The Oldest Continuous Tradition
Southern Africa is home to the San people, whose rock art tradition stretches back at least 70,000 years, making it the oldest continuous artistic and spiritual tradition known to humanity. San cosmology centres on n/om, a spiritual potency activated through the trance dance. Healers enter altered states to travel to the spirit world, combat illness-causing spirits, and bring back healing. The rock paintings of the Drakensberg are not merely art but records of these trance journeys.
The Sangoma Tradition
The Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Ndebele peoples developed sophisticated systems of ancestor veneration (Amadlozi), divination through bones and shells, and the calling of traditional healers (Izinyanga and Izangoma). The Sangoma (diviner-healer) tradition involves a calling that often manifests as illness or disturbing dreams, followed by initiation and training.
Related Traditions
- African Divination — the method deep-dive
- Dream Interpretation — the calling through dreams
- The Cosmic Library