Monthly Archives: June 2014

A Review of “African Spirituality: An Anthology of Igbo Religious Myths”

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african-spirituality-udobata-r-onunwa-paperback-cover-artHave you ever wondered why mankind was created? How the earth was formed? What about how death entered into the world? Or why people have different skin tones? Ndi Igbo (Igbo people) give answers to all these questions and more in “African Spirituality: An Anthology of Igbo Religious Myths”, a compilation of Igbo myths from all over Igboland, collected and interpreted by Professor Udobata R Onunwa.

While the modern day stories written by Igbo authors have been some of the most prominent from the African continent since the colonial period until today, much of the precolonial mythology of the Igbo has largely been overlooked. In order to remedy this situation, Professor Onunwa visited several villages in Alaigbo (Igboland), collecting oral mythologies and preserving them for current and future generations. He lists the source of the myths, as well as the variations from numerous villages and even provides commentary on most of them.

Among the myths recollected in this anthology include the “Origin of marriage”, “No distinction in death”, “Origin of dancing and music”, “Men and warfare” (my personal favorite of the bunch), and “Chukwu and the Mamiwota.” Stories that explain the local Igbo landscape are also included such as “Mbaa River leaves Mbara-Owere for Ugiri”, “Enmity between Ogbuide River and Urashi River” and “Ami-Agba leaves Ogwugwu Valley.”

This collection is by no means comprehensive and only scratches the surface of what the Igbo have to offer in regards to mythology. However, it is a vital part of the collection of anyone interested in learning about the culture of Igbo people, and definitely will inspire others to collect the older myths of generations past and create newer ones for generations to come.

The So-Called “Witch Children of Nigeria” — Are the Gifted Ones! They Need Special Training!

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Anyone who has honestly followed the seemingly unending thread of unnecessary crisis trailing Nigeria this while, must have encountered the atrocity termed the “Witch Children“. For a longtime, it has been propagated in the media like a plague with no sign of beginning, nor a sign of ending. But who are these children? Really. It is no doubt that we live in very interesting times, and even animals can now attest to this reality, whether we chose to acknowledge it or not. From a clear scientific understanding, children are the offspring of their progenitors. So if a child is termed a “witch”, its mother and father (the male and female progenitors) are equally “witches” by default. However, given the pervading superstitious thinking of most communities in need of greater enlightenment, the term “witch” is often assigned to all and any inexplicable phenomena.

To put it very simply and straight forward: the so called “Witch Children” of Nigeria are nothing but gifted children. They are born with their natural extrasensory abilities already amplified for visionary survival. As a result, their determination is unmatched. Unlike the older generations to which most of their parents belong, their soul energy is intensely refined and liberated. Their peers around the world are presently been recognized and trained to further apply these gifts for the good of their generation and our world in general, unlike in Nigeria. The minds of these children need a different kind of training, which is presently not in our school systems. I have encountered this reality in many occasions and I know that several others have. It is common knowledge that in the ages past, it was through the soul consciousness that these abilities where foremostly expressed by the human being.

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However, to express subtle energy strongly enough from the soul consciousness and have this impact the elements, most inherited emotional blockages or limiting traits like fear, anxiety, self-doubt, paranoia, nervousness, unprovoked aggression etc. will have to be erased during one’s transitional-stage “special training”, from childhood to youth-hood and finally, adulthood. This is the CENTRAL distinction between the children of today and those who were raised in the by gone era and subsequent world of colonialism/forced industrialization, which went hand in hand with deep seeded fear and extreme self-depreciation, leading to the latency of soul energy and mental agility on a massive human scale. It should be borne in mind that religions as we have them then and now, are more preoccupied with the “judgment of souls” than “enlightenment of souls”, “conversion of souls” than “upliftment of souls”. Come this age of information, the scenario is beginning to drastically change. Our present world, as a result of this, needs great upliftment, starting out with uninhibited enlightenment of scientific and spiritual reality.

Today’s children are born into a world where information is abundantly circulated and their parents of today are less fear stricken and less self-limiting than their forbears of the last couple traumatic centuries. The only problem is that, with this massive influx of information, true knowledge becomes camouflaged. Thus, Clarity of Thought and Visionary Discernment becomes a key need for this age, and since these are both fundamental qualities of the Liberated Mind, there is no doubt why the parents of these children are doomed to make their mistakes. When one has been taught for decades on end to devalue their own mind power and soul consciousness, there is nothing left but well-masked mental abasement, hence the present state of Nigeria: a nation laden with all manners of creative resources, but abjectly lacking of true administrative minds.

Young Igbo Mask Dancers Wearing Net Masks and Raffia Costumes

The children of this age however, have these gifts of mind already unpacked within them by nature, according to the cosmic season in which they have found themselves blooming, naturally. They only need little special training in the right direction, on how to use these gifts to further unpack the rest packages in them and liberate their generation. For the children of this age in general, extrasensory mind training is a must, for they will need these to fine tune many of the information which have been left unrefined by the past generations of their forebears. This is among the key tasks that nature has slated for them. They are the knowledge refiners, who will precede the future generation of human-energy refiners: those who will end the mystery of sickness and diseases for humanity for good.

The much older generations were mostly trained in the use of physical labor and very little mental exertion, talk less of original thinking or finer expressions. Very soon, there will be a proper place in South-Eastern Nigeria (presently in the making) where such children of marked gifts will be trained to use their gifts, whilst also acquiring world class cutting edge education. Then, we shall brace ourselves to see who the real “Witches and Wizards of Nigeria” truly are: the Fraudster Religionists and their Politricktian Chorhorts, or the innocent Gifted Children of Nigeria who are here to save their generation from the perennial degradation that has befallen our land.

——-Written by Omenigbo (Chukwukadibia E. Nwafor)

 

Boys Initiation Ceremony, Nkporo

Boys Initiation Ceremony, Nkporo