When I was soul searching and trying to find my way. That is when I met the most remarkable elder I have ever known. As I have mentioned in previous post, I called this elderly Black man Papa. Papa was from Cuba and he was a babalawo (high priest) in the Lukumi (also known as Santeria) religion, a Spiristist and a member of the Abakua Society. One day I was over at Papa’s house talking and it began to storm. Now, I had read in several books about the Yoruba religion that thunderstorms were a sign that Chango, the orisha of dancing, drumming, fire, thunder and male virility, was riding on horseback and fighting his enemies. Then, out of nowhere, there was a loud and earthshaking thunderclap, which prompted Papa and his wife to yell, “Kabosille Chango!” (A greeting of honor, which I was told means “Hail your majesty Chango!).
This prompted me to ask Papa why the religion in Cuba was practiced different than the way it is practiced in Nigeria. Papa told me that the reason Lukumi was different then how it was practiced in Nigeria was because the Africans did not have to deal with the same sort of circumstances. The Africans, although were “colonized,” still lived in Africa. They still had access to their ancestral lands. Besides possibly ethnic differences they still respected one another, respected each other’s culture and were not prohibited from speaking their language.
Shift to the Americas. Things as you know were dramatically different.
So, in African religions there was no devil, but in the Americas the devil had to be incorporated into the pantheon in order to reflect the situation that the Lukumi people were in. He concluded by telling me that “So when I hear thunder, it is Chango (and sometimes Ogun the orisha of war) fighting the devil, so I yell ‘Kabosile Chango!’”
It was little stories like these that acted as guiding lights to my spirit because they helped me to understand the power of oral traditions but more importantly, African thought. To me “Kabosile Chango!” sounded more like “Go Get Him Chango!” Although I was fascinated by Papa’s cultural practice, I could not relate because I was not Cuban. I had listened the stories Papa had told me about his life in Cuba and the lives of Black Cubans in particular, but I had not been raised in an island culture. I was born in good ole’ USA.
Years later, I remembered looking at a book on Kemetic mythology and there happened to be a real bad storm. The storm was so bad, one would have thought that a tornado was going to touchdown. That’s when I remembered what Papa had told me and I remembered that the Kemetic people associated with thunder with Hru (Horus) and storms with Set. Some of the Kemetic legends indicate that like Shango and Ogun, Hru (the netchar of fire and thunder) and Hru Aakhuti (the netchar of warfare) both fought Set, but it was destined that Hru win.
The Kemetic divinities were never portrayed on horseback. This window fragment from the fourth century A.D. on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, reflects the blending of Kemetic and Greco-Roman beliefs. The sculpture symbolizes the Christian idea of Good conquering Evil and is the precursor of the Roman Catholic Saint George.
I remembered, that Hru fought Set because he wanted his birthright and what owed to him. I remind myself that Hru is destined to win, so I imagined Hru doing everything he could to fight the devil. That’s when it dawned on me that Hru symbolized me being victorious over my enemies (spiritual and/or physical). A loud thunderclap sounded, which I interpreted as confirmation that got the point.
“GET HIM HRU!”
As the thunder rolled across the heavens. I thought of all my enemies whom I wanted defeat. That’s when I realized that I probably practice Kemetic spirituality different from how our ancient ancestors along the Nile River did because, I like the Africans taken to Cuba, was a descendant of a people who were forcibly brought to North America and made to make this country my home.
However, unlike the Blacks in Cuba who are to some degree accepted and embraced by their countrymen after they fought for independence from Spain and various other revolutions, African Americans after fighting in every war in this country, contributing greatly on every level to make the United States great, have had to deal with institutionalized racism, white supremacy and white terrorism ever since our arrival. While majority of our official leaders refuse to talk about issues addressing our community (e.g. unemployment, mass incarceration, police brutality, increasing gang violence, substance abuse, and equal and equitable education), our unofficial leaders who have somewhat of a bird’s eye view of the problem, refuse to exercise self-control and self-discipline and find themselves tangled in sex and/or drug scandals; and/or these unofficial leaders get into silly debates that have nothing to do with our liberation (e.g. government conspiracy of UFOs, debates on blackness, etc.), thus refusing to see the divisive strategy of Divide and Conquer used a thousand years ago in the Story of Osar.
Unlike other African spiritual traditions, I needed a devil and it was Set.
As the thunder rolls. Today, I yell.
“GET HIM HRU!”
I don’t know how Hru is going to show us how to defeat our enemies but I have full confidence that he will because the concepts and principles of the practice are the same. This is because our ancestral stories that engage in our spirit, which triggers our “sixth sense.”
Draw the maa aankh. Then write a list of what you want to claim victory over and place in the center. Next, place a glass encased red candle (of course, away from flammable objects) on top of the list. Then, light the candle, petition Hru and read Psalms 18 (optional) for Victory in defeating the Set in your life.
Download instructions on how to use Psalms 18 for Victory.
For more information visit: 1 SoL Alliance
Copyright Derric Moore 2017
I write things down all the time, then speak it aloud, then burn it. I did this on the Summer Solstice and results were amazing! I began to receive confirmation with a couple of weeks.
Great post.
I am going to have to try that one also. Thanks Sis