The Journey Kwantu

So this is part 2 of the topic of how the township destroyed African spirituality. It’s a conversation that I have been having with Bongisa Msuthu and Lerato Motshabi who are practitioners and academics within the architecture space.  In the previous episode we explored the historical context of African architecture and how it informed how people structured their lives from a cultural and spiritual perspective. In this episode we now delve deep into the origins of township architecture. How it came about. The intention behind it and how the world it created shaped our cultural and spiritual identity. Let’s get into it. 

How did the physical structure of the township affect how black people navigated spirituality? Did it help to cultivate a better understanding of our connection to God or did it enforce a detrimental mindset?

I think spiritual burnout has led many people to make drastic decisions or to misinterpret their experiences. Some people left church because of spiritual burnout. Some people cut their beads, burnt their cloths and called ancestors demons because of spiritual burnout. In some cases the severity can lead to something that resembles a mental illness. […]

The vast majority of us will eventually find ourselves in some form of a crossroads in our spiritual journey. When we get to this point the decisions that we are faced with can sometimes make us doubt everything that we hold as not only true but also important about our beliefs. Can you think of a time in your life when you got to this point? I spoke to Gogo Moyo about how she dealt with the paradigm shifts that she faced in her journey as a Healer, a Gobela as well as one of the most prominent public figures within the spirituality space.

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But the topic of spirituality in the workplace is still a very broad one in terms of individual experiences and I was curious as to how others have navigated their encounters with spirit and spirituality as well as the complexities of spiritual purpose. So I spoke to Gogo Jebhu who spent years in the corporate space and has since transitioned from being an HR practitioner to now being a full-time Gobela.

The nature of African spirituality is such that it involves not just the acknowledgment of the existence of the spiritual realm but also the existence of amadlozi and spiritual forces and the individualized encounters that we have with them in our daily lives. What is strange though is that as African spirituality continues to grow […]

This episode is a continuation of the topic asking Does changing countries affect your identity? It is part of a series that deals with the question of whether or not our identity affects our spirituality. I encourage you to make time to listen to the previous 3 episodes to get a better understanding of how this topic has evolved. In this episode, I'm going to be speaking to Buhlebezwe Siwani. She is a healer and an artist who works predominantly in the medium of performance and installations. She was raised in Johannesburg and due to the nomadic nature of her upbringing, she has also lived in the EC and KZN.  She now lives and works between Amsterdam and Cape Town.

What happens to your identity as a black South African when you no longer live within the socioeconomic or political or even the cultural norms and criminal violence that defines so much of who we believe we are? If you are a black South African who is or has been living abroad for some time how do you define who you are? To get some perspective on this I spoke to a few South Africans who are currently living in other countries to try to understand what their lived experience has been in how being away affects how they see and engage with their sense of identity. I figured that this topic would need more than one person and also cannot be tackled from a strictly spiritual perspective so it will be a mini-series talking to different people from different countries. The first person I will be talking to is Lerato Shadi. Lerato Shadi is a visual and performance artist whose work challenges common assumptions to critique Western notions of history and make visible that which is invisible or overlooked. She works across video, performance, and installations. Lerato was Born in Mahikeng, South Africa and now lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

So I want to know how does our identity, how does our sense of self affect how we navigate our beliefs and how we respond to the world in general. I want understand specifically how does the way that we perceive ourselves manifest the lives and socioeconomic challenges that we face today. I spoke to Banele Rewo who is an entrepreneur, author and content creator who has a particular interest in the psychology behind the township economy.

In the process of the change and evolution of our societies, how does language affect our relationship with spirituality? I spoke to Gogo Khanyakude who is a healer, a gobela, and someone that I believe is one of the most important voices in our generation when it comes to the modern interpretation of African spirituality.

Very often we find ourselves feeling like noh mahn, something somewhere isn't right. There's something that is simply not adding up about how life functions. Right now the vast majority of us are going through a lot. Socially, our communities are a mess. Economical ku wow. Relationships...haai ke they are crying.So I spoke to Gogo Mahlodi to because I wanted to know how do we define what is a spiritual setback and what is just a normal challenge of life.

So in the last episode, we discussed whether or not it is possible to practice multiple spiritual beliefs at the same time and I personally concluded by saying that maybe it would help to get a better understanding of what exactly these multiple spiritual beliefs actually are. Maybe then we will be able to say if they are connected or if they totally go against each other. To kick off this little series, we are starting with exploring tarot card reading. Among many other questions, we will be asking What is tarot? Where does it come from? It is based on any spiritual belief? and what exactly do you get from a tarot card reading? For this, I will be speaking to Bruja Thembi who is a tarot card reader and she will help to understand whether or not you incorporate tarot card reading into African spirituality?

: The world that we live in today is increasingly global. Through the internet, there are virtually no boundaries stopping us from being influenced by many other beliefs and religions around the world.This ease of access to different beliefs has meant that we have, whether consciously or subconsciously, started incorporating aspects of other practices into our own.So in this episode what I would like to know is possible to practice different spiritual beliefs at the same time and what would that do for our spiritual journey. I hooked up with Mkhulu Makhanya who has a wealth of knowledge about different beliefs and he'll be helping us break it down.

For anyone who is still trying to figure out their way in African Spirituality, the prospect of having to consult with a Healer or Sangoma can be extremely daunting. Part of the challenge with this process is that you are coming in with a lot of misconceptions, a lot of confusion and, to be quite honest, you are downright scared because you don't know what to expect, you don't know how you are going to feel, or if it will help at all. So I Nkhono Refilwe Ke Badimo who will guide us through the nitty-gritties of consulting

Have you ever had that moment or that period where you wanted where you just wanted to pack up one day and just disappear? To just leave everything behind and head out into the night and go as far away as you possibly can? Let's do that. Tonight, let's just disappear.

In Part 4 of our series on Practicing African Spirituality for Beginners, uMkhulu Mahlalentabeni will be taking us through Understanding Cleansings in terms of what they are and what makes them necessary. I also share a personal story in relation to this topic