What Traditional Afrikan Spiritual System (Religion) Do you Practice

[IfasehunReincarnated]

What Traditional Afrikan Spiritual System (Religion) Do you Practice?

Please take poll before offering any detail.

There is a lot of dicussion about what white folks are doing and what they do to OUR culture when they get their hands on it. So in reply, I ask, are you so impressed, so passionate, so Afrikan that you have decided to reclaim these cultures rather than let other people get their hands on it?? Are you so confident in your Ancestors that you would follow in their footsteps? Are you so disgusted by the stripping our our culture from us that you couldn't wait to get it back?

[Divine Prince Ty]

Peace and Blessings, very intriguing post. I support (formally) ALL TRADITIONAL AFRIKAN based religions. I think it is a mistake to continue to separate them. What you have listed here, have more in common than they do differences. We must continue to support each other and come together with our simularities. Orisha worship is Orisha woriship. Give thanks, e se(ASHE)!

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Each of these systems must be viewed as brother and sister but not the same. A Vodunsi may know nothing of the Akan way of practice, which is why a Vodunsi cannot enter a traditional Akan temple and begin to work with the Gods of that Temple all willy nilly.

BUT the purpose of this thread is not to seperate anything. Its to acknowledge that rather than talking about Afrikan culture as if its a thing of the past, or something that we want to keep others from, we ought to be thinking of it as something that is timeless and worthy of practice and perservation.

Lastly, you misunderstand the term "formally" - by that I mean, you have been inducted into a system and lineage, which has been specifically approved of by your Ancestors (through a genuine Afrikan process, like divination, possession etc etc) and you follow the culture of that system. I am not talking about a general "support".

I support ALL indigenous traditions, Afrikan or not, but my formal participation is different and much more exclusive, because it requires commitement, study, hands-on practice and access to the sciences that built that system.

[Divine Prince Ty]

I understood 'formally' to mean, actually initiated into the traditions. We are so quick to through hatred and separatness at each other, its no wonder we cant influence more people to leave traditional so-called amerikkans religions and join us.

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Clarification is not hatred. And again, please don't accuse me of seperating anything. I've already stated that wasnt my intention.

[IfasehunReincarnated]

Oh! And so no one is confused, I do not mean "formally" to mean "initiated". I am mean you are a devotee in a specific system and specific lineage and you have a relationship with initiated elder in that system and lineage. Nothing more, nothing less. Participation in traditional culture doesn't always require initiation.

[Pain]

I'm studying the Akan Akom spiritual system. I haven't actually had an Okomfo divination yet to find out my lineage. Ifasehun, you know the deal with that from another thead. I'm both working to find one here or to travel to a state that does have them such as Maryland or New York. For now, Akan is what's calling me the most. Vodun, Ifa, Igbo all appeal to me too, but Akan calls me the most. I could be dead wrong I know. lol I'm just rolling with it. Aside from studying online, offline just recently I bought the book "The Quest For Spiritual Transformation; Introduction to Traditional Akan Religion, Rituals and Practices" by Nana Akua Kyerewaa Opokuwaa. So the next thing I'll be doing is setting up a personal shrine, but not before I e-mail Afsani with a couple of questions based off of what I have read so far.

Below is how I feel about the unity of our spiritual systems/ ethnic groups issue. To me, also, our spiritual systems are pretty much ONE. I see the differences in them almost as denominational differences in Christianity. Also, I concur with what Ifasehun has stated so far in this thread as well.

Htp



Whenever you approach the origin of things you will have a multiplicity. For example with languages. If you want to find the origin of so-called "Afro-Asiatic" languages you will be taken to Ethiopia. There are more "Afro-Asiatic" languages there than anywhere else combined. If you want to find the origins of language it is with so-called black people. Among so-called black people you will find more languages than all the languages combined of non-black people in the world. Genetically, so-called black people are the most diverse on the planet. We have more alleles than any other people. Alleles are what account for genetic variation within so-called races. All the non-black people in the world are genetically more closely related to each other and us than we are to each other. This is why you can have one group of us like the !Kung in Southern Africa who will be more closely related to people from far east Asia/ the Alaska natives than they are to another group of us living 1 mile away from them. You need that type of diversity to create anything. Gotta have something/s to create with. Just as "God" is the ONE that is ALL, we are the physical manifestation/ representation of God on this plane/t qualitatively, not quantitatively. This understanding is manifested even in our original spiritual systems that were misconstrued as mere polytheism which doesn't begin to capture our concepts.

The unity/ unification is understood/ perceivable in the over-all result/ goal/ purpose/ effect of the different parts that we play. The result/ effect is the maintenance of divine law and order for the goal/ purpose of experience. This is wholistic thinking. People who classify themselves as white invaded the different areas of the world and found people behaving much in the same manner as I am describing now and because of their left-brained/ uni-hemispheric tendencies, they could not perceive the interconnectedness of not only the people, but the people and the rest of nature itself. They could not see the result/ effect/ purpose. Therefore they always sought to manipulate the people, the environment, the animals to behave in such a way that their purpose now became to produce a result or an effect that was beneficial primarily to people classified as white. This is the problem with seeing only the parts of a thing and not the whole. This is a fragmented mindset. This type of mind always seeks to separate/ segregate as if one thing totally has nothing to do with the other.

When one has an understanding of WHY we are as diverse as we are, we begin to understand that the likely result of ALL of us becoming one nation (with what the implications of nationhood are), is the end of our experience, the end of creation, the end of existence. The key is in how we did it before, but remember that there's always room for improvement. The "great" civilizations that we have had such as Kemet, The Indus Valley civilization, Sumer, Kena'an, Ta-Seti, the early empires of Japan and China, the Olmec civilization, Songhay, Mali, Ancient Ghana, Great Zimbabwe and so on only required some out of the whole. These civilizations were an amalgamation of different groups of so-called black people who recognized the commonality in the goal/ purpose/ result/ effect of their spiritual nature/ mindset and behavior. They decided to organize and consolidate. However, in my opinion, a couple of the main reasons we are in this mess right now is because we did not heed the word of our ancestors first of all and we also didn't take it a step further by protecting each other. We witnessed them taking our brethren in Asia asunder and we didn't make up our minds to protect each other. Kemet was an amalgamation of different African ethnic groups with their own spiritual systems. They didn't give up their respective spiritual systems and didn't have to in order to become a nation. It was good that when so-called white people first invaded the north of Afuraka and we had to retreat to the interior that we had our original uncorrupted culture still in tact and to go back to. This is also another reason why I don't think we all need to be united in the sense that some people think we should be. All so-called black people are not going to change from their way of life to do things the way that I think we or some group of us think we should be doing it and there won't come a time when all so-called black people decide that they all want to be a part of one nation. Not everyone will be willing to sacrifice their culture like that. Some out of each group, however, will concede to their understanding and some is all we need. That some will serve as representatives/ ambassadors of their respective groups. They will be the ones who bridge the gaps and create unity/ unification in a way in which we've never had before and we urgently need. First we take it back, then from there we take it further than we did before. That step further that I'm talking about is simply the understanding that WE PROTECT EACH OTHER. We don't stand by and watch some outlaw people loot, plunder, rape and commit genocides against our people. We can have our respective spiritual systems without fighting with one another. I haven't heard of any ethnic group in Africa being ordered by the Vodu, the Orisha, the Arusi or the Abosom to kill or commit immoral acts against another ethnic groups. The problems we have with each other are not because of our spiritual systems. The causes for those problems have to do with things we discuss all the time on here so it isn't necessary for me to get into.

I know it was long. That's me. I'm long winded. This is pre-typed so it isn't meant to offend anyone.

Htp

[Mtangulizi]

I have not yet decided on one. I have met folk from Aussar Ausset and from Smai Tawi Ankh Ascenscion Renaissance who impressed me very much (the latter moreso than the former). I have been to a function by Onipa Abusia in Queens, which does the Akan Akom tradition. I have been studying Yoruba teachings through such works as Handbook on Yoruba Religious Concepts, as well as Kemetic History and teachings by the likes of Diop, Dr. Ben, and Ra Un Nefer Amen. I have been trying to get knowledge of the traditions of my own people, the Kalabari-Ijo of the Niger Delta, but it's hard to do so without meeting people with christian blinders on who derogatorily call it juju.

So I'm very much in exploratory mode right now. Prolly when I move to Brooklyn later in the summer I will get more serious and get down with one or more groups or traditions. For the moment the majority of my night meetings with Afrikans are political. The Akan Akom folk really placed me in flashback mode when I saw their work because it was almost identical to the teachings and practices I'd seen in Nigeria.

[Im The Truth]

Learning Orisa'Ifa specifically and learning Afrikan Tradition in general.

[Simba Nerevu]

I am formally learning Orisa'Ifa. I also utilize some elements of Akan and Kemetic spirituality in my daily shrinework and other rituals.

[Moorish Rebel]

Right now, I am a student of Traditional African Spirituality. I am at that stage of learning and becoming well educated on the various spiritual systems of the ancestors but I do incorporate certain principles of Kemetic spirituality into my own.

[Kentake]

Hotep family!,
I was initiated canzo/hounsi in the Vodun (Haitian-derived) tradition in 2003 here in Montreal. however, i incorporate Orisa'Ifa practices in my daily spiritual life as i am completely open 2 learning the best ALL systems of African spirituality has 2 offer, i pray/pour libation/do my orikis in Yoruba/Twi as well as in creole, patois and english. in 2002, while i was in benin city,nigeria i visited a SHANGO shrine for the 1st time, i also spoke 2 the priest about my interest in re-learning Afreekan spirituality. i also visited Ghana and this was the 1st time i took part in a ceremony and also the 1st time i saw some1 possessed by an orisha. i found it shocking that it was not something unusual for me to see, almost as if i had seen it b4. my primary reason for my visit 2 Afreeka was 2 learn about the still existing Afreekan spiritual systems in the continent, at the time i was involved with a society based in Ghana called AFRIKANIA, unfortunately i was unaware of their discriminatory policies towards Afreekan people of the diaspora. so upon my return i was "called" to be initiated and i did so in november 2003.


My strong desire to know, learn and study continually the many aspects of Afreekan spirituality (continental and diasporan) i strongly believe is something passed down to me by my ancestors, embedded in my genes as a daughta' of jamaican maroons. i still find it strange sometimes that as some1 who was raised/baptized as a catholic, in the catholic church w/ my mother almost every sunday with the yurugu jesus and all the blond sickly-looking saints (and was even sent to summer camp and sleepaway camp with the yurugu nuns!) how did i develop such an unsatiable desire to learn about the Afreekan spiritual tradition, without having ever been exposed to it in my upbringing?? i can honestly say that i am at the most peaceful place in my life right now and this is undoubtedly due to my spiritual life and my unison with the tradition of my Afreekan ancestors...i also deeply believe that this is THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE PATH 4 ALL AFREEKANS TO FOLLOW IF WE ARE TO EVER ACHIEVE TRUE LIBERATION FROM GLOBAL YURUGU SUPREMACY, DOMINATION AND PERSECUTION. AFREEKAN SPIRITUALITY IS THE ONLY FAITH THAT ALLOWS US TO MAINTAIN TIES WITH OUR ANCESTORS/EGUN AND THE ENERGETIC FORCES OF LIGHT/ORISHAS THAT HAVE "WALKED WITH US" SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME!! I KNOW NO OTHER TRADITION FOR AFREEKAN PPL THAT WILL RE-ESTABLISH OUR CONNECTION TO OUR GLORIOUS BEGINNING. this is why it shocks me to the core when i hear of caucasians and any1 else other than Afreekan ppl being initiated in2 our spiritual systems-to me this is SLOW SUICIDE.



I celebrate in ceremony exclusively with my spiritual mother and the society to which i belong, due 2 the fact that i was initiated with them. also in Montreal it is mostly ONLY haitians here who practice our tradition. the majority of other caribbean/afreekan-canadian born
& also continental africans etc. population here is inherently terrified of anything that faintly resembles Afreekan spirituality. my family members still don't know that i am deeply involved in Afreekan spirituality, even though my mom and my sister are "suspicious" and question my beliefs. they have also heard from other fam. members that "i have gone to see an obeah woman". i consider myself fortunate 2 know the traditional haitian community and 2 be a part of our Afreekan tradition, for if it was not 4 the haitian pop. in montreal i would not have the opportunity to be involved in our tradition, as this city is truly a "cesspool of white death" as AK would say! thank Olodumare, there are no caucasians in the society to which i belong. i am still re-searching, studying, learning as much as i can about the Vodun/Ifa/Santeria/Candomble/Akan etc. tradition(s) and everyday i realize more that there is so much to learn about who we are as an Afreekan ppl, so much 2 learn about the sacred traditions we have inherited from our ancestors....which so many of us are completely ignorant of or have willingly neglected and cast aside for christianity and islam-those so-called "civilized" religions that enslaved our ancestors and have us where we are as a people 2day.....


UHURU!,
Sistah Kentake.

[PapaTallTree]

I am presently studying and practising the Akom (to possess) way of life.

[Kweku_Omowale]

well like the great sangoma credo mutwa which is now with the ancestors said,that all afrikan esoteric knowledge and spiritual science
are pratcically the same depends where you go,it has different name,i practise
orisa ifa,kamdomble is derived from nigeria,although in brazil,with the variety of afrikan peoples that landed in bahia,rio,pernambuco we have kamdomble angola,jeje and nago
ubanda is derived from afrikan mystery system with amerindian

[Pain]

Credo died?