Understanding the philosophy of divinity
- Kgotsofalang Oludara
- Apr 4, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 5, 2019
A lifetime of healing with Alinah Nono Mashiloane.
The healing and divination philosophy based on ancestral spirits is accepted in our communities but many still aren’t clear on what exactly these traditional healers are all about.
When one has the calling, it means they are called to heal and are advised be undergo initiation overseen by their ancestors and a trained spiritual healer.
The GCN sat down with Alinah Nono Mashiloane from Maphanga Section in Katlehong to find out more about her journey into becoming ngkaka (traditional healer).
“Growing up I was skinnier than most girls my age, my mother was convinced I had tapeworms, even after a number of doctors said I no such thing.
“My parents led a Western life and we practised no traditional rituals.
After getting married and starting a family, at age 19 in 1976, she had a complex life filled with vivid dreams, premonitions and a sickly baby.
“My mother took us to a prophet and she healed my daughter but the more pressing matter was my gift, she said to my mother.
“She told us that I had been called to become a healer.
“Again, my mother dismissed the idea of me following this path,” she said.
Years later Alinah would again have lucid dreams, heightened intuition and ailments incurable ailments conventional methods.
She began swelling all over her body and face at night, the swelling would subside by morning only to return again at night.
Alinah was in and out of doctor’s rooms, who told her she was having a bad allergic reaction, which she found absurd because she was in no pain at all.
“One day my husband came into the TV room only to find that my head had swollen up so much, but he was even more shocked when I said I felt nothing.
“We saw a prophet from a local church who said it was the calling that was bothering me and I had to respond to it.
“He told my husband that I needed to go to the river, pray and fast, and I would be fine.
“I began my initiation into becoming a prophet.
“I regularly visited the prophet, he requested that I bring a white chicken to perform a ritual and he gave me river water to bath with.
Invoking her ancestors by the river, every morning around 5am became her routine for a year.
During this time her understanding and hearing of instructions became clearer.
She was instructed to carry two praying sticks, commonly used by Zion Apostolic churches.
She noticed that whenever she hit the water with the sticks she would get elevated into a higher spiritual realm as she consistently prayed with vigour.
“Before I entered the river I prayed, just as with everything in my life I pray for it to succeed.
After a year, Alinah was fully initiated as a prophet, able to provide healing to those who were in need.
However, this was only the beginning of her new life.
As a prophet, she began seeing visions of her ancestors dancing urging her, once again to undergo initiation to heed the call of her other ancestral spirits, Mandawe and Ma Nguni.
She had sleepless nights due to recurring dreams including her ancestors dancing, snakes, beads and white sheets.
“I was told to look for peculiar looking beads, found in Maputo,” she exclaimed.
“The beads weren’t really beads at all; they looked like little twigs on a string.”
Though she did not fear seeing her ancestors in every night, the lack of sleep was wearing her down and once again, she knew she had to heed the call.
“I would see a snake in a hiding under water and where it was, though it was under water it was completely dry.
“When I began seeing myself in a white sheet, every person I sought advice from concerning my dreams felt they pointed in the direction of me undergoing spiritual emergence rituals."
Upon becoming ithwasa (sangoma trainee) she practised throwing and reading bones, fully identifying and using healing plants.
A number of rituals were done when her ancestors told her she was ready involving sacrifial goats, money and chanting.
Today, Alinah practices a spiritual healer in her two sacred huts, called iindumba, ridding bad spirits, helping people appease their ancestors.
Healers use animal fat, herbs or medicinal plants and water to make healing remedies and suited for a number of practises to be administered in order complete healing rituals.
She throws the bones and does readings to intercede between the client and their ancestors, and advises duly on what rituals need to be executed.
She reads the bible and constantly seeks Gods guidance and she believes that the belief of ancestral spirits and Christianity can coexist in one household.
Though she is happily living as a traditional, she worries that the pseudo spiritual healers and herbalists, killing in the name of providing healing and power are tarnishing their reputation as a community.
“We are called to heal and better people’s lives, not kill,” she said.
Thank you for sharing stories that were once Taboo,m.