KEMETIC SCIENCE
Positive Progress Through The Benevolent Use Of Knowledge
Sunday, August 31, 2008
African Cosmology-Kamitic story of Creation
Introduction:
In a previous article, The Ancient Wisdom in Africa, we saw that there exists a learned society which the Zulus call the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, whose members come from among all the many peoples of Africa, and whose origins may be traced to a priest of Isis during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, the 3rd dynasty (3900 BCE) builder of the Great Pyramid. In this article, I try to address in a brief space the core concepts of the Kamitic cosmology, and show correspondences to the teachings of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, and moreover to the Yoruba religion.
As it was in the beginning, So shall it be in the end.
The Kamitic Tree of Life
Ra Un Nefer Amen has reclaimed for us some of the core Kamitic spiritual teachings and precepts. The key teachings have been diagrammed in what has come down to us and is known as the Tree of Life (Fig. 1.1).
The Tree of Life is a diagram of the process through which God creates the world, Man, and Man's sojourn in the world. The Tree consists of eleven spheres, numbered from zero to 10. Sphere 0 is at the top, and is depicted as being "above" the tree. It depicts and corresponds to the state of God and of existence before the creation of the thingly, phenomenal world. In the Kamitic tradition, this aspect of God was known variously as Amen, Atum, Aten, Nu, and Nut. As it has come down to the Zulu through the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, it corresponds to what they call the Itongo as Bowen has told us.
Amen, or The Source, or The Itongo
The essential state of God or of existence before creation is of an undifferentiated Potential -- the primordial mist. There are two dual principles which characterize the Amen: One is the principle of Mind, the other is the principle of Matter. The principle of Mind is itself dualized into Consciousness and Will. Consciousness represents the passive polarity, and Will the active polarity, of the same essential quality. The principle of Matter may be seen as a continuum, which may more properly be called Energy/Matter, because "matter" in the strict sense is but one extreme of that continuum, being "energy-slowed-down." Implicit in that notion is the fact known to Western science at least since Einstein, namely that energy and matter are mutually transmutable. As reflected at Sphere 0 above the Tree, the essential quality of Mind is a state of bliss, peace, hetep, the Kamitic word for a state of unshakable inner peace. The essential quality of Matter, at Sphere 0, in the state of Amen, is that of pure Potential, which means there is as yet no motion, [Note: The Hindu word nirvana also characterizes the state of Amen, and means, literally, "no motion" (nir = "no" + vana = "motion").] no vibration, no "things", therefore no space, and no time. There is also no light, since light is a vibration, and there is no motion.
Mind/Matter Duality. Parenthetically, and somewhat paradoxically, the energy/matter continuum (i.e. the Matter principle) properly includes Spirit. In the grand dichotomy between Mind and Matter, Spirit falls under the category of Matter rather than of Mind. Spirit is fundamentally energy, and the medium through which Mind expresses itself. Since individuated spirits also are associated with individuated Mind (Consciousness/Will), loose usage of the term "spirit" sometimes, indeed usually, refers also to Mind. Strictly speaking, however, spirit is energy, and thus distinct from Consciousness/Will (hence Mind) which may in various senses manipulate spirit. It follows from this schema, that the grand dichotomy here called that between Mind and Matter, could also properly have been rendered as the dichotomy between Mind and Spirit, for matter, too, as "energy-slowed-down," is but a form of spirit. But such a usage would do too much violence to the common understanding of these matters, and the usage that goes with it. In common usage, we speak of body, mind, and spirit as all being distinct, certainly to the best of the ability of our senses to perceive these distinctions. At the same time, we use the term "spirit" as a common noun to refer to individuated "souls" that have given up the body, but which retain as an essential attribute the attribute of Consciousness/Will, or Mind. Given the potential for ambiguity, I stick with Mind/Matter as being the fundamental dichotomy, but with the clear understanding that Spirit, qua energy, falls under the category Matter. The concept of soul, in relation to that of spirit, is a tricky one, and will be addressed later on, in the context where it is most easily explained.
The peace of hetep is an "inner" peace, because it is a state that is considered still to lie somewhere within Man. It is not to be found in the material (energy/matter) principle of the universe, rather in the mind principle. Therefore it lies within. It is an aspect of existence that is inherently indivisible: when you get to "it," there is nowhere further to "go." I believe Amen has speculated somewhere in his writings that Democritus imperfectly understood this Kamitic concept of "Atum," and sought to apply it to matter. It is from this misconception that Western science found its way to the notion of the atom, as being the smallest indivisible particle of a substance. No sooner was the atom discovered, however, it turned out that it contained yet smaller constituent particles of stuff. There is apparently no end to the proliferation of yet smaller sub-atomic particles. Kamitic spiritual science confidently predicts that the fundamental building block -- in a delicious irony of metaphor -- of matter, is not matter at all, but the energy polarity of the energy/matter principle. The wave/particle duality of photons, and of sub-atomic particles, is a manifestation of the energy/matter principle, namely that energy and matter are mutually transmutable. Be that as it may, the state of hetep, in terms of the mind aspect of Being, is the ultimate state of pure inner peace. In terms of the matter aspect of Being, it is the ultimate state of pure, quiescent, energy-as-potential. Both, together -- quiescent mind, and quiescent matter (energy, really) -- constitute the Kamitic concept of the Creator before creation. This is Amen, and the Source from which all comes. It is also, in the Kamitic spiritual science, the true nature of the hidden God within, which is essentially unconditioned, and which cannot be upset by externals. It is represented at Sphere 0 above the Tree of Life. In the Yoruba tradition, that aspect of God represented by Sphere 0 is called Olodumare. It is also what, as we have seen, the Zulu call the Itongo.
Fig. 1.1: THE KAMITIC TREE OF LIFE
The purpose of creation
If the true nature of God, the Source, is Amen, and is essentially unconditioned and undifferentiated, the question arises why did God create the thingly world of differentiation in which Man dwells, and further, why did he create Man. The Kamitic scripture says of God in the state of Amen: "I was alone; not born were they." Amen (1996) quotes this scripture to explain that God created the world in order to have experience. And It created Man in order to have a vehicle within the world with the same essential qualities as Itself. Man is in this sense created "in the image of God." Further, as Bowen informs us, the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu teach that Man is on a journey of return to the Source, to the Itongo, to the state of Amen. Man, in his gross, physical aspect, and the thingly world in general, is represented by Sphere 10 at the bottom of the Tree. Sphere 10 thus represents the end-result of creation. Spheres 1 to 9 in-between represent the functional stages of creation, as well as the various aspects of the spiritual being which is also part of Man's nature. Not only does the Tree of Life represent the unfolding of Creation, it represents also the way back, sphere by sphere (or branch by branch), for Man's spiritual return journey.
The functional stages of creation, and the aspects of spirit
Spheres 1 to 9, or the Ennead, in addition to representing the functional stages of creation, also represent archetypal deities which exhibit the qualities most pertinent to the functional stage of creation with which respectively they are identified. At the level of Man, these same archetypal energies find expression as archetypal personality types, of which each of us is in some sense a blend. The Tree of Life is to be understood as but a model of many interpenetrating realities: of deities, of aspects of the psyche, of functional aspects of creation, among others not yet addressed. Each of the spheres of the Tree is described briefly in turn.
Omnipresence/Central Theme. Sphere 1 on the Tree corresponds to God manifest in the world, and is the mirror image of sphere 0 above the tree. That is to say, where Sphere 0 represents God un-manifest, or the "hidden" God, Sphere 1 on the Tree represents God in the world. Sphere 1 represents that highest aspect of Man's spirit which is as yet unawakened in all of us, with the exception of certain adepts or "God-men on earth," such as Jesus, Buddha, and the "Higher Ones" of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu. Sphere 1 represents the "Divine Spark" within all of us. The challenge is to raise and establish our individuated Consciousness in the part of Spirit corresponding to Sphere 1. According to the African cosmology, this is a process that takes countless incarnations, but whether knowingly or unknowingly, it is a journey on which we all are embarked. The aspect of Creation and of Spirit corresponding to Sphere 1 on the Tree is called Ausar in the Kamitic tradition. In the Yoruba tradition, it is called Obatala. The defining attribute of God manifest in the world is omnipresence. By extension, the principle of omnipresence is also the principle of the central theme, as that which infuses every aspect of a thing, or reality, hence Ausar and Obatala are the deities which govern the head, and clarity of vision, purpose, etc.
Omniscience/Divine Will. Sphere 2 on the Tree of Life represents the attribute of omniscience. The deity represented by Sphere 2 of the Tree is called Tehuti, sometimes Djehuti, in the Kamitic tradition. As already mentioned, Tehuti was known to the Greeks as Thoth. It is this faculty of all-knowing that forms the basis for all divination, which is a method by which Man may communicate with the deity of the second Sphere -- the Oracle, or the deity through which Ausar speaks. The deity of Sphere 2 may speak to Man through any variety of vehicles, for example, through the toss of coins, as with the I Ching, the drawing of stalks, the toss of bones, the reading of tea leaves, the toss of cowrie shells, and the drawing of cards from a deck. Ra Un Nefer Amen has reclaimed for us the Great Oracle of Tehuti, who speaks, so to say, through cards similar to the Tarot. In the Yoruba pantheon, Orunmila is the deity responsible for all divination (Ifa is related, and is the name given to the system of divination used by the babalawos of the Yoruba, as well as the traditional religion practiced by the Yoruba.) It is through Sphere 2 that the will of God may be made known. In addition to divination systems, the omniscience faculty of the Creator may be made manifest through living sages and adepts who have been able through spiritual cultivation or through Divine assistance, to establish their Consciousness at the part of Spirit represented by Sphere 2 on the Tree.
It also happens in African religious systems that a deity may "possess" an initiate. Under such possession, the initiate's Consciousness is displaced, and the Consciousness of the deity "takes over" the initiate's bodily vehicle. In that state, the deity is able to speak to those who seek or require counsel.
Omnipotence/The power of creation. Sphere 3 of the Tree represents the omnipotence aspect of the Creator. If it is out of Sphere 2 that Ausar expresses the faculty of all-knowing, it is out of Sphere 3 that Ausar brings into being that which is Willed out of Sphere 2. The deity represented by Sphere 3 of the Tree was called Sekert by the Kamau, and is called Obaluaye in the Yoruba tradition. The Kamitic spiritual science holds that creation is brought about by Word, invocation, or vibration. Thus Sphere 3 also represents words of power, or mantra. These were called hekau (singular: heka) by the Kamau. The original Godly vibration which created the (our) world was said to be aung. That initial Godly word of vibration was emitted from that aspect of the Creator represented by Sphere 3. The Kamitic scripture has God saying: "I brought into my mouth my own name, that is to say, a word of power, and I, even I, came into being in the form of things which came into being, and I came in the forms of the Creator." Since creation of the thingly universe brings into being structure, also limitation by inference, Sekert and Obaluaye are identified with the foundations of things. One calls on Sekert or Obaluaye to help establish firm and enduring foundations. At the same time, since nothing lasts forever in the thingly world, Sekert and Obaluaye are also identified with cycles, and since no new cycle begins unless an old one has died, Sekert and Obaluaye are also identified as much with death as with creation. But this is not as morbid as it may seem to the Western mind, for within the African cosmology, death is not seen as final, rather as transition. At any rate, Sekert and Obaluaye preside over funerals and cemeteries, and the skull is one of their totems.
Divine Law/Truth, Harmony, the interdependence of all things. Sphere 4 of the Tree of Life represents that aspect of the Creator corresponding to the laws of existence for the things of creation. This is Divine Law. In the Kamitic tradition, the deity represented by this Sphere is known as Maat. In the Yoruba pantheon she is known as Aje Chagullia. The laws for which Maat is the expression govern both aspects of mind (Consciousness/Will), as well as aspects of matter (Energy/Matter). Thus Maat governs the principles of Divine Truth, Love, Justice, Balance, Harmony, Inter-dependence of all things, etc., as well as the laws of physics and of all energy/matter phenomena, which latter includes the laws governing spiritual phenomena. It is the feather of Maat that is used to weigh the heart at Judgement day.
Divine Law Enforcement. Sphere 5 of the Tree represents that aspect of Spirit from which Divine Law is "enforced." In the Kamitic tradition, the deity represented by this Sphere is known as Herukhuti. In the Yoruba, he is known as Ogun. The wrath of God (punishment) is exercised through this faculty, as is the love of God in its protective aspect. There is a balancing logic at work here. There is no law without means of enforcement, therefore Herukhuti is needed to complement Maat.
Man's Will. Sphere 6 of the Tree represents that aspect of Spirit from which Man's Will is exercised. It is in the exercise of Free Will that the divine aspect of Man finds expression. It is important though to point out that Man's Will is distinct from God's Will, which finds expression out of Sphere 2. For Man to bring her Will into alignment with God's will, therefore, it is necessary for Man to consult or otherwise be guided by, the Sage, or the Oracular faculty represented by Sphere 2. The deity represented by Sphere 6 was known to the Kamau as Heru, often symbolized by the hawk wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt. No doubt the word "hero" derives from the Kamitic name for this deity, and came into the English language via the Greeks. It is cognate also to the Greek word helios for the sun, as well as Horus, the word by which Heru was known to the Greeks. Horus in turn is cognate to "horizon" for the image of Heru is of the sun on the horizon, poised between heaven and the earth. Likewise, in the Tree of Life, Sphere 6 is at its geometric center, poised between the divine faculties already discussed, up above, and the more mundane faculties now to follow, down below. Heru is key to the Ausarian resurrection metaphor, wherein he is seen as the son, the hero figure, who reclaims his father's throne which has been usurped by Ausar's evil brother Set. Heru re-establishes the kingdom of God both within and without, by aligning his will, Man's free will, with God's will. In the Yoruba pantheon, Shango is the deity which exemplifies the energies represented by Sphere 6 of the Tree.
Joy, Imagination, the Libido, Beauty. Sphere 7 of the Tree represents the part of Spirit that governs joy and the imagination. She is known as Het-Heru (House of Heru) in the Kamitic tradition, and Oshun in the Yoruba. It is a congregative faculty, meaning that, among other things, it is concerned with putting things together for beautiful or pleasing artistic effect. The Greeks knew this aspect of Spirit by the name Aphrodite. The Romans called her Venus, and the Babylonians called her Ishtar. The Kamau recognized that that which manifests is that which has been cultivated by the imagination. It is in this sense that Heru (the Will and its realization) is related to Het-Heru (the "house" of Heru or the place where the will is gestated -- the imagination). The Het-Heru faculty is intimately connected with that which the Kamau called Ra or life-force, and what is known as Chi to the Chinese, Kundalini to the Hindus, and ngolo (Fu-Kiau, 1991) to the Kongo people of Central Africa.
Logic, Intellect, Belief, Communication. Sphere 8 of the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit that governs logic and the intellect. The corresponding deity was known to the Kamau as Sebek, and is known to the Yoruba as Esu-Elegba. Among the Akan, Nana Sankofa would be the deity that most closely exemplifies the energies and faculties associated with Sphere 8. To the Greeks, this deity was known as Hermes, and to the Romans, he was known as Mercury. Where Het-Heru at Sphere 7 is congregative, Sebek at Sphere 8 is segregative. Where Het-Heru puts things together in beautiful, harmonious arrangements, Sebek takes things apart and puts them in logical order or relationship. He takes thoughts and orders them into words, one syllable at a time. He governs syllogistic logic, and all manner of information. He is, like the dog which is his totem, clever, but not wise. He represents an important faculty of spirit, which is to ease the way through being clever, but cleverness needs to be guided by wisdom, in almost exactly the same way in which syllogistic logic is only as useful as the premises on which it is based, while logic, per se, cannot establish the truth of the premises from which formal syllogistic argument proceeds. Where Het-Heru governs the imagination, Sebek governs belief. That which we nurture in the imagination, good and bad, tends ultimately to manifest. And that which we believe is what we are most inclined to entertain in our imagination. Moreover, we tend to live that which we believe. Sebek therefore is seen as the "messenger of the Gods", the "opener of the way," the "guardian of the cross-roads," etc., for it is right belief (Sphere 8) that opens the way to right knowledge (Sphere 2) and to the alignment of Man's will with divine will, and therefore "good fortune." Wrong belief, on the other hand, will take us down the wrong road at every cross-road, to "ill fortune", "bad luck," frustration and continual obstacles.
Soul, Memory, Learning, Receptivity, Devotion, Nurturing. Sphere 9 on the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit with which we most identify, as giving us our respective and distinct identities as individuated spiritual entities. The "soul"-memory of the individual resides at the part of spirit represented by Sphere 9. The "soul" itself, in this conception, is nothing but the individuated duality of consciousness and spirit (mind and matter) of which each of us is composed. While the soul is conceptually distinct from the soul-memory, they are inextricably linked, for it is the content of the soul memory, over the many lifetimes through which the soul passes, inhabiting many bodily forms as it does so, that allows us to distinguish one soul from another. The soul memory may be conceived of as residing at Sphere 9, in the sense that it is an aspect of spirit -- in the grand dichotomy between mind and matter, the soul memory is classed as matter. The soul on the other hand is an abstraction, in exactly the way identity is an abstraction, and may be seen as referencing an individual's entirety, namely her individuated mind, body, all aspects of her spirit, and entire soul history -- I say soul history to help convey the idea, but to be more precise, what I really mean transcends space/time and other dimensions, and so embraces what we call "future" as well. The soul was called Ka by the Kamau, and it is this root word from which the "Ka" in Kabala derives. It has been linked etymologically also to the nkra (= soul) in the Twi language of the Akan people of Ghana. Everything that happens to an individual, in the present or past lifetimes, is registered indiscriminately in the soul memory -- the portion of spirit -- represented by Sphere 9. Much of it goes into the "unconscious" or the "subconscious" (which terms, by the way, are pseudo-scientific ways of making reference to spirit, as we are here describing it, without simply coming out and saying so). There it takes shape as a pattern of energy organization of the spirit that manifests over and over again in various aspects of our lives. The "pattern of energy organization" stored at Sphere 9 of the Spirit is in a sense programmed by Sebek (belief), Het-Heru (imagination), and Heru (will), the faculties of the Spheres immediately above it in the Tree. And it is through Sphere 9 that the programmed "personality" of the individual -- her "soul" -- finds ultimate expression. It is also from Sphere 9, and and the re-programming of that part of Spirit which it represents, that the soul begins its metaphorical upward journey back up the Tree to re-identify with its true Higher Self at Sphere 1 -- to establish the soul's consciousness at the part of its spirit represented by Sphere 1, what the Kamau called "to realize Ausar" and to live and insperience the oneness of all Creation. That was the Kamitic conception of resurrection.
The deity corresponding to Sphere 9 was known by the Kamau as Auset, or Isis. In the Yoruba pantheon, she is known as Yemoja. In the Akan system, she is known as Nana Esi. In other West African systems she is known as Mami Wata, or the mother of the waters, since she governs large bodies of water, that is, the oceans. In the Christian faith she would correspond most closely to Mary, or the Madonna. She governs not only total soul recall, to which access may be gained through trance, but also the nurturing qualities of the mother. She is devotion, and humility. She is the receptive quality, the archetypal female energy.
Body, Flesh and Blood and Animal Senses, Motion and Emotion. Sphere 10 of the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit that is flesh and blood, the physical body, along with the electro-magnetic "body" or energy-field which immediately surrounds it, and which is the animating spirit (energy-field) that "drives" the physical bodily "vehicle." The "deity" corresponding to Sphere 10 was called Geb by the Kamau, and is known as Ile by the Yoruba. The planetary correspondence of this deity is the earth itself. It is at the aspect of creation represented by Sphere 10 that the individuation process, begun with the first Godly word of vibration, emerges finally as that part of reality which is tangible and visible. Sphere 10 represents the physical body, flesh and blood. To the Kamau, Geb was the Erpau Neter, meaning literally the inheritor of God, and meaning more properly that the physical body inherits the qualities and attributes of all the deities: "as above, so below." That is, the physical body "inherits" or reflects the patterns of energy organization already present in the aspects of spirit represented by Spheres 9 to 1. Every major organ or organ system in the body is tied to or governed by an aspect of spirit or deity represented by Spheres 9 to 1 of the Tree. The patterns of energy organization from Spheres 9 to 1 are imperceivable to the physical senses of the bodily vehicle represented by Sphere 10. That the aspects of spirit represented by Spheres 9 to 1 are imperceivable to the physical senses does not however make them less real. It is these aspects of spirit, seen (or rather, not seen) from the vantage point of the bodily vehicle, that Western psychologists have come to call the "unconscious". it is a concept that was known to and elaborated by the ancient Kamau thousands of years ago, moreover within a holistic cosmology that tied everything back, straightforwardly and unselfconsciously, to God, spirit, and the very purpose of creation.
Body, Mind and Spirit? As previously mentioned, the bodily vehicle is classed as an extreme polarity of the energy/matter continuum. Spirit, qua energy -- or pattern of energy organization -- also belongs to the same energy/matter continuum, but is of opposite polarity to body, or matter. Mind, the quality for which Consciousness and Will are opposite polarities, is, strictly speaking, distinct from Spirit, qua energy/matter; but as mind requires spirit as the medium through which effect is given to its Will, and even through which Consciousness merely be, it has become common practice in loose usage to connote mind also when we use the word "spirit". And in an irony of common usage, even though the body properly belongs with spirit on the Matter side of the grand Mind/Matter dichotomy, common use of the term spirit excludes the body while including mind. The problem exists in the English language because of cultural ignorance about cosmological matters; I am told that in other languages, notably Sanskrit and possibly the Bantu language family, clarity on these matters is "hard-wired" into the language in a way exactly opposite to that in which confusion is "hard-wired" into the English language on these matters.
To summarize, the Tree of Life is a diagram of the process through which God creates the world, Man, and Man's sojourn in the world (Amen, 1996: 33). God created the world to have experience, that is, to go from a pre-creation state of undifferentiated existence -- "I was alone; not born were they" -- to a state of differentiation. All things are aspects of God's substance and consciousness -- there is unity in the diversity of God's creation:
I brought into my mouth my own name, that is to say, a word of power, and I, even I, came into being in the form of things which came into being, and I came in the forms of the creator."
The Tree of Life classifies the world starting at the transcending state of the unmanifest, hidden God (Amen, Atum, Aten, Nu, Nut) represented by Sphere 0 above the Tree, the manifested aspect of God represented by Sphere 1, and the forms in which the creator came into the world distributed through Spheres 2 to 10. God creates a vehicle -- Man -- through which It can come into the world as one of its own creations that It may experience Itself as the Creator. To experience itself as the Creator, God grants to Man free will. (Any other being which possesses free will, likewise would be the functional equivalent of Man on this conception.) It is precisely because Man has free will that she is free to break Divine Law and/or frustrate Divine Will... that is, do evil, by definition. God remains submerged in the "unconscious," directing unconscious activities (physiological and mental) awaiting the person's awakening and developing of the higher divisions of Spirit, and the alignment of the person's will with Divine will. Man's earthly experience is thus not for her own sake, but for the sake of the Divine Plan. Earthly existence serves the purpose of providing difficulties that force out the divine powers within, or in other words, stimulate the process by which the individuated soul seeks to re-establish its Consciousness at higher levels of the Tree of Life.
The Seven Divisions of Spirit and the Chakras
The ten spheres of the Tree of Life have commonly been organized into seven Divisions of the Spirit (Fig. 1.2).
Fig. 1.2: THE DIVISIONS OF THE SPIRIT
These seven Divisions of the Spirit correspond to the seven main chakras (Table 1.1). [Note: Chakras (Johari, 1987) are energy vortexes which are part of the electro-magnetic energy field surrounding each bodily vehicle, and through which individuals are connected to the energy flux of the Universal Spirit.] Just as there is ultimately a potential infinity of chakras, there is ultimately a potential infinitude of the patterns of energy organization of Spirit. However, there is organizing utility as well as tutorial value in this particular breakdown of Spirit, and it is an organization that is now hallowed by tradition. To the Hindus and Buddhists we owe the very word "chakra," and the seven-fold division of the Spirit that goes with it. There is however reason to suspect that the spiritual science upon which it is based may be traced to the Kamau, who expounded upon a seven-fold division of the Spirit, moreover one that aligns perfectly with the underlying significance of the chakra system.
The Corresponding Chakras
At any rate, the seven Divisions of the Spirit and their corresponding chakras are as follows:
the Root Chakra corresponds to The Khab, corresponding to the physical body and the lower half of Sphere 10, Geb;
the Navel Chakra corresponds to The Khaibit, corresponding to upper half of Sphere 10, and the animal, sensual part of being;
the Solar Plexus Chakra corresponds to The Sahu, corresponding to Spheres 9, 8 and 7 of the Tree, which coordinate and guide the two lower divisions;
the Heart Chakra corresponds to The Ab, corresponding to Spheres 6, 5, and 4, which mediates between the divine divisions of the spirit above, and the mundane divisions below. It is interesting that we associate the heart with the qualities of Maat (Sphere 4), namely love, truth, generosity, sharing, etc., also of Herukhuti (Sphere 5), namely the "heart" of the warrior and athlete, namely bravery and the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, and of Heru (Sphere 6), namely the courage and indomitable will of the leader, who by example can "give heart" to his followers;
the Throat Chakra corresponds to The Shekhem, corresponding to Sphere 3, through which creative words of power are uttered. One who has no power is one who has no voice, so the correspondence between the chakra and the Shekhem division of the Spirit is again apt;
the Brow Chakra corresponds to the Khu, corresponding to Sphere 2, which is the oracular faculty of Spirit. The brow chakra is also known as the "third-eye" chakra, governing the faculty of clairvoyance, and there is again a fit between the two systems;
the Crown Chakra corresponds to the Ba, corresponding to Sphere 1, which is Ausar, or the faculty of omnipresence. It is through the crown chakra that we insperience the ultimate oneness of all of creation, and reconnect to the Source, the Itongo, or to the Atum, which unlike Democritus' improper conception of the "atom," is the final and ultimate irreducible reality.
Bowen's Seven-Fold Division of the Spirit
Bowen's Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu also taught him a seven-fold division of the Spirit, but from within the Zulu tradition. By tradition, it is explicitly traced back to ancient Kamit. The division parallels, though not perfectly, the Kamitic Division of the Spirit as revealed to us by Ra Un Nefer Amen and shown in Table 1.1. Bowen relates the following division:
The Physical Body (Umzimba).
The Etheric Body (Isltunzi): This is merely the etheric counterpart of the physical body...
Lower Mind (Amandhla): That portion of the Mind which shows as Life-Force and other forms of what we call Energy.
The Animal Mind (Utiwesilo): The planes of mind which manifest as passions, emotions, and instincts.
Human Mind (Utiwomuntu): The planes of Mind which manifest as human consciousness, Intellect, higher emotions, etc.
Spiritual Mind (Utiwetongo): The higher planes manifesting Spiritual Consciousness.
Itongo: The Ray, or spark of Universal Spirit which informs all lower manifestations.
Table 1.1: SEVEN DIVISIONS OF THE SPIRIT
Division
Constituent Deities
Main Functions
No
Name
Chakra
Kamitic
Yoruba
1
BA
Crown
1. Ausar
Obatala
Part of Man's spirit where God dwells.
Place from which man may insperience
omnipresence; oneness with all; unity
2
KHU
Third Eye
2. Tehuti
Orunmila
Part of Man's spirit which is all-knowing.
Omniscience; Wisdom; God's will; the Oracle
3
SHEKHEM
Throat
3. Sekert
Obaluaye
Part of Man's spirit with divine power.
Omnipotence. Invocation through mantra,
hekau
4
AB
Heart
4. Maat5. Herukhuti6. Heru
Aje ChagulliaOgunShango
Mediates between the Divine and the mundane;
Part of spirit that intuits to consciousness
the Law of God, and exercises Man's free will
5
SAHU
Solar Plexus
7. Het-Heru8. Sebek9. Auset
OshunEsuYemoja
Coordinates and guides the forces of the
animating spirit to realize mundane goals
of existence
6
KHAIBIT
Navel
10a. Geb
Governs animal spirit -- emotions, sense
perceptions, sensuality, sensory and motor
nervous power
7
KHAB
Root
10b. Geb
Ile
Governs
physical body -- spirit's
window to the physical world --
Contributes to the illusion
of being separate from all other
things.
Source: Adapted from Amen (1996).
Christian Correspondences
It is interesting to remark, not only upon the similarity between the spiritual science of the Kamau and that of the Hindus and Buddhists, but also on correspondences with Christianity. ben-Jochannan (1970) has taught us about the African origins of the "Western religions," in particular Judaism and Christianity. Higgins (1836), Massey (1907), and Budge (1926) long ago remarked on the close correspondence between the Kamitic tale of the resurrection of Ausar, and the Christian story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Finch (1991) has recently given a masterful summary of the Kamitic antecedents of Christian myth and symbolism. The Tree of Life provides a framework within which to see again the correspondence: We have God-the-Father, who is Ausar, God-the-Son who is Heru, and God-the-Mother who is Mary, [Note: Metamorphosed by the Christian fathers into God-the-Holy-Spirit, with Mary retained as the Mother-of-God, instead of God-the-Mother!] and Auset (Isis). The Ausarian story of the death and resurrection of Ausar, is fundamentally a story intended to teach the lesson of spiritual science diagrammed into the Tree of Life, namely that the route back from Sphere 10 of existence is through first of all Auset. Her love for, and devotion to Ausar, and her determination to find Ausar and to "resurrect" him and put him back on the throne, contains the spiritual lesson that the way to reclaiming the Divine Spark within us (Ausar) is through devotion. It is the Auset faculty that also contains the capacity for total soul-recall, accessible through trance. And it is from within a state of trance that it is possible to reprogram the spirit, through affirmations (Sebek) and visualizations (Het-Heru) in order to open the way to the realization of Man's Will in a manner consistent with Divine Will. It is God-the-Son, Heru at Sphere 6, who represents Man's Will in this framework, and whose task it is to re-establish God-the-Father (Ausar at Sphere 1) on the throne, ie. to reyoke Man's Will to God's Will. This is the essential story of Jesus Christ. He is an archetypal God-the-Son whose purpose is to restore the kingdom of God to the throne -- the throne being the Consciousness of each individuated soul. It may take countless incarnations to do so, but therein lies the Kamitic concept of "salvation." The Atum lies within, and likewise, too, salvation ultimately lies within.
In this conception, the Yoruba deity Shango corresponds to Christ, and conversely, Christ, in terms of the Tree of Life, corresponds to Shango! And to Heru. This is not to suggest that the historical Christ is the historical Shango. They are different; they represent two separate historical and individual souls. But in terms of the Tree of Life, they have a functional or archetypal correspondence.
There is an interesting story in this context told to me by the Yoruba priestess and Reiki Master who in what she called a Multi-dimensional Life Recall session I had with her, brought me face to face, in trance, with the who-I-was before I was born, and also with my long-deceased father. I have since come to know Osunnike Anke quite well, and she told me the story of a Baptist minister, without of course revealing who he was, who came to her for a similar sort of session. He did not volunteer for the session, but he did embrace the idea, perhaps out of curiosity, after his wife told him about Osunnike's work. As Osunnike does at the outset of these sessions, she said a prayer asking for guidance, invoking the Ascended Masters, the Orishas, Angelic Forces, Spirit Guides, etc.. Then, for some reason which she did not quite know, except perhaps that her client was a Baptist minister, she added "... and Jesus Christ." Well, lo and behold! As the session got underway and the Minister went into trance, she felt this powerful presence enter into the Minister, and she knew [Note: How she knew is another question. Suffice it to say, as I found out when I had my session with her, when I came face to face with the who-I-was before I was born, that in these matters, one just knows. The who-I-was before I was born looked very different from me, so the fact of recognition had some basis other than the outward appearance of the image that came to me. As a friend of mine once said, we seem to be blessed with an organ unknown to Western science, which may be dubbed a "knower."] that Jesus had come. So she asked the Minister who was it. After hemming and hawing for what seemed like several minutes, he finally allowed himself to say it. "It's Jesus!" Well, as it transpired during the session, it seems that Jesus and the Minister had been contemporaries during Jesus' lifetime, and had walked the path together as friends and colleagues. Paradoxically, as a result of that session, it strengthened the Minister's "personal relationship" with Jesus, at the same time that it must undoubtedly have undermined his belief in certain dogma of the Church. In the present framework being put forward, and for which we owe and credit the Kamau, Christ would be seen as an ancestor, and an especially honored one -- probably an Ascended Master, meaning one who, in terms of the present framework, has "realized Ausar." He is in distinguished ancestral company, but he is one among many. Belief in him is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition of "Salvation," although there are aspects of spiritual science in his teachings and in the example of his life, that if followed, would certainly lead one closer to the resurrection of the Ausar -- the "Divine Spark" within -- with which we are all endowed.
It is interesting also to note that Heru was not only the Son-God, but the Sun-God. Each of the deities -- excepting Ausar -- is aligned with one of the seven major planets, as shown in Table 1.2. Tehuti and Maat share the planet Jupiter. According to this chart, the planetary correspondence for Heru, also Shango, is the Sun. The Christian festival of Christmas may be seen as corresponding to the "(re)birth" of the Sun, since it marks roughly the point (in the northern hemisphere) at which the Sun's apparently lowering trajectory through the sky, with the shortening days of winter, is reversed, and the days start lengthening again, and correspondingly, the Sun's daily arc across the sky ceases to go lower, and starts rising again. Likewise, the (Easter) Resurrection of Christ, on a church calendar that ties Easter to the spring equinox has an astronomical interpretation:
The intersection of the ecliptic and equator at the equinox represents a "cross" in the heavens and as the sun appears to remain stationary for three days, the sun can be said to be suspended on the cross or "crucified" for three days." (Finch, 1991: 191)
Heru's connection with the Sun infuses the language as well. Heru was known to the Greeks as Horus, suggesting a compelling etymology for the word "horizon." Just as Heru is situated at the geometric center of the Tree of Life, midway between the Divine Spheres up above and the more earthly ones below, Horus (the Sun) on the horizon is a compelling image of Man's Will hovering between the Divine heaven, and the mundane earth. In this connection, it is interesting also that Horus is linked phonetically also to helios -- through the interchangeable letters "l" and "r." -- the Greek word for "sun."
Other Correspondences
Table 1.2: PLANETARY CORRESPONDENCES OF THE DEITIES
Planet
Deities
Metal
Day of Week
Kamitic
Yoruba
Moon
Auset
Yemoja
Silver
Monday
Mercury
Sebek
Esu
Mercury
Wednesday
Venus
Het-Heru
Oshun
Copper
Friday
Sun
Heru
Shango
Gold
Sunday
Mars
Herukhuti
Ogun
Iron
Tuesday
Jupiter
Maat, Tehuti
Orunmila, Aje Chagullia
Tin
Thursday
Saturn
Sekert
Obaluaye
Lead
Saturday
Table 1.2 also shows the planetary correspondences to others of the Kamitic deities, and the Yoruba correspondences. The further correspondences to the days of the week are also shown, and to some common metals. These correspondences are worth remarking, as it may seem somewhat of a stretch and a priori incredible that the Yoruba deities or the deities of the Kamitic Tree of Life should have correspondences to things as disparate as metals, planets, and days of the week. Furthermore, the number seven has acquired a mystic significance and crops up in a number of contexts. I make sense of it in the following way.
The Ubiquity of Vibration, hence of Harmonic Scales, Musical and otherwise
Implicit is the notion that what we perceive is an interaction of Matter and Mind. Bowen (1969) tells us, recounting what he learnt from the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu:
But really there are but two manifestations, Mind and Matter. What we call Force is not a separate manifestation. It is simply certain of the lowest, or grosser grades of Mind. Force is simply that portion of Mind which endows Matter with Form. It is that portion of mind which transmits the idea of Form to the higher grades where Consciousness dwells. Let the pupil think and he must see that this is so. Colour, size, shape, what are they? Simply light vibrations which when passed on to the Consciousness give the idea of Form. And what is vibration? It is Force. Heat, cold, hardness, softness, varieties of taste and smell are all vibrations, and therefore also Force. If you make Force a separate manifestation, then also you must make those planes of Mind which transfer the ideas of passion or emotion, separate manifestations.
Accordingly, if vibrational energies lie at the heart of all perception, it should not be surprising that such energies may be classified the same way in which musical notes are classified: there is a scale, and within the scale there are distinct notes, which repeat from octave to octave, but with increasing pitch as one goes up the scale. There are seven notes in the musical scale that has come down to us (here too the Kamau may be credited (Finch 1998: 70-72). When semi-tones (sharps/flats) are included, there are twelve notes within the musical scale, as we see on any piano if we count the five black notes as well as the seven white ones within any octave. The Periodic Table of the Elements that Mendelev developed exhibits a similar, periodic, property. This property is grounded in the wave-like behavior of subatomic particles, describable by mathematics that is "formally analogous to those found for elastic waves like those in a vibrating violin string" (Andrews and Kokes, 1963: 98). It is on the basis of this kind of wave-theoretic mathematics that the periodic properties in the chemical behavior of the elements may be explained by modern science. In yet another context, within the light spectrum, there are seven distinct colors -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. In some ways, given the infinite possibilities of gradation within any one octave of musical notes, or of distinct colors in the spectrum, it is a matter of perception why in both cases our sensory apparatus appears to be comfortable with a seven-fold classification. Or perhaps it is not perception, so much as the underlying reality that our sensory apparatus is wired that way. At any rate, the ancients found some way of knowing these things, with or without the benefit of wave equations, and were able to classify all objects according to the dominant vibrational "note" they possess. In this way, it begins to make sense how planets (which have clear periodicities of revolution, rotation, and wobble) and metals, and days of the week, and other seemingly disparate things, could all have a correspondence with the deities of the Tree of Life.
I hasten to add that, as we see with the Periodic Table of the Elements, the periodicities are sometimes more complex than that of the simple musical scale. As we know from the harmonics of a vibrating string, a single note actually is made up of a suite of vibrations, corresponding to divisions of the length of the string, ie., the frequency of vibration of the whole string, half the string, one third, etc. In terms of these divisions, we have the dominant vibration (1/1), as well as higher-frequency vibrations forming the series 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/12. In terms of music theory, the divisions 1/7 to 1/11 are left out, as are the divisions above 1/12, for the simple reason that the character of the tone is defined by the dominant (1/1), the third (1/3), the fifth (1/5) and the octaves. Thus if the string generates note middle C, the 1/1 division would be the fundamental, the 1/2 division would be C in the second octave, 1/3 would be G in the second octave, 1/4 would take us to C at the third octave, 1/5 would be E in the third octave, 1/6 would give us another G also in the third octave, and 1/12 the G in the fourth octave. The 1/7 division would give us B in the fourth octave, the effect of which may be ignored as it is swamped by the core notes C, G and E making up the suite. Likewise, the 1/11 division would give us F in the fourth octave, and that too is swamped. Thus we again have an effective seven-fold division of the string into the series 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/12 in terms of the composition of the suite of tones and overtones comprising the vibration of the string.
Even in the simple musical scale, as already noted, we may add semi-tones to the whole tones, to come up with 12 notes altogether within the scale, rather than seven.
When the semi-tones are added, to give us twelve "notes" (semi-tones) in the scale, it begins also to make sense why the number 12 is as ubiquitous as the number seven in matters having to do with the esoteric and spiritual sciences. I think specifically of the twelve signs of the zodiac in the astrological system developed also by the ancient Kamau, the twelve months of the year, etc. These matters are complicated, and I do not intend to ascribe greater significance to the numbers seven and 12 than that which Nature accords them. The suggestion is merely that vibrations and vibrational frequencies follow the mathematical laws pertaining to harmonics and harmonic series. Therefore, it should not be surprising that vibrational energies, whether tied to color, smell, sound, the elements of the periodic table, etc., should also be classifiable in a manner analogous to the notes of a musical scale. The universe is a cosmic symphony! Still, I do not suggest that everything in the universe is tonal -- the universe allows space also for sheer noise. Still less do I suggest the necessity of a tonal classification based on recurring octaves varying only in pitch (for I am dimly aware of musical systems in which the classical octave is replaced by a scale which allows for quarter tones as well as half-tones, yielding many more notes per scale than the octave); I do however suggest a reason for its ubiquity.
Conclusion
We saw in the previous article, The Ancient Wisdom in Africa, that there exists all over Africa a learned society which the Zulu call the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, and which claims to derive from a Kamitic priest of Auset who lived during the time of Pharaoh Khufu. What I have tried to do in the present article is to summarize very briefly the main elements of the Kamitic cosmology, and to show several points of correspondence between it and the teachings of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu as reported by Bowen. I have tried also to show the correspondence between the ancient Kamitic teachings about the deities of the Tree of Life, and similar teachings about the orisha, the deities of the Yoruba. Further, I touched briefly on the connection between the Christian resurrection story, and a remarkably similar story that derives from the ancient Kamitic cosmology, namely the story of the resurrection of Ausar. In the process, the Christian resurrection story acquires new meaning, derived from the Tree of Life and the African cosmology for which the latter stands as holistic metaphor. Finally, I tried to explain the ubiquity of the numbers seven and 12 in the spiritual sciences, using the metaphor of musical harmonics to do so.
The metaphor of the Tree of Life is a powerful one that enables us to take a fresh look at a number of subjects, among others the nature of intelligence, and by extension the race/IQ debate, and the true nature of the relation between science and religion. In future articles, I will take a look at these, among others.
In a previous article, The Ancient Wisdom in Africa, we saw that there exists a learned society which the Zulus call the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, whose members come from among all the many peoples of Africa, and whose origins may be traced to a priest of Isis during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, the 3rd dynasty (3900 BCE) builder of the Great Pyramid. In this article, I try to address in a brief space the core concepts of the Kamitic cosmology, and show correspondences to the teachings of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, and moreover to the Yoruba religion.
As it was in the beginning, So shall it be in the end.
The Kamitic Tree of Life
Ra Un Nefer Amen has reclaimed for us some of the core Kamitic spiritual teachings and precepts. The key teachings have been diagrammed in what has come down to us and is known as the Tree of Life (Fig. 1.1).
The Tree of Life is a diagram of the process through which God creates the world, Man, and Man's sojourn in the world. The Tree consists of eleven spheres, numbered from zero to 10. Sphere 0 is at the top, and is depicted as being "above" the tree. It depicts and corresponds to the state of God and of existence before the creation of the thingly, phenomenal world. In the Kamitic tradition, this aspect of God was known variously as Amen, Atum, Aten, Nu, and Nut. As it has come down to the Zulu through the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, it corresponds to what they call the Itongo as Bowen has told us.
Amen, or The Source, or The Itongo
The essential state of God or of existence before creation is of an undifferentiated Potential -- the primordial mist. There are two dual principles which characterize the Amen: One is the principle of Mind, the other is the principle of Matter. The principle of Mind is itself dualized into Consciousness and Will. Consciousness represents the passive polarity, and Will the active polarity, of the same essential quality. The principle of Matter may be seen as a continuum, which may more properly be called Energy/Matter, because "matter" in the strict sense is but one extreme of that continuum, being "energy-slowed-down." Implicit in that notion is the fact known to Western science at least since Einstein, namely that energy and matter are mutually transmutable. As reflected at Sphere 0 above the Tree, the essential quality of Mind is a state of bliss, peace, hetep, the Kamitic word for a state of unshakable inner peace. The essential quality of Matter, at Sphere 0, in the state of Amen, is that of pure Potential, which means there is as yet no motion, [Note: The Hindu word nirvana also characterizes the state of Amen, and means, literally, "no motion" (nir = "no" + vana = "motion").] no vibration, no "things", therefore no space, and no time. There is also no light, since light is a vibration, and there is no motion.
Mind/Matter Duality. Parenthetically, and somewhat paradoxically, the energy/matter continuum (i.e. the Matter principle) properly includes Spirit. In the grand dichotomy between Mind and Matter, Spirit falls under the category of Matter rather than of Mind. Spirit is fundamentally energy, and the medium through which Mind expresses itself. Since individuated spirits also are associated with individuated Mind (Consciousness/Will), loose usage of the term "spirit" sometimes, indeed usually, refers also to Mind. Strictly speaking, however, spirit is energy, and thus distinct from Consciousness/Will (hence Mind) which may in various senses manipulate spirit. It follows from this schema, that the grand dichotomy here called that between Mind and Matter, could also properly have been rendered as the dichotomy between Mind and Spirit, for matter, too, as "energy-slowed-down," is but a form of spirit. But such a usage would do too much violence to the common understanding of these matters, and the usage that goes with it. In common usage, we speak of body, mind, and spirit as all being distinct, certainly to the best of the ability of our senses to perceive these distinctions. At the same time, we use the term "spirit" as a common noun to refer to individuated "souls" that have given up the body, but which retain as an essential attribute the attribute of Consciousness/Will, or Mind. Given the potential for ambiguity, I stick with Mind/Matter as being the fundamental dichotomy, but with the clear understanding that Spirit, qua energy, falls under the category Matter. The concept of soul, in relation to that of spirit, is a tricky one, and will be addressed later on, in the context where it is most easily explained.
The peace of hetep is an "inner" peace, because it is a state that is considered still to lie somewhere within Man. It is not to be found in the material (energy/matter) principle of the universe, rather in the mind principle. Therefore it lies within. It is an aspect of existence that is inherently indivisible: when you get to "it," there is nowhere further to "go." I believe Amen has speculated somewhere in his writings that Democritus imperfectly understood this Kamitic concept of "Atum," and sought to apply it to matter. It is from this misconception that Western science found its way to the notion of the atom, as being the smallest indivisible particle of a substance. No sooner was the atom discovered, however, it turned out that it contained yet smaller constituent particles of stuff. There is apparently no end to the proliferation of yet smaller sub-atomic particles. Kamitic spiritual science confidently predicts that the fundamental building block -- in a delicious irony of metaphor -- of matter, is not matter at all, but the energy polarity of the energy/matter principle. The wave/particle duality of photons, and of sub-atomic particles, is a manifestation of the energy/matter principle, namely that energy and matter are mutually transmutable. Be that as it may, the state of hetep, in terms of the mind aspect of Being, is the ultimate state of pure inner peace. In terms of the matter aspect of Being, it is the ultimate state of pure, quiescent, energy-as-potential. Both, together -- quiescent mind, and quiescent matter (energy, really) -- constitute the Kamitic concept of the Creator before creation. This is Amen, and the Source from which all comes. It is also, in the Kamitic spiritual science, the true nature of the hidden God within, which is essentially unconditioned, and which cannot be upset by externals. It is represented at Sphere 0 above the Tree of Life. In the Yoruba tradition, that aspect of God represented by Sphere 0 is called Olodumare. It is also what, as we have seen, the Zulu call the Itongo.
Fig. 1.1: THE KAMITIC TREE OF LIFE
The purpose of creation
If the true nature of God, the Source, is Amen, and is essentially unconditioned and undifferentiated, the question arises why did God create the thingly world of differentiation in which Man dwells, and further, why did he create Man. The Kamitic scripture says of God in the state of Amen: "I was alone; not born were they." Amen (1996) quotes this scripture to explain that God created the world in order to have experience. And It created Man in order to have a vehicle within the world with the same essential qualities as Itself. Man is in this sense created "in the image of God." Further, as Bowen informs us, the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu teach that Man is on a journey of return to the Source, to the Itongo, to the state of Amen. Man, in his gross, physical aspect, and the thingly world in general, is represented by Sphere 10 at the bottom of the Tree. Sphere 10 thus represents the end-result of creation. Spheres 1 to 9 in-between represent the functional stages of creation, as well as the various aspects of the spiritual being which is also part of Man's nature. Not only does the Tree of Life represent the unfolding of Creation, it represents also the way back, sphere by sphere (or branch by branch), for Man's spiritual return journey.
The functional stages of creation, and the aspects of spirit
Spheres 1 to 9, or the Ennead, in addition to representing the functional stages of creation, also represent archetypal deities which exhibit the qualities most pertinent to the functional stage of creation with which respectively they are identified. At the level of Man, these same archetypal energies find expression as archetypal personality types, of which each of us is in some sense a blend. The Tree of Life is to be understood as but a model of many interpenetrating realities: of deities, of aspects of the psyche, of functional aspects of creation, among others not yet addressed. Each of the spheres of the Tree is described briefly in turn.
Omnipresence/Central Theme. Sphere 1 on the Tree corresponds to God manifest in the world, and is the mirror image of sphere 0 above the tree. That is to say, where Sphere 0 represents God un-manifest, or the "hidden" God, Sphere 1 on the Tree represents God in the world. Sphere 1 represents that highest aspect of Man's spirit which is as yet unawakened in all of us, with the exception of certain adepts or "God-men on earth," such as Jesus, Buddha, and the "Higher Ones" of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu. Sphere 1 represents the "Divine Spark" within all of us. The challenge is to raise and establish our individuated Consciousness in the part of Spirit corresponding to Sphere 1. According to the African cosmology, this is a process that takes countless incarnations, but whether knowingly or unknowingly, it is a journey on which we all are embarked. The aspect of Creation and of Spirit corresponding to Sphere 1 on the Tree is called Ausar in the Kamitic tradition. In the Yoruba tradition, it is called Obatala. The defining attribute of God manifest in the world is omnipresence. By extension, the principle of omnipresence is also the principle of the central theme, as that which infuses every aspect of a thing, or reality, hence Ausar and Obatala are the deities which govern the head, and clarity of vision, purpose, etc.
Omniscience/Divine Will. Sphere 2 on the Tree of Life represents the attribute of omniscience. The deity represented by Sphere 2 of the Tree is called Tehuti, sometimes Djehuti, in the Kamitic tradition. As already mentioned, Tehuti was known to the Greeks as Thoth. It is this faculty of all-knowing that forms the basis for all divination, which is a method by which Man may communicate with the deity of the second Sphere -- the Oracle, or the deity through which Ausar speaks. The deity of Sphere 2 may speak to Man through any variety of vehicles, for example, through the toss of coins, as with the I Ching, the drawing of stalks, the toss of bones, the reading of tea leaves, the toss of cowrie shells, and the drawing of cards from a deck. Ra Un Nefer Amen has reclaimed for us the Great Oracle of Tehuti, who speaks, so to say, through cards similar to the Tarot. In the Yoruba pantheon, Orunmila is the deity responsible for all divination (Ifa is related, and is the name given to the system of divination used by the babalawos of the Yoruba, as well as the traditional religion practiced by the Yoruba.) It is through Sphere 2 that the will of God may be made known. In addition to divination systems, the omniscience faculty of the Creator may be made manifest through living sages and adepts who have been able through spiritual cultivation or through Divine assistance, to establish their Consciousness at the part of Spirit represented by Sphere 2 on the Tree.
It also happens in African religious systems that a deity may "possess" an initiate. Under such possession, the initiate's Consciousness is displaced, and the Consciousness of the deity "takes over" the initiate's bodily vehicle. In that state, the deity is able to speak to those who seek or require counsel.
Omnipotence/The power of creation. Sphere 3 of the Tree represents the omnipotence aspect of the Creator. If it is out of Sphere 2 that Ausar expresses the faculty of all-knowing, it is out of Sphere 3 that Ausar brings into being that which is Willed out of Sphere 2. The deity represented by Sphere 3 of the Tree was called Sekert by the Kamau, and is called Obaluaye in the Yoruba tradition. The Kamitic spiritual science holds that creation is brought about by Word, invocation, or vibration. Thus Sphere 3 also represents words of power, or mantra. These were called hekau (singular: heka) by the Kamau. The original Godly vibration which created the (our) world was said to be aung. That initial Godly word of vibration was emitted from that aspect of the Creator represented by Sphere 3. The Kamitic scripture has God saying: "I brought into my mouth my own name, that is to say, a word of power, and I, even I, came into being in the form of things which came into being, and I came in the forms of the Creator." Since creation of the thingly universe brings into being structure, also limitation by inference, Sekert and Obaluaye are identified with the foundations of things. One calls on Sekert or Obaluaye to help establish firm and enduring foundations. At the same time, since nothing lasts forever in the thingly world, Sekert and Obaluaye are also identified with cycles, and since no new cycle begins unless an old one has died, Sekert and Obaluaye are also identified as much with death as with creation. But this is not as morbid as it may seem to the Western mind, for within the African cosmology, death is not seen as final, rather as transition. At any rate, Sekert and Obaluaye preside over funerals and cemeteries, and the skull is one of their totems.
Divine Law/Truth, Harmony, the interdependence of all things. Sphere 4 of the Tree of Life represents that aspect of the Creator corresponding to the laws of existence for the things of creation. This is Divine Law. In the Kamitic tradition, the deity represented by this Sphere is known as Maat. In the Yoruba pantheon she is known as Aje Chagullia. The laws for which Maat is the expression govern both aspects of mind (Consciousness/Will), as well as aspects of matter (Energy/Matter). Thus Maat governs the principles of Divine Truth, Love, Justice, Balance, Harmony, Inter-dependence of all things, etc., as well as the laws of physics and of all energy/matter phenomena, which latter includes the laws governing spiritual phenomena. It is the feather of Maat that is used to weigh the heart at Judgement day.
Divine Law Enforcement. Sphere 5 of the Tree represents that aspect of Spirit from which Divine Law is "enforced." In the Kamitic tradition, the deity represented by this Sphere is known as Herukhuti. In the Yoruba, he is known as Ogun. The wrath of God (punishment) is exercised through this faculty, as is the love of God in its protective aspect. There is a balancing logic at work here. There is no law without means of enforcement, therefore Herukhuti is needed to complement Maat.
Man's Will. Sphere 6 of the Tree represents that aspect of Spirit from which Man's Will is exercised. It is in the exercise of Free Will that the divine aspect of Man finds expression. It is important though to point out that Man's Will is distinct from God's Will, which finds expression out of Sphere 2. For Man to bring her Will into alignment with God's will, therefore, it is necessary for Man to consult or otherwise be guided by, the Sage, or the Oracular faculty represented by Sphere 2. The deity represented by Sphere 6 was known to the Kamau as Heru, often symbolized by the hawk wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt. No doubt the word "hero" derives from the Kamitic name for this deity, and came into the English language via the Greeks. It is cognate also to the Greek word helios for the sun, as well as Horus, the word by which Heru was known to the Greeks. Horus in turn is cognate to "horizon" for the image of Heru is of the sun on the horizon, poised between heaven and the earth. Likewise, in the Tree of Life, Sphere 6 is at its geometric center, poised between the divine faculties already discussed, up above, and the more mundane faculties now to follow, down below. Heru is key to the Ausarian resurrection metaphor, wherein he is seen as the son, the hero figure, who reclaims his father's throne which has been usurped by Ausar's evil brother Set. Heru re-establishes the kingdom of God both within and without, by aligning his will, Man's free will, with God's will. In the Yoruba pantheon, Shango is the deity which exemplifies the energies represented by Sphere 6 of the Tree.
Joy, Imagination, the Libido, Beauty. Sphere 7 of the Tree represents the part of Spirit that governs joy and the imagination. She is known as Het-Heru (House of Heru) in the Kamitic tradition, and Oshun in the Yoruba. It is a congregative faculty, meaning that, among other things, it is concerned with putting things together for beautiful or pleasing artistic effect. The Greeks knew this aspect of Spirit by the name Aphrodite. The Romans called her Venus, and the Babylonians called her Ishtar. The Kamau recognized that that which manifests is that which has been cultivated by the imagination. It is in this sense that Heru (the Will and its realization) is related to Het-Heru (the "house" of Heru or the place where the will is gestated -- the imagination). The Het-Heru faculty is intimately connected with that which the Kamau called Ra or life-force, and what is known as Chi to the Chinese, Kundalini to the Hindus, and ngolo (Fu-Kiau, 1991) to the Kongo people of Central Africa.
Logic, Intellect, Belief, Communication. Sphere 8 of the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit that governs logic and the intellect. The corresponding deity was known to the Kamau as Sebek, and is known to the Yoruba as Esu-Elegba. Among the Akan, Nana Sankofa would be the deity that most closely exemplifies the energies and faculties associated with Sphere 8. To the Greeks, this deity was known as Hermes, and to the Romans, he was known as Mercury. Where Het-Heru at Sphere 7 is congregative, Sebek at Sphere 8 is segregative. Where Het-Heru puts things together in beautiful, harmonious arrangements, Sebek takes things apart and puts them in logical order or relationship. He takes thoughts and orders them into words, one syllable at a time. He governs syllogistic logic, and all manner of information. He is, like the dog which is his totem, clever, but not wise. He represents an important faculty of spirit, which is to ease the way through being clever, but cleverness needs to be guided by wisdom, in almost exactly the same way in which syllogistic logic is only as useful as the premises on which it is based, while logic, per se, cannot establish the truth of the premises from which formal syllogistic argument proceeds. Where Het-Heru governs the imagination, Sebek governs belief. That which we nurture in the imagination, good and bad, tends ultimately to manifest. And that which we believe is what we are most inclined to entertain in our imagination. Moreover, we tend to live that which we believe. Sebek therefore is seen as the "messenger of the Gods", the "opener of the way," the "guardian of the cross-roads," etc., for it is right belief (Sphere 8) that opens the way to right knowledge (Sphere 2) and to the alignment of Man's will with divine will, and therefore "good fortune." Wrong belief, on the other hand, will take us down the wrong road at every cross-road, to "ill fortune", "bad luck," frustration and continual obstacles.
Soul, Memory, Learning, Receptivity, Devotion, Nurturing. Sphere 9 on the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit with which we most identify, as giving us our respective and distinct identities as individuated spiritual entities. The "soul"-memory of the individual resides at the part of spirit represented by Sphere 9. The "soul" itself, in this conception, is nothing but the individuated duality of consciousness and spirit (mind and matter) of which each of us is composed. While the soul is conceptually distinct from the soul-memory, they are inextricably linked, for it is the content of the soul memory, over the many lifetimes through which the soul passes, inhabiting many bodily forms as it does so, that allows us to distinguish one soul from another. The soul memory may be conceived of as residing at Sphere 9, in the sense that it is an aspect of spirit -- in the grand dichotomy between mind and matter, the soul memory is classed as matter. The soul on the other hand is an abstraction, in exactly the way identity is an abstraction, and may be seen as referencing an individual's entirety, namely her individuated mind, body, all aspects of her spirit, and entire soul history -- I say soul history to help convey the idea, but to be more precise, what I really mean transcends space/time and other dimensions, and so embraces what we call "future" as well. The soul was called Ka by the Kamau, and it is this root word from which the "Ka" in Kabala derives. It has been linked etymologically also to the nkra (= soul) in the Twi language of the Akan people of Ghana. Everything that happens to an individual, in the present or past lifetimes, is registered indiscriminately in the soul memory -- the portion of spirit -- represented by Sphere 9. Much of it goes into the "unconscious" or the "subconscious" (which terms, by the way, are pseudo-scientific ways of making reference to spirit, as we are here describing it, without simply coming out and saying so). There it takes shape as a pattern of energy organization of the spirit that manifests over and over again in various aspects of our lives. The "pattern of energy organization" stored at Sphere 9 of the Spirit is in a sense programmed by Sebek (belief), Het-Heru (imagination), and Heru (will), the faculties of the Spheres immediately above it in the Tree. And it is through Sphere 9 that the programmed "personality" of the individual -- her "soul" -- finds ultimate expression. It is also from Sphere 9, and and the re-programming of that part of Spirit which it represents, that the soul begins its metaphorical upward journey back up the Tree to re-identify with its true Higher Self at Sphere 1 -- to establish the soul's consciousness at the part of its spirit represented by Sphere 1, what the Kamau called "to realize Ausar" and to live and insperience the oneness of all Creation. That was the Kamitic conception of resurrection.
The deity corresponding to Sphere 9 was known by the Kamau as Auset, or Isis. In the Yoruba pantheon, she is known as Yemoja. In the Akan system, she is known as Nana Esi. In other West African systems she is known as Mami Wata, or the mother of the waters, since she governs large bodies of water, that is, the oceans. In the Christian faith she would correspond most closely to Mary, or the Madonna. She governs not only total soul recall, to which access may be gained through trance, but also the nurturing qualities of the mother. She is devotion, and humility. She is the receptive quality, the archetypal female energy.
Body, Flesh and Blood and Animal Senses, Motion and Emotion. Sphere 10 of the Tree of Life represents the part of Spirit that is flesh and blood, the physical body, along with the electro-magnetic "body" or energy-field which immediately surrounds it, and which is the animating spirit (energy-field) that "drives" the physical bodily "vehicle." The "deity" corresponding to Sphere 10 was called Geb by the Kamau, and is known as Ile by the Yoruba. The planetary correspondence of this deity is the earth itself. It is at the aspect of creation represented by Sphere 10 that the individuation process, begun with the first Godly word of vibration, emerges finally as that part of reality which is tangible and visible. Sphere 10 represents the physical body, flesh and blood. To the Kamau, Geb was the Erpau Neter, meaning literally the inheritor of God, and meaning more properly that the physical body inherits the qualities and attributes of all the deities: "as above, so below." That is, the physical body "inherits" or reflects the patterns of energy organization already present in the aspects of spirit represented by Spheres 9 to 1. Every major organ or organ system in the body is tied to or governed by an aspect of spirit or deity represented by Spheres 9 to 1 of the Tree. The patterns of energy organization from Spheres 9 to 1 are imperceivable to the physical senses of the bodily vehicle represented by Sphere 10. That the aspects of spirit represented by Spheres 9 to 1 are imperceivable to the physical senses does not however make them less real. It is these aspects of spirit, seen (or rather, not seen) from the vantage point of the bodily vehicle, that Western psychologists have come to call the "unconscious". it is a concept that was known to and elaborated by the ancient Kamau thousands of years ago, moreover within a holistic cosmology that tied everything back, straightforwardly and unselfconsciously, to God, spirit, and the very purpose of creation.
Body, Mind and Spirit? As previously mentioned, the bodily vehicle is classed as an extreme polarity of the energy/matter continuum. Spirit, qua energy -- or pattern of energy organization -- also belongs to the same energy/matter continuum, but is of opposite polarity to body, or matter. Mind, the quality for which Consciousness and Will are opposite polarities, is, strictly speaking, distinct from Spirit, qua energy/matter; but as mind requires spirit as the medium through which effect is given to its Will, and even through which Consciousness merely be, it has become common practice in loose usage to connote mind also when we use the word "spirit". And in an irony of common usage, even though the body properly belongs with spirit on the Matter side of the grand Mind/Matter dichotomy, common use of the term spirit excludes the body while including mind. The problem exists in the English language because of cultural ignorance about cosmological matters; I am told that in other languages, notably Sanskrit and possibly the Bantu language family, clarity on these matters is "hard-wired" into the language in a way exactly opposite to that in which confusion is "hard-wired" into the English language on these matters.
To summarize, the Tree of Life is a diagram of the process through which God creates the world, Man, and Man's sojourn in the world (Amen, 1996: 33). God created the world to have experience, that is, to go from a pre-creation state of undifferentiated existence -- "I was alone; not born were they" -- to a state of differentiation. All things are aspects of God's substance and consciousness -- there is unity in the diversity of God's creation:
I brought into my mouth my own name, that is to say, a word of power, and I, even I, came into being in the form of things which came into being, and I came in the forms of the creator."
The Tree of Life classifies the world starting at the transcending state of the unmanifest, hidden God (Amen, Atum, Aten, Nu, Nut) represented by Sphere 0 above the Tree, the manifested aspect of God represented by Sphere 1, and the forms in which the creator came into the world distributed through Spheres 2 to 10. God creates a vehicle -- Man -- through which It can come into the world as one of its own creations that It may experience Itself as the Creator. To experience itself as the Creator, God grants to Man free will. (Any other being which possesses free will, likewise would be the functional equivalent of Man on this conception.) It is precisely because Man has free will that she is free to break Divine Law and/or frustrate Divine Will... that is, do evil, by definition. God remains submerged in the "unconscious," directing unconscious activities (physiological and mental) awaiting the person's awakening and developing of the higher divisions of Spirit, and the alignment of the person's will with Divine will. Man's earthly experience is thus not for her own sake, but for the sake of the Divine Plan. Earthly existence serves the purpose of providing difficulties that force out the divine powers within, or in other words, stimulate the process by which the individuated soul seeks to re-establish its Consciousness at higher levels of the Tree of Life.
The Seven Divisions of Spirit and the Chakras
The ten spheres of the Tree of Life have commonly been organized into seven Divisions of the Spirit (Fig. 1.2).
Fig. 1.2: THE DIVISIONS OF THE SPIRIT
These seven Divisions of the Spirit correspond to the seven main chakras (Table 1.1). [Note: Chakras (Johari, 1987) are energy vortexes which are part of the electro-magnetic energy field surrounding each bodily vehicle, and through which individuals are connected to the energy flux of the Universal Spirit.] Just as there is ultimately a potential infinity of chakras, there is ultimately a potential infinitude of the patterns of energy organization of Spirit. However, there is organizing utility as well as tutorial value in this particular breakdown of Spirit, and it is an organization that is now hallowed by tradition. To the Hindus and Buddhists we owe the very word "chakra," and the seven-fold division of the Spirit that goes with it. There is however reason to suspect that the spiritual science upon which it is based may be traced to the Kamau, who expounded upon a seven-fold division of the Spirit, moreover one that aligns perfectly with the underlying significance of the chakra system.
The Corresponding Chakras
At any rate, the seven Divisions of the Spirit and their corresponding chakras are as follows:
the Root Chakra corresponds to The Khab, corresponding to the physical body and the lower half of Sphere 10, Geb;
the Navel Chakra corresponds to The Khaibit, corresponding to upper half of Sphere 10, and the animal, sensual part of being;
the Solar Plexus Chakra corresponds to The Sahu, corresponding to Spheres 9, 8 and 7 of the Tree, which coordinate and guide the two lower divisions;
the Heart Chakra corresponds to The Ab, corresponding to Spheres 6, 5, and 4, which mediates between the divine divisions of the spirit above, and the mundane divisions below. It is interesting that we associate the heart with the qualities of Maat (Sphere 4), namely love, truth, generosity, sharing, etc., also of Herukhuti (Sphere 5), namely the "heart" of the warrior and athlete, namely bravery and the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice, and of Heru (Sphere 6), namely the courage and indomitable will of the leader, who by example can "give heart" to his followers;
the Throat Chakra corresponds to The Shekhem, corresponding to Sphere 3, through which creative words of power are uttered. One who has no power is one who has no voice, so the correspondence between the chakra and the Shekhem division of the Spirit is again apt;
the Brow Chakra corresponds to the Khu, corresponding to Sphere 2, which is the oracular faculty of Spirit. The brow chakra is also known as the "third-eye" chakra, governing the faculty of clairvoyance, and there is again a fit between the two systems;
the Crown Chakra corresponds to the Ba, corresponding to Sphere 1, which is Ausar, or the faculty of omnipresence. It is through the crown chakra that we insperience the ultimate oneness of all of creation, and reconnect to the Source, the Itongo, or to the Atum, which unlike Democritus' improper conception of the "atom," is the final and ultimate irreducible reality.
Bowen's Seven-Fold Division of the Spirit
Bowen's Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu also taught him a seven-fold division of the Spirit, but from within the Zulu tradition. By tradition, it is explicitly traced back to ancient Kamit. The division parallels, though not perfectly, the Kamitic Division of the Spirit as revealed to us by Ra Un Nefer Amen and shown in Table 1.1. Bowen relates the following division:
The Physical Body (Umzimba).
The Etheric Body (Isltunzi): This is merely the etheric counterpart of the physical body...
Lower Mind (Amandhla): That portion of the Mind which shows as Life-Force and other forms of what we call Energy.
The Animal Mind (Utiwesilo): The planes of mind which manifest as passions, emotions, and instincts.
Human Mind (Utiwomuntu): The planes of Mind which manifest as human consciousness, Intellect, higher emotions, etc.
Spiritual Mind (Utiwetongo): The higher planes manifesting Spiritual Consciousness.
Itongo: The Ray, or spark of Universal Spirit which informs all lower manifestations.
Table 1.1: SEVEN DIVISIONS OF THE SPIRIT
Division
Constituent Deities
Main Functions
No
Name
Chakra
Kamitic
Yoruba
1
BA
Crown
1. Ausar
Obatala
Part of Man's spirit where God dwells.
Place from which man may insperience
omnipresence; oneness with all; unity
2
KHU
Third Eye
2. Tehuti
Orunmila
Part of Man's spirit which is all-knowing.
Omniscience; Wisdom; God's will; the Oracle
3
SHEKHEM
Throat
3. Sekert
Obaluaye
Part of Man's spirit with divine power.
Omnipotence. Invocation through mantra,
hekau
4
AB
Heart
4. Maat5. Herukhuti6. Heru
Aje ChagulliaOgunShango
Mediates between the Divine and the mundane;
Part of spirit that intuits to consciousness
the Law of God, and exercises Man's free will
5
SAHU
Solar Plexus
7. Het-Heru8. Sebek9. Auset
OshunEsuYemoja
Coordinates and guides the forces of the
animating spirit to realize mundane goals
of existence
6
KHAIBIT
Navel
10a. Geb
Governs animal spirit -- emotions, sense
perceptions, sensuality, sensory and motor
nervous power
7
KHAB
Root
10b. Geb
Ile
Governs
physical body -- spirit's
window to the physical world --
Contributes to the illusion
of being separate from all other
things.
Source: Adapted from Amen (1996).
Christian Correspondences
It is interesting to remark, not only upon the similarity between the spiritual science of the Kamau and that of the Hindus and Buddhists, but also on correspondences with Christianity. ben-Jochannan (1970) has taught us about the African origins of the "Western religions," in particular Judaism and Christianity. Higgins (1836), Massey (1907), and Budge (1926) long ago remarked on the close correspondence between the Kamitic tale of the resurrection of Ausar, and the Christian story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Finch (1991) has recently given a masterful summary of the Kamitic antecedents of Christian myth and symbolism. The Tree of Life provides a framework within which to see again the correspondence: We have God-the-Father, who is Ausar, God-the-Son who is Heru, and God-the-Mother who is Mary, [Note: Metamorphosed by the Christian fathers into God-the-Holy-Spirit, with Mary retained as the Mother-of-God, instead of God-the-Mother!] and Auset (Isis). The Ausarian story of the death and resurrection of Ausar, is fundamentally a story intended to teach the lesson of spiritual science diagrammed into the Tree of Life, namely that the route back from Sphere 10 of existence is through first of all Auset. Her love for, and devotion to Ausar, and her determination to find Ausar and to "resurrect" him and put him back on the throne, contains the spiritual lesson that the way to reclaiming the Divine Spark within us (Ausar) is through devotion. It is the Auset faculty that also contains the capacity for total soul-recall, accessible through trance. And it is from within a state of trance that it is possible to reprogram the spirit, through affirmations (Sebek) and visualizations (Het-Heru) in order to open the way to the realization of Man's Will in a manner consistent with Divine Will. It is God-the-Son, Heru at Sphere 6, who represents Man's Will in this framework, and whose task it is to re-establish God-the-Father (Ausar at Sphere 1) on the throne, ie. to reyoke Man's Will to God's Will. This is the essential story of Jesus Christ. He is an archetypal God-the-Son whose purpose is to restore the kingdom of God to the throne -- the throne being the Consciousness of each individuated soul. It may take countless incarnations to do so, but therein lies the Kamitic concept of "salvation." The Atum lies within, and likewise, too, salvation ultimately lies within.
In this conception, the Yoruba deity Shango corresponds to Christ, and conversely, Christ, in terms of the Tree of Life, corresponds to Shango! And to Heru. This is not to suggest that the historical Christ is the historical Shango. They are different; they represent two separate historical and individual souls. But in terms of the Tree of Life, they have a functional or archetypal correspondence.
There is an interesting story in this context told to me by the Yoruba priestess and Reiki Master who in what she called a Multi-dimensional Life Recall session I had with her, brought me face to face, in trance, with the who-I-was before I was born, and also with my long-deceased father. I have since come to know Osunnike Anke quite well, and she told me the story of a Baptist minister, without of course revealing who he was, who came to her for a similar sort of session. He did not volunteer for the session, but he did embrace the idea, perhaps out of curiosity, after his wife told him about Osunnike's work. As Osunnike does at the outset of these sessions, she said a prayer asking for guidance, invoking the Ascended Masters, the Orishas, Angelic Forces, Spirit Guides, etc.. Then, for some reason which she did not quite know, except perhaps that her client was a Baptist minister, she added "... and Jesus Christ." Well, lo and behold! As the session got underway and the Minister went into trance, she felt this powerful presence enter into the Minister, and she knew [Note: How she knew is another question. Suffice it to say, as I found out when I had my session with her, when I came face to face with the who-I-was before I was born, that in these matters, one just knows. The who-I-was before I was born looked very different from me, so the fact of recognition had some basis other than the outward appearance of the image that came to me. As a friend of mine once said, we seem to be blessed with an organ unknown to Western science, which may be dubbed a "knower."] that Jesus had come. So she asked the Minister who was it. After hemming and hawing for what seemed like several minutes, he finally allowed himself to say it. "It's Jesus!" Well, as it transpired during the session, it seems that Jesus and the Minister had been contemporaries during Jesus' lifetime, and had walked the path together as friends and colleagues. Paradoxically, as a result of that session, it strengthened the Minister's "personal relationship" with Jesus, at the same time that it must undoubtedly have undermined his belief in certain dogma of the Church. In the present framework being put forward, and for which we owe and credit the Kamau, Christ would be seen as an ancestor, and an especially honored one -- probably an Ascended Master, meaning one who, in terms of the present framework, has "realized Ausar." He is in distinguished ancestral company, but he is one among many. Belief in him is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition of "Salvation," although there are aspects of spiritual science in his teachings and in the example of his life, that if followed, would certainly lead one closer to the resurrection of the Ausar -- the "Divine Spark" within -- with which we are all endowed.
It is interesting also to note that Heru was not only the Son-God, but the Sun-God. Each of the deities -- excepting Ausar -- is aligned with one of the seven major planets, as shown in Table 1.2. Tehuti and Maat share the planet Jupiter. According to this chart, the planetary correspondence for Heru, also Shango, is the Sun. The Christian festival of Christmas may be seen as corresponding to the "(re)birth" of the Sun, since it marks roughly the point (in the northern hemisphere) at which the Sun's apparently lowering trajectory through the sky, with the shortening days of winter, is reversed, and the days start lengthening again, and correspondingly, the Sun's daily arc across the sky ceases to go lower, and starts rising again. Likewise, the (Easter) Resurrection of Christ, on a church calendar that ties Easter to the spring equinox has an astronomical interpretation:
The intersection of the ecliptic and equator at the equinox represents a "cross" in the heavens and as the sun appears to remain stationary for three days, the sun can be said to be suspended on the cross or "crucified" for three days." (Finch, 1991: 191)
Heru's connection with the Sun infuses the language as well. Heru was known to the Greeks as Horus, suggesting a compelling etymology for the word "horizon." Just as Heru is situated at the geometric center of the Tree of Life, midway between the Divine Spheres up above and the more earthly ones below, Horus (the Sun) on the horizon is a compelling image of Man's Will hovering between the Divine heaven, and the mundane earth. In this connection, it is interesting also that Horus is linked phonetically also to helios -- through the interchangeable letters "l" and "r." -- the Greek word for "sun."
Other Correspondences
Table 1.2: PLANETARY CORRESPONDENCES OF THE DEITIES
Planet
Deities
Metal
Day of Week
Kamitic
Yoruba
Moon
Auset
Yemoja
Silver
Monday
Mercury
Sebek
Esu
Mercury
Wednesday
Venus
Het-Heru
Oshun
Copper
Friday
Sun
Heru
Shango
Gold
Sunday
Mars
Herukhuti
Ogun
Iron
Tuesday
Jupiter
Maat, Tehuti
Orunmila, Aje Chagullia
Tin
Thursday
Saturn
Sekert
Obaluaye
Lead
Saturday
Table 1.2 also shows the planetary correspondences to others of the Kamitic deities, and the Yoruba correspondences. The further correspondences to the days of the week are also shown, and to some common metals. These correspondences are worth remarking, as it may seem somewhat of a stretch and a priori incredible that the Yoruba deities or the deities of the Kamitic Tree of Life should have correspondences to things as disparate as metals, planets, and days of the week. Furthermore, the number seven has acquired a mystic significance and crops up in a number of contexts. I make sense of it in the following way.
The Ubiquity of Vibration, hence of Harmonic Scales, Musical and otherwise
Implicit is the notion that what we perceive is an interaction of Matter and Mind. Bowen (1969) tells us, recounting what he learnt from the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu:
But really there are but two manifestations, Mind and Matter. What we call Force is not a separate manifestation. It is simply certain of the lowest, or grosser grades of Mind. Force is simply that portion of Mind which endows Matter with Form. It is that portion of mind which transmits the idea of Form to the higher grades where Consciousness dwells. Let the pupil think and he must see that this is so. Colour, size, shape, what are they? Simply light vibrations which when passed on to the Consciousness give the idea of Form. And what is vibration? It is Force. Heat, cold, hardness, softness, varieties of taste and smell are all vibrations, and therefore also Force. If you make Force a separate manifestation, then also you must make those planes of Mind which transfer the ideas of passion or emotion, separate manifestations.
Accordingly, if vibrational energies lie at the heart of all perception, it should not be surprising that such energies may be classified the same way in which musical notes are classified: there is a scale, and within the scale there are distinct notes, which repeat from octave to octave, but with increasing pitch as one goes up the scale. There are seven notes in the musical scale that has come down to us (here too the Kamau may be credited (Finch 1998: 70-72). When semi-tones (sharps/flats) are included, there are twelve notes within the musical scale, as we see on any piano if we count the five black notes as well as the seven white ones within any octave. The Periodic Table of the Elements that Mendelev developed exhibits a similar, periodic, property. This property is grounded in the wave-like behavior of subatomic particles, describable by mathematics that is "formally analogous to those found for elastic waves like those in a vibrating violin string" (Andrews and Kokes, 1963: 98). It is on the basis of this kind of wave-theoretic mathematics that the periodic properties in the chemical behavior of the elements may be explained by modern science. In yet another context, within the light spectrum, there are seven distinct colors -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. In some ways, given the infinite possibilities of gradation within any one octave of musical notes, or of distinct colors in the spectrum, it is a matter of perception why in both cases our sensory apparatus appears to be comfortable with a seven-fold classification. Or perhaps it is not perception, so much as the underlying reality that our sensory apparatus is wired that way. At any rate, the ancients found some way of knowing these things, with or without the benefit of wave equations, and were able to classify all objects according to the dominant vibrational "note" they possess. In this way, it begins to make sense how planets (which have clear periodicities of revolution, rotation, and wobble) and metals, and days of the week, and other seemingly disparate things, could all have a correspondence with the deities of the Tree of Life.
I hasten to add that, as we see with the Periodic Table of the Elements, the periodicities are sometimes more complex than that of the simple musical scale. As we know from the harmonics of a vibrating string, a single note actually is made up of a suite of vibrations, corresponding to divisions of the length of the string, ie., the frequency of vibration of the whole string, half the string, one third, etc. In terms of these divisions, we have the dominant vibration (1/1), as well as higher-frequency vibrations forming the series 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/12. In terms of music theory, the divisions 1/7 to 1/11 are left out, as are the divisions above 1/12, for the simple reason that the character of the tone is defined by the dominant (1/1), the third (1/3), the fifth (1/5) and the octaves. Thus if the string generates note middle C, the 1/1 division would be the fundamental, the 1/2 division would be C in the second octave, 1/3 would be G in the second octave, 1/4 would take us to C at the third octave, 1/5 would be E in the third octave, 1/6 would give us another G also in the third octave, and 1/12 the G in the fourth octave. The 1/7 division would give us B in the fourth octave, the effect of which may be ignored as it is swamped by the core notes C, G and E making up the suite. Likewise, the 1/11 division would give us F in the fourth octave, and that too is swamped. Thus we again have an effective seven-fold division of the string into the series 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/12 in terms of the composition of the suite of tones and overtones comprising the vibration of the string.
Even in the simple musical scale, as already noted, we may add semi-tones to the whole tones, to come up with 12 notes altogether within the scale, rather than seven.
When the semi-tones are added, to give us twelve "notes" (semi-tones) in the scale, it begins also to make sense why the number 12 is as ubiquitous as the number seven in matters having to do with the esoteric and spiritual sciences. I think specifically of the twelve signs of the zodiac in the astrological system developed also by the ancient Kamau, the twelve months of the year, etc. These matters are complicated, and I do not intend to ascribe greater significance to the numbers seven and 12 than that which Nature accords them. The suggestion is merely that vibrations and vibrational frequencies follow the mathematical laws pertaining to harmonics and harmonic series. Therefore, it should not be surprising that vibrational energies, whether tied to color, smell, sound, the elements of the periodic table, etc., should also be classifiable in a manner analogous to the notes of a musical scale. The universe is a cosmic symphony! Still, I do not suggest that everything in the universe is tonal -- the universe allows space also for sheer noise. Still less do I suggest the necessity of a tonal classification based on recurring octaves varying only in pitch (for I am dimly aware of musical systems in which the classical octave is replaced by a scale which allows for quarter tones as well as half-tones, yielding many more notes per scale than the octave); I do however suggest a reason for its ubiquity.
Conclusion
We saw in the previous article, The Ancient Wisdom in Africa, that there exists all over Africa a learned society which the Zulu call the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu, and which claims to derive from a Kamitic priest of Auset who lived during the time of Pharaoh Khufu. What I have tried to do in the present article is to summarize very briefly the main elements of the Kamitic cosmology, and to show several points of correspondence between it and the teachings of the Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu as reported by Bowen. I have tried also to show the correspondence between the ancient Kamitic teachings about the deities of the Tree of Life, and similar teachings about the orisha, the deities of the Yoruba. Further, I touched briefly on the connection between the Christian resurrection story, and a remarkably similar story that derives from the ancient Kamitic cosmology, namely the story of the resurrection of Ausar. In the process, the Christian resurrection story acquires new meaning, derived from the Tree of Life and the African cosmology for which the latter stands as holistic metaphor. Finally, I tried to explain the ubiquity of the numbers seven and 12 in the spiritual sciences, using the metaphor of musical harmonics to do so.
The metaphor of the Tree of Life is a powerful one that enables us to take a fresh look at a number of subjects, among others the nature of intelligence, and by extension the race/IQ debate, and the true nature of the relation between science and religion. In future articles, I will take a look at these, among others.
Pharaoh NARMER Calculation of 684-Year Kingdoms
Pharaoh Narmer's Heb-Sed Feasts
Pharaonic Egyptian Numbers and Symbolsas LATER standardized, but not initially
Calendration Mathematics, Astronomy Calibration of Solar and Lunar Cycles
"The Egyptians had a decimal notation. The hieroglyphic script had distinct signs for units, tens, hundreds, etc., the numbers of each being indicated by repetition of the sign. There was no sign for zero and no positional notation, so that representation of large numbers became extremely cumbersome."Gay Robins & Charles Shute, The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. However, scholars have failed to see that this symbolic decimal notation was not standardized in the early stages of Pharaonic civilization and that symbols were subject to divergent positional decimal application.
Above : Oldest known script of a Pharaonic Calendric Feast(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
One of the most amazing misreadingsin all of Egyptology relates to the veryoldest of all Pharaonic calendric inscriptions,pictured above, as Narmer's Heb-Sed Feasts.
Here is the corrected reading.
The simple mathematics is 19 x 120,000 = 2,280,000.(See below - numbers are bold face - graphic less prominent by intent.)
The "sitting man" hieroglyph reads "Siets, Sed, Seta"and is the same as Babylonian "Sin "i.e. "Moon".Compare to this Swedish seter and Latvian seta "fence, border."120,000 lunations x 29.5 days (the synodic month,i.e. from one new moon to the next new moon)is 3,540,000 days which is exactly10,000 lunar years of 354 days each..19 years is the Metonic Cycle of lunations(235 lunations = 6939 days = 19 solar years)..The Pharaohs used a schematic civil year of 360 days, so19 x 360 = 6840 days and 19000 x 360 = 6,840,000 days,with 6,840,000 divided by 3 equal to 2, 280,000 days...In this manner, the Narmer Heb-Sed Feasts(civil and lunar calendar) are reconciled with each otherby a common denominator x 3.
Now, what have the Egyptologists written before this?.Originally, the Egyptologists erroneously thought that this was a victory celebration, with the Pharaoh Narmer *to the left, his wife in the canopy to the right, followed bydancers and war booty, according to the Egyptologists120,000 captives, 400,000 cattle and 1,422,000 goats..Of course, these were absurdly large numbers, particularly since the numbers were misread - which is crucial to a solution..Currently , Egyptologists do see the Narmer scriptto relate to the "heb-sed" renewal feast,which they think took place every thirty years..But rather than to recognize the clear astronomy involved here, the Egyptologists say the feast was held as an agricultural "fertility feast"and was used to "test the potency" of the king,who was to run thrice around the compoundto prove his fitness (strange test for potency!) What we do have here is a clear astronomical calculation,as explained at the top of this page.
Pharaonic Egyptian Numbers and Symbolsas LATER standardized, but not initially
Calendration Mathematics, Astronomy Calibration of Solar and Lunar Cycles
"The Egyptians had a decimal notation. The hieroglyphic script had distinct signs for units, tens, hundreds, etc., the numbers of each being indicated by repetition of the sign. There was no sign for zero and no positional notation, so that representation of large numbers became extremely cumbersome."Gay Robins & Charles Shute, The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. However, scholars have failed to see that this symbolic decimal notation was not standardized in the early stages of Pharaonic civilization and that symbols were subject to divergent positional decimal application.
Above : Oldest known script of a Pharaonic Calendric Feast(Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
One of the most amazing misreadingsin all of Egyptology relates to the veryoldest of all Pharaonic calendric inscriptions,pictured above, as Narmer's Heb-Sed Feasts.
Here is the corrected reading.
The simple mathematics is 19 x 120,000 = 2,280,000.(See below - numbers are bold face - graphic less prominent by intent.)
The "sitting man" hieroglyph reads "Siets, Sed, Seta"and is the same as Babylonian "Sin "i.e. "Moon".Compare to this Swedish seter and Latvian seta "fence, border."120,000 lunations x 29.5 days (the synodic month,i.e. from one new moon to the next new moon)is 3,540,000 days which is exactly10,000 lunar years of 354 days each..19 years is the Metonic Cycle of lunations(235 lunations = 6939 days = 19 solar years)..The Pharaohs used a schematic civil year of 360 days, so19 x 360 = 6840 days and 19000 x 360 = 6,840,000 days,with 6,840,000 divided by 3 equal to 2, 280,000 days...In this manner, the Narmer Heb-Sed Feasts(civil and lunar calendar) are reconciled with each otherby a common denominator x 3.
Now, what have the Egyptologists written before this?.Originally, the Egyptologists erroneously thought that this was a victory celebration, with the Pharaoh Narmer *to the left, his wife in the canopy to the right, followed bydancers and war booty, according to the Egyptologists120,000 captives, 400,000 cattle and 1,422,000 goats..Of course, these were absurdly large numbers, particularly since the numbers were misread - which is crucial to a solution..Currently , Egyptologists do see the Narmer scriptto relate to the "heb-sed" renewal feast,which they think took place every thirty years..But rather than to recognize the clear astronomy involved here, the Egyptologists say the feast was held as an agricultural "fertility feast"and was used to "test the potency" of the king,who was to run thrice around the compoundto prove his fitness (strange test for potency!) What we do have here is a clear astronomical calculation,as explained at the top of this page.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Khasekhemwy Second Dynasty Pharoah
In the reign of Khasekhemwy,
a calendric calibration of great importancewas made and recorded on his monument.
That statue records a date of 479 years and 120 days,i.e. 120 days are intercalated for the tropical yearin the 480th year ater 3117 BC (much as we insert leap years every 4 years).
April 18,2638 BCi.e. the year- 2637
RunningYear 480
Julian Date 758000planetary conjunction of the Sun, Moon, and Jupiterat the crossing of the ecliptic and the celestial equator.
In the reign of Khasekhem (Chasechem),who thereafter apparently names himself Khasekhemwy,a calendric calibration of great importance was madeand recorded on the base of the statue of Khasekhemwy.That statue records a date of479 years and 120 days,a calendric monument to theintercalation of 120 daysin the 480th year ater 3117 BCSir Isaac Newton himself, the greatest of all astronomerspoints to the solution. As Newton notes, the ancient Pharaohs were the first to introduce a solar 365-day year.
Duncan Steel, in Marking Time, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 2000,writes at p. 39 that the Egyptians"abandoned the lunar months in their 365-day calendar. This calendar had twelve months, each of 30 days precisely, and at the end of every year five supplementary, or epagomenal, days were included. In Latin this design was called the annus vagus, or "wandering year," because the solar year wandered relative to the Moon."
However, the Pharaohs were in 3117 BC not yet aware of the true 365.2422-day length of the true tropical year, which even we today generally round to 365.25 days for leap year intercalation every 4 years.
Using their 365-day calender, the Pharaohs would soon have noticed that the Seasons did not keep time with this 365-day figure and that a calendric correction had to be made as the centuries passed. This correction was made in the 480th year of the reign of Khasekhemwy.
Significant here is that it was the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy during whose reign the astronomical ceremony of pedj shes (stretching the cord) [< Indo-European, e.g. Latvian pedu stiep "to stretch the path"] is first attested on a granite block in Egypt. This method relied on sightings of the Great Bear and Orion ... constellations, using an "instrument of knowing" (merkhet) [Pharaonic merkhet < Indo-European e.g. Latvian merket, "to aim and measure"], which was similar in function to an astrolabe, and a sighting tool made from the central rib of a palm leaf, thus aligning the foundations of the pyramids and sun temples with the cardinal points.... British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, under "astronomy and astrology", p. 42.
Below is an even greater enlargement of the number 479 written in "stick figures" FOUR long sticks, SEVEN middle sticks and NINE short sticks - all for "years"These "sticks" are e.g. symbols of papyrus, etc.,but only in later dynasties of fixed ordinal importance.See the Pharaonic Numbers and the Heb-Sed feast.The two circular whorls are later "hundreds"but here are "sixtys" as in the sexagesimal system and mean 120 "days".
The erring Egyptologists think their reading of 47209 for the above number is allegedly the number of dead in wars waged by Khasekhemwy due to "fallen" warriors inscribed around the foot of the stone statue! This is preposterous.Even in the modern age, a Napoleon came to Africa with only 50,000 men as his entire army. As many a military historian has pointed out, there were far fewer people and smaller armies in ancient times. The fallen men shown on the statue are the dead years of the past.
The Egyptologists erroneously read the four notches as ten-thousands, and the number "Seven" as grouped in "3 and 4" as thousands, which may be correct for much later dynasties but not in the Old Kingdom.
At this early stage of writing, the ordinal decimal positions of the numbers were not fixed as later, but only dependent upon the RELATIVE POSITION of the symbol with respect to the other symbols. We find a similar phenomenon in the Egyptologists' erroneous readingof the Narmer Heb-Sed feasts.
The hieroglyphs (enlarged graph below) preceding the number 479read GADU SAINI = Latvian "year bunches, i.e. year sums, years".
To commemorate his calendric discoveriesKhasekhemwy then created a shrineincorporating the four cardinal points at the South Endand the lunar cycles of alternating 29 and 30 days(20 rooms per side plus 9 + 1 in the middle) at the North End.Included also were apparently the 33-year cycle(which was also applicable to seasonal cycles of the Sun and Moon- as in Muslim calendration - where "the months regress throughall the seasons every 32 1/2 years").
The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt writes as follows under Khasekhemwy, p. 150: "His tomb, nearly 70 m in length, is not only the last royal tomb in cemetery B at Umm el-Qa'ab but also the largest and most unusual. The substructure consists of a central corridor, flanked by thirty-three storerooms - see also Malia - for funerary offerings, leading to a stone-lined burial chamber which is then followed by a continuation of the corridor flanked by ten further maybe by ten further magazines".
Khasekhemwy`s gigantic temple is like the ancient tombsof the British Isles at about the same comparable historical period.We also find this trapezoid form in Wayland´s Smithy in the Vale of theWhite Horse, as also at Nazca, in all cases involvingthe measurement of the stars, moon and or sun in some manner.
If one takes the length of rule - 253 - assigned by Manetho as the "sum" of the first dynasty, then the 479th year and April 18, 2638, BC is the end of the reign of Neferkeris. And only here does the Turin Canon of Kings first BEGIN to give a length of rule to its kings - lengths of rule which greatly depart from Manetho's "star" reigns but which follow the Egyptologists' dating of the rest of the Old Kingdom pharaohs, placing the end of the Old Kingdom ca. 2156 BC.
Manetho's list clearly lists star realms after this point. When we follow Manetho's lengths of "stellar" rule further, they place the end of the Old Kingdom at 1657 BC, i.e. 1460 years (a Sothic Year) later than 3116 BC. (With Nitokris this will be 1645 BC)
So why is the Turin Canon different? The so-called "lengths of rule" on the Turin Canon add up to the next 480-year period. Khasekhemwy is given a "lifetime" of 70 years on the Turin Papyrus and a rule of 25 years up to the 480th year. If we take that difference of 45 years and add those 45 years to remaining "lengths of rule" of the remaining Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, their sum is then 481. The figures are45 + 8 + 11 + 27 + 19 + 19 + 6 + 6 + 24 + 24 +23 + 8 +18 + 4+ 2 +7 + 12 + 7 + 30 + 8 + 28 + 30 + 20 + 4 + 90 + 1 = 481thereafter a break in the dynasty at Nitokris.Hence, according to this analysis, it could be argued that the Old Kingdom began on December 25, 3117 BC and ended 480 + 480 years (960 years) later, i.e. on ca. December 25, 2156 BC (the graphic below shows December 21, 2156 BC, i.e. (minus) - 2155, Julian Date 934298. But this would mean - after Khasekhemwy - that only the kings with a "length of rule" on the Turin Papyrus served as pharaohs, with the remainder of kings on Manetho's list representing "calendric star kings", who were given a stellar realm but who did not serve as pharaoh. Of course, as far as the actual "Kingdoms" were concerned, a Kingdom was actually 684 years, not 960 years. See Narmer
a calendric calibration of great importancewas made and recorded on his monument.
That statue records a date of 479 years and 120 days,i.e. 120 days are intercalated for the tropical yearin the 480th year ater 3117 BC (much as we insert leap years every 4 years).
April 18,2638 BCi.e. the year- 2637
RunningYear 480
Julian Date 758000planetary conjunction of the Sun, Moon, and Jupiterat the crossing of the ecliptic and the celestial equator.
In the reign of Khasekhem (Chasechem),who thereafter apparently names himself Khasekhemwy,a calendric calibration of great importance was madeand recorded on the base of the statue of Khasekhemwy.That statue records a date of479 years and 120 days,a calendric monument to theintercalation of 120 daysin the 480th year ater 3117 BCSir Isaac Newton himself, the greatest of all astronomerspoints to the solution. As Newton notes, the ancient Pharaohs were the first to introduce a solar 365-day year.
Duncan Steel, in Marking Time, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 2000,writes at p. 39 that the Egyptians"abandoned the lunar months in their 365-day calendar. This calendar had twelve months, each of 30 days precisely, and at the end of every year five supplementary, or epagomenal, days were included. In Latin this design was called the annus vagus, or "wandering year," because the solar year wandered relative to the Moon."
However, the Pharaohs were in 3117 BC not yet aware of the true 365.2422-day length of the true tropical year, which even we today generally round to 365.25 days for leap year intercalation every 4 years.
Using their 365-day calender, the Pharaohs would soon have noticed that the Seasons did not keep time with this 365-day figure and that a calendric correction had to be made as the centuries passed. This correction was made in the 480th year of the reign of Khasekhemwy.
Significant here is that it was the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy during whose reign the astronomical ceremony of pedj shes (stretching the cord) [< Indo-European, e.g. Latvian pedu stiep "to stretch the path"] is first attested on a granite block in Egypt. This method relied on sightings of the Great Bear and Orion ... constellations, using an "instrument of knowing" (merkhet) [Pharaonic merkhet < Indo-European e.g. Latvian merket, "to aim and measure"], which was similar in function to an astrolabe, and a sighting tool made from the central rib of a palm leaf, thus aligning the foundations of the pyramids and sun temples with the cardinal points.... British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, under "astronomy and astrology", p. 42.
Below is an even greater enlargement of the number 479 written in "stick figures" FOUR long sticks, SEVEN middle sticks and NINE short sticks - all for "years"These "sticks" are e.g. symbols of papyrus, etc.,but only in later dynasties of fixed ordinal importance.See the Pharaonic Numbers and the Heb-Sed feast.The two circular whorls are later "hundreds"but here are "sixtys" as in the sexagesimal system and mean 120 "days".
The erring Egyptologists think their reading of 47209 for the above number is allegedly the number of dead in wars waged by Khasekhemwy due to "fallen" warriors inscribed around the foot of the stone statue! This is preposterous.Even in the modern age, a Napoleon came to Africa with only 50,000 men as his entire army. As many a military historian has pointed out, there were far fewer people and smaller armies in ancient times. The fallen men shown on the statue are the dead years of the past.
The Egyptologists erroneously read the four notches as ten-thousands, and the number "Seven" as grouped in "3 and 4" as thousands, which may be correct for much later dynasties but not in the Old Kingdom.
At this early stage of writing, the ordinal decimal positions of the numbers were not fixed as later, but only dependent upon the RELATIVE POSITION of the symbol with respect to the other symbols. We find a similar phenomenon in the Egyptologists' erroneous readingof the Narmer Heb-Sed feasts.
The hieroglyphs (enlarged graph below) preceding the number 479read GADU SAINI = Latvian "year bunches, i.e. year sums, years".
To commemorate his calendric discoveriesKhasekhemwy then created a shrineincorporating the four cardinal points at the South Endand the lunar cycles of alternating 29 and 30 days(20 rooms per side plus 9 + 1 in the middle) at the North End.Included also were apparently the 33-year cycle(which was also applicable to seasonal cycles of the Sun and Moon- as in Muslim calendration - where "the months regress throughall the seasons every 32 1/2 years").
The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt writes as follows under Khasekhemwy, p. 150: "His tomb, nearly 70 m in length, is not only the last royal tomb in cemetery B at Umm el-Qa'ab but also the largest and most unusual. The substructure consists of a central corridor, flanked by thirty-three storerooms - see also Malia - for funerary offerings, leading to a stone-lined burial chamber which is then followed by a continuation of the corridor flanked by ten further maybe by ten further magazines".
Khasekhemwy`s gigantic temple is like the ancient tombsof the British Isles at about the same comparable historical period.We also find this trapezoid form in Wayland´s Smithy in the Vale of theWhite Horse, as also at Nazca, in all cases involvingthe measurement of the stars, moon and or sun in some manner.
If one takes the length of rule - 253 - assigned by Manetho as the "sum" of the first dynasty, then the 479th year and April 18, 2638, BC is the end of the reign of Neferkeris. And only here does the Turin Canon of Kings first BEGIN to give a length of rule to its kings - lengths of rule which greatly depart from Manetho's "star" reigns but which follow the Egyptologists' dating of the rest of the Old Kingdom pharaohs, placing the end of the Old Kingdom ca. 2156 BC.
Manetho's list clearly lists star realms after this point. When we follow Manetho's lengths of "stellar" rule further, they place the end of the Old Kingdom at 1657 BC, i.e. 1460 years (a Sothic Year) later than 3116 BC. (With Nitokris this will be 1645 BC)
So why is the Turin Canon different? The so-called "lengths of rule" on the Turin Canon add up to the next 480-year period. Khasekhemwy is given a "lifetime" of 70 years on the Turin Papyrus and a rule of 25 years up to the 480th year. If we take that difference of 45 years and add those 45 years to remaining "lengths of rule" of the remaining Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, their sum is then 481. The figures are45 + 8 + 11 + 27 + 19 + 19 + 6 + 6 + 24 + 24 +23 + 8 +18 + 4+ 2 +7 + 12 + 7 + 30 + 8 + 28 + 30 + 20 + 4 + 90 + 1 = 481thereafter a break in the dynasty at Nitokris.Hence, according to this analysis, it could be argued that the Old Kingdom began on December 25, 3117 BC and ended 480 + 480 years (960 years) later, i.e. on ca. December 25, 2156 BC (the graphic below shows December 21, 2156 BC, i.e. (minus) - 2155, Julian Date 934298. But this would mean - after Khasekhemwy - that only the kings with a "length of rule" on the Turin Papyrus served as pharaohs, with the remainder of kings on Manetho's list representing "calendric star kings", who were given a stellar realm but who did not serve as pharaoh. Of course, as far as the actual "Kingdoms" were concerned, a Kingdom was actually 684 years, not 960 years. See Narmer
Friday, August 29, 2008
Egyptian Love Poems
The Flower Song (Excerpt)
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
It would be better for me
Than to eat or to drink.
(Translated by M.V. Fox)
From Hieroglyphics to Hymns
The earliest poetry in Egypt was likely part of an oral tradition. Hymns, stories, and prayers were passed down from speaker to speaker.
I wish I were her Nubian slave who guards her steps.
Then I would be able to see the colourof all her limbs!
I wish I were her laundryman ,just for a single month.
Then I would flourish by donning
[her garment]and be close to her body.
I would wash away the unguent from her clothes and wipe my body in her dress . . .
I wish I were the signet ring which guards her finger,
then I would see her desire every day.
To hear your voice is pomegranate wine to me:
I draw life from hearing it.
Could I see you with every glance,
It would be better for me
Than to eat or to drink.
(Translated by M.V. Fox)
From Hieroglyphics to Hymns
The earliest poetry in Egypt was likely part of an oral tradition. Hymns, stories, and prayers were passed down from speaker to speaker.
I wish I were her Nubian slave who guards her steps.
Then I would be able to see the colourof all her limbs!
I wish I were her laundryman ,just for a single month.
Then I would flourish by donning
[her garment]and be close to her body.
I would wash away the unguent from her clothes and wipe my body in her dress . . .
I wish I were the signet ring which guards her finger,
then I would see her desire every day.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Ancient love poems
Extract from a 3,000 year-old papyrus.
She is one girl, there is no one like her. She is more beautiful than any other. Look, she is like a star goddess arising at the beginning of a happy new year; brilliantly white, bright skinned; with beautiful eyes for looking, with sweet lips for speaking; she has not one phrase too many. With a long neck and white breast, her hair of genuine lapis lazuli; her arm more brilliant than gold; her fingers like lotus flowers, with heavy buttocks and girt waist. Her thighs offer her beauty, with a brisk step she treads on ground. She has captured my heart in her embrace. She makes all men turn their necks to look at her. One looks at her passing by,this one, the unique one.
Two more works from different periods.
I wish I were your mirror so that you always looked at me. I wish I were your garment so that you would always wear me. I wish I were the water that washes your body. I wish I were the unguent, O woman, that I could annoit you. And the band around your breasts, and the beads around your neck. I wish I were your sandal that you would step on me! (Not sure about that last sentence!)
O my beautiful one, I wish I were part of your affairs, like a wife. With your hand in mine your love would be returned. I implore my heart: "If my true love stays away tonight, I shall be like someone already in the grave." Are you not my health and my life? How joyful is your good healthfor the heart that seeks you!
She is one girl, there is no one like her. She is more beautiful than any other. Look, she is like a star goddess arising at the beginning of a happy new year; brilliantly white, bright skinned; with beautiful eyes for looking, with sweet lips for speaking; she has not one phrase too many. With a long neck and white breast, her hair of genuine lapis lazuli; her arm more brilliant than gold; her fingers like lotus flowers, with heavy buttocks and girt waist. Her thighs offer her beauty, with a brisk step she treads on ground. She has captured my heart in her embrace. She makes all men turn their necks to look at her. One looks at her passing by,this one, the unique one.
Two more works from different periods.
I wish I were your mirror so that you always looked at me. I wish I were your garment so that you would always wear me. I wish I were the water that washes your body. I wish I were the unguent, O woman, that I could annoit you. And the band around your breasts, and the beads around your neck. I wish I were your sandal that you would step on me! (Not sure about that last sentence!)
O my beautiful one, I wish I were part of your affairs, like a wife. With your hand in mine your love would be returned. I implore my heart: "If my true love stays away tonight, I shall be like someone already in the grave." Are you not my health and my life? How joyful is your good healthfor the heart that seeks you!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
History of ETHIOPIA.- Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus & Stabo
Commentary: Herodotus among all european scholar is considered the Father of History. A very learnt individual that expounded upon the greatness and the stature of the Ethiopean African. He also had a great discription of the Ethiopean male. He described them as strong and very tall maybe almost 7ft tall. And their spirit didn't fall short of their built and stature.
History of Ethiopia According to Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo
Herodotus (490-425 BC) The first Greek historian. Called the Father of History.
Herodotus on the pharaohs: "So far, all I have said is the record of my own autopsy and judgment and inquiry. Henceforth I will record Egyptian chronicles, according to what I have heard, adding something of what I myself have seen" . . . . "The priests told me that Min was the first king of Egypt, and that first he separated Memphis from the Nile by a dam" . . . "After him came three hundred and thirty kings, whose names the priests recited from a papyrus roll. In all these many generations there were eighteen Ethiopian kings, and one queen, native to the country; the rest were all Egyptian men" . . . "The name of the queen was the same as that of the Babylonian princess, Nitocris. She, to avenge her brother (he was king of Egypt and was slain by his subjects, who then gave Nitocris the sovereignty) put many of the Egyptians to death by treachery".
(Herodotus: The Histories, c 430 BCE, Book 2, 100)
"For the people of Colchis are evidently Egyptian, and this I perceived for myself before I heard it from others. So when I had come to consider the matter I asked them both; and the Colchians had remembrance of the Egyptians more than the Egyptians of the Colchians; but the Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a portion of the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of itself amounts to nothing, for there are other races which are so), but also still more because the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have practised circumcision from the first. The Phenicians and the Syrians who dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the Egyptians, and the Syrians about the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their neighbours, say that they have learnt it lately from the Colchians.
These are the only races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the same manner as the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the Ethiopians, I am not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly it is a most ancient custom; but that the other nations learnt it by intercourse with the Egyptians, this among others is to me a strong proof, namely that those of the Phenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to follow the example of the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their children."
(Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2: 104)
Greek historian Diodorus Siculus. From his own statements we learn that he traveled in Egypt around 60 BC. His travels in Egypt probably took him as far south as the first Cataract.
(Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, Books II.35 - IV.58, Translated by C.H. Oldfather, Harvard University Press, 2000)
"Now the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all men and the proofs of this statement, they say, are manifest. For they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so justly bear the name "autochthones" is they maintain, conceded by practically all men; furthermore, that those who dwell beneath the noon-day sun were, in all likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth, is clear to all; since, inasmuch as it was the warmth of the sun which, at the generation of the universe, dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with life, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest to the sun was the first to bring forth living creatures."
"We must now speak about the Ethiopian writing which is call hieroglyphic among the Egyptians, in order that we may omit nothing in our discussion of their antiquities. . . . ."
"They [the Ethiopians] say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris ["King of Kings and God of Gods"] having been the leader of the colony . . . they add that the Egyptians have received from them, as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws." Diodorus's declared intention to trace the origins of the cult of Osiris, alias the Greek Dionysus also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus. The Homeric Hymn locates the birth of Dionysus in a mysterious city of Nysa "near the streams of Aegyptus [Egypt]" (Hesiod 287). Diodorus cites this reference as well as the ancient belief that Dionysus was the son of Ammon, king of Libya (3.68.1), and much of Book 3 of the Bibliotheka Historica [Library of History] is devoted to the intertwined histories of Dionysus and the god-favored Ethiopians whom he believed to be the originators of Egyptian civilization.[emphasis added]
Editors Note:
Dionysus is Orisis reinvented. The mysteries were neither of Cretan origin nor a part of the original Greek religion is well established by the fact that the initiatory rites as practiced among these islanders were open to everyone, in contrast to the secret rituals of Byblus, Cyprus, Thrace, Samothrace, and Eleusis (Diodorus, Book V, 77). The mystery, which originated in Egypt, was imported into Greece long after Zeus and his family had migrated from Mt. Ida to Mt. Olympus.
Diodorus devoted an entire chapter of his world history, the Bibliotheke Historica, or Library of History (Book 3), to the Kushites ["Aithiopians"] of Meroe. Here he repeats the story of their great piety, their high favor with the gods, and adds the fascinating legend that they were the first of all men created by the gods and were the founders of Egyptian civilization, invented writing, and given the Egyptians their religion and culture. (3.3.2).
Diodorus continues:
"They further write that it was among them that people were first taught to honor the gods and offer sacrifices and arrange processions and festivals and perform other things by which people honor the divine. For this reason their piety is famous among all men, and the sacrifices among the Aithiopians [Ethiopians] are believed to be particularly pleasing to the divinity."
"The Aithiopians [Ethiopians] say that the Egyptians are settlers from among themselves and that Osiris was the leader of the settlement. The customs of the Egyptians, they say, are for the most part Aithiopian, the settlers having preserved their old traditions. For to consider the kings gods, to pay great attention to funeral rites, and many other things, are Aithiopian practices, and also the style of their statues and the form of their writing are Aithiopian. Also the way the priestly colleges are organized is said to be the same in both nations.
For all who have to do with the cult of the gods, they maintain, are [ritually] pure: the priests are shaved in the same way, they have the same robes and the type of scepter shaped like a plough, which also the kings have, who use tall pointed felt hats ending in a knob, with the snakes that they call the asp (aspis) coiled round them."
"There are also numerous other Aithiopian tribes [i.e. besides those centered at Meroe]; some live along both sides of the river Nile and on the islands in the river, others dwell in the regions that border on Arabia [i.e. to the east], others again have settled in the interior of Libya [i.e. to the west]. The majority of these tribes, in particular those who live along the river, have black skin, snub-nosed faces, and curly hair". See The "Ethiopians" According to Diodorus Siculus.
Strabo (63 BC - 24 AD) a philosopher, historian and geographer from Amaseia in Pontus. He is well known for this
17 “books” Geography describing the known parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Geography of Strabo - Book XV (excerpts):
History of Ethiopia According to Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo
Herodotus (490-425 BC) The first Greek historian. Called the Father of History.
Herodotus on the pharaohs: "So far, all I have said is the record of my own autopsy and judgment and inquiry. Henceforth I will record Egyptian chronicles, according to what I have heard, adding something of what I myself have seen" . . . . "The priests told me that Min was the first king of Egypt, and that first he separated Memphis from the Nile by a dam" . . . "After him came three hundred and thirty kings, whose names the priests recited from a papyrus roll. In all these many generations there were eighteen Ethiopian kings, and one queen, native to the country; the rest were all Egyptian men" . . . "The name of the queen was the same as that of the Babylonian princess, Nitocris. She, to avenge her brother (he was king of Egypt and was slain by his subjects, who then gave Nitocris the sovereignty) put many of the Egyptians to death by treachery".
(Herodotus: The Histories, c 430 BCE, Book 2, 100)
"For the people of Colchis are evidently Egyptian, and this I perceived for myself before I heard it from others. So when I had come to consider the matter I asked them both; and the Colchians had remembrance of the Egyptians more than the Egyptians of the Colchians; but the Egyptians said they believed that the Colchians were a portion of the army of Sesostris. That this was so I conjectured myself not only because they are dark-skinned and have curly hair (this of itself amounts to nothing, for there are other races which are so), but also still more because the Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians alone of all the races of men have practised circumcision from the first. The Phenicians and the Syrians who dwell in Palestine confess themselves that they have learnt it from the Egyptians, and the Syrians about the river Thermodon and the river Parthenios, and the Macronians, who are their neighbours, say that they have learnt it lately from the Colchians.
These are the only races of men who practise circumcision, and these evidently practise it in the same manner as the Egyptians. Of the Egyptians themselves however and the Ethiopians, I am not able to say which learnt from the other, for undoubtedly it is a most ancient custom; but that the other nations learnt it by intercourse with the Egyptians, this among others is to me a strong proof, namely that those of the Phenicians who have intercourse with Hellas cease to follow the example of the Egyptians in this matter, and do not circumcise their children."
(Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2: 104)
Greek historian Diodorus Siculus. From his own statements we learn that he traveled in Egypt around 60 BC. His travels in Egypt probably took him as far south as the first Cataract.
(Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, Books II.35 - IV.58, Translated by C.H. Oldfather, Harvard University Press, 2000)
"Now the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the first of all men and the proofs of this statement, they say, are manifest. For they did not come into their land as immigrants from abroad but were natives of it and so justly bear the name "autochthones" is they maintain, conceded by practically all men; furthermore, that those who dwell beneath the noon-day sun were, in all likelihood, the first to be generated by the earth, is clear to all; since, inasmuch as it was the warmth of the sun which, at the generation of the universe, dried up the earth when it was still wet and impregnated it with life, it is reasonable to suppose that the region which was nearest to the sun was the first to bring forth living creatures."
"We must now speak about the Ethiopian writing which is call hieroglyphic among the Egyptians, in order that we may omit nothing in our discussion of their antiquities. . . . ."
"They [the Ethiopians] say also that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris ["King of Kings and God of Gods"] having been the leader of the colony . . . they add that the Egyptians have received from them, as from authors and their ancestors, the greater part of their laws." Diodorus's declared intention to trace the origins of the cult of Osiris, alias the Greek Dionysus also commonly known by his Roman name Bacchus. The Homeric Hymn locates the birth of Dionysus in a mysterious city of Nysa "near the streams of Aegyptus [Egypt]" (Hesiod 287). Diodorus cites this reference as well as the ancient belief that Dionysus was the son of Ammon, king of Libya (3.68.1), and much of Book 3 of the Bibliotheka Historica [Library of History] is devoted to the intertwined histories of Dionysus and the god-favored Ethiopians whom he believed to be the originators of Egyptian civilization.[emphasis added]
Editors Note:
Dionysus is Orisis reinvented. The mysteries were neither of Cretan origin nor a part of the original Greek religion is well established by the fact that the initiatory rites as practiced among these islanders were open to everyone, in contrast to the secret rituals of Byblus, Cyprus, Thrace, Samothrace, and Eleusis (Diodorus, Book V, 77). The mystery, which originated in Egypt, was imported into Greece long after Zeus and his family had migrated from Mt. Ida to Mt. Olympus.
Diodorus devoted an entire chapter of his world history, the Bibliotheke Historica, or Library of History (Book 3), to the Kushites ["Aithiopians"] of Meroe. Here he repeats the story of their great piety, their high favor with the gods, and adds the fascinating legend that they were the first of all men created by the gods and were the founders of Egyptian civilization, invented writing, and given the Egyptians their religion and culture. (3.3.2).
Diodorus continues:
"They further write that it was among them that people were first taught to honor the gods and offer sacrifices and arrange processions and festivals and perform other things by which people honor the divine. For this reason their piety is famous among all men, and the sacrifices among the Aithiopians [Ethiopians] are believed to be particularly pleasing to the divinity."
"The Aithiopians [Ethiopians] say that the Egyptians are settlers from among themselves and that Osiris was the leader of the settlement. The customs of the Egyptians, they say, are for the most part Aithiopian, the settlers having preserved their old traditions. For to consider the kings gods, to pay great attention to funeral rites, and many other things, are Aithiopian practices, and also the style of their statues and the form of their writing are Aithiopian. Also the way the priestly colleges are organized is said to be the same in both nations.
For all who have to do with the cult of the gods, they maintain, are [ritually] pure: the priests are shaved in the same way, they have the same robes and the type of scepter shaped like a plough, which also the kings have, who use tall pointed felt hats ending in a knob, with the snakes that they call the asp (aspis) coiled round them."
"There are also numerous other Aithiopian tribes [i.e. besides those centered at Meroe]; some live along both sides of the river Nile and on the islands in the river, others dwell in the regions that border on Arabia [i.e. to the east], others again have settled in the interior of Libya [i.e. to the west]. The majority of these tribes, in particular those who live along the river, have black skin, snub-nosed faces, and curly hair". See The "Ethiopians" According to Diodorus Siculus.
Strabo (63 BC - 24 AD) a philosopher, historian and geographer from Amaseia in Pontus. He is well known for this
17 “books” Geography describing the known parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Geography of Strabo - Book XV (excerpts):
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Africans In Early Europe- MOORS
Africans In Early Europe
Contrary to popular notions, the first encounter of Africans and Europeans spans centuries before the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Africans and Europeans have shared the same continent since the most ancient times. Africans have been portrayed in European art as monsters and gods, slaves and conquerors, servants and kings, sorcerers and saints. They have been seen in prehistoric France, early Britain, ancient Greece, Rome, Islamic Spain and more. Below are just a few accounts of Africans in Early European history.
CHRONOLOGY OF AFRICANS IN EUROPE
1897BC Egyptian king Sewosret colonizes Greece: founds Athens (Legend)
202BC Carthaginian Hannibal defeats Rome
256BC-253AD Thousands of Africans serve in Roman army
711-1492AD Islamic North and West Africans and Arabs invade and rule Spain
827AD Moors begin invasion of Sicily and Rome
It is generally accepted that the earliest evidence of anatomically modern man come from the African continent. These migrants soon spread out across the Earth. It is not until around 60,000 years ago that some of these inhabitants begin undergoing drastic phenotypic change thus branching off into the many different physical "racial types" we see today. The first homo sapiens sapiens enter Europe around 40,000BC replacing existing Homo neanderthalis types by 28,000BC. (Photo and Information courtesy of Europe in Prehistoryand Nature Magazine
The Ancient Mediterranean
The ancient Mediterranean has long been home to Africans. In ancient Greece Africans figured prominently into many aspects of society and contact between the two groups was frequent. Black types can be found as early as Minoan Crete and are mentioned frequently in later Grecian writings. The Greek historian Herodotus stated, "Almost all of the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt...The Egyptians were the first to introduce solemn assemblies, processions, and litanies to the gods, all of which the Greeks were taught to use." The relationship of several Greek deities to African deities has long been noted. Examples include the following: Athena to Neith; Hermes to Thoth; Hesphatus to Ptah. It is also Herodotus who tells us of the legend which lists the Egyptian king Sewosret (Seosteris I, II, or III) as the colonizer of Greece and founder of Athens. Alexander the Great, like many of his fellow Greeks, had a great respect for African religion. After his conquest of Egypt, he sought the advice of the oracle of the African god Amen. Thereafter he denounced his own father, Phillip of Macedonia, and proclaimed himself the son of Amen. He even went so far as to have his body buried in the Egyptian city he built for himself, Alexandria. Here he is pictured wearing the ram horns of Amen on a silver coin dated around 300BC. (Photo and Information courtesy of Black Spark, White Fire by Michael Poe , Blacks in Antiquity by Frank Snowden, and Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization by Anthony T. Browder)
The presence of Blacks in the ancient Mediterranean figure significantly into the mythology. Quite a few important figures are designated the title "Ethiopian" within Greek texts. These include Andromeda, heroine of the Perseus myth, and Memmnon of the Illiad saga. Pictured above is another such figure, the sorceress Circe of the Odyssey. Here she is seen offering a magic potion to Odysseus (Ulysses). The painting is displayed upon a Grecian vase dated back to the 5th century BC. Circe's niece was Medea, the sorceress responsible for helping Jason secure the legendary Golden Fleece. (Photo and Information courtesy of Blacks in Antiquity by Frank Snowden)
Contrary to popular notions, the first encounter of Africans and Europeans spans centuries before the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. Africans and Europeans have shared the same continent since the most ancient times. Africans have been portrayed in European art as monsters and gods, slaves and conquerors, servants and kings, sorcerers and saints. They have been seen in prehistoric France, early Britain, ancient Greece, Rome, Islamic Spain and more. Below are just a few accounts of Africans in Early European history.
CHRONOLOGY OF AFRICANS IN EUROPE
1897BC Egyptian king Sewosret colonizes Greece: founds Athens (Legend)
202BC Carthaginian Hannibal defeats Rome
256BC-253AD Thousands of Africans serve in Roman army
711-1492AD Islamic North and West Africans and Arabs invade and rule Spain
827AD Moors begin invasion of Sicily and Rome
It is generally accepted that the earliest evidence of anatomically modern man come from the African continent. These migrants soon spread out across the Earth. It is not until around 60,000 years ago that some of these inhabitants begin undergoing drastic phenotypic change thus branching off into the many different physical "racial types" we see today. The first homo sapiens sapiens enter Europe around 40,000BC replacing existing Homo neanderthalis types by 28,000BC. (Photo and Information courtesy of Europe in Prehistoryand Nature Magazine
The Ancient Mediterranean
The ancient Mediterranean has long been home to Africans. In ancient Greece Africans figured prominently into many aspects of society and contact between the two groups was frequent. Black types can be found as early as Minoan Crete and are mentioned frequently in later Grecian writings. The Greek historian Herodotus stated, "Almost all of the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt...The Egyptians were the first to introduce solemn assemblies, processions, and litanies to the gods, all of which the Greeks were taught to use." The relationship of several Greek deities to African deities has long been noted. Examples include the following: Athena to Neith; Hermes to Thoth; Hesphatus to Ptah. It is also Herodotus who tells us of the legend which lists the Egyptian king Sewosret (Seosteris I, II, or III) as the colonizer of Greece and founder of Athens. Alexander the Great, like many of his fellow Greeks, had a great respect for African religion. After his conquest of Egypt, he sought the advice of the oracle of the African god Amen. Thereafter he denounced his own father, Phillip of Macedonia, and proclaimed himself the son of Amen. He even went so far as to have his body buried in the Egyptian city he built for himself, Alexandria. Here he is pictured wearing the ram horns of Amen on a silver coin dated around 300BC. (Photo and Information courtesy of Black Spark, White Fire by Michael Poe , Blacks in Antiquity by Frank Snowden, and Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization by Anthony T. Browder)
The presence of Blacks in the ancient Mediterranean figure significantly into the mythology. Quite a few important figures are designated the title "Ethiopian" within Greek texts. These include Andromeda, heroine of the Perseus myth, and Memmnon of the Illiad saga. Pictured above is another such figure, the sorceress Circe of the Odyssey. Here she is seen offering a magic potion to Odysseus (Ulysses). The painting is displayed upon a Grecian vase dated back to the 5th century BC. Circe's niece was Medea, the sorceress responsible for helping Jason secure the legendary Golden Fleece. (Photo and Information courtesy of Blacks in Antiquity by Frank Snowden)
Who Built the Pyramids? Not slaves. Archeaologist Mark Lehner, digging deeper, discovers a city of privileged workers.
The pyramids and the Great Sphinx rise inexplicably from the desert at Giza, relics of a vanished culture. They dwarf the approaching sprawl of modern Cairo, a city of 16 million. The largest pyramid, built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2530 B.C. and intended to last an eternity, was until early in the twentieth century the biggest building on the planet. To raise it, laborers moved into position six and a half million tons of stone—some in blocks as large as nine tons—with nothing but wood and rope. During the last 4,500 years, the pyramids have drawn every kind of admiration and interest, ranging in ancient times from religious worship to grave robbery, and, in the modern era, from New-Age claims for healing “pyramid power” to pseudoscientific searches by “fantastic archaeologists” seeking hidden chambers or signs of alien visitations to Earth. As feats of engineering or testaments to the decades-long labor of tens of thousands, they have awed even the most sober observers.
The question of who labored to build them, and why, has long been part of their fascination. Rooted firmly in the popular imagination is the idea that the pyramids were built by slaves serving a merciless pharaoh. This notion of a vast slave class in Egypt originated in Judeo-Christian tradition and has been popularized by Hollywood productions like Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments, in which a captive people labor in the scorching sun beneath the whips of pharaoh’s overseers. But graffiti from inside the Giza monuments themselves have long suggested something very different.
Until recently, however, the fabulous art and gold treasures of pharaohs like Tutankhamen have overshadowed the efforts of scientific archaeologists to understand how human forces—perhaps all levels of Egyptian society—were mobilized to enable the construction of the pyramids. Now, drawing on diverse strands of evidence, from geological history to analysis of living arrangements, bread-making technology, and animal remains, Egyptologist Mark Lehner, an associate of Harvard’s Semitic Museum, is beginning to fashion an answer. He has found the city of the pyramid builders. They were not slaves.
"I first went to Egypt as a year-abroad student in 1973," he says, "...and ended up staying for 13 years." His way was paid by a foundation that believed a hall of records would be found beneath the paws of the Sphinx. Young Lehner, a minister's son from North Dakota, hoped to discover if that was true. But the more time he spent actually studying the Sphinx, the more he became convinced that the quest was misguided, and he exchanged its fantasies for a life grounded in archaeological study of the Giza plateau and its monuments.
Actually, he became, in the words of one employer, an "archaeological bum" who soon found work all over Egypt with German, French, Egyptian, British, and American expeditions. "At the end of these digs, there were lots of maps and drawings left to be done," he adds—steady work once the short dig season was over. Lehner discovered he had a knack for drafting, and got his first lessons in mapping and technical drawing from a German expert. "I fell in love with it," he confesses.
His first big break came in 1977, when the Stanford Research Institute conducted a remote sensing project at the Sphinx and the pyramids— a search for cavities using non-invasive technologies. The Sphinx is carved directly from the sedimentary rock at Giza, and sits below the surface of the surrounding plateau. Lehner was put in charge of a group of men cleaning out the U-shaped, cut-rock ditch that surrounds the monument, so that the sensing equipment could be brought in. In order to plot the locations of any anomalies, the largest existing surface maps of the Sphinx—about the length of an index finger—were enlarged and found to be extremely inaccurate.
By then a seasoned mapper, Lehner asked the director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE, a consortium of institutions including museums and universities such as Harvard) if they would sponsor his effort to map the Sphinx. But Lehner, despite his experience in the field, didn't have a Ph.D. Running his own "dig" appeared to be out of the question until ARCE assistant director James Allen, an Egyptologist from the University of Chicago, essentially adopted Lehner professionally, took him under the wing of his own Ph.D., and designed a mapping project. The German Archaeological Institute loaned photogrammetric equipment, the sort used by highway departments for taking highly accurate stereoscopic photographs from the air, and Lehner soon produced the first scale drawings of the Sphinx, which are now on display at the Semitic Museum.
[view larger image]
Lehner's front photogrammetric elevation of the Great Sphinx. Below: As seen in a north elevation, weathered limestone and bedrock form the Sphinx's head and upper body. On the lower portions, restoration masonry predominates.
[view larger image]
Photogrammetric elevations by Mark Lehner
During the mapping, Lehner's close scrutiny of the Sphinx's worn and patched surface led him to wonder what archaeological secrets it might divulge. "There are layers of restoration masonry going back all the way to pharaonic times," he says, indicating that even then, "the Sphinx was severely weathered." What Lehner saw, in essence, was an archaeological site, in plain view, that had never been described.
To better understand the differential weathering in the natural layers of rock from which the Sphinx is cut, Lehner initially consulted a geologist with expertise in stone conservation. Then his interest in the geological forces that created the Giza plateau brought him into contact with a young geologist, Thomas Aigner, of the University of Tübingen, who was studying the local cycles of sedimentation. The layers in the lower slope of the plateau, where the Sphinx lies, tend to alternate between soft and hard rock. The softer layers of rock were deposited during geological eras when the area was a backwater lagoon protected by a coastal reef; they are highly vulnerable to erosion. Aigner pointed out to Lehner that the "hard-soft" sequence of layers in this part of the plateau would have made it easy for ancient stonecutters to extract blocks of stone for building. His analysis revealed that the stones used to build the temples in front of the Sphinx had been quarried from the ditch that surrounds it on three sides. Many of these huge blocks, some of them weighing in at hundreds of tons, are so big that they have two or three different geological layers running through them, and they are loaded with forminifera. Detailed logs of the fossils—gastropods, bivalves, sponges, and corals—in each block and layer allowed Lehner and Aigner to actually trace the stones back to the quarry. "We began to unbuild these temples in our minds," Lehner explains, "and realized that the same could be done for the pyramids themselves and for the whole Giza plateau."
The question of who labored to build them, and why, has long been part of their fascination. Rooted firmly in the popular imagination is the idea that the pyramids were built by slaves serving a merciless pharaoh. This notion of a vast slave class in Egypt originated in Judeo-Christian tradition and has been popularized by Hollywood productions like Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments, in which a captive people labor in the scorching sun beneath the whips of pharaoh’s overseers. But graffiti from inside the Giza monuments themselves have long suggested something very different.
Until recently, however, the fabulous art and gold treasures of pharaohs like Tutankhamen have overshadowed the efforts of scientific archaeologists to understand how human forces—perhaps all levels of Egyptian society—were mobilized to enable the construction of the pyramids. Now, drawing on diverse strands of evidence, from geological history to analysis of living arrangements, bread-making technology, and animal remains, Egyptologist Mark Lehner, an associate of Harvard’s Semitic Museum, is beginning to fashion an answer. He has found the city of the pyramid builders. They were not slaves.
"I first went to Egypt as a year-abroad student in 1973," he says, "...and ended up staying for 13 years." His way was paid by a foundation that believed a hall of records would be found beneath the paws of the Sphinx. Young Lehner, a minister's son from North Dakota, hoped to discover if that was true. But the more time he spent actually studying the Sphinx, the more he became convinced that the quest was misguided, and he exchanged its fantasies for a life grounded in archaeological study of the Giza plateau and its monuments.
Actually, he became, in the words of one employer, an "archaeological bum" who soon found work all over Egypt with German, French, Egyptian, British, and American expeditions. "At the end of these digs, there were lots of maps and drawings left to be done," he adds—steady work once the short dig season was over. Lehner discovered he had a knack for drafting, and got his first lessons in mapping and technical drawing from a German expert. "I fell in love with it," he confesses.
His first big break came in 1977, when the Stanford Research Institute conducted a remote sensing project at the Sphinx and the pyramids— a search for cavities using non-invasive technologies. The Sphinx is carved directly from the sedimentary rock at Giza, and sits below the surface of the surrounding plateau. Lehner was put in charge of a group of men cleaning out the U-shaped, cut-rock ditch that surrounds the monument, so that the sensing equipment could be brought in. In order to plot the locations of any anomalies, the largest existing surface maps of the Sphinx—about the length of an index finger—were enlarged and found to be extremely inaccurate.
By then a seasoned mapper, Lehner asked the director of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE, a consortium of institutions including museums and universities such as Harvard) if they would sponsor his effort to map the Sphinx. But Lehner, despite his experience in the field, didn't have a Ph.D. Running his own "dig" appeared to be out of the question until ARCE assistant director James Allen, an Egyptologist from the University of Chicago, essentially adopted Lehner professionally, took him under the wing of his own Ph.D., and designed a mapping project. The German Archaeological Institute loaned photogrammetric equipment, the sort used by highway departments for taking highly accurate stereoscopic photographs from the air, and Lehner soon produced the first scale drawings of the Sphinx, which are now on display at the Semitic Museum.
[view larger image]
Lehner's front photogrammetric elevation of the Great Sphinx. Below: As seen in a north elevation, weathered limestone and bedrock form the Sphinx's head and upper body. On the lower portions, restoration masonry predominates.
[view larger image]
Photogrammetric elevations by Mark Lehner
During the mapping, Lehner's close scrutiny of the Sphinx's worn and patched surface led him to wonder what archaeological secrets it might divulge. "There are layers of restoration masonry going back all the way to pharaonic times," he says, indicating that even then, "the Sphinx was severely weathered." What Lehner saw, in essence, was an archaeological site, in plain view, that had never been described.
To better understand the differential weathering in the natural layers of rock from which the Sphinx is cut, Lehner initially consulted a geologist with expertise in stone conservation. Then his interest in the geological forces that created the Giza plateau brought him into contact with a young geologist, Thomas Aigner, of the University of Tübingen, who was studying the local cycles of sedimentation. The layers in the lower slope of the plateau, where the Sphinx lies, tend to alternate between soft and hard rock. The softer layers of rock were deposited during geological eras when the area was a backwater lagoon protected by a coastal reef; they are highly vulnerable to erosion. Aigner pointed out to Lehner that the "hard-soft" sequence of layers in this part of the plateau would have made it easy for ancient stonecutters to extract blocks of stone for building. His analysis revealed that the stones used to build the temples in front of the Sphinx had been quarried from the ditch that surrounds it on three sides. Many of these huge blocks, some of them weighing in at hundreds of tons, are so big that they have two or three different geological layers running through them, and they are loaded with forminifera. Detailed logs of the fossils—gastropods, bivalves, sponges, and corals—in each block and layer allowed Lehner and Aigner to actually trace the stones back to the quarry. "We began to unbuild these temples in our minds," Lehner explains, "and realized that the same could be done for the pyramids themselves and for the whole Giza plateau."
Khufu- Builder of the Great Pyramid
Commentary: Kufu was the Pharoah that builded the Great Pyramid of Giza. Kufu was the son of a another great builder Sneferu. It does seem they kepted this gift in the family.
Khufu (2589-2566 BC) was the 4th Dynasty (2613-2498) pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Originally, the Great Pyramid stood 481 feet (146.6 m) tall. Although commonly called Cheops (and also Suphis) because of the late Greek influence on Egypt, the name Khufu is the original ancient Egyptian name for this king as demonstrated by his own cartouche. He reigned for approximately 24 years.
Although the Great pyramid has such fame, little is actually known about its builder, Khufu. Ironically, only a very small statue of 9 cm has been found depicting this historic ruler. This statue, pictured above and below, was not found in Giza near the pyramid, but was found to the south at the Temple of Osiris at Abydos, the ancient necropolis.
According to various inscriptions, Khufu probably did lead military into the Sinai, and raids into Nubia and Libya.
Khufu was the son of another great pyramid builder, King Sneferu. Khufu’s mother’s name was Hetepheres.
Although King Sneferu was remembered as a benevolent and beneficent ruler, Khufu is believed by some to have been a more ruthless and cruel despot. He was rumored in later times to have been prone to enjoying the fantastic stories of the reigns of his predecessors, as well as tales of magic and the mystical. His fame lasted throughout Egyptian history and he still had a funerary cult as late as the Saite Dynasty (26th Dynasty). Of course, whether or not he was a cruel ruler, he did command a tremendous ability to organize and mobilize worker. There was an extremely large amount of manpower necessary to build the Great pyramid and its surrounding complex and tombs. Certainly Khufu would have had the benefit of witnessing the previous pyramid projects of his father, Sneferu.
The Great Pyramid stands witness to the ability of Khufu to lead and coordinate his people. Current theories espouse that the building of the Great Pyramid was not achieved by slave labor. Instead, the project defrayed taxes, which were paid in the form of goods and services as there was no monetary system. Also, due to the annual inundation of the Nile there was always a yearly segment of the population that had some time that they could not spend in their homes.
Curiously, although his father was probably buried in Dahshur, Khufu chose the Giza plateau to situate his pyramid, temples, and perhaps, his tomb. Also curiously, he did not choose the highest spot on the plateau, which was later used by his son and successor, Khafre. This gave Khafre's pyramid the illusion of being taller, when in fact the Great Pyramid is the actually the taller pyramid.
In addition to the splendor of the Great Pyramid, an exciting ancient wooden boat was found sealed in a pit at the base of the Great pyramid.
This boat was interred in pieces and has since been reassembled, restored and housed in a climate controlled museum over the site of the original pit.
Khufu had several sons and his immediate successor was his son Djedefre (Radjedef). Curiously, Djedefre also chose to build his pyramid at a location other than that of his fathers. Instead Djedefre was buried to the north at a site now known as Abu Roash. A remaining son of Khufu - Khafre, was to join his father building his pyramid at the higher spot in on the Giza plateau. Although Khufu's pyramid is actually bigger than Khafre's, the higher ground provides the illusion that Khafre's pyramid is taller. After the death of Khafre, his son Menkaure built his smaller pyramid at Giza, eventually completing the last of the famous pyramids at Giza.
Khufu (2589-2566 BC) was the 4th Dynasty (2613-2498) pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Originally, the Great Pyramid stood 481 feet (146.6 m) tall. Although commonly called Cheops (and also Suphis) because of the late Greek influence on Egypt, the name Khufu is the original ancient Egyptian name for this king as demonstrated by his own cartouche. He reigned for approximately 24 years.
Although the Great pyramid has such fame, little is actually known about its builder, Khufu. Ironically, only a very small statue of 9 cm has been found depicting this historic ruler. This statue, pictured above and below, was not found in Giza near the pyramid, but was found to the south at the Temple of Osiris at Abydos, the ancient necropolis.
According to various inscriptions, Khufu probably did lead military into the Sinai, and raids into Nubia and Libya.
Khufu was the son of another great pyramid builder, King Sneferu. Khufu’s mother’s name was Hetepheres.
Although King Sneferu was remembered as a benevolent and beneficent ruler, Khufu is believed by some to have been a more ruthless and cruel despot. He was rumored in later times to have been prone to enjoying the fantastic stories of the reigns of his predecessors, as well as tales of magic and the mystical. His fame lasted throughout Egyptian history and he still had a funerary cult as late as the Saite Dynasty (26th Dynasty). Of course, whether or not he was a cruel ruler, he did command a tremendous ability to organize and mobilize worker. There was an extremely large amount of manpower necessary to build the Great pyramid and its surrounding complex and tombs. Certainly Khufu would have had the benefit of witnessing the previous pyramid projects of his father, Sneferu.
The Great Pyramid stands witness to the ability of Khufu to lead and coordinate his people. Current theories espouse that the building of the Great Pyramid was not achieved by slave labor. Instead, the project defrayed taxes, which were paid in the form of goods and services as there was no monetary system. Also, due to the annual inundation of the Nile there was always a yearly segment of the population that had some time that they could not spend in their homes.
Curiously, although his father was probably buried in Dahshur, Khufu chose the Giza plateau to situate his pyramid, temples, and perhaps, his tomb. Also curiously, he did not choose the highest spot on the plateau, which was later used by his son and successor, Khafre. This gave Khafre's pyramid the illusion of being taller, when in fact the Great Pyramid is the actually the taller pyramid.
In addition to the splendor of the Great Pyramid, an exciting ancient wooden boat was found sealed in a pit at the base of the Great pyramid.
This boat was interred in pieces and has since been reassembled, restored and housed in a climate controlled museum over the site of the original pit.
Khufu had several sons and his immediate successor was his son Djedefre (Radjedef). Curiously, Djedefre also chose to build his pyramid at a location other than that of his fathers. Instead Djedefre was buried to the north at a site now known as Abu Roash. A remaining son of Khufu - Khafre, was to join his father building his pyramid at the higher spot in on the Giza plateau. Although Khufu's pyramid is actually bigger than Khafre's, the higher ground provides the illusion that Khafre's pyramid is taller. After the death of Khafre, his son Menkaure built his smaller pyramid at Giza, eventually completing the last of the famous pyramids at Giza.
The Pyramid of Djedefre- Breaking New Ground
The Pyramid of Djedefre - Breaking New Ground
Djedefre, son of Khufu, chose to build his pyramid 5 miles north of Giza at a site now called Abu Roash. From this vantage point there is a clear view of the pyramids of Giza. It is not known whether or not this pyramid was unfinished, or quarried away, but little remains of the superstructure of the pyramid. Estimates place its original base at about 380 feet, and casing stones have indicated a possible steep angle of 60 degrees! Here is how the shaft and chamber appears from the upper rim, just above the east wall:
Here is the area where the entrance would have been, the mouth of the descending passageway. Note the granite blocks which indicate that the pyramid was partially cased in granite:
Here is the descending passageway which, in certain places is as wide as 23 feet:
As you enter the chamber the evidence of excavating is all around:
First view is the west wall looking up. Notice the remnants of the original ceiling, now supported with metal braces. The second view shows what was the south wall, looking back up the descending passageway:
Against the south wall, left of the ramps is a niche. The second view shows part of the remaining superstructure of this pyramid:
Here's a view of the tents on the site that house the excavators. On the horizon you can see the view to the Giza pyramids:
Djedefre, son of Khufu, chose to build his pyramid 5 miles north of Giza at a site now called Abu Roash. From this vantage point there is a clear view of the pyramids of Giza. It is not known whether or not this pyramid was unfinished, or quarried away, but little remains of the superstructure of the pyramid. Estimates place its original base at about 380 feet, and casing stones have indicated a possible steep angle of 60 degrees! Here is how the shaft and chamber appears from the upper rim, just above the east wall:
Here is the area where the entrance would have been, the mouth of the descending passageway. Note the granite blocks which indicate that the pyramid was partially cased in granite:
Here is the descending passageway which, in certain places is as wide as 23 feet:
As you enter the chamber the evidence of excavating is all around:
First view is the west wall looking up. Notice the remnants of the original ceiling, now supported with metal braces. The second view shows what was the south wall, looking back up the descending passageway:
Against the south wall, left of the ramps is a niche. The second view shows part of the remaining superstructure of this pyramid:
Here's a view of the tents on the site that house the excavators. On the horizon you can see the view to the Giza pyramids:
BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF ANCIENT (MUU-LAN), MEXICO (XI)
BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF ANCIENT AMERICA (MUU-LAN),MEXICO (XI)
Gigantic stone head of Negritic Africanduring the Olmec (Xi) Civilization
By Paul Barton The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas. According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India.
Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C. Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock. According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B.C., journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ. That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place. ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED OLMEC TYPE CULTURES The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the Coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B.C., these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, but with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming. The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B.C., the Phoenicians were running comercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.
The ancient West African coastal and interior Kingdoms occupied an area that is now covered with dense vegetation but may have been cleared about three to four thousand years ago. This includes the regions from the coasts of West Africa to the South, all the way inland to the Sahara. A number of large kingdoms and empires existed in that area. According to Blisshords Communications, one of the oldest empires and civilizions on earth existed just north of the coastal regions into what is today Mauritania. It was called the Zingh Empire and was highly advanced. In fact, they were the first to use the red, black and green African flag and to plant it throughout their territory all over Africa and the world. The Zingh Empire existed about fifteen thousand years ago. The only other civilizations that may have been in existance at that period in history were the Ta-Seti civilization of what became Nubia-Kush and the mythical Atlantis civilization which may have existed out in the Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa about ten to fifteen thousand years ago. That leaves the question as to whether there was a relationship between the prehistoric Zingh Empire of West Africa and the civilization of Atlantis, whether the Zingh Empire was actually Atlantis, or whether Atlantis if it existed was part of the Zingh empire. Was Atlantis, the highly technologically sophisticated civilization an extension of Black civilization in the Meso-America and other parts of the Americas?
Stone carving of a Shaman or priestfrom Columbia's San Agustine Culture
An ancient West African Oni or King holding similar artifactsas the San Agustine culture stone carving of a ShamanThe above ancient stone carvings (500 t0 1000 B.C.) of Shamans of Priest-Kings clearly show distinct similarities in instruments held and purpose. The realistic carving of an African king or Oni and the stone carving of a shaman from Columbia's San Agustin Culture indicates diffusion of African religious practices to the Americas. In fact, the region of Columbia and Panama were among the first places that Blacks were spotted by the first Spanish explorers to the Americas.
From the archeological evidence gathered both in West Africa and Meso-America, there is reason to believe that the African Negritics who founded or influenced the Olmec civilization came from West Africa. Not only do the collosol Olmec stone heads resemble Black Africans from the Ghana area, but the ancient religious practices of the Olmec priests was similar to that of the West Africans, which included shamanism, the study of the Venus complex which was part of the traditions of the Olmecs as well as the Ono and Dogon People of West Africa. The language connection is of significant importance, since it has been found out through decipherment of the Olmec script, that the ancient Olmecs spoke the Mende language and wrote in the Mend script, which is still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara to this day.ANCIENT TRADE BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND AFRICA The earliest trade and commercial activities between prehistoric and ancient Africa and the Americas may have occurred from West Africa and may have included shipping and travel across the Atlantic. The history of West Africa has never been properly researched. Yet, there is ample evidence to show that West Africa of 1500 B.C. was at a level of civilization approaching that of ancient Egypt and Nubia-Kush. In fact, there were similarities between the cultures of Nubia and West Africa, even to the very similarities between the smaller scaled hard brick clay burial pyramids built for West African Kings at Kukia inpre Christian Ghana and their counterparts in Nubia, Egypt and Meso-America.Although West Africa is not commonly known for having a culture of pyramid-building, such a culture existed although pyramids were created for the burial of kings and were made of hardened brick. This style of pyramid building was closer to what was built by the Olmecs in Mexico when the first Olmec pyramids were built. In fact, they were not built of stone, but of hardened clay and compact earth.Still, even though we don't see pyramids of stone rising above the ground in West Africa, similar to those of Egypt, Nubia or Mexico, or massive abilisks, collosal monuments and structures of Nubian and Khemitic or Meso-American civilization. The fact remains, they did exist in West Africa on a smaller scale and were transported to the Americas, where conditionssuch as an environment more hospitable to building and free of detriments such as malaria and the tsetse fly, made it much easier to build on a grander scale.
Meso-American pyramid with stepped appearance,built about 2500 years ago
Stepped Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, built over four thousand years ago, compare to Meso-American pyramidLarge scale building projects such as monuent and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico. Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hinderance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when the region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid bilding similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the identical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific.During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic. In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw People, an aboriginal Black nation who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce..Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. These ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks.These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California. In fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgance of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade.On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C.S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas. Later on in history, particularly during the early Bronze Age.However, during the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade accross the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region. Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there.
Gigantic stone head of Negritic Africanduring the Olmec (Xi) Civilization
By Paul Barton The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas. According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India.
Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C. Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock. According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B.C., journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ. That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place. ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED OLMEC TYPE CULTURES The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the Coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B.C., these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, but with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming. The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B.C., the Phoenicians were running comercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.
The ancient West African coastal and interior Kingdoms occupied an area that is now covered with dense vegetation but may have been cleared about three to four thousand years ago. This includes the regions from the coasts of West Africa to the South, all the way inland to the Sahara. A number of large kingdoms and empires existed in that area. According to Blisshords Communications, one of the oldest empires and civilizions on earth existed just north of the coastal regions into what is today Mauritania. It was called the Zingh Empire and was highly advanced. In fact, they were the first to use the red, black and green African flag and to plant it throughout their territory all over Africa and the world. The Zingh Empire existed about fifteen thousand years ago. The only other civilizations that may have been in existance at that period in history were the Ta-Seti civilization of what became Nubia-Kush and the mythical Atlantis civilization which may have existed out in the Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa about ten to fifteen thousand years ago. That leaves the question as to whether there was a relationship between the prehistoric Zingh Empire of West Africa and the civilization of Atlantis, whether the Zingh Empire was actually Atlantis, or whether Atlantis if it existed was part of the Zingh empire. Was Atlantis, the highly technologically sophisticated civilization an extension of Black civilization in the Meso-America and other parts of the Americas?
Stone carving of a Shaman or priestfrom Columbia's San Agustine Culture
An ancient West African Oni or King holding similar artifactsas the San Agustine culture stone carving of a ShamanThe above ancient stone carvings (500 t0 1000 B.C.) of Shamans of Priest-Kings clearly show distinct similarities in instruments held and purpose. The realistic carving of an African king or Oni and the stone carving of a shaman from Columbia's San Agustin Culture indicates diffusion of African religious practices to the Americas. In fact, the region of Columbia and Panama were among the first places that Blacks were spotted by the first Spanish explorers to the Americas.
From the archeological evidence gathered both in West Africa and Meso-America, there is reason to believe that the African Negritics who founded or influenced the Olmec civilization came from West Africa. Not only do the collosol Olmec stone heads resemble Black Africans from the Ghana area, but the ancient religious practices of the Olmec priests was similar to that of the West Africans, which included shamanism, the study of the Venus complex which was part of the traditions of the Olmecs as well as the Ono and Dogon People of West Africa. The language connection is of significant importance, since it has been found out through decipherment of the Olmec script, that the ancient Olmecs spoke the Mende language and wrote in the Mend script, which is still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara to this day.ANCIENT TRADE BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND AFRICA The earliest trade and commercial activities between prehistoric and ancient Africa and the Americas may have occurred from West Africa and may have included shipping and travel across the Atlantic. The history of West Africa has never been properly researched. Yet, there is ample evidence to show that West Africa of 1500 B.C. was at a level of civilization approaching that of ancient Egypt and Nubia-Kush. In fact, there were similarities between the cultures of Nubia and West Africa, even to the very similarities between the smaller scaled hard brick clay burial pyramids built for West African Kings at Kukia inpre Christian Ghana and their counterparts in Nubia, Egypt and Meso-America.Although West Africa is not commonly known for having a culture of pyramid-building, such a culture existed although pyramids were created for the burial of kings and were made of hardened brick. This style of pyramid building was closer to what was built by the Olmecs in Mexico when the first Olmec pyramids were built. In fact, they were not built of stone, but of hardened clay and compact earth.Still, even though we don't see pyramids of stone rising above the ground in West Africa, similar to those of Egypt, Nubia or Mexico, or massive abilisks, collosal monuments and structures of Nubian and Khemitic or Meso-American civilization. The fact remains, they did exist in West Africa on a smaller scale and were transported to the Americas, where conditionssuch as an environment more hospitable to building and free of detriments such as malaria and the tsetse fly, made it much easier to build on a grander scale.
Meso-American pyramid with stepped appearance,built about 2500 years ago
Stepped Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, built over four thousand years ago, compare to Meso-American pyramidLarge scale building projects such as monuent and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico. Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hinderance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when the region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid bilding similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the identical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific.During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic. In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw People, an aboriginal Black nation who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce..Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. These ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks.These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California. In fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgance of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade.On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C.S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas. Later on in history, particularly during the early Bronze Age.However, during the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade accross the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region. Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there.
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