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Date: 13 Aug 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: Re: Human Sacrifice in Traditional African Religion (was The
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Subject: Re: Human Sacrifice in Traditional African Religion (was The
>From: "OmiJuba" omijuba@home.com
>Date: 8/13/00 2:43 PM EST
>Message-id:
>
>It doesn't make a difference what Orisha tradition you follow, it doesn't
>change that fact that the Orishas have and do accept human blood.
>
I for one do not dispute that. It also would make perfect sense, if one
understands the concept and the reality of ase. It's all about energy, and
energy exchange, whether mineral, plant, animal, or, yes, human. To the
traditional African mind, human sacrifice is not the shocking thing it is to
the (modern) European mind. The African sees life as a recurring circle, from
death, to life ... through the stages of infancy, childhood, boyhood, manhood,
and eldership ... to death and ancestorship, and back again to life in the
cycle of reincarnation. Thus, to the African, death is not the terribly final
thing it is to the European. In fact, there can be great spiritual reward and
advantage that flows from the manner of one's dying, just as karmic
consequences follow from the manner of one's living. Thus to volunteer to be a
human sacrifice was not seen as something without potential benefit to the
victim. It is the same with the Islamic concept of martyrdom, wherein a Muslim
who dies in the cause of holy war earns the ultimate reward of a place in
Paradise. That too, Islamic martyrdom, come to think of it, may be regarded as
"human sacrifice". So, when you say that the orisha take human blood, this
sounds like scare words to the modern European mind, about of the same order as
conceiving of the orisha as cannibals. But it is not correct or helpful to
speak of spirit in those terms, any more than it would be helpful from a
Judeo-Christian perspective to say that God is a mass murderer because He kills
so many by such catastrophic "acts of God" (even the language is revealing) as
hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, accidents, fires,etc., etc. The orisha do not
have a "taste" for blood any more than does God. The energy exchange that
attends the offering in sacrifice of the ase of minerals, plants, animals, and
yes, humans, is neutral in that respect. It is an indulgence they allow us to
have, as a way of washing away sin, while continuing the true purpose of life
which is to perfect the spirit. Some people abuse this indulgence thinking that
it is license to keep on sinning. It doesn't work that way. Chances are, if you
feel you have to keep "upping the ante", by increasing the quantum and quality
of sacrifice, ie. resorting ultimately to human blood, you are also running out
of indulgences. At any rate, as Ra Un Nefer Amen says, "the power derived from
an offering of hetep (unassailable inner peace) is superior to the [ase] of
blood, plants, stones, etc."
>--
>-OmiJuba
Peace,
Grisso
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