Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Gogo Dineo Ndlanzi is a pre-eminent and pioneering sangoma, who has successfully merged the sacredness of African Spirituality with modern thinking. She is a celebrated spiritual teacher, life coach, African storyteller, actress, writer, dancer and trained facilitator. Teaching is at the heart of what Gogo Dineo does. As a trained sangoma, Gogo Dineo has been instrumental in changing perceptions around the practice of “ubungoma” which is a type of African Spiritual Healing. This has made her a household name in South Africa and with Africans in the diaspora over the last decade as she continues to shift mindsets by encouraging people to access African spiritual healing modalities and indigenous knowledge systems.
Gogo Dineo has successfully used mainstream and social media to de-stigmatize the practices of African Spirituality using her outspoken personality and educational nuances. Gogo Dineo cemented her position as a foremost speaker in the global market as she graced the TEDxCAPETOWN stage in 2019 where she eloquently discussed the 4 key lessons she learned as a spiritual healer. As an international teacher, Gogo Dineo set the stage alight as a keynote speaker in Lüneburg, Germany at Leuphana University in 2019 at their conference on Leverage Points and Sustainability. She focused on how the healthcare system can leverage African indigenous healing practices to overcome systemic failures. This talk was well received as she was able to translate nuanced, local knowledge by giving it global relevance.
In the month of October 2021, Gogo Dineo Ndlanzi gave a Black History Month talk to the ERG (Employee Resource Group) for Google Dublin about; The importance and relevance of indigenous African spiritual belief systems (what they were before, what they are now, and what they are becoming in the future).
First of all, congratulations on winning the Brainz Magazine competition!
We are so happy that you wanted to participate and compete! You’re a spiritual teacher, life coach, African storyteller, actress, writer, dancer, and trained facilitator. This is a very impressive list of merits! Can you tell us more about your story and how you ended up where you are today?
I was born and raised in Alexandra Township north east of Johannesburg — a stone throw away from one of South Africa’s richest suburbs. The contrast of the two locations is evidence of the inequalities that exist in my country. I knew my life was not meant to be trapped in a system of poverty and struggle. This inspired me on a spiritual quest of understanding of how the natives of this land, are succumbed to such inhumane conditions. I moved away from religion to spirituality. My work has been mostly about returning all africans to a place of their inner truth. A sacred place of divinity; a place where they and Ramasedi (source/energy/creator/God) is within them and not outside of them. To restore the essence of indigenous knowledge systems while still challenging religious, cultural and traditional practises. As such, I co-founded the Ndlanzi Institute of Spiritual Healing to facilitate holistic healing and train other sangoma’s. Beyond this paragraph, I am a wife and a mother of four beautiful children.
You are a trained Sangoma, and in the first paragraph we can read a little about what it means, but what is the historical background of sangomas?
A sangoma is a spiritual healer who is gifted with an ability to diagnose alignments and return the ill and unwell to a state of health and wellbeing. The historical narrative about sangoma's is that they are demonic, ungodly and are devil worshipers. There were laws that were passed to marginalise sangoma's and criminalise practising being a sangoma. That historical injustice has been a stereotype that my work as a healer now, is trying to challenge and re-address by restoring the dignity of African Spiritual Healing. This is done by changing the narrative and telling stories of the true nature of being a spiritual healer — which is one who restores, one who balances and one who ensures that which has not been made unwell, becomes well. That has been my core work. This is also to say that sangoma's are doing God's work because we work in harmony with nature. We don't take from nature without giving back, we don't go into natural spaces without paying homage or without paying our respects because we revere nature. We understand that how we choose to treat nature is how it is going to treat us. As healers nature offers medicine and is the physical manifestation of the divine creator.
Have you encountered any major challenges during your journey and how have these affected you?
Well, I went into the journey of becoming a sangoma with a very limited belief because I come from a strong, religious background. I went into this journey not necessarily because I believed in it but rather because I had exhausted all my other options. I had been running away from the calling and the gift of being a practitioner of African Spiritual Healing for many years. The challenge was unlearning some of the belief systems that I had carried. One of the other challenges that I experienced is when dealing with the spiritual world, you're not dealing with entities that operate from the human level of thinking but a higher consciousness. Where you surrender to the unknown and trust in the higher power you're yet to physically see. It's challenging as it cultivates faith in the processes required. In addition to that, dealing with critics, especially, religious people who perpetuate Apartheid age and Western pragmatic views of African Spirituality has been one of the biggest challenges. As my work has grown, I have also grown in popularity in Southern Africa, the continent and in the diaspora. Mastery requires you to continuously be willing to learn and accept failures as opportunities of growth because you never conclude a spiritual journey. As you complete a challenge or milestone, another door opens up to start anew a journey. Doing spiritual healing work (which is all inner healing) takes a lot out of you emotionally, psychologically and physically. Healing is not magic, it's hard work. And it's painful work that takes time. Lastly, formalising my spiritual practice into a business has been a challenge because I have no one to reference that blends modern understanding with traditional practises. I am my own blueprint of newness and growing the work.
How do we become facilitators of change?
A facilitator of change is one that helps navigate and create a safe space of learning and growth. One becomes a facilitator of change when one is willing to grow, willing to work with their own limitations and vulnerabilities, and willing to do the work on oneself before others. You become a facilitator of change by investing not only in your well-being but also in your skill set. Invest in learning, invest in studying and understanding that human beings are complex and are forever changing. You cannot solely rely on what you learned three years ago to innovate. I also believe that one cannot be a facilitator of change if they don't have a passion of working with people. It's challenging. So there has to be a passion of wanting to see the world as a better place. Striving towards moving people to a place of wholeness. Being a facilitator of change requires the courage to work with complexity and understanding there are many paths that can lead to change.
What is the best thing we can do to enhance our spiritual health?
Persevere through the hardships. Going through spiritual initiation is like going through military school. It takes you out of your head and your ego state so you can go through the rebirth process of surrendering to divinity and allowing for spirit to work through you. You're not the power. But you are a co-creator of the power that has been given unto you.
Do you have any special life philosophy you are trying to live by?
"Dlozi timing is perfect timing" - Gogo Dineo Ndlanzi.
Essentially this means that “Spirit/s timing is divine timing". Accepting the reality that everything happens as and when it is meant to happen. To trust that the right opportunities happen at the right time. When you are ready to receive, you shall. I don't force things, I don't push for things. I don't compete for things, but I open myself up for opportunities and I get myself ready to work with what is presented my way. I'm always studying something new. I read a lot and listen to a lot of audiobooks. I follow people that inspire me to be a better version of myself. My other philosophy is that people that are deeply rooted and connected to their ancestral lineage or ancestry, have a strong(er) ability to thrive. I believe that I am connected which means I don't present myself as an individual but as a collective. There is a principle in African culture that says "umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu" which means that "I am because you are". Believe in the interconnectedness of life. Connections are important and one who is deeply connected, spiritually, is like a tree that is deeply rooted to the ground, therefore, can bear fruit. My other philosophy in life is that I do not compete, I do not compare because I understand that all of us are here to serve a particular purpose and there are enough purposes for us all. Every experience that I encounter is actually helping me sharpen my mastery as a human being and as a healer. So I see challenges not as misfortunes or stumbling blocks but rather as opportunities of how to better myself.
What makes you feel ‘out of your comfort zone?’ How do you handle these types of situations?
Something that takes me out of my comfort zone is when I have to pretend to be something that I'm not or when I have to justify and explain why I am who I am. It's quite uncomfortable. As a sangoma when I facilitate workshops or conduct spiritual work... I firstly explain to people who I am. After I've taken my shoes off (which helps me with grounding), I make a few disclaimers which include why I burp so much (it's a sign of spirit being present within a human vessel). I can be honest and I can be truthful about certain aspects of who I am that are unfamiliar to most. Those disclaimers help me navigate my discomforts . Debates are also outside of my comfort zone. I would rather have a dialogue because dialogue is not about reaching an agreement rather about hearing and seeing things from a different perspective, it celebrates diversity rather than expects conformity. There are many winners at the end of the conversation because we all have different views and they all matter.
So, what’s the next big goal or project for Gogo Dineo and how can someone get in contact with you?
Writing and publishing are the next big goals and projects. Hopefully by the end of 2022, I will have published material of some of the content themes that I already share on my social media platforms. This includes running Masterclasses on African Spirituality and African Spiritual Healing. I also want to pioneer myself as a global African Spiritual Teacher. I always say that I want to be the Wayne Dyer of Africa. To be a teacher and make people understand that we are all Africans because Africa is the Cradle of Humankind. And it's a mother of all philosophies. When she was violated, her story was distorted. For me, the bigger mission is to re-write and re-tell the history of Africa. To make people see themselves in the history and take pride in their identities. Another medium of publishing will be achieved using podcasts. Mainstream media does not have longevity for conversations that create discomfort. I am here to create discomfort because discomfort is a call for change. I am here to plant seeds. A long-term goal is for me to see how African Spiritual Healing can be seen as mainstream healthcare and not just as an alternative. Two final big dreams are to become a UN ambassador and hopefully, have a sit down Soul Sunday conversation with Oprah Winfrey. These manifestations and declarations are the perfect way to end this spiritual segment.
