My journey into African spirituality has been awe-inspiring. It has significantly changed my life in many wonderful ways. However, the road down this spiritual path has not always been smooth. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find reliable resources for gaining a deeper level of knowledge about African spiritual systems. And the rise in scammers in African spirituality made it even more tedious.
This is why I am tremendously grateful for the individuals who are providing high-quality, accurate resources about these systems. And fortunately, this list is growing every day. Yet, it can still be a bit challenging to find reputable African spiritualists sometimes. Let’s face it, African spirituality is no different than other religions and spiritual practices in this regard. Some amazing people provide outstanding services in the African spiritual community.
Yet, there are likewise a number of unreliable and/or unscrupulous individuals who can make this walk a lot more difficult. When I first started down this path, I had a few brushes with the latter before I finally encountered the former. Unfortunately, some people use spirituality like anything else to make a buck. This can leave a newbie in a particularly precarious state. This is why I have outlined the following guidelines to help you recognize scammers in African spirituality.
RECOGNIZING SCAMMERS IN AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY
Scammers exist in every religion and spiritual practice around the world. And African spiritual circles definitely have their share of these types of individuals. Sadly, it is becoming a common theme for scammers to send unsolicited messages claiming to be bona fide African diviners to people through various means, including social media, which has made this type of scam much easier to carry out.
These individuals usually start by telling the person that they “see” some issue that the person is dealing with. It is typically a matter of urgency. They often use scare tactics claiming the person will die or suffer greatly if they don’t deal with the issue. Of course, the scammer has the solution to their problem. And they can give it to the person immediately for a price, of course.
Qualified diviners with good customer service skills don’t have to solicit in this way. Real diviners usually don’t even have time for this type of interaction. They are typically so overwhelmed with clients or busy developing themselves that they have little time to be in someone’s DM.
Authentic African spiritualists are usually known in their community for their ability to divine and provide quality remedies. People come to them because of their reputation, not the other way around. Yes, bona fide diviners do advertise. After all, they need to let people know about their services in some way. But authentic spiritualists don’t approach individuals through social media in this way. They know that the right clients will come to them in due time. They also know it is unnecessary to use scare tactics or other forms of manipulation to build their clientele base.
Common Schemes and Scams
Contrarily, scammers often target vulnerable people and promise them a better life if they pay for their services. Unfortunately, these promises are rarely fulfilled, and the victims are left feeling betrayed. There are many ways that these individuals carry out their schemes. Below are a few common tactics that they use:
- Asking for absorbent amounts of money
- Claiming that they are the only person that can help you
- Making bogus or unrealistic claims about the results of their services
- Selling formulas, potions, remedies, fetishes, etc., before divination
- Demanding pictures of private body parts or sexual encounters as solutions to problems
- Asking for personal information such as social security numbers, bank account details, credit card numbers, addresses, etc.
COST OF SERVICES
The cost of African spiritual services varies. And, usually, the more experience and expertise a person has, the more they charge. Location is also factored into a spiritualist’s costs. You will tend to pay more for services offered in the U.S. or other high-cost-of-living regions.
Therefore, it is difficult to truly compare the cost of African spiritual services for these and other reasons. Even so, you should be comfortable with paying the amount being charged. Also, you should never be pressured into paying for any spiritual service.
The best thing to do is ask around and get price comparisons. It is common for spiritualists in the same area to charge similar rates. Though, this is not guaranteed. Again, some spiritualists charge premium rates because they offer premium services. And it is nothing wrong with that. This dynamic is part of every industry.
The key to determining if the price is right is to decide if it fits your budget or not. If it doesn’t, try to find a service for a more amenable price. Higher prices don’t necessarily equate to better services or desired results.
EXCLUSIVITY AND GUARANTEED RESULTS
There are many qualified African spiritualists available around the world who can assist you. No one person holds the answer to your problem. Spirits can and do speak with many individuals – no one has exclusive rights to any spirit. So be careful when deciding to work with people who make such claims.
Also, be wary if someone guarantees the results of their services. Authentic spiritualists usually have a track record of providing potent remedies. However, they know that the outcome of their services can never be guaranteed. This is because there are many factors involved in manifesting spiritual results. Much of it has to do with the client’s level of compliance.
This is very similar to medical practice. A doctor can examine you and prescribe medication for your condition. However, if you don’t take it as prescribed, you probably won’t get the desired results. The same holds true for spiritual remedies.
Spiritual remedies may involve a client taking herbal remedies, avoiding certain foods, wearing specific colors, performing rituals, getting initiated, etc. If the client refuses to comply with the prescription or does so incorrectly, it most likely won’t work. Therefore, guaranteeing results in African spirituality is simply a sales tactic. And it is best to avoid such individuals who do so.
SOLUTIONS WITHOUT DIVINATION
Authentic African spiritualists will never offer you a solution to your problem until they diagnose it through divination. This is the absolute standard in traditional practice. So, if someone automatically tries to sell you a solution without consulting with the spirits, they are not practicing real African spirituality.
True African spiritualists know that you may need to address a completely unrelated concern before you can even start working on the issue you came to them for. For instance, you may be seeking a husband or wife, but you may be unwittingly dealing with a terminal illness.
Thus, you must take care of your physical health before focusing on your love life. That way, you can enjoy a long and fruitful love life with your partner-to-be. In such instances, your partner may have been withheld from you for this reason. Once you care for your health, your mate may automatically manifest without needing spiritual assistance.
These types of things can only be revealed through divination. This is why you should be careful when people try to sell you potions, formulas, or other remedies without divination. Such remedies may work, but the benefit may be short-lived. If you don’t focus on more important matters first, you may not be able to enjoy the results of the remedies.
SEXUAL ENCOUNTERS
Some African spiritualists require pictures of their clients in order to do accurate readings or spiritual work. This is a very common practice when spiritual services are offered remotely. However, no one needs to see images of your private body parts in order to perform divination or to provide other spiritual services. If someone is asking for such imagery, you should definitely stay away from this individual.
Likewise, no one should demand sex, a relationship, or marriage in exchange for spiritual services or spiritual remedies. If someone tells you that a spirit indicates that you must engage in sexual intercourse with them in order to solve your problem – run, don’t walk away from them. The same holds true for engaging in a relationship or marriage with a person.
Having sex with someone will never remedy a spiritual problem in this context. Yes, sex has healing and restorative powers when used appropriately for this purpose. However, no prescription in the corpus of traditional African spiritual systems requires you to have sex with a spiritualist to stop or prevent a problem.
CONFIDENTIAL PERSONAL DETAILS
It is common for spiritualists to ask for certain details in order to get an accurate reading during divination. They will typically need your name given at birth, your date of birth, and possibly your mother’s or father’s name. Some spiritualists may even ask for your birth location – this is typically required by spiritualists who incorporate astrology into their practice. All of these things are common and are usually not cause for concern.
This even goes back to my first point about someone offering you unsolicited services. The person may have claimed to see something about you through divination. But they didn’t have any of the necessary details about you in order to properly divine. Divination requires correct information about the client in order for the reading to be accurate and effective. So, there are certain details that you will need to give to the reader.
However, you should never give anyone confidential details such as your social security number or sensitive financial information. This information is never necessary for divination purposes. If the individual has a legitimate business, they should be able to collect money from you without asking for bank or credit card numbers.
The only time you should give someone your credit card number is if you can clearly see that the card reader is not working properly. Even then, the person should enter the number into the system right in front of you. They should not store this information anywhere else.
Summary
The problem of scammers in African spirituality is a growing one and needs to be addressed quickly. It is important to be aware of the signs of a scammer to avoid becoming a victim yourself. Additionally, it is also important to educate others on how to identify these scams and take action against them if necessary.
To learn more about avoiding scammers and schemers in ATR, check out this episode of the African Spirit Reintergrate + Reimagined:
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