I see myself as a Pontifex, a bridge-builder who creates connection, both inwardly and outwardly, between different cultures and healing traditions, and equally between the earthly and the spiritual world.
I see my task as supporting people in understanding themselves more deeply, becoming ever more conscious of their true essence, and thereby gaining the greatest possible freedom to shape their lives and, in doing so, to change the world for the better.
Born to a German mother and an Ashanti father from Ghana, I was fascinated from childhood by my own inner universe. I travelled through vivid dreams at night until I began to notice that there was more than just the outer and the inner world. I came to understand that we are far more than what we appear to be on the material level, and more than what we consider our personality to be. Through several profound experiences, I came to recognise that we are all hybrid beings: more or less conscious beings, born into ever-changing matter with an apparently individual form, and at the same time unborn and eternal.
Out of curiosity and a deep love for people, I studied medicine and completed the long-term training to become a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
I was called to become a Sangoma and Umthandazi by virtue of my blood. After a very long phase of resistance and deep engagement with Far Eastern spirituality, I underwent years of training with my teachers Baba Muvo and Makhosi Sarah Wager on the tribal land in the Drakensberg mountains and in the Karkloof Valley, South Africa. From my Zulu teachers I received the name Makhosi Mhlaba. I am also an initiate of the Bwiti Missoko tradition in Gabon, Central Africa.
Having studied medicine and completed Sangoma and Umthandazi training, I bring together both a Western, scientific perspective on the human being and the cosmos, and centuries-old, time-tested, and in part hidden knowledge from several African traditions and cultures.
Sangoma is a term from southern Africa for a healing or shamanic person who is closely connected to the spirit world and their ancestors, and who serves the wellbeing of people as a seer, adviser, and healing practitioner. Becoming a Sangoma is not something one chooses — it is a calling. This may manifest in the circumstances of one’s birth, in dreams, in certain symptoms, and in other ways.
An Umthandazi is a healing practitioner who is closely connected to the element of water and uses it — in combination with energetic, naturally-derived materials and spiritual methods — purposefully to support and bring order to the whole human being.
The Bwiti tradition is a very ancient spiritual tradition from the Central African country of Gabon. Through the simplest yet sophisticated natural means, in close connection with nature and with the aid of the sacred wood Iboga, it facilitates healing, personal development, and spiritual insight.
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