An account and analysis of divinatory practices among the Kuranko of northeast Sierra Leone is presented, using the usual methods of ethno-graphical research, and also extrapolating from and discussing the author's own experiences of consulting diviners. Apart from examining the status of beliefs associated with Kuranko divinatory practices, this paper investigates some aspects of the method of participant observation in the human sciences. A praxeological interpretation of Kuranko divination and sacrifice is given, emphasizing the psychological and existential transformations which follow from and are enabled by the ritual procedures.
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