Makhosi Foundation, MA Temple, was founded by two black, diasporic women who found their way back to ancestral healing through initiation.
Gogo Ekhaya and Gogo Thule each underwent Ukuthwasa, a rigorous African-Indigenous initiation process through which one becomes iSangoma: a traditional healer and diviner carrying the wisdom of their elders and ancestors.
Gogo, means grandmother in Zulu. It is a recognition of one who has been shaped by ancestral fire to guide, counsel, and hold others through their own crossings.
This work began as a calling answered.
A living web of cultural practices, oral transmissions, of nature, drum and song.
Our work offers respite from the pressures of modern, familial, corporate, and social structures. Through rites of passage, ritual, and elder-led guidance we help individuals orient themselves within a broader relational framework to self, community, land, and lineage.
As a traditional healing art, Ubungoma functions as a cultural container where learning, reciprocity, and integrity are central. It challenges systems that devalue ancestral knowledge and offers an indigenous lens for understanding wellness, transformation, and responsibility. We are especially committed to fostering belonging for our community while remaining in right relationship with all who engage this work with respect and humility.
Why the Foundation Exists
We built this space because we kept meeting the same person, someone in the middle of a life crossroad with no container to hold them through it. No elder. No ritual. No community that understood what they were crossing through.
The rites of passage that once structured human life, the passages from childhood into adulthood, from maiden into mother, from worker into elder, were interrupted for our communities. What was lost was not just ceremony. It was the map.
A space to be heard & guided
Our work together is to track and retrieve what has been hidden, suppressed, or thrown out of balance — tiring your spirit and stalling creation to flow through you. We honor what makes your life feel ill, heavy or unclear as a messenger of change, recognizing the moments to release burdens and the spaces where gifts and blessings are ready to unfold.
As a spiritual guides, we help you reconnect to your inner clarity, so you can move through uncertainty with trust, and walk your path in alignment with your soul’s rhythm.
A COMMUNAL SPACE & TEMPLE HOME
The temple sits on 5 acres of land filled with over 3 types of ecualyptus, surrounded by mountains views, family farms/nurseries. Nearby you'll find a lake, river stream, vineyards, hiking trails, horseback riding, and so much more!
CO-FOUNDER GOGO EKAKAYA
Bridging the connection between mental health issues & spirituality
Keynote Address: ISPS-US 16th Annual Meeting,
Portland, Oregon 2017
OUR CAUSE
MA Temple addresses a critical gap in contemporary society: the absence of accessible, elder-led rites of passage and culturally grounded support for psycho-spiritual experiences. Our work serves people across generations, from young adults to elders, many of whom are navigating the effects of intergenerational trauma, displacement, or spiritual experiences that are poorly supported by the dominant or institutional systems.
70% of our community identifies as BIPOC and seek reconnection with ancestral wisdom within Afro-conscious context. At the same, our work resonates with individuals with a wide spectrum of life experience seeking ethical, holistic approaches to transformation and care. They include folks who are:
navigating major life transitions or recovery
rebuilding stability after periods of crisis
balancing caregiving, work, and healing
seeking culturally resonant alternative to isolation or over-medicalization
We hold this diversity with care, confidentiality, and wise boundaries, recognizing that access to support should not be determined by privilege alone.
We believe that ancestral practice, cultural reclamation, and community care are essential to transforming the well-being of our society.
Your support helps us:
sustain over $6k in monthly operational costs
provide access to rites of passage and crisis-responsive care
support elder leadership and global knowledge keepers from the traditions we steward
maintain ethical, non-extractive access to care for those navigating spiritual or emotional vulnerability
Our work is cultural, spiritual, relational, and intended to complement existing health systems. Much of this work cannot be sustained through program fees alone. Donations ensure continuity, accessiblity, and integrity.
Give a one time donation or monthly support to help us plan responsibly and remain accessible.