#UKUTHWASA ITS MEANING & PROCESS.

African ‘Ukuthwasa’ & healing (ukwelapha) has been misconstrued & misunderstood for many years not only from the Western researchers but also from the people of Africa. Reason being that it has never been something taken as a special gift to

those who happen to be the victims of it. Ukuthwasa and to be possessed by idlozi has been taken as something evil by our own people & even those who happened to be possessed have tried in many ways to escape from it by denying it.

#Ukuthwasa

Ukuthwasa is not something new, it has been there even during the times of our forefathers, the only difference now being that in the olden days or primitive times, it was more respected and was also properly done than it is happening today.

Ukuthwasa is an acceptance of an Idlozi, which once lived before & because now that idlozi wants to come back as a ‘spirit’, & continue performing its duties, it gets into somebody with the body in the real world & start wanting to work through that body.

Idlozi is an ithongo which possesses someone, and because it has now acted in this manner it gets called idlozi. This idlozi is governed by amathongo who are the custodians of ‘the umsamo or Isigodlo’ & also the owners of this ‘ubunyanga’ which is ‘impande’– the art of healing.

There are many signs which are indications of having the so-called ‘abantu abadala’ – the ancestors of Healing. Some people are born with, or in a veil of some sort which is an indication that this child has old people within her/him.

Such a veil might sometimes indicate that such a child needs to be given a name of one of the ancestors, which might not be necessarily be that he/she must go & perform ukuthwasa. Most of the African Healers have misunderstood this. Besides this; a person when at a particular age

which is determined by the ancestors themselves, will start seeing some images in their sleep, sometimes experience some dreams, which might be like : snakes, big river with clear water, sometimes will see people wearing an African attire, especially that of the Healers & so on.

In some cases they will start talking to the individual either when awake or direct him/her in many things to be done.

Other people get sick and become thin others too fat, which is really abnormal, and others suffers from certain diseases.

There will be many misfortunes at home if the person refuse & not responding to the calling–to an extent they can even bring bad luck to the whole family. When such symptoms are seen, there is nothing the family can do until the idlozi itself shows you where to go & be initiated.

The type of spirits -imimoya yedlozi

There are two types of ubunyanga/imimoya mostly found in the Southern part of Africa. It is IsiNguni & Isindawe. IsiNguni is from the whole of Kwa-Zulu right up to Manguzi & Mhlab’ uyalingana. IsiNguni has two well known ‘spirits-imimoya’

Umndiki and Umndawe, whereas IsiNdawe, which is from the North, West and Central parts of Africa, is Umnono. UMnono is not that well and much known in the Kwa-Zulu area hence it has become a huge problem for the African Healers in the area.

The reason is that it has its own special ‘herbs’-impande, which is only obtainable either from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia & other countries in Africa. Isindawe came to Kwa-Zulu through the Shangaan people during the days of King Shaka. They are the only people who clearly know

& understand it.

Umnono therefore cannot be healed with the IsiNguni ‘impande’ & vise-a versa. UMnono is the spirits of the ‘abalozi’ (see below), hence it is the only type of healing which is rarely found & known in Africa.  The UMnono takes much longer time than the other

other IsiNguni spirits to mature. It can take between 10 – 15 years because it does everything on its own & one must be a good reader of the dreams & images as they operate through you.  Also if the person is possessed by Umnono & is not accepting the calling as quickly as

they want, they can come with very harsh sentences which can easily leads to death.

Indiki

Indiki is another confusing term. It is completely different from Umndiki which is an ancestral spirit. Indiki is a ‘sign’ which one may have as an ‘umuntu omdala’ –

an ancestor with you in a particular form. Indiki can be that you have to inherit the name of one of your ancestor’s name either an Old woman (isalukazi) or an old man (ikhehla), or it can be that somebody in the family who died long time ago is within you & he/she needs to be