WHAT SOUTHERN AFRICAN WISDOMS HAVE TO OFFER THE WEST #5

How does one integrate the intuitive - how does one learn it?
The thing about a shaman is that s/he is able to integrate left brain - right brain and have whole brain function and this comes out of initiation.
You cannot just "think" it for it to happen – it is a process that comes from the training.

 

Obtaining information from Spirit Guides.

 

Spirit guides are not subject to time and space. 

They are always around but not always to be known, always within call but not always to be heard, 

always present but not always to be sensed, 

always holding us, but not always to be felt.

Both the San and the Bantu tribes obtain non-local information from their guides or ancestors through three methods:

1. Directly through trance and spirit possession in the Bantu tribes 

or from astral travel and their guides in the Field in the case of the San.

2. Indirectly through Divination - a form of telekinesis where the spirit guide manipulates the Bones so that they fall in a distinctly readable, non-random fashion which depends not only on the objects orientation to itself but also to other objects and also to their orientation on the mat on which they fall.

3. Dreams which are frequently instructional, official and scripted to convey a message.

 

 The psychological orientation that explains dreams as scripted only by the subconscious makes dream interpretation quite limited.

A purely psychological interpretation of dreams discounts a guiding, Non-Local spirit source that can be nurtured and is personal.

 

Southern African indigenous peoples are connected to their ancestors and guides in the dream state and in real time. 

Some of the most expert San hunters did not need to follow the spoor of their prey, they just "knew" where to go. Their guides were telling them in one way or another during the hunt. 

 San Bushmen and women travelled out of body - astral travel - in the trance state to get information that told them where to find water or where to hunt the next day or who might be sick and where to find a lost child ... Their out of body state was enhanced by dancing rhythmically around the fire with rattles around their ankles. The women with their incredible chants and hand clapping, facilitated the trance state. The women also tranced with or separately from the men.

 

The Bantu healers of Southern Africa on the other hand get their information when "possessed." They trance from drumming and dancing and the guiding spirit enters their bodies, often speaking in an  the language required to convey the message to the seeker. The healer's ego steps aside and the spirit takes over and imparts information unconfined to the space-time continuum. The voice of the channel could change as might their facial appearance. They may  have asked for a drink of water or even a cigarette since they were sentient in the sangoma’s body. The sound of the drum calls the spirt to come. The word sangoma  comes from the word ngoma which means a drum.

Possession differs from trance channeling in the West in which case the spirit is giving the channel the information without totally taking over the body. Trance-channeling in the West where the spirit is giving information, is remote from the channel and less intense.

There are two forms of spirit possession, involuntary and voluntary. Involuntary possession is a serious condition requiring an exorcism. Voluntary possession, where the ego steps aside and a spirit takes over completely, is part of sangoma tradition. 

 

Both the San healers and the Bantu sangomas use divination “Bones” and dreams for diagnosing and healing. The sets are not all strictly bones but comprise various small animal bones but also other objects that are assigned a specific meaning. 

We in the West, on the other hand, use different methods such as; Tarot cards, Runes, a pendulum, a divining stick to find water etc. Telekinesis from an outside spirit source is usually part and parcel of the mechanism here as well.

Kabbalah has its own expression as to how this information is provided - mostly in dreams.

 

“The sages who have died are present in this world to a greater extent than when they were alive.” The Zohar

There is a story about a Kabbalist who on returning to his community after many years of study was asked; "what did you learn there?" To which he replied; "I leaned how to sleep."

 

“When a word is spoken in the name of its speaker his lips move in the grave. And the lips of him who utters the word move like those of the master who is dead. A sage cannot speak words of teaching unless he first links his soul to the soul of his dead teacher or to that of his teacher’s teacher.” Talmud

 

It’s all very well looking at the extraordinary paranormal abilities of the San, the sangomas and other indigenous peoples but how can that apply to us? 

This will be the topic of the future blog.