Black Spirituality Religion : Judaism, Christianity & Islam

[MysteryDoors]

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION
http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/

 

[Blackbird]

Could you expound on what you meant by "you discovered a knowledge far more greater than you originally sought." Elaborate on this knowledge as much as you can.

Knowledge Seed,

Without sounding as psychodelic as possible, it is a knowledge that is experienced better than it is explained. It is learning without the conventional means. It is what is realized in an excerpt from K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau influential work, "Self-healing power and therapy: Old Teachings from Africa."

"To be initiated is to be ready to accept responsibility, both as a mature human being and as a powerful spiritual being. It is to study fundamental principles that transfer life and its power, a way to have access to the most powerful medicine available to human beings; self-healing power. It is to enter into the process of learning, mu kala, to grow to the full understanding of N'Kingu Mianzingila, (principles of life/living), principles of that could assist one to keep that potential power and to pass it on safely to one's offspring.

"....It is to bulwa meso, to have one's eyes open. To have the power to see, feel, touch, hear and taste what the ordinary way of life does not allow us to see, feel, touch, and hear and taste. ....It is to walk on the path of mastering knowledge in life. It is to be seen and to see oneself before lumweno lwa mampinda ma luzingu ("the mirror of fathomless knowledge of life.') It is learning to see the past in order to predict the future. It is feeling and holding tightly the past segment of the bioenergetic rope in his/her hands to insure its linkage to the future.

"Ghanda ('to be initiate') is to join the circle of the Nganga ('masters') and become, oneself, Nganga, a doer."

Malidoma Some in his book of "Of Water and the Spirit" also talks about his experiences during Baor and the acuteness of his sensory faculties, as well as, his continual learning.

I was once told that initiation removes any blockages and open up all the chakras which is why Lucumi iyawos are so restricted in the year after initiation to avoid contamination. How knows? I do know initiation is not the ends to a means - it is only the beginning, the initiation into a walk on the edge of existence. My knowledge and experiences have been gnostic, very much so. My teachers have been the avatars, the cornerstones of our ancestral traditions - the anthropomorphic creations of energy in constant flux - the ever continuing interplay of contraction and expansion, coolness and hotness.

I recall before my journey into the mirror, I would speak with a certain forcefulness and confidence about certain things at my age I should not have known. One day, a person who can see spirits heard me talking and saw a very old African man standing next to me. She told me that whenever I speak about certain things the rhythm, tone and quality of my voice changes because it is the old man speaking. I later found out who this man was, this old Bantu, a centuries old nganga. This old man shed my blood on the nkisi, making a pact with the dead, etching my skin with the firmas I work through and engraving power patterns in bioenergetic core, forever changing my physical composition. I exist as Kongo, a child of the Vili and Ndongo. I die as Kongo, a child of the Lemba rite.

I learn, I lose myself.

Blackbird (without the secret handshake I don't know you)

 

[Knowledge Seed]

Knowledge Seed,

Without sounding as psychodelic as possible, it is a knowledge that is experienced better than it is explained. It is learning without the conventional means. It is what is realized in an excerpt from K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau influential work, "Self-healing power and therapy: Old Teachings from Africa."

"To be initiated is to be ready to accept responsibility, both as a mature human being and as a powerful spiritual being. It is to study fundamental principles that transfer life and its power, a way to have access to the most powerful medicine available to human beings; self-healing power. It is to enter into the process of learning, mu kala, to grow to the full understanding of N'Kingu Mianzingila, (principles of life/living), principles of that could assist one to keep that potential power and to pass it on safely to one's offspring.

"....It is to bulwa meso, to have one's eyes open. To have the power to see, feel, touch, hear and taste what the ordinary way of life does not allow us to see, feel, touch, and hear and taste. ....It is to walk on the path of mastering knowledge in life. It is to be seen and to see oneself before lumweno lwa mampinda ma luzingu ("the mirror of fathomless knowledge of life.') It is learning to see the past in order to predict the future. It is feeling and holding tightly the past segment of the bioenergetic rope in his/her hands to insure its linkage to the future.

"Ghanda ('to be initiate') is to join the circle of the Nganga ('masters') and become, oneself, Nganga, a doer."

Malidoma Some in his book of "Of Water and the Spirit" also talks about his experiences during Baor and the acuteness of his sensory faculties, as well as, his continual learning.

I was once told that initiation removes an blockages and open up all the chakras which is why Lucumi iyawos are so restricted in the year after initiation to avoid contamination. How knows? I do know initiation is not the ends to a means - it is only the beginning, the initiation into a walk on the edge of existence. My knowledge and experiences have been gnostic, very much so. My teachers have been the avatars, the cornerstones of our ancestral traditions - the anthropomorphic creations of energy in constant flux - the ever continuing interplay of contraction and expansion, coolness and hotness.

I recall before my journey into the mirror, I would speak with a certain forcefulness and confidence about certain things at my age I should not have known. One day, a person who can spirits heard me talking and saw a very old African man standing next to me. She told me that whenever I speak about certain things the rhythm, tone and quality of my voice changes because it is the old man speaking. I later found out who this man was, this old Bantu, a centuries old nganga. This old man shed my blood on the nkisi, making a pact with the dead, etching my skin with the firmas I work through and engraving power patterns in bioenergetic core, forever changing my physical composition. I exist as Kongo, a child of the Vili and Ndongo. I die as Kongo, a child of the Lemba rite.

I learn, I lose myself.

Blackbird (without the secret handshake I don't know you)

Thats deep bruh. How did you discover what ancestral tradition you belonged to?

 

[Blackbird]

Thats deep bruh. How did you discover what ancestral tradition you belonged to?

Trust me, it wasn't easy. I must be honest my interest in my ancestors began when I was a little child. I always believed and knew about my ancestors, perhap intuitively like most kids, and I would talk to them. I was fortunate enough to live my formative years in rural Louisiana on land my family's owned since the 1800's. As a child, I would listen with intent as my elders would reminisce about the olden days while they shelled purple-hulled peas or lounged outside in the yard on a lazy, humid summer's afternoon. The spirits of my folks have been with me for an eternity. When we would go down to the pond to fish, we would have to pass by the ruins of an house my great great great grandmother lived in. Her daughter's house, my great great grandmother's, was on the opposite of the 300 acre layout right at the side of a dirt road I used to ride my bicycle up and down. I will admit there was something about her house that would spook me I would ride fast past her place. Somedays, however, I would build up the courage to stop, stand still for a moment and speak to the house. The land, my family's homestead, was the heartbeat of my life and infused a certain mystical tie to my ancestors. When I played at recess, I would call upon my ancestors to assist me in shooting the ball, catching the football or running strong.

My family's land was magnificent, like a mystical place in North America. There was the occasional loose guinea bird that would awkardly fly by. I still remember hearing my granny yelling, "Fly away, guinny hen, fly away now." These birds, basically a speckled chicken, came from Africa, hence the name Guinea bird. When I would walk in the woods, I would stumble across a stray broken plate or pot with faded plastic flowers sticking up from the ground or see the old bottle tree in Cuttin Willop's yard. I had asthma as a child so my family was always in constant lookout for that proverbial tree that cures asthma on our land. It was supposed to be down by the spring, but know one really knew. I was predisposed but didn't know it.

I also had an early interest with ancient Western African civilizations. I first read about the Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai when I was 11 years old, expanding my knowledge base to include the Hausa States (Hausa Bakwai and Banza Bakwai), Waddai, Kanem-Bornu and the Yoruba, as well as, the Igbo and Mossi people when I was still 12. At about age 13, we moved to the city and I got sidetracked into gangbanging. My interest in the ancestors and African culture would not begin again in earnest until was 18, after I broke my neck in a car accident. I would write essays based on the info I read about these places and would imagine being an inhabitant of one of my choice.

It wasn't until after the age of 21, I begin to explore the spiritual aspect of African people. This began with dreams of people, places and things I had no way of knowing about. My dreams served to inform and piece together things I read as a child in European published encyclopedias and history books. My dreams took my deeper and I would, with the advent of the Internet, search and confirm what had been revealed to me. The ancestors are amazing. If you open yourself up to them will teach you so much. We become so concern with left brain ways of accessing knowledge that we forfeit other ways of obtaining information. My dreams are what led me to Vodou and Congo-based traditions and those dreams were confirmed by the very spirits of these traditions.

When the mystical diagrams are created with cornmeal or gunpowder, I feel something other than myself guiding my hand. I feel transformed into an old priest performing the ritual work I've always performed and know like the back of my hand. I feel at home, centered, ground and familiar. Open yourself to your ancestors' voices and trust their words. Home is right around the corner. Close your eyes and glimpse the names of the various ethnic groups that flash by.

Blackbird

 

[Knowledge Seed]

Trust me, it wasn't easy. I must be honest my interest in my ancestors began when I was a little child. I was unfortunate enough to live my formative years in rural Louisiana on land my family's owned since the 1800's. As a child, I would listen with intent as my elders would reminisce about the olden days while they shelled purple-hulled peas or lounged outside in the yard on a lazy, humid summer's afternoon. The spirits of my folks have been with me for an eternity. When we would go down to the pond to fish, we would have to pass by the ruins of an house my great great great grandmother lived in. Her daughter's house, my great great grandmother's, was on the opposite of the 300 acre layout right at the side of a dirt road I used to ride my bicycle up and down. The land, my family's homestead, was the heartbeat of my life and infused a certain mystical tie to my ancestors. When I played at recess, I would call upon my ancestors to assist me in shooting the ball, catching the football or running strong.

I also had an early interest with ancient Western African civilizations. I first read about the Empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai when I was 11 years old, expanding my knowledge base to include the Hausa States (Hausa Bakwai and Banza Bakwai), Waddai, Kanem-Bornu and the Yoruba, as well as, the Igbo and Mossi people when I was still 12. At about age 13, we moved to the city and I got sidetracked into gangbanging. My interest in the ancestors and African culture would not begin again in earnest until was 18, after I broke my neck in a car accident. I would write essays based on the info I read about these places and would imagine being an inhabitant of one of my choice.

It wasn't until after the age of 21, I begin to explore the spiritual aspect of African people. This began with dreams of people, places and things I had no way of knowing about. My dreams served to inform and piece together things I read as a child in European published encyclopedias and history books. My dreams took my deeper and I would, with the advent of the Internet, search and confirm what had been revealed to me. The ancestors are amazing. If you open yourself up to them will teach you so much. We become so concern with left brain ways of accessing knowledge that we forfeit other ways of obtaining information. My dreams are what led me to Vodou and Congo-based traditions and those dreams were confirmed by the very spirits of these traditions.

When the mystical diagrams are created with cornmeal or gunpowder, I feel something other than myself guiding my hand. I feel transformed into an old priest performing the ritual work I've always performed. I feel at home, centered, ground and familiar. Open yourself to your ancestors' voices and trust their words. Home is right around the corner.

Blackbird

How does one open up themselves to their ancestors and how do you know its them?