Dear Friend,
You wrote:
I have heard some shamans lately
such as Christina Pratt and Malidoma Some speaking of the epidemic of dead,
especially in the United States. That more than ever before, the world is
inundated with dead who have not been able to get to the ancestral realms and
return as true ancestors due to poor health in life, lack of any cosmology,
many unresolved issues due to a life lived without awareness of one's purpose,
family members that refuse to let go, a lack of flowing of grief/tears and a
lack of proper funerary rites that pay attention to the deceased's soul rather
than just the living. This manifests in many ways, not least of which is young
people stricken with diseases that typically only afflict the elderly and many
people stuck living out the unresolved issues of their ancestors instead of
their True Will/Great Work so to speak.
I was curious about your thoughts on this matter, particularly in the context of Palo Mayombe and the work of a Palero.
I was curious about your thoughts on this matter, particularly in the context of Palo Mayombe and the work of a Palero.
I think this is not only a good question – but an
important one. I believe that for Western men and women the word ‘dysfunction’
is a label most of us can use to describe our family relationships. This is really a sad condition. The art of
psychoanalysis was developed because of this dysfunction and its sexual reflex,
so certainly we are here speaking of a sickness that contaminate our blood and
memory – and by extension our sense of Self.
Malidoma Somé told in an interview with Michael
Bertrand the following: “I've discovered
over the years that people prefer to look forward because when they look back
they find the memory they have of their ancestors is not that good. Those who
can remember are connecting with crime, violence and pain.” Still, as a Yoruba proverb says: “we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us”.
We look forward, because the pain of the past is too
much to carry. There is something wrong in this; the past should be our
foundation and Death our memory. Death tells our story and the fact that Modern
man refuses to look at Death and past also reveals a denial of Self.
Traditional societies are all erected on bones of
ancestors. As we walk this earth we walk what was once men and women, beast and
plant – the earth is a graveyard and in the graveyard memory flares and flashes
in the constant call for return. This return is about source and reconnecting
with the beginning – and our family carry the memory necessary for this return.
If we forget the past we tend to repeat it and if we look back in interest we
will gain knowledge of who we are and how we got to be this way.
A spiritual family, like a nzo of Palo, can mend this
– but it can also be an escape from dealing with one’s own bones and memory. If
one’s search for a spiritual family is about an escape from one’s own bones one
is likely to contribute with dysfunction. Family is about challenges and
blessings. If we understand the challenges, blessings will shower over us. If
we turn away from the challenges we are prone to generate ghost roads of
disillusion and wishful thinking. It is a bout acceptance – and with acceptance
– we leave ourselves with no other choice than understanding the challenge and
move on.
To move on, to look to the future is a good thing –
but if our move onwards is accomplished by setting fire to the bones that gave
us life we are doomed. We doom ourselves to live a life of senseless ambition
lacking pole and north.
In Palo Mayombe we reconnect with source to a certain
extent – we reconnect with a legacy and memory of our choosing – and this comes
with a different commitment. But if the memory concerning the bones of your own
blood is not resolved, understood and accepted the resistance of solution will
be imposed on the spiritual family. In this you will impose a dysfunction upon
your spiritual family, issues that should have been solved prior to making
blood bonds with a spiritual and ideal family and its ancestors.
So, I believe that when Western man seeks initiation –
especially in African or Afro derived traditions – a wish for connection and
acceptance is at play, but as the past is a matter too infected with pain and
resistance for many, they choose to recreate themselves without sorting out
their foundation. Moving on in the world
without a foundation is a sure recipe to failure and no matter what we do we
will end up in the same challenge as mirrored from a thousand angels in
conformity with our choices. Whatever we don’t solve at a given point in time,
if it is important, it will resurface in new masks and drapes again and again.
There is no way outside this unless we embrace sickness, depression and
emptiness.
Our ancestors are a part of us; they live on in our
DNA and bones, our blood and constructs of mind and soul. We are all dead, just
not yet buried!
There is another Yoruba proverb telling that, “if you don’t know where you are going, any
road will do”. The map of our compass is the bones of our ancestors and the
compass is the full acceptance of who we are and with the recognition of where
we are coming from.
In this we also find the comment from The Saga of the
Vikings of Jomsburg where King Svein Forkbeard is forced to move the funeral
banquette of his father several times. At the fourth time of postponing matters
are getting critical because the King is starting to look suspicious and
‘un-kingly’ in his negligence, because a man is not dead until its heirs have
followed their customs. Lacking this transition of customs the dead ones will
be restless and they can infect the living in negative ways.
If we don’t accept our ancestors we are not accepting
our selves, and instead of resolving issues of blood and bones we end up making
fragile constructs of avoidance. It is not a good thing and it is a source of
instability and by consequence disease; disease of the mind, of the soul and of
the body.
Ultimately we infect the earth itself with our
resistance and as memory calls us back to our senses we insist n making more
bad choices and remove ourselves from who we really are.
So, yes, everything is connected and Death holds all
the keys. Death should be our companion, not our enemy – because Death is not
End – it is transition. Death is the Mothers calling you back, calling your
attention, calling you to find yourself in the darkest resistance of the pitch
black night of the soul. Turning your back to this is surely to open a gate for
putrefaction to enter the world. Your resistance towards your very own bones is
the key to Hell.
We rest on the shoulders of those that came before us,
we walk the scales of the Dragon and Her scales are shaped and formed by bones,
blood and memory. So I say, look back in a spirit of acceptance, if it is your
father or mother, your brother or sister you will always see a mirror of
challenges and blessings – you will see the blueprint of your soul and the map
of your world. The compass is forged by Fate, but unless you know the boney landscape,
how would you know what road to take?
I trust these words find you well
Many Blessings
Nicholaj
And for all readers, please do continue to write me about matters of faith, tradition and life at: nicholaj@gmail.com