Mouse Oracle

Of all the divinatory practices employed in Africa, one of the most well-known in the Western world is undoubtedly the oracle of baulé mice, although they were the Guro the first to use this type of oracle. It is a wooden container, with two floors inside. On the lower floor, separated by a small platform or floor from the upper, the fortune teller introduces a small mouse to fast. On the upper floor he has previously arranged some sticks, some pieces of wood or cauris Add some rice, cereal, or any other food. Attracted by the smell of food, the mouse rises, through a hole intended for this purpose in the separation plate of both floors, and when eating the food displaces the sticks or cauris. Meanwhile the fortune teller has closed his top floor and pronounced ritual enchantments. Then the new order of objects provoked by the mouse is interpreted by the soothsayer, immersed in meditation.The mouse, as an animal very much in contact with the earth, has a close relationship with the goddess of the earth Asyé, wife of the God of Heaven Niamyé. Small oracles using a cricket instead of a mouse are also commonly used. The cricket is also directly related to the earth.

In our case the fortune teller, turning his back on the vessel, seems to meditate, waiting for the mouse to finish its work. this oracle of mice, with a great fineness of strokes is identical to that found in the Louvre Museum, which is presented as the masterpiece of the Baule art and appears in the most important books of African art. There is no doubt that both oracles are the work of the same sculptor or have been made in the same workshop.