WALK WITH A SURGEON SANGOMA
SANGOMA INITIATION
In the many trips to different groups of San Bushmen I was first introduced to divination in 1987.
It was clear that apart from their amazing intuition and ability to go beyond the five senses and trance the San also demonstrated skill at divination with "bones." These were a collections of small animal bones that expressed the essence of the animal. The specific bone for each animal was a symbol for the message the spirit world wanted to convey. For instance the baboon bone was the trickster and the message conveyed would be to be cautious of a trickster showing up in one's life. Each bone seemed to know where to go with the help of the spirit guide presiding over an energy field that "threw" the bones (telekinesis.)
The San much later also showed me what they said was their original quick "check in"; six wooden palates, three female, three male - each with its own light (positive) or dark side (negative.) These may have told them where to hunt that day or where to go and find a lost child. They also confirmed that being the "First People" they had introduced this technology to their Bantu neighbors who later migrated into South Africa from the north.
Their Out of Body Spirit Trance dance took their inner knowledge to a different level in harmonizing the group and diagnosing maladies as well as healing them by transferring Num energy to the ailing one with their hands (see video on line on my web site.) The San were renowned for their healing abilities and if the sangomas of their Tswana neighbors - failed their clients many were known to then seek out a San healer.
Only later on on my journey in the late 90's did I encounter sangomas and their sophisticated expansion of this amazing technology.
In my first reading in Zimbabwe I was told by a sangoma that although I was a doctor where I came from - one day I would be doing his work - bones, dreams, medicinal plants. I was skeptical then, to say the least, believing I had no significant intuitive abilities. However, I was fascinated by the technology and couldn't think of anything better that I would like to do. Now was my chance.
It was clear that if I was to initiate or do Thwasa, the process of transcending from a new moon into a full moon
I was going to have to let go and commit to the Ancestors. This was a big step and meant coming back to South Africa and leaving my practice which concerned me. Maybe part of my reluctance to initiate was complacency with my life as it was and fear of what might result to my medical practice. My reticence was not endorsed by the Ancestors but understood as the challenge of free will which is the cosmic law.
They had told me what to do. The rest was up to me.
The Ancestors
On the other hand I knew that if "I gave up myself bones and all" I might be able to access the healing and diagnostic powers I was lacking. I had witnessed that both the curanderos and the sangomas possessed abilities and power seriously lacking in my skill set.
The Ancestors
There was no question that having access to non local information went far beyond what our amazing Western technology had to offer. Africa had wisdom I would not find in medical texts.
I synchronistically came across Susan Schuster Campbell's book "Called to Heal" where she described her various experiences with the many sangomas that prompted the book. I manage to locate her not far from where I lived in California. I explained my predicament on the phone and asked her, which of all the healers she interviewed would she recommend for initiation.
She mentioned two names. The first was a woman who lived in Soweto and was also a nurse at Baragwanath hospital where I had spent many hours as a medical student.
I met her, really liked her and could see why Susan recommended her - she was incredibly powerful and pretty much laid out in the bones how the next few years of my process would evolve. However, Soweto was as far from nature and wilderness as I could imagine and I wanted to be, if at all possible, nature bound.
I headed northeast in Limpopo province with Rupert Harris who had been present when the woman sangoma went into trance (prior blog) and insisted that I must initiate. He had located several sangomas in Limpopo where he lived. In my typical intellectual medical paradigm pattern I "interviewed" them to see if they could help me. Many did not speak English or Afrikaans so I ran a blank and headed to Swaziland to meet P.H. Mntshali the second sangoma Susan had recommended. She had assured me that he was an astounding diviner. Moreover, he lived in a rural area close to a small town called Siteki close to the Mozambique border.
P.H. Mntshali in traditional dress
On arriving I was greeted by a charming elderly Zulu who wore an impressive head band to signify status and power. His homestead was in rustic surroundings and his neighbors were scattered comfortable distances apart. He threw the bones and confirmed from my ancestors that he should initiate me and that they said he was to make me as good a diviner as he was.
What also appealed to me about P.H. is what he said at the time;
"This is the original medicine and it will never change."
He criticized the missionaries and the way they had undermined ancient Zulu wisdom and tried to get his people to renounce their heritage. It was quite clear that he felt he represented his medicine authentically without succumbing to any compromise or pollution by the West.
He also said;
"The trouble with you white people is that you have lost the way. Many of you do not even know who your ancestors are. You are unsupported in life, like papers blowing in the wind.
Your job will be to take our knowledge back with you to America and help them in the West."
P.H. graciously agreed that I could come for a month at a time and then go back to nurture my practice instead of committing to an extended period away (usually about three months but 24/7. ) Moreover, he spoke excellent English and had a fascinating and poetic way of explaining difficult, distinctly African spiritual concepts. I needed this vital intellectual component to satisfy my cognitive brain.
My initiation began on the cusp of the millennium. I was to go back and forth for a month at a time for about two years to complete.
Click to highlight the link - play (and ? dance)
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