ABSTRACT
This chapter explores potential mythical paradise visions in Shona traditional religio-cultural mythical thought, with reference to the Mwedzi myth of creation, that can cultivate attitudes to the natural environment that can act as a basis for orienting people toward overcoming and healing the environmental crisis in Zimbabwe. It focuses on the power of one traditional Shona myth of creation to foster environmental healing mythical paradise visions. The status of nature vis-a-vis humans in Shona society must therefore be imagined, and primarily be considered in the context of kinship. The Shona environmental vision entails imagining the nyika not only as the land and the people, but also including entities such as water bodies, animals, plants, the climate, skies, and spirits. In light of the global recognition of the need for a new, more environmentally imagination of nature, the chapter explores such ideas in Shona traditional religion, by analysing the Mwedzi myth of creation.
