Transcript A Linguistic View of Spirit: Taking the spookism out of African spirituality Asar Imhotep 8/13/2014

A Linguistic View of Spirit: Taking the
spookism out of African spirituality
Asar Imhotep
8/13/2014
Asar’s Greatest Influences
AFRIENTATION
Africa
What is Spookism?
• spookism: belief in or the practice of
communicating with spooks or spirits;
especially : spiritualism <dabbler in wireless
and has a specially equipped set which
collects the voices of the dead — Sydney
(Australia) Bulletin>
• http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/spookism
What is Spookism?
• spook (n.): 1801, "spectre, apparition, ghost," from Dutch spook,
from Middle Dutch spooc "spook, ghost," from a common Germanic
source (German Spuk "ghost, apparition," Middle Low German spok
"spook," Swedish spok "scarecrow," Norwegian spjok "ghost,
specter," Danish spøg "joke"), of unknown origin. According to
Klein's sources, possible outside connections include Lettish spigana
"dragon, witch," spiganis "will o' the wisp," Lithuanian spingu,
spingeti "to shine," Old Prussian spanksti "spark."
• Meaning "undercover agent" is attested from 1942. The derogatory
racial sense of "black person" is attested from 1940s, perhaps from
notion of dark skin being difficult to see at night. Black pilots
trained at Tuskegee Institute during World War II called themselves
the Spookwaffe.
• www.etymonline.com
What is an -ism?
-ism : suffix forming nouns of action, state,
condition, doctrine, from French -isme or
directly from Latin -isma, -ismus, from Greek isma, from stem of verbs in -izein. Used as an
independent word, chiefly disparagingly, from
1670s.
Spookism from the NOI perspective
• In a nutshell, Spookism is believing in and
teaching the existence of a spirit God. The
believe in God that's not real, not human, not
of flesh and blood not man
Etymology of “spirit”
• spirit (n.) mid-13c., "animating or vital principle in man and animals," from
Anglo-French spirit, Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c., Modern
French esprit) and directly from Latin spiritus "a breathing (respiration,
and of the wind), breath; breath of a god," hence "inspiration; breath of
life," hence "life;" also "disposition, character; high spirit, vigor, courage;
pride, arrogance," related to spirare "to breathe," from PIE *(s)peis- "to
blow" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic pisto "to play on the flute").
• Meaning "supernatural immaterial creature; angel, demon; an apparition,
invisible corporeal being of an airy nature" is attested from mid-14c.; from
late 14c. as "a ghost" (see ghost (n.)). From c.1500 as "a nature,
character"; sense of "essential principle of something" (in a nontheological context, as in Spirit of St. Louis) is attested from 1680s,
common after 1800; Spirit of '76 in reference to the qualities that sparked
and sustained the American Revolution is attested by 1797 in William
Cobbett's "Porcupine's Gazette and Daily Advertiser."
Etymology of “spirit”
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Animating force
Breath/breathe
Wind; to blow
Life
Disposition, character; high spirit, vigor,
courage; pride, arrogance
The Way of the Elders: West African
Spirituality & Tradition
“Where ever there is sky, there is Spirit”
The Way of the Elders: West African
Spirituality & Tradition
• “Every spirit belongs to Spirit . . . Some of our
spirits lived as human beings; others are
forces of nature. They respond to our
petitions, though they also operate from their
own agendas. If we are unaware of any spirits,
they are better able to exercise their own will
and roam about freely. The focus of our lives is
how effectively to interact with the world of
spirit.” pg. 4
The Way of the Elders: West African
Spirituality & Tradition
• “Nyama is the energy that emanates from Spirit
and flows throughout the universe. It is the lifeforce that links all of existence together; humans,
animals, plants, and minerals. The power of
creation and destruction, nyama commands
everything from bountiful harvests to droughts
and plagues; it directs the twinkling stars and the
rippling tides. This energy of the universe shapes
nature into its many forms and yields to our
handling of its power.” pg. 5
Sobonfu Somè
(Dagara of Burkina Faso)
The Spirit of Intimacy - pg. 13
When indigenous people talk about spirit, they are
basically referring to the life force in everything. For
instance, you might refer to the spirit in an animal, that is,
the life force in that animal, which can help us accomplish
our life purpose and maintain our connection to the spirit
world. The spirit of a human being is the same way. In our
tradition, each of us is seen as a spirit who has taken the
form of a human in order to carry out a purpose. Spirit is
the energy that helps us connect, that helps us see
beyond our racially limited parameters, and also helps us
in ritual and connecting with the ancestors. Ancestors are
also referred to as spirits.
But what can African languages tell us
about spirit?
Jean-Claude Mboli
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Urhobo
Arabic
Hebrew
Hebrew
Yoruba
Yoruba
Lugbara
Lugbara
Swahili
Kikuyu
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
erḥi
riyḥ
ruwaḥ, ruwḥreyah
ori
ori
ori
ori-ndi
roho
roho
ribo
rima
rima
rimo
rumu
rumu
roho
“spirit double”
“spirit, wind”
“spirit, wind, temper”
“scent”
“luck, destiny”
“spirit double”
“ghost”
“soul”
“spirit, soul”
“spirit”
“spirit” (123, 189)
“chest” (46, 80)
“heart, soul, spirit” (123, 189)
“soul, spirit” (23, 189)
“soul, spirit” (123, 190)
“ghost, devil” (51, 99)
“spirit, soul” (123, 191)
Spirit and breath
Jaba
Twi
Yoruba
Yoruba
Hebrew
Arabic
M-E
M-E
M-E
hyong
honhom
hon (oorun)
ohùn
hamah
hamhama
hn
hnhn
hn
“spirit”
“spirit”
“snore”
“voice” (breath of life)
“to roar” (like waves)
“to mutter”
“shout, cheering”
“soft words, lullaby, songs”
“thorax”
(controls breath/chest area)
Spirit and breath
Yoruba
Yoruba
Yoruba
Igbo
Ga
M-E
Tshiluba:
Tshiluba:
emí
èémí
mí
mmuọ
mumọ
am
nnyumà
anyìmà
“spirit”
“breath”
“breathe”
“spirit”
“spirit”
“breathe in”
"spirit"
"soul"
Spirit and breath
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Bantu: boe “spirit, soul” (123, 191)
Bantu: bili “chest” (46, 79)
Bantu: bara “name”
Bantu: bono “name” (72, 126)
Bantu: bara “name” (38, 63)
Tshiluba: mvidi "spirit“
Dogon: kinu “breath, life”
Dogon: kikinu “soul”
Numbers from Rev. W. Wanger: Comparative Lexical Study of
Sumerian and Ntu (Bantu): 1935
Wind in Kongo-Saharan languages
• PWS pi “to fly”, pí “to throw”, “feather”; PWN PAPA
“wing”; PWN PHET “blow,” PHUPH “wind, blow”, PHUP
“pigeon, dove” (flap wings), I Yorùbá a-fefe “wind,” III
Lefana o-fe-fe “wind,” V Temne a-fef “wind,” VI Mende
fefe “wind, breeze,” Mangbetu mbimbato “wind,”
Bantu pepo “wind”, Swahili upepo “wind,” Bantu
(Meeussen) peep “blow”; Fula fufede “blow” (forge);
Bantu padad “fly”; Kongo epapi “wing”, Ngala lipapu
“wing” etc.; Mande pã “to fly” (with wings), also dama
“to fly”; Mangbetu kupapa “wing”
• See GJK Campbell-Dunn (2006: 88). Who Were the
Minoans: An African Answer. Author House Publishing.
Bloomington, IN. Also Campbell-Dunn (2009b).
God xpr as divine breath (in Tshiluba)
• Cipepu or Cipepewela can also be rendered kuku-Pepa or pepula “blow, being carried by the
wind.”
• pupa, peeps, pepula, pupwila “blown”
• Cipepu-la means “strong wind,” “Breath bearer of
Ra.”
• Remember our Egyptian term: ppi
"unknown"[verb]{used about movement}
God xpr as divine breath (in Tshiluba)
• Cipepu or Cipepewela can also be rendered
ku-ku-Pepa or pepula “blow, being carried by
the wind.”
What’s in a name?
• A name is the soul of a person
• The word for name is connected with the
word for “breath/wind” and “speech”
What’s in a name?
The Egyptian kA “soul”
The “soul” in the Egyptian writing script is
rendered with the Gardiner sign D28
with the consonant value of kA “soul, spirit,
essence (of a being), personality.”
This is actually a k-r or k-l root. The /A/
grapheme is a nasalized uvular trill:
Alain Anselin in his article "Some Notes about an
Early African Pool of Cultures from which
Emerged the Egyptian Civilisation" (2011: 49)
• si3 <*s-r, ‘to understand, know > god of the knowledge’ (Old
Kingdom; Wb IV 30, 1-21), written with the hieroglyph of the cloth
(Gardiner S32); si3.t, (Pyramid Texts; Coffin Texts variant, sr3.t,
identifying /i/ as a reflex of /r/): Central Chadic: Mofu-gudur: sǝr, ‘to
know’ (Barreteau 1988, 198); Merey: sǝr, ‘to know’ (Gravina et al.
2003); Udlam: -sǝr, ‘to know’ (Kinnaird and Oumate 2003); Muyang:
sǝr, ‘to get to know’ (Smith 2003).
• m33 < *mVl, ‘to see, look, examine’ (Old Kingdom; Wb II 7, 1-10,
7), phonetically written with the hieroglyph of the sickle (Gardiner
U1), the phonetic complement of the vulture (Gardiner G1) or the
determinative of the eye (Gardiner D4) (Kahl 2004, 166-7): Cushitic:
Agaw: Bilin: miliʡy-, ‘to look, examine’; Kemant: mel-, ‘to examine,
observe’; Eastern Cushitic: Oromo: mal-, ‘to think’; Sidamo: mal-,
‘to perceive, advise’; Somali: mala, ‘thought’; Burji: mala, ‘plan’
(Anselin 2001). Omotic: Wolamo: mil, ‘to believe’; Kafa: mallet, ‘to
observe’ (Dolgopolsky 1973, 180).
What’s in a name?
The Egyptian kA “soul”
Egyptian
Akan (Niger-Congo)
Ga (Niger-Congo)
Bilen (Cushitic)
Kwara (Cushitic)
Tyo (Niger-Congo)
kA
ọkra
kla
inkēra
enkerā
nkira
“soul”
“soul”;
“soul”
“soul, life”
“soul, life”
“spirit”
What’s in a name?
The Egyptian kA “soul”
Egyptian
Hebrew
Arabic
Hausa
ciLuba
Igbo
Twi
Hebrew
kA
qero
qera
kira
akula
-aakula
mwakulu
kalu
kra
qowl
“to say”
“call”
“say, read”
“call”
“oral”;
“talk, speak, utter, express”
“language.”
“voice, sound, declair”
“call for, place an order”
“sound, voice, thunder”
Relationship between “name” and
“call”
Egyptian
Twi
kA “name” ;
b’ din “to name” ;
Hebrew
Arabic
Twi
Yoruba
Yoruba
Swahili
shem “name, fame”
‘i-sm “name, fame”
kA “to say”
b’ din “to call”
a-sem “proclamation”
e-sun “proclamation”
f’…sun “report”
sema “say, speech”
Relationship between “name” and
“call”
Yorùbá dárúko (d-r-k)“to mention, to mention the name of”
Arabic dakara (d-k-r)“to mention”
Assyrian zikaru (z-k-r) “to mention, to name”
Hebrew zekar (z-k-r) “to remember”
Egyptian sxA (s-x-A) “remembrance, memory, call to mind,
mention”
African Religion Defined: A Systematic
Study of Ancestor Worship among the
Akan (2013),
Dr. Anthony Ephirim-Donkor,
a Ghanian king,
African Religion Defined: A Systematic
Study of Ancestor Worship among the
Akan (2013),
"Kwame Gyekye, for example, maintains that
the Okra is located in the head, although, in
general, the Akan believe that the seat of
the okra is the shoulders—or that the
shoulders balanced the soul in the head as
the head, the seat of intelligence, sits on the
shoulders. Still the fact is that to call anyone
by name is to call the soul of that individual,
and since the soul is an intangible agency, it
is assumed that the dead has 'appeared' in
spirit.” (Donkor, 2013: 54-5)
KA Statue of Horawibra
KA and Paronymy
• kAwt "to carry, to support"
• kA.t “thought”
• kA.j "to think about, plot”
• kA “soul, spirit, personality, essence”
• kA “to say”
Oduyoye in Adegbola (1983: 283)
“We can then think
of kra/kla as “consciousness,”
the part of a man that
responds to a calling.”
The “soul” = “consciousness, intelligence”
• kA "ideogram for
cattle" (Gardiner sign
F1; symbolized by a
cow's head)
Alain Anselin -"Some Notes about an Early
African Pool of Cultures from which Emerged
the Egyptian Civilisation" (2011: 49)
•b3 < *b-l, ‘soul’
Angas-sura: bĕl, ‘reason, sense, to be wise, intelligence,
understanding’
•Matakam:
*bl, ‘genius, spirit, mboko’, belbele-hay, ‘genius’;
•Fulfulde:
ηbeelu (ηgu), 'vital principle in man - in danger of
being devoured by soul eaters'
•Semitic:
*bāl, ‘spirit, mind’;
•Aramaic:
bl, ‘spirit, intelligence’;
•N. Syriac:
bālā, ‘reason, attention’;
•Arabic:
bāl, ‘attention, consciousness, mind’
Alain Anselin -"Some Notes about an Early African Pool
of Cultures from which Emerged the Egyptian
Civilisation" (2011: 49)
• The bA “soul” is symbolized by a bird (a turtle
dove) and the “soul” carries the same
consonant cluster set as the word for “bird” in
African languages: e.g., Western Chadic: Bole:
mbólé, Mupun, Sura: mbul, Angas, bul,
Ankwe: Nice, Karekare: bélawi, oriental
Chadic: Gabri: bélu, bird, Bidiya: bálya, dove.
PChadic: *mbul, dove.
The bA
“soul, spirit” of a
person
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Urhobo
Arabic
Hebrew
Hebrew
Yoruba
Yoruba
Lugbara
Lugbara
Swahili
Kikuyu
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
Bantu:
erḥi
riyḥ
ruwaḥ, ruwḥreyah
ori
ori
ori
ori-ndi
roho
roho
ribo
rima
rima
rimo
rumu
rumu
roho
“spirit double”
“spirit, wind”
“spirit, wind, temper”
“scent”
“luck, destiny”
“spirit double”
“ghost”
“soul”
“spirit, soul”
“spirit”
“spirit” (123, 189)
“chest” (46, 80)
“heart, soul, spirit” (123, 189)
“soul, spirit” (23, 189)
“soul, spirit” (123, 190)
“ghost, devil” (51, 99)
“spirit, soul” (123, 191)
Spirit and breath
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Bantu: boe “spirit, soul” (123, 191)
Bantu: bili “chest” (46, 79)
Bantu: bara “name”
Bantu: bono “name” (72, 126)
Bantu: bara “name” (38, 63)
Tshiluba: mvidi "spirit“
Tshiluba: lumvwilu "understanding, intelligence“
Kikongo: bèndo “electronically radiated shadow”
Proto-Bantu *bàndà "ghost"; bàndà /mbàndà "medicine-man“
Bambara ba “essence of a person, spirit”
Numbers from Rev. W. Wanger: Comparative Lexical Study of Sumerian
and Ntu (Bantu): 1935
Tshiluba
• mwoyo "heart, life, mind, soul, courage, will, desire,
inclination, sense, mood, thought, salvation, greeting“
• Egyptian: jb “heart, mind, understanding, intelligence, will,
desire, mood, wish; think, believe, feel, fancy, perceive
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lunkanyì "spirit, intelligence, judgement"
nngènyi "intelligence, spirit"
nnyuma "spirit"
bungènyi "logic"
bukolè(à) "force, energy"
Sesotho
• lelôpô "spirit, witchdoctor";
• môya "air, wind, breath, spirit";
• semôya "mentally, spirit"
(Egyptian sbA “learning, to teach, to instruct,
wise”).
Ori - Baba Obafemi Origunwa
http://obafemio.wordpress.com/category/yoruba/
In Yorùbá symbolic language, eiye ororo (the bird
of descent) represents individual capacity for
astral travel. Placed atop the king’s crown, it
communicates female spiritual authority,
organized around what might be termed the
birds’ society. Similarly, the bird that tops the
staff of the divinity of herbal wisdom, Osanyin,
denotes medicinal potency. Likewise, ilé orí, the
shrine dedicated to the divinity within, is
completely covered in bird symbolism. Covered in
cowries, and topped with a bird, ilé orí “conceals
an allusion to a certain bird, whose white
feathers are suggested by the overlapping
cowries.” (Thompson Page 11) In this instance,
the bird symbolizes the emblem of the mind
that God places in the head of every human
being at the time of birth. Everywhere this
mystic bird appears in Yorùbá sacred arts, it
seems to signify spiritual elevation and divine
consciousness.
To think is to speak
• Speech is simply outward thinking
• One hears “voice” in head when thinking
• Thus, thought is simply organized sounds,
speech in one’s head.
• This is why the ancients considered “creation”
the manifestations of “God’s speech.”
• In Egyptian, we call this mdw nTr “God’s
words”
Amadou Hampate Ba (1981:170)
“The Living Tradition” –
UNESCO General History of
Africa, Vol. I
Amadou Hampate Ba (1981:170)
Let me point out, though, that at this level
the terms ‘speaking’ and ‘listening’ refer to
realities far more vast than those we
usually attribute to them. It is said: ‘The
speech of Maa Ngala [the Creator] is seen,
is heard, is smelled, is tasted, is touched.’ It
is a total perception, a knowing in which
the entire being is engaged. In the same
way, since speech is the externalization of
the vibrations of forces, every
manifestation of a force in any form
whatever is to be regarded as its speech.
That is why everything in the universe
speaks: everything is speech that has taken
on body and shape.
Spirit & Conscioussness
In African Traditions
DOGONA ELDERS from Mali
TOGU NA, THE DOGONA ‘HOUSE OF WORDS’
DOGANA SPEECH CONCEPT
THE WORD IS A “SEED.” THE WORD
IS MADE UP OF HEARING, VOICE , AND BREATH.
“MI” IS LIVING VOICE OR HARMONY
DOGONA WORD LEVELS OF
MEANINGFUL “GOOD” SPEECH
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GIRI SO “FRONT WORD”
BENE SO “SIDE WORD”
BOLO SO “BACK WORD”
SO DAYI “CLEAR WORD”
ADUNO SO “ASTONISHING WORD”
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“Amma preserved the whole, for he had traced
within himself the design of the world and of its
extension. For Amma had designed the universe
before creating it.” (Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986:
83)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“Each of the four sectors thus formed contained
originally eight drawings, each of which, in turn,
produced eight more. Thus, the oval contained 8
x 8 x 4 = 256 outlines, to which were added 8 (2
per semi-axis) and 2 for the center. The total was
then 266 “sings of Amma” (Amma bummo).”
(Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986: 84)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
• The vertical and horizontal lines are the
“guide-signs” (bummo giri), literally “eyesigns”
• The four pairs placed in the four sectors are
called bummo ogo, “master signs”
• The 256 signs are “the complete signs of the
world” (aduno liga bummo).
• All these signs as a whole are also called
“invisible” Amma.
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“This hierarchy of figures that composes the
central picture is in harmony with the “descent
and extension” of the world. It bears the name
of “articulated (organized) signs of the world in
descent,” indicating that each of the three
categories performs a particular function in the
development of the universe: the “guide-signs”
show the way to the eight master-signs.”
(Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986: 84)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“ ‘The guide-signs show (make known) the series of the eight
master-signs.’ This is to say that they govern and classify the
following signs. As for the ‘eight master-signs, they give soul
and life force to everything.’ In addition, these ‘ten signs
determine whether (a thing) is great or small in volume.’
Finally, ‘the complete signs of the world give all things color,
form, substance.’ Thus do they allow an understanding of the
creation, for ‘one knows the root (the principle or essence) of
things by their form, their substance, their color.’ This
amounts to saying that signs, manifestations of creative
thought, existed before the things that they determined. ‘In
the Dogon word (idea), all things are manifested by thought:
they are not known by (i.e., do not exist in) themselves.”
(Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986: 85)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“Amma’s signs, which he sent into the world,
went, entered into things which (at the
moment) became.” (Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986:
92)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“But if the sign precedes the thing signified, it is dependent upon
conscious and active mind. It is said, ‘Amma, in beginning things, chose
the bummo with thought. The first design, it is through (the work
of)thouth that it was divided (into four). It is (also by) this that the final
design (in four parts) was made.’ It is the mind which conceived and
produced the initial design and which perfected it by dividing it, so as
to specify the essence of things. In its first state, the sign is an
articulated whole, then divided into four parts, permitting the
recognition of the basic elements which give rise to the thing. But a
thing, in turn, is a rearticulation of the parts forming a complete and
unique whole, which is the thing itself: ‘The sign of Amma is one
(whole). (Amma) broke it down (into) distinct (parts), he presented the
image of the four elements, (the thing) existed (by forming) a whole.’ ”
(Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986: 92)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
And having sprung into existence, the thing
becomes conscious of itself, ‘comprehends
itself,’ as indicated by the presence of the kikinu
say, ‘intelligent soul’, in the sign. (Griaule &
Dieterlen, 1986: 92)
The Pale Fox – M. Griaule & G.
Dieterlen (1986)
“Moreover, as we have seen, first the sign and then the
diagrams are evidence of the genesis of the thing they
represent; whereas the drawing realizes it and therefore leads
it to its end. It is said: ‘The sign which one writes (is) the good
to come. The drawing that one draws is, after the good, the
bad (which) follows: ‘In Amma’s body were the signs (that is,
by accumulating signs). The signs went into each thing,
transformed themselves into drawings, drew the departure
toward the end (that is, marked the beginning of the
transition). The sign is (a) good thing (always) there; the
drawing is a thing that has an end.’ To draw is to make
(something) begin to be, thus marking the first step toward
destruction.” (Griaule & Dieterlen, 1986: 99)
The Science of Sound
What we call in Yoruba “ashe”
• Ernst Chladni who in 1787 published his
Discoveries Concerning the Theory of
Music which laid the foundations for
the science of acoustics (the science of
sound).
• One of his major discoveries was a
technique on how to make sound
visible with the help of a violin bow and
a flat plate covered with sand (see
image to left). Chladni would
perpendicularly strum the edge of the
plate and the sounds that would
resonate through the plate would cause
the sand to take different shapes
depending on the frequency and pitch.
These shapes later became known as
Chladni figures, named after its
discoverer and some of these patterns
can be seen below:
Of Water and Spirit
http://videolectures.net/aug2010_some_waterspirit/
• 1: 11, 20 + + +
• To be able to break it down into pieces, there is what we call the
discursive part, and then there is the melodic part. . . any person
who speak(s) is singing. There is a way in which you can determine
the frequency of your verbal rendention, and there is a specific
freqency that you have to stay with in order to trigger the opening
of the other world. It's not like a sentence that you can say anyway
you'd like, and then it would happen. No! And by the way it is
dangerous to say it the wrong way; something else might happen.
You might get zapped out of there. That's why I think that, you
know, the Dagara are very smart by leaving that only to people who
go through initiation who learn how to control that. And there are
many verbal keys like this. (For example) There are (is) the one that
can make you completely invisible. It can even make you invisible to
a camera.
Of Water and Spirit
http://videolectures.net/aug2010_some_waterspirit/
• 1:15:37
• A person's name is associated with a specific
function
• A person's name is an energy signature. And
so a name that is randomly assigned to
somebody could affect that person positively
or negatively
“BEAUTIFUL SPEECH IN NIGERIA” IBO
DIBIA JOHN UMEH
IGBO FROM NIGERIA
• Dibas are “speakers on behalf of God of Light
that commands and posesses the Atu, or the
‘Potent Mouth.’ Thus the saying among the
Igbos, “After God is Dibia.”
• Like KMT, the defining operational aspect of
the Igbo world view is expressed, “Truth is life,
Falsehood is death.” Dibias claim descent
from ancient KMT.
After God is Dibia, Vol. I Notes (1997) by
John Umeh
• “ ‘If the assistance of the brave is appealed for at the war monger’s place,
the brave would take up his shield or armour.’ And so it is fundamental
that the Dibia must know the true name and pronunciation thereof of the
herbs, roots, animals, birds, fish, reptiles, stones, minerals, stars, liquids,
gases, soils, Spirit, Deities, days, times of the day, ages, periods, phases,
places, sites, world ages, numbers, etc., connected with the universe,
Dibia’s word, Ogwu and so on. My father was very insistent on this. I still
remember a heated argument he once had with Ikegbe Dunu alias
Ogbukambakwe Onumba who was one of the great Dibias in my town and
died around 1953. My father asked him to name the various herbs he,
Ikegbe, had assembled for fashioning Ogwu. He succeeded in naming
about half the log and then held the remainder together and pronounced
them: aghata na ibiom Ogwu, (which literally translates “chaotic and
miscellaneous herbs for making Ogwu”). My father objected and insisted
that for any herb or root or unit for making Ogwu to be potent and do its
work efficiently, and as required, you must call it by its true name and tell
it what it normally does and instruct it on what you want it to do in the
Ogwu under preparation.
After God is Dibia, Vol. I Notes (1997) by
John Umeh
• My father concluded that failing to do so reduces
Ogwu preparation to a hit or miss affair, and the
potency, a matter of accident rather than [a] well
programmed expected outcome. He further illustrated
by stating that if someone comes into a hall full of
people and merely stands and mopes at them without
mentioning the name of the person he or she is looking
for and without telling the person when found, why he
or she is being looked for (in other words what to do),
the man or woman must have wasted his or her time
visiting, for no one will respond or act for him or her.”
(Umeh, 1997: 43-44)
Babalawo from Atlanta, Part II
Odu Ifa
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Babalawo Joseph Ohomina - Benin
“The odu of Ifa are structures of knowledge, autonomous but
interdependent agents that shape and interpret the data-saturated
environment, providing portraits of intersubjectvity that are shared
between artificial entities and ourselves; dramatising interaction
between synthetic and organic life, provoking exploration and
interaction that enhances curiosity in the face of emergent
phenomena which are beyond our control. They are agents, elements
of a system, sharing information, adapting and evolving with a
changing environment, developing intricate interrelationships. They
are spirits whose origin we do not know. We understand only a small
fraction of their significance. They are the brains behind the efficacy of
whatever we prepare. They are the spiritual names of all phenomena
in existence, whether abstract or concrete; plants, animals, human
beings, the elements; abstractions such as love, hate, truth and
falsehood; all kinds of situations; concrete forms such as rain, water,
land, air and the stars; situations such as celebrations, conflict,
ceremonies, are represented in spiritual terms by the various odu.”
Dr. Sylvester James - Adinkras
Theoretical physicist
Dr. Sylvester James - Adinkras
Dr. Sylvester James - Adinkras
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The Healing Wisdom of Africa
• "In the indigenous world, the physical human
constitution is regarded as an expression of mind
and Spirit, and a rather limited expression at
that." (Some, 1998: 60).
• "The indigenous belief of the Dagara is that we
are primarily Spirit. In order to exist as material
beings, we have to take a form, and there is the
sense among my people that to be in matter is
not the most familiar or suitable form for us."
(Some, 1998: 61).
THE SEVEN HERMETIC PRINCIPLES
•
1. The Principle of Mentalism.
2. The Principle of Correspondence.
3. The Principle of Vibration.
4. The Principle of Polarity.
5. The Principle of Rhythm.
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect.
7. The Principle of Gender.
The Kybalion
THE ALL IS MIND - The Universe is Mental
This Principle embodies the truth that "All is Mind." It
explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality
underlying all the outward manifestations and
appearances which we know under the terms of "The
Material Universe"; the "Phenomena of Life"; "Matter";
"Energy"; and, in short, all that is apparent to our
material senses) is SPIRIT which in itself is UNKNOWABLE
and UNDEFINABLE, but which may be considered and
thought of as AN UNIVERSAL, INFINITE, LIVING MIND.
Dr. K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau,
Nganga from Maniaga, Congo
“Hearing is seeing, and seeing is reacting/feeling. Life is fundamentallly a process of
perceptual and mutural communicaqtion; and to communicate is to emit and to
receive waves and radiations {minika ye minienie}. This process of, receiving and
releasing or passing on {tambula ye tambikisa} is the key to human being’s game of
survival.”
K.K. Bunseki Fu-Kiau – Kongo Nganga
KONGO WORD
• Like inscriptions incised upon our calabashes, our
pottery, and our masks, speech remains among Black
Africans what it always is : namely, a thing unveiling,
a thing unveiled, a thing remainnig to be unveiled. It
never exhausts its message. Its speech is suggestive,
in senses virtually extreme, because of its
fundamentally enigmatic spirit, pluridimensional or
pluridimensionable. In its comprehensiveness, this
mode of speaking forever raises points anew
because, it speaks with an imitative voice. J.
Kinyongo
Ra w nu prt m hru [Spoken words for coming into
enlightenment]
MAKE
MAAT
Egyptian Opening of the Mouth Ceremony
WITH THE SEB-UR WE OPEN YOUR MOUTH
KONGO COSMOLOGY
BWENDE AND BEMBE NIOMBO KONGO
‘MUMMY’ OPEN MOUTH
“Go with our tears, wet upon your face, and represent our problems among the
dead: be our medium.” By similar interpretation, the open mouth, with the lips
rendered in relief, symbolizes the leader speaking to the dead: “the funeral is
over and now he is talking in the other world. All niombo should have open
mouths. This means there is speech in the other world.” …If the open mouth of
the niombo brings parlance into the other world, and tears code messages of
shared concern, the towering gesture of the niombo, right hand up, left hand
down, in similarly significant. It maps the boundary to be crossed; it identifies
the cord connecting life to death; it is “the crossroads pose.”
… The niombo gesture…also marks a person’s transition from this world to the
next. On behalf of his community, niombo hails the heavens and the horizon line.
When you die you automatically become an ancestor. But not everyone becomes
a niombo. Being buried in a niombo figure means the community believes this
person will become our medium.
• Robert Ferris Thompson Four Moments of the Sun (1981: 61-62)
“Yoruba medicine is very closely connected with incantations and powerful words that
one must utter. Sometimes if you don’t utter these words, medicines don’t come alive.
Most of these words … have their roots in IFA’, (GOD OF WISDOM.)”
BABALAWO WANDE ABIMBOLA, YORUBA, NIGERIA
JELE AND JELIMUSO (‘GRIOTS’) WEST AFRICA
WEST AFRICAN JELE NOT “GRIOT”
Other Notes
• Bonaabakulu AbaseKHEMU - The Brotherhood of
the Higher Ones of Egypt. Founded in the reign of
Khufu whose founder was a priest of Isi (Auset, Isis)
• Ukwazikwesithabango , which means that science
which depends on the power of thought
• Dogon – divides their country into Upper and Lower
(so does Rwanda) and the colors are Red and White.
Red represents success in cattle herding (look at the
Massai) and white for successful agriculture and all
its industries including metallurgy
Ideology as a source of power
• A source of power…in fact
the ultimate base of
power…is the power of
ideas. The power of mind,
of thought, imagination and
vision; the power of
symbols and the word; the
power of ideation and the
translation of ideation into
action, are manifested in a
multitude of personal,
social, cultural and physical
forms.
• Dr. Amos Wilson,
Blueprint for Black
Power pg. 220
The Honorable Marcus Garvey on the
Benefits of Science
"Dive down Black Men and Dig! Reach up Black
Men and Women and Pull all nature's knowledge
to you. Turn ye around, and make a conquest of
everything, North and South, East and West. And
then when ye have wrought well, you would have
inherited God's blessings, you would have become
God's chosen people, naturally you'll become
leaders of the world because of the superiority of
your Mind and your achievements (…) The world is
indebted to us for the benefits of civilization. They
stole our arts and sciences from Africa, then why
should we be ashamed of ourselves (…) And out of
our own Creative Genius we make ourselves what
we want to be, follow always that great Law.
The Honorable Marcus Garvey on the
Benefits of Science
There is no Height that which you cannot
climb without the active intelligence of
your mind. Mind creates and as much as
we desire in Nature, we can have through
the creation of our own minds. But in your
homes and everywhere possible you must
teach the higher developments of SCIENCE
to your children. And make sure...And
make sure that we have a race of
SCIENTISTS PAR EXCELLENCE! For in
science lies our only hope to withstand the
evil designs of modern materialism.
Definition of Àṣẹ
• Àṣẹ: a coming to pass; law; command;
authority; commandment; enjoinment;
imposition; power; precept; discipline;
instruction; cannon; biding; document; virtue;
effect; consequence; imprecation.
• Dictionary of Yorùbá Language.(1913). Church
Missionary Society Bookshop. Lagos, Nigeria.
Egyptian
wAs “scepter”
wAs “dominion, have dominion, power”
wAs “honor (due to a god or king), prestige”
wAs “fortunate, prosperous, well-being,
prosperity”
wAs “to batter, to strike, to break, to bruise, to
lay”
wAs “ruin”
wsi “to saw, cut up, trim”
[1]There
Yorùbá
àṣẹ “scepter”
àṣẹ “law, command, authority, power”
ọ̀ ṣọ́ "elegance, finery, neatness, jewels"
ọzō (Igbo) “honor, title of high degree”
[Pulaar wasu “glorification” (Lam, 1994: 44)]
ajé “money, the goddess of money” (s>j)
àṣẹ “the force to make all things happen and
multiply” (Thompson, 1984:18)
[Pulaar waas “riches” (Lam,ibid.)]
ọṣẹ́ “hurt, injury”;
ẹṣẹ́ “blow with the fist”;
ṣá (ṣalogbe) “to cut, to wound with a knife”; aṣá
“a heavy spear or javelin used to kill
elephants”(with noun forming prefix a-);
oṣe “club of god of thunder [Ṣango]” (a striking
instrument);
is also àjé “the spirit of a bird” used by women (Ìyáàmi) to invoke powers used for abundance and justice.
Woko Staff –
Hangool Staff
Hamar, Ethiopia
– Afar
[1]
See Lam (1994: 58)
A = Egyptian staff (Cairo Museum)
B = Peul of Sengal (A. M. Lam)
C = Nanakana of Ghana (I’Fan Museum Dakar)
Goddess wAs.t
“the powerful female one.”
• wsr “make strong, powerful, wealthy,
influential”
PR AA MERYIBRE KHETI Teachings to son
MERIKARE c. 2100 BCE
• Be skillful in speech, that you may be strong; [///] it is the
strength of [///] the tongue, and words are braver than all
fighting; none can circumvent the clever man [///] on the mat;
a wise man is a [school] for the magnates, and those who are
aware of his knowledge do not attack him. [Falsehood] does
not exist near him, but truth comes to him in full essence, after
the manner of what the ancestors said.
• Copy your forefathers, for [work] is carried out through
knowledge; see, their words endure in writing. Open, that you
may read and copy knowledge; (even) the expert will become
one who is instructed.
AFRICAN DIASPORA
Master
Teachers