Chronicle Editor
TO many people, mysteries surrounding witchcraft are fascinating and sometimes incredulous. To others, they are demonic, satanic and associated with people of low civilisation. To yet others, it is mambo jumbo associated with the dark continent of Africa with its pagan practices.
Given personal experiences in the field, not as a perpetrator but a victim, I hold different views and I approach the field with maximum care and objectivity. There is so much to learn and derive generalisations concerning the theory and practice of the profession.
Looking back at the articles that I have so far penned on the subject. I get a feeling that one who is not au fait with the field may still be engulfed in thick mists and palls of smoke of confusion, still groping in the dark to see some light in the end of the tunnel. Taking a closer look at last week’s title for the article, I see reference to ‘witchcraft and African Spirituality.’ I still am convinced that there is need for more clarity. The field of applications is vast, and it embraces some specific cultural contexts.
The evident dichotomy is/was unfortunate. African Indigenous Spirituality is a term that is all embracing and encompassing. It is manifested and expressed in many forms and applications at practical levels. Without doubt, witchcraft and sorcery are included in this broad field. An impression was thus created that science and craft that inevitably drag in African Indigenous Spirituality (AIS), stand apart from witchcraft. Spirituality such as African Indigenous Spirituality (AIS), encompasses both African healers’ and herbalists’ fields and witchcraft alike. The overarching and common rules, principles and laws are the same and are drawn from what I have termed Ancient African Science.
The journey that we are presently undertaking is, in essence, a “Journey to Ancient African Science.” It is a journey that has a bearing on the stars as African Indigenous Spirituality hinges on cosmic laws and, like general African cultural phenomena, is subject to the operations of the stellar world.
Perhaps it is prudent that we unpack the spiritual world outside of witchcraft with its evil and negative inclinations, leanings and motivations. Here, we are referring to a phenomenon that is the opposite of witchcraft. We seek to render a generic term for that subfield. The challenge comes when the English language is used. Terms such as African Traditional Religion (ATR) are frequently used. For starters, as Africans we do not refer to African religion, let alone traditional religion. Religions belong to Christianity and Islam, for example. The term is an inaccurate description and qualification of that field. Instead, it is African Indigenous Spirituality since it centres the spirit. It is guided and informed by the spirit. We shall try to unpack the term later and indicate its roles and purposes in African societies and communities.
Hopefully, when that is done we shall be in a better position to understand the practice of the field of spirit and its derivation. What makes it African and indigenous? In other words, we want to deal with the positive aspects, domains and components of African Spirituality. What makes it distinct from other forms of spiritualities? Certainly, it is not the African people alone who are endowed with the theory and practice of spirituality.
For now, let us delve into the positives of African Indigenous Spirituality (AIS). We are here referring to the field of izinyanga. I choose to use the term izinyanga to explain and interpret what is implied by the term in the conceptual framework. The English language may not give me the clarity and precision that I am seeking. The classification that I am providing applies to the Ndebele/Nguni language world.
In the past, we exhaustively dealt with the cosmos and its influences on the numerous cultural and thought aspects on Planet Earth. This realization led to the commonly used and applied adage, “As above, so below.” On earth, Africans and the Ndebele included, sought to replicate the heavens on earth.
Traditional doctors are thus appropriately and aptly referred to as izinyanga because their routine spiritual work is influenced by the lunar cycle and numerous conditionalities that we shall refer to in subsequent articles. From this, we surmise that spirituality at the human level is linked to the cosmic world. There is some observable hierarchy when it comes to the types of izinyanga.
Right at the top are the izanuse, singular isanuse. The good example in this class is Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa. Isanuse is the most spiritually gifted. He uses spirituality to span and understand the past, the present and the future. He/she is always in a spiritual mode, unlike other types of izinyanga that have to summon spirits for divination. An isanuse, undergoes advanced ritual initiation, hence his/her spiritual prowess. Mutwa tells how he underwent spiritual initiation at Inzalo Yelanga, sometimes also referred to as Adam’s Calendar with features common to those found in ancient Egypt. In essence, it is a circle of upright stones that tells time and seasons. The site is in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
Isanuse is psychic and does not use a flywhisk to summon the spirit during divination. Below isanuse comes isangoma. These dance to izangoma music. They use red and white apparel as skirts, imisisi. Their beads are red and white. Izangoma use a flywhisk to summon the spirit during divination, ukuvumisa. The flywhisk could be of animals such as the wildebeest, inkonkoni or ingugama. An isangoma undergoes initiation, ukuthwasa.
Below isangoma comes inyanga. The term for this class may be used generically as we are doing in this article. An inyanga casts/throws bones. Here we are referring to wooden tablets made from a tree known as uxakuxaku. The fruits of a tree known as umgomagoma are also used. Wires, usually copper, have been tied around the kernels of the fruits. Indeed, there are bones of certain parts of animals.
Seashells may also be used during divination. Representations and attached meanings of various types of seashells. An inyanga will throw the seashells on a reed mat, or the skin of an animal or even on the ground when necessary. Each seashell has some attended meaning, such as representation of cattle, a woman, a man inter alia. In combination, they become expressive and build up to a comprehensive revelation story. Each group of thrown and fallen seashells has some meaning and when all groups are taken together, there is a story that emerges. An overall and overarching theme is revealed. An inyanga then tells the story of divination or diagnosis.
However, in all this there has to be present some kind of spirit. The spirit divines or diagnoses. In the end, it must come up with a healing formula or ritual to be concocted. This is the resolution of an identified problem during diagnosis and ultimately come up with a confirmed healing formula. Each group of named seashell theme deriving from the orientation of the seashells in the group.
In the end there emerges some consolidated theme, a story line that emerges and tells the full narrative concerning the illness or problem that brought the sick person to the inyanga.
After publishing a book on seashell divination I was able to apply the approach and principles to interpret given cultural landscapes. Essentially, divination is about explanations and interpretations based on the way the fallen seashells have been configured. I adopted that approach when seeking interpretation of a cultural landscape. I used the approach to get some appreciation and meaning of the Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site (WHS) in the Salisbury Plain in England.
An inyanga would have undergone some spiritual initiation under the guidance of a senior and more experienced inyanga. Having said all this, the important issue is that all these spirit persons fall under African indigenous spirituality.
We may also identify another type of spirit. It is known as uMamlambo or njuzu (water spirit). The spirit has the lower body of a fish while the upper part is the body of a white woman with flowing hair. This spirit possesses no knowledge of healing. It has the role of safeguarding the host and the family. Spirits in this category don colourless beads (ubuhlalu obungamanzi)
The medium or host without a spirit will achieve nothing. In this classification, we may also include abazingeli who don red, black and white apparel. Abazingeli (hunting spirits) are in the service of izinyanga and izangoma. Their task is to look for and bring parts of flora and fauna, that is, parts of animals and birds and parts of herbs, plants and trees.
In addition to the Nguni side of spiritual issues as narrated above, there are similar practices in the world of the BaKalanga. At the apex are the mondolo/mhondoro spirits. Below them are the jukwa spirits who wear navy blue apparel and beads. Below them are the wosana (manyusa) spirits that are also associated with rain inducement at shrines such as Njelele and Manyangwa. The colour for their apparel and associated beads are black. Colour black symbolizes clouds that bear moisture.
The point here was not to present some comprehensive and erudite rendition of the various classes of spirits. We did this out of recognition and knowledge that these are the more familiar spirits that some people deal with more regularly. Their operations take place during broad daylight. Evil spirit do not inspire them. If anything, they are driven by the desire to protect, heal and divine. This one big field is presented against an equally big field that we refer to as ubukhunkuli or witchcraft. The latter is a profession that is less understood as it is practiced at night and is powered by evil spirits that are characterized by jealousy, hatred and envy. The bottom line is that both are spirit based.
Thus, when we refer to African Indigenous Spirituality, we encompass both components. The Law of Opposites applies. We shall be dealing with in the several weeks that lie ahead this field. Witchcraft is but part of a bigger field that we chose to refer to as Ancient African Science (AAS). It so happens that witchcraft is practiced in darkness as in the nude at night.
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