Lady X Completes Sangoma Initiation, Embraces Spiritual Calling and Prepares for New Music Chapter
Media personality and musician Lady X has officially completed her sangoma initiation, marking a deeply personal milestone after years of struggle, spiritual awakening, and self-discovery, as she now steps into her role as a traditional healer while preparing to merge her gift with music.
Lady X, real name Xolisa Mvula confirmed that she has undergone the rigorous process of ukuthwasa – a sacred initiation journey believed to be guided by ancestral calling, which can take months or even years to complete under the mentorship of an experienced healer. The process involves intense spiritual training, rituals, and personal transformation, often requiring initiates to step away from everyday life to fully embrace their calling.
Her journey, she revealed, was not easy, she revered through the chalenges. Like many who respond to a spiritual calling, Lady X experienced periods of emotional and physical distress before accepting her path—an experience widely documented in traditional healing practices, where symptoms are often interpreted as a sign from ancestors urging the individual toward initiation.
Now a qualified sangoma, Lady X joins a respected lineage of traditional healers in South Africa. Sangomas play a vital role in communities, offering guidance and healing that addresses not only physical ailments but also emotional and spiritual imbalances through rituals, divination, and herbal medicine.
Describing the completion of her initiation, she added: “I feel like I’ve been reborn. I walk differently, I think differently, and I understand my purpose. This is not just about me—it’s about serving people and honouring those who came before me.”
Speaking about her transformation, Lady X described the completion of her initiation as a “rebirth,” aligning with cultural beliefs that the process signifies the death of one identity and the emergence of another – one dedicated to healing and service. Her graduation ceremony, attended by family, mentors, and members of the community, symbolised her readiness to practise and carry forward ancestral knowledge.
Importantly, Lady X says she does not plan to abandon her creative roots. Instead, she aims to fuse her spirituality with her music, using sound as a channel for healing and storytelling. This approach reflects a growing movement among modern African artists and healers who are blending traditional practices with contemporary expression, using music as a medium to process spiritual experiences and connect with audiences on a deeper level.
Her new music is already in the works, with releases expected in the coming months. The upcoming project is set to draw heavily from her initiation journey, incorporating themes of identity, healing, ancestry, and transformation.
“Music has always been part of who I am, and now it has even deeper meaning. I want to create music that heals, that speaks to the soul, and that connects people with their own journeys,” she said.
Lady X’s transition also comes at a time when traditional healing is increasingly recognised within South Africa’s broader healthcare and cultural framework. The Traditional Health Practitioners Act provides for the regulation and recognition of healers, underscoring the important role they play alongside conventional medicine.
As she steps into this new chapter, Lady X says her mission is clear: to heal, to inspire, and to create. With her dual path in music and spirituality, she hopes to bridge worlds—bringing ancient wisdom into modern spaces while offering audiences both sound and soul.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
What was the hardest moment in your ukuthwasa journey that made you fully surrender to the calling?
The breaking point came after I survived a suicide attempt. I woke up in ICU, disoriented and stripped of everything I thought I understood about myself and my life. From there, I made the decision to voluntarily admit myself into a mental health facility.
It was in that space, fragile, raw, and stripped back—that I could no longer resist what I had been feeling for so long. In that moment of complete vulnerability, I surrendered fully to the calling.
How did your personal struggles lead you to accept the path of becoming a sangoma?
I became reclusive and stopped attending events, seeing friends and locked myself in darkness in my apartment and just became anti-social. I felt alone and that there was no point in my life anymore. I couldn’t write songs, sing or be creative anymore.
You’ve called this a “rebirth”—how has your identity changed after completing your initiation?
It feels like I’ve stepped out of one life and into another entirely. I no longer live to chase or fulfil material desires the way I once did. Those things no longer define me. My life is no longer about me, it is about accumulating enough knowledge to become the best healer.I can be through guidance from my elders and my gifts from abantu abadala. I want to leave a legacy of being a healer that changed lives through healing in touch and music.
How do you balance your role as a traditional healer with your music career?
Honestly, I’m still learning how to hold both worlds at the same time. There isn’t a perfect balance yet, it’s more like constant movement between two callings that both require my full presence.
Even now, as I answer this, I’m aware of an appointment waiting for me that needs my complete focus and care. And as soon as I step out of that space, my mind shifts again, back to shaping, planning, and refining how Lady X will express herself in sound, how she will communicate and transcend during her upcoming studio session.
It’s not a neat separation. It’s a daily negotiation between healing and creation, between stillness and expression.
What can fans expect from your new music, and how will your healing journey shape it?
They can expect a sound as authentic as I can possibly be. They can expect a sound with a message of truth in not only identity but truth in self awareness and finding your way in your faith, culture and tradition. It will lead them to a light within them.
Looking back, how do you feel about your earlier music after this transformation?
I feel proud of what I created – of my songwriting, my vocal delivery, and the honesty I carried in those moments. I was growing then, and I am still growing now. Back then, I was simply trying to find myself through expression, allowing things to unfold as they came to me.
But now, everything feels deeper. I carry a greater awareness of who I am and what I hold. I am NdiNguGogo, a custodian of amaKhehla of the Xhosa lineage, oMnguni, oMdau noMdau womtsonga. That truth brings a responsibility I cannot ignore.
So while I honour my earlier work with love and pride, I also move forward with a stronger sense of grounding. I hold that responsibility gently, without letting it become pressure, but as something that guides how I create and who I am becoming.
