We are now in a position to exhibit the ritual as a system of meanings, but this system acquires additional richness and depth if it is regarded as itself constituting a sector of the Ndembu ritual system, as interpreted by informants and as observed in action. It is in comparison with other sectors of the total system, and by reference to the the dominant articulating system, that we often become aware that the overt and ostensible aims and purposes of a given ritual conceal unavowed, and even "unconscious, wishes and goals. We also become aware that a complex relationship exists between the overt and the submerged, and the manifest and latent pattems of meaning.