Coming from the woodworks...

Shalom!

I was advised to join your forum, and am glad I did!
Hope to learn much from you all and share what I know.

If you have anything you'd like to know about me; ask...or don't if you prefer not to. I don't bite, I only nibble a bit...although I have bitten in the past *ponders tirelessly*

He who watches from below,

Tombe

Hi Tombe, welcome!

Would you like to describe your practice or interests?

My main interest (currently) is in the reprogramming of the subconscious and the inducement of ecstasy.

I started out my occult career in shamanism and earth spirituality - there I learned some pretty nifty techniques as far as self healing and expanding consciousness was concerned. My path then turned to (what I would call) "Orthodox Wicca" (i.e. the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions. I also studied some Stregheria). I was however never inititiated into Wicca, as in my area we only have one denomination - Correlian Nativist - which, respectfully, is not completely my cup of tea. The Alexandrian tradition then led me into studying some Thelemic philosophy and practice - I am quite blatant when I say Wicca did take A LOT of its workings from Thelema.

As from the beginning of this year, I have been studying ceremonial magick, such as was done by The Golden Dawn...I unfortunately can't do rituals as loud and big as I want to, because I have to finish my studies before I would be able to afford my own living space *sigh*

So, that's what I do at night!

My hopes you find many hours of reading and decent conversation here abouts!

welcome! good luck and keep experimenting, traditions are just traditions - it's the effect that counts.

Groovy, man! Welcome aboard!

Hi Tombe! Is Gardenerian/Alexandrian witchcraft 'popular' in South Africa? What's the 'occult scene' like there?

Khephra wrote:Hi Tombe! Is Gardenerian/Alexandrian witchcraft 'popular' in South Africa? What's the 'occult scene' like there?

*Thanks for the welcome, all of you!*

The situation in South Africa:

Let's first divide South Africa into city and rural.

In the rural areas, there are some indigenous practices left, most notable of these are:

”Igedla” means a person who knows and uses muti either to cure, protect from evil spirits, etc or to cause damage, suffering, harm etc. without ukuthwasa[“Kuthwasa” means a special training undergone by Inyanga which teaches the inyanga about muti, ukuphengula (foretelling) and sometimes to train other new inyanga.] and does not foretell the future as an inyanga

“Inkosi” means a traditional leader

“Inyanga” means a person who uses muti to cause harm, damage, suffering, bad luck, cure diseases, protect from evil spirits and uses mixtures shells, coins, bones,etc. to foretell the future of people, identify witches, perform spells for good and or evil purposes.

=====> these are occult practices which are basically limited to black people, with the exception of a hand full of white people (white people make up about 12% of the general population of South Africa) that do partake.

Most of the indigenous practices have been destroyed since the arrival of settlers about 4 centuries ago and it is common practice in some rural areas to burn people on charges of witchcraft due to the influence of Christianity. In one province there is even a camp where survivors of this crime can flee to.

Any occult practice was also illegal for most of the last century, with a hidden police service tracking such people down and killing them - many Satanists and (apparently) Golden Dawners were killed during this time. Very little is known about this time however, as the old government destroyed a lot of its documents before the new government set in.

Ok, so that was the rural areas and some of what the black folk do. As for people of Western origin:

Theosophy is rather big - South Africa was (I think) the 4th country to which it spread and we have several lodges.
Thelema is rather small, but picking up.
Wicca and Pagan traditions are growing at a MASSIVE rate, due to the church retracting its influence on society (the old government was basically run by the church and everything the church didn't agree with was banned. Things like praying in school were forced on everyone.) Eclectic traditions are catching most of the people running from the church, as people are in a very experimental mood and the more strict traditions (like Gardnerian, Alexandrian) are not getting quite so many people.
Theistic and LaVeyan Satanism are growing very quick due to the rebellious nature of the disenchanted youth against the church (I'm not at all implying these religions are rebellions, although rebellion does have an impact on the numbers)
....and as we can imagine, the church is going at war with these principles and is trying everything in its power to stop it from losing sheep...we'll have to wait and see how that turns out!

Tombe wrote:Theosophy is rather big - South Africa was (I think) the 4th country to which it spread and we have several lodges.
Thelema is rather small, but picking up.
Wicca and Pagan traditions are growing at a MASSIVE rate, due to the church retracting its influence on society (the old government was basically run by the church and everything the church didn't agree with was banned. Things like praying in school were forced on everyone.) Eclectic traditions are catching most of the people running from the church, as people are in a very experimental mood and the more strict traditions (like Gardnerian, Alexandrian) are not getting quite so many people.
Theistic and LaVeyan Satanism are growing very quick due to the rebellious nature of the disenchanted youth against the church (I'm not at all implying these religions are rebellions, although rebellion does have an impact on the numbers)
....and as we can imagine, the church is going at war with these principles and is trying everything in its power to stop it from losing sheep...we'll have to wait and see how that turns out!

Thanks for sharing your perspective! I'm a little surprised to hear that Theosophy is alive and well in SA. Do you think it has anything to do with obscured racism?

That question made me think a bit!

I think the answer is mostly "no" - the occult community tends to be very liberal and accepting here, so I don't think that would be much of a reason. Most conservative church goers do however still cling to racial ideals (from both black and white sides) but it must be emphasised that it has to do with lots more than colour; rather culture. We saw, for example, earlier this year where certain groups of black people were trying to kill out other groups of black people in racist attacks because of "ancestral" claims to certain areas. And, with 11 official languages, many more unofficial ones and even more races in such a small area, one should probably expect some degree of friction every now and then, especially keeping in mind the lack of resources and politicians continually adding fuel to the race fire to get votes.

How's the occult doing over at your place? It is rather impossible to get any trustworthy statistics on the subject...

Very interesting reading, Tombe. Much appreciated.

Tombe wrote:That question made me think a bit!

Theosophy seems to pander to racism, so I wondered how that would evolve in SA. I've met and worked with a number of South Africans, and most of them seemed quite happy to be in another country. Nonetheless, I've been wanting to visit for years. I hear they have legendary parties in Cape Town.

How's the occult doing over at your place? It is rather impossible to get any trustworthy statistics on the subject...

Unfortunately, as you note, there's little 'official' effort of tracking such information. But locally there are options for: Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, OTO, A.'.A.'., Solomonic magick, reiki, Huna, Kundalini, root working, a 'Gnostic association of anthropological studies', occult art, wicca (Gardernerian, Alexandrian), an ayahuasca church, Freemasonry, tons of stuff for all variety of pagans, and who knows what else.

In a sense, (digimob) brings it all to your living room!