29-Day Giving Challenge

I always refer to Mbali Creazzo, as the mother of our movement because she is the medicine woman who originally gave me the 29 Gifts "Prescription". This creative suggestion to give away 29 gifts in 29 days was offered during a Divination, which is a one-on-one healing session where Mbali helps you connect with your ancestors for guidance. Mbali does these sessions either in person or over the phone. I was in a very dark period in my life when I decided to take Mbali's suggestion and following through with her giving prescription changed my life on every level.

In very simple terms, a Cowrie Shell Divinition is an intuitive reading similar to a Tarot Card Reading, but Mbali uses African Cowrie Shells to direct the reading instead of cards.

Cowrie Shell Divining is an ancient art that draws from the Dagara culture West Africa. The diviner uses the traditional and mystical language of symbolism, icons, cowries shells and connection to our ancestors to offer guidance into crossroads, crisis, transition, change and healing.

The Divination always begins with you asking Mbali a question to which you are seeking insight and Mbail will guide you to connect with your ancestors, spirit guides and your own intuition to uncover information that will help you find more meaning in your life. Usually, prescriptions for healing may be offered in the form of creative, imaginative rituals or offerings.

Our Medicine, the gifts we came in with and the skills we have acquired, are often unharnessed due to wounding, trauma, loss and not being seen. We stay in the discomfort of the comfortable, negative self image and seldom explore the mystery of life and our potential. We remain immobile and our gifts remain unclaimed. A Divination can help you bring your medicine into this world, move from the concept of scarcity to abundance, uncover a your gifts and help you heal.

I encourage you to look through the comments on this string. A couple of us who have received Divinations in the past have shared our stories about them.

Mbali offers phone Divinations to all 29Gifts members for a fee. If you would like to schedule an appointment with Mbali, you can reach her by emailing mbali@29Gifts.org. You can also go to Mbali's website if you'd like more information about her work Oakland Magazine also recently published a wonderful article about Mbali's divinations which offers more information.

Here's a photo of Mbali performing a divination in my home during the Divination Salon I hosted in June 2009.

Tags: cowrie shell divination, mbali creazzo, vukani mawethu choir

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Thanks Cami
You can also go to the website. Divinations are wonderful if you are feeling stuck right now in any aspect of your life. They are an insight into how your ancestral legacy may have an impact in how you live your life today The patterns we have been unable to break the images we carry of ourselves for example. It is often not our "stuff" it helps to understand that it is like a huge weight that has been lifted when we discover we can let it go, give it back or leave it behind.

Blessings Mbali

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Mbali performed a phone divination for me last Friday - I had no idea what to expect, and I was a bit nervous. Nervous I'd ask a stupid question, nervous I'd waste the opportunity with a stupid question... I also have this belief about asking questions: Never ask a question unless you're truly ready to hear the answer, even if it isn't the answer you hope to hear. So I was nervous about the answer too. My question was "will my dream come true" (although I was more specific about what my dream is lol)

I have to say, this was such an incredible, deeply moving, and unbelievably eye-opening experience. I learned a LOT about myself. My ancestors seemed to confirm my concern about my question, and helped guide me to one that was more tangible and real-time and "NOW." I still received an answer to my bigger question, but I received so much more. The ancestors called me on the carpet for my tendency to hope someone else would make my dreams come true, and they put that responsibility and power back into my own hands. They also offered me advice on things I needed to do, people I needed to face, truths I needed to tell, pains I needed to heal, in order to make my dream come true. They also offered their assistance, ongoing, if I am willing to ask, and build a relationship with them.

I was in tears most of the time we were on the phone. The sheer honesty of it was touching my raw spots, in a good way. It was empowering, and comforting, and reassuring. And still, there are places I tend to avoid touching, and my ancestors touched them all, because they knew what I'd been in denial of for too long I guess.

In the end, I was given both homework and a prescription. I have been working on the homework, it's an ongoing lifelong sort of homework that, for the moment, I'm just trying to figure out how to implement. The prescription, however, was a bit less complicated. I am to visit the ocean, to offer specific items as offerings and then to wash my hands, face, and head in the sea. So I've booked an ocean front beach house for the last weekend of the month.

I am honestly changed by this experience - facing those things has changed my out look on how to live day by day, and how to accomplish those things I want to do. It has also given me a deeper knowledge that some of the things I'm already doing are right on track. I am VERY grateful for this opportunity, and all that has (and will continue) to come of it.

AND, it also brought clarity to some of the things that came to me in my mineral ritual, and because I've been so “open” lately, I have also found cues and clarity in some other things that have happened lately. Things pertaining to a dream I had recently that I felt were premonitory...

Anyway, whoever wins this prize is one very lucky person! I can't wait to see who wins, and HOPEFULLY hear about their experience as well!

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Wow. Erin, thanks so much for sharing this lovely story of your experience with your Divination. I'm so happy to hear you received helpful insight and direction from your ancestors.

I will never forget my first Divination with Mbali. It was right after I was diagnosed with MS and I was feeling very ill. My question that day was:

How can I begin writing again from a place of hope and faith?

I had not written much for a few years prior to that because I felt like lost my voice. My old writing voice was very based in trauma and drama and I was tired of communicating from that place, so I stopped writing completely. When I want to see Mbali, I was yearning to find a creative outlet again, which felt central to my healing at the time.

My paternal grandfather showed up for me that day. One of the messages he gave me was that it was safe now to come home to my body. It was suggested that I had vacated my body around the age of 12, which made perfect sense to me because that was the age I was when I was nearly date raped by an older boy. The trauma of that experience actually lasted for years because he when to our jr high school and told everyone we had sex. This was the beginning of several years of daily torment and harassment by other kids at school, the beginning of my drug and alcohol use, and also the first time that I figured out I could avoid going to school if I was sick. I had a host of mysterious, "unexplainable" illnesses from ages 12-18, which were often called "psychosomatic."

I recall bursting into tears when my grandfather told me through Mbali that I was safe now, that it was time to come home and this was the beginning of my healing journey with Mbali. I was given a similar prescription after my first divination, though mine was an earth ritual rather than a water ritual. I worked with Mbali for about a year after that in a women's group before she gave me the 29Gifts prescription, which has obviously been huge and life changing on every level. I feel I've come full circle since that first divination because 29Gifts has become my new writing platform, which is not something I expected when I decided to give my gifts.

Divinations are powerful. Whoever wins this gift from Mbali is truly blessed.

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Love the idea- I've felt' stuck' for quite a while now and can't seem to get 'unstuck'.

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God bless you Mbali. May you be an instrument of His love and peace.

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I had a divination with Mbali earlier this month and I would encourage others to experience one as well. It helped remind me even though some of our loved ones might not be here in the physical sense, they are still around us and very much a part of our lives. It is a great comfort to remember those people we hold so dear are still with us, protecting and embracing us with their spirit and love.

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Steffany! I'm so glad you had a divination - I hope it was as awe inspiring and eye opening as mine was!

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Mbali is back from South Africa now so if you didn't get a divination before her trip, you can book one now.

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Our recent divination salons were awesome. if you're looking for guidance in any area of your life, I highly recommend you contact Mbali and schedule a phone divination. call her at (415)710-5348 to schedule.

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Just giving this a bump since we have so many new members

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