Incarnation

The term incarnation descends from a Latin action word, incarn, which literally means “embody in flesh.” The term figuratively employs flesh as a manifestation of life and is therefore symbolic surrogation. Incarn, when employed in the resultant term, incarnation, more accurately means “to bring to life.” The manifestation of this concept is widespread in Africa, and documented proof of its anteriority to its use in Latin is resident in the Mdw Ntr (called hieroglyphics by the Greeks) of the Pyramid and Coffin Texts and in the many hieratic scrolls occupying museums throughout the world.

In African religion, there are several varieties of incarnation that share some basic similarities:

• Through incarnation, spiritual forces from ancestors through supreme deities can potentially enter a human being temporarily or for a lifetime.
• Deities and ancestors are allowed to enter and be active in the visible part of the world and return to the invisible part of the world.
• Extraordinary human beings can become incarnated deities.
• Ordinary human beings can become reincarnated ancestors depending on the favorable balance of their conscious behavior in the visible life.
• Human beings and deities do not occupy flesh simultaneously.

Incarnation, in the form divination, is also practiced by African populations that reside outside of the motherland. Such practices are Africanisms that remain with African descendents and neighboring populations impacted by their culture in the Caribbean and South and North America. After a brief look at the puzzle incarnation seems to pose for Westerners, this entry turns to the origins of this concept in ancient Egypt, describing its development there before turning to other expressions of incarnation in African religion.