Page 213 - Tributaries Catalogue

The Spiritual Significance of Water
Nomtha’s interest in the spiritual
significance of water was inspired
by her personal childhood
experience of miraculous healing,
attributed to ritualistic drinking of
the Isinuka waters. In her words:
“When I was ill as a child (with
mumps) I was taken to that area,
because I went to multiple doctors
and I couldn’t be healed.” Isinuka,
she explains “is a small town
outside Port St Johns, Eastern Cape,
named after the Isinuka cave, within
which, it is said, there are healing
waters. Also, the clay scooped out
from under the water is said to
treat an array of ailments and
diseases. “When I visited the area,”
she says “the place was filled with
people from all kinds of religious
groupings, priests, amagqirha,
diviners and residents from around
the area, who spoke profoundly of
the importance of the Isinuka
waters in their lives. After two days
of using the water and drinking it, I
was healed.” In response to the
question of how she would explain
this miracle, Nomtha discussed the
possibility of scientifically analysable
chemical properties. The cave is
divided into parts, and in one of
them gas arises, which, she says,
“smells like ‘Vicks,’ and people sniff
the gasses for headaches etc.” She
also suggests that the healing has a
lot to do with the power of beliefs
and expectations. But importantly,
she notes, what she is interested in
is not about finding a scientific basis
for, or establishing how much of
your mind plays into, the healing
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power of water. Much more
significant, for her, is the fact that
“you have a greater appreciation for
water when you receive healing
from it,” and you use it more
respectfully and carefully.
This proper appreciation for aspects
of the natural world (such as water),
she argues, is consonant with what
is taught through indigenous
knowledge systems. These
incorporate not only intellectual
learning, but also practical and
ethical learning derived from the
performance of songs, dances,
ceremonies, sacred medicines and
traditional languages that are
carried across the generations. The
unity of the living and the non-living
and the dynamics of water and
drought, for example, are intimately