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“Invocations are one of the most ancient forms of worship in the world, appearing in the literature during the Old Kingdom in ancient Kemet. Invocation is the physical act of appealing to a higher power for assistance. There are a number of forms utilized for invocation, including prayer, praise, and conjuration as a style of incantation. African traditional religion accepts the notion that humans can appeal to authorities higher than humans, and this type of invoking of the divinities or the ancestors is at the heart of invocation in Africa.” (1)
“One could begin such an invocation by announcing the name of the most relevant deity. It is rare in Africa that the name of the Supreme Being is invoked; usually one invokes the names of the Ancestors or lesser spirits than the Almighty Creator.
“An invocation may be a prayer, but a prayer may not necessarily be an invocation in the African sense. One could express a prayer in a simple form as praise to a divinity, but in the case of an invocation, one is by doing the act of invoking to ask for assistance. Thus, to invoke is to seek aid and support by calling out to the divine.” (2)
“In most of Africa, religion expresses its invocation through appealing to the Ancestors. These are the intermediaries that can hear the appeals and be able to do something about them more immediately than the distant Supreme Deity.” (3)
Invocation and Prayer are one side of the conversation. In order to hear, recognize and understand the response to invocation and prayer, listening through meditation is necessary.
(1) Asante, Molefi Kete and Mazama, Ama Editors, "Encyclopedia Of African Religion," (2009) p. 345, paraphrased.
(2) Ibid., p. 346, quoted.
(3) Ibid., p. 346, paraphrased.
