WHAT SOUTHERN AFRICAN WISDOMS HAVE TO OFFER THE WEST #3
Yoga philosophy has brilliantly enunciated the spiritual anatomy and the power of Kundalini.
“The Kundalini in the form of latency is coiled like a serpent. One who impels this Shakti to move will attain liberation.”
Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Manipulating this life force which facilitates energy shifts and advanced stages of consciousness was easy for primal peoples. We all have this universal, feminine force - Shakti, Kundalini in Yoga - although few of us nurture it. The San Bushmen call it Num, the Zulus, Umbilini. Most tribes in Southern Africa recognize it as feminine and some, snake like resting dormant in the lower belly. Kundalini, serpent energy is awakened by some form of spiritual endeavor.
For the San Bushmen, hunter-gatherers, who are distinctly physically different from their neighboring Bantu peoples, it is mobilized by clapping, chanting and dancing with rattles around their ankles around the primal fire. This enables an out of body spirit flight where they glean information from the "Field" - mainly the Ancestors. They call it the Little Death (Richard Katz) since they fall prostate on the earth while their spirits travel into the Astral plane.
For the Bantu it is mobilized by dancing to the sound of the drum sometimes also with rattles around their ankles. When Bantu sangomas go into trance the ego steps aside and the spirit of an ancestor or guide takes over completely. They become voluntarily possessed to access the non-local information required to help their clients or patients. This process is much more dramatic than the trance-channelling we see in the West.
The sangomas' body language and facial expressions change, they often shake as the spirit enters the body rather than falling like their San neighbors do with Num. They may speak in "tongues or in a Bantu language sometimes different to the one they know in real time. The word sangoma comes from the Zulu ngoma which is a drum. It is the sound of the drum that brings forth the spirit possession.
The Bantu call this magical energy, Umbilini and the San, Num. Kundalini manifests differently for them as it would in anyone of us. How it manifests in the West will be highly individual. It can be subtle or more dramatic as it is in the San and Bantu. When it manifests it allows us to gain access to information not localized in time in space. It usually occurs for those less adept, as energy or vibration moving up the spine.
The Ancestors teach that; "the snake brings the dream."
(I wasted a lot of time in my earlier years trying to emulate what I had read from yoga texts. When I initiated as a sangoma, Umbilini manifested in other ways for me as well as compared to my mentors and their African initiates.)
When we immerse in nature with as little as possible between us and the Earth Mother we are able to experience some of this profoundness. With the right intention of going inward rather than outward we can attain equanimity, an alfa, relaxed state of consciousness and a feeling of oneness with nature and each other. Our dreams and our connection with the Field intensify. The longer we are out in nature, the deeper the effect. Nature has multiple polarities to help us find the middle way of the Buddha. It is a room with many doors and windows to spirit.
It is vital that we adopt more of an indigenous consciousness for ourselves. The demise of the primal self in the West has resulted from our upbringing, education, religion, culture, and the allure of materialism, technology and the innumerable commodities that tempt us. We have lost our indigenous, root, core or primeval self and our inherent wholeness because of “civilization.” We all were once nature bound and able to access the Field. Our children now are even more at risk as the hypnosis of technology and social media becomes more pervasive. We have paid a huge price for the benefits accrued. For the San it was one for all and all for one - for us not so much. Self-absorption and narcissism which shut out access to the Field seem to be running rampant.
The Bantu tribes of Southern Africa both use similar spiritual technology to help their people. There are numerous Bantu tribes in Southern Africa. They all use similar divining and healing methods. The Bantu tribes migrated south centuries ago and when they arrived they encountered the San who had already been there for millennia. The San probably had a profound influence on the sangoma tradition. It was they, I was told that introduced the Bantu to the power of animal bones in divination, each of which have their own unique energy and know where to go when they are manipulated by a form of telekinesis from their guides in the Field. Further north, south of the Sahara, African peoples tend to use shells instead.
To view the San trance dance you will have to go to davidcumes.com to videos. The file is too big to upload. It's five minutes.
Look for this at the bottom of the page on videos
