This study examines how African priestesses in Ghana sustain and revitalise indigenous religious practices within a contemporary socio-religious environment shaped by Christianity, modernity, and postcolonial transformation. Drawing on a qualitative interpretive approach, the study employed in-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation with priestesses and supplementary community participants in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Guided by postcolonial theory, feminist epistemology, and cultural resilience theory, the study explores how priestesses negotiate continuity and change while maintaining spiritual legitimacy and cultural relevance. The findings reveal that priestesses preserve core spiritual and ritual principles while selectively adapting outward practices, communication strategies, and forms of public engagement to contemporary realities. The study further demonstrates that indigenous spiritual authority functions as a culturally grounded form of women’s empowerment rooted in sacred legitimacy and community recognition. The restoration of shrines and continued reliance on indigenous healing systems illustrate the adaptive vitality of African Traditional Religion in contemporary Ghana. The study contributes to scholarship on indigenous spirituality, cultural resilience, and gendered forms of authority in Africa.
Adasi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.