Have You Been Called? Understanding African Cosmology and the Calling Amongst African Americans

Hetepu (Peace) Family.

Hope all is well. This is something that has really been on my mind since Malcolm X’s birthday is nearing and the rising disturbing actions and behaviors perpetrated by our youth in their desperate attempt to make money.  I have also wanted to address this issue about because some people have been asking if Kamta is a New Age thing.  So I have been letting this subject run around in my mind for a minute in order to address is appropriately.

Kamitic priest in leopard pelt

Because shamanism has become such a very popular term to throw around by anyone claiming to be spiritual and not religious or refusing to follow the order of organized religion. I have decided to write this post to clarify, specify and distinguish Kamta from the New Age shamanistic movements. Please understand that I have nothing against New Agers because everything has its purpose, but I want to make it clear that this is not a trend.  I have to keep telling this story in order to raise consciousness, not because it is the trendy thing that is in fashion now, but because it is a Way of Life pertaining to my survival.

Portuguese ship

Kamta is a Spirit – led shamanic tradition based upon Kamitic (Ancient Egyptian) philosophy and Afrospiritual thought.  When the Africans were enslaved and brought to North America, unlike those taken to the Caribbean and South America, they were unable to maintain and retain all of their religious beliefs because their formal introduction spiritual system had been disrupted or simply destroyed. This along with the fact that there were various ethnic groups with different cultures and spiritual beliefs also made it difficult for the spiritual systems transported to Protestant Christian North America from Africa to survive. Fortunately, prior to the advent of the Slave Trade, many of the people from the Kongo region had willingly converted to Roman Catholicism or were at least familiar with the Christian faith due to their encounter with Portuguese merchants and missionaries.  Consequently, those Africans brought from the Kongo Angolan region were able to retain majority of their spiritual beliefs under the guise of Christianity. Although, they were not able to create or recreate a formal initiation system such as the ones that exist throughout the Afro diaspora, they were able to maintain an informal initiation system that follows what is commonly referred to as the Rule of the Sun.

Kongo Cross (also called the Dikenga or Yowa)

The Rule of the Sun is based upon African Cosmology particularly the Yowa, Dikenga also called the Congo or Kongo Cross. The general understanding of the Kongo Cross is that the human soul like the sun rises, zeniths, sets and is reborn again to create another dawn. Spiritually speaking, we rise and peak in our awareness, but when we experience problems, setbacks, calamity, dishonor, illness, etc.  It is because we are spiritually dying or our sun/soul is setting in the West. The reason we spiritually die is because we have picked up impurities (egocentricities) from dwelling amongst the living in the physical world like selfishness, egotism, fear, etc.. So, spiritual death occurs in order to purify our soul. If we survive the problem, illness, fall from grace, etc.  It is believed that we have traveled to the spiritual world and were reborn like the dawning sun. So along with this core belief, early African Americans believed that when someone experienced a spiritual death.  It was because they were being Called to the spiritual world to obtain their spiritual gifts.  Although good and evil existed in the Kongo mind, the whole battle between the good and evil was seen as a way in which one finds his or her true Self.  In other words, it was seen as way to establish and maintain balance, so that an individual could learn to stand on the edge of both worlds.

Basic Kongo Cosmogram

Now the Calling in the African American community was similar to other shamanic societies, in the sense that those who were called at an early age displayed unusual birth signs such as being breeched, born with a caul over their head, having uncommon birthmarks and so on.  But, the most common form of calling in the African American community  was the fall from grace in which the individual after experiencing problems had some sort of epiphany or revelation.  This is because all adversity was seen as an individual going through a dying phase, because as one elder told me “You have to go through something, in order to get something.” This something that the individual must go through is of course the adversity and hardship of the physical world.  The something that the individual is going to get refers to their reward, their talent, purpose, destiny, etc. that will be obtained spiritually (or from the spiritual world).  This is why it is not uncommon to hear of individuals within the African American community today being “Called” to the pulpit to be a preacher.  In the olden days, the Calling was not just about being an evangelist.  The Calling pertained to doing any type of ministry (God or Spirit-led) work in regards to helping people in the community such as being a seer, a healer, prayer warrior, and so on.

Robert Johnson the Blues Musician Who Supposedly Sold His Soul to Play the Guitar

Those familiar with African American folk beliefs will not understand the basis of Robert Johnson’s Crossroad Ritual and will now understand the reason what Johnson did was considered evil is because his blues music was not helping his community. It was only going to make him richer, which is why the man who allegedly teaches him was called the devil.

The Transformation from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X to El Hajj Malik Shabazz

The Calling is a form of initiation based upon the Kongo Cross and it refers to being initiated and inducted into the spiritual fold to help the community. Like most initiations, which end of something old and the beginning or start of something new. It was understood that anytime an individual experienced any sort of unusual hardship, setbacks, obstacles, problems, etc. the individual was being Called.   This is the most accepted undocumented belief in the African American psyche.  It is the reason those individuals that have undergone a complete transformation such as the legendary Malcolm X (and a host of others), are so cherished in the African American community.  It is because African Americans like most people love a “comeback to grace” story and it is because the basis of our culture centers on the Rule of the Sun.

Because the Church became the most respected institution that white America during slavery (for the most part) would not meddle with.  Many of the people that were Called were given regular titles within the institution such as deacon, evangelist, missionary, etc. but there were also those who were known as Father, Papa, Poppa, Uncle, Brother, Mother, Momma, Auntie and Sister “so – and – so”.  Each of these individuals at some point in time assisted in the healing services that occur inside the church.

Contemporary Ring Shout

Like most shamanic traditions, African American religious service usually consists of a form of ritual called praise and worship, which consists of songs, music, dancing and trance called, filled with the Holy Ghost.  Next, the preacher that gives the congregation a message from God and at times can also include being prayed upon for healing using blessed oil.  The reason most people don’t think of it as being a shamanic trance induction service is because it is so norm and most people think that shamans are spooky witchdoctors running around with masks and bones in their nose chanting some unpronounceable language. A true shaman mediates between the spiritual world and physical world for his or her community. Everything that the shaman does is for the community because their spiritual development and advancement depends upon the people they serve. This is why typically those who were called in the African American community also did and continues to do something in regards to the church.

It is because of the Kongo Cross, anyone can participate in any form of African American spirituality (spiritual tradition, spiritual practices, folk practices, etc.) because it all centers on you going through something and surviving. It is simply put a spirituality that is based upon survival, which celebrates one’s success or victory over adversity.  And, this is what makes African American spirituality a form of shamanism.

Disney’s Shadow Man of New Orleans

But, this form of spirituality has been steadily suppressed because in the early twentieth century, African Americans were routinely harassed and even imprisoned because of their religious beliefs. Today when people think of African religions or spirituality, it conjures up images of evil sorcerers. As a result, older African Americans familiar with this form of spirituality have often denied any association with it out of fear of being ostracized. Because African Americans were separated from the Motherland, in general unfamiliar with African cosmology and the old Kongo spiritual systems are nonexistent due to slavery and colonization. Slowly but surely, this system has continued to fade into extinction as the elders that followed and taught the system transition and are not able to pass their wisdom on to younger generations.

Emmett Till and Lil Wayne Controversy

Today, a great cultural tragedy is occurring on several fronts. From one perspective, because of the lack of a cultural spiritual tradition, youths unfamiliar with their own ancestral history are mocking and ridiculing their heritage.  (i.e. the entertainer Lil Wayne).  This is also due to the fact that many still suffer from Afrohagiophobia, which according to http://www.mamiwata.com/part2.html.

“A pathological fear and irrational intimidation of African spiritual and esoteric science, ancestral veneration, and its ritual and cultural expressions. The simplest spirit manifestations that were once understood in their cosmological context, now ”spooked” the newly conditioned generations of African-Americans.”

On the other hand, many people are exploring, searching, investigating, embracing, imitating and mimicking spiritual systems that are foreign to their culture and wondering why these systems are not working and helping them to bring money, peace of mind, or harmony to their relationships.  I am very well aware of the latter because I have put in my time researching and dabbling in various faiths and traditions myself. I have firsthand experience and know that if you do not belong to a particular cultural group, contrary to what anyone tells you. You are not going to get everything as the individual who is born into that culture.   There is going to be a lot of information that is going to be lost in the cultural translation.  A person born and raise Baptist, COGIC, Pentecostal, etc. and converts to Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. is just not going to get everything because those spiritual systems are tailored to the cultures they serve.  I have even witnessed and talked to people who were involved in various African and Afro-American religions and they have told me about the indifferences that exist there as well.

Kongo Cross on Colonoware

So, here comes Kamta to save me.

After doing all of this research and studying all of these philosophies years ago. After trying to make a dying relationship with a “spiritual person” work and trying to incorporate all of these metaphysical ideas, I became deathly ill. Meaning, I almost died twice. How I survived was by throwing out everything that didn’t work and relying upon what I knew that did. I always have to tell people my story so that they can understand what happens when you don’t accept your calling, because it is real.

Queen Nzingah

While I was undergoing my own rebirthing process that is when I began putting rhyme to reason and that’s how I learned about the Kongo people and our ancestral tradition, which can be traced back to the Ba-Ntu people who dwelled in Kamit/Kemet (Ancient Egypt).  It was because the original Kongo systems for the most part is nonexistent that Kamit/Kemet became the inspiration behind this system and I discovered the Maa Aankh cosmogram. By the way, this is totally within the Bantu-Kongo thinking because Kongo traditions have survived throughout the diaspora by adapting and modifying existing philosophies to fit their purpose.

So, the battle between good and evil is not seen as an eternal conflict between God and the devil, but between man and woman’s higher and lower selves allegorized as the battle between the Upper and Lower Lands of Kamit. It is the same Kongo concepts of the physical world above and the spiritual world below where one has to travel and meet Osar in order to be reborn, so that he or she can be stand on the edge of both worlds.

Unify Your Kingdom Within

Now, the key differences between Kamta and other shamanistic systems is that everyone is called to do something because the Rule of the Sun is a way of introducing and inducting everyone into the cultural fold of communal service.  For instance, I have a cousin who just celebrated being drug free for 15 years now.  His ministry is helping other drug addicts.  He had to undergo that little experience in order to fulfill his purpose in life.  As I have mentioned before, since I have overcome and survived lupus. My responsibility has been to help others to do the same thing. This is one of my callings. There is a saying and it holds true for Kamta and it is, “Everyone is Called but only a few will answer.”

Maa Aankh Cosmology

The point that I am trying to make is that we have our own spiritual traditions, our own ancestors, our own spirits and guides that we can work with and are willing to assist us out of this bind that we find ourselves in.  We do not have to make up, create or mimic another’s cultural tradition especially when they do not share our concerns and would not dowse us with water if we were on fire.  Our ancestors left us with all sorts of guides and maps.  We just have to use them.  So, I am writing this post to help you all to understand that if you have been called what you need to do, because the only ones who can tell you about it have either transitioned into the spiritual realm or are refusing to talk about it because they are suffering from Afrohagiphobia. Hopefully, this post will help you to understand why certain systems aren’t working for you and what you need to do to find your Maa (Way).

Sincerely, I hope this helps.

Hetepu (Peace),

Rau Khu

Copyright 2013

Honoring the Spirit of Resistance!

Hetepu (Peace) Family

The 20^th of November marks the official death of Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695), the ex-slave and last leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares, who fought the Portuguese on behalf of the Maroon society in Brazil. Many people I have talked to about Zumbi asked “Why should we celebrate this event? It happened in Brazil.”

Well, I use to think the same way. I changed my thinking because the 20^th of November is celebrated in Brazil as Black Awareness Day and is used as a time to reflect upon the contributions made by people of African descent, as well as erase the vicious stereotypes that have been created about blacks.  In the beginning, I found this to be a little odd because throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, there are a lot of stereotypical images that are held dear to people of African descent like the Mammy figure. I remember, the first time I met Mammy it was at my padrino’s (my spiritual godfather’s) house. She stood next to his Ellegua and he told me that she was his Ellegua’s wife according to his spiritual practice. Being an African American I was a little offended by the image until I began to really learn the cultural connection.

Mammy also called La Madama in Cuba

You see, when the Africans were brought to the Americas. Many of them finding themselves in a foreign land, living as prisoners under the yoke of a racist slave owner, tried to recreate the life they knew in their homeland.  But they were unable to do so because the same social system did not exist. So, the Africans had to create a new cultural model in order to survive slavery, racial discrimination and most importantly resist the propaganda directed at them that they were inferior to whites.  So, having no kings and queens to turn to, the Africans turned to the wisest amongst them, which was their elders.

Preto Velhos of Brazil

Contrary to popular belief, the elders in the slave community were the most beloved because they were not seen as a physical threat to the slave owners.  As a result, the slave owners were more inclined to trust them versus younger slaves. But, the elders were also the most knowledgeable about the old ways of Africa. As a result, the spirit of resistance (from my research) in the slave community began with the brave men and women that worked in the slave owner’s home. Afterwards, these same men and women would return to their community and teach what they had learned to help their people. The elders of slave community basically played a dual role and they taught everyone they knew how to do the same thing until conditions were more favorable for them to institute the desired change.  It was from the elders religious syncretism was born, along with the whole idea of masking ones true intentions.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Now, when some whites got wind of how the slaves were living.  They tried to sympathize with their plight as Harriet Beecher Stowe had done in her antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. What Stowe was trying to show in her book was how contradictory it was for them as Christians to enslave other Christians based upon the color of their skin.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was made into a play, which was performed all over the country and even the world.

What ended up happening was that millions of her books were sold and a number of Uncle Tom’s Cabin plays were performed around the United States and the world. It was from this book that a lot of whites got the idea that slavery was not the Christian thing to do.  But, the book also laid the stereotypical foundation of what the African way of life was all about. This gave rise to numerous stereotypical images and icons, that blacks were either pleased being meek, happy-go-lucky, submissive, singing servants or were brute, unruly, sex-craved animals.  This stereotypical imagery of people of African descent dominated the Western world. Although, many of these images that were embraced by people who never even read Stowe’s book or saw the cinematic viewing of the story, simply perpetuated the racist belief that blacks were inferior and meant to live in servitude.

Mexican black cartoon character known as Memin Pinguin

Todays although many of these stereotypical images have been removed from the public’s eye. They continue to rear their ugly heads in the entertainment industry and other areas because of people refusing to embrace their ancestral heritage.

A Big Italian Newspaper Published A Shockingly Racist Cartoon Of Soccer Star Mario Balotelli As A Monkey

African Americans were the most damaged culturally by these stereotypical images I learned because we were outnumbered by the whites in the United States, but in places like Cuba and Brazil. Where the African descendants managed to preserve the truth about who these individuals were prior to the creation of this stereotypical attack. The images did not do much to destroy their cultural psyche because they knew that this was just a war on their cultural way of life. A war that they were determined to fight to win.

El Negro Jose

This is why an analysis of all of these ancestral archetypes will reveal the same thing, which is that these individuals were very knowledgeable slaves with high virtues and integrity. Many of which became or were the leaders of the slave community.  The darkness of their skin, as was in Kamit, symbolized that they were the original Africans of one’s lineage.  They all had white hair, indicating that they were wise.

Francisco, Francisca and La Madama on a Espirista shrine.

In Brazil the so-called Uncle Tom and Mammy figures of the United States were commemorated, honored and respectfully known as the Pretos Velhos (the old black slaves’).  In Cuba, they are sometimes known as Francisco and Francisca, or Jose Negro and La Madama.  In Puerto Rico they are known as El Congo (the Congo) and La Negra (the Black Lady). Their respectful names in Southern African American culture are Uncle Joe or Ole’ Black Joe and Auntie or Big Mamma.

A Black reader reading tea leaves for a young white patron, painted by American Artist Harry Roseland.

By the way, the real Big Mamma was usually a cook or house servant, but she was known throughout the slave community as a midwife, herbalist and a fortune teller, that was sometimes called a Black reader or Black Gypsy. Notice the similarity with the reader below.

Card reader reading cards for a client in Cuba

 As you can see, the stereotypical images was a ruse by the oppressors to ridicule our cultural way of life. In these contemporary times it is not the oppressor that ridicules our culture, but our own out of disgrace, ignorance and shame of who and where we come from. 

The new image of Big Momma

e now, but our selves out of disgrace and ignorance of our own culture.

The new image of Uncle Joe

So you see, this is why Zumbi should be important to people throughout the Americas (and others like him such as Gaspar Yanga), because he is the epitome of what our ancestors did in order for us to live today.

Zumbi dos Palmares the celebrated hero of Capoeira

By celebrating the life of Zumbi and others that resisted in their own way. We not only honor them but erase negative imagery created to ridicule our cultural way of life and show the true power of why our culture is so beautiful.

La Madama in all her beauty

Celebrate the Day of Resistance by watching the movie Quilombo and Sankofa.

Hope that helps,

Hetep

Derric “Rau Khu” Moore

 

* P.S. Please note that I am not against Martin Lawrence, Tyler Perry or any entertainer that makes films. It is just important for people to realize the impact that negative images such as these has upon the rest of the people in the diaspora.

Let My People Go!

Hetepu (Peace) Family,

Here’s an interested fact I came across.  Because one of the major pillars of peoples’ enslavement to the dogmatic, literal interpretation of the bible, is the story of Moses and the Children of Israel crossing the Red Sea.   Did you know that according to the Torah, when the Children of Israel were fleeing the pharaoh that they called out to God and begged for his help? And God asked,

“Why are you calling me?“

Afterwards, God told the Children of Israel, who were faced with either being killed by pharaoh’s army or drowning,

“Go jump in the water!”

According to Kabbalistic scholars, God’s question and response to the Children of Israel was a code telling the people that they themselves had the power to escape the predicament they were in on their own.  The whole story was an allegory never meant to be taken literal, but to inform people that they didn’t need God’s assistance. They just needed to connect and use the divine energy that exists within them.

When you think about the whole story now, maybe the reason Moses told the biblical pharaoh to “Let my people go!” Really was a request or command meaning release my people from Mental Slavery. Maybe this is the real reason Moses was viewed as a biblical hero and a spirit guide by early African Americans prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Maybe this is the reason why Moses was identified as being a shaman in Afro-Brazil.

Hmmm…something to think about. What do you think?

Hetepu

Is Knowledge of Self Still Relevant Today?

Hetepu (Peace) Family

I was just sitting back and listening to Black Star’s K.O.S. (Knowledge of Self), which had me reflecting on some things. I remember back in the day, not to sound like an old fogey, when Quest, DeLa, Gangstarr, Paris, Heavy D, Brand Nubians, Black Sheep, PRT, PE, KRS-1 and all of them was around.  We talked about knowledge of self to raise the consciousness of folks.  It wasn’t all about power. It was about just surviving, living, enjoying life and making sure we don’t fall in the social traps. It was all about seeing the divine within you, but I noticed something.

Nowadays, people are always talking about knowledge of self but they never express the benefit or purpose of knowledge of self. To begin it must be understood that you are composed of several parts. There is a thinking part of you, a feeling part of you, a spiritual part of you and so on. In psychology these different aspects of you are commonly referred to as the conscious, subconscious and unconscious minds. Technically speaking, you only have one mind, but it is divided into different parts that control different aspects of your life. The subconscious mind governs your memories, emotions, autonomous body functions, etc. Your conscious part of your mind governs your rational thinking and your will, while your unconscious corresponds to those aspects of you that lie outside of conscious and subconscious control such as your intuition.

Now, let’s see how this applies. Ninety-nine percent the world population lives their life based upon what was learned or the memories of their subconscious because the subconscious is responsible for our habits, but as we all know, our habits are not always good. A lot of us have some pretty destructive habits in the sense that they cause harm to us and others like smoking, abusive behavior, critical language, etc. For instance, when we see someone doing something that we disagree with. It is out of habit that we may criticize their actions and behavior, but before we do it. There is something inside of us that gives us the impulse not to do it. That something speaking within us is our unconscious. A lot of times, we choose to do the exact opposite of what that unconscious voice is telling us not to do. The decision to choose is due to our conscious. As you can all of these three parts contribute and make you who you are.

When you don’t have knowledge of self, you tend to only rely upon the subconscious part of your being. This means that engage in actions and behaviors based solely upon you feel and have learned because remember, the subconscious governs our emotions and memories.  This means, if it doesn’t feel right, we don’t like it, etc. we will not do it. This sounds great but we have to remember as we saw earlier, our subconscious can mislead us because it lacks the ability to reason, which is a function of our conscious. This is why there are so many people addicted to cigarette smoking and a lot of other destructive habits. It is because somewhere along the line, the individual that picked up the habit of smoking thought it was “cool”, “hip” or whatever, so the subconscious liked it and became a “destructive” friend.

So what knowledge of self does is to remind you first and foremost that you are not your subconscious, your subconscious is just one aspect of you. Said another way, you are not what you have learned, memorized or done in the past. This is just something that you have done. This is very important to understand because a lot of people think that since they made some grave errs in their life.  That they are not welcomed and do not deserve the blessings of God, which is so not true. Your subconscious or your past does not define who you are. It is the conscious choices that you make that determine who and what you will be. As I stated in the example above, there is an unconscious part of our being that speaks to us, but we have to decide on if we choose to listen to it or not. This unconscious part is also what is referred to as the Divine Spark or the Spark of God within. Every living being on the planet has it, but only man and woman have the ability to listen to it or ignore it totally.

When you have knowledge of self it reminds you of all of this, but it also helps you to see that the same divine beauty that exists in you dwells in others as well. Everyone and everything is sacred because it is created by the Divine. Even man-made objects have place in the scheme of things because they are still a manifestation of God through human hands. But again, knowledge of self throws back in our face that it is what we choose to do with our life and the things in the world that brings about our demise and the demise of others. When you knowledge of self, you have no need for a secret philosophy because you see the benefit of expressing gratitude. You understand the nature of your being is the nature of the universe and vice versa. And, this is why it is important to get Knowledge of Self.

Hope that helps.

Proof that Reincarnation is Real

Hetepu Family,

I just happened to be watching a documentary on the science of the soul and they were talking about this kid named James Leininger.  For years I recall my parents, grandparents and others saying that a child was an old soul returned, but this was the best example I have seen proven that the soul reincarnates. While I could not find the documentary, I was able to find similar post of this kid. Enjoy.

Hope this helps.

What About Jesus? Banned From the Bible

Hetepu (Peace) Fam.

Lately, the History channel has been outdoing itself by showing the books of the bible that were banned by the Council of Nicaea and subsequent Popes of the Roman Catholic Church. I will not reproduce all of their efforts here but will just give you a brief of what they have been talking about. These books are just a sample of the hundreds of books that were not included in the Christian canon, some of which appear in other Christian sects like the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Coptic Church, Eastern  Orthodox and so on…

•  The Life of Adam and Eve: A more detailed story of creation than what is found in Genesis, this book includes jealous angels, a more devious  serpent, and more information about Eve’s fall from grace from her        point of view.

•  The Book of Jubilees: This obscure Hebrew text offers an answer to a  question that has vexed Christians for centuries — if Adam and Eve  only had sons, and if no other humans existed, who gave birth to humanity? This text reveals that Adam and Eve had nine children and  that Cain’s younger sister Awan became his wife. The idea that humanity  was born of incest would have been radical — and heretical.

• The Book of Enoch: This scripture reads like a modern day action film, telling of fallen angels, bloodthirsty giants, an earth that had become   home to an increasingly flawed humanity and a divine judgment to be  rendered though denied a place in most Western Bibles; it has been used  for centuries by Ethiopian Christians. Large portions of this book were   found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

• The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: The only book that deals with young  Jesus, it indicates that Jesus was a strong-willed child who one        historian describes as “Dennis the Menace as God.” The book reveals  that at age five, Jesus may have killed a boy by pushing push him off a roof and then resurrected him. Perhaps too disturbing for inclusion in        the Bible, this book seems to contain traditions, also known to the  Koran.

• The Protovangelion of James: This book offers details of the life of  the Virgin Mary, her parents, her birth and her youth, stories not found in the New Testament Gospels but was beloved by many early Christians.

• The Gospel of Mary: This Gnostic Text reveals that Mary Magdalene may  have been an apostle, perhaps even a leading apostle, not a prostitute.  While some texts in the Bible seem to deny women a voice in the  Christian community, this text helps spark the debate about the role  of women in the church.

• The Gospel of Nicodemus: This is the story of Jesus’s trial and  execution and his descent into hell.  According to this gospel the Savior asserts his power over Satan by freeing patriarchs such as Adam, Isaiah and Abraham from Hell.

• The Apocalypse of Peter: Peter’s apocalypse suggests that there is a  way out of punishment for evildoers and implies that the threat of the apocalypse is a way for God to scare people into living a moral life, and committing fewer sins.

The documentary spoke about several controversial aspects that we have all had about the bible and the life of Jesus such as the Gnostics who went around telling people “Wake up the god within you!” Could you imagine how different Christianity would have been? WOW.

The point of making this known is to show you how spirituality became big business, but when you see Jesus as an archetype, that is a man who had the same problems as you and I and not a Deity. It becomes far easier to identify with him. When they deified him, they warped the whole movement and instead of trying to raise the god within, they began to truly idolize a human being. This is why in the Kamitic tradition people didn’t worship Osar (Asar, Ausar, Osiris) but instead honored him like a living saint. It makes more sense.

Well, hope this helps.

If you can check out this documentary. Until next time.

The Revised Prayer Room

Hetepu (Peace) Family.

I must apologize for not tending to this blog like I had in the past. This has been a real busy time for me. Those of you who have been following this know that every since my rebirth. I have been on fire. Well, I started writing my new book and here recently I just got a promotion, which proves that the spirits don’t function according to physical laws. They are held by a different set of principles. In other words, they don’t care about it being a recession. That only affects the natural or physical plane. If you fight Set on his playing field using his rules, you’ll never win. That’s why Hru had to get help from Osar.  The whole situation reminded me of a section I am writing in my upcoming book. Here’s a small excerpt…hope you enjoy.

Tarrying for the Spirit

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” 1 John 4:1

I am reminded by my ba (guardian angel) of the olden days when people use to tarry for the Holy Ghost the same way. Remember, before salvation became big business how there used to be a Prayer Room and that room was funky.  I mean it smelled funky and had that funky vibe like people had been throwing down.  If you don’t remember, let me tell you. There would be a woman or several women called missionaries (usually dressed in white reminding me of the Santeria Francisca) that would go to this room with you with a bunch of other people. In this little cramped up, no ventilation room (because it was always hot) there would be pews surrounding the walls. Sometimes in one corner there would be a stack of old beat up bibles with curled covers.  You would go kneel on the floor and repeat only two phrases, “Thank you Jesus” and “Hallelujah” over and over. Eventually, you would do it so much that you would begin speaking gibberish or what is called “speaking in tongues,” because none of what you said makes logical sense. This is how you knew you got the Holy Ghost. This is what was called Tarrying for the Spirit.

             Now, the fact that I grew up in the church and saw people get struck by the Spirit who would speak in tongues in a minute, then right after they left church would revert right back to their backstabbing, lying, cheating and you name it, hellish ways. I had to conclude that these people weren’t struck by the “Holy Spirit” but simply by a “spirit”, and that spirit most likely was someone that was very close to them. Of course, if this individual would have been properly educated about spirits they would have known that their actions, behaviors and thoughts attracted certain types of spirits to them. This is the reason most likely the individual reverted back to their old ways. Now that we have a better understand what spirits are.  What we need is that old prayer room, but this time it needs to be revised to represent all of the spirits.  So that we know which spirits we are attracting and which ones are not of God.

Copyright 2012 Derric Moore

 

 

How to Communicate with the Egyptian Gods/Goddesses (Netcharu)

My bad…My bad…You know, when I first posted information about the netcharu or Kamitic guardian spirits on the “Who and What Are the Ancient Egyptian Gods?“, I posted the Roman Catholic correspondences because the saints help me to assist those coming from this background.  I forgot to post their Christian associations, which are the forms these guardian spirits took when they first communicated to me, since I come from a fundamentalist Christian background.  I will post their corresponding forms in this post, but before doing this I wanted to explain how I made these connections.

I was not trying to plug and play but really trying to understand how these guardian angels could speak with me. I knew that others like Ra Un Nefer Amen of the Ausar Auset Society had done it using surviving information from the Indus Kush and Yoruba tradition to make a connection, but I was in the spiritual desert or TASETT (see the maa aankh) at the time. I didn’t know anything about the Indus Kush or Yoruba tradition when I first began. So I would have to try and understand both of those traditions just to scratch the surface of what I needed. I went through this arduous and long intellectual process because as I stated I was raised as an Apostolic Pentecostal Christian, which basically means “Jesus only!” For those of you who don’t know what this means, let me give you a real brief explanation.  This faith, along with Jehovah Witnesses, believes that if you do not accept Jesus (or Jehovah in the case of Jehovah Witnesses) as your sole lord and savior that your soul is going to hell (or annihilated). Your salvation is in the hands of the Lord and while giving up one’s individuality and the right to question God was considered heresy.  So, even though culturally speaking I was raised to believe in spiritual beings that we called angels or ministering spirits.  Talking to them was seen as border lining on devil worship in their eyes, so in a way you were raised to ignore your culture.

I had read numerous books on the subject and still had no clear understanding of these spirits until I met my Cuban padrino who told me a story about the orishas. Papa, the name I called him, told me a legend he learned when he was in Cuba. I am giving a condense form of the story but he basically goes like this. At bars, when Oggun comes in with Oshun, all hell breaks loose because Oshun only has eyes for Chango, which leads to Oggun and Chango fighting and that’s when Ochosi comes and carts everyone to jail.  As Elegua sits in the corner laughing at the mischief he just caused.

If you ever went to a party or bar and witnessed fighting this is usually how it occurs, which gave me the foundation I needed to connect with the netcharu myself.  It was shamanic meditation that helped me to move beyond the intellectual phase of just giving a definition of the netcharu, to actually interacting with them.

Since the Kamitic writers of old did not leave any texts explaining who and what the netcharu were and where they came from, a number of theories have been created to fill the intellectual void. Some believe they were created out of the blue, while others believe that they were anthropomorphized from nature.  I think that both of these theories are an insult to the Kamitic people of old intelligence and believed that these guardian spirits were once upon living people. For instance, the first legendary ruler of Kamit who united the kingdom was King Menes also known as King Narmer. This is no netchar named Narmer but, the closest netchar resembling these historic feats is Osar.

Why was King Narmer given another name you might ask? I don’t know for sure but my guess is that by honoring him using his name he could really only be honored as an ancestor by immediate family. By rewarding him the name Osar he was able to be honored as a saint by all people, including those outside of his family lineage. This way anyone knowing the important points of his story, because the historical account of Osar (Narmer) at this time was probably lost, could invoke the memory of the first king.  It was by admiring the positive attributes of the individual that these guardian spirits or ancestral archetypes were created that we call netcharu.  But as previously stated, the Kamitic people didn’t leave any texts explaining who the netcharu were, so with no existing information on them what do you do? How do you make contact with them? Well, by relying upon my Christian upbringing and Afro-spiritual culture.  I recalled that when the early Africans were brought to Protestant Christian North America, they were not able to create the same type of religious syncretism that their kin had done in the Caribbean and South America. They took the existing knowledge that they brought with them from Africa and using the bible created or “conjured” their own ancestral archetypes.  Using the same technique with the Kamitic guardian spirits and the bible, I conjured the netcharu and they are:

Osar (Osiris by the Greek) is Jesus

Oset  (Isis) is Mary the mother of Jesus

Hru manifested himself to me as King David from his extraordinary, naïve triumphs of a child over the giant to the humbling positioning he was placed in due to his arrogance, chauvinism and abuse of power.

Nebhet is Queen Esther, the queen that used beauty, riches and pleasure to defeat her enemy.

Hruaakhuti is none other than the two sword wielding apostle Peter

Sokar is the biblical Job who showed me how to be persistent and dance in the face of trials, tribulations, obstructions and especially illness. It was Sokar that taught me that the righteous are the ones that are reborn.

Maat appeared to me as John the Baptist the jailed prophesier who abided by and preached to the people about the Law

Djahuti is King Solomon, the alleged wisest man in the bible.

Npu is the lucky, faithful and optimistic Joseph the Dreamer. Another one of Npu’s avatars is the biblical Moses.

These ancestral archetypes that our ancestors conjured helped me to communicate with the guardian spirits or netcharu.  One lesson I had to learn was that Spirit is unlimited. It is not bound by time and space nor is it confined to rigidness of color, ethnicity or affiliation. Spirit can manifest itself through anyone and anything.  The connection has to be based upon energy.  This understanding helped me to see that even though these ancestral archetypes are not as prevalent as they were years ago. A comparison between the Kamitic legend, the biblical stories and documentaries about African American culture will give you a connection to the netcharu.  For instance, you can see the dreaming and great oratory skills of Npu manifested in Joseph the Dreamer and Moses in many preachers and leaders like Martin L. King Jr.  The same brute and sharp swords of Hruaakhuti can be seen in the Apostle Peter expressed through Malcolm X. The wisdom of Djahuti seen in the words of Solomon is expressed in the late great John H. Clarke. While the courageous, golden tongue and heir of Osar, Hru can be read about in King David’s biblical psalms and other great adventures, and seen in Muhammad Ali, and so on. Through them one can see how to invoke the power of God for self-improvement and wellbeing.

 For a complete discourse see:
Kamta:
A Practical Kamtic Path for Obtaining Power

Communion for Osar (Asar, Ausar, Osiris)? How Religious Syncretism Occurs

OMG! I can’t believed it happened but it did? Today is Easter and it is celebrated by Christians worldwide as the resurrection or ascension of Jesus Christ. And, if I had not had my unique Afro-experience. I would be celebrating Christ’s resurrection as well, but I did have that unique experience and it changed my perspective on it all.

To make a long story short, my Afro-experience began when I was searching for God. I had already read a number of books, so I knew already of the so-called “pagan” origins of Christmas, Easter, St. John the Baptist Day, etc. and how these holidays related to the solstices and equinoxes. I understood what it meant intellectually, but when I met my padrino, a little black man from Cuba.  He totally gave me a different perspective on the whole picture.

Papa, I called him, was a babalawo in the Lukumi/Santeria religion, a member of the all-male exclusive Abakwa society and an omo of Ellegua. Like many practicing santeros (practitioner of Lukumi/Santeria), he was also a Catholic and his Afro-religious beliefs were blended with Catholicism.  A concept that is very hard for a lot of us that weren’t raised in North America to understand.

Anyway, one day I remember while talking to Papa he told me that it was his custom (from how he learned the religion) that when it is Easter, to place white kerchiefs over the faces of the orishas/saints/spirits to recognize the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, for an Apostolic Pentecostal, preacher kid, that raised in North America, it was very hard for me see how religious syncretism between the African and Christian ideologies could exist. So, placing anything on an object and even having such an icon was foreign to me. Fortunately, Papa somewhat seeing my confusion displayed on my face, with a smirk told me to write it down in my libro (spiritual notebook) anyway, like he knew one day it would all make sense. So, I did just that.

In time I lost contact with Papa but as the years went by I would on occasion read what I had transcribed from Papa in my libro, which helped me in the lonely times.  During the time as I made my transition from the spiritual intellectual to practicing spiritual principles. I learned that  the Catholic church was well-known for constructing cathedrals on top of indigenous religious sites, which helped to strengthen the Church’s agenda but it also encouraged religious syncretism. Some of the earlier churches were constructed in…Guess? That’s right Egypt, which were influenced by the Copts (Christianized Egyptians), who derived a bulk of their spiritual practices from their earlier ancient Egyptian or Kamitic ancestors. In fact, some scholars are now in agreement that most of the Christian ideologies about angels was directly due to the Copts, but that’s another post.

Anyway, when my relationship with my spirits finally began to blossom from intellectualizing them to seeing them as archetypes that represent the multi-facets of life. Osar (Asar, Ausar or Osiris) the Kamitic Obatala or Oxala became the spirit that represented the lessons learned from Kamitic communalism and ideas about peace and unity. It occurred after reading the Story of Osar so many times that it began to become a metaphorical tool used by my Spirit.

That’s when it happened. It wasn’t by design (at least I didn’t plan it)… All I know is that my Afro-spirit took over and the next thing I know Osar and Jesus were combined, because spirits aren’t supposed to represent the  perfect aspects of life, but the various ways one can choose to live their life. Osar is the spirit that truly wants peace, prosperity and knowledge for all people regardless of who they are and where an individual comes from, just like Jesus.  Destruction, sin, violence, war, etc. are all due to ignorance, lack of self-discipline, hatred, jealousy, etc., which are the by-products of Set, the envious and youngest brother of Osar, who later became Set-an or Satan in Christian lore.

So when Jesus was crucified by the Romans, my Afro-spirit saw it as Osar being murdered by Set.  When Jesus tells his disciples to eat of the bread and wine in remembrance of  him. You guessed it right… My Afro-spirit saw it as Osar’s body that was hacked up into 14 pieces by Set (See the Story of Osar), to prevent Osar from being “RE-MEMBERED.” Can, I get an Amen?

I didn’t know that this religious blending had occurred within me until I went to church today. I only did it out of respect for my mom.   (Yeah, my faith is strong like that, besides I am not heartless… got to meet the people where they are at. Smile.)  Anyway… they did communion and I didn’t want to participate but Spirit told me to do so anyway. When, I did…that’s when it was confirmed to me and that’s when I witnessed religious syncretism.

The next thing I knew, this salt-less, hard, tasteless cracker was indeed the body of Lord Osar and the bitter red wine, which by the way all alcoholic beverages are taboo to pure spirits of the white cloth – Osar, Obatala, Oxala, the Dravidian Tara, etc.. When I drank the wine, it reminded me of the beverage that led to Osar’s death. The partaking of this ritual gave me a closer connection to Osar because it reminded me of my responsibilities to my community and the peace that Osar expects from me.

After communion, the congregation sung a portion of a Christian hymn by Alfred H. Ackley called He Lives. Like many Black churches, they never sing the whole song only the most pertinent portion of the hymn. The words are….

I serve a risen Savior
He’s in the world today
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He’s always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.

Religious Syncretism occurs whenever you begin making comparisons with another culture’s religious perspective. We naturally learn by associating new ideas with old ideas that we have in our personal spirit/subconscious. So, what this means is that there is nothing new under the sun.  Yes, you ask me how I know Osar lives…it is because He lives within my heart.  Sidebar…This means that the revolution against Set is truly on. SMILE

Happy Easter. SMILE,

Ancestrally yours.

Guess What the Kamitic Secret Weapon Is?

Peace Fam.

Interesting thing. Here recently, I was honoring the guardian spirits Oset and Nebhet (Nephthys, Hathor, Het Hru, Oshun, Mama Chola, etc.). And, suddenly I found myself engaged in a conversation with my wife and another Sis on the greatness. It was through the conversation, I was reminded why the Kamitic people became great. For those of you who don’t know, I travel back and forth from Michigan and Kansas. Kansas is a flat, boring and full of farmland. And, for the longest I never knew why I was brought to Kansas until I began witnessing numerous natural events that occurred like tornadoes.  I have witnessed a number of tornadoes, in fact, one of the deadliest tornadoes that hit Kansas occurred several years back in Greensburg, Kansas. This was the tornado that destroyed the whole town.  I mean it wiped the entire town off the face of the earth, which prompted former President G.W. Bush to visit (after his poor support due to Katrina) and a television show about green technology.  The interesting thing about this tornado, is that my father was just in that town 30 minutes prior to the tornado touching down.

Even though I am born and raised city mouse, while living in Kansas (farm country) there are some pretty interesting characteristics that I have picked up. It is because living in a area where the nearest major city is some three to four hours away, you learn to observe the things in nature, such as the way the animals act, the formation of clouds, how the wind blows, the smell of rain, etc. These are all signs or peculiar traits of a farmer that most city dwellers don’t know. You only pick up these traits when you live in rural areas like when you see a lot of cows sitting in the pasture, it symbolizes that rain is coming soon.These are the peculiar traits that our ancestors along the Nile River had and developed because they were one of the world’s first (if not the first) agriculturalists that were in tune with nature. People amaze me talking about how animals can be used as an early warning system to signify catastrophe because of the tsunami that hit Indonesia a few years back. Well, the only way they can be used in that sense is if you are in tuned with the Spirit of God or Nature.

But, the Kamitic people didn’t become great because of their discovery of agricultural science. While this contributed to them becoming a prosperous and powerful nation. The Kamitic society became great because of their women.  Let me say this again because I know a lot of you are use to hearing how bold the warriors were and great their kings were, because we live in a very chauvinistic Anglo society that values physical strength and might.  These are great but when they are not balanced they lead to the current state society is in now.  So, let me say it again, Kamit did not become a great nation because of these men.  They became great because of their WOMEN. That’s right, it was the SISTAHS, that made Kamit Great.

You see, thankfully the men of Kamit were humble (not weak but not arrogant and chauvinistic) and they took what the women did and made it into a science. They took the symbols and signs that women dreamed of and codified it into a symbolic language, which led to Kamit become a powerful, spiritual nation. The men of Kamit understood that they were by divine design very extroverted and in order to make things work, had to work with their counterpart, the women of Kamit, who introverted.   A true study of the Kamitic culture will reveal that the women were the Kamitic men’s secret weapon, this is why Oset was so loved and why in the Kamitic legends she is so despised by the enemy Set. Women in traditional indigenous societies weren’t prized possessions (as they are viewed in Anglo and Arabic societies). They were prized counterparts, which is why in Kamit women had similar rights as men including the right to divorce, own land and even join the priesthood – churches and religious institutions are still struggling with this one.  It is sad in this crazy world, in order for women to get respect they got to show that they are as tough as a man or they have to parade their excessively flaunt and parade their sexuality.  I remember one of the sweetest rappers back in the day was MC Lyte. Back when a rapper could blow up the spot and cap on another rapper without them and their loved ones being harmed…MC Lyte stumped lyrically beat the stank out of male and female rappers. Let’s not even talk about all those Roxanne and UTFO. (Wow Ole’ Skool).

Anyway, in traditional society.  Women were valued co-workers because they represented that mysterious part of the puzzle that exists in Nature that men cannot figure out. (That’s why we can’t win an argument! Smile).  It was only after the Euro-Indo influence that women were more valued for their sexuality and ability to produce.  Don’t believe me…watch, if you can stomach it…the movie Alexander (I still haven’t seen all of this film. My spirit will not let me do it ). Alexander didn’t know what to do with his wife played by Rosario Dawson.  Anglos not understanding the power of women, whenever  women acted themselves classified them as witches and burned them at the stake…remember Salem.  By the way, they did this all throughout Europe. They just didn’t Understand.  Westerners have always had a problem with women, which is why they blamed women for the downfall of humankind. That whole original sin thing. This stigma continues to this day, which is why many still feel it is a curse to be a woman. This is not how indigenous people around the world saw women. Our civilization was as a great as our women. If a society was great it was a reflection of the Queen Bees.

So, let me show you how this mysterious and magical thing with women work.  To use a previous example, all of the women in my family believe that if they dream of fish it indicates that someone in the family is pregnant.  They believe this because it has never failed. In fact my wife had a dream about fish and saw my cousin’s face in it and wondered what it meant. I told her it means, my cousin is pregnant and although my cousin tried to keep it secret, most of the women in my family already knew because of similar dreams and hunches. Now, what’s interesting is that besides my wife, none of the women in my family know anything about Kamitic spirituality.  Which is why it surprises them when I tell them fish are a sign of abundance and children (this is a symbolic message from the Spirit) that fall under the protection of the guardian spirit or netcharu of fertility, motherhood and pregnancy Oset (Aset, Auset, Isis, the Virgin Mary, Mother of Pearls, etc.).

Now, as I have previously stated, my mother, aunts, sister-in-laws, female cousins, etc. don’t know anything about Kamitic spirituality. They consider themselves to be God-fearing Christians women, but they are influenced by Oset as you can clearly see. This begs one to ask, are they worshiping an idol? Clearly not.  These women from different backgrounds, different affiliations and ethnicity (we have African, Native American and Latin influences in my family tree) are united because of their cultural experience and ancestral legacy, which they might be aware of or not.  This is why our ancestors along the Nile called this division of the Spirit that deals with motherhood, childhood, fertility, pregnancy, etc. Oset.



Oset is not a deity.  She is a guardian spirit, an archetype or whatever you want her to be to help you to understand the Spirit of Motherhood that can be found in Nature or Netcher and within the human being.  Nature is derived from the Latin word natura which comes from the Kamitic word Netcher – the generic term for God.   It comes from God.  Our indigenous male ancestors just put a name on it in order to better understand the complexities of the Spirit because that is how most of our human brain works. We have to understand things logically. We have to make sense of it before we can sign off on it. Unfortunately, some of us are brains are too polarized in this way of thinking, which is why most Westerners are still stuck between  Baltic Avenue and Oriental Place in regards to our Spiritual traditions, because they are biologically and culturally unaware.  They just don’t get it.

When we ignore the notion that our ancestors (along the Nile, throughout Africa, throughout indigenous America, etc.) worshiped deities and false idols, and simply categorized natural events in a sophisticated, symbolic, cultural manner which the Kamitic people called paut neteru/netcharu. It begins to make sense how our ancestors along the Nile were able to advance at such a high level. Like farmers they had to work hand and hand with Nature/Netcher, whom they called by the way Nebertcher – The Lord of Everything.  This is how the core netcharu came into being:

• Osar (Asar, Ausar, Osiris) the Lord of the Dead is the guardian spirit of peace, wisdom, purity, knowledge and fertility. Associated with the Resurrected Jesus and La Virgin de las Mercedes.
• Oset (Aset, Ast, Auset, Isis) the Mother of Revolution is the guardian spirit of positive change and motherhood. Associated with the Virgin Mary, Virgin de la Regla and Virgen of the Miraculous Medals.
• Hru (Hra, Heru, Horus) the Heir of Osar is the guardian spirit of victory, success and triumph. Associated with Samson, King David and St. Barbara.
• Djahuti (Tahuti, Tehuti, Thoth) the Lord of Change is the guardian spirit of divination. Associated with King Solomon and St. Francis of Assisi.
• Nebhet (Nephtys) Lady of the House is the guardian spirit love, beauty, pleasure, money and peace. Associated with Mary Magdalene and La Virgin de la Caridad del Cobre.
• Sokar (Sokher, Seker) Lord of the Cemetery is the guardian spirit of resurrection, renewal and illness. Associated with Lazarus.
• Npu (Anpu, Enpu, Anubis) the Messenger/Traveler between the Living and Dead, is the guardian spirit of guidance. The master of the cross-road.  Associated with the Moses and El Nino de la Atocha.
• Maat the Gatekeeper of Life/Death is the guardian spirit of balance, righteousness and sanity. Associated with Joshua and St. Norbert.
• Hruaakhuti (Ra-Hor-kahuti, Bedhuty, Herukhuti) Lord of the Double Horizon, is the guardian spirit of justice. Associated with the disciple Peter and St. George the Destroyer of Dragons.

The Kamitic devil (sort of speak) is called Set.  Set is the spirit of War, chaos, destruction, confusion, imbalance. You name it. He has his hand in it, which is why he later became Set-an and Satan in the Christian tradition.  So, when the tornado his Greensburg, I knew it was Set, because Set is the author of confusion, chaos and destruction. Unlike the Judeo-Christian belief in the devil that sees the devil as opposing God.  Ancient African science teaches that this whole good/bad dichotomy is all meant to establish balance.  For instance, because I see Set as a real force/energy, that brings destruction, his presence also signals rebirth and change. Prime example, Greensburg, Kansas is being rebuilt with new, green technology.

In “What is the Kamitic Way of Life?: Part I”, I mention how I met my padrino an old Cuban man that opened my eyes to a lot of things and taught me about building a spiritual boveda or bóveda (espiritismo). Papa was an omo-Ellegua (Child of the guardian angel/orisha Ellegua – the Yoruba opener of the Way). My Npu guided both of us to meet.  Again, some people call it magical because they prefer to quote scriptures and talk about what they think God can do but don’t want to walk on faith and make the word of God flesh (proof). When you walk on faith, it becomes a wonderful experience because God answers your prayers. I know not when things are blocked and I ask for a way to be open, I get a message from God when I see three dogs hanging on a street corner or three dogs out of nowhere cross the street forcing me to stop and pay attention. (These are all signs of Npu).

This is just an example of what Spiritual Sciences can do for you, because that’s just one division of the Spirit of God that governs one particular aspect of nature. People that don’t understand the nature of the Spirit and how God communicates to us calls this superstitions. I guess the burning bush that Moses saw would be considered superstitious too.  This is because we have been conditioned into believing that God has to make some miraculous and extraordinary sign for us to say, “Hey God is speaking to me.” As you can see, there is a part of us that has to understand things and a part of us we have to shut down and use faith to see things.  Remember according to contemporary science God doesn’t exist…but something within us knows this is not true. This is how the Kamitic men dealt with things as well. They recognized that their sistahs could see access things that they as men could not at the time.

Now, imagine if the women in my family (and all over) who believed that fish signifies pregnancy truly began to re-educate themselves about their own spirituality…what would really happen?  Did you get goosebumps? I know I did.

***Please note that cultural and religious syncretism doesn’t truly occur by intellectualizing. True syncretism or dissimulation – the deliberate of mixing beliefs and influence in order to preserve and maintain a tradition – occurs by noting observable practical similarities.   This is why I don’t identify the Yoruba Oggun and Oya with Set because they are not the same, although they have simlarities. ****

For a complete discourse see MAA AANKH: Finding God the Afro-American Way,
by Honoring the Ancestors and Guardian Spirits