In the depth of Africa, there is a country with no name, and a face that was made by its oppressors.
In a small town on the far east of the city filled with gold at its feet, there is a place with corn fields and fresh water springs from its ground. This was until a huge storm destroyed the place and gave birth to Tornado. The area with the most intimate street, covered by a church field which used to be the burning bush once a year – when years separate. There is a house with a very spiritual family. The grandmother could speak things into existence and also have dreams with specific messages. Even though she has used her tongue to curse her children, she has reunited broken families. She is known as a good healer with a tongue that can spit fire.
Astrologically, her 3 three children are of mutable signs and they submit to her. They carry burdens and nightmares. They are silent with scars that they got from their abusive mother.
She has scars of abuse from her husband and other matters unknown, as she never spoke of her childhood. It is also known that when she got married, her siblings celebrated that she was leaving. It was a “Thanks for going” type of celebration. She and her husband are very stubborn, but she was submissive even to the abusive chauvinistic oppression that her
husband carried in his control. No one could say that she was crazy, even though many had said it behind her back.
The first-born child has a scar on her head; she was threatened by her own mother that
“you dare tell; I will kill you with my bare hands”. The second born has attempted suicide so many times and in so many ways that he lived a very dangerous life. He lived his life in the line of fire and his body is the canvas of bullet wounds. The third born was raised elsewhere, away from her immediate family because the mother wanted to kill her. The three children wage wars with their mother but she always wins.
The first born gave birth to Naledi (meaning star in Setswana) a baby girl with a male aura. People kept asking if it’s a boy even when she was wearing a dress. Naledi is raised in a modern surrounding and goes to multiracial schools. In the modern world she is considered queer and deranged. Naledi is possessed by severalspirit individuals and their presence vary
as a mix and change within her. One spirit individual would want to put on the lights and dance; while the other would want to sit in silence and write; and the other would want to communicate with the stars; the other would want to fix a mess; the other would want to express love.
Naledi could feel energy and could read energy in colors. The presence of seeing a lot of red could be an indication that her menstrual periods are due. As a teenager she started to have dreams with significance.
“An old woman visits me in my dreams. She told me of secretes that changed her life: love that surpass time; meditation that had the power to shift forces around the universe – it was
the power to maintain peace; nurturing nature is eternal happiness – speak life to children
and plants; open your hands to the abundance of freedom.”
“Last night I saw her face for the first time. All along I was seeing a blurred reflection in the
water and sometimes just a shadow or silhouette.” When Naledi described the features of
the old lady to her mother, it was her great grandmother – Bongoedi. There’s no way that
Naledi could have known her as there was no picture of her. Everything was destroyed in
the big storm that also claimed the life of the great Bongoedi.
As a young child, Naledi spent time with the elderly women. She witnessed their gatherings
when they meditate. They would do hand-work such as making baskets from grass, dresses
and hats from beads. They would also chant and sing songs with no words but one could
feel the message within them. At night when Naledi is gazing at the stars, she would hear
the songs replay in her head at complete the messages that she gets from the stars. They
were messages of anointing; “you are bestowed with greatness, the light within you shall
over glow the darkness. Always maintain peace.”
Naledi’s light crept from beneath her feet, she could feel its comfort in her journey. She has
several origins; her ancestral lineage consists of 7 tribes. She only got to experience them
when she was 27 years old. She began to acknowledge them all – her ancestors, the spirit
individuals within her as well as the forces and energy that were surrounding her. She
started to speak in plural form -she refereed to herself as we. She is the physical voice of the
unseen that are always with her through her spiritual journey.
“Last night we went to bed as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. We had a dream, or so we
thought. We took a peaceful walk, the songs of triumphs that the elders sing were present
through the walk. They accompanied us, like they were our friends, they were Mambhele’s
hands crocheting the grass. They were Gogo Mphithi’s feet standing firm on the white-
soiled ground while her whole body was in sync motion grinding the corn with a human
sized pestle and mortar. We are not afraid, we walked until we reached the moon’s
azimuth. And there stood a tree with a fragrance that was soothing. We laid under the
inviting tree listening to the conversation of the moon and the tree. They were making jokes
but their jokes were shrewd and sunken with meaning. They spoke life with a sense of
humor. The moon first said to the tree ‘don’t you wish to be high in the sky’ and the tree
responded saying ‘I carry enlightenment in my roots, through my stem and branches to
every fruit and leaf of me. You should try it.’
Moon to tree: ‘Moshe approached a burning bush and it spoke to him, maybe…’ And we woke up at home with red soil on our feet and branches of the tree by the door. The
entire environment was filled with the pleasant aroma of the tree’s branches. When mama
was sweeping the yard outside, she was humming a melody. As she was sweeping near my
room her hum became that of an encounter with the pleasant scent and thereafter, she was
silent; all we could hear was the sound of the broom sweeping the yard and as she got
further, she giggled and continue to hum the melody. It was as if she was engaging in a
conversation with the tree and it shared one of its jokes with mama.”
So far, she didn’t understand what was the significance of this plant but Bongoedi’s
instructions were clear in Naledi’s dreams “nurturing nature is eternal happiness – speak life
to children and plants”. And so Naledi and her mother nurtured the plant; the plant
continued to grow beautifully and its aroma filled the yard. The plant carried a joyous aura
and Naledi’s home was always filled with love and laughter that they have never witnessed
before. Healing was spreading through the air in this yard. Naledi’s work as a healer had
begun without her doing anything but taking care of the plant.
The old woman visited her in her dreams again, this time the old woman gave her
instructions based on what was going to happen – Naledi’s grandmother was going to die
and that she has to combine her grandmother’s ashes with plants that she was directed to
pick at dawn.

Naledi experienced the second occasion where she woke up with physical evidence that her
night was eventful through another realm. The first time it happened she woke up with red
soil covering her feet. This time around she had returned with the plant submerged in water
from the river – the water was in her grandmother’s handmade calabash.
Just as grandmother’s breath left her body the Naledi was awoken in the spiritual realm to
pick a specific plant in the river. She went underwater and she didn’t drown – her spirits
guided her all the way. At sunrise Naledi’s mother found her daughter laying in wet clothes
and shivering. “Naledi bathong! What happened, why are your clothes wet?” Her mother
startled her and her physical mindset was in conflict with her spiritual knowledge. She knew
deep down that she need not be afraid of the occurrences that seemed unnatural. This was
the journey of the light-beares, healers, messengers and all those of inclined spiritual
powers.
“It was 7 month later that we walked in an inviting river, the sound of its stream was singing
a healing prayer. ‘Mother nature is pure love, light and energy. Her air is for all to breathe
and her light is the warmth that leads the path of guidance and comfort. Her water births
life afresh constantly, her flow is riveting with abundance of joy, peace, freedom and total
bliss. She holds the earth together. Ashes will arise to the planted seeds of the water. She
reigns.’”
Naledi listens to the rain with her eyes closed and she would see images that she would
then paint or draw and write poetry.

“there’s a beautiful woman out there
the water bearer
for 9 months she carried planets
for 12 month she carried the stars, the moon
her son was a stillborn baby
still to be born babies
the father is said to be an artist in heaven
hallowed be thy name?
could he be the creator of all-hell breaks loose on mother nature?
look at her now
she carries broken bones
broken souls, broken promises
and she
is falling apart
who will carry us if she can’t?”