The Calling is a term largely used in South Africa when one is being called to receive or accept a spiritual gift by his or her ancestors, to either become a traditional healer or a spiritual medium that communicate through dreams, visions, and bones, with those who are no longer part of the physical sphere.
Traditional healers or spiritual mediums have been part of the African society dating back before colonialization and western influence in the culture of African people.
In isiZulu, a largely spoken language in South African, one would be referred to as a Sangoma or in Sesotho - Ngaka ya Setso (Traditional Doctor), after going through the process of accepting the gift, a process called ukuthwasa.
Ukuthwasa is a period of initiation that one undergoes in order to become a Sangoma.
We will use the term Sangoma in this article when referring to an African traditional healer or a spiritual medium.
African ancestry concatenates with the physical and spiritual spheres, transcending time and space. In this piece, we speak to a young Sangoma, who is also an Internal Banker, Thabiso Seswana, about The Calling.
Seswana says she started becoming aware of her calling at the age of three when her mother went to ukuthwasa.
"When my mother went for her calling, I was three years old and unfortunately I had no one to look after me, I had to go with her to her initiation."
It is there that Seswana started receiving impressions, visions and dreams from her ancestors.
“Basically I would dream on behalf of my mother, I would say most things that were gonna happen at home, I would dream about them first or be able to warn them, to tell them prior.”
She adds that when it was her time to answer her calling, her mother who was at that time iSangoma felt none of her children should to go thwasa since she has already answered her calling.
“Both my sisters went and got initiated before me and my mom still went and asked the ancestors to please not have me go through the process. Instead, she would rather leave her belongs to me when she passes away, so for anyone who needs help to come and use them,” she says.
Irrespective of the pleading Seswana's mother made to the ancestors, she could not avoid her calling.
"I was pushed to a certain point and I felt it something I had to get over and done with. Initially, it just became part of my life and it's something that I am very proud of."
She says The Calling comes to those who are chosen, it comes in different ways to different people. There is no one way of knowing that one has been called to carry the ancestral gift.
"It will come to you at a certain time, they (ancestors) will communicate with you that it is time. You will know at that time and they (ancestors) will tell you where to go."
Seswana says The Calling is still relevant in our modernity because ancestry has always been part of society and it will never die off.
"It comes through younger people because it is something we have to carry across to future generations. I will lead a Western life but when it comes to my ancestors I have to do everything by the book," she adds.
Seswana says ancestry has always being carried forward by the young generation, however, before people always wanted to hide it.
These days with media and people wanting to know, it comes across as if it is new for young people to answer the calling.
"They only chose the strongest ones, the ones they know will be able to withstand," says Seswana.
Listen to Seswana's full interview below:
The article was originally posted on SABC News, written by Neo Motloung.
Photo's below to Neo Motloung, the model is Thabang Mofokeng.
