Cultural Artifacts and the Oracular Trance States of the Sangoma in South Africa Part 2: Sangoma and the Ancestors entral to the Sangoma is his/her relationship with the ancestors. Without this special relationship, which is achieved through trance states, the identity of the Sangoma would be compromised. Sangomas operate within a religious context that features a High God whose name varies according to the particular group. The High God has also been called "the Great Ancestor."21 Among the Xhosa, this High God is called Dali or Qamatha; among the Zulu, it is Nkunkulu; to the Venda, it is Raluvhima; and to the Sotho, Modimo.22 However, the High God is vaguely defined, and few myths exist.23 The High God is similar to the notion of the First Cause; the Zulu term Nkunku lu means "the First to Emerge."24 God is thus a Creator sustaining, and ruling over, the universe, but at the same time removed from the world he has created.25 It is the ancestors who are in contact with the people. The shaman is the essential link between the physical world and the afterworld of the ancestors. A certain healing power flows from the Supreme Being through the ancestors to the shaman, who is then able to heal the patient.26 The ancestors become the mediators between the High God and the shaman, for it is believed by some that the ancestors as spiritual beings have easier access to God than ordinary mortals.27 Death is not viewed as a total annihilation of an individual. Rather, it is understood that the person "has gone, has gone home, has been called by his people, i.e. by ancestors."28 There are two types of ancestors, the first being the nameless dead of the overarching clan. The second type of ancestors communicate with their descendants via dreams or illness, and they may bring misfortune. These are usually deceased parents and grandparents, and occasionally great-grandparents.29 CONTINUE
				21. John S. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion (Oxford: Heinemann, 1975), p. 53. 22. Hammond-Tooke, Rituals and Medicines, p. 57. 23. Zide, "The Religious Cosmology of the Xhosa: An Anthropological Perspective," Fort Hare Papers 8 (1987), pp. 14–33. 24. David Hammond-Tooke, The Roots of Black South Africa (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1993), p. 150. 25. Mbiti, Introduction to African Religion. 26. Thorpe, African Traditional Religions, p. 117. 27. Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, How to Honor Our Ancestors, Audiotape MaAfrica (Union City, Calif.: My Witness, 1996); Zide, "Religious Cosmology of the Xhosa." 28. Ibid., p. 18. 29. David Hammond-Tooke, "The Aetiology of Spirit in Southern Africa," African Studies 45 (1986), p. 159.
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