The Sunday News
I realised that once upon a time, ancients shared a common philosophy, a common thought, worldview and beliefs.
As a result, their interactions with both the terrestrial and extraterrestrial realms were similar. That comes as no wonder when we realise that people act and behave as they think. Their thought and cosmologies inform and underpin their cultural practices with the arts expressing both.
By all accounts, the “Journey to Stonehenge” was a revelation. For the first time, I scrutinised a culture that was not of my own people-the Africans. I realised that, what was still in vogue in the field of African culture, was no longer applicable in the European cultural context. Though not entirely and completely divorced from the past, so much had been abandoned.
There was a lot that appeared new and therefore inexplicable.
For example, circularity had largely been abandoned in favour of rectangularity, whose origins and inspirations I have not, to date, been able to explain. The cosmic world and its attendant symbolism count for less. A canine tooth from a wild pig was unearthed during excavations, so was an urn fashioned out of fired clay. There are several examples that are somewhat strange to modern professors,whose cultures are different from their ancestors who built Stonehenge. It is also different from ancient African beliefs and cultural practices with their informing and underpinning beliefs that seem strange and inexplicable to modern scientists in the western world.
We are in a better position, therefore, to identify and isolate commonalities. The one field that is best suited to achieve our set goals, is the belief in and practice of witchcraft. In both cases, the practice is/was perpetrated at night by people in the nude. We understand too that these purveyors of the ancient African science,possessed technological capacities to fly in crafts and on brooms. Consequently, we seek to compare commonalities across races and isolate those elements that are shared in common.
The fact that such cultural and spiritual practices are carried out under cover of darkness,has ensured that these have endured. Their dependence on spirituality has also contributed to their everlasting life, albeit with minimal modifications and transformations. We hope, in the coming articles, we are going to unpack the isolated and identified common traits. In this first article, we shall look closely at one common trait, namely witchcraft and sexuality.
I start with European ideas in this regard before I turn to African ones, in , ideas held by the Ndebele people. Researching witchcraft has its own challenges. Venturing beyond one’s own community can be very treacherous and open to being misconstrued. One cannot interview strangers who do not share the same vision –that of seeking to document a strongly maligned science and craft with great promise for the future.
What are the European ideas regarding sex? In other words, sex for what? It is a source of pleasurable experiences and emotional connection between partners. There is the obvious role that sex plays within families. Marriage that goes together with conjugal obligations is an institution for procreation that requires that sexual intimacy be embraced.
Procreation in a biological sense, is an integral part of the social institution. It is through sexuality that continuity, eternity, perpetuity and endlessness of the human species are guaranteed. It was out of this recognition that several years ago I coined some adage, “individuals perish, humanity is forever.”
We shall demonstrate below, how sex is perceived in relation to procreation that translates to sustainability. Perhaps when that is done, we shall appreciate that sex goes beyond mere pleasure and biological multiplication or reproduction. The sexual act connects to a life force and the creative energies of the cosmos. The life force is equivalent to chi-i and prana in
Eastern meditative systems.
Since the 1960s, culture in the western world has condoned sex before marriage. Culture in Europe has also condoned birth control within and outside marriage. Wiccans engage in monogamous, sexually active relationships prior to monogamous marriages. Sexual democracy and liberalism set in. The last point is a direct reference to witches and their enjoyment of sex as part of their nocturnal and malevolent expeditions and practices. If we were to ask, ‘sex for what?” it would translate to ritual power or the much sought after life force that wiccans may ritually harvest and unleash on targeted individuals.
What else do westerners posit with regard to witches? Women are believed to possess supernatural power. Witchcraft, as a phenomenon, has been around from ancient times. It was/is believed that witches are usually beautiful and highly sexual and men bedded them at their own risk. Witches were believed to possess magical powers including that of flight. They communicated with the dead. This is emphasis on their spirituality. Not so long ago I received some audio communication relating to a Zambian woman, who was said to visit a mortuary once every week to engage in sex with a fresh male corpse.
Did I not see women engage in erotic sexual dances before a corpse in a casket? The silent man, it is believed, is being afforded the grand opportunity to bid farewell to what used to be part of his pleasurable experiences. Variations of this element are common in other African communities.
Witches, it is claimed in Western circles, did not conform to patriarchal ideas. At night, they visited men and had sex with them. Perceptions of associated beauty changed, particularly during the medieval times. It is also claimed witches participated in sexual orgies with Satan who of course was perceived as male. Later, association with beauty was overhauled. Witches were then perceived as the epitome of ugliness. Above all this, witches were accused of sacrificing babies and believed to be more susceptible to demonic influences than men were.
As said above, our interest is comparative. What I presented above is the way in which witches were perceived amongst western communities. Our question is how did the Ndebele people and by extension, other African communities perceive sexuality in relation to witchcraft? However, some commonalities require more explications that are definitive. Several similarities are readily observable in examples that have been furnished above as my research to date indicates. For now, however, we shall confine ourselves to witchcraft and sexuality among the Ndebele people.
In our programme on Skyz Metro FM, “Amafa Ethu” Luke Mnkandla, the presenter and I inadvertently strayed into the field of witchcraft. In all the programmes that we have presented over the several years, there had never been greater interest than when we referred to witchcraft. All contributors were people who narrated first hand experiences rather than “fanika lo” accounts.
So, what stories did I gather relating to witchcraft and sex? Commonalities certainly exist. When witches departed for an agreed upon Gathering Point (GP), they made sure their partners would fall into some deep slumber,so that they did not notice they were absent. I remembered the story I heard from one man who saw her wife get out of bed, stand silently next to the bed and undergoing some transformation into some tiny blob, before flying away. When she came, her husband who apparently was not fully hypnotized. He thus managed to witness the nocturnal transformations, take-off, and landing.
Anyway, the GP would be a grave or cemetery or even some rock. The profession of witchcraft is characterized by strict discipline and adherence to some established hierarchy. The authority of ingqwele, usahoho wakhona, is strictly recognised. Her commands are the law. The first thing that is done at the GP is to undress. There is some similarity in terms of meeting at night and plying their business in the nude as done by wiccans.
Sexual orgies follow. There are no incestual barriers. It is a free for all sexual extravaganza. Quite clearly, the motive is not sexual pleasure. It is all about utility and functionality. During the sexual acts, there are fluids that are thought to possess ritual and magical power that is equivalent to life force in the western world. The fluids may also be accessed during sexual health care practices
Perhaps we need to unpack some resident beliefs before proceeding. Essentially, we seek to identify cases where sexuality is made use of to illustrate its cogent power or life force. Let us start with ritual killing. The parts of a human body that are sought after, are those associated with sexuality such as sexual organs and breasts in the case of a woman victim. These, it is believed, are imbued with the power of fertility or sustainability. Within a business context, this translates to a sustainable business. This is how fertility is perceived.
Let us use yet another example that is driven and powered by ideas of sexuality. Iron smelting comprised two parts-the male part, the skin bellows that are worked in a symbolized sexual manner. At the other end, there is the representation of the female component-the womb where charcoal (carbon from umnondo or umsenyane trees). The womb was sometimes provided with symbolic breasts and belly scarifications to indicate the feminine attribute. The bellows are worked to introduce air that is symbolic of some fluid (semen) being introduced into the female body, via the vaginal tract into the womb.
The whole process in representative and expressive of a sexual act and hence iron smelting was carried out within secluded spaces. However, what is relevant here is that the slag in the form of nodules, manyilo, was collected from the smelting site and spread in a crop field. The nodules, it was believed, were imbued with fertility or sustainability as having been part of a symbolized reproductive or sexual process.
Fertility that is resident in the nodules, manyilo, is transferred to the growing crops. The sources of fertility is association with fertility of the iron smelting process that is symbolized as a sexual or reproductive process.
Let us now get back to the sexual fluids that are needed by witches. I hope that the resident power or life force is evident by now. Witchcraft is about energy, power, and force all of which are physical concepts. The witches must fly and that requires energy. They must induce partners to a deep uninterrupted sleep.
