BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF WINNIFRED AND BONGO
Obeah
Before we begin this brief history of the journey of Winnifred and Bongo, we will define Obeah and Revivalism which are important in the work of Bongo and Winnifred. In the Caribbean, there are numerous native religions or religious practices. Some of these are specific to one island while others are common across the three major linguistic divisions of the area: Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone. In the Anglophone islands, the most common and widespread of these religious practices is Obeah. Similar to other Afro-Caribbean religions, Obeah has its origins in a fusion of different west and central African spiritual practices alongside some Indigenous Caribbean and European influences (often forms of Syncretism). The name “Obeah” itself has its roots in the Ibo language and culture — some have proposed origins from other languages — where practitioners of the traditional religion Odiani (“priests”, “mediums”, Science Man or,“Shamans” to give a cross cultural comparison) were called Dibia. Unlike its more well known counterparts in the Hispanophone (Santeria) and Francophone (Voodoo) divisions of the region, Obeah has several unique aspects. While Obeah functions as a religious practice, it is not organized and practitioners typically have more personalized practices despite some commonalities with the nature of these practices that can also have different influences depending on the country. The other major difference is that Obeah also acts as a catch-all term in the Anglophone Caribbean for any spiritual practice that could be described as “witchcraft” by those who are ignorant of the individual practices and potentially have prejudice against practitioners. This can be seen in the island nation of Jamaica where “Obeah” is typically colloquially used when referring to any Afro-Caribbean religious practice, despite Obeah being only one of several unrelated practices native to the island such as Myalism and Kumina.
An obeahman is in practice a psychic medium. One can be a psychic medium without being an obeahman or shaman; however, one cannot be an obeahman without being a psychic medium. What is the difference? While a psychic medium sees and can act as a medium between the living and the dead, an obeahman makes things happen. He travels between the spiritual and earthly realms and can effect changes, with the caveat that certain things, issues or events are not written in stone. In other words, there is no wriggle room. What is written is written. One might consider the job of an obeahman as active while that of most psychic mediums is passive.
Mr. Barrett and 9-Day William were two of the most well-known obeahmen in Jamaica. Mr. Barrett played an important role in the life of Bongo which we will discuss later. 9-Day William was an obeahman who began his practice in the late 19th century into the early part of the 20th century and like Bongo ,a roaring fire was a hallmark in their practice. 9-Day William was the great uncle of Winnifred Davis and like Bongo his talent was extraordinary. His exploits were such that he and his deeds were immortalized in the song “Reebambaree”.
Revivalism
There was a great religious movement in Jamaica between 1860-1861 called the “The Great Revival” that gave birth to Revivalism, a combination of African spiritual beliefs and the Christian religion. Revivalism has two main forms, Revival Zion also known as the Order 60 or ’60 denomination that adopted more orthodox Christian practices and Pocomania known as Order 61 or Revivalism 61 that represented more African spiritual elements in its worship and practices. Two of the ways in which Revival Zion differed from Revival 61 was that it did not incorporate duppies (spirits) into its practices or participate in obeah practices. Revivalism involves communication between the living and the dead and a belief that on can move between the spiritual and earthly realms through possession achieved mainly through clapping, singing, praying, trumping and dancing. The head wraps or turbans of different styles and colours, each with its own meaning as per the instruction of the spirit or angel with whom the adherent is working is an integral part of the Revivalism and its adherents, hence the name of their place of worship “wrap head church” and the adherents (more often than not derisively) “wrap head people”. Important adorning objects, part of the dress, can include pencils. Tables filled with candles, rum and other alcoholic beverages, cooked foods, baked goods, fruits, flowers and other things are important in Revivalism. They are used to communicate with the spirits and to show gratitude with the hope that the participants will have all that is good including prosperity, good health, and healings. One’s intention must be positive. There are also tables for other purposes such as “death order”.
Bongo — Ivan Wilson
The young child just learning to speak would insist that he be called BONGO and not “Babe” or “Ivan”. When he turned seven, just after the death of his father, a contractor and Anglican pastor or as Bongo would later recount a pastor who wore a collar, he would sit outside every night looking up at the sky with some article of clothing belonging to his grandmother. Believing that something was abnormal with the child, Bongo’s mother took him to see a well-known obeahman (shaman) named Mr. Barrett. Mr. Barrett was the same sbeahman to whom they had taken his very ill father months before. In spite of the many visits to the doctor, Bongo’s father became more ill with each passing day. When his wife and others suggested that he should seek alternative help he refused because he, like so many “Christians” in Jamaica, believed that sbeahmen and their vocation were “of the devil.” He finally agreed to go with his wife to Mr. Barrett when death was close at hand. He did not want to leave his three small children without a breadwinner and a father. Unfortunately, it was too late, Mr. Barrett advised them, and so Bongo’s father died. Indeed, his death was premature, for witchcraft was involved, but being a “Doubting Thomas”, he would never have believed such an occurrence until it was too late. Bongo’s father was proof that what you do not believe or what you deny, contrary to popular belief, can indeed hurt you.
Seeing the young boy, Mr. Barrett, in his deep baritone voice told Bongo’s mother and his uncle, “Lef dih bwoi alone! Im a goh bih a even grayta Obeahman dan mih.” (Leave the boy alone. He is going to be an even greater Obeahman than I am.) Nothing was wrong with the young boy looking up at the sky while holding clothing belonging to his grandmother. These words were very prophetic. As Bongo grew, he managed to escape dangers that others did not, for his guides including his ancestors were many, more than most, even for those who are involved in the spiritual field. And whilst each of us come for a reason to the earth, his was indeed a divine one. He was, as he often said, “here for a purpose.” He escaped the “poison paradise” candy that others did not. When he along with his cousins and uncle shot at a bird with their catapults or slingshots and lost their ability to speak for many weeks, Bongo was the only one who did not. Once again, it was Mr. Barrett who came to the rescue of the children who had lost their voices and could no longer speak. And in another instance, under what must have been immense stress as a poor widow and mother in the rural parts of Jamaica with three young children the 1930s and1940s, Bongo’s normally mild-mannered, loving and affectionate mother lost her “cool” and took a belt to his bottom for something he did that he should not have which in his case, would have been a regular occurrence because Bongo was a determined and stubborn child. Immediately after the “corporal punishment” as some Jamaicans would refer to this action, Bongo’s mother suffered paralysis. She suddenly lost the ability to walk and speak. After visits to the doctor proved unsuccessful, Mr. Barrett, once again, came to the rescue. He instructed the family to take the young boy and his mother to the family burial ground. There the young boy asked his father to forgive his mother for she was the only one he and his sisters had to take care of them. An so it was, his mother, regained her mobility and her speech.
Bongo, as a young man, became a confidant of Mr. Barrett who was now advanced in age. He would take Mr. Barrett to his appointments with the doctor and they would have long conversations. Mr. Barrett had much wisdom. Before Mr. Barrett departed this earthly plane, Bongo had quit his job with the Ministry of Agriculture and began to practice full-time the vocation for which he would become well-known, that of an obeahman. On the day Mr. Barrett returned to the spiritual realm, he wrote, on a piece of paper, Bongo’s name and address and handed it to the last clients who would see him alive. After he wrote the note, Mr. Barrett told his clients that he was going to rest. He then went to his bedroom, lie on his bed and passed quietly into the spiritual realm. These clients, a family, and successive generations remained Bongo’s clients and Winnifred’s when she joined him.
Bongo practised his vocation for more than 60 years. He healed the sick, exposed thiefs and other criminals, located the missing that included people, stolen vehicles, livestock and other objects of praedial larceny, uplifted businesses and people, provided protection against both spiritual and physical danger, helped students, and exorcised the most belligerent of spirits who refused to cross into the light, that no priest, psychic medium or obeahman could. This included the 1970s documented case of “Copi” and Mr. Brown of St. Thomas and the 1960s Duppy on Lyndhurst Road. Bongo visited Maroon Town to execute duties where many, in Jamaica, believed that the most powerful Obeahmen and obeah exist. Many who underestimated his abilities laughed at the idea that he could be successful where those in Maroon Town had failed. Successful he was and, indeed, such was his accomplishment that inhabitants of Maroon Town on a Sunday morning brought a bus filled with “mad men” to Bongo’s temple. When the minibus departed, those “mad men” were no longer in restraints. They were sane once more. That was his task, not that of a mental institution. Had it been the task of a mental institution and psychiatrists, Bongo would have instructed the clients to take those affected to Bellevue, the main psychiatric institution in the island of Jamaica.
Indeed, Bongo could find a needle in a haystack in Timbuktu for there are no walls, doors, borders, no seas or oceans to prevent one operating in the spiritual realm. Some of Bongo’s feats were legendary, prompting some popular radio hosts to oft cite his name and laud him or to bemoan the fact that he was not present or involved in a case or some occurrence to have prevented certain unfortunate circumstance or to bring to light the culprits. One man who had regained his freedom in what was deemed an impossibility, in his joy and astonishment, remarked, “If this man does not walk beside God, he surely walks in front of him.” His clients included presidents, politicians, priests, pastors, singers and other artists, the famous and the unknown, farmers, higglers, prostitutes, health professionals, the very wealthy and the very poor. The clients came from different corners of the earth from as far away as India, Romania and Zambia. He travelled to many different places near and far. His clients were of all ethnicities and religions. He was “Daddy”, “Papa”, “Great House”, “House” “Dread”, Uncle”, Grandfather” to many. Some feared him, but most loved and adored him.
Bongo was the obeahman to whom many obeahmen and “science men” came for advise, for help with cases they could not resolve and to restore their spiritual abilities when they had faltered or had been under psychic attack. Bongo was the “obeahman’s obeahman. He was where the buck stopped. If he could not help you, no one else could. Most pastors and their congregants viewed Obeah and obeahmen like Bongo with much scorn for they, with their organized religion, usually supremacist in their beliefs, are lacking in humility but not in judgement that is anathema to the soul and in the case of Christianity, not in accordance with the teachings of Christ that we should not judge others. There are many of these congregants and pastors who visited the obeahman in Zion Hill under the cover of darkness, contrary to what they preach. Bongo used to smile and say, “Those who do not come by day come by night.” There have been a few who chose not to hide like the Pastor who had been ill and after having gone to many medical practioners and science men or obeahmen declared on his radio show that the man “Bongo from Zion Hill is the Real Deal.’ Indeed, we are advised to “seek physician” when we are sick. “The Lord helps those who help themselves.”
Bongo had no flags or symbols of identification, as was the case with most practising his vocation in Jamaica. His craft was like no other. He was a musician (drummer) and powerful singer. Some considered him a Revivalist of the Order 61 evidenced in a few aspects of the ceremonies and tables (SeeWords of Our Mouth, Meditations of Our Heart: Pioneering Musicians of Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, and Dancehall (Music / Interview by Kenneth Bilby) he led, although even in the aspects that were common to Revalism ’61, Bongo was different. Bongo defied categorization. For the most part, Bongo belonged to his own order, above and beyond all others as attested to and stated by extraordinary psychics mediums from different lands who had never met or heard of him in person as discussed in, Another World Through the Eyes of the Soul: History, Journey and Restoration of the Soul by Winnifred Davis.
When one entered Bongo’s temple, one knew that this obeahman was no joke, no charlatan, no follower. There was a burning fire that was ever present outside his temple, not unlike that of the turn-of-the-century phenomenon, 9-Day William, paternal great uncle of Bongo’s wife, Winnifred Davis. This was one man who did things his way. Whatever the task, it was done there and then in front of clients. He was logical and nothing was encroached in illusions and smoke in the mirror for indeed, the spiritual world was logical and real. Although Bongo had not finished high school, he was one with an extraordinary knowledge of many different fields (the law, medical issues, principle of physics, relationship issues, vocational and the list goes on) because of his many experiences in many lifetimes and the Higher source of all knowledge to which he had access. He was not unlike Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, the American renowned psychic and healer, who without the formal education necessary to speak to medical issues, when in trance, spoke as any highly trained medical professional. Bongo did not need to be in a trance to access higher knowledge. And so, he helped many that the medical field had said were beyond help. Over the years, there were medical practioners who referred clients to him, clients whose conditions were beyond the reach of what modern medicine could offer or clients who needed clarity and clearance for a medical practioner and his medicine and methods to be successful. Bongo knew his task and that which was his as an obeahman/shaman. He did not pretend that he could do a task that was not his. If your ailment belonged to orthodox medicine, he would tell you to seek medical help, and if spiritual clearance and clarity were needed to facilitate the methods and practices of orthodox medicine to bring that ailment to a successful resolution, he would do his task and advise the client to go or retun to the doctor. He would tell his client to seek legal help but instructing them such that they would not be taken for a ride by any unscrupulous professional. Bongo was “full of common sense”, common sense that is so often a misnomer because it is not common at all. So many of us lack “common sense” that prevents us from becoming prey to and victims of charlatans, conspiracy theories and scams.
What made this man different and unique from most others? What made Bongo, a greater obeahman than Mr. Barrett as Mr. Barrett had predicted? Mr. Barrett was himself a well-known and legendary obeahman in the decades before Bongo’s foray into his field? Christian or not, there were many in all fourteen parishes, rural or urban who knew Bongo or of him. His Guides were an army in numbers and in hierarchies. In terms of his vocation, he was an extremely “old hand” at his vocation. One of his favourite sayings was that “studyration beats education.” Our experience in previous lifetimes in a field is what we call “talent” or “gift”. Great and extraordinary doctors or masters in any given vocation are “born” and are never formed in any institution but may be guided in an institution for they are but “diamonds in the rough.” Bongo’s mission was a divine one, that is still unfolding even though he is no longer in the earthly realm. He was part of a great transition. Many in his vocation may have much knowledge, but Bongo had the master key of wisdom to a much greater understanding that most lack. There were no set formulas or rules. When we have the understanding, we can extrapolate; we know what to substitute in a recipe when there is no flour as called for in that recipe. When we have that greater understanding, we know that it is not the value of the pen that determines what is written but the writer. If we cannot write, then it does not matter how many pens we have in our possession or the price of those pens. When we know how to write, the price and the brand of the pen are irrelevant.
Over the years, many came to learn from him, or for him to teach them or give them the gift, but left frustrated because they failed to understand that Bongo was not a teacher and did not pretend to be one. Bongo was in no position to give any one “the gift”. He just was. Unlike Santeria and Voodoo, for example, there was no organization or facility, no hierarchy to teach or initiate or to hand down. They left frustrated, because they lacked the understanding. They could imitate certain rituals, but they did not understand as Bongo would say, “the deeper depths and the higher heights.” Those set rituals he had would also change as he saw fit. “Many are called,” Bongo would say, “but very few are chosen.” Winnifred was one of the very few. His Guides had told him decades before of her arrival. This very simple, imperfect man and extraordinary obeahman, returned to the spirit realm in 2013, leaving his wife and partner of almost 25 years, Winnifred Davis, founder of Naazima Inc., to continue the mission in this important period of transition in the earthly realm. It is from the spiritual realm that Bongo, along with his Guides of different hierarchies,including his ancestors and Winnifred’s myriad of Guides, guide Winnifred Davis as she continues with the mission and expands to another level, a level that will open the gates to understanding the “WHYs and REASONS” of our existence that we need to have more agency over our physical, mental and spiritual well-being. (A biography of Ivanhoe Wilson will be published in the very near future.)
Winnifred Davis
There appears to have been nothing in Winnifred’s life that has been an accident. Winnifred believes that life is like a tomtom to which rhythm each one of us must dance. Such is the march of destiny. Winnifred’s life has been a march of destiny. Some destinies are written in stone and hers is one such destiny. In 1954, a young woman had a dream in which she was told by an elderly woman (no doubt an ancestor) that she would have to visit a place called Zion Hill, St. Mary. More than 35 years later, this woman did in fact go to Zion Hill. This woman who had the dream was the mother of Winnifred, who at the time of her mother’s dream had not yet entered the earthly plane. Indeed, Winnifred’s mother went to Zion Hill to visit her daughter and her son-in-law, Bongo, Great House, the legendary and extraordinary obeahman.
Winnifred Davis was on a mission, but did not know it then. While growing up, she had had many psychic experiences and always instinctively seemed to know the path to take even when it seemed to others and sometimes even to her, to be out of the way. Ten years prior to her meeting and joining Bongo, it was prophesied or predicted and memorialized. They were from two very different worlds, the least of which was the 30-year-6-month age-gap. None of this mattered for this was written. This was in the cards. This was written in stone, and even though we have free will to change, this was one that had little wiggle room for change. This was a crucial point, in a very significant karmic journey during this time of transition. Everyone had a part to play. Winnifred knew that this was part of her destiny. For Bongo, many were called but very few were chosen. He knew that someone was coming to continue the wonderful work he was doing, someone with the understanding. At the time, although Winnifred did not really know how to explain all that was happening or about the truth that is reincarnation, she knew that this was where she was supposed to be at that point in her life.
Bongo knew a long time before Winnifred realized it, that she, in spite of her age, knew the deeper depths and the higher heights. She was a diamond in the rough. She was in the understanding. He could not and was not there to teach her. He was there to open up, guide and help Winnifred grow into and reintroduce her to a vocation that she had known and practiced in many of her lifetimes. Winnifred had not stepped into a new vocation, but a very old one. She already had the key of wisdom to the understanding. And so began their journey together. She worked together with him in Jamaica. They travelled together to exercise their duties, or at times she travelled alone. She also practised her vocation in Canada, healing, doing exorcisms, uplifting people and businesses, counselling and the list goes on. She is adept in different methods of healing and in time, Bongo relied on her knowledge in certain areas. Winnifred had a remarkable ability to hear, listen, and repeat verbatim a conversation had between conversants thousands of miles away. She could regress, travel back in time and relive her past lives. Like him, Winnifred could be in a trance in a conscious state while still remaining in the here and now. Theirs was a long-distance relationship with Winnifred travelling back and forth. When Bongo was ill, she carried on their work both in Jamaica and Canada. Bongo knew that Winnifred was not only the continuity of the work but would take it to the level as was required by the mission for which they were here.
What is the expansion of the work? The expansion of the work is to provide the theory necessary to facilitate the understanding so that we can have more agency over our lives. Bongo did not offer illusions. He did not offer smoke in the mirror. Whatever Winnifred and he did and she still does was never hidden because there is logic even to the work of the obeahman/shaman. Once we have the understanding, we will be less prone to cede our free to unscrupulous people. The understanding lies in the truth that is reincarnation and its facts. The truth that is reincarnation is a truth most of the different sects of the Abrahamic religions deny or dismiss. Over the many translations and versions, the truth of reincarnation has been expunged from the Bible and Church teachings. Although it was condemned at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D., it was indeed Justinian (483-565 A. D.), Byzantian Emperor (Greek Empire with Constantinople as its capital) and his wife Theodora who played the most (prominent) major role in erasing this essential truth from the Bible and condemned the writings of Origen (183 -253 A. D.), the early Church theologian and scholar. as is discussed in Another World Through the Eyes of the Soul: History, Journey & Restoration of the Soul, Second Edition by Winnifred Davis (2024). As previously stated, we might say that reincarnation is the theory and what the shaman/obeahman and psychic medium does the application. Without the truth that is reincarnation, the Obeahman/Shaman, psychic medium would never be able to predict one’s future, or tell us about our past. Without the theory of reincarnation, the psychic medium could never act as a medium or predict future events. Without the theory that is reincarnation, the obeahman/shaman could never travel between realms and effect changes. With this truth, we can enhance healing, choose the right career path, and avoid toxic relationships and understand why there are some things that an obeahman can never change and must recognize the limits of his abilities. With this expansion, we can explain why Bongo was able to successfully exorcise the most belligerent of spirits while others could not.
With this theory, this expansion, Winnifred understands the role and importance of synchronicity, know that their meeting and mission was a fated one. Winnifred also understands that not only were Bongo and she destined to meet for a divine mission but also to expiate karmic debts that both had incurred together. The knowledge and understanding of this provided the insight and courage to walk through and endure the turbulent times throughout the expiation of that karmic debt. This truth or theory provides us with the answer to the question of why Bongo was extraordinary, why “studyration beats education”” and why it is not in the purview of any of us to bequeath the “gift” of sight of an obeahman/shaman to another or any other “gift” or “talent” for that matter. Such is our vocational experience earned from many different past life or karmic journeys. To believe otherwise and to try to curry favour to receive the “gift” is to embark on a fool’s errand.
With this expansion, Winnifred can explain in simple terms for all to understand why Bongo was extraordinary in his vocation. Once again, extraordinary, master and prodigy are the result of many lifetimes of experiencing and practising a vocation. Finally, Winnifred can and does understand why she was chosen to continue the work as obeahman/shaman with the understanding and to expand that work to the next level. Her many experiences as writer and teacher, orator, historian, healer and shaman in her many karmic journeys enables her to be that vessel. As Winnifred moves forward with the continuity of their work and its expansion, she salutes her late husband and partner in their work together. She extends her gratitude to him and to all his Guides and hers, so many of them for having agreed to accompany and guide her in this wonderful karmic journey for this mission, the greater part of which is yet to unfold. With humility, Winnifred knows that she, as Bongo was, but a vessel, in her case, an addition of the pen with which to write the messages so that each one of us can have that greater understanding, hence agency over our lives and existence.