Spiritual Dreams and Visions (pg 1)

The main job for men, women and children was to grow African traditional crops such as mhunga, zviyo, mapfunde, ipwa, magaka, manhanga, nyevhe, muboora, tsunga, manwiwa, mashamba (nhopi) etc. There are also many wild bush fruits which could be eaten fresh or dried for storing. Most of the crops they would dry them, which would last until the end of the year, until the next rainy season. Hunting was a powerful game, it wasn't the main source of food. Good hunters would keep a lot of dried meat, which can last a long time; this could even be traded with other families who could not hunt. Meat was always a base, but even without it you could always survive from crops. When they been hunting they may catch a large animal, so they would want to look after that meat for the future; it would be dried and could then be kept throughout the seasons. It was also much more healthy to eat this kind of dried meat, which is called chimukuyu (zvimukuyu). When an animal was killed, it provided more than meat. Skins of animals can be used for drum skins, clothing, mats for sitting; bones for tools; bones and seeds from some fruits could be used for beads; horns can be used for musical instruments, such as bhosvo, or hwamanda. There was no industry at this time so people only had to concern themselves with living a good healthy life.

According to my dreams my ancestors say the crops that were brought by westerners to Africa weren't for Africans, but for them to grow in the African soil, as they saw that the African soil was more healthy than the soil from their cold lands. All the crops they were growing were not for Africans but for them to take back to western countries. Westerners brought many different types of crops to grow as they were excited with the result coming from the African soil. My ancestor says that they didn't only bring good crops, they also brought other types of food which are creating danger, such as cooking oil, sugar, a lot of salt, tobacco. In my dreams, I am told that the good food that was brought by westerners to take back to their own countries is also the food that Africans should learn to grow in bulk and use for their own health. My spirits always say that now the crop farms in Zimbabwe have gone down badly and that has created a huge amount of bad health and death in people's lives in Zimbabwe.

Here in England I heal Zimbabweans as well as friends from other countries. I remind Zimbabweans to remember their way of praying and to keep cleansing themselves through our traditional values. I like the spiritual Zimbabweans and spiritual people of all cultures to walk proudly with their culture throughout the world, as they are people of Yah. We have carried our spiritual system, under the guidance of Yah, since before westerners came to the country, and we have always maintained that way until now although many have become distracted by the changes brought by westerners and this modern life. Zimbabweans don't just pray to any ancestor, but they pray to good ancestors who moved with Yah; those ancestors have to come and stand clearly in dreams and in visions to help us see their goodness and their connection to Yah (Yahweh).

My spirits also confirm that traditionally, bute snuff, wasn't for Africans, it was brought by westerners, as they wanted to plough a lot of tobacco for their cigarettes. They saw the rich soil and so they grew huge farms of tobacco, and promoted the tobacco industry to poor people in countrysides of Africa. This is how they brought snuff, which was already popular and widely used in Europe. Since the time that tobacco has been ploughed in Africa until now, so many traditional healers and spiritual people have died through overtaking Bute snuff. Of course, cigarettes are killing even more people, throughout the world and in Zimbabwe. In countryside areas, people are poor and they use any paper, such as newspaper to roll cigarettes, with pure unprocessed tobacco. We have lost so many people who could be alive today, just because of smoking and its related health problems. Luckily most rural women don't smoke so they avoid these problems, but women do tend to take snuff. For a long time, Zimbabweans and surrounding African countries think that to be very close to the spirit is to take a lot of Bute snuff, yet this is not true. Snuff is bad to the health if it is overtaken; it can kill.

My spirits say that people used to pray with water, rapoco meal and other natural means, under the tree, or in their huts, to communicate with the Creator and their spirits. They would ask for guidance in their daily and spiritual lives, for their skills and safety in hunting, for the food that was needed and for health. Our ancestors would go to all sacred places including caves, under spiritual trees, and in their spiritual rooms, to pray in this way with rapoco, to become closer to their good spirits and Yah. They wanted guidance in answering dreams and visions, praying for knowledge in their spiritual lives, to see into their future and to follow the best path in life. Rapoco was also used to brew the beer used for spiritual ceremonies.  

When westerners came with tobacco, most Zimbabweans dropped the use of rapoco meal and water, which they were using for their prayers, and started taking Bute snuff to pray under the tree, which is a system left by our modern ancestors, and still followed today. By modern ancestors, we mean those who were around when white people came to Zimbabwe and took control of land, beginning the growing of tobacco. 

Bute snuff is a system bought to our ancestors by westerners and is a system still being carried on today. One of the differences between the use of rapoco and bute snuff is that bute can damage your health when overtaken, yet rapoco is very healthy; if we eat a lot of rapoco we will still be very healthy. Bute snuff has actually become an industry, whereby people can take it without being set limits and without being given awareness of the harmful effects it can cause. Bute snuff can bring benefit to those who use it in small amounts for spiritual use, but to overuse snuff, no matter how great your love for the spirit, you are killing yourself slowly.

We still use bute snuff for spiritual purposes, even though it is dangerous, because most of the ancestors who used to take it were all good. They also had to fight its poison by listening to their dreams and visions. Our good ancestors have passed down the experience and knowledge that snuff should be cooked before use, which reduces the nicotene, the damaging chemical in the tobacco. Even when cooked though, we advise people not to overtake snuff, as it is still damaging to to the body. When we give our cooked snuff to clients, we give them the amount they need for their requirements, a measured amount, which helps you not overuse the snuff. When taking snuff, you should also be drinking a lot of good clean water, which helps to keep the blood clean and flowing smoothly.

My spirits say that it is OK for Zimbabweans to use Bute snuff for their prayers, they will reach their ancestors that way, but they shouldn't take too much as they should now know that snuff is dangerous to their health if it is overtaken; just keep it traditionally and wisely as a modern person; only keep it for the ancestral purpose, then it will suit your health. Zimbabweans, and other surrounding African countries, should be aware that before Europeans came to Africa, our ancestors used to communicate with Yah (Yahweh) properly, as there was no disturbance from any foreign culture.

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