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Date: 13 Aug 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: Re: Human Sacrifice
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Subject: Re: Human Sacrifice
>From: "John M. Hansen" jmhansen@erols.com
>Date: 8/12/00 10:02 PM EST
>Message-id: <8n534i$mkf$1@bob.news.rcn.net>
>
(( cuts ))
> The person who performs a human sacrifice must have the
>'Right of the Knife,' and also be approved by divination through Ifa
>for that particular sacrifice. The rest of the rules are too
>complex to type here, and I would probably be revealing some of the
>'Secrets of the Santeros' if I did.
>
> However, it is woth noting that the first five catagories of
>'choice,' or 'very acceptable' human sacrifices include those who
>voulenter to be sacrificed, from (1) priests who voulenter to be
>sacrificed to the Orisha of their head to (5) slaves purchased from
>miscelanious contributions who voulenter to be sacrificed.
Very interesting information. I am not privy to secret teachings involving
human sacrifice. However, I find it telling that in both examples you cite, the
sacrifice must be voluntary on the part of the victim. Common-sense tells me
that if it's not voluntary, it's not a proper sacrifice; in fact, it would be
murder. The book by J. Olumide Lucas, "The religion of the Yorubas", which I
cited in a previous post, contains some discussion on the subject. From what I
recall, the victims would always be volunteers, although Lucas questions just
how voluntary certain of the victims really are. For example, he relates a
category of victim who would be young women raised in the Oba's palace
expressly to become a sacrificial victim. They reportedly would go willingly
and indeed exultantly to their fate, but Lucas ascribes it to "brainwashing".
The Hindu practice of sati, in which a widow is expected to throw herself on
her dead husband's funeral pyre, is also attributed to brainwashing when she
does it voluntarily. Lucas also relates as standard practice the honoring and
celebration of sacrificial victims, who would themselves be venerated almost as
gods in the days before the event. The Aztecs reportedly would do the same for
their human sacrificial victims. As also related by Lucas, human sacrifice
among the Yoruba was always a _public_ affair, and the victim would be paraded
about before the event. The idea was that by merely touching the victim, one
could obtain expiation for past sins, which would "go" with the victim at
his/her death. This idea is not incidentally echoed in Christian theology,
which promises that Christ died for our sins. It is not incidental because the
key concepts of Christianity come out of Africa, but that's another story. What
is relevant here is that if human sacrifice is carried out in private
somewhere, chances are that it would not pass muster under the strict
traditional rules. Chances are also that it would be sorcery, not at all
sanctioned by traditional religion. The Matamoros killings rather obviously
fall into that category.
But to respond to something that Cat said in another post (thanks btw for the
complimentary remarks at the end of that post, Cat), it is not sufficient that
Costanzo attempted to placate, or becalm his victims prior to the ritual, to
make the offerings voluntary on the part of the latter. Costanzo was proceeding
according to a certain logic that suggested familiarity with the tenets of the
traditional religion, but his application of it remained misguided, and put it
therefore in the realm of sorcery for private gain, rather than in the realm of
the traditional religion which is concerned with the cultivation of iwa pele.
Some discernment is necessary. To the extent that the priest and the sorcerer,
both, work with energy, or ase, the ritual logic of the two would share
features that are indistinguishable. It is the same with science or
engineering: the same facility that is used to build tractors to help grow food
can also be used to build tanks; the same technology that can be used to save
lives, can be deployed to take lives, as we see every time the state of Texas
takes teh life of another sacrificial victim on death row.
I would add something else that bears on sacrifice and iwa pele. I remember
being taught by an authoritative source in the Akan religion the following: He
said that some people get into the religion with the wrong, and wrongful, idea,
that they can keep on doing bad things, trusting that they can keep sacrificing
another chicken, goat, or what-have-you, to wash themselves of sin, and/or to
receive protection even while they habitually do bad, eg. run a criminal
enterprise. He said it doesn't work that way. Think of the sacrifice as giving
you a fresh start. The deal is that you must then apply yourself to the task of
perfecting your spirit, ie. work at developing iwa pele (good character). If
you don't, then the orisha or the abosom will eventually not only ignore your
sacrifices, but even bring down their wrath upon you. Nana Tigare, in the Akan
tradition, is particularly wrathful, and not to be messed with. He is known as
a "witch-catcher". In the Yoruba context, Eshu will toy with you, and set you
up for a fall, and Ogun and Sango would strike you down without mercy. If
Costanzo felt he could keep on doing wrong, while calling on the protection of
Ogun/Zarabanda indefinitely, he was sadly mistaken, and actual events proved
that his protection ran out, in accordance with the traditional teaching. This
is a teaching that should be heeded by those drawn to traditional African
religion seeking personal gain rather than spiritual growth.
In this same context, I have some misgivings about Palo Mayombe. I do not know
enough about it to form any firm opinion. But the idea that one would enter
into an alliance with the spirit of a deceased person who was of less than
noble character suggests to me sorcery as the intent, not the development of
iwa pele. Such deceased spirits can no doubt do evil bidding, but the
protection that they can offer is limited, and certainly can offer no
protection from the trickery of Eshu, or the wrath of Ogun or Shango. Costanzo
might have had more protection, and a greater run of "luck", had he made his
offerings to the same lower 4th dimensional (reptilian) beings that fpr the
time being keep the Western elites in their world-dominant position. Sorcerers
who seek to work with the orisha of traditional African religion should not
expect long-term "success".
Having said that, let me add that I know for a fact, having had two Kikongo
teachers, that the idea that I gained of the traditional religion of the Kongo
is far removed from what I could gather from this discussion as defining Palo
Mayombe. The teachings on which I rely are mostly oral, but for those who like
written sources, see Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-kiau, "Self-Healing Power and
Therapy: Old Teachings from Africa". Fu-kiau is Kikongo, and he represents his
teachings as coming from a larger Bantu tradition, of which the Kikongo are a
part. See also Patrick Bowen, "Ancient wisdom in Africa", in the Journal of
Comparative Religion (1969), and my comment on it on the web at
http://TheAfrican.Com/Magazine/MagAncWis.htm . Finally, see Credo Mutwa, "Song
of the stars: Lore of a Zulu Shaman." Baba Credo Mutwa is not Kikongo, but as a
Zulu, he comes out of the larger Bantu tradition of which the Kikongo form
part. There is not a hint of sorcery in these teachings, and plenty of wisdom
for those whose aim is the perfection of spirit, and the cultivation of iwa
pele. Therefore, any essentialist criticisms that may be aimed at the Palo
Mayombe tradition, whether based on prior principle, or based on a sort of
ex-post inductive inference from the terrible example of Matamoros, should not
be generalized to include the entire Kikongo tradition.
But it does raise a question that I am hoping some Palero may answer: Does Palo
have an explicit concern for the development of iwa pele in its practitioners?
I would already grant, I think, that the sorcerer's path, as distinct from the
religious tradition, is available for those practitioners of Palo that seek it,
as I would grant that the sorcerer's tradition, in Africa as elsewhere, runs
pretty much parallel to religious tradition wherever the latter has developed a
"technology" for tapping into real spiritual or psychic power. The difference
is that sorcery proceeds without the moral restraints that attend a conscious
concern with the development of iwa pele.
>Regards,
>John M Hansen
Peace,
Grisso
"An offering of ... an unassailable inner peace ... is superior to the [ase] of
blood..." -- Ra Un Nefer Amen
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