Dogon Wood Divination Figure

Three inches high, and it stands very straight.

A Dogon figure from Mali, twentieth century, carved from wood and used, as the title says, for divination. A smooth rounded head sits above a squared body with small carved shapes along its front. The wood is the color of toast and rubbed soft with handling. It is less than an inch across.

Small in size and plain in manner, the figure leaves most of its meaning to those who made it.

Slip it into a bookshelf. Let it listen.