the 2016 ASWM Kore Award for best dissertation in women and mythology. Her research interests have centered on soul healing from sexual trauma, and the theme of women’s spiritual power and agency within the Yorùbá Ifá tradition, with specific reference to the feminine authority of àjẹ́.
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