6 Indigenous African Religions (Spiritual Cultures) Practiced in West

[Akyeame Kwame]

Originally Posted by XXPANTHAXX

Sister Queen Jahness and Warrior King Akyeame_Kwame, the poll has been edited to reflect ya'll views, asante sana for pointing it out..

thx XXPANTHAXX...i c this thread is gettin h t! LL

[Jahness]

Greetings Everyone!

Thanks for the update also XXPANTHAXX. Things are really cooking in here.

Stay Blessed Everyone!

[IfasehunReincarnated]

As pan-africanists how do we expect our ancestors and the Black manifestations of God to assist us in social justice?

[ras k]

some feel that we choose to re-enter this particular realm - so i am more along the lines that my/our ancestors are helping me be who i am and to accomplish my spiritual purpose...i expect them to help me along my way to be myself.

- that is to answer your question ifa.

if i may, i have a question regarding obeah.

different sources tell me different things, so i am wondering if you are equating obeah with myal(ism) and kumina...

i merely/simply/especially want to point out that obeah for many in j.a. in particular is thought of as a kind of sorcery(?) mainly used not to contact ancestors (benevolent ) but to contact duppies (wandering spirits) and to manipulate and harm people in your immediate environment...

a myal practioner is more thought of as a healer and kumina more of a group ceremony/ritual for spirit possession (apparently hailing from the twi akom - spirit possession - although some claim it hails from a kikongo word which i forget )

? do you have any thoughts / clarity on this - obeah (obayi), myal (origin unkown to me ), kumina (akom ?) ...

i appreciate this thread greatly.

ras k

[IfasehunReincarnated]

I carry the impression that Obeah is just about working with Duppies (in the degrogatory way) or what we call in Yoruba tradition Iwin. No more than I would object or criticize Palo.

[ras k]

greetings

i admit that i do not see what you are telling me.

i saw obeah listed as one of the spiritual systems.

if (as a novice) i choose to look into the spiritual systems of my ancestors, i am first going to look at jamaica.

what little research i have done regarding afrikan retentions and spiritual practices in j.a. would turn me more towards kumina or myal before obeah.

if it was not clear, i was/am asking you as an elder to me within this realm to clarify the distinction - if any - ...

in honestly answering the poll, of the six systems available, the only option i felt open to me (obeah) is one i was quite surprised to see...

if i have missed a post/thread about protocol i would appreciate if someone would point this out to me.

[IfasehunReincarnated]

I meant to say that I DO NOT carry the impression that Obeah is just about working with Duppies (in the degrogatory way) or what we call in Yoruba tradition Iwin. No more than I would object or criticize Palo.

I think its appropriate. My point is some people think it is "lower level". I do not agree. I think it one path out of many. I dont think its the only option for even those of Jamaican descent, because Jamaica isnt your ultimate orgin. But it works. The challenge is finding a reputable community to study with.

My apologies for that earlier misunderstanding. I have a great respect for Obeah.

[Chinyre]

Peace

Thank you Ifasehun for the link on the first page of this thread. I searched in SAn Bernardino today for Orumomila and met Babalawo Ifabowale and Chief Fama Aina Somadhi. Ose for That!


chinyre

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Word! You met Chief FAMA and Awo Ifabowale, good for you. This is a good thing indeed.

[Chinyre]

I know its Great! she looks so unassuming. I wouldnt have know that this unassuming woman would hold so much wisdom. i am hoping that she do a divinition for me.

[osunbaby]

Alafia Ifasehun,

Originally Posted by IfasehunReincarnated

[*] Trinidad -- Sango Baptiste[/list]

This is actually a little misleading.

Shango Baptists, Spiritual Baptists, Orisa people are not all synonymous. They are in fact different sometimes overlapping traditions.

It's kind of hard to explain, because even in Trinidad the line is blurred... however Sango Baptiste is misspelt... The Spiritual Baptists are predominantly Christian, and many of their practises have nothing to do with Orisa practise, and are closer to Congo practises and Voodoo, but even that cannot be determined as yet. To be honest the Spiritual Baptists have evolved something totally different and unique. Then there are Shango Baptists, who have a Christian veneer but do practise Orisa devotion (and the two, veneer and African practise are meticulously kept segregated). Then there are ile's that do not have mixing of symbolism in any way, and are completely African in practise and congregation. Although to be fair, almost all of these practises are done so by an overwhelmingly African population. There are lineages with some palais' stretching back to before the end of slavery, and some being passed down in families.

A wonderful book that describes the Shouters (later known as Spiritual Baptists) is a novel called "The Wine of Astonishment" by Earl Lovelace.

I just wanted to add my piece, because these kind of 'lumping together' of African Traditions in Trinidad is erroneous and not a real reflection of the diversity of those traditions.

To be honest, I think that in Trinidad there is a subset of ATRs.

Ase!

[IfasehunReincarnated]

The list is an approximation, its almost impossible to identify and clearly categorize all the spiritual cultures currently in practice in the West.

I agree w/ your observations, for the most part. Although I know from some of my elders that there a number of Sango Baptist(e) that worship the Orisa - and who are currently making strides to recover Ifa and even Odu - to let the world know that they are serious about being Ab'Orisa and not just quasi christians. This is the point of view that was of most interest to me when I first wrote this. But you're correct. There are a number of folks that also practice traditions best matched or viewed as Congolese.

If you have any more 1st hand info hit us up. I haven't talked to my folks that travel that way in a quick minute.

[Escobar]

Are their any monotheistic indegenous African religions??

Just to me polytheism isnt appealing and cannot be reconciled with reason and logic

[Balogun Arinwaka]

Originally Posted by Raqin Escobar

Are their any monotheistic indegenous African religions??

Just to me polytheism isnt appealing and cannot be reconciled with reason and logic

May I ask why not?

[Im The Truth]

Escobar,

I understand where you are coming from and you must understand what you are saying is what europeans have created, forced upon you (thinking), and lied to you about.

From my understading majority of Afrikan religion/spirituality/systems are monotheistic. To make this short (no time to fully break this down), Europeans stupidity and lack (and disdain) of spiritual knowlegde as a whole cause them to believe/make up/lie about spiritual matters. One of the biggest believed/made up/lied about concepts is that ATR are polytheistic.

The gods europeans speak of are not gods they are enegries, spirits. A rough and probably poor interpation of these enegries, spirits would be like angels in the Hebrew religion set (Judism, Christianity, Islam, and its variations).

I hope this answers your question, maybe I'll return to add more, maybe not. I'm sure there will be others to further convey this point.

In addition what would be wrong with polytheism.....spirituality is not intellectual. The history of a religion is or whether it maybe Africa or not is, but spirituality has nothing to do with intellectualism (which is european concept).

Originally Posted by Escobar

Ok the way i see it is at one time all cultures were polythiestic

Over time through the evolution of the human intellect man through reason and observation of the universe come to the conclusion that there was one God no matter how u name this God...As the world opened up and peoples came into contact with others peoples this also gave way to "tribal gods" etc became aware of others etc etc

Polytheism isnt intellectually sound...For me its not about "subcribing" to a religion but rather trying to find the truth and the true religion of god...as oppossed to just going through rituals because one says my ancestors did this and that..

Ok first based off observation if their were many Gods we would see disoder in the Universe as the wills of the different gods would be in conflict etc...But u look in the universe and there is order everything moving in 1 motion...Everything moved by 1 will, moving in tandem..

And if there was indeed many Gods then what if these gods wills were to come into conflict since they are indeed seperate inteties??So what would happen if these gods wills would conflict with each other?? By definition God has the supreme will nothing can conflict with his will.....

This and many arguments from an intellectual point of view could easily disregard polytheism...Thats why i said that...at one time all cultures were polythiestic

Over time through the evolution of the human intellect man through reason and observation of the universe come to the conclusion that there was one God no matter how u name this God...

i need spell check