ARTICLE

Abstract The great majority of South Africa’s people consult traditional healers. The deeper meaning of much traditional healing centres on ancestor reverence. This belief system and its accompanying rituals may positively influence the mental health of the individual and the community. Among traditional Xhosa-speaking peoples, the relationship with the ancestors is given expression in life cycle rituals that have much in common with Western psychotherapeutic principles and practices. The common thread that underpins many rituals is that of making links via concrete, literal means. Examples include the participation of the community in the healing of the individual; the linking of body and mind through dancing and drumming. Dreams form an essential connection between conscious life and the unconscious. Understanding the psycho-logical depth of these practices is important so that a respectful relation-ship between Western-trained professionals and traditional healers can develop. Analytical psychology, with its notion of the collective uncon-scious has a particular contribution to make to cross-cultural understand-ing. The ancestors may be understood as archetypal representations of the collective unconscious. Key words ancestor reverence • archetypes • collective unconscious • self • traditional healing rituals Vol 40(2): 194–207[1363–4615(200306)40:2;194–207;033588] Copyright © 2003 McGill University transcultural psychiatr