the Spirit-Wife of the Shrine
Chewa · mortal · c. A.D. 1600 · Recorded classification
Mortal office-holder rather than a born individual: an elderly woman installed as M'bona's 'wife' and medium. Listed because she is a fixed, named role in the cult narrative.
Domains
- prophecy
Powers
- receive the spirit's words in dream and trance
Relations
- spouse: the Rain MartyrReciprocal of chewa_mbona.spouse — Salima, an elderly woman installed at the Khulubvi shrine as M'bona's spirit-wife and medium.J. Matthew Schoffeleers, River of Blood: The Genesis of a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. A.D. 1600 (1992) (secondary)
Sources
- Salima is the title of M'bona's perpetual spirit-wife and oracle at Khulubvi, through whom the deity communicates with the cult community.: Schoffeleers, J. M. (1992). River of Blood. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. (secondary)