~ A HEALING MYTHOLOGY -AS TOLD BY TRADITIONAL HEALERS

It is said that every woman young or old is a Goddess who belongs to the moon, her spiritual mother, who gently and kindly makes her aware of all her emotional issues every 28 days.

As the moon fills herself at full moon, she is in her most powerful cycle. Symbolically a time for all goddesses to  become aware of their fullest potential.

The moon gently but  powerfully shines her rays to bring light to dark unconscious emotions stored deep in our psyche.

Long forgotten emotional issues, we might not have had the power or energy to deal with at the time caused avoidance. To avoid what we fell is often much easier than trying  to manage feelings.

The pain associated with our emotional truth can be so overpowering, but when suppressed will often call for  attention. Avoid managing the emotion and it will become a powerful force that will consume your personal power, your life force, and your energetic system. The basis of  all illnesses.

At the time of your own full moon cycle, the womb is ready to shed and renew. Blood in traditional healing systems is a powerful force that holds memory from our ancestors. This can be good or bad and symbolically the womb is the place where life begins.

However the symptoms of PMS can be overpowering. From severe headaches as estrogen rises, to birthing cramps as the womb renews itself. And during menopause, the body still remembers it s cycles so the same symptoms might appear.

The world is in a process of cycles; beginnings and endings, constantly learning to let go…yet humans find it so hard to let go, not matter what.

The need for acceptance and love overpowers a deep inner truth that says, no matter what your life experiences may have been; you have nothing to be ashamed of. When you get to that place where you know who you are, and what you stand for, it’s then when you have become wise. When we reach this point of insight know that you have stepped into your strength, your authentic power, a space that is protected, with a deep-seated sense of peace and a strong knowing that all is well.

Sadly most of us avoid this journey, deeply keeping our pain protected from exposure even to our own consciousness.  But nature is intelligent, and just before our menstrual cycle starts (3days before our own full moon cycle) our own inner moon starts to shine her light on the issues we have locked away so deeply.  You see we can’t avoid the issues we have to learn from. They have to surface. Even if it has to surface for years as a strong emotion or an avoidance word called PMS.

As time passes on she surely will make us more and more aware of the emotional files deeply buried in the unconscious.

Our skin will erupt and we will call it a hormonal breakout! What she is really showing us is a deeply buried anger, once we had no voice to express our needs.  Constantly living in a void. The excessive oil, a metaphor for the deep sense of love and warmth we need whilst experiencing emotional deprivation or coldness. A lack of understanding from perhaps one of our parents, or a stranger that somehow intruded on our sacred space, only to hurt us on some level. Or, a lover who never quite filled the love void.

With estrogen the female hormone rising, creates a thick lining in the uterus, she is symbolically shedding lots of karmic memory (blood) in the hope  that the physical host will learn the value of spiritual growth. One where self-esteem and self-love creates a cocoon so safe in the soul, that nothing matters but self.  The ability to understand one’s emotions, learning from then, and being empowered enough to voice ones needs, rather than living in a dark void, always expecting the worst.

The traditional healer knows that an unexpressed child who is angry will express herself in adulthood around 26 to 29 days cycles, with hormonalbreakouts, or very dry itchy flaky skin, prone to severe sensitivity.

This is also the time when the body produces more estrogen. We simply cannot use foreign estrogens also known as Xeno-estrogens during this time.

Be mindful of ingredients that can mimic estrogen in the body The liver simply can’t cope with  foreign estrogens, so they find their way into soft tissue, that could cause cancer.

So our healers will communicate with the  ancestors to re-connect with the client’s emotional energy. These patterns could play out in relationships we have with others and our ability to manage ourselves in difficult relationships.

In modern day terminology we call this our inner-child. When we manage the vulnerable child within, our  skins glow with a beautiful radiance. In order to enhance this valuable process we need to be part of a de-stressing ritual that is relaxing and effective.  Water ceremonies are common practice amongst the Tsonga tribes. They honour the spirit of water and is powerful ability to purify. By connecting with nature they say we connect with ourselves, because God is found in all living matter.

Relaxing deep tissue and stress relieving treatment with skilful movements are performed with the hands and different sized wooden sticks to stretch tight muscles and ease toxic overload from stagnant energy. Remember the body is made up of so much of water, and water being our purification system but is also linked to the emotions, hence our tears.

Blessing the body and eliminating it from negativity was very much part of the healer’s ritual in treating ailments.

The Tsonga tribal healers used to perform daily body rituals. Although not as sophisticated as our modern spas  the rituals are very effective in eliminating toxins from the body.  Being spiritual, we all know the value in gratitude and being reminded to follow a daily ritual to remind us of our process towards personal development. We celebrate our birthdays but forget to perform annual ceremonies to bless or celebrate the good we had experienced.

In today’s world we know that the body holds memory of all emotional experiences. An inability to let go often expresses itself in the body as arthritis, or a sluggish lymphatic system that can be blamed for low immunity. The traditional healer saw this as negativity possessing the body.

They would intuitively gently employ a rocking motion to release stored negativity, and stomped the feet to release pent up anger.

Symbolically the stick or staff used in traditional massage represents wisdom and direction to the healer, moving and manipulating energy flow.

Further, sticks were used as powerful massage tools.

Created from wood, the traditional healer knows that the energy of earth symbolising growth and abundance, these sticks are valuable tools not only in grounding the individual, but also have an intrinsic ability to absorb and purify negativity, and re-channel energy flow.

The benefits of a stick massage are significant. The area of the skin covered by the stick is specific and broader than fingers or palms can cover. Thus leaving the skin more oxygenated, invigorated and rejuvenated. The effect of a deep stick muscle release is experienced immediately.

The client never feels bruised as the healer hase a skilful ability to work deeper into the tissue, releasing pent up stress, without using ones own energy to do so.

Treatments usually start with a drumming ceremony followed by the healer clearing theenergy centres from any negativity, before he proceeds to perform his healing stick ceremony.

Drumming is a crucial part of any ceremony, as the sound vibration it creates plays an important role in invoking the ancestors. Or in today’s world we may say our angels.

This drumming incorporates a cupping action on the body performed with the sticks rather than the hands.

Treatments are accompanied with traditional plants. It is said that the energy of plant sap contains vital healing energy. Always at its most effective at the full moon  when the water levels inthe plant rises. Never is the plant allowed to be used with chemicals, as this can destroy  healing energy of the plants.

Just as different emotions have an effect on different parts of the body, so do plants have an effect on different emotional experiences Traditional healers see the rich plant world as God’s pharmacy.

The hypoxis or African Potato has a very specific task of increasing cell activity. The more activity in the cell the more circulation is experienced towards toxic elimination. With toxins being eliminated the body is better able to heal. Marula oil has a beautiful ability to hydrate and protect the skin from dehydration. It gently protects the skin without blocking the pores, allowing it to do what the body was designed to do…excrete toxins. 

Rooibos, nature’s potent anti-oxidant  is said to have an intelligence so special it always works on re-storing and repairing. Used in many applications, from keeping the body strong to helping it recover from low immunity, to treating skin sensitivity.

In today’s world we know that the healing energy of essential oils have been proven to assist the body on so many levels.

The traditional healer would see a powerful energy vibration in the essential oils. This vibration performs well with the human electromagnetic field.

Our traditional healers knew how to combine human energy and that of our plant kingdom to synergistically work with each other.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be in touch with yourself, with nature and the world around you? To know that you hold the power with in you to perform the miracles you would want to see in your world.