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

The idea of embracing African Spirituality in all its different facets has generally become something easy to talk about. We speak openly about ancestors and the relationship that we have with them. It's all fun and love and light until the topic of umuthi comes up.

For many of us, we grew up with a distinct aversion towards African Indigenous medicine, regardless of what form it takes or even how helpful it can be.

In Part 3 of the Practicing African Spirituality for Beginners, uMkhulu Mahlalentabeni takes us through the very basics of Understanding Umuthi.

Umsamo is one of those extremely vague yet still seemingly integral aspects of African Spirituality. The definitions and understandings of it vary greatly across cultures.

In Part 2 of "Practicing African Spirituality for Beginners" Gogo Jebhu takes us through a deeper understanding of what umsamo is as physical structure and what it represents spiritually.

So, here you are. You have developed an interest in African Spirituality or something in you is pulling you towards that direction. You have a basic understanding of ancestors and you are aware that they play a role in your life even though you are not entirely sure what that role is and you find yourself asking "what now?". What's the next step? How do I go from here to a point where I can say I am a person who practices African Spirituality?

Personally, I have always found myself struggling with the information that I read or see online and how to structure it into something that is not confusing. So I thought maybe it can help if you and I can get guidance from Healers in terms of how to go about creating a structure for practicing African Spirituality in our own lives.

I've put together this short series that focuses on Practicing African Spirituality for Beginners.

In this first part of the series, we're going to be looking into Understanding Your Ancestral Lineage.

To take us through this I contacted Gogo Mahlodi who will help to break down Who are your ancestors, what is their role in your life and how do you actually get to know them and develop a relationship with them.
An amazing human being who is all about Throwing bones and banishing demons, Vuyiswa Xekatwane, also known as Gogo Mahlodi, is a writer, healer, and diviner based in Joburg. She is deeply intentional about healing, deeply devoted to the alchemic genius of blackness.

Please keep an eye on her socials to get updates on her upcoming workshop

We continue the conversation with Gogo Aubrey Matshiqi as we dig deeper into the history of African Initiated Churches.

This episode also unpacks what happens historically when two conflicting beliefs crash into each other and we look into African Spiritual aspects such as Isithunywa came to be and what they actually say about Christianity.

African Spirituality and Christianity are seemingly two opposing ideologies. Yet, there are African Initiated Churches such as ZCC and Ibandla Lamanazaretha (Shembe) who are somehow able to situate the African identity whithin Christianity. Historically, how did these churches come about? Spiritually, how do they navigate the realities of the lives of their followers?

Then there are also African Spiritual Healing modalities that use aspects of Christianity within their practice, such as isithunywa. How are these conflicting beliefs coexisting and functioning together?

I spoke to one of the most insightful elders that I know, Gogo Aubrey Matshiqi to help unpack this complex and deeply divisive topic.

What is the nature of belief? Why do we, as human beings, have the capacity to believe and what purpose does it serve?

In this episode it is just me and you hanging out and exploring the mindboggling concepts that impact on how we engage with our beliefs.

The assumption that we often about technology is that it relates to things like automated electronic machinery and artificial intelligence. But each point of the evolution of human society was pushed forward by what was seen at that time as technological advancements. These advancements impacted not only on culture and how we understood ourselves but they also impacted on our relationship with the divine.

Today we are at yet another technological crossroads this time brought on specifically by the cellphone and the internet. We are now trying to figure out how to use these tools in navigating our beliefs and gain a better understanding of our spirituality while dealing with the dangers that these tools pose to our mental health.

Who better to talk to than the original Digital Sangoma herself, Gogo Moyo

Most of us aware that social media does affect our psyche even though we not quite sure how or to what extent. But have you ever wondered how it affects your spirituality?

For those of us using social media to help us understand African Spirituality better, it can be quite tricky to figure how real are our online experiences actually are and how to make sense of how these platforms influence how we view the world.

This topic is a two part series and in this particular episode to get a better understanding of how social media works I spoke to  Katleho Bontle Motingoe.

Katleho works in  Digital Marketing, out-of-home advertising, and Branding Building and she has years' worth of experience in the digital media space.