CROSS CULTURES, SPIRITUAL SIMILARITIES, VENERATION AND WORSHIP

Cultures throughout the world, spiritually, are so interesting. We, at least most of us, love to learn of how people celebrate and worship within each culture, their Gods and Goddesses. In Jamaica we have Zion Revival which came out of Africa but has been infused with Christianity (as religion was forced upon Africans), nevertheless the drums and what the Zionist possesses within their mental consciousness comes out during worship through dance, songs and prayers. In Zion Revival, unbeknownst to most who are of the Order, they invoke either consciously or unconsciously their ancestors from a land far away – their ancestral homeland: Africa.

In the video below, observe the stamping of the foot. It is an act of invitation to wake up the “dead” (ancestral spirits). The groaning or grunt coming from the pit of their stomachs is also invocation for the assistance of our fore parents and also to bring forth from above (which is Celestial – this is called 60 Revival) and below (which is ancestral – this is called 61 Revival) connecting the two so as to balance these children who are calling on for help to be able to receive messages.

Observe the leader (the woman in red) @1:04 as she begins the invocation of a celestial order and @1:37 the energy now shifts, revealing to us that the spirits invoked has walked in. Notice the words of the new song: “Hark my soul, it is the Lord” this is signaling the arrival of a benevolent being. Also, watch as certain people begin to catch spirit, in other words become possessed as the singing continues. @2:32, watch the woman in blue carrying a bunch of plants and oranges. Included in the bunch of plants are ferns and other plants which are special to what Jamaicans call “River Muma” or what the Yoruba’s call – Osun. The oranges are among Osun’s favorite things to accept as offering. Water spirits have now entered the sealed ground. Always remember that nothing can occur if water is not present.

Now notice the fellow @3:11 wearing the maroon garment as he begins to “jump” in accordance to greeting the presence of the “River Muma” that has now walked in. @5:48 listen keenly to the words the man begins to chant which sounds like: Ye (mother) Maya (of water). He is saluting the water deities who are present. @7:20 the man in white commands them to “Prepare the water seal” there they will go to worship the water deity in all her glory so that they all can receive her blessing. Notice that everything is done in a coded language and with signs and symbols – this is how God speaks to us. Everything that I am explaining to you about this video, I can almost bet that most of the attendees have no idea of what everything means in it’s sequence, but what is remarkable is how as they go, the spirit teaches them and they respond to what they are being told. This is the African Unconscious.

There was a time when I visited Los Angeles, California to do divination and some work for some people there. One morning while I was asleep, I dreamt of a young Chinese girl, beautifully dressed in traditional Chinese clothing. In the dream I saw myself hurrying to what seemed like a tiny antique shop with beautiful furniture but the place was very cramped. Upon seeing me, the young girl hurried me in. As I got close to her, she whispered to me “Why have you kept her waiting? Where have you been? Hurry, she’s waiting for you in the back and she’s upset.” In the dream I seemed to know who she was talking about. As I straightened my hair and dress and held my back straight as I followed behind the girl to who ever this mysterious person was. We went to the back of the shop and there I saw one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Of course she was Chinese and dressed in green and gold traditional clothing that was embroidered with dragons, flowers, and fleeting butterflies which seemed to shimmer. She had a stern look on her face upon my approach and I felt like an unruly child in front of it’s mother.

I stood silent as she looked at me sternly and said nothing. Eventually she spoke to me through her mind and asked “What took you so long?” I answered her by saying I was sorry wit my head bowed; I dared not look into her eyes. She seemed to soften at my response and made a gesture to another young lady to fetch something for me. She called me to stand before her and she handed me a green jade statue of a woman who looked like her sitting on water lilies. She told me “take this and never stay away from me this long again.”

She also told me other things that when I woke I did not remember but I have never forgotten her. When I woke up I asked the people who I was staying with if there was a China Town there in Los Angeles. I was told yes and so I asked to be taken there. As I walked around China Town I looked for the statue the woman gave me, though having no idea what it was. But I had the strong urge to find it… and I finally saw it. It was in a tiny little shop, almost like the one I dreamed of. The man who sold the statue to me asked me if I knew what it was. He seemed to snicker as he asked the question (or maybe it was my imagination), and I told him no, I did not know what it was. He told me that the statue was of Quan Yin and that she was the eternal mother, the goddess of wealth, love, goodness, prosperity, and water. In Chinese tradition, I guess the water would explain her sitting atop water lilies.

A few months after that, again, I had another dream where a Chinese man came to me on a horse which reared up before me. He seemed like a General, dressed in full regalia; strong and impressive. He called me by name and told me that his name was General Quan Kung and that I should go and get his statue, put it in my house, and never forget him. Again as I woke up, I wondered what was that? But in his case, I did not go out to find his statue. A few months after that, he came back again in my dream, majestic on a big horse, he looked at me sternly which suggested that he was upset that I didn’t get what I was supposed to. Upon waking, I went immediately to China town and purchased his statue and took him home. He is still with me, as well as Quan Yin, and also others.

Ever since I’ve been awakened, and throughout my travels to different spiritual realms, I have met the same deities, demi Gods, spirits, in many different cultures as I am now familiar with in the Yoruba culture, of which I am now apart. My reference to Quan Yin is my first spiritual encounter with Osun, to whom I am now an initiate. I knew of Osun before meeting that Chinese woman, but upon meeting the woman in my dream, and even after purchasing the statue, I had no idea that it was Osun. Now, I have always told you here on my blog that I have a deep connection to China. Somewhere within me, I believe that possibly my last incarnation may have been there or that I have incarnated within their culture many times before. Osun knew that I would eventually find her and seat myself in the tradition of the Yoruba people, but she also sought to bring to my consciousness my memory of her within another culture, another era, another incarnation. Also, my reference to General Quan Kung is to juxtapose him within the culture of the Yoruba as Ogun, the Yoruba God of war.

It is important for you all to know that regardless of who you are, your race culture or creed, you still have the right to study or regard with goodness another persons culture. The reason being that all cultures have been crossed and have major similarities between them in way of worship, rituals, sacrifice, incantations, prayers, and more. Have you ever been attracted to another culture that you have no idea of? Perhaps you, in one of your other lives, was apart of this but during this incarnation, are unconscious to that fact. If you study the philosophies of Orunmila, the Hindu’s or of the Chinese, the Sumerians, and others, you will find that there are major similarities in the teachings in regards to spirituality, the worship of nature, and of God.

Examples of cross cultures are many but I will just mention few. I love Haitian Vodou, probably because one of my mentors was a Houngan Priest, and his name was Mr. Pierre. The Haitian divinities are called Loas. These divinities in characteristic traits and how they are venerated are very similar to how it is done in Yoruba land and other places in Africa. Within their pantheon of deities there is Papa Legba, who has very similar characteristics to the Esu of the Yoruba culture. In Yoruba culture Esu stands at the cross roads of man, he is the world police, the intermediary/emissary of God and humans. He is God’s personal messenger who keeps human beings in check and creates chaos so that there may be balance and harmony. If Esu is not appeased first at any ceremony or during any sacrifice, then the sacrifice cannot be accepted or the ceremony cannot be performed. Esu is also present within the Hindu culture as Ganesha, the elephant head God and we also find him in Jamaican Folklore coming from Ghana as Bredda Anancy. Although Bredda Anancy in Jamaica is not revered and honored as the deity Esu is but shows quality in his behavior of the character which Esu portrays.

The picture below is a veve or seal/symbol of Papa Legba, note the similarity between the picture below and the picture above, which is a representation of the Yoruba’s Esu. Please also know that Papa Legba traveled with the Haitian people from Africa, mainly from Guinea, Benin, and Togo, where he is still worshiped. The veve below clearly outlines a cross or crossroads of which Papa Legba rules over which is indicative of the role the deity from Esu to Legba plays in the lives of human beings. The difference betwen the Yoruba culture’s Esu and the Haitian Papa Legba is that Esu is pure energy, meaning unmixed with spirit, while this Haitian Loa, Papa Leba, is mixed with the ancestral DNA of the Haitian people.

Again, we will find the Erzulies still within the Haitian pantheon of spirit which are water spirits and are within every culture, such as the Yoruba’s Yemoja, Osun, Oba, Erinle (lucumi people do not worship Erinle as a water deity, but in Yoruba land he is a river deity), Olokun, Malokun, and others which are all river deities. Some are found throughout the diaspora in the ocean. In Benin Republic you will find Mami Wata. In India sits Lakshmi, the Indian’s version of same water deity Osun and of the Chinese deity Quan Yin (to name a few). In Haiti, the Erzulies are a set of feminine energies who rule over water and they are Erzulie Freda (Osun- Goddess of love and beauty and whose image and description fits that of Erzulie Freda), Erzulie Danto and Erzulie La Sirene. These are all cool spirits, of course coming from the water. Then there is Damballa and Damballa-Wedo, who can be likened to the Yoruba’s Obatala, with Damballah-Wedo as the feminine counterpart. The similarities and characteristic traits of both deities are often what identifies them.

Therefore, if a knowledgeable Yoruba man or woman were to visit Haiti or India or China and see the worship of the Erzulies, Lakshmi or Quan Yin, items that are given to these deities, descriptions of them, and even imagery, the Yoruba man or woman could easily identify these deities as the Yoruba deity Osun, the river goddess. The spirit of these deities, regardless of culture and language, always remains the same. This says something about even the God we serve. What this says to me is that regardless of what name we choose to call God within any culture or any image that our minds may attach to an emissary of God or of the Supreme itself, it matters not, no argument ever needs to be, because the spirit which is of God and his emissary’s is the same throughout the world.

The human mind is limited in it’s perception of what it does not know or is able to understand cosmologically and therefore it relies on imagery to project it’s reality. This is why you will find over 300,000 (possibly) images of Gods and Goddesses within the Hindu culture and perhaps the same through China, Mesopotamia, and more. Yet it matters not what we call them or how we perceive them, what matters is that we do regard them and know that they exist.

In reality, when one becomes awake and enlightened to these facts, then there can be no such thing as discrimination or even racism, because within the realms of time and space this does not exist. Food for thought: we are all a part of each other and not apart from each other. All connected through our reverence, veneration, worship, respect for what is unseen and for what we believe is God. The wisdom of our creator lies in how we culturally interact doing and believing in the same thing spiritually unbeknownst to us.

This is the problem with religion and  why religion is truly division. Because here the focus is on one particular emissary to the Supreme when no such thing exists. I pray that you all understand this post. I am available for your questions. I will try to do a part two as this was very hard for me to explain. More will be taught in the school – that is where the real learning begins.

Obara Meji

Ogún ọmọdé kì í ṣeré gba ogún ọdún; ọgbọ̀n àgbà kì í ṣàṣàrò fún ọgbọ̀n oṣù. / Twenty youngsters can’t play together for twenty years as thirty elders can’t hold discussions for thirty months…. Yoruba Proverb

[Change is inevitable]

Everything comes when it must, and everything happens for a reason, do not hurry your life, what is destined for you, cannot escape you, just keep the faith, be patient and be prayerful, filled with compassion, kindness and respect for all, let these qualities be among your name, God will fill in the rest…..Obara Meji!

All religions are valid as long as it teaches peace and love….Obara Meji

There are no disappointments in life, only lessons learned!….Obara Meji