Sangoma Bone Set

The sangoma is the traditional healer and spiritual practitioner of the Nguni peoples of southern Africa — the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, Swazi, and related groups. A sangoma's calling comes through a sickness and calling (ukuthwasa) in which ancestor spirits make their will known through illness, visions, and unusual behavior that can only be resolved through full initiation into the healing tradition. After a training period that may last several years, the fully initiated sangoma (inyanga for herbal specialists) receives their set of divination objects — the bones.

The sangoma's 'bones' (amathambo) are not exclusively animal bones, though these are included. A complete set may contain animal bones (antelope knuckles, small vertebrae), shells (cowrie, snail), pieces of horn, carved wooden objects, coins, stones, porcupine quills, and various other items, each with specific meanings. When the sangoma throws these objects onto a mat, they read the pattern of how they land — which objects are touching, which are inverted, which face each other — to answer questions about illness, relationship difficulties, spiritual obstacles, and life decisions. This system of reading patterns in thrown objects is called ukuphahla.

As a symbolic object, the bone set represents the intersection of ancestral wisdom and the healing arts — the idea that the spirit world communicates its knowledge through the material world if you know how to read the signs. It is a system of radical attentiveness to randomness — a reminder that meaning is woven throughout the fabric of existence and can be read by those trained to see it. Sangoma work is experiencing a major revival throughout southern Africa, with growing recognition of its psychological and community healing functions.