Ancestral calling (ukuthwasa): meaning in the Bible and in dreams

Biblical meaning from Hearing God's Voice in Dreams by Apostle Nicholas V. Mbanjwa

Also: Ukuthwasa, Thwasa calling, Being called by the ancestors, Calling to divine

What is an ancestral calling?

An ancestral calling (ubizo) is the belief that the ancestors have chosen a person to become a sangoma. Answering it means ukuthwasa, the initiation and training of a diviner.

In the Bible, divination and seeking the dead are forbidden by God (Deuteronomy 18:10-12; Isaiah 8:19). For those in Christ, such spirits cannot establish a covenant, because Christ’s covenant already secures the believer.

In a dream, the same imagery (water, beads, white cloths) can be a familiar spirit’s summons or a divine commission to reach people under that influence. How to tell the difference follows below.

What it means in a dream

A summons believed to come from the ancestors, calling a person to be initiated as a diviner — presenting in dreams as a persistent invitation the dreamer feels unable to refuse.

It commonly appears through water imagery: finding oneself underwater, breathing underwater effortlessly, being swept away by a powerful river, living within a large body of water, or encountering sacred water serpents such as the Mamlambo or river spirits.

It may also appear through beaded adornments or white cloths worn in the dream.

✦ When it is positive

Refusing or resisting the calling within the dream
EXERCISE CAUTION: at times such imagery represents being divinely called to MINISTER TO people of that culture rather than to join it

⚠ When it is a warning

Familiar spirits seeking to establish a spiritual influence or deceptive agreement with the dreamer

How to tell the difference

TWO READINGS MUST BE WEIGHED. The same imagery can indicate a familiar spirit's summons OR a divine commission to reach people under that influence — the dreamer's own walk, the tone of the dream, and whether they are drawn in or sent out will distinguish them. Do not pronounce a calling to divine over a believer whose dream sends them out to others. For the water pattern see Underwater; for the cloth see White Cloth. Always close with the assurance that, for those in Christ, they cannot establish a covenant, because Christ's covenant already secures the believer — they may only seek a spiritual influence, deceptive agreement or foothold, and no such influence can hold against Christ's covenant.

Scripture

¹⁰There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells fortunes, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or a charmer, or someone who consults with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. ¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. Because of these abominations, the LORD your God drives them out from before you.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (WEB)

⁷Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.” ⁸Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”
1 Samuel 28:7-8 (WEB)

When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Isaiah 8:19 (WEB)

¹⁶As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. ¹⁷Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!” ¹⁸She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
Acts 16:16-18 (WEB)

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
2 Corinthians 4:2 (WEB)