Hi Everybody,
This is my first post in the ATR section and I admit that I know very little about ATR compared to most around here so I approach humbly. This is NOT out of laziness in doing my own research, but rather because I want an authoritative answer on a very specific question
I live in South Africa, and I have been interested in western esoterisism for about a decade, while practicing for the last five years. I have been through the ranks of freemasonry, the vanilla self taught golden dawn style of ceremonial magick and ritual magick. Recently, it was put to me that I should work with the spirits of the land where I live and as such, I turned to the local Sangoma traditions.
This is not as easy as it sounds. There is virtually nothing written about their practices and beliefs (as far as I can find), and many many frauds. Ontop of this, they don't take kindly to sharing their knowledge with those that has not been called, and even less so because I am white (a reality in South Africa). Simply put, I want to connect to the local land so that I can work WITH it, and not DISPITE it.
So, I had the idea of turning to other areas of Africa which has been well documented and especially like the idea of Haitian additions of catholic thought and method - although is this not taking away from the original idea of connecting with South Africa as my home and base of operation?
I would love some thoughts on this and opinions of what you all thing. I realize the importance of having a good introduction to a subject, and would hate to start off this important and sacred path researching fraudulent or incorrect information.