ABSTRACT
As explained previously, a witch is a witch in Shona belief because she is possessed by a spirit which gives her both the ability to perform psychic acts and which drives her to evil. Generally a person possessed by such a spirit is a woman. A witch may, it is believed, become a witch either because a spirit wishes to possess her and she decides to accept that spirit, or because she has been made a witch by another witch. In the former instance it is said she may be possessed by either a mudzimu or a shave spirit; in the latter instance she will receive a shave spirit from her sponsor. Witchcraft is regarded as being frequently hereditary in the female line of the family. Gelfand (1956, p. 52) calls an hereditary witch an utaka. I have not, however, heard this word and informants suggest that it might be a corruption of the Ndebele word for witch, umtakati.
