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Zimbaremabwe Healing Life

This section is about healing, as practiced in Zimbaremabwe and is led by Manyame VaRubwe (known as Linos Wengara Magaya) of the Zimuto (Ngara) Nungu (porcupine) tribe. Manyame VaRubwe started doing healing in 1997, after about six years practice. During this time he was meeting and training with other healers around Zimbabwe and doing spiritual ceremonies, praying, cleansing, fetching herbs, playing Mbira, drumming, dancing. He grew up in a culture where healers do so many useful storytellings during ceremonies, even watching healers doing their fortune telling and showing each other their gifts from Yah.

Healing is not only about fortune telling, it is about your faith and your soul of Yah. The soul of Yah has no doubt in faith, but only remains faithfully, especially in the work of Yah. You need to be happy about doing the work of Yah and going to pray, sometimes in bushes, sometimes above hills, sometimes in flat areas of the bush. When you go to pray alone, you have time to talk and meet with Yah and all the spirits of your tribe. You should be completely honest and share your true feelings and soul with Yah in your prayers. The prayer is about opening your heart to Yah, to Yahshua and your ancestral spirits. These are normally the things that most people fail in their prayers; being honest with Yah is to be honest with yourself and everyone around you in your life. Being honest to Yah and all the holy spirits brings honest dreams and visions to your life and honest relationships with those around you; being dishonest with Yah in your prayers, no matter how wise you are, brings disturbance to your dreams and visions - they won't be able to offer clear guidance to your life, until you follow your soul to the right way of Yah. 

Faith doesnt need competition or gossipping; if your faith competes with the healer's faith in anything that you do for each other then there is no Yah between the healing, Yah doesn't come where there is no faith, because Yah is faith. And if the healer doesn't have faith in you, in whatever they do for you, then there is no Yah. If you are helped by certain powerful healers then your dreams should help you to see that the healing or the prayer has been received with your soul, as the dream won't come without your soul involved. Sometimes people get helped and they dream positively, but because they don't have correct respect and understanding of their dreams they don't find out that they have been healed. These are circumstances where a healer may just leave you like this, whilst you think that they are not even powerful because of not understanding your dreams. Normally good healers will feature in your dreams in positive ways of Yah, but some people seem to forget these kind of dreams, and dreams are the most respected secret way of talking to Yah. Without a dream or strong vision then their is no proper communication with Yah. So it is good for spiritual people to understand dreams and visions and if you are learning, to keep practicing with others who are clean and clear in their dream world who can help you understand.

So Manyame VaRubwe likes to heal people with faith in what he does; age doesn't matter, what matters is faith. In healing we don't judge humans, we judge their faith, against our faith. We don't force your faith, but if your faith is against our faith we judge you to get away from our way of praying and our way of seeing Yah. We don't need disturbance, so we look for people who have faith in Yah. What we do is we kneel down to pray to Yah through our holy ancestral spirit, and we believe that everybody in the world has their good ancestral spirits following them in their life. People might not know the names of their ancestral spirits but they should still pray to them. Every tribe has had its people of Yah, and their souls continue when the body dies. Those ancestral spirits continue working for people who are praying to them. Manyame VaRubwe prays for people through ancestral spirits, through Yahshua (Jesus Christ) and through Yah (God). Under the guidance of ancestral spirits he cleanses people using water and herbs; under Yahshua he prays for people with water and following other advice that comes through Yahshua's visions; and under Yah everything is possible. What he requires from a person to be healed is that they should repent for themselves and that will lead them to good faith in life.

Manyame VaRubwe also approaches healing through encouraging good health in people. We can use natural food, natural herbs and body activities under the guidance of good spirits and Yah. Natural foods which help the body and your health include; fresh vegetables such as greens, cabbages, brocoli, lettuce, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes and sweet potatoes etc; fresh fruits such as apples, oranges, bananas, watermelons, berries, pineapples etc and natural fruit juices also. Healthy body activities can include; running and jogging, or if this is difficult even a fast walk is good for the health, frog jumps, sit ups, press ups, stretches and many other activities which burn fats in the body and help to stretch the body tissues. Faith always needs good health; if your health is not fit, then your faith cannot be balanced. If you have faith and health, then you have internal happiness and your body feels young and fit, no matter how old you are. This will help you to pray with hapiness without anything crying in your body to distract; in the same way your dreams will be rich as there is no crying from your body. We are born to look after our bodies, so it is always good to make sure we are healthy, also spiritually healthy. Even if you have a doctor, you also have to help yourself, don't wait for somebody to tell you; pain comes to your body, not to anyone elses, so it is good for us to face our bodies.

This is how we approach healing now, as something we are always doing, and we are happy to discuss and share these things with those who like to know us and the things we do. Even though this is about what we do now, this is still Zimbabwean tradition, as you will find any new discovery will have come through praying, dreaming or communication with the spirits and ancestors, under Yah - this is the traditional way to learn. Much of what we discuss is traditional knowledge and culture, for example the use of spiritual snuff, cleansing, spirits and ancestors, spiritual ceremonies.... for example, we gather for Dandaro.

Dandaro is a gathering of spiritual friends. We gather regularly to pray, share spiritual stories, advice, dreams, visions and reflections and to meet with our spirits. We play Mbira, Ngoma and Hosho and sing spiritual songs; it is a perfect time to learn new songs and practice those that you love. We pray at the beginning of Dandaro and at the end, asking for the blessings from the ancestors of the tribes of everyone at the Dandaro. We pray for the Dandaro to bring benefits to our lives, good dreams and guidance, and ask forgiveness for any mistakes made during Dandaro and between each other, so that the next time we meet, there is nothing between our friendships. We pray to all good spirits under Yah. It is a time to encourage each other in our spiritual life, and also to enjoy and celebrate with good food and drinks, perhaps some beer or wine; we also share spiritual snuff (Bute). Although we enjoy these things, we still talk about the importance of healthy food and lifestyle and use this time to discuss and share information on health. Though we may eat a little meat and have a drink, this will be balanced by healthy activities and foods, plus we don't smoke during Dandaro, and we also avoid using the electric lighting, instead we use candles as they give a more natural light, which is closer to the spirits of our ancestors.

This section on healing will contain a lot of information on different aspects of healing and spiritual life. Topics are listed below and will be added to gradually. First of all we start with some words and background from Manyame VaRubwe Linos Wengara Magaya.

SNUFF /  CLEANSING /  LIFESTYLE & HEALTH /  SPIRITUAL LIFE /  PRAYERS & DREAMS /
ANCESTORS, SPIRITS, YAHSHUA, YAH /  NATURE /  MONEY /

Manyame VaRubwe Linos Wengara Magaya is from the Zimuto, Ngara, Nungu tribe; they came to the Masvingo area of Zimbabwe from Swaziland, and settled there in Masvingo with the VaRozvi, Moyo Ndizvo tribe. Nungu tribe were well known for their hunting skills, and had their own types of weapons which they brought with them to Zimbabwe. They became well known as Zimuto which means 'a huge amount of soup', or also Shambamuto, which means 'washing with soup'. Through their hunting skills and a miracle of shooting arrows into a rock, they became close to the Kings tribe and the Zimuto tribe married the kings daughter. The miracle was that Chikandamina fired four arrows into the rock, each arrow stabbed the rock and blood came from the rock; when Chikandamina was about to fire the fifth arrow, the king, Munhumutapa stopped him and gave him his daughter in marraige. There were other tribes attempting this miracle, to win the daughter, but it was only the Ngara tribe which succeeded. When they became Zimbabwean they chose to become Nungu (porcupine), but they don't eat sheep because one of the important royal family of the Ngara, Nungu tribe were killed by a sheep, and so the leader of the tribe declared that noone from the Ngara, Nungu tribe should eat sheep; even today, every person from Ngara tribe is still not allowed to eat sheep or porcupine.

The actual totem of the Ngara, Nungu tribe is the porcupine; the sheep only became connected because of the killing incident. The Ngara people, when they came from Swaziland were Abaswatu; when the settled in Masvingo, Zimbabwe they became maKaranga, even now those still living in the Masvingo area  speak typical, deep Karanga. Nungu Gwai, or Zimuto, tribe are quite a large tribe, who have migrated throughout Zimbabwe in the past, so we find that some are now Zezuru, Shona, maKoreKore (GoreKore), Ndebele, Manyika etc. As long as they pray to Ngara spirits and follow our tribal ancestors, not eating the porcupine or sheep, and follow our leaders who shot the arrows into the rock, as long as they maintain the respect to their tribe, to remember and pray to the Ngara spirits they will remain Ngara throughout Zimbabwe, and the world. 

I learned from my father that our ancestor, Chidaymadoti, left Masvingo and went to live in Bhohera, in Nyashanu's Museyamwa area. Chidyamadoti, was the first ancestor who arrived in Bhohera, probably with some of his brothers and tribe, and now there is an area called Shambamuto in Bhohera, with many people of the Ngara tribe. Chidyamadoti is the ancestor who was reborn to my father, and the other spirit who moved with my father was Tekenende, the father of Chidyamadoti. Tekenende was my father's healing spirit. Tekenende remained in Masvingo, whilst his son migrated to Bhohera. My father was born and grew up in Mhondoro, as his mother VaMushava, was from Mhondoro Gavhunga. He used to travel to Bhohera to meet his tribal family and the sonsof his father, who was Matigi, and also other people from that Shambamuto area of Bhohera. He met a lot of elders there, who told him the past of our tribe. 

My father met my mother, Evangelista Mutiti / Magunje, in Mhondoro Zimhindo (Mamina). That is how I was given the opportunity to be on earth, by these two parents. I grew up mostly with my mother, as did my father before me, and I used to go to visit my father in some school holidays. My father was into culture and healing, but I learnt most of my ways through Daveson Magunje, my mother's stepbrother. Daveson Magunje is Mizha, Negombwe tribe. Out of all the healers I have moved with in my life, he is the star, he is my way of seeing culture, though I pray through my own tribe, and look to my own ancestors through dreams and visions, but there is a gift that Daveson left me through his lion spirits Rutunga Pasi na Zarezare. He cleansed me whilst he was possessed with his lion spirit VaRutunga Pasi na Zarezare, during his last spiritual ceremony that he held before he died; later in life I have found out that the cleanse that he gave me has connected me to my powerful ancestor VaShavira. VaShavira moves in similar ways to Daveson, and the things that he teaches me through dreams always reminds me of Daveson's ways. Shavira was Tekenende's father.

After the death of Daveson Magunje, I became a musician and played Mbira for ceremonies, in Harare and in countryside areas. During these ceremonies I met so many healers who told me about my life. Some healers were very good and had useful information; I would always be looking for healers that were as powerful as my uncle Daveson. Before Daveson died, he always used to mention Tsenge, Chimbikiza, Dzivaguru and other Mhondoro (lion spirits). After the death of Daveson, I visited these three healers with his son Cephas Magunje, who is now a healer in Mhondoro, at Daveson's home. When I visited these lion spirits, which Daveson used to mention, I became very close to VaTsenge of Soko Wafawanaka tribe, because he was the first to make my spirit reveal itself, through his prayer, although my spirit did not come strongly at this point. Because of the good thing he had done for me, to reveal my spirit, I began to be very close to VaTsenge, to visit him and learn from him. He gave me a lot of wisdom, and helped me with herbs to assist my spirit to reveal itself strongly. He also used to see spirits on me, one of which had long dreadlocks. He lives in Guruve.

I have learned a lot from VaTsenge and we have shared a really good friendship. I always put him close to Daveson in my heart, and shall always respect him. We also went to see another lion spirit that Daveson used to talk about, Chimbikiza (Dzivaguru). When we went there we realised that Chimbikiza had actually died, but Dzivaguru was continuing his work under the guidance of Chimbikiza. Dzivaguru gave me advice and spiritual snuff; he advised me to go home and speak to my father about a family issue. When I followed his advice and returned to my father, this is when my spirit came strongly to my body, in front of my father and all my big brothers, exactly as Dzivaguru had told me; even my british ex wife was there, she didn't realise that it was also the first time in my life to be possessed by the spirit. From that night, when the spirit possessed me, I felt my life changing in a different direction; I started realising that my life was different from other people's lives in terms of spirits. When my spirit came I began to feel like I was a healer and would be like other healers. So I went to VaTsenge, and he did a ceremony in preparation for my spiritual life.

As well as visiting healers who were reccomended by Daveson, I also moved with Ambuya Sphelani Mudarikwa, whose spirit is Pfumo Jena. She did a lot of work on me, including giving me advice. I was her mbira player and she connected me with other healers, but I always moved with Ambuya as she was the best of the healers in Harare that she introduced me to. I was introduced to Ambuya Sphelani by one of Daveson's best friends, Garikaye Alexander Mangwiro (Shumba Tembo tribe). I also moved with Chidenyama, from Malawi, who showed me Pasipamire's grave; Pasipamire is the man who used to be possessed with lion spirit VaChaminuka. The other healer I moved with was Gift Chatambudza (Mhofu Museyamwa tribe), from Mhondoro; his spirit is Mandizadza. Daveson was married to Gift Chatambudza's sister.

This where I came from to be a healer. I have also met many other healers, and spent a lot of time gathering herbs in the bush, doing ceremonies, praying and playing mbira for so many ceremonies.

According to Manyame Varubwe's spiritual research, he believes that before the Ngara tribe came to Zimbabwe,  they were AbaSwatu from Swaziland. Most Zimbabwean people believe that Dzimbadzemabwe was built by King Munhumutapa, one of the leaders of the VaRozvi tribe, though it wasn't the VaRozvi tribe who had the ideas behind building Dzimbadzemabwe, but the black Jews who migrated from Israel throughout Africa, known as the Lemba tribe. They came in peace, with their ways of praying to Yah. 

 In healing and spiritual life, Manyame VaRubwe moves with spirits and ancestors of the Nungu tribe, his tribe, and with spirits and ancestors from the Mhofu Museyamwa tribe, his mother's tribe. The information he uses for healing comes from dreams, visions and possessing of the spirit. He only believes in things told or shown by the spirits and believes that Yah is the head of all spirits he prays to; they are good spirits. He rejects all bad spirits. Manyame VaRubwe  only heals people who respect him and support him in his healing life. He heals people by praying for them, cleansing them, discussing and looking into dreams and visions and by giving advice on lifestyle and health; this can include eating special foods, herbs, exercise and many other things.

Linos Wengara is reborn to an ancestor of the Nungu tribe called Manyame, but when it comes to healing he moves with more than one ancestor. Manyame is one of the ancestors who arrived from Swaziland with a group of AbaSwatu. VaRubwe is his grandson from a few generations after Manyame, and is from quite a few generations ago. The name VaRubwe means a rock pyramid. VaRubwe is also the spirit which gives Linos strength and power in Mbira music. Each ancestor has a role in Linos' life and healing.

Manyame VaRubwe: 'I move with six ancestors but I am reborn to one, Manyame. In everything I do or learn through other ancestors, it all comes through, or via Manyame. The behaviour or quality of each and every spirit is part of my character. 
To move with my spirits properly, I should always pray, be aware, look into dreams and always confirm with the spirit before I judge an answer or piece of information.
In moving with the spirit, you dont only see good things, you see life as a whole with all its qualities. Sometimes spirits give you fear, or happiness, sometimes they come shouting, but it is all to change you for the better. Its always important to confirm things back through the spirit, to make sure you have taken things correctly. Sometimes your questions are answered quickly, sometimes slowly, but you have to keep praying.
Thats what I do.
In my experience, spirits are never ignorant of us, yet we can be quite ignorant. The spirit is not solid, so we need a big patience to look into the spiritual world.