The term “muti” finds it's roots in the Zulu word for 'tree' and it's use is widespread in African languages, it has been used as a slang term to refer to traditional African medicine.
Traditional African medicine makes use of many spiritually curative medicines which contain nothing more sinister than botanical properties, minerals and zoological composed formulas.
These medicines have been used to treat everything from headaches to kidney disease to high blood pressure and even sexual potency.
Many plant medicines recommended by traditional healers have proven correct when judged by western scientific methods. In fact, the global demand for African traditional medicines is increasing and with that increase is putting pressure on medicinal plant resources.
“Muti killings” (also called muthi killings or medicine murder) are instances of murder and mutilation in order to harvest body parts for incorporation as ingredients into medicine. They are not human sacrifice, nor are they religious in nature.
The victims, often very young or elderly (male or female) are most often killed for their soft tissue; eyelids, lips, scrota and labia though entire limbs have been severed; many while the victims are still alive since their screams are supposed to enhance the medicines power.
It is said to be believed that medicines made from these killings will increase ones ability to excel in business or politics, improve agriculture or protect against war.
Though it is difficult to find precise statistics on muti killings, the earliest documentation appears to be in the 1800's with an increase in incidences occurring during times of economic and political stress.
This is observable during the 1990's when South Africa was experiencing significant political strife (legal end of apartheid), at this time opportunistic assassinations of political opponents were deemed muti killings.
Many believe that these killings were, at least in some instances, politically sanctioned at the local level. Mutilation of corpses in medical facilities has also been attributed to muti.
While the western propaganda machine would lead those who don't know to believe that African traditional healers are practitioners of witchcraft, it is important to note that African belief does not encourage or condone witchcraft, it merely accepts that witchcraft exists in Africa; the same way that a particular religion does not support or condone adultery, but must accept that some of it's practitioners partake in it.
As in any religion, people set up their own concept of what it means to live in harmony with their philosophy and find ways to excuse their evil.
This is evident in religions around the world; the Pope who blessed the soldiers that Mussolini sent into Ethiopia to slaughter Africans for their land and Columbus to perform genocide on the Native Americans and Indians on the Caribbean Islands, Israel taking Palestinian land and placing people in refugee camps because God says it's their land etc. African religion is no exception, and it is possible if one goes looking to find unethical and unsavory behavior.
However, it is important to understand that making a connection between muti killings and African traditional healing is the exception to the rule, especially since the employment of a traditional healer is not always necessary.
As with all things traditionally African, we must learn from the past, build on it and carry it forward for continued growth.
Keeping in mind that with the introduction of commerce in the form of paper money, many of these traditions have been corrupted and there is no shortage of characters who will take advantage of believers by claiming to have the power to heal or fend off spiritual attacks.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Monday, 27 November 2017
Traditional Healers vs. Western Medicine
Given the Egyptian history of medicine in the world, it seems a quagmire that relative new-comers to the medical field would have the audacity to present traditional medicine as primitive.
However, it is a fact that during colonial rule traditional healers were viewed as pagan superstitious heathens using unscientific methods....and, in an effort of control went so far as to send diviners and healers to camps to be “re-educated” as well as declaring the sale of herbal medicines illegal.
In addition, despite their ability to tend to the basic health needs of the people, traditional healers were largely ignored and/or attempts were made to discredit them, since Healers are more likely to call on the supernatural realm in times of conflict and war.
The hypocrisy is even more evident when it is understood that today the herbal trade market in Durban alone is said to attract between 700,000 and 900,000 traders a year.
Another example is the 2,000 metric tons in Cameroon and another 600 tons from Madagascar of pygeum (to name just one herb) harvested each year, an ancient treatment for an enlarged prostate and sent to Europe since the 1970's!
, although the active component in many cases is now produced synthetically.
It is easy to understand African cynicism and suspicion towards western medicine philosophy when one understands the history of colonialism.
Couple this with the multitude of western doctors who have intentionally (and factually) caused harm—and gone unpunished-- to countless African families.
To name a few; the Bulgarian doctors who intentionally infected 100's of Libyan children with H.I.V, Werner Bezwoda who conducted experiments using very high doses of chemotherapy on unsuspecting South African breast cancer patients, Richard McGown who in Zimbabwe killed at least 7 infant patients with lethal doses of morphine, “Dr.” Michael Swango who is suspected of causing the deaths of over 60 Africans with lethal doses of potassium and finally Wouter Basson, a former head of Project Coast (South Africa's chemical and biological weapons unit under Apartheid) who was charged with killing hundreds of Africans via injected poisons but was never convicted.
It should also be noted, that during the trial of Basson, at which his lieutenants testified to the medical crimes conducted against African people, it was also reported that one of their chief goals was to find ways to selectively and secretly sterilize Africans.
There appears a clash in methodology and world-view when studying the differences between traditional African healing vs. Western methods (meta-physical vs. crisis intervention).
Well educated traditional healers are the preferred option for African patients because of their shared belief systems, and because they offer personalized information, counseling and treatment based on an understanding of their environment.
Yet even today, medical apartheid rears its head as traditional healers are rarely included in key decision making, action agendas and community program discussions held by colonizers.
Not only is this behavior arrogant, but the continued failure to engage manifests the image of the west as aggressive and perpetuates the view that the goal of colonialism is to erase indigenous peoples thoughts and perceptions of their own culture.
Surely the west has many useful medical advancements that Africans can learn from, but their current overpowering role makes reciprocity nearly impossible.
Traditional healers have a crucial role to play in the continued growth of the health system on the Continent, the only acceptable solution to this conundrum is African agency.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
However, it is a fact that during colonial rule traditional healers were viewed as pagan superstitious heathens using unscientific methods....and, in an effort of control went so far as to send diviners and healers to camps to be “re-educated” as well as declaring the sale of herbal medicines illegal.
In addition, despite their ability to tend to the basic health needs of the people, traditional healers were largely ignored and/or attempts were made to discredit them, since Healers are more likely to call on the supernatural realm in times of conflict and war.
The hypocrisy is even more evident when it is understood that today the herbal trade market in Durban alone is said to attract between 700,000 and 900,000 traders a year.
Another example is the 2,000 metric tons in Cameroon and another 600 tons from Madagascar of pygeum (to name just one herb) harvested each year, an ancient treatment for an enlarged prostate and sent to Europe since the 1970's!
, although the active component in many cases is now produced synthetically.
It is easy to understand African cynicism and suspicion towards western medicine philosophy when one understands the history of colonialism.
Couple this with the multitude of western doctors who have intentionally (and factually) caused harm—and gone unpunished-- to countless African families.
To name a few; the Bulgarian doctors who intentionally infected 100's of Libyan children with H.I.V, Werner Bezwoda who conducted experiments using very high doses of chemotherapy on unsuspecting South African breast cancer patients, Richard McGown who in Zimbabwe killed at least 7 infant patients with lethal doses of morphine, “Dr.” Michael Swango who is suspected of causing the deaths of over 60 Africans with lethal doses of potassium and finally Wouter Basson, a former head of Project Coast (South Africa's chemical and biological weapons unit under Apartheid) who was charged with killing hundreds of Africans via injected poisons but was never convicted.
It should also be noted, that during the trial of Basson, at which his lieutenants testified to the medical crimes conducted against African people, it was also reported that one of their chief goals was to find ways to selectively and secretly sterilize Africans.
There appears a clash in methodology and world-view when studying the differences between traditional African healing vs. Western methods (meta-physical vs. crisis intervention).
Well educated traditional healers are the preferred option for African patients because of their shared belief systems, and because they offer personalized information, counseling and treatment based on an understanding of their environment.
Yet even today, medical apartheid rears its head as traditional healers are rarely included in key decision making, action agendas and community program discussions held by colonizers.
Not only is this behavior arrogant, but the continued failure to engage manifests the image of the west as aggressive and perpetuates the view that the goal of colonialism is to erase indigenous peoples thoughts and perceptions of their own culture.
Surely the west has many useful medical advancements that Africans can learn from, but their current overpowering role makes reciprocity nearly impossible.
Traditional healers have a crucial role to play in the continued growth of the health system on the Continent, the only acceptable solution to this conundrum is African agency.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Origins of African Healing Tradition
Every region, at one time in its history had a form of traditional medicine (Chinese and Arabic as examples). It is traditional because it is deeply rooted in a specific social-cultural context. It is now common knowledge that Kemet gave the gift of medical sciences to the world. The oldest written medical literature (named after the men who found them; called Papyrus Ebers and Smith papyrus) date back thousands of years before the Greek or Roman empires, and are in fact copies of much older writings from Egypt. The papers are now located at the New York Academy of Medicine and are the foundation of western medicine. These papyrus papers include instructions on using the natural forces of nature to cure dis-ease of the body and mind, pathology, anatomy, herbal pharmacology as well as various methods of diagnosing ailments and the locations and functions of all bodily organs.
Scientific evidence places Imhotep firmly at the forefront of medicine as the first known physician, medical professor and writer of medical books (Imhotep was also a priest along with a myriad other roles in Kmt [Ancient Egypt]). He is believed to be the author of the “Edwin Smith” Papyrus in which more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described. Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases including tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. As the worlds first herbalist, he extracted medicine from plants and from the quote “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food” we can deduce that Imhotep was a practitioner of dietetics; the science of diet and nutrition.. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. All of these things happened some 2,200 years before the father of western medicine, Hippocrates (who did his internship in ancient Ethiopia under the direction of African physicians) was born.
The designs for many of the medical and surgical instruments of ancient Egypt, such as surgical blades, scissors and forceps are nearly unchanged since African ancients first gave this knowledge to the world and approximately 50% of the plants used in Pharaonic medicine remain in clinical use today both by traditional healers and western trained physicians. Egyptians introduced the use of essential oils and resins and were the first to recognize that stress could contribute to illness. Thus, sanitariums where the people could go for dream therapy and treatment with healing waters were established. Many Egyptian practices for treating illness are still valid medical protocol even today.
So respected was the knowledge of Imhotep that later scribes regularly poured libation to him, devotees brought offerings to his medical and spiritual school in Saqqara in hopes of being healed and he was later even worshiped by the early Christians as one with Christ. So much so, that Christ was made to adopt one of the titles of Imhotep, “Prince of Peace”. Additionally, in Greece he was identified with their god of medicine, Aspelius and was inscribed on the walls of Roman temples, a sign of honor and praise.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Scientific evidence places Imhotep firmly at the forefront of medicine as the first known physician, medical professor and writer of medical books (Imhotep was also a priest along with a myriad other roles in Kmt [Ancient Egypt]). He is believed to be the author of the “Edwin Smith” Papyrus in which more than 90 anatomical terms and 48 injuries are described. Imhotep diagnosed and treated over 200 diseases including tuberculosis, gallstones, appendicitis, gout and arthritis. As the worlds first herbalist, he extracted medicine from plants and from the quote “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food” we can deduce that Imhotep was a practitioner of dietetics; the science of diet and nutrition.. He also performed surgery and practiced some dentistry. All of these things happened some 2,200 years before the father of western medicine, Hippocrates (who did his internship in ancient Ethiopia under the direction of African physicians) was born.
The designs for many of the medical and surgical instruments of ancient Egypt, such as surgical blades, scissors and forceps are nearly unchanged since African ancients first gave this knowledge to the world and approximately 50% of the plants used in Pharaonic medicine remain in clinical use today both by traditional healers and western trained physicians. Egyptians introduced the use of essential oils and resins and were the first to recognize that stress could contribute to illness. Thus, sanitariums where the people could go for dream therapy and treatment with healing waters were established. Many Egyptian practices for treating illness are still valid medical protocol even today.
So respected was the knowledge of Imhotep that later scribes regularly poured libation to him, devotees brought offerings to his medical and spiritual school in Saqqara in hopes of being healed and he was later even worshiped by the early Christians as one with Christ. So much so, that Christ was made to adopt one of the titles of Imhotep, “Prince of Peace”. Additionally, in Greece he was identified with their god of medicine, Aspelius and was inscribed on the walls of Roman temples, a sign of honor and praise.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Traditional African religion
Nigosian (1994: 4) defined religion in general as “an invention or creation of the human mind for regulating all human activity, and this creative activity is a human necessity that satisfies the spiritual desires and needs inherent in human nature”.
The traditional African religion, in particular, can be described as tribal (Van der Walt, 2003). In other words, its practice varies from tribe to tribe but the substance remains the same all over Africa.
A tribe is defined as a “social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader” (Pearsall, 2001: 1530).
Traditional African religion had existed for many centuries before the arrival of Western Christian missionaries and Western political expeditions on the African continent. With the challenge for and the Westernisation of the African continent in the 19th century, many Africans became Christians not by choice but via intimidation.
Nonetheless, it is also worth mentioning that others became Christians by choice (Nigosian, 1994). In many parts of apartheid South Africa, an African child had to have a ‘Christian’ name before she or he could be enrolled at a primary school.
This is where many African children were introduced and ‘converted’ to the Christian religion. Contrary to the intentions of colonial authorities and the apartheid government, this forced conversion and Westernisation did not lead Africans to completely abandon the traditional African health care system and African religion (Nigosian, 1994).
Instead, many Africans practiced Western and traditional African religions concurrently and as such utilised the services of both the traditional and Western health care systems (Nigosian, 1994).
Before the Westernisation process, Africans had always believed in God and the ancestors and had been profoundly spiritual. This is contrary to some colonial authorities and Christian missionaries’ general beliefs that Africans were unbelievers.
Africans believed and continue to believe in the eternal and ubiquitous spirit of the ancestors and the Almighty God. The ancestors are called by different names depending on one’s ethnic origins.
The Bapedi, Batswana, and Basotho call them ‘badimo’. The Amazulu and the Amaxhosa call them ‘amadlozi’ and ‘iinyanya’ respectively.
The ancestors are the ‘living-dead’, compassionate spirits who are blood-related to the people who believe in them. The ancestors continue to show an interest in the daily lives of the relatives that are still alive (Van Dyk, 2001).
They are superior to the living and include, amongst others, departed/deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles.
These spirits, because they have crossed over to the other side of life, act as mediators between the living and God. This way of life is regarded as ancestor reverence, veneration or remembering and not as ancestor worship (Berg, 2003).
The word ‘worship’, when referring to communication between Africans and the ancestors, is therefore inappropriate since the ancestors are not worshipped but remembered and revered by their relatives (Child & Child, 1993).
In traditional African religion, God is above and beyond the ancestors and is called the Supreme Creator/Being and the main pillar of the universe (Thorpe, 1993).
This is one aspect that many people who do not subscribe to this belief system fail to understand: that the God that the traditional African religion subscribers worship is the same God that Christians and other religious groupings believe in. Because African religion reveres and holds God in the highest regard, worshipers do not speak directly to Him. Their prayers and wishes are communicated to Him through the medium of the ancestors.
This is often aided by enlisting the services of a traditional healer who advises on how to communicate with the ancestors, depending on the purposes of the communication and the type of ritual that needs to be performed.
Traditional African religion, therefore, involves a chain of communication between the worshipers and Almighty God.
This chain is, as would be expected, influenced by the cultural context in which it exists, just as Christianity and other religions are embedded within their particular cultural milieus. Christians communicate directly with God, or through Jesus Christ, whilst traditional African religious believers communicate with God through the medium of the deceased relatives.
The deceased relatives are ‘means-to-an-end’ and not the end in themselves. The deceased relatives are conduits of their relatives’ prayers to the Almighty.
At times, communication between the living, the living-dead and God is done through the ritual slaughtering of an animal (Gumede, 1990). The practice of ritual slaughtering in traditional African religion is akin to the animal offerings carried out by people in the Old Testament of the Bible.
It can be argued that the main difference is that people in the Old Testament were making animal sacrifices directly to God whilst traditional African religious believers make animal sacrifices to God through their departed relatives who have attained the status of being ancestors and therefore mediators between their living relatives and God.
Different types of animals can be slaughtered for the purposes of communication between the living, the ancestors and God. These include chickens, goats and cattle, depending on the instructions or preferences of the ancestors.
The slaughtering of an animal has to be done properly and at an appropriate place. For example, such sacrifices could not be made at the modern abattoirs. They must be made at the homestead of the person/s concerned so that blood can be spilled there.
Blood is an extremely important aspect in the traditional African religion and customs. It serves as a bond between the ancestors and their descendants. This is one of the reasons why an animal has to be slaughtered when two people get married, for example.
The blood of the slaughtered animal is believed to be the eternal bond between the families and the ancestors of the two families that are coming together through the bride and bridegroom. Gumede (1990) explains that there are three basic tenets of a properly made sacrifice.
These are that there must be an appropriate animal, such as a cow or bull of a particular colour depending on the occasion, there must be home-brewed beer and frankincense.
Sacrifices and ancestor reverence are not confined to the ancestors at the personal and family levels only. These kinds of sacrifices can also be made, during an extended period of famine that threatens the life of humans, animals and plants, to what are normally called ‘the village ancestors’ which are the spirits of departed chiefs and other high ranking royal figures.
In the Bapedi tribe, found in the Limpopo province north of South Africa, this is achieved by gathering all of the village girls who are still virgins and have not, as yet, gone through the rights of passage into womanhood or adulthood. These girls draw water from the river using containers made of clay, called ‘meetana’ (‘moetana’ – singular) (Harries, 1929).
This water is carefully mixed with rain-medicine to sprinkle the earth with (Hammond-Tooke, 1974). This is done with the proper guidance of the chief traditional healer for that particular village called ‘Ngaka ya Moshate’ in Sepedi.
It is believed that the rain will come down as soon as the girls arrive back from the river having performed the necessary rituals both at the river and at the place where the departed chiefs are buried.
It must be emphasised that these rituals cannot be performed without the rainmaker’s instructions and the spiritual guidance of the ancestors. If it happens that these rain rituals do not yield satisfactory results, another ritual is performed. This entails village men hunting a type of buck with short horns, called ‘Kome’.
The buck must be caught alive and brought to the rainmaker who mixes some of the fur of the buck with rain-medicine and call upon the ancestors to shower the village and its environs with rain (Eiselen & Schapera, 1962).
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
The traditional African religion, in particular, can be described as tribal (Van der Walt, 2003). In other words, its practice varies from tribe to tribe but the substance remains the same all over Africa.
A tribe is defined as a “social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader” (Pearsall, 2001: 1530).
Traditional African religion had existed for many centuries before the arrival of Western Christian missionaries and Western political expeditions on the African continent. With the challenge for and the Westernisation of the African continent in the 19th century, many Africans became Christians not by choice but via intimidation.
Nonetheless, it is also worth mentioning that others became Christians by choice (Nigosian, 1994). In many parts of apartheid South Africa, an African child had to have a ‘Christian’ name before she or he could be enrolled at a primary school.
This is where many African children were introduced and ‘converted’ to the Christian religion. Contrary to the intentions of colonial authorities and the apartheid government, this forced conversion and Westernisation did not lead Africans to completely abandon the traditional African health care system and African religion (Nigosian, 1994).
Instead, many Africans practiced Western and traditional African religions concurrently and as such utilised the services of both the traditional and Western health care systems (Nigosian, 1994).
Before the Westernisation process, Africans had always believed in God and the ancestors and had been profoundly spiritual. This is contrary to some colonial authorities and Christian missionaries’ general beliefs that Africans were unbelievers.
Africans believed and continue to believe in the eternal and ubiquitous spirit of the ancestors and the Almighty God. The ancestors are called by different names depending on one’s ethnic origins.
The Bapedi, Batswana, and Basotho call them ‘badimo’. The Amazulu and the Amaxhosa call them ‘amadlozi’ and ‘iinyanya’ respectively.
The ancestors are the ‘living-dead’, compassionate spirits who are blood-related to the people who believe in them. The ancestors continue to show an interest in the daily lives of the relatives that are still alive (Van Dyk, 2001).
They are superior to the living and include, amongst others, departed/deceased parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles.
These spirits, because they have crossed over to the other side of life, act as mediators between the living and God. This way of life is regarded as ancestor reverence, veneration or remembering and not as ancestor worship (Berg, 2003).
The word ‘worship’, when referring to communication between Africans and the ancestors, is therefore inappropriate since the ancestors are not worshipped but remembered and revered by their relatives (Child & Child, 1993).
In traditional African religion, God is above and beyond the ancestors and is called the Supreme Creator/Being and the main pillar of the universe (Thorpe, 1993).
This is one aspect that many people who do not subscribe to this belief system fail to understand: that the God that the traditional African religion subscribers worship is the same God that Christians and other religious groupings believe in. Because African religion reveres and holds God in the highest regard, worshipers do not speak directly to Him. Their prayers and wishes are communicated to Him through the medium of the ancestors.
This is often aided by enlisting the services of a traditional healer who advises on how to communicate with the ancestors, depending on the purposes of the communication and the type of ritual that needs to be performed.
Traditional African religion, therefore, involves a chain of communication between the worshipers and Almighty God.
This chain is, as would be expected, influenced by the cultural context in which it exists, just as Christianity and other religions are embedded within their particular cultural milieus. Christians communicate directly with God, or through Jesus Christ, whilst traditional African religious believers communicate with God through the medium of the deceased relatives.
The deceased relatives are ‘means-to-an-end’ and not the end in themselves. The deceased relatives are conduits of their relatives’ prayers to the Almighty.
At times, communication between the living, the living-dead and God is done through the ritual slaughtering of an animal (Gumede, 1990). The practice of ritual slaughtering in traditional African religion is akin to the animal offerings carried out by people in the Old Testament of the Bible.
It can be argued that the main difference is that people in the Old Testament were making animal sacrifices directly to God whilst traditional African religious believers make animal sacrifices to God through their departed relatives who have attained the status of being ancestors and therefore mediators between their living relatives and God.
Different types of animals can be slaughtered for the purposes of communication between the living, the ancestors and God. These include chickens, goats and cattle, depending on the instructions or preferences of the ancestors.
The slaughtering of an animal has to be done properly and at an appropriate place. For example, such sacrifices could not be made at the modern abattoirs. They must be made at the homestead of the person/s concerned so that blood can be spilled there.
Blood is an extremely important aspect in the traditional African religion and customs. It serves as a bond between the ancestors and their descendants. This is one of the reasons why an animal has to be slaughtered when two people get married, for example.
The blood of the slaughtered animal is believed to be the eternal bond between the families and the ancestors of the two families that are coming together through the bride and bridegroom. Gumede (1990) explains that there are three basic tenets of a properly made sacrifice.
These are that there must be an appropriate animal, such as a cow or bull of a particular colour depending on the occasion, there must be home-brewed beer and frankincense.
Sacrifices and ancestor reverence are not confined to the ancestors at the personal and family levels only. These kinds of sacrifices can also be made, during an extended period of famine that threatens the life of humans, animals and plants, to what are normally called ‘the village ancestors’ which are the spirits of departed chiefs and other high ranking royal figures.
In the Bapedi tribe, found in the Limpopo province north of South Africa, this is achieved by gathering all of the village girls who are still virgins and have not, as yet, gone through the rights of passage into womanhood or adulthood. These girls draw water from the river using containers made of clay, called ‘meetana’ (‘moetana’ – singular) (Harries, 1929).
This water is carefully mixed with rain-medicine to sprinkle the earth with (Hammond-Tooke, 1974). This is done with the proper guidance of the chief traditional healer for that particular village called ‘Ngaka ya Moshate’ in Sepedi.
It is believed that the rain will come down as soon as the girls arrive back from the river having performed the necessary rituals both at the river and at the place where the departed chiefs are buried.
It must be emphasised that these rituals cannot be performed without the rainmaker’s instructions and the spiritual guidance of the ancestors. If it happens that these rain rituals do not yield satisfactory results, another ritual is performed. This entails village men hunting a type of buck with short horns, called ‘Kome’.
The buck must be caught alive and brought to the rainmaker who mixes some of the fur of the buck with rain-medicine and call upon the ancestors to shower the village and its environs with rain (Eiselen & Schapera, 1962).
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
The role of traditional healers in their communities
In all African regions, traditional healers are very resourceful and play a pivotal role in many spheres of the people’s lives since they are ‘medical knowledge storehouses’ (Yeboah, 2000), African traditional healers serve important roles as educators about traditional culture, cosmology and spirituality.
They also serve as counselors, social workers and skilled psychotherapists as well as custodians of indigenous knowledge systems (Mills, Cooper & Kanfer, 2005).
The services of traditional healers go far beyond the uses of herbs for physical illnesses. A particular example of the role of traditional healing extends to its use in Mozambique.
Traditional healers were found to be invaluable in post civil war social reconstruction and community rebuilding in Mozambique, particularly in the rural areas (Honwana, 1997).
It is doubtful whether modern psychological and psychiatric services would have been appropriate in Mozambique, since traditional healing was highly involved by rendering culturally relevant psychological services that included communication with the ancestors (Honwana, 1997).
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
They also serve as counselors, social workers and skilled psychotherapists as well as custodians of indigenous knowledge systems (Mills, Cooper & Kanfer, 2005).
The services of traditional healers go far beyond the uses of herbs for physical illnesses. A particular example of the role of traditional healing extends to its use in Mozambique.
Traditional healers were found to be invaluable in post civil war social reconstruction and community rebuilding in Mozambique, particularly in the rural areas (Honwana, 1997).
It is doubtful whether modern psychological and psychiatric services would have been appropriate in Mozambique, since traditional healing was highly involved by rendering culturally relevant psychological services that included communication with the ancestors (Honwana, 1997).
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Training of traditional healers
For certain categories of traditional African healers such as diviners, training is a formal and meticulous process that can take between months and years depending on how fast the trainee learns the trade (Peek, 1991).
To become a traditional healer a special calling from the ancestors is required. This calling can come through what is generally called an ‘illness’ in the Western paradigm.
These include schizophrenia and psychosis, as well as constant visitations through dreams by one’s ancestors and apparitions instructing a person to become a traditional healer.
The authenticity of such callings is verified by a diviner who advises on who should undergo training at an appropriate trainer.
Moreover, not every qualified traditional healer is qualified to train prospective traditional healers. Training of traditional healers is a specialty and yet another calling, in addition to simply being a healer. A traditional healer has to be called to become a trainer of other future healers.
There are traditional healers who combine both the normal traditional healing and who specialise in training of prospective traditional healers.
During training, the trainee is required to live with his/her trainer, the trainer’s family and other trainees, and is therefore constantly observed by the trainer (Rudnick, 2002).
During the training process, trainees receive instructions on a variety of aspects such as different medicinal plants and animal extracts to use, interpreting bones, dream analysis, communicating with the ancestors and different illnesses and how to treat them.
There are certain practices that are proscribed during the training process as per the instructions from the ancestors. For example, a trainee does not greet other people by shaking hands.
When greeting others, especially when they meet others in the homestead, they kneel down and clap hands by placing one hand over another in an up and down fashion or sideways.
When they meet relatives outside of the homestead, they curtsy and clap hands without kneeling down but does not normally greet strangers outside the homestead. A trainee is also prohibited from engaging in a sexual relationship (Hammond-Tooke, 1989).
Once the training is completed, the trainee is taken to a river where final rituals are performed at a ceremony in the presence of community members, called ‘go ja ntwase’.
Animals are slaughtered according to the instructions of the ancestors that are communicated to the trainer through the trainer’s divination.
This ceremony is a form of an assessment to test if the trainee has mastered the trade and can be allowed to practice as a traditional healer (Mutwa, 2003).
One of the methods that the trainer healer employs when assessing the trainee’s level of competence in using the spirits of the ancestors is to hide a safety pin in the vicinity or in one of the spectators’ pockets. The trainee is required to find the pin by being guided by the spirit of the ancestors.
If it happens that the trainee fails this assessment, the training may be extended by some more months.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
To become a traditional healer a special calling from the ancestors is required. This calling can come through what is generally called an ‘illness’ in the Western paradigm.
These include schizophrenia and psychosis, as well as constant visitations through dreams by one’s ancestors and apparitions instructing a person to become a traditional healer.
The authenticity of such callings is verified by a diviner who advises on who should undergo training at an appropriate trainer.
Moreover, not every qualified traditional healer is qualified to train prospective traditional healers. Training of traditional healers is a specialty and yet another calling, in addition to simply being a healer. A traditional healer has to be called to become a trainer of other future healers.
There are traditional healers who combine both the normal traditional healing and who specialise in training of prospective traditional healers.
During training, the trainee is required to live with his/her trainer, the trainer’s family and other trainees, and is therefore constantly observed by the trainer (Rudnick, 2002).
During the training process, trainees receive instructions on a variety of aspects such as different medicinal plants and animal extracts to use, interpreting bones, dream analysis, communicating with the ancestors and different illnesses and how to treat them.
There are certain practices that are proscribed during the training process as per the instructions from the ancestors. For example, a trainee does not greet other people by shaking hands.
When greeting others, especially when they meet others in the homestead, they kneel down and clap hands by placing one hand over another in an up and down fashion or sideways.
When they meet relatives outside of the homestead, they curtsy and clap hands without kneeling down but does not normally greet strangers outside the homestead. A trainee is also prohibited from engaging in a sexual relationship (Hammond-Tooke, 1989).
Once the training is completed, the trainee is taken to a river where final rituals are performed at a ceremony in the presence of community members, called ‘go ja ntwase’.
Animals are slaughtered according to the instructions of the ancestors that are communicated to the trainer through the trainer’s divination.
This ceremony is a form of an assessment to test if the trainee has mastered the trade and can be allowed to practice as a traditional healer (Mutwa, 2003).
One of the methods that the trainer healer employs when assessing the trainee’s level of competence in using the spirits of the ancestors is to hide a safety pin in the vicinity or in one of the spectators’ pockets. The trainee is required to find the pin by being guided by the spirit of the ancestors.
If it happens that the trainee fails this assessment, the training may be extended by some more months.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Types of traditional healers
Traditional healers, like medical doctors, are not a homogenous group (Ensink & Robertson, 1999). The term traditional healer is an umbrella concept that encompasses different types of healers with different types of training and expertise.
Researchers have identified different types of traditional healers in different regions (Freeman & Motsei, 1992; Green & Makhubu, 1984).
In the Bapedi tribe, traditional healers are generally called ‘dingaka’ or ‘mangaka’. The different types of traditional healers include, diviners (‘Ngaka ya ditaola’), Sanusi (‘Sedupe’), traditional surgeons and traditional birth attendants (‘Babelegisi’).
The diviner uses bones and the spirits of the ancestors to diagnose and prescribe medication for different physiological, psychiatric and spiritual conditions.
This category includes those that deal with ‘mafofonyane’ (schizophrenia) and ‘malopo’ (being possessed by the spirits of the ancestors that can be healed without the possessed person becoming a traditional healer him or herself). ‘Malopo’ can be treated by a combination of therapies that include dance (Hammond-Tooke, 1989).
A Sanusi can be both a diviner and herbalist, or as is the case in the African independent Christian churches, in the form of a prophet or what the Zion Christian Church calls ‘lebone’.
This is someone who is possessed by the Holy Spirit and is able to foretell the future and advice on how to avert an undesirable event.
For healing purposes, some of the prophets, as is the case with the prophets in the Aladura church in Nigeria, use water in addition to prayers (Rinne, 2001). They often combine the Christian Holy Spirit with the ancestral spirit which falls within the realm of traditional healing (Truter, 2007).
According to Green and Makhubu (1984), the ‘baporofeta’ (prophets) emerged out of independent churches that sought to Africanise Christianity by including African traditions and customs in their religious practice.
The ‘baporofeta’ and the ‘Africanness’ of the independent churches are some of the major aspects that attract millions of Africans to these churches; hence, the Zion churches are the largest in South Africa (Anderson, n.d.).
It is, however, noteworthy that Green and Makhubu (1984) do not regard the ‘baporofeta’ category as traditional healers although they concede that they share a common theory of health and disease with traditional healers.
The basic difference between faith healers and traditional healers is that the former receive guidance from God and the Angels while the latter are guided by the ancestral spirits.
What is confusing about their argument is that some of the former use herbs at times; how this is connected to God and Angels is not entirely clear (Green & Makhubu, 1984).
Contrary to Green and Makhubu‘s (1984) assertion that ‘baporofeta’ are not traditional healers, the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of South Africa classifies the ‘baporofeta’ as traditional healers (Government Gazette, 2005).
Traditional surgeons include those who are qualified, accredited, trusted and recognised by village chiefs to perform circumcision on boys (Government Gazette, 2005).
Their practice and expertise as surgeons can also encompass the practices and expertise of other types of traditional healers such as diviner and sedupe/sanusi.
Traditional birth attendants are usually older women who have perfected the skill of midwifery over the years through experiencing, witnessing and assisting in many births throughout their adult lives. The skill is transferred from one generation to the other. As a result, any older woman can become a birth attendant.
It remains to be seen if the traditional birth attendant category will survive for long, as more Africans people prefer to give birth in hospitals and not at home as was previously the case.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Researchers have identified different types of traditional healers in different regions (Freeman & Motsei, 1992; Green & Makhubu, 1984).
In the Bapedi tribe, traditional healers are generally called ‘dingaka’ or ‘mangaka’. The different types of traditional healers include, diviners (‘Ngaka ya ditaola’), Sanusi (‘Sedupe’), traditional surgeons and traditional birth attendants (‘Babelegisi’).
The diviner uses bones and the spirits of the ancestors to diagnose and prescribe medication for different physiological, psychiatric and spiritual conditions.
This category includes those that deal with ‘mafofonyane’ (schizophrenia) and ‘malopo’ (being possessed by the spirits of the ancestors that can be healed without the possessed person becoming a traditional healer him or herself). ‘Malopo’ can be treated by a combination of therapies that include dance (Hammond-Tooke, 1989).
A Sanusi can be both a diviner and herbalist, or as is the case in the African independent Christian churches, in the form of a prophet or what the Zion Christian Church calls ‘lebone’.
This is someone who is possessed by the Holy Spirit and is able to foretell the future and advice on how to avert an undesirable event.
For healing purposes, some of the prophets, as is the case with the prophets in the Aladura church in Nigeria, use water in addition to prayers (Rinne, 2001). They often combine the Christian Holy Spirit with the ancestral spirit which falls within the realm of traditional healing (Truter, 2007).
According to Green and Makhubu (1984), the ‘baporofeta’ (prophets) emerged out of independent churches that sought to Africanise Christianity by including African traditions and customs in their religious practice.
The ‘baporofeta’ and the ‘Africanness’ of the independent churches are some of the major aspects that attract millions of Africans to these churches; hence, the Zion churches are the largest in South Africa (Anderson, n.d.).
It is, however, noteworthy that Green and Makhubu (1984) do not regard the ‘baporofeta’ category as traditional healers although they concede that they share a common theory of health and disease with traditional healers.
The basic difference between faith healers and traditional healers is that the former receive guidance from God and the Angels while the latter are guided by the ancestral spirits.
What is confusing about their argument is that some of the former use herbs at times; how this is connected to God and Angels is not entirely clear (Green & Makhubu, 1984).
Contrary to Green and Makhubu‘s (1984) assertion that ‘baporofeta’ are not traditional healers, the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of South Africa classifies the ‘baporofeta’ as traditional healers (Government Gazette, 2005).
Traditional surgeons include those who are qualified, accredited, trusted and recognised by village chiefs to perform circumcision on boys (Government Gazette, 2005).
Their practice and expertise as surgeons can also encompass the practices and expertise of other types of traditional healers such as diviner and sedupe/sanusi.
Traditional birth attendants are usually older women who have perfected the skill of midwifery over the years through experiencing, witnessing and assisting in many births throughout their adult lives. The skill is transferred from one generation to the other. As a result, any older woman can become a birth attendant.
It remains to be seen if the traditional birth attendant category will survive for long, as more Africans people prefer to give birth in hospitals and not at home as was previously the case.
Traditional Healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
Love spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/love-spells.html
Voodoo healer http://www.traditional-healer.net/voodoo-healer-spells.html
Money spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/money-spells.html
Thwasa training http://www.traditional-healer.net/thwasa-training.html
Fertility spells http://www.traditional-healer.net/fertility-spells.html
Magic rings http://www.traditional-healer.net/magic-rings.html
Ancestral spirits http://www.traditional-healer.net/ancestral-spirits.html
White Sangomas http://www.traditional-healer.net/white-sangomas.html
Spiritual healer http://www.traditional-healer.net
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