Sangoma
The Zulu and Xhosa diviner-healer, called by ancestors to the work and consulted through divination and spirit communication.
Also: isangoma, igqirha, ancestral healer, traditional healer
Sangoma (isangoma in Zulu; igqirha in Xhosa) is a diviner and healer in southern Africa. People who become one usually describe a calling by the ancestors, amadlozi, which can show itself as an illness known as ukuthwasa, that ends with a long apprenticeship and initiation under an experienced sangoma. The sangoma divines, often by throwing a set of bones and shells, and communicates with ancestors in dreams and during ceremonies, then advises what rites or remedies are needed. Many are women, and many are men. South Africa recognised traditional health practitioners in the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007. Some patients consult both a sangoma and a clinic, and health authorities encourage the two to work in step.