What is your superpower? One of mine is seeing patterns and making connections. Deep-diving into African Spirituality is one such exercise. Is there a connection between amabhayi/amahiya or ancestral print fabrics & spirit animals, totems and alchemical symbols? 🧵
Totemism is the belief that humans have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant. The entity, or totem, is thought to interact with a kin group or individual & serve as their emblem or symbol. The word totem is from the Ojibwa language.
Credo Mutwa was astonished to find after traveling to America that the native Americans were more like us Africans in their beliefs and way of life. Thee totems in Africa were used as alchemical symbols for spiritual transformation for people to achieve mastery over their lives.
@gogo_khanyakude & other healers explain these on YouTube. There are others that explain amabhayi/amahiya/masela a badimo. They show your spiritual lineage, gifts how you connect & they carry alchemical codes that enable you to communicate when carrying out spiritual work.
If your totem is a lion, you may dream of lions often. This indicates that you need to go to the bush to pray and connect with your ancestors & spirit guides. You may see different patterns & colours of the print. Not only for healers & you don’t have to wear it. Ask for clarity.
Qualities of the lion totem or spirit animal include courage, leadership & personal power. It is associated with those of royal lineage. They demand respect & are fiercely protective of those close to them. Consider how lions behave in nature for the lessons for your life.
The leopard print is associated with royal lineage & healing gifts. The colour indicates the type of spiritual gift or calling. This includes herbal medicine. Leopard people like lion folk need to go to the mountains & the forest to connect to their ancestors & spirit guides.
The late Wangari Maathai mentions in her autobiography of how she met a leopard in the forest & spoke to it & it didn’t attack her. WaNgari means those of the leopard in Kikuyu. A strong & fearless woman, she lived up to her name as a courageous conservationist & leader.
Leopards are solitary & their qualities include strength, agility, stealth, elusiveness, perception, self-reliance, authenticity, & rare beauty. In Kemet, leopard skins were worn to frighten off evil spirits. Leopard people are usually introverts or introverted extroverts.
More fun facts about leopard folk. They notice things that others do not. They look beyond the surface of words & actions to the person’s underlying intentions. You cannot lie to them or hide things from them. They know who they are & do not change their personality - authentic.
The cheetah is the fastest land animal. Cheetah folk must go to the bush to connect with their guides. It is also associated with royalty & healing gifts of empathy & intuition. Cheetah folk are honest, truthful & direct but diplomatic. They make quick decisions & act on them.
I’ll leave it here for today. Research your totems even if you don’t have a spiritual gift or calling. If you’re attracted to a print, buy it & seek guidance. Sometimes praying with it or having it in your space is enough for healing through the vibration of colours & numbers.
I should say the fabric designs depicting the totems were used as instruments of alchemy. Thanks @darkiepedia for the correction. They contained the codes for communicating with Spirit. Do you can wear the print, hang it in your space, pray, phahla or meditate with it.
Our ancestors observed & learnt from nature. People’s characters carry the qualities of certain animals & their behaviour provides clues to understand ourselves. Native Americans believed in spirit and power animals, our dominant personality traits & teachers of life lessons.
Yesterday’s teaching was from Romans 8. I was touched by this verse.
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” 🧵
Having spent a significant amount of time dealing with bullies and toxic people at work, I have wondered why I am compelled to make a stand. It’s because of my spiritual awakening. When you awaken, you no longer resonate with the selfish worldly attitudes of people around you.
In this season, there is a prevailing energy of backstabbing, backbiting & all forms of injustice as people strive to secure their own positions at the expense of other peoples’ livelihoods & well-being. Resources are scarce, the economy is not growing, competition is intense.
Here are a few core principles of Ifa deities that put you at risk if you violate them. Bear in mind that the deities choose you. They most likely worked with your ancestors but were known by different names in different traditions. In this age, they are universal spirits.
Common Violations Across Deities:
Disrespecting natural elements tied to their domains (e.g., oceans, rivers) we always talk about polluting the waters
Ignoring ritual protocols
Ethical failurescontradicting their virtues (e.g., injustice for Shango, deceit for Orunmila).
Olokun
Violations:
•Polluting oceans or disrespecting marine ecosystems
•Disregarding priestly taboos: Carrying loads on the head, eating after sunset, or violating sexual restrictions for initiates
•Greed or hoarding wealth without community benefit
While preaching on Sunday from Acts 11:1-18 where Peter is instructed by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, I had to re-read the scripture to make sure.
Peter was praying in Joppa when he went into a trance & received the vision of the animals being let down in a sheet.
So the trance state, an altered state of conscious which enables one to receive messages from Spirit is not exclusive to one spiritual tradition. Even Christians go into trances. It is therefore not demonic.
In my sermon I asked the congregation who do we exclude from worship and consider to be outside the grace of God. I was reminded of the recent issue of Gogo Skhotheni leaving ubungoma for church. Many Christians judged her, believing that her conversion was not genuine.
The forest was quiet, cool & shaded. The only sound was the stream in flood after the rains. I picked up my staff, a sturdy branch not unlike that of Gandalf without the crystal on top. I held as I forded the stream stepping on smooth round rocks as the stream flowed around me.
I challenged myself to keep my water shoes dry, not that I needed to. I managed to get to the other side without stepping in the water. Feeling pretty good about myself, I navigated the fallen tree branches and stumps on soft ground covered with fallen pine needles.
I heard the barks of the baboons on the other side, in the bush where I couldn’t see them. I continued, basket in hand carrying my offerings to the spot near the stream where I prayed & communed with my ancestors & spirit guides with only the sound of the wind & flowing water.
I’ve been exploring @mindvalley courses starting with Duality with @jeffreyallenjp. It has really taken my energy work to another level. The meditations are simple. I do them at night before I fall asleep. 😴 no longer need the prescription meds for my chronic insomnia.
This was my daily reality at work for months. However, shadow work & more recently energy work has allowed me to be able to maintain my sense of self & self worth & not be overwhelmed by the bullying tactics. I found the strength to stand up for myself & keep going.
Energy work is a profound way to influence your reality. Recovering from narcissistic abuse as an empath is a lot of work. I am able to manage my chronic pain. I can get through the day on 1 cup of coffee & tea. I am able to visualise, plan & execute with much less effort.
I used to believe that the worst casualties of corruption & misrule in Zimbabwe were the divorced couples, broken families & people dying needlessly because of lack of medical care. Now catching up on spirituality content, I think our humanity - ubuntu is the greatest casualty.
Exhibit 1 -
Chenai was a slay queen who had an affair with a married man. The man’s wife went to a healer in despair after telling her to stop seeing her husband. The healer did the work & Chenai fell desperately ill. She apologised & asked for the healer to reverse the curse/
Exhibit 1 cont.
The healer instructed her to do certain things with her family. A lot of money was required to reverse the ritual. I will share why in another post. The family either chose not to or couldn’t come up with the money - USD300. Chenai died.