Ha rea tlela masawana

So, you’ve been getting this headache for a while and it just won’t go away. With every visit to your GP, you narrate your symptoms and how incessant this headache is. Your GP informs you that it’s due to stress and it should go away if you exercise, take pain killers, stress less (never mind the ‘how of stress less’). Like the good soldier you are, you follow the Dr’s recommendations to the letter. Kuhle, kumnandi. You decide to look towards other modalities of healing and you happen upon seromo sa lethuela/indumba/isigodlo. Mkay.

You get a divination and oh my goodness what a profound experience it is. You have tears streaming down your face and you occasionally shiver. It’s a colourful experience for you. The healer recommends a cleansing and creating a shrine to speak to your ancestors; building a relationship and line of communication with them.

You go home and you’re buzzing with energy. You cannot believe how accurate everything was. These bones speak for real, huh? Wow! Amazing! Stunning! You carry this feeling for days and then eventually fall back into your old habits. Your headache is back, you feel like you’re in a dark place, blah blah blah.

Do you know what has happened? You thought that magical divination and cleansing would be all you needed. You had no idea that the resolutions and healing that come from spiritual healers require that you do your own work. I’ll repeat that for those whose eyes suddenly went blurry: KE RE, YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK.

Ubungoma is not magic. It requires work. You cannot abdicate the responsibility to see things through and expect miracles. Please don’t come into my comments/emails with “OMG I feel dragged.” Out please 🙄

To those of you currently undergoing a spiritual journey and you expect fireworks and miracles: please simmer down. For your own sake. This work is WORK. It’s not a ‘by-the-way’ thing. It’s not a hobby you indulge in on Mondays and Thursdays. It may exist in the periphery and shadows, but it is valid work. Put some elbow grease in it and watch yourself soar.

Remember that things are aligned in your favour, but you have to do some work. Maybe a lot of work.

Lesedi ❤️

Nkgono ‘Malepena

Gogo Malepena

See all author post