Goddess Akonadi



    Akonadi is the goddess of justice in West Africa. 


    • She is the Oracle, the teller of both visible and invisible facts. 
    • She utilizes her second sight to bring justice to all circumstances.
    • She is especially sympathetic to women's problems.





    Goddess Akonadi is a mythological figure in both African and Ghanaian mythology. 




    • As the goddess of justice, Akonadi or Akonedi, is revered and worshipped by the people of this region. 
    • She is also known as Akonandi, the goddess of prophesies in Ghana and West Africa.
    • She is particularly well-known in the Accra region, where she has a predictions temple and shrine dedicated to Her. 
    • She is revered for Her unique attribute of being both a goddess of justice and a woman's defender. 



     

    What is the Goddess Akonadi legend?



    Legend - Her function as a goddess of justice who protects mothers and children is shown by the following story: 




    Three brothers came to the Akonadi Shrine seeking counsel after their families experienced a series of fatalities. 

    Because their grandma was collaborating with a gang of criminals, I instructed them to go to their grandmother's home, where they would discover stolen items. 

    The boys returned to the home and discovered a metal box with valuables under their grandmother's bed. 

    They presented the goddess with the chest. 



    There will be no further fatalities if the stolen objects are no longer in their possession. 

    Soon later, two men approached the goddess and informed her that a chest containing treasures had been taken from their mother's land, and asked if she knew who the criminals were. 

    Her priestess replied that the box was at the shrine and that, although they were welcome to take it, they should leave it so that it may be used for charity for needy women and children. 

    The guys decided to leave the treasure box with the goddess to distribute to the poor, knowing how much agony it had caused. 




    Many Contemporary West Africans venerate her as a Ghanaian Oracular deity. 



    She has a well-known oracular shrine in Accra that is associated with this legend, practice and belief system.




    • Contemporary Western scholars have also discovered a relationship between the particular Goddess Akonadi spirit cult in the southern Ghanaian town of Akonedi and the African diaspora communities in the United States.
    • There have also been instances of cultural appropriation and a strong relationship between Afrocentric American devotees  of several Churches and the Ghanaian proprietors of the Akonedi shrine near Accra. 


    Scholars have also studied and observed how the Akonedi Shrine priests and priestesses participate in African traditional religion. 



    • The main priestess of Goddess Akonadi presides over the shrine
    • She is possessed by the spirit of Goddess Akonedi, who died during childbirth. 
    • She attempts to assist and help individuals and worshippers through her powers derived from the spirit of Goddess Akonadi during the possession ritual. 
     








    References And Further Reading:



    • Fallon, Kathleen M. “Education and Perceptions of Social Status and Power among Women in Larteh, Ghana.” Africa Today 46, no. 2 (1999): 67–91. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4187268.