Last night I dreamt that I was being visited by a
whole bunch of white sangomas (traditional healers in the Mpondo culture of the South African Wild Coast). Now this was odd, as white sangomas represent a controversial rarity; most sangomas are black; and I know quite a few.
This visit was at my old family home, where I grew-up, in a Southern Cape coastal town, where Sangomas were unknown during my childhood.
The one Sangoma that stood out in my dream was grey, older, very dignified. The other was very smooth, handsome, younger - named Kay, which struck me as a woman's name. Both looked very natural, very normal (as far as Sangomas may look normal). Chris - the one white sangoma that I do know - was present - talking too much shit as usual, and wasted my only bag of skunk.
Now my closest friend is a twasa (an initiate into the ancestral world). He was present in the dream, but gave me no information or advance warning about this visit. At some point we went off to Knutzi for an ancestral ceremony, a strange little coastal hamlet where several houses were built as castles. I was keen to dispose of my notebook, as the house was being left open.
Chris wanted to organise screaming blue police sirens to light the beach. I was quite irritated by this. The whole scene looked very clean, almost roman. I was aware, vaguely, of the presence of another twasa friend, MamThembu, and a few Sangoma friends, notably Thobela iTongo.
On waking, I felt very relaxed. I rarely remember dreams, so I wrote this dream down immediately.
Image of Bhele by Philasande Mahlakatha
3 comments:
mm... sounds like a calling... then of course I mentioned the name Kay in a comment on Grums picis, so it could be your sub-concious..
It does look like a calling, and it'll be interesting to see how Sangomas that I know interpret it. The one in the picture (Bhele) will definitely interpret it that way, but I likely reject much of his way of seeing things spiritual.
I don't believe in callings coming from my culture and socialisation context. I don't discard it as a reality for people actively immersed and growing up within an african culture, where at least important elements of that culture remains hegemonic - but I'm not at all clear on the mechanisms, or even the content.
I'm forced to think this through a lot - my closest real-time friend is a twasa, another close friend is a twasa, I'm friends with several sangomas, I spend comfortable time with sangomas, and I intend my house to be a comfort zone for traditional healers. But I don't believe in Ancestors as spiritual precursors any more than I believe in Gods.
Who wasted that bag of skunk, you said? And there's that link with the ancestral home (sort of)...would have me a little worried.
Post a Comment