ABSTRACT
Many people take the attitude that ‘once a witch, always a witch’ and for this reason when a witch is ‘caught’ by a diviner the efforts of the community are usually aimed at removing her from the community. If, however, a woman is in this way driven from her husband’s village she is, unless she is to become a wandering prostitute, obliged to return to her parents. Usually a woman’s parents will offer her hospitality and—if they believe her to be a witch—they may take measures to have the spirit of witchcraft driven from her. A husband who is really fond of a woman who is believed to be a witch may also attempt to cure her. If such treatment is supposed to be successful then the former witch will be accepted by the community and live, again, a normal life. Perhaps more important, the belief that women may be cured of witchcraft means that if the erstwhile witch succeeds in reintegrating with the community, it may be believed she has undergone curative treatment even if she has not.
