Please note: the following post is an attempt to solve a riddle that has puzzled some people of my acquaintance for a considerable time now, and it should be read in the context of investigation and postulation of possible causes, rather than an absolute statement of certainty, and most certainly not seen as an indictment of African traditions and customs, but more as a cautionary hypothesis to illustrate the possible dangers of indiscriminate submission to and trust of those who profess competence in certain arcane (or occult) arts, but can produce no verification thereof, regardless of the culture in which these arts find origin.

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Something has been troubling me for some years now. Decades, in fact. I have had, over the years, occasion to train certain staff-members up to very high standards, in order to put them into positions where they have to exercise not only technical expertise, but also make judgement calls and perform complicated tasks with very little margin for error. And I have had a surprising amount of success in this - proving, for one thing, that lack of formal schooling is not a real factor when it comes to the ability to be trained and to exercise intellectual discernment as well as to demonstrate competence.

However, in some cases I witnessed a strange and disheartening phenomenon. Once these individuals reached a certain point where I was now able to trust them to work independently and offer them significant advancement, they would often ask for a leave of absence of some weeks to go home and consult with and/or thank their ancestors regarding this promotion, what with the attendant increased workload, responsibilities, and reduced leisure time they would have to accept as part and parcel of the increased salary etc. Obviously, it would be unreasonable (to such as we Pagans, anyway) to refuse such a request, and knowing that this request would probably be forthcoming, I was generally prepared to accommodate it, although it was often a major inconvenience. I never had one person return and say "No, the ancestors told me NOT to take the promotion" - so it appears that the ancestors are not averse to a little prosperity in general. But the strange thing was that, more than 25% of the time, the person who returned from leave wasn't *quite* the same person who went on leave. They appeared, in the space of a few short weeks, to have forgotten virtually every single thing they had learnt in the last year or so - in some cases, even being unable to read and write properly upon their return. Most of these, in fact, upon their return, proved to be completely untrainable - whereas a few short weeks ago they had been shining examples of intelligence triumphing over circumstances. In addition, they tended to adopt an aggressive stance when confronted or counselled, and were lazy and perpetually tired - despite having only just returned from a leave of absence - proving unwilling or unable to work longer than just a few hours before disappearing to rest.

Consulting with others in my position merely deepened the mystery - regardless of the industry, the same was experienced to at least some extent by almost everybody I spoke to. But only when the individual concerned had returned home to 'consult the ancestors'.

The mystery deepened even further when I began encountering similar reports from 'domestic engineers' (housewives/husbands) - people who had trained their home executives to a high degree of competency and even, in some cases, taught them to drive and provided them with a car: some of these home executives, upon returning from leave taken in which they 'consulted with their ancestors', had regressed in ability to the point where they could no longer drive the motor vehicle safely, becoming, in effect, a danger to themselves and all other road users. Home executives who had never damaged appliances before were now boiling pots dry, destroying irons on a weekly basis, and dropping the best crockery daily. Aspiring chefs who had recently produced souffle's of mouthwatering consistency were now battling to make a drinkable cup of coffee. And had become truculent and even aggressive towards those they had previously been almost overfond of. Oh, and they now spent as much time as possible in bed, sleeping...

Various fanciful theories were proposed - perhaps it was a group-conspiracy to frustrate and annoy colleagues and employers, perhaps just an 'act' to drive same to drink, perhaps an intentional obfuscation to damage reputations or businesses, or even perchance some cunning plot by the labour unions - the list went on and on, but not one theory fitted properly.

And here, in Wotanwulf's posting, I find the first clue to what may very well be the true answer viz.
"It must be noted that a lot of these African Herbal Cocktails used for enhancing a trance are extremely poisonous, and an overdose can be fatal. It takes an expert to administer some of these medicines, and unfortunately there are a lot of artificial sangomas out there, and if an "accident" occur, they claim that the Badimo (ancestors) had found the poor soul unworthy. African Magic can be DANGEROUS, and most uncomfortable when experienced from the receiving end"

Perhaps it really IS a case of toxicosis, that results in brain-damage - where, as is commonly reported, relatively minor brain damage results in the loss of most of the newer memories (in this case, all the training), but retains the older memories. Perhaps the unfortunates who "consulted their ancestors" were actually poisoned to the point of brain damage, and THAT is why we have seen this common syndrome of forgetting, of lost training, of untrainable returnees.

In the sources I referenced in order to better understand the hypothesis I present above, very few dealt with brain damage as a result of poisoning (toxicosis), but most dealt with brain damage as a result of trauma. My own understanding is that brain damage is brain damage, regardless of the source or reason - once the damage has occurred, if the extent and type of the damage is similar, so will the symptoms present similarly. Brain damage never reverses itself, although certain functions, once the specialised preserve of the damaged area, can be (not necessarily, though) taken over by other, undamaged areas. The most common symptoms are those we see catalogued above - memory loss, irritability, chronic fatigue, irresistible desire to sleep, aggression, loss of acquired and trained motor skills, and disruption of cognitive abilities.

This (toxicosis) may not be the definitive reason for the phenomenon, but it presents a compelling possibility, one which supports the facts as observed and which is in turn supported by the genuine observation of the extreme toxicity of the herbal cocktails administered to those seeking a chemical means to facilitate intercourse with their ancestors.

Can something be done to protect those in danger? Perhaps not - but education and ongoing dissemination of this information and theory may very well serve to one day mitigate against the unscrupulous and/or incompetent administration of these chemicals to innocent and trusting individuals, by incompetents and/or charlatans.

And again, we see the practical need for control and registration of those who portray themselves as healers, no matter what branch of medicine (traditional, homoeopathic, chemical, or any other) - purely for the protection of individuals and their dependants and/or caretakers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/67/5/1087S.pdf - dealing with Copper Toxicosis

Trad. African systems do not rely as heavily on intellectual content during apprenticeship as do Pagan Witches for example. Becoming an isangoma means separating out the intellect from the instinct and relying on instinctual and inner psycho-spiritual experience. Perhaps this is why Charles feels that iSangomas with whom he has conversed are unable to match his own intellectual conversation? This does not mean that isangomas and inyangas are illiterate or ignorant, just that they rely on and work within a non-intellectual paradigm.