spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

particular rituals are subject to changes over time, “the ideational superstructure (...) has
remained highly resilient” (Janzen 1992:68).
Ngoma as a ritual therapeutic institution offers the means to understand one’s affliction. This
interpretation of individual suffering is embedded in the frame of African religious beliefs and
concepts, so the ngoma institution presupposes the existence of spiritual beings and subsequently
their involvement in the affliction. However, not every spirit-caused affliction can be typified as
an affliction that receives attention and needs to be treated by ngoma. There are also cases of
non-ngoma affliction, and those will be referred to healers who are not affiliated with ngoma
practices. The ngoma institution is of relevance to those sufferers whose case is diagnosed as a
call by the spirit(s) associated with ngoma orders (Janzen 1992:94).
2.3.2 Ancestral or spiritual legitimation
The whole complex of therapeutic interventions in this Southern African healing institution is
centered on the indication by the spiritual being(s) or ancestor(s) that an individual has been
selected to participate in ngoma. This selection becomes apparent in the suffering 16 experienced
by the individual, but the interpretation of the suffering as a call from the spiritual world requires
the involvement of a diviner. The diviner is usually the one who can identify the spirit(s) who
selected this particular individual for a specific purpose. After the diagnosis of the case and
identification of the ngoma-spirit, it is referred to a ngoma-healer. Thus, the selection and
recruitment procedure starts with a call by spirits who use divine power to convey the message
which is received in the form of suffering in the perceptible realm.
The separation of the individual (expressed in affliction) is the initial stage of the recruitment of
ngoma adherents. Ancestors, or other spiritual beings, call a person to partake in ngoma in order
to take up a ritual leadership role and to become an ngoma healer 17 . The aim of ngoma, then, is
to remove suffering and bring healing to an individual by making sense of that sufferer’s
situation. The afflicted person must move from an involuntary to a voluntary relationship with
the calling spirit(s) through mediumship. The ngoma institute basically constitutes a “coming to
terms with these ‘living dead’ in relation to the fortune and misfortune of the sufferer and his or
her community” (Janzen 1992:66).
16. The suffering can occur in many forms, such as illness, infertility, job loss, financial struggles and familial
conflict.
17. It is not always clear which criteria are used by the spirits when choosing new followers. Their selection might
be based on the individual’s ego strength, high level of sensitivity and cultural receptivity in times of pressure and
stress (Janzen 1992:55).
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