Becoming The Muse

Guest Post

I never believed in the Supernatural until a friend asked me to accompany him to see a Witchdoctor in Mudendere to find out why every effort he was employing to better his financial situation was ending in failure. When we got to the Witchdoctor’s house, my friend explained his predicament to him and he asked him to go buy a Fanta at a nearby ka ntemba.

He bought the Fanta and gave it to the “Doctor”. We were then ushered into a small room without any windows, and in the centre of the room was a reed sieve with a cow horn, a bell and beads attached to it. The “Doctor” placed the Fanta next to the reed sieve, then closed the door and switched off the light.

The room was so dark, I couldn’t see my hand right in front of me despite my eyes adjusting to the darkness. I had and have never experienced that type of darkness, completely devoid of any illumination. The “Doctor” then started chanting and clapping, for about 2 or 3 minutes, then we heard a loud thud, like a heavy substance or being dropping from a height and hitting the floor in the centre of the room.

Then we started hearing the bell in different locations and elevations of the room. I could hear the bell towards the ceiling and on ground level, the reed sieve was flying in the room. Whatever dropped into that reed sieve started speaking Nyanja and said before we could proceed, it was first going to drink the Fanta.

I could hear the big glugging sounds as this thing drank the Fanta, I was so scared, and this thing then came right up to my face and told the “Doctor” that I was terrified. When this thing was speaking right in front of my face, I could feel the warmth of its breath and saliva hitting my face. It also had the most horrible bad breath, like a thing that only eats rotten meat.

Anway. It proceeded to tell me friend the source of his financial misfortunates and told him the rituals to perform to get rid of his problem. To this day, I have no logical explanation for what I experienced that day.

I was so intrigued by the experience and I wanted to know more. So, I again went with my friend on his next visit, but this time I refused to enter the small room and chose to wait in the sitting room. When they came out, I asked the “Doctor” (who I’ll now refer to as the Magician) if I could ask him a few questions.

This man wasn’t your run of the mill n’ganga, he was well educated and dressed very well. I expressed my skepticism about his “powers” and I thought it wouldn’t change my friend’s situation. He did not argue with me but instead placed his right hand on my left shoulder and mumbled a few inaudible things. He told me that, I would get some money from an unexpected source within 2 days.

Next morning, I was ku Kamwala second class buying some groceries for home when I bumped into a classmate from secondary school who I hadn’t seen for years. He was so happy to see me and after exchanging pleasantries, he proceeded to hand me 2 x $100 bills to go towards my groceries!

I thought it was a hoax, so I immediately drove to Katondo Street and they were genuine dollar bills and I changed them. I went to see the Magician that very afternoon to tell him what happened. I asked him if I could document what he knew about the Supernatural world and surprisingly he agreed and suggested that we use a cassette recorder. The only payment he demanded was a pair of pants, a shirt and leather belt.

I used to buy my clothes from a shop at Carousel, this shop only opened by appointment. The Magician wanted the same clothes. I have over 10 hrs of audio recordings on cassette tapes in storage. It took about 6 months of interviews.

One thing I’ll tell you is that true Magicians never advertise their services because they are not motivated by money. It’s purely word of mouth and are extremely hard to find. Even when you meet them, they’ll not tell you they are magicians. 90% of people claiming to perform Magic are charlatans, crooks who just want your money. The only payment my friend made was a male goat, that’s it.

People in Zambia who know real Magicians rarely tell others because they don’t want others to benefit, it’s our nature. I wrote down everything the man told me and one day when I have heaps of time, I’ll digitize the cassette tapes.

During the 6 months I was interviewing the Magician, I saw one very prominent politician and two other notable business people pay visits to this Magician.

The one thing that he said that shook me was that we shouldn’t be afraid of death because it’s just the beginning of another experience.

We either “CHOOSE” to come back to this world for a different experience or we can “CHOOSE” to go to other “worlds”

…Crazy stuff I tell you.

---

Originally published as a Twitter Quote by @SentimentalCook in response to a Twitter Thread on The Supernatural In Zambia by @Kauswe

About the Author
The SentimentalCook is a passionate foodie, coffee lover and amateur photographer. Taking Zambian food to the next level by playing around with various ingredients and cooking methods

---

Have you had an encounter with the supernatural?