More to life than flesh and bones: the Sangoma tradition

A word of warning: I will write about something here that I know very little about. Something that a lot of people consider beyond rational understanding, and that others consider plain nonsense. Something those with a strong (and narrow-minded) Christian attitude wrongly (!) consider witchcraft, and that I have not yet been granted the chance to experience first hand. I tried, but due to an illness my meeting with Noksangoma had to be cancelled, and another appointment was impossible to make. It wasn’t time yet, perhaps, to see it in a light more akin to the topic under discussion. However, I feel like I have to write about the sangomas, the traditional diviners and healers in southern and notably in South Africa. Not only because they play an important role in the culture, even in the 21st century, also because they can bridge the potentially wide gap between ancient beliefs and practices on one side, and modernity on the other, and also because some engage in political matters. I also feel I must write about them because I am personally intrigued by what I’ve seen and heard, not least because I have noticed similarities to what I learn in my training in gestalt therapy.

image source

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2TH7zZRSiQ

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Identity on the Rocks: The Voortrekker Monument, the Mpumalanga stone circles and Inzalo ye Langa a.k.a. Adam’s Calendar

Rocks are patient. They happily bear inscriptions of all kinds, and stoically accept whatever tale human imagination imposes on them. Or break, but that usually happens only a loooooong looooong time after an engraving has been made. Engravings may wither away, and the rock palimpsest becomes open to reinterpretation  … 

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The numerological meaning of Vuyogo

For starters, I didn’t know a website would offer their service to analyse a made-up word like Vuyogo for its numerological meaning, whatever that is. But I came across one, and what they have to offer is a valuable description of the personality behind Vuyogo. Scarily, that’s got to be me. Now read for yourselves in how far it applies. I consider highlighting passages that I personally find very apt. Continue reading