The juju world is centred around the witch-doctor or 'waganga'. Generally waganga are old men, in Zanzibar usually in traditional Arab dress, who are known, either by claim or reputation, to command the power of the spirits. People from all walks of life will visit the waganga from time to time to seek a cure to a mental or physical ailment - although very few people these days will chose other than to go to a medical doctor for physical ailments.
In the Islamic tradition, male adepts are members of the order of the Waganga, and often serve as the spiritual leaders of their villages. Women are forbidden from holding such a position of influence and power: they have their own order, the Kibuki.
The lore of both these orders is identical, the Lore of Kilwa, and knowledge is passed down by oral tradition. Spells are normally cast using a fetish such as the nkisi doll; though some sorcerers like the kibuki have ritualised the spells into dance as an aid to casting.
More powerful adepts of the orders are also trained in the Sabean Lore, spells passed down by oral tradition from the legendary Queen of Sheba, who learned it from Solomon ben David of Israel.
The medicine of the waganga is closely tied to nkisi bundles, typically dolls made from sticks or straw. Larger nkisi nkonde figures of wood were used for oath taking on the village level. Nails and similar pointed objects were driven into the figure to seal a pact between two or more individuals. In addition, the diviners commonly use hallucinogenic drugs to facilitate their communication with the spirit world.
Wagangas can be asked to call up good and bad spells. Good medicine is needed for the cure of an ailment, depression, loneliness, unhappiness or bad luck, perhaps. The darker side surrounds requests for 'bad medicine', which will often lay demands upon the waganga to cast a spell to extract revenge or to send bad fortune in order to seek repayment for cheating or to placate a jealousy.
Stories abound of bad luck befalling Zanzibari families: children falling down stairs, fishing boats being lost at sea, sickness plaguing a household year after year and the ghosts of long dead Arab merchants being seen still wandering around their houses at night. The reason for this bad fortune is that the household has been cursed and the Arab tradition of leaving sacrifices for the spirits on the roof of their house has been neglected. When the tradition is reinstated: great dishes of chicken's blood and fruit being left in special rooms on the roof of each building, the spirits will become quiet once more. They may even protect the house from ill-fortune if they are suitably propitiated.
Another method employed to fend off evil spirits from a house is to hire 'kibuki' dancers. These are all women groups, led typically by a wizened old woman, who is approached and invited to visit the house on a particular day. When the day arrives, the women come to lunch and are then traditionally given imported liquor before being invited to dance. The women, who are by now becoming increasingly intoxicated with the liquor and perhaps also with strong nutmeg preparations, start the dance, wielding their spears, singing and clapping with increasing speed and aggression until they can dance no more, ensuring with their energy that the spirits will be repulsed. It is also said that these women, no matter how much liquor they consume, never have a hangover the next day!