Idlozi: meaning in the Bible and in dreams

What it means in a dream

A familiar spirit. From a biblical perspective, when people die they enter either heaven or hell and do not remain on earth interacting with the living. What appears in dreams as deceased relatives is therefore understood to be familiar spirits that have lingered within families for generations.

These spirits closely observe families, learning the personality, speech and mannerisms of individuals, so that after a person dies they can imitate them and present themselves as that deceased loved one. Their purpose is to establish or maintain spiritual covenants within families, often through blood ritual, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. They promise guidance through mediums, hidden knowledge, control over future events, protection, healing and prosperity, provided their demands continue to be met. In return they seek worship, obedience, and ultimately bodies through which to express their activity, for disembodied spirits seek habitation.

In traditional African religion, amadlozi are regarded as ancestral spirits entrusted with the guardianship of their descendants, while an idlozi is specifically believed to be an ancestor sent back from the realm of the dead to dwell among the living as a day-to-day guardian and guide. Biblically these are understood to be familiar spirits impersonating the deceased rather than the actual departed.

Ancient Near Eastern religion reflects a similar worldview. According to the Ugaritic texts, some 3,400 years old, ancestor veneration centred on the Rephaim — the shades of former kings, heroes and patriarchs believed to have attained divine status after death. These deified heroes of the underworld were regarded as healers and sustainers of the land: when honoured they were believed to bring fertility and prosperity, but when neglected the womb of the earth was thought to close, resulting in famine. Their veneration was maintained through the Marzeah feast, a ritual banquet of drinking, music and animal sacrifice in which the deified dead were invoked and integrated into the life of the community.

How to tell the difference

Dreams involving an idlozi or a deceased relative should be interpreted in the light of Scripture rather than of cultural tradition. Many cultures regard such dreams as genuine ancestral visitations; the biblical worldview understands them as the activity of familiar spirits, and consistently forbids seeking guidance from the dead or from mediums. For those in Christ, such spirits cannot establish a covenant, because Christ's covenant already secures the believer. They may only seek a spiritual influence, deceptive agreement or foothold through temptation, deception or unrepented sin, which may provide an occasion for oppression, though never for overturning Christ's covenant. The counsel is renunciation and pastoral support, never fear.

Related symbols

• Ancestors
• A Dead Person
• Isithunywa
• Ukuphahla
• Familiar Spirits