African mythic science or Vodou methodology.
Martin, Denise
African Mythic Science or Vodou Methodology
Atibo Legba, open the barrier for me
Papa Legba, open the barrier for me
To let me through,
When I come back, I will salute the loa
Voodoo Legba open the barrier for me
When I return, I will thank the loa (1)
"Voodoo," Papa or Atibo Legba guards the threshold
between the physical and spiritual worlds according to the Haitian Vodou
tradition. He also delivers messages to and among the lwa, who are the
deities, divinities and supernatural powers in the Vodou cosmos. For
these reasons, he is the first lwa petitioned during Vodou rituals. He
is saluted first here because the purpose of African mythic science is
to present a method for analyzing the experience of African peoples
using African myth as a frame of reference. In other words, mythic
science connects the physical world of experience with the spiritual
world of myth--similar to the way African cultures themselves interpret
their own experiences.
This article introduces the basics of an African mythic science or
Vodou methodology by first describing myth from an African cultural
perspective and then discussing how myth is a living phenomenon by
applying prominent archetypes in African myths to the
African/African-American experience. Lastly, the article presents tools
for a mythic analysis or developing a "mythic mind." The tools
include recognizing and decoding symbols, metaphors, patterns and
archetypes described in myths, again demonstrated by analyzing the lived
experience of African people. With this foundation, the reader will be
able to use the principles in African myth to generate a holistic
African-centered analysis of African people.
Mythic science is an integral part of an African-centered
theoretical perspective which challenges the researcher to place African
values at the center of their analysis. With myth as a valuable, if not
pre-eminent, source for knowledge and meaning within African culture, it
is a necessary component for an African-centered methodology. Myth
details creation, origins, deities and their functions, the first people
and ancestors, animals, nature and the relationships amongst them all.
African cultures view their societies as extensions of their myths. The
mythic events flow directly into society in a very tangible way. Far
from being fanciful and fantastic, African myth contains knowledge
necessary to negotiate the various rhythms of life. Myth supports all
religious, political, social, and cultural activities. Therefore, a
methodology based on myth enhances the discussion of any aspect of
culture. Mythic science is holistic enough to allow for a
multidisciplinary analysis and specific enough to support an analysis
from a single discipline. In these aspects, plus the fact of being
rooted in a most essential aspect of African culture, mythic science
resonates with African-centered theory and methodology.
African mythic science is described as a Vodou methodology because,
like Legba, who opens the gate between the worlds, it opens the world of
experience to the world of myth. It also comes from the exquisite
ability found in Vodou to choreograph the rhythms of various
mythic/spiritual traditions and cultures into the Haitian experience.
Vodou includes the essential elements from the sacred cultures of
Africa, the harsh experience of enslavement, the joy of emancipation,
the presence of French Catholicism, the reality of poverty and the
enduring struggles to live a full life in harmony with each aspect. The
diverse elements of Haitian Vodou are bound together by Guinen. (2)
Guinen is the spiritual essence of Africa and the means by which
Vodou is validated. According to Joseph Murphy, Guinen is "the
criterion for harmonious and moral action" and the standard of
authority for tradition. (3) Harmonious and moral action is none other
than Maat from Kemetic culture and the authority for Vodou is based on
spiritual knowledge from Africa. By serving Guinen, Vodou places the
spiritual sphere of Africa at the center which is the epitome of African
centeredness. In an African ontology the spiritual is both central and
omnipresent. In ritual, the poto mitan is the central post that connects
present day ritual participants to the historic, symbolic and
metaphysical Guinen, which is the source and lifeline of Vodou as well
as an "orientation to a historical memory and a living
reality." (4)
African mythic science or Vodou methodology is like the poto mitan
in that it is an orientation to memory and reality that reconciles the
historical and living experience of African people with African
spiritual and cosmic reality. Reconciliation is important because
"experienced reality is a symbolic statement of universal or cosmic
truth." (5) The reconciliation of experience into a broader cosmic
reality establishes Maat by ordering the physical and spiritual worlds.
In addition, like the practice of Vodou, myth also helps people heal.
(6) The sacred narratives, or myths, of African cultures are archives
for the deeper mysteries of Life and matters of cosmic reality. Through
story and symbol mythic archives explain how to negotiate the
relationships and rhythms of Life. African mythic science correlates the
rhythms of Life discussed in the archives with both the collective and
personal experience of African people. African mythic science seeks
patterns and symbols in these experiences and correlates them with
Guinen.
The transient and enigmatic qualities of the mythic archives of
Guinen present a welcome challenge to the scholar, researcher or
intellect interested in an African-centered methodology as it relates to
symbolism, archetypal patterns, polycentric thinking as well as African
epistemology and ontology. Like Vodou, myth is a living practice that
evolves and transforms with the people. Engaging myth requires the use
of an African epistemology that calls on intellectual faculties,
intuition, extrasensory perception, humility and a holistic worldview.
(7) African epistemology also requires a "special kind of
interpretation" of extraordinary life events and natural
phenomenon. (8) Mythic science integrates these qualities of knowing
that are determined by and essential to African culture into a
methodology. "Mythological insight starts where scientific inquiry
stalls." (9)
Astonishing Word
Given the insights into the deeper mysteries of Life possible using
a mythic sphere of inquiry, the Dogon description of myth as
"astonishing word" is appropriate for this discussion. In the
Dogon tradition, myth constitutes the whole of the coherent themes of
creation and the structure of the universe both of which are expressed
through their everyday and ritual life. (10) It is as important to know
and innerstand the themes and structures as it is to live them. (11)
Therefore everything in Dogon culture correlates to their myth. (12)
Though the Dogon archives contain rare explicit references to myth as a
concept as it relates to their knowledge, they are not alone in their
use of myth. Other African cultures use myth as the fundamental
organizing narrative to express their worldviews. Myth describes the
origin of the Earth, human beings, and the relationships among both as
well the entrance of death into the world. Myths declare and define the
deities, divinities, powers and principalities in creation and how to
engage them. Myth determines the structure of society and the occasions
for and aesthetics of ritual. Myth informs all creative expression.
Myth reveals the ultimate nature of existence. It is in this sense
that they are "true." They explain what Life is all about
beyond the concerns of everyday living. (13) As Ford writes,
"Properly read, myths bring us into accord with the eternal
mysteries of being." (14) "Properly read" means that
interpretations of myth be symbolic, metaphoric, and archetypal as
opposed to literal and true in the objective, empirical sense. The truth
of myth is experiential; one that is validated in the lab of life. Myth
is so essential to African culture the Dogon proclaim it to constitute
"real history;" in Kemet the myth of Ausar and Auset sustained
the people for millennia; and the Yoruba oral archive of myth known as
the Odu Ifa is consulted faithfully for guidance with life's
concerns. (15) These myths assume various forms--stories, poems, dances,
masks, sculptures, paintings, shrines and stone etchings among
others--and constitute the collective traditional, classical, or
indigenous African mythic archive.
Though myths influenced by Christian, Islamic or European thought
and culture also exist on the continent, the focus of this analysis is
the mythic archives indigenous to the African mind and/or that give
primacy to the African experience regardless of cultural space and time.
For example, the Vodou tradition of Benin, Togo and Nigeria includes
myths from Fon, Ewe, Yoruba as well as Catholicism, Islam and Hinduism.
However, the worldview, practices, and aesthetics and function of Vodou
are distinctly African. Likewise, the extensive mythic archive of Kemet
for all practical purposes was quite dormant among African people for
millennia until the twentieth century when it was activated by both
intellectual and social communities. (16) It exerts a powerful influence
over the spiritual psyche of many African people. In turn the African
people who awaken to the mythic archive of Kemet increase and fortify
its ashe or occult cosmic power. Thus cultural space and time belong to
the mundane not the mythical. However the mythical very much belongs to
the mundane because it helps make sense of the mundane.
Living Myth
"What is the myth you are living?" noted psychoanalyst
Carl Jung would ask. (17) This question can be interpreted several ways:
what particular mythic figure most mirrors your life or what particular
mythic tradition are you living? The answers are rarely straightforward
because there are different myths operating in the world and a person
experiences different stages of life so rarely would one myth apply to
all of them. Also, the nature of myth is such that even within a
specific myth, there are several variations of narratives. Myths are
constantly reinterpreted by people so they reflect a variety of life
experiences. In the African mythic tradition for example, the myths of
Ausar in Kemet and Ogo among the Dogon both have several variations
though the overall themes of each remain the same. (18) The same holds
true for Legba/Eshu in the Vodou/Yoruba traditions who each have
multiple even apparently contradictory aspects. (19) The complexity of
myth is further increased with experience and from encounters with the
mythic archives of other cultures. The mythic archive of Africa spans
the primal mythmakers of Central and Southern Africa, through Kemet,
right up to the complex milieu of contemporary African culture. In
addition, when indigenous African myths interact--whether through
migration, alliances or conflict, each readily adjusts and expands to
accommodate new relevant knowledge. An example occurs among the Yoruba
and Fon who share geographic and cultural borders, as well as myth and
deities, such as Eshu who is Legba according to the Fon. Regardless of
the complexity of the mythic landscape of Africa, with Legba saluted, it
is possible to identify the myth African people are living. This
discussion examines African people who experienced the Middle Passage as
it is a key experience in reconciling the myth.
African-American Mythic Experience
Based on the mythography of Joseph Campbell, Clyde Ford suggests
that African Americans are living the myth of the hero's journey.
(20) Ford recognizes that Campbell lacks expertise in African mythology
but does see value in the use of the archetype of the hero. This is
significant because although Ford does not make the conscious connection
in the text, the Greek hero derives from Heru, the archetypal persona of
Kemet. Mythic methodology recognizes that a researcher or artist can
access the collective African mythic experience--without full awareness
of the extent to which it is a source. In the Yoruba tradition, the
proverb, "Humans are the mouths of the orisha," speaks of how
humans convey information from the orisha who live in the mythic or
spirit realm. (21) When a practitioner approaches Ifa during divination
with a situation for resolution, answers come from Ifa as well as the
speech of family, neighbors or business associates in everyday life.
These people may not even be aware that they are providing an answer or
vital clue from the mythic realm. This is the case with a mythic method
science in which the researcher must discern the connection to myth from
the "mouths" of a population that may be limited in mythic
consciousness to that which they are referencing. This approach is
similar to epic or blood memory in African aesthetics in which artists
access the collective ancestral creative archive to prepare their works.
(22) In such instances, conscious awareness of ancestral creativity can
occur but is not a prerequisite. Epic memory becomes evident when the
endeavor is complete and affirmed by both the community and critic.
Ford's investigation of the collective African-American experience
as the journey of the hero is an example of epic memory as it applies to
myth and an important point of departure for this discussion.
In the journey, the hero travels across an ocean or abyss to a
foreign land, encounters strange gods that both challenge and help the
hero, remembers an oath or spell during the most challenging moment,
emerges victorious and receives the proverbial hero's welcome or
the lesser known, but all too real, hero's rejection and scorn.
(23) The crossing of an abyss or ocean to a strange land is the Middle
Passage from Africa to the Caribbean and Americas. The encounters with
gods that challenge and/or help the hero is Christianity. Christianity
challenges African spiritual identities and provides the first socially
sanctioned refuge in the strange land of America. The suffering of the
hero, though a phase in Campbell's assessment, is a constant during
the African-American journey. Suffering begins at the moment of
enslavement in Africa, and continues through the residual racism of
today. The remembering of an oath, spell or charm is the phase that
saves the hero. Like suffering, remembering is a constant for the
African-American hero. For the enslaved, remembering is simply affirming
their humanity in any way possible by such explicit acts as violent
resistance and rebellion to the more subtle refusal to internalize the
status of being less than human that was constantly thrust upon them.
For the emancipated, remembering is continuing to affirm humanity while
seeking a cultural and spiritual identity.
The hero bestows gifts to societies as a result of the struggles.
The African-American hero bestows music, language, innovation and
vibrancy to America in addition to freedom and equality. (24)
African-American heroes force America to sift out flaws in its
interpretation of justice, freedom, equality and democracy, all of which
had to be rethought, expanded and reapplied given the persistent demands
of African Americans. The same gifts of freedom and equality apply to
American Christianity, which for centuries struggled but more often
using biblical justification, sympathized with slavery and the
"downpression" of African-Americans. White American Christians
were forced to examine and apply the tenets of their faith in a very
worldly manner.
Campbell's mythographic cycle concludes with two variations:
one in which people joyously receive the gifts and the heroes and one in
which the hero is destroyed and rejected. Both of these apply to the
collective African-American experience. The contributions of
African-Americans to the practice of Christianity and democracy are
scarcely celebrated as part of the collective consciousness of America
though these two ideologies, along with capitalism, are among the most
celebrated by America. In addition, it could be argued that capitalism
thrives because of the free labor of enslaved Africans available at its
inception as well as their innovations in technology excluded from
patents. Yet again, neither are celebrated. In the second variation the
hero is destroyed and rejected. Millions of African Americans were
destroyed and rejected physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually
during enslavement. Millions more continue to be destroyed and rejected
during the era of emancipation. However, these two outcomes are not the
end of the hero's journey.
The journey of the hero or Heru is actually one in a series of
concentric journeys recounted in the mythic archives of Kemet. One
prominent mythic sequence in the archives features Ausar, Auset, and
Heru and addresses essential Life rhythms of resurrection and
transformation. (25) For transformation to occur, Ausar has to die which
prompts Auset to resurrect him and conceive a new being of his seed,
Heru. Heru is raised in secret until it is time for him to avenge his
father by doing battle with Set, his uncle who is responsible for
killing Ausar. This is more than a family fight; Set is the adversary
par excellence, the challenger who encourages transformation through
adversity. Therefore, the struggle between Heru and Set is one of the
most vital sequences in the Kemetic mythic archives. In the collective
African-American experience as the journey of Heru, the struggle with
Set is one of the major transformative challenges. Applying African
mythic science to this struggle reconciles a most difficult period for
African people with the mythic archives of Guinen.
Heru and Set
In the lived experience of African Americans the struggle between
Heru and Set is mirrored in the relationship between Black and White
people. Their struggle takes various forms: violent combat, slavery,
torture, rape, legal proceedings, the struggle for basic human and
political rights, systemic poverty, medical experimentation, attempted
genocide, economic exploitation, etc. This mirrors the Kemetic archives
in which Heru and Set have numerous encounters, with each inflicting
damage but no clear winner. (26) Eventually the neter, Kemetic deities,
grow weary of the contest and mediate reconciliation. Reconciliation
between Black and White people could be interpreted several ways using
mythic science. The Civil Rights Era being the most poignant choice
because both Blacks and Whites participated and in the myth both Heru
and Set agree to reconciliation. The reconciliation is also referred to
as the "taming of Set" which correlates to the power White
people once had to freely abuse and oppress blacks was beginning to be
checked, legally, politically and socially, courtesy of the Civil Rights
movement.
The affirmation that the neter indeed mediated the reconciliation
is found in the observation by Charles Finch, "Almost as soon as
the sheets of sound emerged from Coltrane's tenor saxophone, Chaos
descended on jazz in 1959..." (27) Finch keenly observed that
patterns in popular African-American music traveled on a trajectory that
mirrored the [2.sup.n] mathematical series noted in Kemet which
culminates in Chaos. (28) Finch's choice of words is significant.
Chaos with an upper case "C" denotes the Greek goddess rather
than the generic term for confusion and disorder. In the Orphic
tradition of Greek myth, Chaos exists at the beginning as a primordial
entity. Similarly, in Hesiod's tradition, Chaos came into being
first followed by Gaia or Earth. (29) In Kemet, a form of Chaos is Neith
because of her appearance as a primordial sky neter though Neith's
other associations are many. (30) In this guise, Neith existed before
the beginning as the celestial cow, Mehueret who gives birth to the sky
and is the mother of Ra. Neith arbitrates the dispute between Heru and
Set in one version of the Ausarian myth. So when Finch writes that it is
Chaos who descends, mythic science reveals that this is Neith. His
choice and style of wording is significant to mythic science because in
many myths, gods, deities and/or primordial ancestors are said to
descend to Earth from their abode in the sky. The descent is more
dimensional than directional, as vapor condenses or descends into
liquid. Thus the primordial mythic power appeared in the
African-American experience during the Civil Rights era, through
arguably the most powerful medium of liberated spiritual and cultural
expression of the day: jazz music. (31)
For Finch, the mathematical counts of jazz music ceased to follow
the orderly repetitions of the [2.sup.n] mathematical series within the
music of John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor. But why jazz?
According to Linda James Myers, there is a sacredness to jazz that
exists because musicians allow themselves to be in Spirit or inspired
and allow creativity to emerge unrestricted. (32) Musicians who played
in the church were sometimes able to improvise and allow the
authenticity of Spirit to emerge but this varied on the location,
denomination, style of worship, and deity worshipped by a particular
congregation. In mythic words, the Spirit emerging depended heavily on
the orientation of the congregation. In these instances, it was
overwhelmingly toward the Christian trinity. Jazz musicians did not have
any prerequisites or restrictions. Night after night in clubs and in jam
sessions, sometimes with the help of alcohol, tobacco, or other shamanic
substances, jazz musicians explored musical boundaries and accumulated
ashe. Others used their religious devotion as a muse: noted jazz
musicians were Muslim or exploring non-Christian religious traditions.
In fact, Coltrane's A Love Supreme in 1964 was a "humble
offering to god" after years of spiritual searching. (33) Jazz
musicians enjoyed a spiritual freedom that few Blacks had access to in
America at that time. They were the first initiates of the god Chaos.
Coltrane would continue his style of free jazz until his death in 1967.
With Chaos or Neith as the mediator, a settlement can be reached
between Heru and Set. As is characteristic of myth, there are several
settlements and consequently several interpretations using mythic
science. Correlating the reconciliation of Heru and Set to the Civil
Rights Movement provides an opportunity to discuss the significance of
the event in mythic terms. Ashe is important to mythic science because
it indicates the direction, destination or strength of the collective
energy of African people within the myth. Thus, the reconciliation
translates as the restoration of the collective ashe of African
Americans or in African-centered terms, agency. (34) With ashe and
agency African Americans are no longer collectively fully invested in
the turbulent struggles of Set such as enslavement, segregation, racism,
and overt discrimination. Though there will be challenges because Set
still rules his domain--which is part of the settlement arranged by the
neter--he is no longer in direct confrontation with Heru thereby freeing
ashe for other aspects of the myth.
While there is a collective orientation of ashe, it is polycentric.
It permeates multiple areas of the mythic archives and multiple
traditions simultaneously because it is a cosmic energy. The destination
of the ashe determines the aspect of the myth being lived. The question,
"What is the myth you are living?" could be rephrased
"Where is your ashe going?" The collective ashe of
African-American people appears in the Civil Rights Movement, the
Million Man March, O.J. Simpson trial, Hurricane Katrina, and the
inauguration of Barack Obama to list a few more prominent appearances.
Though ashe is still directed toward the Civil Rights and Black Power
movements, it lacks the strength of the collective. In addition, ashe
can align with different traditions from Guinen simultaneously. For
example, the theme of the hero's journey also appears in the
Bantu-Kongo tradition which like the Vodou tradition fuses the journey
of lived experience into the journey of myth.
Hero-Ancestors
The Bantu-Kongo tradition affirms the experience of enslavement
through myth. The narrative states those who were captured and sold to
white men in ships were taken first to mputu, then an island where there
is a forest with no food in it, but eventually God provides all of their
needs. (35) Mputu is the realm where the hero journeys to battle beings
and forces before returning home. It is also the realm of the ancestors
where souls journey before incarnating on Earth. In the Bantu-Kongo
tradition, heroes are in reality hero-ancestors, or heru-ancestors. The
island they are taken to could be Haiti, or any of the other islands of
the Caribbean with forests used as brutal boot camps to initiate the
Africans into slavery. (36) That there was no food is quite literal
because often enslaved Africans were given just enough to stay alive but
never be satisfied. However, this reference to no food speaks to
spiritual food or knowledge or nothing to sustain them as in the sacred
story of myth, just as God, eventually providing all of their needs,
refers to more than physical things; it refers to sacred sustenance.
The Bantu-Kongo tradition affirms the lived experience of
African-Americans--indeed all who were enslaved--through the myth of
mputu. (37) The Bantu-Kongo keep the myth and the hero-ancestor
African-Americans, Haitians, Afro-Caribbeans, etc. live the myth.
Interestingly, Ford shares an account of an elderly man in Kinshasa who
anxiously awaits the return of these hero-ancestors from mputu and
proclaims Kinshasa as their country. (38)
Rhythm Recognition and the Mythic Mind
Mythic science is based on an African epistemology that considers
multiple ways of knowing such as intuition, extrasensory perception,
divination, supernatural revelation as well as intellect. (39) Such an
eclectic, holistic and inclusive technique can be challenging but not
impossible to approach as a method. In fact, the eclecticism and
inclusiveness of African epistemology allows for methods that are
equally eclectic and inclusive. Of course simply mirroring the methods
of divination, extrasensory perception and supernatural revelation and
other aspects of epistemology that are well developed in African
cultural traditions is always an option. However, much like Vodou, which
recognizes the spiritual essence of several traditions and then
synergistically creates from them something new, mythic science favors a
synergetic blend of methods to develop mythic analysis. This mythic mind
interprets events using language, symbolic literacy and ritual.
Language--the power, meaning and choice of words--is vital to
mythic science. In Kemet, Ptah speaks creation into existence and in the
Dogon tradition Amma creates the world using the word. This fundamental
power of the word is amplified in African cultures in the use of words
to name or call into being. The key to the power of words is ashe. The
Bantu-Kongo teach that to call a person's name is to raise the
vibration of the person or increase his or her ashe. Cultures take great
care in naming babies and people receive names throughout their lives.
Deities are summoned, addressed and thanked by calling, chanting or
singing their names and by speaking artful words during the pouring of
libation. Names are important in the language of mythic science. Given
that African naming traditions today include words from Christian,
Muslim, Asian, Indian, European, as well as popular culture, it is
important to decipher their meaning, regardless of cultural origin.
Finch applies the "compulsion of names" proposed by Jung and
earlier Stekel as methods of deciphering names in a multicultural world.
(40) The "compulsion of names" provides valuable information
for mythic reading--such as the relationship of hero to Heru. Another
aspect of the esoteric power of words involves speaking the secret or
hidden names of things or using ritual language. Because these words are
not widely known in their community, their power to raise vibrations is
even stronger and is used in special circumstances. The word is ashe,
the word is also a carrier and amplifier of ashe.
The choice and context in which words appear provide important
information needed to decode a myth. The previously mentioned example of
the word "hero," chosen by Campbell and Ford, traces to the
mythic tradition of Kemet. Interestingly, the word "myth"
itself, a derivation of meta, traces to Kemet. (41) Finch's
purposeful capitalization of Chaos directs the mythic scientist to a
specific Greek deity which can then be compared to neter in Kemet or any
other tradition. Citing the work of Martin Bernal, Ford unravels the
meanings of the words "black" and "negro" to reveal
a mythic connection to Africa. (42) Again by going through Greek myth
particularly the goddess Melantho whose name contains the word melan
meaning black, the Kemetic connection emerges. Melan appears to derive
from the Kemetic m3nw meaning "Mountain of the West." The
association of the Mountain of the West with blackness comes from the
simple observation that in Kemet, the western mountains are the location
of the setting sun. However, they are also a reference to the entrance
of the duat or underworld.
Interestingly, Ford writes that the phrase black people can be read
mythically as "people of the mountains of the west." (43) Not
only does this echo the association of enslaved Africans with the
Bantu-Kongo underworld or mputu, but is an intriguing geographical
reference to Western Hemisphere, the place where the struggle of Heru
and Set takes place. Mputu, the land of the hero-ancestors, means
"agitated water" and refers to the Portuguese (Mputuleezo) who
were responsible for taking the enslaved away. (44) The choice of mputu
fuses literal, historical and symbolic significance because agitated
water speaks to the ocean on which the ships sailed, the societal
conditions surrounding enslavement, and those perpetrating slavery.
Identifying key words, discovering their origins, evolutions and
multiple meanings is a valuable method for the mythic scientist when
approached holistically.
Another essential technique in mythic science is symbol literacy.
As previously mentioned, Amma creates the world using the word. However,
the Dogon use "word" to mean idea, thought as well as symbol.
The physical world is a thought, idea or symbol inside of the mind of
Amma. Thus, the Dogon say all things are manifest by symbol or thought,
and do not exist by themselves. (45) Indeed, the fundamental perception
of existence within African traditions is symbolic. Symbols awaken and
expand consciousness by conveying information from the mythic archives
to the spiritual consciousness. Symbols are also used to create
associations between the lived experience and mythic archives.
Because of these qualities, symbols are vital transmitters of ashe
and appear in every aspect of culture. The so-called conventional arts
of dancers, musicians, sculptors, mask makers and artisans employ
symbols as do healers, priests and spiritual adepts. In the contemporary
sphere, writers, researchers, entertainers, intellectuals, filmmakers
and designers or anyone attuned to spirit also engage symbols in such as
way that ashe from the mythic archives of Guinen manifests for
celebration, teaching, healing, beauty, awe and harmony. Each specialist
engages symbols in at least one of three essential ways:
creation/activation, recognition and interpretation. For example in
Vodou, the raft of the Iwa Agwe contains symbols drawn from the mythic
archives of Guinen and their contemporary experience that are activated
in ritual. Agwe is the sea on which the spirits travel from Guinen, or
Africa, to Haiti as well as the sea by which the enslaved arrived on and
the French enslavers fled Haiti. Agwe personified is an admiral. Agwe
faithfully receives those who die at sea. (46) The raft symbolizes the
safe passage of Africans, both bodies and spirits, across the waters. A
raft is an efficient, humble and inexpensive vessel used in Haitian
Vodou to send offerings to the ocean. The ocean is a symbol of the
Creator because it is the thought of Amma. The ocean is also a symbol of
the primordial waters of creation, the waters of the womb, and the
journey of enslaved Africans away from Guinen. An admiral is the highest
ranking and most respected human on the sea. This symbol reveals the
respect for which Haitians hold the sea and those who traversed and
perished in it during the Middle Passage. The luxurious goods on the
raft are befitting the exquisite taste of an admiral, and to an extent a
sacrifice because they are provided by a community in constant struggle
with poverty. The color scheme is blue and white, which are the colors
of Agwe and, quite simply, the colors seen when looking out on the
ocean. Each time the raft is built, decorated and launched during ritual
ashe is generated that sustains Guinen and the people. Similarly,
offerings of perfumes and sweets for Ezili Freda guarantees the presence
of beauty, love and luxury even amidst crushing poverty. Plentiful meals
of corn, beans, tripe and clairin (homemade rum) thank Cousin Zaka for
allowing Haitian farmers to earn a living through agriculture. (47)
These symbols affirm the Haitian experience. Symbolic meaning is based
upon nature, as well as the intellect, experience and creativity of
people, rather than an expression of pure materialism.
Symbol literary involves identifying symbols that correlate to the
myth. Modern culture is saturated with symbols, but not all of them
carry the ashe of Guinen. Context is important in identifying symbols
more so than the medium in which the symbols appear. The example by
Finch demonstrates the ability to recognize symbols from the mythic
archives within the audible symbols of music and contemporary
creativity. The context of the creativity provides additional clues to
further identify the symbol and how it correlates to the myth. Free jazz
was born just as the Civil Rights movement intensified into turmoil.
According to the mythic archive something profound is always born of
turmoil and a deity is always in attendance at a birthing. In the Dogon
myth, humans are born of the sacrifice of the nommo anagonno with other
nommo as witnesses. Identifying mythic symbols in lived experience
requires careful consideration of the context or situation. Turmoil is
an important marker so is any other situation with strong emotion or
ashe accompanying it.
The last element of symbol science is interpretation. Once a symbol
has been created/activated and identified, it needs to be interpreted.
What does the appearance of the symbol mean within the lived experience
and the myth? The African-American experience can be interpreted as a
journey through the underworld when read using Bantu-Kongo or Kemetic
myth. The Bantu-Kongo cleverly fused the ashe of the words mputu,
meaning underworld, with the phoneme for Portuguese Mputuleeza to make a
clear statement that those being carried away in enslavement are
entering the place of the hero-ancestors' journey. Similarly, the
"people of the mountains of the West" can be interpreted as
the people of the underworld according to Kemetic mythic archives. The
underworld is symbolic of the tests and challenges that await the
hero-ancestors and Ausar, rather than a "place" beneath the
Earth. Those who complete the journey through mputu have a warm
homecoming awaiting them in Kinshasa and according to Kemetic tradition,
the Sekhet-hetepu, or Fields of Peace. (48) These are not geographical,
political or social relocations but spiritual ones. The hero's
return is a spiritual event. Interestingly, two of the major traditions
on the continent associate the African experience in the West with the
underworld though there are other ways to interpret an experience
symbolically. This is because cultures create symbols and determine
their meanings which are then reinforced through ritual. (49) By
applying the lens of different cultures, multiple interpretations are
possible. In addition, regions, communities, families and individuals
create their own symbols which adds more dimensions to interpretation.
Symbol literacy constantly creates/activates, identifies and
interprets symbols based on the mythic archives of Guinen as well as the
contemporary experience of African people. Thus to be symbol literate is
to recognize symbols in ancient Kemet as well as Nollywood. It is the
ability to recognize in contemporary music a pattern from Kemet or the
Underground Railroad as a metaphor for the Kemetic underworld. (50)
Whether identified in nature, generated through creativity, or some
combination of both, symbols and their meanings are influenced by
context. They contain information encoded from the experiences of
specific groups of people.
The last aspect of mythic analysis is the identification of ritual.
Ritual is an occasion that focuses attention and activity to affirm,
acknowledge and direct the flow of ashe or Life rhythm. The scale of
ritual spans a simple libation poured by a person in remembrance of
another who is deceased to a small gathering of nervous initiates to
extravagant multi-day events with participants from all over the world.
Whatever the occasion, ritual moves and punctuates energy. In the case
of the libation, the liquid calls to the realm of the ancestors. For the
initiates, the ritual affirms the new energies available to them as
young men and women, devotees, priests, or elders. The large and lavish
rituals such as Gelede, Egungun, Osun of the Yoruba and Sodo of Vodou,
affirm the power of the ancestors and deities.
On such occasions, ritual is quite explicit in that ashe is openly
engaged and affirmed. However, there is a context to ritual that is
implicit. These are occasions during which the engagement of ashe is
much more subtle, often buried amidst social, political, economic, and
cultural concerns. So much so that they are not even considered ritual
by the participants. But, like epic memory, can manifest ashe
unbeknownst even to the participants. These rituals are scattered
throughout the landscape of the African experience and mark the
collective energy of African people at any given point. Some examples,
in no particular order are the coronation of Haile Selassie, various
emancipation/independence celebrations, The Million Man, Women, Children
and Family Marches, Hurricane Katrina, the inauguration of Barak Obama,
the presence of Michelle Obama, and the transition of Michael Jackson.
Each can be reconciled to the mythic archives of Guinen using the words,
symbols, and context associated with the events.
For example, the coronation of Haile Selassie triggered a
tremendous surge in the collective ashe of African people. The political
and cultural implications of this event are common topics of discussion
as is the mysterious statement attributed to Marcus Garvey regardin51g
looking for the crowning of an African king as a sign of the redemption
of African people. (51) The truth of whether or not Garvey uttered the
statement means less than the power of the words in the collective
consciousness. Garvey (or whomever) was giving a sign that a change in
the rhythm of Black life was to occur. Finch connects the coronation of
Selassie to the stellar mythos of Kemet in which the Ethiopian king
refers to a circumpolar constellation due to return to the position of
the pole star. (52) In Kemet, the shifting celestial-scape influences
the symbolic and paraconscious life on Earth. Therefore the myth of the
returning African king also can be read into the Million Man March and
the inauguration of Barack Obama--symbolic returns of African kings.
(53) These events, often convened because of dire, social, economic or
cultural circumstances, are also occasions during which ashe is
generated and directed.
Mythic science is concerned with identifying the appearance and
direction of ashe in the African experience. This concern in no way
diminishes social, economic and cultural circumstances. In fact,
according to an African epistemology and worldview, ashe is the force
that moves social, economic and cultural circumstances. Therefore,
applying a mythic analysis of language, symbols and rituals, allows the
researcher a more holistic perception of a situation that is in
alignment with African approaches to knowledge.
Conclusion
An African approach to knowledge seeks a spiritual cause to
phenomena in the physical world. Spiritual causes are explained in myth.
Often criticized by contemporary intellectuals, such an approach is a
mainstay in African cultures spanning from Kemet to Vodou. Intellectual
inquiry into mythical phenomena is lacking and needed to bring balance
to studies that too often succumb to conventional methodologies that are
preconditioned to exclude myth as valid, the spirit realm as a primary
source and events as having an exclusive materialistic context. African
mythic science, which is an expression of African epistemology, is
clearly connected to the realm of the ancestors and deities through
ashe. Given this connection, mythic inquiry equates with the development
of specific qualities of mind that comes from studies and encounters
with symbols and rituals rather than objective, material or detached
inquiry. Using established epistemologies and mythic methodology,
intellectual inquiry into myth, ritual and ashe as living phenomena in
the African experience produces a vibrant area of meaningful research.
The inquiry, like the practice of Vodou it is named for, seeks a
holistic view and reconciles all circumstances and situations with
Guinen, the spiritual essence of Africa.
NOTES
(1) Phyllis Galembo, Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti (Berkeley,
CA: Ten Speed Press, 2005), 4.
(2) Joseph M. Murphy, Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African
Diaspora (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994), 38.
(3) Murphy, Working the Spirit, 38.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Dona Marimba Richards, "The African Aesthetic and National
Consciousness," in The African Aesthetic: Keeper of Traditions, ed.
Kariamu Welsh Asante (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993,1994), 69.
(6) Clyde W. Ford, The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of
Traditional Africa (New York: Bantam, 1999), 5.
(7) Mutombo Nkulu-N'Sengha, "Epistemology" in
Encyclopedia of African Religion vol 1, eds. Molefi Kete Asante and Ama
Mazama (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009) 242-245.
(8) Nkulu-N'Sengha, "Epistemology," 243.
(9) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 5.
(10) Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, The Pale Fox, trans.
Stephen C. Infantino (Chino Valley, AZ: Continuum Foundation, 1986), 62.
(11) Derived from the Rastafarian tradition's emphasis on the
power of words, innerstand denotes internalizing, applying and living
information. Overstand is to have knowledge therefore power over an idea
or concept whereas understand is not used because it implies a lack of
mastery of knowledge because it is "over" you. Numerous other
African traditions stress the importance of knowledge beyond the
gathering of facts. Knowledge is to be lived or applied which in turns
generates experience and hopefully wisdom which is to be shared.
(12) All daily activities and rituals of the Dogon are symbolically
connected to their myth as is everything in their environment, natural
and manmade.
(13) Life with a capital "L" includes existence both
within and beyond the physical forms whereas life speaks to physical
existence or life that is perceived in the physical realm senses.
(14) Ford, Hero with an African Face, viii.
(15) There are 256 chapters, or Odu, within the oral archives of
Ifa, the orisha of knowledge and wisdom. According to Wande Abimbola,
each chapter contains approximately 600-800 verses totaling 208,000
verses. Traditionally these verses are learned and recited orally by
babalawo or iyanifa, priests and priestess of Ifa. Some are available as
written text though most are only known orally. Wande Abimbola,
"Ifa: A West African Cosmological System," in Religion in
Africa, eds. Thomas D. Blakely, Walter E.A. van Beek and Dennis L
Thomson (London: James Currey, 1994) 101-116.
(16) Intellectually, Stolen Legacy by George G.M. James and
Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire by Drusila Dunjee
Houston (Black Classic Press) and later Cheikh Anta Diop's African
Origin of Civilization prepared the foundation for African people to
live the myths of Egypt by providing alternatives to views of Egypt
based on Christianity. Socially, Egyptian myth was known within the
Black Freemason and Moorish Science Temple communities, as well as the
esoteric teachings of the Nation of Islam. The Ausar Auset Society,
founded in 1973, is devoted exclusively to living the mythic knowledge
of Egypt.
(17) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 10.
(18) One of the most thorough accounts of the Ausarian myth is from
Plutarch. Though Greek, it contains the essential elements documented in
the Egyptian originals (Charles S. Finch, III, Echoes of the Old
Darkland: Themes from the African Eden [Atlanta: Khenti, 1998], 57-87).
In all versions, Ausar is unquestionably the Lord of Resurrection as Ogo
is challenger to divine order in various ways. See Griaule and
Dieterlen, The Pale Fox for a description of Ogo's escapades.
(19) Esu is described as a trickster because he channels both
supernatural forces, those that assist and those that challenge making
his appearance simultaneously welcome and unwelcome.
(20) An elegant example of how to read the collective
African-American experience mythically occurs in the first chapter of
Clyde W. Ford's The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of
Traditional Africa (New York: Bantam, 1999), 1-15. The relationship of
language, race and myth are discussed on pages 6-15.
(21) Relayed by Wande Abimbola in a series of public lectures
sponsored by the Louisville Public Library, Louisville, Kentucky, 2005.
(22) Kariamu Welsh-Asante, "The Aesthetic Conceptualization of
Nzuri" in The African Aesthetic: Keeper of Traditions, ed. Kariamu
Welsh Asante (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993,1994), 1-20.
(23) Joseph Campbell, The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays
1959-1987, ed. Anthony Van Couvering (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco,
1997), 1-10.
(24) See Africanisms in American Culture, ed. Joseph Holloway,
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991 for details of African
influences on African American speech, music, arts and culture which in
many cases have been absorbed by American culture.
(25) See The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Coming Forth by
Day, trans. Raymond O. Faulkner (San Francisco: Chronicle, 1998); Jan
Assmann, Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt, trans. David Lorton
(Ithaca: Cornell University, 2005); and Jeremy Naydler, Shamanic Wisdom
in the Pyramid Text: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt (Rochester,
VT: InnerTraditions 2005).
(26) A papyrus scroll prepared during the reign of Ramses V (20th
Dynasty) details a humorous account of the battle of Heru and Set. The
story is referred to as the Contendings of Horus and Seth and the scroll
is called the Chester Beatty Papyrus.
(27) Charles S. Finch III, The Star of Deep Beginnings: The Genesis
of African Science and Technology (Atlanta: Khenti, 1998), 98.
(28) The 2nd series is a mathematical formula developed in Kemet as
a means of adding using multiplication. The exponentially increasing
pattern eventually ceases to have pattern and culminates in Chaos.
(29) Patricia Turner and Charles Russel Coulter, Dictionary of
Ancient Deities (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 122.
(30) Patricia Turner and Charles Russel Coulter, Dictionary of
Ancient Deities (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 341.
(31) Just as the Civil Rights movement sought liberation with
increased intensity in the 1950s, jazz musicians sought liberation from
the musical and societal conventions. Jazz musicians allowed themselves
to be vessels for the free expression of spirit. Jazz is distinct from
blues and gospel--expressions of Spirit that are filtered through
everyday life and Christianity--because jazz forgoes all previously held
perceptions and conventions of music in order to manifest sounds from
the depths of the musicians and the spirit realm. Since the music of
this era was often without lyrics, they were able to reach the
non-literate, symbolic depths of the listener's minds. According to
Linda James Myers, this level of creativity is Optimal and should be the
goal artists in all genres. See Linda James Myers, "The African
American Aesthetic as Optimal Consciousness," in The African
Aesthetic: Keeper of the Traditions, ed. Kariamu Welsh Asante (Westport,
CT: Praeger, 1993,1994), 21-29.
(32) Myers, "Optimal Consciousness," 21-29.
(33) John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, CD, Liner Notes.
(34) Agency within the context of the sacred is discussed in Mambo
Ama Mazama, "Afrocentricity and African Spirituality," Journal
of Black Studies 33 (2002): 218-32.
(35) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 6.
(36) Many islands of the Caribbean--Hispaniola, Puerto Rico,
Barbados, Jamaica for example--were covered with lush tropical forests
before being cleared for the growing of export crops on large-scale
plantations.
(37) The agitated water is also a reference to kalanga, the
mythical river that separates the human from the spirit realm in the
Bantu-Kongo tradition.
(38) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 6.
(39) Nkulu-N'Sengha, "Epistemology," 243.
(40) Finch III, The Star of Deep Beginnings, 271-275.
(41) R.A. Waldron, The God Genes Decoded: Secrets of the Universe
Revealed in the Anatomy and Evolution of Consciousness in Ancient
Egyptian Cosmology, vol 1, rev. (Owl and Dove Publications, 2008), 45.
(42) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 8.
(43) Ibid., 9.
(44) Ibid., 6.
(45) Griaule and Dieterlen, The Pale Fox, 59.
(46) Margarite Fernandez Olmos and Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert,
Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and
Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo (New York: New York University Press,
2003), 111.
(47) Galembo, Vodou: Visions and Voices, 22-25; and Olmos and
Paravisini-Gerbert, Creole Religions, 112.
(48) According to the Papyrus of Ani commonly translated as the
Book of Coming Forth by Day.
(49) See Richards, "The African Aesthetic and National
Consciousness," 63-82.
(50) Ford, Hero with an African Face, 8.
(51) Rupert Lewis, "Marcus Garvey and Early Rastafarians:
Continuity and Discontinuity," in Chanting Down Babylon: The
Rastafari Reader, eds. Nathaniel Samuel Murrell, William D. Spencer and
Adrian Anthony McFarlane (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998),
145-158.
(52) Finch, Star of Deep Beginnings, 172-180.
(53) Charles S. Finch, Free Your African Mind Lecture Series,
Harlem, New York, June 2008.
by Denise Martin, Ph.D.
Denise Martin (seshmartin@gmail.com) is an independent researcher
specializing in the sacred traditions of African and African descended
peoples. Her writing appears in the groundbreaking two-volume collection
Encyclopedia of African Religion as well as in Africa and the Wider
World, The Search for Wholeness and Diaspora Literacy in Contemporary
African American Literature, and The Oprah Phenomenon. She is currently
writing a book on African Mysteries. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy
degree in African American Studies at Temple University and has served
as an associate professor of Pan African Studies and Humanities at the
University of Louisville.