James Hall, a freelance writer from Winnetka, Illinois, was in Guinea working with singer Miriam Makeba on her autobiography when he sensed that he might be destined for a special kind of spiritual life. Back in the United States, he was unhinged by his ability to blow out street lamps by just driving underneath them. Later, in Africa, Hall realized he had been chosen by his ancestral teachers to become a sangoma — a traditional healer and diviner. It would require him to undergo a two-year Kutfwasa initiation in Swaziland. It would also mean leaving behind his Western worldview and entering into a new world of visions, magic, and spiritual sharpening.
In Sangoma: My Odyssey into the Spirit World of Africa James Hall recounts his experiences as the first white man to undergo initiation and acceptance as a traditional healer in Swaziland. At the outset, he makes contact with his ancestral spirits who endow him with healing abilities, psychic insight, and precognition. Among these spirits are his Italian-American grandmother, a Scottish farmer, a Native American medicine man, an African zebra hunter, a Japanese woman, an American advertising executive, and an unborn child. In addition, Hall is taught about herbal medicines and the reading of bones and shells. Once he becomes a sangoma, individuals will come to him for treatments, potions, and advice about their ancestors.
James Hall's account of his spiritual journey provides us with access to the African world of spirits and the holy calling of healing. Today the author lives in Swaziland with his wife and two children. He has seen visions, divined ailments, and cured people. Sangoma tells his incredible story and tells it well.
