African Travels flying, seeing, being
"Embracing Africa"
"You have arrived at a point of completion.
You are the Sangoma, the Shaman of Africa. Open yourself to your powers.
Feel yourself expand to take it all possibilities.
You have the ability to attune to the pulse of Africa.
All four elements await you.
A syntheses of Earth, Air, Fire and Water swirl before you
in a soup of potentiality.
Beat the hide drum, feel the weight of the spear, drink from the three-legged pot and throw the bones with confidence.
Pause on the cliff top at Cape Agulhas - the most southerly tip of the
African continent and bow to the majesty that is Africa - your heartland."
[You may - like me, make an erroneous conclusion from this reading that I am being welcomed back to Africa permanently. The conclusion is not so obvious. See the end of the blog for my latest thoughts on this.]
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18th January 2017
Yesterday I left the UK. Today I am in Africa. An eight week visit lies ahead....
Some unseen force seems to be propelling me on this visit and my 'instructions' from Spirit are to 'Trust', 'let go', be open to outcome and 'go with the flow'.
The trusting part is made easier by 'noticing' the signs: The people I am meeting - on the plane, in a restaurant, the B and B hosts, their staff, their other guests, and the properties which have been shown me.
........Some time late last year I thought maybe I would go to South Africa for a one month visit during the UK winter. Dads house had a buyer and when that money comes through my pension credit (top-up) from UK Govt will stop and the one month time limit on being out of UK will no longer be relevant.
We have a completion date for the sale of 24th Feb so I thought I would make the 13 hr flight to SA worth while and stay for 8 weeks.
I checked the exchange rate; very favourable at 16:1 - then for curiosity I check house prices in the Eastern cape, specifically Bedford (S Africa), a small dusty town where I was living when I left Africa 6 years ago to return to UK and help care for my father.
A few calculations later I realised that I could easily afford to buy a house there and have cash to spare, and so my interest picked up. I had realised just before Christmas how deeply I miss Africa.
Thanks to suggestions by my friend Anne Keating (in S Africa) I broadened my property search area on the internet and drew up a short list in Bathurst (near Grahamstown) plus the one house in Adelaide I had already spotted (near Bedford SA, where I lived until 6 years go for the 5 years prior to that).
I booked in to B n B's in Grahamstown and Bathurst and arranged to be met at airport by a friend, Jenny Hopkins - who had tea with me while we waited for the time for my bus to Grahamstown.
In Grahamstown I was met by Charlotte Jefferay's and taken to her beautiful guest house. She has lived in many countries including Tibet for several years. Her place was a Zen Buddhist center for a while with a Zen teacher who came to run retreats occasionally. It has prayer flags over the front gate and many wall hangings from Tibet on the internal walls.
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| Charlottes House |
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| Charlotte in Tibet |
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| Zoomed view from Charlotte's porch area |
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| Me doing Yoga under the Hybiscus tree |
Zen means “meditation.” Zen teaches that enlightenment is achieved through the profound realization that one is already an enlightened being. This awakening can happen gradually or in a flash of insight (as emphasized by the Soto and Rinzai schools, respectively). But in either case, it is the result of one’s own efforts. Deities and scriptures can offer only limited assistance.
Zen traces its origins to India, but it was formalized in China.
"Has the Eagle landed?"
The hostest in Bathurst, Diana, sent me a message "Has the Eagle landed yet?"
Little did she know that I was wearing South African eagle feathers on a chord - given to me at the first ever Rainbow Gathering in South Africa which happened at my house in Knysna. (gifted by Burt from Transformation Farm). An event at which Hopi Shaman Roy Little-Sun was able to lead us in Sacred Ceremony. I only learned that he was in Knysna the evening before the event we had created. Nice timing! This was in 1997 - three years after Nelson Mandela was elected president.
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| Roy Little-Sun conducting ceremony at first SA Rainbow Gathering June 21st 1997 at "Seriti". |
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Xosha singers at that Rainbow Gathering -"Seriti". (see meaning later) in medicine wheel built at follow-up ceremony with Roy Little Sun.
A year later again we did another ceremony on Robberg, opposite the small island which Roy declared to be the 'Southern Gate' for Africa. We all saw the Native American face profile of the cliff face staring out to sea there. (see red triangle) All this comes back to me now as I grapple with the unfolding of meaning in this present journey.
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My Ancestors were with me...
I was also wearing a pendant I made from a rubber horse-shoe pad invented by my Dads dad and dug up only last year in the garden of my childhood home in Osterley, London, UK. This is a tangible, vibrational and symbolic my link to my fathers lineage. In this pic I am holding up the piece just after it had arrived in the post from Pam Sharda who now owns that house and had been looking out for a rubber horseshoe for me when she digs the garden. As you can see, I was well pleased to receive it!
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| A well-pleased Robstar with the rubber horse-shoe pad from my London childhood home arrive in post 2016. I last lived there 52 years ago! |
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| The horseshoe pad and the eagle feathers |
When I left I asked if she had put the blue starred towels out especially for me. She said not. When I said how much I liked them she insisted I keep the hand towel and Face cloth and then went and got the bath towel with five x five-pointed stars on, making seven stars in the set, and gave it to me also!
7 Stars towel set, feathers and horse-shoe pad. 7 has always been my favourite number since I was born and brought up at 7 Saint Mary's Crescent, Osterley, Middx, London.
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| Robstar William and Diana in Bathurst. |
Rain making
Did you ever talk to the weather? Were you being complimentary? More often than not we are critical of the weather. Is that giving energy to what we want or to what we don't want? .....
There had been a drought. Rain was needed. I told Diana in an email from the UK that I would bring some from UK! My first night in Bathurst I borrowed a plastic bin, lit Palo Santo wood (related to Frankincense) and spoke nicely to the weather - asking for some rain, but not too much all at once! I promised to drum more later - hopefully with a group of drummers, to give thanks for the rain provided. I found the discarded shell of a centipede under a tree root. And drummed for 45 mins. By the end of that time the clouds had formed a grey sky and a light drizzle was falling.
A few days passed. I left Bathurst and returned. On my return the clouds came again, thunder began and later flashes of lightening and squalls of heavy rain! That evening late there was a loud crack, a bright flash of lightening -VERY close and loud which went on and on into the distance as if travelling along the electric wires - which it may well have been, as the lights went off and power was not restored until mid-day the next day! I felt that the weather was angry because I had not yet given thanks for what it had sent, or else it was saying - OK you wanted rain - get this!
There had been a drought. Rain was needed. I told Diana in an email from the UK that I would bring some from UK! My first night in Bathurst I borrowed a plastic bin, lit Palo Santo wood (related to Frankincense) and spoke nicely to the weather - asking for some rain, but not too much all at once! I promised to drum more later - hopefully with a group of drummers, to give thanks for the rain provided. I found the discarded shell of a centipede under a tree root. And drummed for 45 mins. By the end of that time the clouds had formed a grey sky and a light drizzle was falling.
A few days passed. I left Bathurst and returned. On my return the clouds came again, thunder began and later flashes of lightening and squalls of heavy rain! That evening late there was a loud crack, a bright flash of lightening -VERY close and loud which went on and on into the distance as if travelling along the electric wires - which it may well have been, as the lights went off and power was not restored until mid-day the next day! I felt that the weather was angry because I had not yet given thanks for what it had sent, or else it was saying - OK you wanted rain - get this!
Diana and William
Diana showed me enthusiastically around her "Food-forest" garden.
A Paw Paw tree planted 3 years ago had born fruit last year. Sunflowers were large and looking set to provide seeds next year. .....................
It was a few days before William and I chatted. We immediately struck a good rapour. He's an ex IT man, having run his own IT company. Now living a less-stressful existence and working on plans for low cost servers to enable poor townships such as Nolukhanyo by Bathurst to have a low-cost computer center and hence a place that school kids can come and access their lessons from the hub pc on wired terminals using a 'Rasberry Pie' board a screen and keboard, but not full internet yet as that requires a costly server and paying subscribers - something millions of Africans and poor people around the world cannot afford.
William's system will greatly assist them in their education and give many people an internet-like experience, being able to search for some things, for example the entire Wiki library could loaded onto the main PC hub.
This is a great vision, but he wants the initiative and request to come from the people so he is cultivating a friendship with a young man, Michael, from the township and letting him know what is possible to do on a low budget, meanwhile he is perfecting the technology. William was able to help me a bit with my new laptop and cell phone too!
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| Robstar, Michael and William in Bathurst. |
Properties in Bathurst
I looked a one property at least each day for 5 days. One which looked good in the pics was too small, badly laid out and perched on the only fairly level part of an other wise large but very sloping plot. Best feature there was a very strong borehole with nice water!
Another was very spacious and designed with hosting parties in mind and Brais on the deck, which also housed a Jacuzzi! There was also a small swimming pool. Altogether I felt it was too large on too small a plot, and basically I just didn't resonate with the place.
That agent also took me to see a place that he felt ticked all my boxes except price and type of walls, Face brick inside and out - NOT my kind of thing! It was a lovely house - again far too big for just me but for a guests and workshops yes, and it had 2 boreholes, a separate plot with one of them,, and a working multi-blade wind-pump on the other, plus extensive veggie gardens, fruit trees and loads of space for more or anything, including outside functions, camping or building a dome!
I thought it had potential as an Alternative Energy/Permaculture Centre.
It would have needed someone else to come in with me to buy it and live there I felt, even though in theory I could have afforded it, I don't want to spend that much. R1,880,000 (£115,680)
Eagles Wings
House with a view; space, peace, flowers and character
Tuesday 24th January
Zanel Venter of Pam Golding Properties showed me this amazing, large old house at the top of Hill Street. She has already sent me some pictures and I was quite excited by them. The House belongs to an elderly German woman, a Countess, who had not lived there for 6 years, now 88 living in Cap Town.It is single story with 4 large bedrooms and two large lounge/dining rooms, one on each 'wing'. It sits on a large sloping plot with incredible view, which I am told on a clear day includes the sea. The garden includes many flowering trees and shrubs and was clearly very beautiful when it was looked after.
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| 13 steps to Heaven |
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| View from the porch (called a stoop in South Africa) |
Saturday 28th Jan 2017
We viewed the property a second time, had lunch at the 'Fig and Daisy' where I signed an offer to purchase.
After the week with Diana in Bathurst I drove to Grahamstown. I dropped the hire car at Avis and was met by Charlotte and taken to her place again, where I stayed for 10 days. During that time Charlotte was away for 5 days and I was there with just John Lockley and Leena, Charlottes Xhosa (African) maid. As it happens both of them are Sangomas - traditional healers. John was very busy in his room most of the time editing a book he is writing on his work and training as a Sangoma. Never-the-less we found time for some quality exchanges and a growing depth of mutual appreciation. I had a couple of conversations with Leena, including asking her if she knows other women Sangomas in Bathurst - which she does - as I will be interested in meeting them in due course if my offer on that house is accepted. (Leena is still undergoing her sangoma training)
 
John Lockley
Tuesday 7th February 2017
I am now staying at friend Jenny Gons in Grahamstown while I wait for the seller of the car to obtain a new licence disc for it - before I drive to Bathurst. I am also waiting for an answer from the estate agent for an answer from the seller!
I am feeling stressed! I felt unsafe waling alone on the streets in Grahamstown and unsure about the large run down property I had signed the offer on. I went within and realised that I would feel relived if my offer was turned down and decided to not increase my offer.
I was happy find that Jenny has a piano here and I played it several times while I was there. Very therapeutic to do so.
Sun 5th Febrauery - Grahamstown Cathedral of StMichael and StGeorge
Jenny invited me to go to a TAIZE' chant candle light evening service at Grahamstown Cathedral. Wow!
The Cathedral was dark except for the few candles that we each held and maybe a few by the crosses at the front. About 25 of us gathered in 2 semi-circles of chairs on the chancel step arched around a cross on the floor and another directly in front of us. I did not take pictures so have found these on the internet to give some feel of the atmosphere.
    Here are a few excerpts from the service schedule: Reading from John14:1-4
We sung several short Taize' chants followed by a 10 minute period of silent prayer during which we were invited, if so moved, to kneel at the cross. Chanted prayers followed lead by the cantor with the response "Hear us we pray, Kyrie, Kyrie eleison." from the rest of us.
The one verse I felt I could agree with was this one:
"Eternal God, your spirit of Life dwells within every human being; may the Spirit enable us to tear down walls of mistrust and of fear. Hear us we pray. Kyrie, Kyrie eleison"
We were invited to offer our own 'petitions' (prayers) out loud. Only one woman took the opportunity to kneel at the cross but after a while I decided to push through my discomfort and non-belief in certain aspects of 'conventional Christianity' had take advantage of the opportunity to fully participate in the ritual - however, it was dark, and there were many legs to negotiate so I decided the wisest thing was to stay seated!
However, I was deeply moved by the sincerity of the spontaneous petitions offered from others seated - to the point where I could no longer offer the response "Hear us we pray......" As I was on the edge of tears!
I was very glad I went - I love and truly believe in the power of ritual, of humility and of prayer.  I found this pic on Youtube when I was looking for pics. It is not this Cathedral - I just liked it and wanted to share it!
While at Jenny's I found a 2nd-hand car and bought it. The young man Charles seemed very genuine and I was happy enough with the car and price. However, it slowly became apparent that it had not been used or licence since Nov 2016 and was also registered in his sisters name in a completely different area of South Africa (Stellenbosch) and this presented many problems which to date, 17th Feb, have still not been resolved! Driving it around there is always the risk that I could be stopped by traffic police who could impound the car until it displays a current licence disc! Hence I have risked one journey to Bathurst and back but dare not stretch my luck any further afield.
  The Spotty Bald-headed Eagle 
I had managed to leave my sun-hat in Bathurst and the day after doing yoga under the hybiscus this outbreak of spots appeared on my head - along with that very sensitive sunburn sore feeling. I Googled it. A guy on there had the same effect after sunburn and was told it was pre-cancerous and had to take a drug for 4 weeks, during which he kept a picture blog. OMG! - it got much worse before it got better! Fortunately Charlotte suggested I use Bulbine sap instead - applying it 3 or 4 times a day. It seemed to help and within a week it had cleared up.
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| Anne and Rob cracking a smile under the Frangipani Tree after viewing the potential of this place. It needs a LOT of work! |
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| The Rainbow I received after viewing the Property the first time and returning on my own to check the view from the next road along. Drizzle and Rainbow manifested for me! Inspired by the 'Eagle' connection during this trip I came up with the name "Eagles Wings" for the property - should I buy it. As it has 2 wings held forwards and from the Google satellite view looks like a bird in flight:   
I then recalled that one of the early logos I used for my self-employed business card was an Osprey - because it is a 'rare bird'. I knew it was a bird of prey, but didn't realise until reading Charlotte's book a week ago, (Hunters of the African sky) that it is a variety of eagle!
Here is that early business card circa 1974 (I was 24) 
Following along the same train of musing, I share 3 pics from the evolution of another logo: The hands holding the earth (note the graduation of all colours) and the angels wings design I did for my healing centre vision in Bulgaria.
Human Unity Conference Hosted by The Foundation of Universal Unity.
I designed the logo, others painted it on a large canvas.
I adopted the logo for my emerging 3rd World |development NGO, ApT Design and Development, which still exists today under a different name "Action On Poverty".
At the last minute venue we had booked - Oakhill School Knysna pulled the rug so we changed the venue to my place - "Seriti" and it became just a Rainbow Gathering not a fair.
Then Roy Little Sun appeared as mentioned above. (see meaning of Seriti below)
Seriti in Africa on Face Book - nothing to do with me! Just interesting synchronicity.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=131160636934831&story_fbid=490306864353538
September 1997
October 1998
2012 - The Photo-shop image I created to tryout the design I had in mind for my gate in Bulgaria
Logo for same project
The Meaning of Seriti
The word "Seriti" has two levels of meaning.
The direct translation of Seriti is somewhere between the English words for "dignity" and "integrity".
Africa is a land filled with many wonders. The Sotho people refer to one such wonder as 'Seriti' or the shadow that you cast.
Mountains, trees or objects cannot cast this shadow, only humans. It is unique to you. No two are alike.
In the Seriti you can read the life story of a person. It is the legacy you leave behind, the consequence of each and every choice you make.
Humans do not live in isolation, but rather cast their shadows on all those around them; they leave their footprints on the soil of Africa.
To know your Seriti, you need to be true to yourself, you need to be real. Becoming real does not happen all at once, it takes a long time. It does not happen to people who break easily or who have sharp edges. Sometimes your journey to becoming real will hurt, but when you are real you don't mind being hurt because when you become real, it lasts for always.
Let your Seriti dance together with others to weave the fabric of your legacy.
Share, grow and discover your Seriti and Diriti of others around you. Build the legacy of your Seriti as you grow in knowledge and wisdom and as you touch the lives of others.
Be real
Celebrate your uniqueness Cast your shadow Leave your legacy.
WELL I didn't need to wait long..... Check this guy out - SO clear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GisnokMXmNA 
This has not been an easy journey. Despite many synchronicities and manifestations the need to remain 'open' and not jump to the wrong conclusions has been tempered by realism.
I have not been able to include or divulge every aspect. Private thoughts and reflections have been largely omitted. I did an I-Ching reading on the property (|Eagles wings) and got Nourishment:
Hexagram 27, Nourishment
changing to 20, Seeing
Key Questions:
What would nourish you?
How is your hunger motivating you?
If you accept this as nourishment, who will you become?
'Nourishment: constancy brings good fortune.
See the jaws. Your own quest for something real to fill your mouth.'
Literally, this hexagram is called 'Jaws': it means not only what you eat, but all the processes and structures that sustain nourishment. It includes all forms of nourishment: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual... all creating and re-creating an individual 'ecosystem' to sustain and shape you.
Constancy brings good fortune: steady, clear persistence in honouring what truly sustains you.
Yi calls on you to see the jaws – to become aware.
How do you habitually nourish yourself and others?
What deep instincts are at work here?
What real nourishment are you seeking?
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So I think the question is, would buying that place really sustain me, or is it like ALL the previous homes I have ever purchased - old, in need of renovation. And in a country that does not feel safe or nourishing to be in (apart from the great weather!)
My question to myself then is what will nourish me the most. And the answer is peace and quiet. The ability to walk out on the streets without feeling I am being watched a 'cased' for any potential 'loot'.
In Bulgaria I have friends, a home in a quiet village I can walk out alone safely, up the hill and into open countryside or forest and return after 3 hrs rejuvenated and in tune.
When I am in this state I am more available to others and to be of greater service in a miriad of forms. My African drums, including my Sangoma drum, are all in Bulgaria. My new 'old' piano is there. ALL my worldly possessions are there (bar a few in UK at the temporary lodging.
As a result of meeting a friend of Charlotte's who wants to build an off-grid home, I searched for mud-built domes and found many inspiring pictures of such and much more, including one that has inspired me to convert my six-sided room idea on the top floor of my barn to a dome with a view.
Here are two of those pictures and the view from my barn in Bulgaria.
   
I think coming here to South Africa was a 'Completion' in that sense of completing a journey that felt incomplete when I left 6 years ago. I am sad to contemplate once more leaving here, but optimistic about my new life in Bulgaria. I will even, at last, be able to visit Dave Hart in Greece and play and record more music together!
    Above: My Sangoma Drum From (S Africa) in Bulgaria with me about to be played to give thanks to the rain tht was so much needed. Leading the opening drum circle at Luna Dolina Festival 2012 in Voditsa (my Village) in Bulgaria. Drum from Knysna (South Africa). Note the WV combi in background by coincidence! Even there - a hint of Africa; The Zebra! Without going into the whole reading, I thought to share a little of the Zebra card reading by Anne Keating, to close off this blog. I opened with the card I drew -"Embracing Africa" and end with "Zebra" - the Alpha and Omega for this sojourn back to Africa. The Zebra has some strict social boundaries - a strong Matriarchal group within a protective boundary of the males. We all live within certain boundaries and these serve to give shape, form and even meaning to our lives. Sometimes they can become to rigid; set in concrete, while for others they may not be defined enough: "When we are scattered and all over the place we need to define a personal space which will give us the freedom to work and play with a sense of authority and composure. Self discipline is not punitive, it means taking care of ourselves." When I read this I thought - "Nuturing". By reigning in my efforts to one place and fully going for it I will establish a new rhythm and new pattern.  |
