An interview and commentary : the life story of diviner Jack S'kheke Nyawuza

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="04afd5a3.jpg"> <bR> <div> <B>The Botanical Source</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="04bd2063.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Botanical Source"><U><B><IMG SRC="107b8d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop"><U><IMG SRC="11958d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A wide range of indigenous seeds from Af"><U><IMG SRC="11948d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop/index.php?cPath=28&osCsid=5d55fa2bee3df7b388a151625a1e9916" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/shop/i"><U><IMG SRC="11938d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles about African indigenous healin"><U><IMG SRC="10828d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><IMG SRC="11928d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photo Gallery"><U><IMG SRC="11918d140.png" border=0 width="141" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div>   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://edge.quantserve.com/quant.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript">_qacct="p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ";quantserve();</script> <noscript> <a href="http://www.quantcast.com/p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ" target="_blank"><img src="http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-41ZhKYiACxjoQ.gif" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/></a> </noscript>   </div> <div>  <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3741917-2"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script>  </div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04c03043.jpg"> <div> An interview and commentary : the life story of diviner Jack S'kheke Nyawuza</div> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> An interview; Isangoma Jack S'kheke Nyawuza speaking to Dingani Mthethwa, </div> <div> Mtubatuba, 3 April 2000 :</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="8a52c760.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="374" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> DM: Let us begin by asking your name?</div> <bR> <div> JN: My name is Jack S’khekhe Nyawuza.</div> <bR> <div> DM: How did you become an isangoma(diviner)?</div> <bR> <div> JN: I started as an inyanga (herbalist) while I was still a boy. I helped people who were suffering from sexual transmitted diseases (STD’s) especially those who worked with me in Johannesburg.</div> <bR> <div> DM: What kind of STD’s did they have and where did these people get STD’s? From home or at work?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Many people brought it from home. These included things like drop and fufa diseases.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Did you have an iDlozi (ancestral-spirit guide) at that time?</div> <bR> <div> JN: No. I did not have an iDlozi at that time.</div> <bR> <div> DM: So where did you learn herbalism?</div> <bR> <div> JN: My father was an inyanga so he taught me how to use medicine, because he used to send me to fetch medicines (plants) for him from the forest. My father (in turn) was taught by my grandfather who was also an inyanga.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Were they not connected to izangoma? </div> <bR> <div> JN: No. They were only izinyanga, an inyanga is someone who is using medicine without being directly influenced by an iDlozi, that person can learn it from someone. In my family only my mother was an isangoma.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Did your mother teach you to use different medicines?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Oh yes. My mother used to heal people by using water and by medicine. She used to take water in her mouth and `swished’ it around and then spit it into her hands and rubbed this onto the body of the patient and then massage the area where the person was aching. Diseases such as idliso and others would then be healed.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Does this kind of healing still happen today?</div> <bR> <div> JN: No. Many things have changed today. This kind of healing does not happen now, no one performs it these days. Sometimes a person can have a `big knot ‘(tumor) inside their body. It was this kind of healing that she specialised in. But my mother also performed divination by bones (ukubhula) and also healed other diseases as all izangoma do.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Can you tell me how your iDlozi entered you?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It is a long story. It started while I was working in Johannesburg. I used to get sick now and then. When I visited home it stopped. Every time when I was at work I felt sick, but when I went home I felt well. Later on I realized that this was not an ordinary illness but that it had to be connected to the ancestors. One day I became seriously ill and an isangoma told me that I had (was possessed by) an iDlozi. I began to prepare myself so that when I had saved enough money I could attend to it (by training), but I kept on postponing (training). The iDlozi became very angry and it brought a powerful sickness upon me. My wife thought I was going mad (uhlanya).</div> <bR> <div> DM: Can you tell me what was happening to you?.</div> <bR> <div> JN: I did not know (I still do not know), but I felt like crying all the time. My wife thought I was crazy. And then, she told me to resign from my work. On that night (that I decided to resign) the iDlozi came to me smiling. </div> <bR> <div> DM: Did you see it?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes, it came like in a dream. </div> <bR> <div> DM: Was it somebody you know?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes, it was (two spirits), my grandmother and my sister (both of whom) passed away years before. </div> <bR> <div> DM: What did they do? When they came were they happy or angry?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Sometimes they were nice because they were smiling, but sometimes they were angry. Sometimes they brought a `tiger’ (leopard) to frighten me. One day they brought this `tiger’ and I woke up and started to cry. On the following day early in the morning, I picked up my sticks and I danced. My wife who was already an isangoma at time, knew what was happening(to me) and she woke some people and they beat the drums as I danced.</div> <bR> <div> DM: So, were you aware of what you were doing when you woke up and started to dance?</div> <bR> <div> (Wife intercedes): After he danced, he became `cool’ and relaxed.</div> <bR> <div> JN: No, I was not aware (of what I was doing). It was only after I finished dancing that people told me that "you were dancing and you said such and such..."</div> <bR> <div> DM: Can you remember all the things that you were talking about with the ancestors?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes. The ancestors were giving me some instruction, especially about my homestead. For example, things that needed to be done by me or someone else in our family.</div> <bR> <div> DM: And at that time, was your wife a fully trained isangoma?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes, she was. Because, somebody who was training her used to come here and train her at home, especially in the eating of the amagobongo  (herbs). She was staying at the place of her trainer.,(but) we asked that she come and finalise her training at home, because I was not feeling well.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Oh I see. What is amagobongo?</div> <bR> <div> (Wife explains): Those are the roots of the trees. You dig different roots of different trees and you put them together and then you put them in a pot with water. Every morning you stir it and eat the bubbles. You drink it and vomit and you bath with that medicine. You boil this medicine and put a blanket over you and inhale the fumes. This is done up until you finish training. The reason for doing this is to activate the ancestral-spirits in you.</div> <bR> <div> DM: What kind of trees are those used?</div> <bR> <div> JN: There are many (trees used). But to mention just a few, there is the one that is called umahlozana, luhlunguhlungu, and isihlokoko amongst others. But these are the basic ones.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Are they supposed to be bitter medicines?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes. The iDlozi needs to eat medicine, especially if it is an indiki spirits.</div> <bR> <div> DM: What is an indiki spirit? </div> <bR> <div> JN: Indiki is a spirit from the west and indawe is a spirit from the north, but the two (spirits ) work together.</div> <bR> <div> DM: But when you talk about spirits, it is the ancestors you talk of?</div> <bR> <div> (Wife explains): These are the relatives of your family who died long ago. Some died while in the north and (others while) in the west . You will find that in the north (and/or) west there are some of your relatives and their spirits do come to you.</div> <bR> <div> JN: Because you don’t know all of them, they will come with your relative who was an isangoma, it can be someone you have seen (known) in your life. That person accompanies them to introduce them to you.</div> <bR> <div> DM: I have seen some people wearing white beads and I was told that these people have an indawe spirit (ancestral-spirit).</div> <bR> <div> (Wife explains): Some people have an indawe and some have an indiki (spirit). You see here, these red beads on my wrist are for amandawe (spirits) and these white (beads) are for an amandiki (spirits). It is the same (beads) as my husband wears on his head, those are for the amandiki.</div> <bR> <div> JN: when these spirits come for the first time they make one feel sick, that is how they warn you that they want to use you, in other words `to stay with you’. In each member of the family they choose one person so once you are chosen you have to follow their rules. If they tell you to be an isangoma you have to become one. Sometimes a goat can be slaughtered to `cool these spirits down’ if one is not ready (to train) and this acts as a sign to say, "okay I recognise you." (In such a case) a goat’s (astragalus) bone from its left leg, can be worn on the wrist or beadwork can be worn on your body or hand depending upon which spirits have come to you. If it is an indawe  spirit, you wear red beads and if it is an indiki  spirit,you wear white beads,but if both spirits came you wear both colours.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Why do people who are called ` cool’ these spirits down?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Some people do not have money to train because the training is expensive. You need cattle, goats, and chicken. You need money to buy food while you are busy training because you need to cook your own food. A trainee may not eat with other people.</div> <bR> <div> (Wife intercedes): The food of a trainee may not be touched by many hands. For instances, young girls should not touch the food for a trainee because they visit their boyfriends, something that is not acceptable when you in training.</div> <bR> <div> DM: But how does this disturb the training?</div> <bR> <div> (Wife comments):The ancestors don’t like many shadows, especially because young girls have sexual congress. </div> <bR> <div> DM: Is that the reason why izangoma have their own plates, dishes, and spoons that they carry every where? </div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes. A trainee is not allowed to eat from a dish used by other people.</div> <bR> <div> (Wife continues): A trainee is not even allowed to walk (around freely) and cross many rivers. He/she should (only) walk around the area he/she is staying in. He/she should not go to a`shebeen’(indigenous bar) and drink with different kinds of people. Trainees have to respect themselves. The shadows (isithunzi) of many people can disturb the ancestors (of the trainee) especially while undergoing training.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Does this mean that if you don’t want to become an isangoma, you can stop the process by slaughtering a goat, as you mentioned before?</div> <bR> <div> JN: No, one does not stop it. What one does is to ` cool it down’ by talking to the ancestors, explaining the problems (one is having with the cost of training) and one pleases them by slaughtering a goat. Some people even slaughter a chicken. But it depends on how powerful the ancestors are, some (ancestral-spirits) can even kill one by withdrawing their protection from one.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="8a8fad70.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="471" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> DM: Do the ancestors teach you medicine? How do you know which medicine to use?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It is easy now because we (izinyanga) have a Traditional (healers) Association. where we teach each other how to use different medicines. But in most cases inyanga are told through dreams (from their ancestors) which medicine he/she should use for different diseases.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Do the ancestors get jealous when you teach other people their medicine?</div> <bR> <div> JN: The ancestors are aware that times have changed. They don’t feel jealous as long as you report (on your activities) to them. For example, in the old days we use to walk, but now we use cars. So what you do is, you sit down and tell them that you will be using a car and they should not give you any problem. Even if my children are going somewhere, I report it. Another example is in the old days the isangoma did not wear clothes or even bath. The problem is that, in the taxis, the people don’t want to sit with people wearing skins and not bathing because it smells. So today, we wear smart clothes and we bath like other people, so people can welcome us.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Did you not bath then?</div> <bR> <div> (Wife answers): No. All that you used was red clay (smeared onto the body).</div> <bR> <div> JN: We started to be izangoma in those times Then one wore a wet fresh skin of a goat. We were not wearing anything even when it was cold or raining. An isangoma is like a soldier. An isangoma should wake up before the sun rises. But today, things have changed a little bit. </div> <bR> <div> DM: Do the ancestors give you some money in advance, especially if you don’t have anyone to pay for your training?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Oh yes. Sometimes you find yourself having luck. Some relative may come (forward) with money for your training. Then you are forced to train. Some of the ancestors can not be stopped or `cooled down’!. They can even kill you if you resist becoming an isangoma. For example, I myself could not resist my training. My ancestors gave me some money to buy the cattle and since I started to train, I have never had the problem of not having money to train. On top of that, before I became an isangoma I knew how to use medicine, but (since then) the ancestors have taught me other medicines. Look at my fields of sugar-cane, it is them (my ancestors) who helped me think about making money by ploughing as they do not allow me to work (in salaried job) and forced me to leave my work.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Some people told me that before you become an isangoma, you have to disappear for some days. You go and stay in the river and come back with a big snake. Does that still happen?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It is different today. If one disappears one’s relatives will follow and when they see one entering the river, they cry. And the ancestors become angry and this can kill one!. Whereas in the old days, no body would follow when one disappeared. This (behavior) is caused by the call to become an isangoma when one is like a person who is suffering mentally, so that one’s family do does not understand (what is happening to one) in the beginning.</div> <bR> <div> DM: How did those who were called leave home in the old days? Did they just run to the river?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes, one runs, but one must bring something from the river. It is either a snake or a python. It is the ancestors who take one to the river and they can calm the dangerous creature so that one just catches it and brings it home. Some people disappeared for more than two weeks, and when they returned they just went straight to the isangoma where they were to train. It is the ancestors who lead them to that place.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Did you go to the river?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Yes, I did. But, I did not enter the river because the ancestors told me to stop. I did bring back some small things, but it was not a snake but some bones.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Who chooses this river or pond?</div> <bR> <div> NJ: It is the ancestors.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Can you tell me why people are wearing the goats skin (shoulder bands and wristlets)?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It is different. Some people put on the whole skin of a goat, but we only put on the skin of the chest of the goat (shoulder bands?). </div> <bR> <div> DM: And what does this mean to the ancestors?</div> <bR> <div> JN: The ancestors are happy when they see you wearing this skin because it is like a graduation. On that day, you will (also) have a switch (ishoba). You wear this skin in training and then on that day, they will give you a spear to show you that you have finished the training. On that day, you will be going back home. Some izangoma (from your school) will be waiting for you at home with a goat. And on the following day, the spear will be hidden, and then, your ancestors will be tested by this spear. If you find where they hide the spear, then your ancestors are powerful.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Can you describe the process please?</div> <bR> <div> NJ: The izangoma arrive at night and they dance. A goat will be slaughtered on that day inside the house were you will be working (as a diviner). In the morning, some of the isangoma will sleep while others will plait your hair. After lunch, people will come from all over to test your ancestral-spirits. Each person will hide something and you must identify what each person has hidden form you. Sometimes they hide the horns of a goat and you must find these horns because people will not eat the goat up until you find these horns.</div> <bR> <div> DM: And what happens if you can’t find the hidden horns?</div> <bR> <div> JN: The people will not eat the meat. Your father must start off fresh and hide something else either a goat's bile or the head of a goat. When you find the bile or head, then people will eat. </div> <bR> <div> DM: What kind of animal do you use for an ishoba (switch) and why?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It must be an inkonkoni (wildebeest), because this animal is strong and is like a mad animal and the isangoma is like a mad person.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Where do you get the bones for divination?</div> <bR> <div> JN: The bones are obtained from the animals and from the sea (shells). The ancestors tell you at night(in dreams) that you should wake up in the morning and go to the sea and collect this type and this type of `bone' (shell) and when you get to the sea they will be waiting for you. I got mine at St Lucia.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Why do you include the dice in your divination bones?</div> <bR> <div> JN: They are useful when something is lost and someone comes and asks who took the item. The dice are used to `see’ where (the item is) and who took it. For the bones are symbolic, one knows what each bone stands for, if one throws them (on the ground) and they land in a certain pattern, one should understand what (that pattern) means.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Does that mean that anyone can understand your bones?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Not always. My wife can use my bones because she knows them but she cannot understand them all because they are mine.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Do you have any old bones that you can sell to the museum?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Oh.no!, one cannot sell the divination bones. One will be in trouble, although they are mine it is the ancestors who own them, they might even kill me(if I sell them to you). If you want bones go to the sea and collect them yourself.</div> <bR> <div> DM: But what happens if a person dies, do you bury them with an isangoma?</div> <bR> <div> JN: No, one keeps them and someone from the family who was very close to the use of one’s medicine can use them. And maybe later, that iDlozi will choose another person from your family and they can be used by them(as a diviner).</div> <bR> <div> DM: Many izangoma have cloth-wraps that have pictures of animals like lion or other animals, on them . Why do they wear these cloths?</div> <bR> <div> JN: It is the times that have changed. As I told you, in the old days it was supposed to be the genuine skin of animals, but since the white people have put animals in game reserves, animals are unobtainable. So these clothes are used as substitute to those skins. The ancestors choose the animal (skin/ cloth pattern) that one will have to wear. It all comes as a dream, the animal that one sees at night with the skin (or cloth) that one is supposed to wear. It is the same with what one must wear on one’s head, the ancestors choose it too. As you see, my head with the white beads (attached) I wear it because the amandiki spirits are dominant in my work.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="8aac8980.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="408" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> DM: What is the importance of isithunzi (dignity)in traditional healing?</div> <bR> <div> JN: Isithunzi is something that one builds by not going every-where with other people. In that way one respects oneself and people do not accept one as an ordinary person. The ancestors are happy when one respects them (thus) and they make one strong (as a result). An isangoma also has isthunzi because his/her life is controlled by ancestors who are with him/her all the time, they (the ancestors) stay in his/her shoulders. If people do not know that one is an isangoma, they still feel that there is a presence about one because one is `heavier’ than normal people. You see if I walk in town people do not treat me casually, (rather) they respect me.</div> <bR> <div> DM: I can see it is getting dark and I have more questions to ask, I will come again because I would like to know how izangoma live.</div> <bR> <div> JN: I have told many people that izangoma have a history and if people forget about them they will have many problems as many people are dying of many diseases these days. I am working with many hospitals like Hlabisa Hospital where they transfer their patients to me so that I can try with traditional medicine because some diseases can only be healed through traditional medicine. They should also give us an opportunity to try to cure AIDS, because we do not believe that we can fail. People who do not know anything about medicine have concluded that AIDS is incurable .We know that hospitals have powerful medicines but these help to `cool down’ the disease but not to cure it. Tablets can only stop pain and do not mean that the disease is gone and it will come back again. </div> <bR> <div> Well, I see you want to go because Durban is far! We will be happy to see you again.</div> <bR> <div> DM: Thank you.   [End of interview] </div> <bR> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> Commentary; a review on the power of the ancestors in Zulu culture :</div> <bR> <div> One of the topics I find pertinent is the relationship between the ancestral-spirits and the diviners. When one tries to understand this relationship one comes across two names, the  amandawe, the spirits of the north and amandiki , the spirits of the west.  The amandawe spirits are believed to be the ancestors who died in the north while the amandiki are those who died in the west. According to historian’s like, A T Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter 1935 ) Who have studied the origins of the Nguni peoples(of whom the Zulu are a part) in southern Africa ,these peoples came from north east Africa around the 12th century, moving down south, eventually settling along the  south east coast (including the present KwaZulu-Natal). If this is true then it makes sense that the amandawe   would be the ancestral spirits of the fore-fathers who died before the Nguni moved south, while the amandiki  would be those who died in more recent migrations. Nyawuza says these two spirits, "work together."  So important are the spirits in Zulu culture that all Zulu, even if not diviners, will be sure to call upon all these categories of fore-father in rituals. For instance, Eileen Krige in,The Social System of the Zulu (Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and Shooter 1950 (ed.) Page 293) mentions; "In general, however, the amaThongo (an alternative word for the ancestors) are called upon in order of age, beginning with the first known ancestors and going down the line of the indlunkulu side(senior house), thus all those on the ikhohlwa (junior house)side that are known to the officiator are mentioned, and  finally at the end, the priest(ritual head of the home) may say to the ancestors, "Call all of our sib, do not leave anyone out but call those that I have not mentioned and those that I do not known', this is done as a precaution against the spirits that are easily offended, and who might cause trouble because they have been left out." It must be understood that custom varies from one place to another and that there may well be other understandings of the position of amandawe and amandiki elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal.</div> <bR> <div> The Zulu have `two worlds', there is this one where the living are now, and then there is another world, where those who have `passed away’ live. One never speaks of a person as dead, the correct word is shona , evoking an image of the setting sun. The sun has disappeared from your field of vision but it still exists in its own sphere, it is thought that the  iDlozi is like this setting sun. In traditional thinking those who had `passed on’ lived in a world underneath this one, described as abaphansi . It is difficult for a person from this world (of the living)to fully understand what it is that those of the `other world’ require, hence the duties and role of the diviner. It is necessary to understand who an isangoma is in terms of relating to his/her ancestors.It is also important to understand isithunzi (dignity and power). To explain this, think about a clan, like the Mthethwa for instance, each clan must have at least one gifted man/woman who can communicate with the ancestors of this clan. This person must be a respected man/woman so that the family will listen to their advise and recognise it as coming from the ancestors. This person is possessed of isithunzi. In the same way, Mr Nyawuza was chosen by the ancestors and is a man who one immediately perceives is possessed of isithunzi. One does not personally know such a   person, yet  when one first meets, one wonders,"Ah, this man....who is this man..there is something about him...his dignity?...his instinctive command of respect?," it is very difficult to actually say what it is, but there is a presence about him/her. </div> <bR> <div> It is difficult for non Zulu to understand the pervasive importance of the ancestors and Nyawuza is correct in saying that the call cannot be resisted, that in fact, "one may be killed (by the ancestors)." Generally this is because one has angered them by not showing due respect and there are cases in which all that is required of a person made sick by the ancestors is simply to acknowledge or respect them and taking amagobongo for a time (to `cool down' the spirits activity) will cure them. If the ancestors have chosen the person to be a diviner this power can be `cooled down’ where the called diviner does not have money to train, but it cannot be totally suppressed. There is an urgency about being called to become a diviner and once a person is chosen, he/she can no longer live as an ordinary person but must live according to set rules. The punishment for disrespect will mean that you will loose your power to communicate with you ancestors, lose power to heal people and to command respect from the community. This lose of power is equated to the lose of isithunzi. Nyawuza mentions ritually impure or `hot’ persons, like sexually active  girls, who may not handle the food of trainees. The ancestors themselves are thought to be ritually pure and `cool’ (generally symbolized by the white colour appearing in diviner’s regalia) and diviners and trainees, like all ritual intercessors (including headmen) must abstain from any actions (like war, sexual congress or eating certain foods) before any ritual communication with the ancestors. Old people and  children (sexually inactive persons) are considered closest to the ancestors because they are `cool'.   Alternatively to comply with these rules and show respect a diviner will be rewarded with power . For example ,Mr Nyawuza called diviners "izinhlanya (madmen)" and "amasosha(soldiers)" because these people behave differently to ordinary people, for instance they will walk naked in winter ,not  feeling the cold as others do.</div> <bR> <div> I would say that Nyawuza is more typical of an earlier generation of diviners, as he comes from remote and rural Mtubatuba. His call and training thus have `purist' elements to them, for instance he was called to the creator-snakes in a pool, and he has his own hair lengthened and beaded, not wearing a wig as most other diviners do. Diviners coming from closer to the metropolis of Durban are more subject to the changes (like the wearing of more modern regalia or accepting Zionist and Christian  symbolism into their ritual) than those from further afield like Nyawuza. It is also interesting that he comes from a family of diviners and has a knowledge of medicines. There are various types of diviner’s, differing according to the type of possession by their spirits, thus there are the whistling diviner’s (abelosi), seers (ubebuka) and finally bone-throwers (esibhula ngamathambo) like Nyawuza himself. Nyawuza’s family and wife( being diviners and healers themselves)  understood what was happening to him during the call and the needs of such training and life-style, hence such a home has the advantage of having Zulu tradition and conventional frame of reference to act as a support, and there is less conflict than may happen in a home in which a diviner or his family were strongly Christian.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>  Subscribe to The Botanical Source free newsletter:<br><br> <form action="http://freeautobot.com/cgi-bin/autores/autores.cgi" target="_blank"> <input type=hidden name="do" value="add_lead_external"> <input type=hidden name="Username" value="botanical"> <input type=hidden name="Stop_Status" value="Active"> <input type=hidden name="Cycle_Number" value="0"> <input type=hidden name="Success_URL" value="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/id310.htm"> <input type=hidden name="Failure_URL" value="http://www.thebotanicalsource.com/id309.htm"> <input type=hidden name="Notes" value="Added from opt-in form"> Email : <input type=text name="Email" value=""><br> <input type=submit value="Submit"> </form>   </B></div> <div> <B>[ Opens a new window. ]</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Privacy Policy</U></B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> :</B></FONT></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700a000000000.png" HEIGHT="11" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">We do not publish or share your email address with anyone.</B></div> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Botanical Source"><U><B>Return to Herbal Products.</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles about African indigenous healin"><U><B>Return to Articles.</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>