HomeOld_PostsReclaiming our spiritual independence: Part 17 ...a closer look at hunting spirits

Reclaiming our spiritual independence: Part 17 …a closer look at hunting spirits

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IN the previous episode, we have shown that Africans are by nature very spiritual people.
I have wondered if this inherent spirituality is not the reason many false prophets and Satanists are able to attract huge crowds to revival sessions where God does not appear to be anywhere in sight!
Some of the prophets have magical powers to attract people.
Of course many miracles are stage-managed to impress those attending.
I have it on good record that some apostolic leaders take their staffs (tsvimbo) to n’angas so they can be imbued with supernatural powers.
One touch and the believer falls to the ground!
It is not that the magical power is not from God; God created all things upon this earth.
What we refuse to accept is the continued demonisation of African religion and the divine mystic powers that derive from Musikavanhu.
The detractors of our African spirituality want to pretend that all power comes through Jesus Christ.
There is no dispute about Jesus being a great prophet and performing many miracles.
But there are also miracles among us Africans that provide evidence of great mystic powers deriving from Mwari Musikavanhu coming to us through our Great Ancestral spirits such as Kaguvi, Nehanda, Chaminuka and Murenga.
The great humiliating defeat of British imperialism and colonialism during the Second and Third Chimurenga are examples of the great power of our Mwari acting through our ancestral spirits.
On an annual basis, our supplications to Mwari Musiki for rainfall through the Mukorera rain ceremonies are rewarded.
At Mutiusinazita, in Marondera, our forefathers knelt down and prayed and food was granted.
During our liberation wars, many miracles were witnessed by the people who invoked their African spirituality to fight the enemy.
Not once did we pray to the white God, but we won the war!
While we believe there is one creator, we believe each people have a clear spiritual highway to communicate with Musikavanhu.
In these articles, we are trying to open our minds to the reality that our African spirituality is not demonic or in any way evil.
We have emphasised in previous episodes that as Africans, our spirituality is interwoven with our very existence.
We have argued that the great achievements of Africans are attributable to their ‘shavi’ spirits which inspire and guide them throughout life.
We have already explained that ‘shavi’ literally means hunter.
Today we shall look at the category of ‘shavi’ spirits called the hunter ‘mashavi’.
In his book Mhuri yeZimbabwe, T. N. Munhumutema explains in some detail the nature of these hunter spirits (mashavi).
First he notes that hunting was a major food security activity among Africans, providing meat and hides for clothing.
This is the origin of the proverb (tsumo) saying: ‘Murombo haarovi chinenguwo’.
The poor man’s misfortune was that when he went hunting, he killed animals such as hares (tsuro) which had no skin (hide) that could be tanned into leather for making garments.
So he remained poor.
Good hunters often attracted many wives, many of whom were surrendered by their parents who then expected favours in the form of meat and hides, from the son-in-law (mukwasha).
Great hunters got nicknames such as ‘Mavhima’ and ‘Madzimbamuto’.
Many hunters returned from their hunting sprees empty-handed and were heard to say ‘Ah sango idema’, meaning literally that the forest was too dark for them to see any animals.
Those wishing to be positive would quip: ‘Ah sango rinopa waneta’ which literally says you have to work very hard before the ‘forest gives anything’.
And so the hunters could be separated into those not so good and the champions who never missed if they threw a spear even at a fleeing impala a good distance away.
These champion hunters were the ones possessed with ‘mashavi okuvhima’ or hunting spirits.
Even today there are people who will go into an area where hardly an animal ever gets sighted and still return with game meat.
They have hunting spirits who either attract animals into their traps or who see even in hidden places.
Even in fishing, there are some who will catch many fish while their colleagues appear to have thrown their fishing lines into a pot of drinking water (chirongo).
In the modern urbanised environment, there are urban dwellers who also appear to be possessed by ‘mashavi’ of making money.
They always make winning deals, making money almost out of nothing.
At the other end of the scale you hear of people who are possessed by ‘shavi reurombo ’as nothing that they do ever seems to work.
They may be possessed by bad luck spirits ‘mashavi emunyama.’
Such unfortunate persons may visit n’angas (medicine men/women) who will cast away the spirit of misfortune.
Today African prophets who profess to be possessed, also invoke the spiritual intervention of the ancestral spirits to remove the ‘bad luck’.
The tragedy is that the charlatans, the pretenders exploit the unsuspecting public.
People need to be really wary, there are too many false prophets out to rape or swindle money from people.
In many cases these hunter spirits are thanked for their services through ceremonial events where beer is brewed and gifts offered to the hunter spirits.
A special cloth with red, white and black markings, ‘jira reretso’, is worn by the person possessed of the hunting spirits.
We must emphasise that when Africans do a thanksgiving ceremony, it is to thank the ‘vadzimu’, not the living individual who is the spirit medium.
The individual with the mashavi spirits may come to be hated by relatives some of whom will go to n’angas to seek magical powers so that the ‘shavi’ relocates to their child or close relative.
In a few cases these attempts succeed and the hunting powers of the possessed person are seen to decline.
Attempts to interfere with midzimu or spirits can be dangerous as the individual so doing can fall sick or even die as the ancestral spirits express their anger.
Shavi spirits and even ‘mhondoros’ are known to stop possessing a medium if the individual indulges in evil practices, including committing murder or commit makunakuna e.g. engage in incestuous relationship.
In the next episode we shall re-visit the healing spirits mashavi and issues related to the much-maligned herbal medicines.
Let us again emphasise that once Africans accept and link up with their spiritual world, they will be better able to defend their independence and sovereignty.

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