Sometimes your life doesn't seem to be working, and you can't quite put your finger on why. Is it time for a job change, unmuddling a relationship or dealing with a chronic health niggle? Or do you need a spiritual audit?
If so, you could visit Claudia Rauber, a sangoma in Hout Bay, who bridges different traditions to create a unique way of healing.
This is not a story about how a white woman is called to be a sangoma - no matter how interesting, that story has been told many times before. But I am drawn to the work Rauber is doing, and curious to see how she integrates the different training she's done, and what she can offer people who need help.
"A sangoma" she says, "walks the edge, pioneering something new". And that is what she does in her work, using her traditional healing training in conjunction with her massage and movement training.
"I don't have a background in African ritual ways - I come from a different background (she's of German-Swiss origin) and so I form my own."
Before being initiated as a sangoma in Swaziland, Rauber worked for many years in the healing arts, and she was trained in body work, massage and movement therapy. She worked in health centres in Europe.
Now she works from her Hout Bay home, from an indumba or thatched hut, dedicated to her ancestral spirits.
People come to her from different cultures and backgrounds - some are familiar with traditional ways, some find it alien.
Traditionally people come to a traditional healer because they are ill or something is not working. But there is no delineation as in Western medicine between psychological or physical issues.
And so it may be that you are feeling ill at ease and want some help in knowing what to do.
"I look at where people are ancestrally, and we have a dialogue about possible treatment or process," she says. "I work with what's practical. I ask what does it mean to be awake and aware, and how can a person make changes."
Traditionally, you don't tell the sangoma what is wrong - she will tell you, using the "bones".
"My bones are a diagnostic tool or an oracle. They detect where you are standing now, what areas are coming up for challenge."
After a consultation Rauber may formulate something for a client - sometimes a reading may be enough.
Rauber has learned about herbal medicines from teachers Neil and Colin Campbell, sangoma brothers who trained in Botswana and work in Cape Town and Botswana.
She says she seems to be doing more birthing work - preparatory work to support women during pregnancy, during birth and afterwards.
"There are herbs to open and soften," she says, "and in the birthing process there will be women to hold the space - to support the woman. We 'tie' the space to protect and create a container so that anything not welcome doesn't come in. This kind of holding seems to make birthing easier.
"Once the baby is born, there are also certain procedures done to protect it, such as passing it over smoke for fontanelle protection."
Her plan is to create a centre for birthing in Hout Bay, called Phakalani. Her treatment tools also include steaming, which uses natural elements such as heat, rocks, water and medicines (herbs).
"Every medicine has a spirit - you find the spiritual through the physical. This is no spiritual mumbo jumbo.
"Being spiritual means coming into your body, it is a balance between doing and being. The fire, the rocks, the heat bring you into contact with your body."
She may also suggest a specific daily practice, a support group or changing something in the diet. As we do not exist in isolation, it may be necessary to work with the home environment, using purification techniques. Or you may need to do a ritual with your partner or spouse.
She works in other ways with people who are uncomfortable with the bones, perhaps through counselling.
"My approach is: how can I use old ways to assist with the new. How can we create a place where we can come back into the traditional rituals, but in a way that is relevant for our day and age."
Rauber is strong on ceremony and ritual. Ceremony gives people a foundation, while ritual is an opportunity to stop and look at yourself.
The way of traditional medicine is to ask "how can we support the process at this time", she says.
To contact Rauber phone 083 663 7401 or email her at [email protected].