An Unconventional Initiation Into Traditional African Healing Part 1 by Jean Sobiecki

19th July 2012: Its been three weeks since I started using southern African psychoactive spiritual medicines called ubulawu, as part of my training process to know African traditional healing —and I can say its been one heck of an unconventional initiation….

As a background, I am an ethnobotanist with university training in botany and medical anthropology.
I have had a life-long calling to healing: including the use of medicinal plants, the knowledge of which I gained through self study of nature, books, making and using my own herbal medicines as well as learning from local traditional healers throughout my life. I am currently apprenticing with a Northern Sotho healer named Mama Maponya in Johannesburg, to learn traditional southern African medicine.

The Sotho are one of a number of Bantu language speaking tribes occurring in southern Africa. These groups originated from central Africa and migrated southwards. Traditionally, the Bantu people cultivated fields (a main crop being Sorghum) and raised cattle and supplemented this with by hunting and gathering wild foods. Some of the core beliefs of the Bantu people are that of the principle of community (Ubuntu) and the role of their deceased ancestors, around which many rituals are performed.

In southern Africa there are two main types of traditional healer-doctors: the herbalist (Inyanga in Zulu), and the diviner (Isangoma: Zulu). The diviners like shamans are the spiritual specialists, and use divination to communicate with their ancestral spirits to diagnose their patient’s misfortunes or medical conditions. Both the herbalists and diviners use psychoactive plants as spiritual medicines in their practice and give these under guidance to lay people who use the ubulawu’s to dream and make connection to their ancestors.

Psychoactive can be defined as any substance that can alter our behavioral functioning, be it perception, emotions, cognition on the whole. Many common substances are psychoactive from milk to sugar through to caffeine, opium and psychedelics, each having their own particular effects.

Until recently southern Africa was often considered to be poor in psychoactive plants. Yet the research I have done since 1998 has helped to revitalize this field of ethnobotanical research and I have show that a multitude of plants are used for various psychoactive uses: for relaxing, stimulating, dreaming etc.

Ubulawu are traditional African preparations made mostly from the roots of a variety of herbs and creepers, and sometimes the stems or bark of certain plants that are chopped or ground and left in water that is churned with a forked stick to produce foam. This plant infusion is washed with, the foam eaten or the liquid is drank and vomited with. Vomiting or emetic medicines feature in many ancient systems of healing to clean the body and mind. Using the medicine connects you with yourself, and your ancestors through dreams and they often have mild and subtle psychoactive properties.

Below is an abstract of a research paper I have just had published on African spiritual medicines in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs in August titled: Psychoactive Ubulawu Spiritual Medicines and Healing Dynamics in the Initiation Process of Southern Bantu Diviners. This paper gives more detail on the traditional spiritual plant medicine use occurring in southern Africa, for those who want to know more. 

Abstract—The use of psychoactive plants by traditional healers in southern Africa appears to be a neglected area of ethnobotanical research. This article explores the healing dynamics involved in the use of popular psychoactive plant preparations known as ubulawu in the initiation rituals of Southern Bantu diviners. Research methods include a review of the literature, fieldwork interviews with Southern Bantu diviners, and an analysis of experiential accounts from diverse informants on their use of ubulawu. Findings reveal that there is widespread reliance on ubulawu as psychoactive spiritual medicines by the indigenous people of southern Africa to communicate with their ancestral spirits, to bring luck, and to treat mental disturbances.

In the case of the Southern Bantu diviners, ubulawu used in a ritual initiation process acts as a mnemonic aid and medicine to familiarize the initiates with enhanced states of awareness and related psychospiritual phenomena such as enhanced intuition and dreams of the ancestral spirits, who teach the initiates how to find and use medicinal plants. The progression of the latter phenomena indicates the steady success of the initiates’ own healing integration. Various factors such as psychological attitude and familiarization, correct plant combinations/synergy and a compatible healer-initiate relationship influence ubulawu responsiveness.

I can say that through my own current use and experiences with the medicines, what I understand of their effects and qualities is not what I expected based on all the literature…it has been very enlightening for me. Ubulawu’s psychoactive effects are very subtle not like what most consider psychoactive-i.e., strong visionary psychoactives, yet the way they take you into parts of yourself can be profound.

I call this an unconventional initiation since initiate traditional healers usually go to the rural areas and seclude themselves in huts living the traditional way—yet I have undertaken to use the plants in a noisy central business district of Johannesburg close to my teacher, living in a rented place with a landlord that is not ideal for me. This however, I have learnt is not what matters. It’s adjusting to any situation and persevering with the training that matters.

This is my journey with one of the plants called U (I can not name the medicines until I have finished my training).

INCEPTION: 2 July 2012
I began using these foaming medicines that one vomits with every morning and the first medicine called U opened me like a flower ordered to so without any protection to the light or darkness: just revealing who I am, to myself.
Being in this new home I don’t enjoy; cold and dark (being mid winter too), I felt the struggle of being in bed with my negativities, inflamed, raw.
My anchor: Buddhist dharma. Visiting the Buddhist centre in Johannesburg I felt peace and safety.

Days and nights upside down, grief’s and pains visiting me from unmet desires, writhing— stirrings in my spirit…seeing the addictions of desires, giving up on them, having too.
Waking up at 11:30 the one morning facing guilt of not doing the socially accepted thing of waking up early. “Why am I sleeping at this hour”? A program in my head said. “I should be working”…I said hell to it.
Who Am I? Is this all my intellectual pursuits? Get me out of this shithole place, I told myself: Venturing into a nearby suburb of Kensington, I sought a townhouse, a place of my own, maybe something would pop up….but I knew in the back of my mind it wouldn’t happen overnight. I remembered what my teacher Mama says “No good comes with rushing”. 

For days I felt my nerves raw and burning, my minds negativity rising up like an oil slick, no way but to pray, face it, then I saw it is time to face and overcome my fears, not just entertain their existence, that or just give up my training, but then…?

11 July: After the 9th day in a panicky state I went to see my teacher Mama Maponya, whose wisdom and compassion is like that of Buddhist lamas, she said “this is what the medicine does, it shows you who you are, gives you direction to know yourself”.
Fuck. I hated what I saw, what I couldn’t run away from. “I can’t do this— I can’t be a healer. I can’t open to my ancestral spirits—I’m sensitive enough” I told her in excruciating honesty. “I just want to teach and do research”.

15th July: I woke up in the morning with clarity of knowing my story, my truth crystallizing: (I wrote these down with a strong knowingness)
I have found my truth: What truths for myself have I found?
I know I am a seeker of truth.
To know my truth, I must be aware.
I know that the dominant culture in the West: capitalist culture hides us from awareness and truth.
I do not know if there is an omnipotent God, but what I feel is true is we have been given life in order to create: what we want.

Finding peace and happiness is my responsibility—our responsibility: no one neither god nor anyone will save us.

I believe healing our minds and learning to love and overcome our fear is the way to happiness and peace.
Awareness, taking responsibility and loving ourselves will lead to mature being and inner peace.
I need to take responsibility for my life and what I truly want.
Our capitalist consumer culture has taken us away from peace through addiction to strong desires and fears and insecurities through design thereof through mass media marketing and advertising.
To be at peace with myself I must deal with and heal my fears: my fears of people: of conflict and being afraid of conflict.

To do so I must believe I will not fear (though accepting it), being confident and believing I deserve to express my honest truth. I deserve a voice.
The healing I want to teach is spiritual freedom, to guide people.
If I am cold I must find warmth. If I am unhappy I must make the conditions happen that are necessary for my happiness to occur, as the Dalai Lama says.
I sense a journey overland is on the HORIZON.

These thoughts distilled for me in the course of the day and I shared this on my facebook mindfulness and consciousness group: What is enlightenment other than making the journey alone, into who we really are, learning to overcome our fears, our addictions, making peace with ourselves and the world and mastering our minds and negative emotions, to finally rest into the truth of who we are-essentially: pure mind, open heart.

Finding my truth is finding my enlightenment.
19 July 2012: I stopped the medicine. The pressure slowly eased up. I could handle my landlord—everything was better.
REST….days…

REVISITING U:
It had been a very intense journey into my shadow, my core of who I am.
It’s not as if I could turn away from my negatives while using it, it was there till I came to terms with it.
How wonderful that a plant can do this: accelerated learning. So often we sleep in our slumbery ways to ourselves “ya I know my shit stuff” but then a minute later we are distracted by whatever it is. Not with U. I could feel how open it made me, how unrelenting it was for me to face myself while I was using it, a constant mirror.

After having stopped U for 5 days I had been given my next medicine to use; but I felt I wanted to take U once more. It was my intuition—my ancestors.
24 July 2012: That morning, kneeling down having churned the foaming medicines I knew it was good.
After vomiting with U this time I realize and recall that Elliot, another traditional healer I met, said I must heal myself first then do research, it will strengthen me. Like mama reiterated; the plants will support me in who I am and my work. 

I now saw the points of connection clearly: my relationship to plants, making herbal medicine, —this is who I am—many people do not do this. So yes I am a healer. I must just heal my fears and move forward— with trust, I can integrate my creative, leadership and healing aspects into one like the Buddhist Kagyu lineage master Akong Rinpoche.

Having used U after 5 days of absence I can report that its effects are once again similar to my previous experience…I felt opening to insights again, same old anger as last time with an old friend D (funny how it will surface issues that need resolution), and also realize now how I am progressing on my path.
That afternoon sitting in the meditation shrine room of the Kensington Buddhist I gazed up at Tai Situpa’s photo (another high lama of the Kagyu lineage) and I knew: a distillation of mind was present:

The plants are helping me heal.
Build compassion through the Dharma
And create the conditions for my happiness or fulfillment in life.

The Journey progresses….
Jean-Francois Sobiecki
Phytoalchemist. Website soon up http://www.ethnobotany.co.za

A Modern Day Witchhunt by Peter Aziz 2012

Many of you may have heard the news last September that I was the first person to be imprisoned for using ayahuasca, a healing vine used in South American religious ceremonies.

To give a little back ground on the situation, I have been practicing as a homeopath, healer and Shaman for over 25 years, and had written to the Home Office before starting ceremonies, to make sure I would not be breaking the law.

I had a letter from them confirming that ayahuasca was not illegal. Over the last 25 years, my studies have taken me all over the World. I spent 4 years training as an ayahuascaro in Peru. I have trained as a Kahuna, Pueblo medicine man, and have been initiated into Vodou to the highest level. I am also a Hindu priest, and was chosen by Kali to be Her Odiya ( A Shaman).

You can read more about my work on my website:

I had built up a very positive reputation for teaching authentic shamanism, and for giving some very effective healings. Previous press releases had been positive; showing major healing taking place, such as getting a crippled child walking. More recently, though, the press has given very negative focus to alternative medicine and spirituality.

The persecution leading up to this case began several years earlier. I had appeared on the TV program, “Trust me, I’m a Healer”. Following this program, I came under heavy slander from a vicious group of doctors who formed a group called Health Watch, for the sole purpose of discrediting natural medicine. At that time, complaints made to the police were rejected, as ayahuasca was not on the controlled substance list. However, after continuous pressure, the police decided to investigate.

I was arrested and put on bail, with the condition that I was could not give any spiritual or healing ceremony of any kind, or give any plant substance of any kind. At this stage, there was not even any charge made, and yet I was stopped from earning a living, and my religious rights completely violated. It took 3 ½ years to finally get me to court, finally deciding to prosecute me for producing and supplying class A drugs, referring to the 0.1% DMT content naturally occurring in the plants.

They argued that since I had brewed the plants into a tea, it was now considered a preparation of DMT. At first I didn’t believe any court could prosecute me for this, as the United Nations convention of psychotropic substances clearly stated that ayahuasca was sufficiently different from pure DMT not to be classified as the same. However, on the first day of the trial it was clear that the police were up to something; with the evil smiles and over-confidence they displayed. It became very clear that this Court was fixed. During the legal discussion, the judge refused any of my defenses to be brought before the jury, and basically told the jury what conclusion they had to come to. Many points of law were ignored, and I was sentenced to 15 months in Prison.

We are all suspicious that the system is corrupt, but you never know how far the corruption goes until you experience it. I had been given a full criminal prosecution for doing healing ceremonies and sending the money to charity. There was no confusion about my motivation, as all witnesses had spoken of the great benefits they got from the ceremonies, and I had a good bunch of character references. What’s more, the police are trying to seize all charity money, as proceeds of crime. Having been in prison, I can honestly say that I have not met any criminal who would stoop so low as to rob charities.

Of course there are big lessons for me in this experience, apart from waking up to the level of corruption, soullessness and pure evil within our leadership. The plants themselves point to the way through this modern crazy world, and I have taken note of the teachings they have been bringing me. I have made good use of my time in incarceration, and treated it as a spiritual retreat, spending many hours every day in meditation. This has only left me stronger in every way. First of all, I was shown how my consciousness has been like certain plants that have been banned for being too useful in helping mankind, such as the ayahuasca, or the cannabis.

Cannabis was seen as a great gift from the Gods because of its usefulness, and I am not just talking about getting high. It provides cloth, building materials, fuel, medicine as well as spiritual teaching. It is because it was so useful that the cotton and timber industries worked on propaganda to get it banned, so it would not threaten their monopoly. Because any nation growing cannabis was assured of wealth, the banks soon helped get it banned, to stop any nation becoming independent of them. So the plants that give the most get themselves totally banned all over the World. I have been through similar lessons.

As a Hindu minister, I have always believed that the highest form of worship was to relieve the suffering of others. This I had dedicated my life to; running healing ceremonies and giving proceeds to charity, feeding starving families. I had put great dedication into this work, only to be stamped on by a corrupt system. This has not turned me from the path, however, far from it. I have just had to become less naïve and much more expansive in my thinking.

There are other sacred plants to take me to the next level. The two teaching me at the moment are chocolate and tobacco. These two plants have already seduced and tamed nations, and are so ingrained into the commercial world that it will be impossible to ban them, no matter how useful they become in healing and raising consciousness. And yet they are both traditional sacred plants used in South American ceremonies. I am discovering great power within them, and a tricky intelligence that will win through all the corruption and bring about the raising of consciousness that is destined. I am involved in dietas with these two plants this year, learning their songs and mastering their ceremonies. They are proving to be powerfully trans-formative, so watch this space. Chocolate may sound like a very pleasant medicine, but there are times you will hate it, as it digs up such deep issues. It is proving to be stronger than ayahuasca.

Of course, the battle over ayahuasca is not over yet. There is an appeal in process, and there are petitions going. Be sure to sign them and put a stop to the witch-hunt before all spiritual practices and natural medicines are taken away. They may have heavily crapped on my old practice, but this is a new beginning. Before giving medicine ceremonies, I am giving some small group workshops from my home, as I have developed some great empowerments to pass on. I will be giving empowerments from Kali’s tantric traditions, to raise kundalina and develop occult powers, and from tenaga dalam, for invulnerability, protection and victory over all obstacles. You can find details of these events on my facebook pageck/134666116580798