Redefining “Crazy” & The Initiation Process with Swaziland Healer Thabiso Mthimkhulu

March 3, 2023 Jazmine Russell

What if “going crazy” was part of a larger process? What if it was a message from your body, your ancestors, or a wisdom larger than yourself? Thabiso, a traditional Swaziland Healer who moved to the U.S. in 2020, shares his story about training as a healer in a context where madness wasn’t stopped or something to be fixed, but rather the sign of a bigger calling.

Also in this episode:

answering the “call” to be a healer and what the initiation process is like
the importance of letting people go “crazy” in order to heal
growing up in a context where healing, ancestral communication, and mystical experiences are normal
what healer training is like in Swaziland
flaws with western psychiatric systems compared to indigenous swaziland healing cultures

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Comparing America to back home [in Swaziland, Africa], what I’ve learned is that here, the way they deal with someone who is “crazy”, they always try to stop it. They don’t give the space for you to let that crazy thing speak. To make a relationship with that “craziness”. To make sure you prove to the craziness that you believe something happened, maybe before you were born. The way it may be showing up this time is through your body. You go “crazy” so that other people can listen to you and come to you, so you can be healed. Here in America, there is nothing like this. They run away. They call an ambulance and take you to the psych ward. They restrain you. They don’t ask you any questions. They only ask you after they make you into the person they want you to be: be silent, sit, and behave. In my culture there is no behaving. You let your body move like a tree. Listen to where the wind hits you and follow it. But with the guidance of other people you will never break. There is nothing like that here [in the United States].

Thabiso Mthimkhulu, Depth Work Podcast Episode 35

About Thabiso Mthimkhulu:

Thokoza Ndlondlo (whose given birth name is Thabiso Mthimkhulu) is an inyanga — traditional healer, diviner, and medicine maker — born and raised in Swaziland (who migrated to the US in 2020). He was raised in a family of healers who hold a great body of knowledge and wisdom of traditional Bantu herbal and ancestral medicine. Thokoza Ndlondlo experienced his calling illness, known as ukuthwasa, as a young child — seeing spirits, hearing voices, time traveling, having visions, and prophetizing about the future. His access to other realities and ancestral realms was affirmed within his cultural worldview, where his family and community recognized his soul calling as an inyanga— to continue practicing and carrying out this lineage of important healing medicine. Thokoza Ndlondlo completed his multi-year initiation process in Barberton, South Africa.

DEPTH Work - A Holistic Mental Health Podcast

This is a space for those who love to dive into the underbelly, to revel in the mystery, question assumptions about what is normal, play in both/and, and honour the wide range of human emotions.

As a complex trauma survivor, holistic counsellor and co-founder of a mental health institute, I learned that there is immense wisdom in our pain and what we call crazy is just what we are yet not willing to understand and explore. Let’s dive in!

Resources:

Thabiso on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thabisoheals/

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