Hearing Visions Seeing Voices

by Mmatshilo Motsei

The breakdown of traditional African values and the consequences of disconnection from African ancestral beliefs are examined in this attempt to understand the vicious cycle of community violence.

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Puleng Hopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The message that remained with me from Hearing Visions And Seeing Voices was that, life for Black people was perfectly fine before the 1652 and 1820 invasions. People were self sufficient. They lived in abundance and harmony. In all spheres, astrology, beliefs, farming, economy, healing, land , education, law, justice and family.

Motsei yearns for that uncomplicated period as she relates of her journey of self discovery in attempt to get back there.

She let's us in on her geohistory. Born in a village , a Motswana "called Bakgatla ba Mosetla a Magano le Kgomo. The home of the Bakgatla consist of a number of villages in the Moretele district ruled by Kgosi Makapan, with Mosetla or Makapanstad as the head village"

She relates of her Western influenced education up to tertiary that she felt "disempowered" her. She wrote "our ancestors were unlettered in the Western sense, but their spiritual connection to the earth and all that lives on it serves as a mighty Open University"

Motsei holds a diploma and a degree. Her career started as a nurse. She worked in research at Wits. She is the founder of Adapt ( agisanang domestic abuse prevention and training ) and Afrika Ikalafe.

Motsei preaches, restorative justice, balance, and harmony, also indigenous wisdom and healing powers. She also tackles issues of parenting, love, marriage, beauty, substance abuse and many others.

A highly spiritual text that evoked the spirits and legacy of queen Modjadji, Ambuya Nehanda, and Kenyan Me Katilili.

By the late nineties Motsei had travelled to Holland, Canada, Australia, Somalia, New York, San Francisco, Mozambique and Tanzania, and many other countrues. Also secured herself an international human rights award. She has hobnobbed with Toni Morrison, Angela Davies, Bell Hooks and many prominent individuals.

In her reflections, Motsei is, melancholic, personal, vulnerable, radical, thought provoking, honest and lays her soul bare.

The narration includes poetry. Her dithagazelo, and Sepedi language. Her work is well researched and she aptly quotes from various sources.

Zakes Mda wrote of her book "this moving book spoke to me at many levels. After reading it you will no longer fear to confront your own Greatness--to celebrate your own Godness"

In Motsei we have an academic, healer, author, poet, fighter, gender activist, in our midst.

Motsei 's other books are Kanga And The Kangaroo Court (2007)and Reweaving The Soul Of The Nation (2017)

[Mpho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once on the throes of a suicide, now she shares herself so generously with us, accompanying us to "a place of healing". Mmatshilo Motsei is a brilliant philosopher who let us in on her journeys.

The journeys are at a personal level, the author defines a journey for the integration of the intuitive feminine and the action-oriented masculine; a journey to learn how to be vulnerable, a journey towards a reclamation of her femininity ( redefining the notions of a "strong woman"); a journey from menstrual rage to menstrual creative power ("My moon time at full moon is a time of heightened creativity", she writes); and a journey of self-discovery after running away from herself for so long.

And all these journeys must converge at one point: the point of humanity, the point where we regain our humanity in the instances where we have lost it. One of the most striking journeys is that of healing our environment and ourselves after our history of dehumanisation.

[Esme Arendse · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOW READING: Hearing Visions, Seeing Voices by Mmatshilo Motsei

Three chapters into Hearing Visions, Seeing Voices, I realise that I've moved from the domain of knowledge to the realm of wisdom.

From the start, this book reminds me that formal education and knowledge does not mean we are informed, nor are we wise. The author reminds me that "we come from a long line of strong African women with a passion for life...As Africans, we have experienced what it is to be raised and touched by women who are powerful in their silence".

I have a sense that the author's life story will provide a tool for self-reflection that informs how I travel this earth as a woman seeking both knowledge, wisdom and a way of being that enriches my soul and provides a light for others.

[Nyakallo Maleke · Rating 3 out of 5]

When faith leads, and while hope whispers, Mmatshilo Motsei dedicates her life to the advocacy and activism of woman’s rights through african value systems of community and knowledge production. How can one woman’s voice let out a sound loud enough so that she can hear herself? How can she retrace the traditional patterns of African humanism during a modern era? Having committed herself to women led, community based organisations around rural South Africa, Hearing Voices Seeing Visions is a book about becoming while navigating one’s roots through mother tongue, culture, spirituality and modernity; through aspiration and longing.

[Liepollo]

a mordern take on the effects of colonialism, imposed cultures, globalisation and weaving one's way through this setting to create one's id. not superficial.

[Divine Diva]

PERFECT...
Love her!

[Tshego · Rating 1 out of 5]

Beautiful inspiring