FROM:  Overholt, Thomas W.  "Spirit Mediums Among the Shona."  In Prophecy in Cross-Cultural Perspective,  230-248.  SBLSBS 17.  Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.

Please note that because there are so few footnotes, they are at the bottom of the page.  However, there are MANY internal citations that refer to the book's main bibliography.  Rather than providing a hot link for each citation, I have a paper copy of the book's bibliography for those who wish to make a copy.  The numbers in green indicate that what follows illustrate a particular feature of intermediation.  Please refer to hot link - list of the phenomenon to which these numbers refer.  Finally, the numbers in red brackets refer to the upcoming page number of the article.  The latter will help for citation purposes.

SPIRIT MEDIUMS AMONG THE SHONA
by THOMAS OVERHOLT
INTRODUCTION
[230]       Among the Bantu-speaking peoples of what are today Zimbabwe and Zambia, prophecy occurs in a well-defined system of spirit mediumship and in connection with the centralized cult of the high-god, Mwari. Although the literature tends to refer to these functionaries as mediums, I am choosing to treat them as prophet-like intermediaries, since their entrance into their roles is predicated on a "call" involving dreams and strange behavior (Garbett, 1966:146; 1969:115; Colson, 1969:73-4). In addition they are subject to possession, and "when `possessed' they speak as long-dead spirits" (Garbett, 1969:106). Ranger gives two instances which occurred during the rebellions of 1896 and 1897 of such messages causing the natives to take up arms and kill whites (1966:109-10, 128-9; cf. also Fry, 1976:27, 30; Daneel, 1970:42, 44, 50, 80; Colson, 1969:71). It should be noted that possession in itself is not sufficient for the assumption of this role, since among the Shona, spirit possession is rather common, but spirit mediumship is "comparatively rare" (Garbett, 1969:10; Colson 1969:90, 94; cf. Daneel, 1970:55). Among the Korekore a candidate for mediumship should be sponsored by an acting medium, and must undergo rigorous tests before being accepted into the office (Garbett, 1969:115-6). This leads Fry to describe Korekore spirit mediumship as a "bureaucratic structure" characterized by "ossified charisma" [231] rather than "personal charisma" (1976:56-62), though it should be remembered that there are variations among the different groups of the region.
        Social patterning of the organizational features of Shona spirit mediumship is everywhere evident. In one of its aspects this patterning is territorial, the entire land being conceived of as divided into a series of units of increasing size and comprehensiveness: land shrine neighborhoods, spirit provinces, spirit realms, and (in situations like the rebellion of 1896) linkages of spirit realms (Garbett, 1966:141-4). These units have a mythico-historical base, insofar as each "is associated with, and often named after, one of the original Karanga invaders, or a descendant of one of the invaders, or occasionally an autochthon" (Garbett, 1966:141). It is possible that there is some connection between "the extensive organization associated with the cult of the spirit mediums" and the ancient Monomotapa kingdom (Garbett, 1966:139).
        These territorial units also have a kinship base. The spirits of these original men are the guardians of their respective spirit provinces, and "are believed to protect the fertility of the earth and control rainfall." Further, the various spirit guardians are genealogically related to each other, and the mediums hierarchically ranked according to the genealogical seniority of the spirit guardian each represents (Garbett, 1966:141). Garbett notes that the lineal descendants of the Karanga invaders are prone to consider themselves the only "true" Korekore, though they are only part of a larger group of people that speak the Korekore language and follow Korekore customs (1966:138-9).
        The territorial aspect is independent from the political organization of chiefdoms. Spirit province boundaries may overlap several chiefdoms, or they may be ancient chiefdoms that have lost their political function and acquired a ritual one (Garbett, 1966:144). Regardless, when the focus is on matters connected with territory, one consults the spirit medium of the area in which one's garden is located.
        The patterning also has a lineal aspect. There is a direct link between chiefs and the cult of the spirit mediums. Some of the spirit guardians are, in fact, "royal ancestors, who have living patrilineal descendants, and . . . are represented by mediums" (Garbett, 1966:145). A kinship base is in evidence here: living rulers are aided by their ancestors (cf. Kopytoff, 1971), and considerable attention is paid to the genealogical hierarchy of the mediums themselves. This results in a change in procedure from that just described: to consult a medium as the representative of an ancestor, one comes to him from wherever one resides.
        One other aspect of patterning may be mentioned, viz., the apparent conformity of the message of these mediums itself to the expectations of the society. The clue here is that, when asked a question, the medium often does not reply at once, but "may order beer to be brewed and say [232] that `he' (i.e., the spirit guardian/ancestor) will go away and consult with the `other spirits' and deliver his answer at some future time" (Garbett, 1966:147-8, 155; 1969:119). Such delays are a common enough feature of the operation of mediums that observers are led to suspect their function is to allow public opinion on the matter to solidify and be discerned by the medium. A similar concern is probable even when there is no delay in rendering the decision. Fry has described the grounds for success of one medium in this way: "(his) divinatory technique was based to a large extent on his empirical awareness of the regularities of Zezuru social structure. Due to the great number of divinations which he had carried out he was aware of the structural tensions in Zezuru society and on the basis of this knowledge he was able to predict tensions in particular situations which appeared to his clients as miraculous insight." In a word, his "socio-psychological insights were perceived as divine revelations" by his audience. Fry also suggests the possibility that while in trance the diviners' "intuition" may provide them with "insights which would escape them in more `ordinary' states of mind" (1976:35).
        Returning to the matter of differences among the various groups of this region, Colson informs us that, in contrast to the territorial and lineal patterning of Korekore spirit mediumship described above, Tonga prophets operate independently and have not developed an elaborate cult. Mediums are treated like ordinary members of the community, which corresponds to the traditional culture's lack of rank or elaborate social organization. Among the Tonga, households are expected to be independent and leadership "situational," and men turn to the basangu spirits (spirits particularly concerned with "community welfare") "only in emergencies." Thus despite apparent borrowing of ideas about spirit mediumship from the Shona (especially the Korekore and Zezuru), the organization of Tonga mediums has conformed to established social patterns (1969:74-8).
        As to the difference between Korekore and Zezuru mentioned in passing earlier, Fry argues that "the Korekore are much more concerned with controlling spirit-mediumship than are the Zezuru," and connects that fact with the relatively greater amount of control the Korekore are able to exercise over their "social experience" in general.         It is not that the Zezuru group studied by Fry lacked the conceptual means to organize their mediums more rigidly. Indeed, he tells us that "the people of Chiota (1) think of their religious organisation in the same way as their political organisation. When describing the relationships between spirit-mediums they draw the parallel with the political structure, noting that just as the village headman refers unsolved cases to his subchief who in his turn refers them to the chief, so the junior ancestors give way to more senior ones, who in their turn recognise the superiority of the heroes." It is just that in practice neither the public nor the mediums feel compelled by this "cut-and-dried ordering of ritual authority" (1976:44). It seems safe to generalize that while existing social patterns always exert some control over manifestations of prophecy, the degree of that control can differ widely depending upon other variables.
        The Shona spirit mediums' role as upholders of social institutions is evident in four ways. First, they are called upon to designate and install a dead chief's successor, a task of some importance, since the peculiar rules of succession insure competition among "a number of candidates, all with more or less equal claims" (Garbett, 1966:137, 145, 152-70). Related to this function, the mediums also give advice regarding the "inheritance of wives and family titles:" Abraham goes so far as to suggest that the royal spirit-cults "operated primarily as a conservative pressuregroup in defence of the political status quo . . ." (1966:38).
        Secondly, the spirit guardians and their mediums were associated with protecting the earth's fertility and guaranteeing adequate rainfall. In connection with this function they promote harmony among the people and faithfulness to the traditional culture, a third aspect of their role as "central" intermediaries. Garbett tells us that each spirit province has one or more land-shrines named for the spirit guardian at which offerings are made for rain and the crops. At the dance following these offerings the spirit medium goes into a trance, during which he receives
gifts from the people and, speaking as the spirit guardian, exhorts them "to uphold the laws of the forefathers." It is considered very important that everyone contribute grain for the beer used in the annual landshrine ritual, and that everyone come together in amity (1969:120).
        The same concern with the preservation of tradition is evident in the cult of the high-god, Mwari, who speaks through a possessed spirit medium from a cave shrine at Matonjeni, and whose words are carried by messengers (vanyai) to out-lying spirit provinces. Normally, the vanyai make two visits to Matonjeni each year, the second after the harvest, [234] when the people are eating the "crops ripened by Mwari's rain." On that occasion the messengers must report to Mwari on whether enough beer is being brewed for the annual land-shrine rituals. Daneel remarks that "this type of visit clearly illustrates the co-ordination of traditional religious activities in remote areas, with a centralized agency" (1970:58; cf. 54). Mwari was also consulted at Matonjeni on matters of chiefdom succession. An account of one such consultation, which Daneel himself was permitted to witness, is reproduced in the first of the following texts.
        Finally, there is the matter of political centralization. In the absence of a strong central government the spirit mediums were able on occasion to unite the people along ethnic lines against foreigners. The objects of their opposition could be either white (Ranger, 1966; Daneel, 1970:305) or native. As an example of the latter, Daneel reports an oracle against a monarch whose kingdom was the result of his people having over-run the southern portion of Shona territory in 1830: It seems probable that during the period of the Rozvi confederacy (ca. 1693-1830) the Mwari cult functioned as a "centralizing religious authority" (Daneel, 1970:22-6).
TEXTS
11.1 Consulting the god, Mwari (Daneel, 1970:41-5, 76-81) [235]. . . the Voice (of Mwari) has never ceased to speak at Matonjeni . . . . The priest colony at Chokoto's village, popularly referred to as Wirirani, no doubt represents the major present day cult complex at Matonjeni. In the mountains surrounding Chokoto'.s village there are no less than three shrines where the Voice can be heard regularly . . . .
        The officials of the Matonjeni shrine complex (Wirirani, Nejelele, Mazwawe and Maguhu) keep in regular touch with each other through jointly attending the annual rain feasts, as well as by the interchange of hossanah's (2) and spirit-mediums. Thus the messages of Mwari can be partly controlled over a wide area. During my visit to Chokoto's village, Makomana, the son of Hobo, was resident there. His mother was an mbonga (3) and his father the paternal uncle of Chokoto's father. An hossanah (male dedicated to Mwari) from Plumtree district, he first lived at the Njelele shrine since 1940, before he moved to Wirirani in recent years. Makomana is only one of several relatives of Chokoto's who have lived or are still living in the distant shrine communities. In this way Chokoto gained access to inside information about the continuous ritual procedures within the total network of shrines, and could thus exercise a certain amount of control.
        Chokoto's own colony of priests comprises four adjacent villages. The headmen are: Simon Chokoto, who had recently inherited his deceased father's position; Usingaperi Peura, a muVenda and Simon's uterine `grandchild'; Machonda, Simon's brother-in-law; and one of his maternal uncles. All four are interrelated. As uterine `grandchild' and brother-in-law, both Peura and Machonda belong to the `wife-receiving lineages' in relation to Chokoto's, which places Chokoto in a senior position as far as kinship relations are concerned. On the other hand, the `joking relationship' between him and his maternal uncle would render any threat to his authority by the latter harmless. Each of the four men has a ritual office in the Mwari cult. Simon is the high priest (mupiinzi vebasa: lit. the one who controls the work), and Peura the keeper of Matonjeni. The other two belong to the junior cult ranks of hossanah and jukwa dancer, (4) whose privilege it is to dance in honour of Mwari during ritual ceremonies.
        Next to Simon and Peura, the other important ritual officers at the apex of the cult hierarchy are the following: Simon's younger brother, Adamu, the `second priest' who, as the high priest's representative is sent on errands further afield; Kombo, their oldest sister, who acts as [236] high priestess; MaMoyo the second wife of the deceased Chokoto who, as spirit-medium (svikior) (5) represents Mwari 's Voice in the cave; and Simon's wife, who attends consultations at the cave as the spirit-medium's `understudy' and future representative of the Voice.
        Adamu, his sister Kombo, their families and MaMoyo live at the homestead of the deceased Chokoto near the main shrines at Mt. SaShe. This is where visiting vanyai (6) are housed. When delegations from the outlying districts arrive with their gifts for Mwari, the two leading kraalheads, Simon and Peura, are summoned to Chokoto's homestead, where discussions with the munyai take place in the presence of the abovementioned officials (junior cult officials do not attend these meetings). Peura, as oldest male officer and keeper of Matonjeni, presides over such meetings, while Mamoyo (the Voice'), the priests and priestesses listen attentatively to what the munyai has to say about the conditions in his own nyika (chiefdom or country).
        When the munyai is taken to the shrine after sunset or in the early morning before sunrise, the women have already taken their places at the cave. One is not supposed to know that MaMoyo is in the cave, and she is well hidden. Kombo, the priestess and main interpreter of Mwari's messages, is seated together with Simon's wife within view at the mouth of the cave when the men arrive. After taking off their shoes the men approach the cave in single file. Simon leads the way, followed by Peura and the visiting munyai, with Adamu in the wake. They sit down in order of their authority near to Kombo, with their backs to the cave, facing in an easterly direction; the direction from which Mwari came to install Tandaudze, His son as first Priest. On these occasions the name Mwari is never uttered but God is addressed by His praise-names: Dziva! Mbedzi! Shoko! Once Mwari has acknowledged the arrival of the cult officers and the munyai, by greeting the delegation from the cave, the munyai is asked to present his gifts. These are passed from hand to hand to the mouth of the cave where Kombo is seated. Communications can now start in all earnest. Mwari's high-pitched voice, coming from the cave, speaks in ChiRozvi, the old dialect of the Rozvi kings. Kombo then interprets the message into Sindebele; Simon, with the aid of Peura, further translates it into Chikaranga if the munyai happens to be a MuKaranga. During the whole ceremony Kombo is regarded as the closest to Mwari in her capacity as high-priestess. She is called `grandmother of the country' and is imputed to be `the mother of all the people', because in her ritual role she is somehow looked upon as the `wife of [237] Mwari'. Simon, as mupinzi vebasa, respects Kombo in this capacity. Once the Voice is heard, he allows her to speak first before he takes the initiative. The whole flow of the conversation sometimes stalls at this juncture, because Simon and Peura must decide which parts of the munyai's speech and replies are essential enough to relay to Mwari. Simon's wife and Adamu are observant onlookers.
        There is no doubt that Simon, Kombo and to a lesser extent Peura, hold the positions of power in the cult. I have not heard Blake and Thompson's distinction of Eye, Ear and Mouth being applied to their functions, but it is possible that the Voice in the cave is actually the Mouth, Kombo and Simon the Ear, and Peura the Eye. If so, the main authority would lie with the Ear, since this is the office traditionally inherited in the priestly Mbire lineage. Of great significance is the fact that Peura, the keeper, is a muVenda and MaMoyo the Voice, a muRozvi.
        Here we find the links with and continuation of the historical past, because even before they migrated to the southern parts of Rhodesia and northern Transvaal, the Venda had been closely associated with the Mbire tribe and regularly sent delegations to the Matonjeni shrines. Though their messengers now visit Matonjeni less frequently than before, we see that some of their kinsmen are still actively involved at the cult shrines.
        MaMoyo's position raises the question whether the Rozvi are still exerting much influence over the Mwari cult. One might even ask if hers 2.1 is not the key position at Matonjeni because, being the Voice, she impersonates Mwari, being identified with Him in her ritual capacity. In the same way as the ordinary spirit-medium of an ancestral or tribal spirit `become' the spirit when he or she is possessed, so MaMoyo `becomes' Mwari when she speaks with Mwari 's Voice in the cave. Her position, however, is not quite the same as that of the ordinary svikiro. In the first place her role is a secretive one, which is never publicly mentioned and indeed is actually supposed not to exist, for the people are told that it is Mwari Himself who speaks from the cave. In the second place, she is promoted to her position as the voice because of her status as the wife of the high priest, and not because the Spirit had proclaimed her as his `mouthpiece' in the manner ancestral or mhondoro spirits `call' their mediums. In the third place, she falls under the jurisdiction of her `acolytes' - Simon and Kombo - as situation unlike that of the ordinary svikiro-nechombo (spirit medium-acolyte) relationship in which the svikiro wields the power. On the other hand, the authority of the Mbire priest and priestess is not absolute. They hold MaMoyo in high esteem, because as a member of the royal Rozvi lineage she represents the ageold association between the Mbire and Rozvi tribes. The Rozvi dominance of the past is therefore not completely lost. Mbonga women, sent [238] to live at Matonjeni, are still predominantly Rozvi. These women become the wives of the priests, keepers and sometimes of the messengers. This on the one hand guarantees Rozvi continuity in the important office of mbonga-svikiro at the shrines and on the other perpetuates the ancient kinship group-pattern of mutual obligation and privilege between the priestly Mbire and royal Rozvi. It also preserves the slight `subordination' of the wife receiving (Mbire) lineage over the wife-providing (Rozvi) lineage in the basic Shona pattern of affinal kinship relations . . . .

        We should now turn to Mwari's `verdict on the situation in Gutu, as I witnessed it at the cult shrines. In January, 1967, I accompanied Vondo to Matonjeni. Machingura at that stage had not yet been officially installed as the new chief, and Vondo on this occasion therefore still carried the gifts on behalf of acting Chief Munyonga. This trip did not, in the first place, concern an `emergency request' for rain, as one may have expected to take place at this time of the year, but Mwari was to be 3.2 consulted on a matter more important to the Gutu inhabitants, that is, the chieftain succession. Several days of deliberation passed in the priest's colony before I was allowed to accompany the priests to the cult cave. The responsibility for a final decision on my eventual presence or absence at the ceremony was placed on the spirit of the recently deceased Mai vaDuwe, the previous `Voice of Mwari', whom I had met in 2.13 1965. She consented, and on a bleak moonlit night Simon Chokoto led us up the slopes of Mt. SaShe in single file. Fifty yards from the cave we took off our shoes and then approached the place where High Priestess Kombo and Simon's wife were already seated, facing the east. We followed suit and sat down with our backs to the cave.
        After we had greeted Mwari with the clapping of hands and loud exclamations of his praise names: Mbedzi! Dziva! Shoko!, Vondo opened the discussion in Chikaranga:
        " I am well, Shoko, and I have come on behalf of Chief Gutu. But these days we have no real Gutu (no real chief), Shoko! The acting chief says: `Where I rule I try my best, but there is no true chieftainship at the moment. So what will I do in such a position?' The chief said: `Go to Shoko where you worship, and give him these £4!' Then there is another matter your mbonga (referring to the deceased Mai va Duwe) knows of, namely the European who has come with us. She had allowed him to come here, so we brought him along. He has his gift here. It is a black blanket, a black cloth and £3, Shoko. He said that be only wants to see how we worship and also how we settle chieftainship problems (lit.:arrange the chieftainship of the land). That is why I came with him, Shoko. Those are the matters I have brought before you. About the [239]attitudes and behaviour of the Gutu vachinda (7) I will tell you later on."
        High Priest Simon briefly interpreted Vondo's words to Mwari before our presents were passed to the mouth of the cave.
        The Voice from behind us (high pitched as if in a trance): "Who is the successor in Gutu?"
    Vondo: "It is Gadzingo, Shoko. Gadzingo says: `I am the elder but they don't want to make me chief in my chiefdom. When I (Vondo now speaking as Chief Munyonga) collect the gifts of Matonjeni, the people refuse and say, `Munyonga, we do not want you to rule us! You are an orphan now and you have had your chance at ruling the country.' This is the 'muromo' (lit: mouth, i.e. message) given to me by Munyonga, Shoko."
        The Voice now entered into a lively discussion with Simon, Peura and Kombo in Sindebele and ChiRozvi. To its further enquiry about the legitimacy of Gadzingo',s claim, Vondo reassuringly replied: "Gadzingo is the elder who must become chief, but the people have said that they want a young one. We have refused on the grounds that Ghikaranga laws make no provision for a young one to become a chief. I have to come and ask you if a young one can be appointed as long as an elder can still be found:'
        The Voice: "These young ones who have been educated, they disobey the Karanga laws! They change the Karanga customs because they insert our laws into the European customs. They mix the old with the new! The children are supposed to build the country, but they are the ones who run to the beer-pots and cause trouble when they come from there. They ruin the country! (lit: they kill the country). Gutu actually wants Gadzingo, because it has been arranged long ago that the reign should be in his hands. Go and tell this to Chief Munyonga! Everyone wants the chieftainship, even if they are too young and that is wrong!"
        The whole delegation: "Yes, so it is, Shoko!" - with the clapping of hands and the calling out of Mwari's praise names.
        The Voice continued: "Tell the changamire (this word is usually used when dignitaries are addressed; in this case it referred to the European visitor) that the law of this place speaks as follows: `What has happened at Gutu is wrong.' I am now tired of the long drawn out dispute in Gutu. Their affairs never come to an end. People of other chiefdoms come here and have their problems settled, but Gutu carries on without end. It is because this matter is handled by (African) youngsters who make use of European customs. They have thrown away the African customs. Europeanism does not mend the country! (or, We cannot govern the country according to European ways!).
[240]     " I (Mwari) do not want to speak to these Europeanized Africans. The Europeans are the children of my sister. I love them, but with regard to this law, I have no need for them. I do not want them to approach this place where I live, because they do not act properly. They always fight with the country. Do you hear what I have said?"
        Vondo and myself: "Eye! Yes!"
        Vondo: "Well, as you say yourself, Shoko, matters are complicated in Gutu. The chief sits down like somebody who forgets. He even forgets to send gifts to Matonjeni. Therefore I (now speaking as Chief Munyonga) have decided that it would be a good thing if this European were to visit Matonjeni. So I told my messenger, `Go with this European so that he may see for himself what happens at Motonjeni!' I thought that, perhaps, things will turn out well because I trust the European. What he says happens. So I said to myself, `Let me send these two men, Vondo and the European, because I must honour what customs have been left me by my fathers."'
        The Voice: "I have allowed you, European, to come here today, because of Gutu's wish, but I do not want any other European to come here again. From today on, No! My eyes do not want to see another European approaching this place. I have allowed you to come here. You are the first European to have come and speak to me and that is enough! One of your `relatives' (referring to the Native Commissioner of Essexvale) once sent me some beer and an ox. A feast was arranged and the ox killed for me. I granted him his request for rain. But I do not want to sit down and speak to him. This I do not want! These things disturb me. I have allowed only you. If there is anything you want to know in the future you may come again, but you must come with Gutu!"
        Myself: "I am very grateful Shoko that you have allowed me to reach this place. I have heard what you have said, so I will go back relieved and with joy. I have heard what you have said about your law, and I shall remember."
        Vondo `interprets' my message: "This European says he is most thankful for your kindness, and if trouble arises he will tell Gutu: `Don't kill the people! Go with your complaints to Shoko, where you have requested rain and have received it.' We thank you, Shoko, that you have started giving us rain on the day we came."
        The Voice: "What Gutu has done is good and I am satisfied. I have allowed it once, but if I see another European coming here to see this place I will fight you, Gutu."
        Vondo (after deliberating with Simon): "We shall take your message to the District Commissioner at Gutu and we shall tell him that this thing he plans to do together with the young ones, is wrong. It would break up the country and matters will not progress well. We will go as your [241] witnesses to testify before the District Commissioner what has been said at Matonjeni about Gadzingo."
        The Voice: "It is laid down by Karanga law that the chieftainship should be in the hands of the elders. The lawful elder is the one who can keep the chiefdom well. The young only cause disunity. They destroy!"
        Myself: "Once again I have heard you, Shoko. I know that the chieftainship should be taken by an elder. I do not know what the District Commissioner and the Gutu people will ultimately decide, but I will carry your message to them and urge them to follow the old law"
        The Voice: "I greet you! Travel well."
        We arose and left the cave in single file amidst the ululations, of the women, profuse handclapping and resounding Dzivas! and Shokos!
        Half an hour later we were all sitting round a fire listening to Vondo's detailed account of what had happened at the cave. At the request of 2.1 MaMoyo, who had walked into the village a little while after our arrival from the cave, he recounted all that Mwari had said. Nobody showed any surprise at MaMoyo's questions. They all pretended as a matter of course that she had really been absent during the whole ceremony and nobody ever hinted at her presence in the cave during the discourse with Mwari. Like a true svikiro, who is supposed to be ignorant of the message the spirit speaks through his possessed medium, she correctly acted her role as an attentive listener, as if Vondo's narrative was completely new to her. Both of them played their roles exceptionally well, Vondo as informant and MaMoyo as inquisitive questioner. MaMoyo was in fact finding out whether the munyai had correctly memorized the essentials of Mwari's message.

11.2 A Zezuru Spirit-Medium (Fry, 1976:34-5, 38-42)

        Spirit-mediums fall into two broad categories, the high-level and the low-level mediums. The former are hosts to either hero spirits or very 2.12 senior ancestor spirits, while the latter act as hosts to junior ancestors. This difference is apparent from the different cloths which they wear during trance. The high-level mediums wear wholly black cloths and the low-level ones half black, half white. The present of white in the lowlevel mediums' cloths was interpreted by one informant as symbolising their having lived since the arrival of the whites in Rhodesia.
        High-level mediums differ from low-level ones in style and scale. 3.1 The former, if they are popular and successful, carry out their seances in large seance houses (banya), are surrounded by an administrative staff to take care of operations and to look after those who come to consult. They 3.11 may reach the stage when they have to abandon all other activities and are then able to maintain themselves and their followers on the income derived from the fees which the clients are charged. The more popular the medium, the more well-known and powerful his spirit, the higher the fees and the larger is the scale of operations.
        Low-level mediums, on the other hand, do not have seance houses and only fall into trance from time to time or at the occasional formal rituals which are held by their lineage groups for their ancestor spirits. They do not generally receive clients from beyond the confines of village or lineage and do not charge fees.
[243]    Although the high-level mediums are credited with greater powers than the low-level ones (only the former are able to make rain and to prophesy) the basic function of all mediums is that of divination. 3.0 On the strength of the belief that all spirits are omniscient and in contact with one another, mediums in trance are supposed to be able to know the reasons for all misfortune. At divinatory seances they are expected to reveal the causes of affliction to their clients.
        But because people go to a medium for divination with some idea of what they expect to hear, the medium is obliged to find out what this is and to present the `truth' to his clients as divine revelation. If he fails, then the disappointed clients can ignore the `wrong' pronouncement by claiming that the medium was not in trance, or - and this was very common - that the witchcraft involved in the misfortune was so powerful 2.2 that it had affected the divining powers of the medium. In either case a `wrong' pronouncement is a blow to a mediums prestige; reputation 3.1 being won and lost on the ability to divine `correctly.'
        Divination, like many of the spirit-mediums' functions is half way between art and science. The spirit-medium has to size up the situation and produce, ex cathedra an explanation of his clients' misfortune which is acceptable to them.
        David/Kafudzi, (8) as a high-level medium, had a sizeable administrative staff, one of whose duties was to receive and care for clients as they arrived. Undoubtedly a certain amount of relevant information that emerged from these prior contacts with the clients was passed on to the medium and he entered the seance with this and other information that he might have gleaned from ordinary gossip or prior consultations. By and large, however, he had to start the divination from scratch and produce his analysis of the situation without appearing to use non-mystical techniques.
        David/Kafudzi's divinatory technique was based to a large extent on his empirical awareness of the regularities of Zezuru social structure. Due to the great number of divinations which he had carried out he was aware of the structural tensions in Zezuru society and on the basis of this knowledge he was able to predict tensions in particular situations which appeared to his clients as miraculous insight. This interpretation is supported by the way in which seances were conducted. Clients were instructed to sit facing the spirit-medium according to their genealogical relationships. Men' sat to his right as fathers, brothers, . . . while the women sat to his left as sisters, mothers and wives . . . .
        The eldest man present was asked to explain why they had come to 2.13 divine and his reasons were translated by an acolyte into the language [244] which David/Kafudzi spoke (see below). David/Kafudzi would then suggest a relationship of tension between two of the people before him, say a woman and her sister-in-law or a pair of brothers. If he succeeded in exposing a tension that really existed and was relevant to the situation, then the reaction of his clients was usually sufficiently obvious for him to be able to pursue this particular line of enquiry. It sometimes happened that such preliminary questions produced no results, in which case he generally resorted to asking the women one by one which had been using love potions (mufuwhira). This exploitation of inter-sexual tensions nearly always evinced enthusiasm amongst the men and frequently led to elaborate confessions on the part of those women who were forced by the general consensus into making them. David/Kafudzi surely realised either that all women use mufuwhira or that even if they don't they can 2.2 be forced into confessing to it when sufficiently cajoled. From the point of view of the clients, however, David/Kafudzi's socio-psychological insights were perceived as divine revelations. Impressed by the medium's divinatory powers, clients were generally maneouvred into giving away more than they realised about themselves and about what they had been thinking in relation to their problems, so that the medium was able to reach the kind of explanation that they had previously had in mind.
        David/Kafudzi and other mediums, then, exploited what they knew about social tension and the symbolic meaning of dress and gesture to explain misfortune. Contented clients left the seance convinced of the truth of what they had heard, willing and ready to carry out the ritual injunctions prescribed as necessary for the alleviation of their misfortunes . . . .
        David Mudiwa was born in a village in Chiota in 1930. After being 2.2 educated up to Standard III at a Methodist primary school, he became interested in religion and after a brief flirtation with the Vapostore sect, (9) entered the Methodist Church as an evangelist. He was so successful as a preacher that his congregation was able to raise sufficient funds to build a small chapel on the outskirts of his village.
        Towards the end of 1963 he began to suffer from chronic stomach pains and to go into wild frenzies while preaching; so wild, in fact, that the congregation had to chain him down. His condition worsened and 1.21 through dreams he was led to visit a spirit-medium in Zwimba Reserve. There he was told that he was being troubled by a spirit which wished to make him its medium. Rituals were held in Zwimba and David became possessed by three spirits, Kafudzi which was described as a water spirit (nzuzu); an obscure hero spirit related to the clan of hero spirits belonging to the Nyandoro clan; and the ancestor of David's father's father's [245] father. He returned to his village where he built a small seance house on the top of a slight hill overlooking the Methodist chapel.
        It is at this stage in David's career as a medium that I first met him in April of 1965. He no longer held any church services and the chapel 1.41 was being used as a guest house for the clients who had begun to consult him as a spirit-medium. Apparently people had at first been rather confused by his change of status from Methodist evangelist to spirit-medium, but after a short time the quality of his divination and his reputation as a healer brought him ever more consultants.
        Soon business was so brisk that he was obliged to build a bigger and 3.11 better seance house and was able to increase his fee from 5s to 10s and upwards depending on the nature of the problem. There gathered in David's village a small administrative nucleus made up for the most part of people who had been indicated as new spirit-mediums and who were undergoing ritual treatment. This staff looked after clients as they arrived and took care of the premises. David bought a car in order to be able to visit sick people and paid two excellent thumb-piano players to provide the music for his seances.
        David/Kafudzi soon became especially noted for his ability to detect witches and sorcerers, for exorcising witching spirits (shave ro uroyi) and for his skill in `bringing out' new spirits in those he had identified as potential spirit-mediums. 3.21 The village was now full of sick people seeking cures, young men and women undergoing ritual treatment as neophyte mediums and women waiting to be possessed by their witching spirits that they might later have them exorcised. At weekends, the village was inundated 2.2 with people from Salisbury who came by bus and car to consult on all manner of problems, ranging from money and employment difficulties to impotency, from severe sickness to the loss of relatives. As satisfied clients returned to their villages or to the towns, David's reputation increased and his sphere of influence expanded. Those who had come in order to become spirit-mediums returned to their villages and set up their own practices, but they maintained contact with David, and spread his fame even further.
        By the end of 1966 David's reputation 3.1 was almost as high as, if not higher than the mediums of well-established hero spirits in Chiota like Biri na Ganiri and Chitswachegore, and Kafudzi's status as a water spirit had also improved. It would be difficult to pin-point this change in status, but imperceptibly Kafudzi became a hero with a complex history and a wealth of detail about his previous mediums. David/Kafudzi enjoyed telling this history; of how Kafudzi had been a member of the Vatemani clan which had lived before the formation of Shona society at a place called Guruuswa to the north of the river Zambesi; of how he had possessed mediums in other parts of the world, one in Dar-es-Salaam and another, a `Hindu' who had lived in the Himalayas. Visitors to the [246] seance house were treated to more elaborate details and descriptions of the geography of the Himalaya mountains.
        By the time that I left the field in 1966 the followers of David did not remember that Kafudzi had ever been a mere water spirit. History had been made.
2.2      Of course there remained pockets of opposition in Chiota, notably amongst the followers of other mediums and, as will be seen from the extended case history in chapter 5, there were those who were able to regard him as a mere upstart and to ignore his pronouncements. But in spite of such opposition his success was remarkable.
        In trying to understand David's success, it is possible to discern elements which have a purely personal nature and lie beyond the scope of sociology and others which are more technical and which might indicate a number of generalisations about the way in which spirit-mediums acquire popularity. It is with the latter that I am immediately concerned.
        David Mudiwa, in common with most of the spirit-mediums of Chiota, was riding on the crest of a wave of cultural nationalism which was sweeping that region of Rhodesia at the time. There is no doubt that the mood of the people was propitious for his particular brand of spirit-mediumship; his ritual emphasis on witchcraft and the induction of new spirit-mediums, his constant appeals to `traditional' values and his subtle use of certain African nationalist symbols were an important aspect of his success. This aspect of spirit-mediumship in Chiota will be examined in greater detail in chapter 6, but it is sufficient to note at this stage that
David had been a Methodist evangelist and his move over to spirit-mediumship reflected the general religious trends of the time.
        More particularly, David was a good diviner, he knew how to use the 3.1 income that he earned from his seances to increase his popularity, and he was able to augment his sphere of influence noticeably due to the emphasis he laid on `training' new spirit-mediums.
        I have already described his divinatory technique, so on this there is 2.2 little to add. He succeeded in offering the kinds of analysis that his clients wanted and which they were able to accept. As far as cash income 3.11 was concerned, he was particularly astute. At first all the money (and on some weekends he earned upwards of £400) was put to specifically communal use. The seance house was built, food was provided for visitors from long distances, thumb-piano players were paid and houses and shelters were built for the neophyte spirit-mediums and administrative staff. Very poor clients were not always charged while those who could afford to pay more were expected to do so. The money was not used for personal grandisement and the more money that was used for other people the more David's popularity increased, for he was soon surrounded by a number of people who could only repay him with loyalty.
        Latterly he began to use his cash to start a retail business and to [247] build a luxurious house for his two wives. There were hints of criticism of this behaviour, which never became really serious because he employed his friends and relatives as workers and continued to be generous to others.
        His policy on new spirit-mediums was particularly important. Young 1.32 men and women who had been told they were to be mediums stayed in his village upwards of a year. They enjoyed his hospitality and attended his seances, contributing with any help they could give. Bit by bit, as their spirits began to `come out', they absorbed the ritual techniques and learned their calling. Even though there is no place for learning in Zezuru belief (for the spirits are believed to be all-knowing), the neophyte mediums saw David's village as a school. When the time came to return to their home villages, the new mediums kept in touch with David, who would be invited to preside over any important rituals they might enact. They built their own seance houses and began to do as their master had done, even `bringing out' their own disciple mediums. By this process, David, who remained at the centre of the network, acquired steadily 3.1 more and more faithful adherents.
        In a sense, all these techniques could be learned and applied by any spirit-medium. But they are all difficult and few are the spirit-mediums who have achieved David's success. The personal element is much more difficult to pin down.
Zezuru spirit-mediums are dramatic figures, and much of their fame is derived from the way in which they conduct themselves both in the ritual context and outside. David, even when out of the ritual context, left no doubt of his spirit-medium status. Apart from using a black shirt, 2.12 he generally travelled with his musicians and an imposing sword stick (bakatwa). He carried an air of authority and importance.
        But it was his ritual performance which earned him his greatest fame. The seance house was of exaggerated proportions and its dark interior was awesome. 2.13 On entering it was possible to discern little, but as one's eyes became accustomed to the gloom it was possible to perceive the designs of lions and other animals picked out on the mud walls, and the many large black cloths which festooned the rafters. Opposite the main door was a pile of black cloths and animals' skins, on which would be seated a few neophyte mediums all in black. To their left were the musicians. Behind them a small door led to a sort of antechamber from which David emerged. As he entered the music became more energetic and he and his disciples rose to dance. In essence, the dance was not so different from modern western pop dancing; it was highly expressive and individualistic, allowing for extemporisation on a basic foot-pounding rhythm. During the dance Kafudzi would `arrive' and, with the cessation of the music, the seance proper would begin.
        David/Kafudzi did not speak ChiShona, but a language which, it was 2.12 [247] believed, had been the language of the Vatemani clan. This language was' based on a simplified Shona grammar with a changed vocabulary whose words tended to have a wider semantic field than ChiShona ones. The" medium's disciples all had a competence in this language, but clients did not. The latter could only talk with David/Kafudzi through an interpreter, which created an even greater respect for the powers of the medium. This language had a further important function in accentuating the' mutual solidarity of those who could understand it.
        All these aspects of David/Kafudzi's performance, it is not necessary to list here, served to emphasise his divine powers and to differentiate him from other spirit-mediums.
        The successful medium, then, relies on his capacity as a diviner, his 2.2 ability to foster a wide circle of adherents, his ability as a showman, and a certain amount of luck. David/Kafudzi's phenomenal rise was exceptional in its scale and rapidity, but it was also normal. Spirit-mediums rise and fall in popularity and their success or failure in capturing and manipulating public opinion affects not only the relative standing of the mediums themselves, but also that of the spirits which they present. David/Kafudzi's position is therefore precarious. As we shall see later, not all the people of Chiota believed in his powers and even those who 1.42 do may one day become disillusioned. Should this occur, they may easily bring about his downfall. Spirit-mediums are continuously subject to being discredited . . .
and others which

1. A "tribal trust land" in the former Southern Rhodesia.
2. Male "cultists dedicated to Mwari in their youth" (Daneel, 1970:20).
3. Females dedicated to Mwari in their youth.
4. Dancers who have been possessed by jukwa, spirits "believed to have emanated directly from Mwari" (in contrast to the midzimu, which are spirits of dead humans; Daneel, 1970:50).
5. Officially recognized spirit-medium through whom the mhondoro (senior tribal ancestors) are approached.
6. Sg. munyai; local messengers of Mwari.
7. Subchief or ward headman.
8. David Mudiwa is a person, and Kafudzi the name of a water spirit. The convention, "David/Kafudzi," is used by Fry to refer to David Mudiwa, possessed by Kafudzi.
9. "The Vapostore (Apostles) are a Zionist sect operating throughout Southern Rhodesia. Their presence in Chiota is not very marked." (P. F.)