research and co-writer Kimmy Soko
In honouring Black History Month, we would love to introduce you to some less famous yogis from the Afro-Caribbean heritage.
Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa was best known for his spiritual practices as well as his philosophy which challenged the growing status quo of his home land.
Thus, he was a yogi of Bhakti Yoga – the path of devotion and spirituality and Jnana Yoga – the path of wisdom.
The remaining paths of yoga are:
- Raja Yoga for the mind
- Hatha Yoga - the force to balance the mind and body
- Karma Yoga – the yoga of doing
- Tantra Yoga – connection with your energetic body
The Awakening of Vusamazulu
Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa is known as a South African shaman- known as a angoma in the local Zulu and Xhosa dialects and self-referred to as a “Sanusi’ which means a seer in archaic Zulu shamanic lexicon. Thus, he was devoted to being of service to the evolving consciousness and spirituality for the development of humanity and the beauty of the earth.
Yet he was born into a time of early apartheid in South Africa. As such, it is most likely would have been told that all spiritual knowledge and practises that weren’t Christian were demonic which was a cause for division and turmoil in his family and the end of his parents’ relationship.
He was born in KwaZulu Natal in 1921 to a very strict Christian father and a young mother who belonged to a family that believed in and adhered to native shamanism. Vusamazulu is a moniker that translates to “awaken the Zulus-” the tribe to which Credo Mutwa belonged. “AmaZulu” also means the heavens which makes Mutwa’s name a double entendre also meaning “awaken the heavens.” Mutwa did not attend school until the age of 14. His early years was full of trials, abandonment, tumult and eventually grave sickness in his teens.
At 14, Mutwa became very ill and despite all applications of modern medicine, he just could not recover. At this point he had been passed through the care of different family members, never his mother; but uncle, aunt, and subsequently maternal grandfather to recuperate while his father worked. According to a study by Shmeer et al, early childhood family instability can lead to immune system dysregulation in adolescence. This seemed to be true for Vusamazulu. He was so ill and all options soon became exhausted, his career turned to her shaman grandfather who used native shamanic practices to nurse him back to health.
This did not sit well with Mutwa’s fundamentalist Christian father who adopted colonial attitudes which viewed indigenous spirituality as evil, demonic and backwards.
This however, was young Mutwa’s awakening, questioning the status quo of anti-shamanic attitudes and the beginning of his rebirth and journey as a Sangoma.
The process of becoming a Sangoma (shaman) in the South African tradition follows an initiation called (Ukuthwasa) where a future Sangoma is taught all the ancestral
wisdom, healing methods, ways to channel Spirit, philosophy, connected to the land, taught how to heal with herbs and their spiritual senses fine-tuned as they become diviners and soothsayers. It’s a gruelling and challenging but rewarding process of rebirth and consecration where initiates emerge spiritually fortified and unlike their past selves. A sign one is called for this journey lies in the clues of one’s journey, the trials, the signs and the unrelenting call of the divine. Mutwa’s own was his failing health and innate questioning of the religious status quo and the example of his grandfather who was able to heal him was enough for Mutwa to embark on a journey of unlearning, relearning and rebirth, making the prophet, philosopher and healer we know of today.
His growth into Philosophy
The philosophical aspect of yoga is less popular than the other streams of yoga. The west tends to gravitate towards movement and meditation as they provide the tools to cope better in an ever demanding world of the 21st Century.
However, Philosophy can be a gateway to understanding humanity, making sense of and tearing down existing structures and interrogating the status quo.
This is what Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa did.
He lived in a time where a woman’s value, place in society and outcomes were greatly negatively impacted by the patriarchy, Mutwa was ahead of his time and cut from a different cloth in his view of women.
He believed that the world would be better if run by women, championed women’s pleasure and exposed ideas that empowered a then disempowered female population.
This also reflected the ancestral attitudes as opposed to the colonial views that erased womens’ sacred place in Zulu society as queens, matriarchs and herbalists. The same apartheid colonial mindset viewed Ubungoma (shamanism) as witchcraft, backwards and favoured Christianity, which led to the ostracism of Sangomas while trying to live their daily lives.
For example, Mutwa’s surviving associates recall the fear he and others struck in others when they would walk past people at the market while trying to run errands, dressed in their traditional outfits of special cloths, beads and natural hair. They made a statement relating to their traditional beliefs which was being undermined by the new philosophy of the then modern society as those that had converted showed their allegiance with western styling.
Achievements
By the time of Vusamazulu’s death in March 2020, he had paved the way for modern Sangomas by becoming an author, businessman- selling African and spiritual
artefacts/art at his own shop in Johannesburg.
He had become a respected seer and philosopher who is still hailed and quoted posthumously. He is said to have predicted the arrival of HIV and AIDS to South Africa using a king with 200 wives as the muse to a prophetic sculpture to foretell AIDS allegedly before scientists discovered it.
He later became an advocate for curing the virus with herbal and natural medicine, setting up the Vulinda Trust in 1999 to preserve the traditional knowledge of using natural medicine to treat HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and cancer.
He is also believed to have predicted 9/11, the coup against South African president Thabo Mbekhi and the assassination of anti-apartheid activist and politician Chris Hani. This deep sense of knowing came from diving deep into spirit, a deep love and intimate knowledge of humanity and a lifelong view of life through a philosophical lens. Mutwa was once quoted saying,
“I feel people should communicate. People should tell each other the truth about themselves. Much of the conflict in the world is caused by ignorance because all wars are caused by ignorance, fear and hatred, and hatred is the ugly daughter of the evil witch of ignorance.”
While respected, Mutwa never got celebrated the way he deserved while he was living and got more recognition abroad in his later years than in his homeland. As the old biblical adage goes, “a prophet is never accepted in his hometown.’
In Summary
Today’s modern world is full of distractions that can lull one into a slumber and one can find themself operating on autopilot, without spiritual awareness. However, this dilemma can lead them to searching for answers through reflection, observation, personal development, philosophy. These are all paths to create union between the heart of self and the community of the world we live in.
Black History Month can be a time when society – particularly people of colour – remember and celebrate ancestors and the heritage of African and Caribbean culture which still runs through the DNA of the living to day. It can be a t time to honour and give thanks to the predecessors that faced adversity and paved the way for modern day shamans, yogis and healers to be able to become beloved public figures, business people and advocate all paths of yoga within the mainstream of national tv, embarking on trances, seeing and healing without the judgement of the past.
WE GIVE THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO OUR HERITAGE AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS IN SHAPING THE WORLD.
Melanie Ashley
Your Holistic Health Guide
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