Witch Doctor

Traditional medicinal practitioners       A sangoma is a practitioner of ngoma, a philosophy based on a belief in ancestral spirits (Zulu: amadlozi; Sesotho: badimo; Xhosa: izinyanya) and the practice of traditional African medicine, which is often a mix of medicinal plants and various animal body fats or skin.[11][12] Sangomas perform a holistic and symbolic form of healing by drawing on the embedded beliefs of the Bantu peoples in South Africa, who believe that ancestors in the afterlife guide and protect the living.[13] Sangomas are called to heal, and through them it is believed that ancestors from the spirit world can give instruction and advice to heal illness, social disharmony and spiritual difficulties.[14] Traditional healers work in a sacred healing hut or indumba, where they believe their ancestors reside.[15] Where no physical 'indumba' is available, a makeshift miniature sacred place called imsamo can be used.   Sangomas believe they are able to access advice and guidance from the ancestors for their patients through spirit possession by an ancestor, or mediumship, throwing bones, or by dream interpretation.[11] [16] In possession states, the sangoma works themself into a trance through drumming, dancing and chanting, and allows their ego to step aside for an ancestor to take possession of his or her body and communicate directly with the patient, or dancing fervently beyond their stated ability.[17] The sangoma will provide specific information about the problems of the patient. Some sangomas speak to their patients through normal conversation, whilst others speak in tongues, or languages foreign to their patients, but all languages used by sangomas are indigenous Southern African languages depending on the specific ancestors being called upon. Not all sangomas follow the same rituals or beliefs.   Ancestral spirits can be the personal ancestors of the sangoma or the patient or they might be general ancestors associated with the geographic area or the community.[18] It is believed that the spirits have the power to intervene in people's lives who work to connect the sangoma to the spirits that are acting in a manner to cause affliction.[19] For example, a crab could be invoked as a mediator between the human world and the world of spirits because of its ability to move between the world of the land and the sea.[20] Helping and harming spirits are believed to use the human body as a battleground for their own conflicts. By using ngoma, the sangoma believes they can create harmony between the spirits which is thought to bring an alleviation of the patient's suffering.[21]   The sangoma may burn incense (like imphepho) or sacrifice animals to please the ancestral spirits.[22] Snuff is also used to communicate with the ancestors through prayer.     Inyanga/Sangoma from Johannesburg, South Africa Many traditional medicinal practitioners are people without education, who have rather received knowledge of medicinal plants and their effects on the human body from their forebears.[1] They have a deep and personal involvement in the healing process and protect the therapeutic knowledge by keeping it a secret.[6]   Successful Cesarean section performed by indigenous healers in Kahura, Uganda. As observed by R. W. Felkin in 1879. Successful Cesarean section performed by indigenous healers in Kahura, Uganda. As observed by R. W. Felkin in 1879. In a manner similar to orthodox medicinal practice, the practitioners of traditional medicine specialize in particular areas of their profession. Some, such as the inyangas of Swaziland are experts in herbalism, whilst others, such as the South African sangomas, are experts in spiritual healing as diviners, and others specialize in a combination of both forms of practice. There are also traditional bone setters and birth attendants.[6] Herbalists are becoming more and more popular in Africa with an emerging herb trading market in Durban that is said to attract between 700,000 and 900,000 traders per year from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Smaller trade markets exist in virtually every community.[1] Their knowledge of herbs has been invaluable in African communities and they were the only ones who could gather them in most societies. Midwives also make extensive use of indigenous plants to aid childbirth. African healers commonly "describe and explain illness in terms of social interaction and act on the belief that religion permeates every aspect of human existence."[6]   Payments Traditional healers, like any other profession, are rewarded for their services. In African societies, the payment for a treatment depends on its efficacy. They do not request payment until after the treatment is given. This is another reason many prefer traditional healers to western doctors who require payment before the patient has assessed the effectiveness of the treatment.[25] The payment methods have changed over time, with many practitioners now asking for monetary payment, especially in urban settings, rather than their receiving good in exchange, as happened formerly.[6]   There are also a growing number of fraudulent practitioners who only interested in making money, especially in urban areas.[26][27]   Learning the trade Some healers learn the trade through personal experience while being treated as a patient who decide to become healers upon recovery. Others become traditional practitioners through a "spiritual calling" and, therefore, their diagnoses and treatments are decided through the supernatural.[6] In some cultures, a sign of calling can come from mental disarrangement said to be caused by agwu Nshi, the spirit of divining, through which the healer gains inspiration. Through this training, psychological stability is eventually attained.[8] Another route is receive the knowledge and skills passed down informally from a close family member such as a father or uncle, or even a mother or aunt in the case of midwives. Apprenticeship to an established practitioner, who formally teaches the trade over a long period of time and is paid for their tutoring, is another route to becoming a healer.[6] The training is complex, depending on the kind of medical practice that the aspiring practitioner wants to be a part of. Once the trainee is officially initiated as a healer, they are, in some societies, considered to be half-man and half spirit, possessing the power to mediate between the human and supernatural world to invoke spiritual power in their healing processes.[8]   Importance In Africa, the importance of traditional healers and remedies made from indigenous plants play a crucial role in the health of millions. According to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), one estimate puts the number of Africans who routinely use these services for primary health care as high as 85% in Sub-Saharan Africa.[16] The relative ratios of traditional practitioners and university trained doctors in relation to the whole population in African countries showcases this importance. For example, in Ghana, in Kwahu district, for every traditional practitioner there are 224 people, against one university trained doctor for nearly 21,000. In Swaziland, the same situation applies, where for every healer there are 110 people whereas for every university trained doctor there are 10,000 people.[6] According to Nairobi-based specialist in biodiversity and traditional medicine with the IDRC Francois Gasengayire, there is one healer for every 200 people in the Southern Africa region which is a much greater doctor-to-patient ratio than is found in North America.[16]   Ratios of doctors (practicing modern medicine) and traditional medical practitioners to patients in east and southern Africa         In southern Africa, traditional healers are known as sangomas. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the first use of the term "witch doctor" to refer to African shamans (i.e. medicine men) was in 1836 in a book by Robert Montgomery Martin.[5]   BBC News reported, on March 12, 2015, that, "More than 200 witchdoctors and traditional healers have been arrested in Tanzania in a crackdown on the murder of albino people. The killings have been driven by the belief – advanced by some witchdoctors – that the body parts have properties that confer wealth and good luck. According to the Red Cross, witchdoctors are prepared to pay $75,000 (£57,000) for a complete set of albino body parts. Nearly 80 albino Tanzanians have been killed since 2000, the UN says. The latest victims include a one-year-old albino boy, killed in north-western Tanzania. The government banned witchdoctors in January as part of its efforts to prevent further attacks and kidnappings targeting people with albinism."[6]   Divination, diagnosis and healing practices A sangoma's goal in healing is to establish a balanced and harmless relationship between the afflicted patient and the spirits that are causing their illness or problem.[24] The healer intercedes between the patient and the world of the dead in order to make restitution.[5] This is generally performed through divination (throwing the bones or ancestral channeling), purification rituals, or animal sacrifice to appease the spirits through atonement.[5][16][25]     Sangoma performing a divination by reading the bones after being thrown Throwing the bones to access the advice of ancestors is an alternative practice to the exhausting ritual of possession by the ancestor. In a typical session, a patient will visit the sangoma and the sangoma must determine what the affliction is or the reason the patient has come to them for help. Before the throwing of the bones; the healer should first ask the name and surname of the patient; the healer then calls the ancestors by names, starting with his/her initiators' names, then his\hers then followed by the patient's ancestors names. The patient or diviner throws bones on the floor, which may include animal vertebrae, dominoes, dice, coins, shells and stones, each with a specific significance to human life. For example, a hyena bone signifies a thief and will provide information about stolen objects. The sangoma or the patient throws the bones but the ancestors control how they lie. The sangoma then interprets this metaphor in relation to the patient's afflictions, what the ancestors of the patient require, and how to resolve the disharmony.[26] In the same way, sangomas will interpret metaphors present in dreams, either their own or their patients.[27][28]   When the diviner comes to an acceptable understanding of the problem and the patient agrees, the diviner then needs to again throw the bones to ask the ancestors if he/she could help the patient. Depending on the feedback from the bones he/she will instruct the patient on a course of medicine which may include the use of ngoma, referral to a herbalist, inyanga (if the sangoma does not have the knowledge themselves), or recommend a Western medicine regimen.[   Medicines and muti The spiritually curative medicines prescribed by a traditional healer are called muti. They may be employed in healing as warranted in the opinion of the herbal specialist or inyanga. Muti is a term derived from a Zulu word for tree. African traditional medicine makes extensive use of botanical products but the medicine prescribed by an inyanga may also include other formulations which are zoological or mineral in composition. Traditional medicine uses approximately 3,000 out of 30,000 species of higher plants of Southern Africa.[30] Over 300 species of plants have been identified as having psychoactive healing effects on the nervous system, many of which need further cultural and scientific study[31] In South African English and Afrikaans, the word muti is sometimes used as a slang term for medicine in general.[32]   Mutis are prepared, and depending on the affliction, a number of purification practices can be administered Ukuzila Fasting one of the most important thing to do in preparing muti and healing. These practices include bathing, vomiting, steaming, nasal ingestion, enemas, and cuttings:[25]   Bathing – Herbal mixtures are added to bath water to purify the patient Vomiting (phalaza) – A large volume (up to +-2 litres) of a weak, lukewarm herbal infusion is drunk and a process of self-induced vomiting occurs to cleanse and tone the system. Steaming (futha) – Medicinal herbs are commonly inhaled by steaming them in a bucket of boiling water. A blanket is used to cover the patient and container. Hot rocks or a portable stove may be included to keep the bucket boiling. The patient sits under the blanket or plastic(preferably) as blankets get to absorb the heat and the steam doesn't rotate well, breathes in the herbal steam and sweats. Nasally – A variety of plants can be taken dried and powdered as snuff. Some are taken to induce sneezing which may traditionally be believed to aid the expulsion of disease. Others are taken for the common conditions such as headaches. Enemas – Infusions and some decoctions are commonly administered as enemas. The enema is a preferred route of administration of certain plant extracts, as it is believed they are more effective when administered this way. Cuttings (ukugaba) – Extracts or powders are directly applied to small cuts made with a razor blade in the patients skin. An experienced inyanga/Sangoma will generally seek the guidance of an ancestral spirit before embarking to find and collect muti and you can also go to herbalists to ask for a certain plant/herb you need. The healer, through dreams or during prayers, believes they are advised of auspicious times for collecting the plants. In some cases, symbols and dreams are also interpreted to determine which particular plants to collect for a specific patient and where these plants are located, not in all cases as most traditional healers have their herbs stored in their huts(eNdumbeni). The healer supplements the perceived advice from an ancestral spirit with their own knowledge, training and experience.     Thwasa and initiation oth men and women can become traditional healers. A sangoma is believed to be "called" to heal through an initiation illness; symptoms involve psychosis, headaches, intractable stomach pain, shoulder, neck complaints, short breath, swollen feet and waist issues or illness that cannot be cured by conventional methods.[34] These problems together must be seen by a sangoma as thwasa or the calling of the ancestors. Sangomas believe that failure to respond to the calling will result in further illness until the person concedes and goes to be trained.[35] The word thwasa is derived from thwasa which means 'the light of the new moon' or from ku mu thwasisa meaning 'to led to the light'.[36]   A trainee sangoma (or ithwasane) trains formally under another sangoma for a period of anywhere between a number of months and many years. The training involves learning humility to the ancestors, purification through steaming, washing in the blood of sacrificed animals, and the use of muti, medicines with spiritual significance.[37][38] The ithwasa may not see their families during training and must abstain from sexual contact and often live under harsh and strict conditions.[37] This is part of the cleansing process to prepare the healer for a life's work of dedication to healing and the intense experiences of training tend to earn a deeply entrenched place in the sangoma's memory.[37]   During the training period the ithwasa will share their ailments in the form of song and dance, a process that is nurtured by the analysis of dreams, anxieties, and with prayer. The story develops into a song which becomes a large part of the graduation-type ceremony that marks the end of the ukuthwasa training.[39] At times in the training, and for the graduation, a ritual sacrifice of an animal is performed (usually chickens and a goat or a cow).[40]   At the end of ukuthwasa and during initiation, early hours of the morning a goat that will be slaughtered should be a female one, that's for Umguni, the second one will be slaughtered the following morning after the chickens, which are sacrificed at the river Abamdzawo. All this sacrifices are to call to the ancestors and appease them. The local community, friends and family are all invited to the initiation to witness and celebrate the completion of training. The ithwasane is also tested by the local elder sangomas to determine whether they have the skills and insight necessary to heal. The climactic initiation test is to ensure the ithwasa has the ability to "see" things hidden from view. This is signified and proved when other sangomas hide the ithwasa's sacred objects, including the gall bladder of the goat that was sacrificed and the thwasane must, in front of the community, call upon their ancestors, find the hidden objects, which includes the skin of the goat, Umgamase, the ancestors clothes and return them back to the sangomas that hid them, thus proving they have the ability to "see" beyond the physical world. The heading practice is also done at night after taking off all those traditional clothing you had worn all day, they hide them for that thwasane to look for them again. The graduation ceremony takes 3 days from Friday till Sunday, the early hours of the morning the thwasane needs to sweep the whole yard, wash his/her clothes and also to bath at the river, he/she should return home when they are dry.   history The Zulu word with prefix is isangoma (pl. izangoma), alternatively it is also spelled as umngoma (pl. abangoma), sa ngoma means 'do ngoma and i sa ngoma means "those who do ngoma", so sangoma or isangoma refers specifically to the practitioner of the ngoma practice.[39]     Sangoma/N'anga in Johannesburg, South Africa, performing a traditional baptism to protect the spirit of the baby The term sangoma is often used colloquially in South Africa for equivalent professions in other Bantu cultures in Southern Africa.[3] Forms of the ngoma ritual are practiced throughout southern and south-eastern Africa in countries such as South Africa, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Kenya, and Batswana. In more northern areas the practices are generally more diverse and less organized than the southern practices.[43] Among the Kongo, the practice is called loka or more negatively doga, a term meaning witchcraft.[44]   Ngoma is believed to have come to southern Africa during the western Bantu migration that began around 2000 BCE and was further influenced by the eastern Bantu migration that occurred until 500 CE.[44] The practice has evolved along with the social problems of its users. In pre-colonial form ngoma songs dealt mainly with issues of hunting. Over time the system adapted to include the introduction of guns, and later the racial and class struggles of practitioners under colonial rule.[44] In Zimbabwe, the civil war experience lead to a revival of ngoma practice with a new emphasis on the spirits of the victims of war. The service allowed the sangoma to help people cope with their own violent acts as well as those they had fallen victim to.[45] An example of this is the Tsonga who believe that one of the main alien spirits that can bestow powers of clairvoyance and the ability to detect witchcraft is the Ndau Spirit.[46] The Ndau spirit possesses the descendants of the Gaza soldiers who had slain the Ndau and taken their wives. Once the Ndau spirit has been converted from hostile to benevolent forces, the spirits bestow the powers of divination and healing on the n'angna.   Traditional healers of South Africa include diviners (amagqirha). This job is mostly taken by women, who spend five years in apprenticeship. There are also herbalists (amaxhwele), prophets (izanuse), and healers (inyanga) for the community.