Delegated to the terrestrial affairs, they supplicate the supreme Being who is too far away from the human's concerns to act with efficacy. These mediators receive prayers and offerings in exchange for their mediation to God. Pragmatically, they share His power. As inescapable intermediaries, they master the double language of human and divine communication. These deities are orisha for the Yoruba, vodu for the Ewe, wong for the Ga, and boshum in the Tshi language.
African pantheons are prolific.
Orisa-nla, a Yoruba supreme divinity, dwells at the summit of the continent's largest temple. Tore, a major force, is the object of sole veneration of the Congo's Bambuti people. All the offerings of the Yoruba are dedicated to the one thousand and seven hundred orisha. This profusion of divinities is justified by very strong interaction with neighboring kingdoms through the centuries. The Yoruba example is revealing.