All around the world, there are traditions of the “little people”, spirits that go by different names such as the “mmoetia” (or “nkwa tia”) among the Akan of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, “alizini” by the Dagomba of Ghana, as the “aziza” by the Fon of Benin, as “egbere” by the Yoruba of Nigeria, “eloko” by the Mongo of Zaire, “konderong” by the Wolof of Senegal, “kontomble” by the Dagara of Burkina Faso and Ghana, and “tokoloshe” by the Zulu of South Africa. They have also been called “dwarves”, “elves” and “gnomes” in English. In a recent conversation with a friend in Bulgaria, we discussed Gabriel Bannerman-Richter’s book Mmoetia: The Mysterious Little People. In that book, among other fascinating aspects, there are interviews with mmoetia of the forest and of the sea. From these interviews, we can learn some really interesting details about the mmoetia and their ways. The book is however hard to come by. What we have in this article instead, is an extremely rare instance of a recorded interview between human beings and the mmoetia. The interview is conducted in Twi, one of the Akan languages.
To my knowledge, this is the only Twi language interview out there, where the Okomfo (Akan shaman) calls on his mentor, the mmoetia, to come forth and speak to him, for the benefit of listeners. The host or presenter is called Agya Brifa. He’s a traditional leader in Ghana (of the Kwahu Akan people), and also a TV presenter of a show titled Asumasem (twilight/night matters, i.e., the occult), and that was on Adom TV in Ghana. This interview was done in Twi for people who understand the language, but I believe its contents should be available to a much wider audience. So, I am going to translate the part where the two men speak with the mmoetia, and that might be the first available English translation of an actual interview between human beings and a nature spirit, that is also available to the wider public. What you will see and learn in the video confirms that it is indeed possible to follow ceremonial means to summon or conjure a spirit. This has been known for millennia, around the world. It has been used by spiritualists and in secret societies for generations. Here, I speak of goetia, or the summoning of spirits using grimoires. Ceremonial magic has been a part of esoteric orders such as the Golden Dawn. There are also the freemasons and others that practice the keys of Solomon, which includes the use of magical means such as pentagrams to call beings and have conversations with them. Whether it is the theurgy of the Hermetists or the practice of magical evocation which Franz Bardon spoke of, or the use of sigils or seals to bring forth beings, or the use of the famous (or infamous) grimoires such as Dictionnaire Infernal (which by the way has real beings represented therein), there are entities that can cross dimensions to come to our world from theirs, just as we can also go to theirs, and there are procedures that a competent practitioner can follow to bridge human and spirit worlds in order to bring spirits here, from their worlds, to have a conversation or to do whatever with them. I would advise that anyone who chooses to delve (or rather even dabble) in this aspect of esoteric lore and the occult to know exactly what they are doing, or get proper training. Spirits are real, and evocation is real. If you are not sure what you are doing, it is best not to go down this road, dabbling with summoning spirits. I present the translation here, primarily for educational purposes.
In the translated section of the exchange as given below, we get a truly rare opportunity to witness a qualified practitioner summon a being which I deem to be very wise, and we get to hear the conversation. Normally, unless you are part of some secret esoteric order, or an insider of an indigenous culture that openly practices these forms of spirituality, you won’t get this opportunity to witness such an exchange. While listening to the YouTube video, even if you speak or understand Twi, you will not understand the sounds that the mmoetia makes, that sound like animal sounds. For this, we need to rely on the translations that the Okomfo gives, which, from listening to them, demonstrate that the mmoetia are definitely intelligent entities. Here, perhaps for the first time, we learn in a recorded video of who the mmoetia are, and what they do, from one of their own. In general, to understand the mmoetia, there is a procedure that must occur, that includes the use of certain herbs applied to the ears in a spiritual procedure that then makes it possible to decode the sounds the mmoetia makes in its speech. A similar procedure can be done with the eyes as well. This is similar to downloading a sound or video file for your Windows Media Player or Apple Quicktime Player or VLC (or whatever) and not having the right codec for it, thus needing to subsequently download a plugin to install that codec before being able to listen to the original file. In this case, the Okomfo has already undergone this procedure as a child and has thus spent decades working with the mmoetia. This is one of the ways that the mmoetia keep themselves from humans, who have abused them and their spiritual gifts in the past.
So now, let us go into the session where the Shaman (Okomfo is the word in the Akan languages) evokes the mmoetia, behind the curtain.
I shall start the translation further ahead in the video. Please don’t try the Mmoetia ritual call at home
I use the pronoun ‘It’, because I don’t know the gender of the being
Timestamp 14:43 of video — start of transcription
Okomfo: <performs opening ritual, with appellations, incantations and bell ringing. This is to bring the mmoetia to the audience>
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana (i.e., honorific title for elders in society)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says it’s afraid of the light
Agya Brifa: Okay
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It said that the light was irritating its eyes too much
Agya Brifa: Okay, we too, we beg it (i.e., for irritating it with the light)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says it bids you welcome
Agya Brifa: we respond to it
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: and from where you are? (i.e., this is a custom among Akans, to ask the visitor about their journey, and where they came from)
Agya Brifa: Where we came from is all calm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says that all the conversation that was going on (i.e., between the Okomfo and the presenter), its ears were on it (i.e., it’s been listening)
Agya Brifa<smiling>…we knew that come what may, it would hear us. This is why we did not hide anything from it.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: mmhmm..
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: mmhmm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says there is only one thing it will beseech you of.
Agya Brifa: mmhmm
Okomfo: that you will strive to have truth lead you
Agya Brifa: we thank it
Okomfo: that humans shouldn’t take deceit, and the act of besmearing others, and greed for money, that humans won’t bring money matters into saying that the mmoetia did not tell them (i.e., into shenenigans with the mmoetia). That the mmoetia, we are really and truly here.
Agya Brifa: Okay
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: The creator created us, that we should come to help mankind. The creator did not create us so that we come to kill human beings. So if you, mankind, if you relate with us only, and if you follow our laws (edicts, guidelines, rules, etc.), we will never let you struggle. On the other hand, humans are not good! So, if “flesh has come to its mastication” (it’s an idiom, or a figure of speech) it bids you welcome
Agya Brifa: I respond to it
Okomfo: and whatever you need, if you ask it, it will respond to you accordingly
Agya Brifa: Okay
Okomfo: Dan son peafo, Nana (I can’t translate this one… it appears to be some sort of appellation for the entity?)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: we thank you very much
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says…
Agya Brifa: Okay Nana, at the moment, we have come under your feet. We thank you, that you have opened a way for us. And all our query is that, at times people use your name to do bad things. That is why we have come, so that we are coming to take what is good, so that we can put it on a machine (i.e., record it with technology) so that now if someone sees it, then they will see that o, now that is how our spirit elders of the short spirits are. This is what it is like when you go to them. So that if someone is doing something that goes beyond what we have come to see here today, then it can be said that we have distinguished between falsehood and truth. That is why we have come here this morning. So the reason why we came here is to have conversation, questioning, and assistance, which we believe you can give to us.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana, your good talk this o (in Akan custom and culture, once a visitor relates their ‘amaneɛ’, then the hosts say ‘yɛ nsɛm pa’)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says it gives congratulations for good talk (mo ne kasa)
Agya Brifa: Thank you
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: [Nana says] you’ve spoken really good talk
Agya Brifa: <nods>
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It thanks you a lot.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: as a result of contemporary greed for money
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: People take diverse ways
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Yet still, whatever be the case, truth will prevail
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: because as for truth, it never gets lost
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: some will take many different routes to claim that they have mmoetia. It’s true. However, when things come to a conclusion, you will see that they have become forlorn.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: since it has been walking with Kwame Sasu (i.e., the Okomfo), it can be said that even forty or fifty years have passed, however how he (Kwame Sasu) is, is how he has always been. This shows that the testimony itself, that which upholds truth, is of the creator.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: so, you should take to truth, have you heard?
Agya Brifa: okay (he added emphasis). We are thankful.
Okomfo: Dan son peafo (same phrase I couldn’t translate earlier)
Mmoetia: sounds
Agya Brifa: hmmm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: it says, what is on your mind, you should ask it
Agya Brifa: <smiling> Okay, we are in the process of asking. And, at times, it happens that human beings, fault/mistake/blunder is with them. If some come under your care, and they commit a blunder/fault, how do you reprimand them?
Mmoetia: sounds
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: true
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: mmhmm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: it (i.e., the mmoetia) says human beings are heavy (i.e., idiom for stubborn or not wise), so when we institute our laws/rules for you, such as for example me sitting here, I don’t like pork (i.e., it is a taboo item for it), you my child, you’ve gone to chew it. What that entails is that I’ll make all of your mouth become sore. I’ll make your mouth swell up, for you to see that the meat that you went to chew, you have gone to chew a taboo item. Or otherwise, maybe my taboo item is when a woman is experiencing her menses. I have said it for you to hear. You have experienced your menses. You have brought it to my face (i.e., into my presence). The consequence is that I would let you suffer an exaggerated menses. So then when you suffer this condition, you will realize that oh, I went to the presence of the short spirits while having my menses. That is why I am suffering. For that, when you come to me, the requisite provision that I must collect from you, once I take it from you then I will remove you from the afflicted condition of menses.
Agya Brifa: mmhmm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: these are some examples of reprimands
Agya Brifa: Okay, and what can it do to help me for me to see it well? (i.e., see it physically)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: mmhmm
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: akoko annto ba gwa mu (another idiom, I can’t translate it). You should come and see it, so that that you can converse together (i.e., in private, outside the interview)
Agya Brifa: I have heard. I thank it. I thank it deeply.
Mmoetia: sounds
Agya Brifa: Okay
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: it says if someone has more, it can be asked. [Then the Okomfo adds, in reference to the mmoetia]: Ei, today you have patience.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: it says add some more
Agya Brifa: as for this, with what we came with, “we are full” (another expression). When a person eats and then says he’s full, then the matter is finished.
Mmoetia: sounds
Agya Brifa: so since we are full, then all is good. Thanks are what we give you.
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Thanks to the creator
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: in all of this, do know that the creator is there, have you heard?
Agya Brifa: Okay (i.e., we’ve heard)
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: the creator created all things, and whatever path you take, the creator will stand behind you
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: it says, look after yourself well, because people are really afraid of you. They think you’re intelligent, but the intelligence is in your mouth (i.e., in your speech…eloquent)
Agya Brifa: <laughing>… is that so?
Okomfo: so because of that, be very attentive, have you heard?
Agya Brifa: I’ve heard <still laughing>
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: Nana
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: It says it will beg leave
Agya Brifa: Okay, bye bye
Mmoetia: sounds
Okomfo: <performs closing ritual, with appellations, incantations and bell ringing, to see the mmoetia off>
Timestamp 20:34 of video — end transcription
Later on, shortly after the mmoetia departs, the Okomfo tells Agya Brifa and viewers that the mmoetia physically manifested behind the curtain. Why then didn’t it allow itself to be filmed? Well, similar to the case that Gabriel Bannerman-Richter experienced and reported in his book Mmoetia: the Mysterious Little People, these beings, at least those in this region, under normal circumstances seem to avoid photos or videos of them. However they appear to allow sound recordings, and, for individuals who go through the requisite spiritual ceremonies, the mmoetia can also choose to reveal themselves to these individuals. Again, let us not forget that the mmoetia and nature spirits in general have in the past suffered abuse at the hands of some elements of mankind. There are stories of human mages enslaving nature spirits. The air elementals appear to be particularly not keen with meeting and interacting with humans. Think Aladdin and the magic lamp, a situation where an air elemental was imprisoned in an object and made into a slave. That is regardless of what Disney and Hollywood would like us to think. I once met a group of air elementals on one occasion during my spirit journeys (I talk about that encounter in section 7.47 of my book Out of Body into Life) where the air elementals I met confirmed that they were not that interested in meeting humans. I have also met the mmoetia.
Some people might watch the video, read this exchange and think it is all fake. To this, I say do your own research to independently verify the existence of spirit. If you can also develop your spiritual abilities to confirm the research, that is even better. Having met these beings myself, I have my own data pertaining to their existence.
References
Shamanism in Siberia – Russian Records of Indigenous Spirituality [Google scholar]
Of water and the spirit: Ritual, magic, and initiation in the life of an African shaman [Google scholar]
Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature [Amazon]
Related blog posts
Akan “bayi” and Jamican “obeah”
Spirits in rocks and mounds among Akan, Faroe and Siberian peoples
Ancestors and the traditional priesthood (Akom) of the Akan and Guan peoples
Parallels in chieftaincy artifacts among Akan, Ancient Egyptian and Polynesian peoples
