Part I: Divinatory societies -- The forest within -- Beyond Turner's watershed division -- Part II: Medicinal rule -- A Sukuma chief on medicine -- Endogenizing Vansina's equatorial tradition -- From cult to dynasty: Nilotic and Niger-Congo extensions -- Magic and the sole mode of production -- Tio shrines of the forest master -- Part III: The ceremonial state -- Kuba, Kongo and Buganda 'miracles': reversions in transition -- From divinatory to ceremonial state: narrative proof from Rwanda -- Conclusions: Reversible transitions.
