Results may vary...
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"Possession shall be nine-tenths of the Loa."
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@Jim Eshelman said
""Possession shall be nine-tenths of the Loa.""
Well ... you can easily interpret the HGA experience as a possession, and it might first be experienced as such, no? The own deep self so alien to the cultural mask one has identified with that the "true" self appears as an alien entity at first ...
Self-possession, sure, but possession still. Possession of the personal and prespersonal selves by the transpersonal self.
Am I overlooking something? The Yoruba high priest of Shango, for example, is the Orisha Shango, by his own experience. And the process how he got there sounds a lot like the HGA experience and subsequent realisation to me.
This is how I arrived at the above conclusion, as far as the Orishas as potential HGAs are concerned.
Edit: Just noticed that this is a version of a proverb I wasn't aware of existed, english isn't my mother tongue. Doesn't change my point, though.
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@Jim Eshelman said
""Possession shall be nine-tenths of the Loa.""
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@Simon Iff said
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@Legis said
"... I've heard of HGA's manifesting in a people's lives in several different forms: alien, angel, Arab, old white guy, and now Lwa."Different internal symbolic representation, according to personal frame of reference; and different external representation, according to cultural frame of reference."
While I find validity in this statement, to be perfectly clear: I had no prior exposure to the Haitian or Yoruba culture. If anything the Yoruba culture is more present in very subtle ways where I live, but the Haitian culture is very subverted and secretive.
"Am I overlooking something? The Yoruba high priest of Shango, for example, is the Orisha Shango, by his own experience. And the process how he got there sounds a lot like the HGA experience and subsequent realisation to me."
This is the understanding that I have concluded through personal experience with friends that are Yoruba Priests and Priestesses. A good friend of mine, who is a priestess of Oshun said that when she dies she will become a "camino" or "path" of Oshun. I concluded that the purified Ruach of the deceased priest or priestess becomes part of the Yetziratic "trappings" of the Briatic beings.
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Give the man a cigar. (A good cigar.)
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Give the man a cigar. (A good cigar.)"
That's funny you should say that. I was doing a house cleansing for a friend of the Lucumi faith today, and I had lit a cheap cigar (it was sort of on the fly and none of the stores had any decent cigars). When the spirit suddenly possessed my friend he immediately complained about the quality of the tobacco.
I guess it's off to the liquor and tobacco store!
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Very nice to read, thanks for sharing.
@HounganRocky said
" Every morning and evening was marked by vibrations of barbarous names and intonations of the Gods. I began to have dreams of the various paths of the Tree, marking connections between Tipereth and it's surrounding Sephiroth. I persisted and persisted, being pushed with a greater intensity each day."
That rocks man !
Looking forward to read some introduction to voodoo if you will. Cheers.
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"Looking forward to read some introduction to voodoo if you will. Cheers."
Here is your introduction to Voodoo:
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@HounganRocky said
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"Looking forward to read some introduction to voodoo if you will. Cheers."Here is your introduction to Voodoo:
www.heruraha.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13119"
Thanks !
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@HounganRocky said
"I concluded that the purified Ruach of the deceased priest or priestess becomes part of the Yetziratic "trappings" of the Briatic beings."
I've never heard of anything like that before.
But I find that it fits as a puzzle-piece connecting about 6 seemingly separate things I've been pondering for a good while.
If you were close, I'd buy you that cigar myself.
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@HounganRocky said
"A good friend of mine, who is a priestess of Oshun said that when she dies she will become a "camino" or "path" of Oshun. I concluded that the purified Ruach of the deceased priest or priestess becomes part of the Yetziratic "trappings" of the Briatic beings."
As someone who works a lot with this, is it your impression that the Orishas might be a sort of hive minds? I am curious about that.
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@Simon Iff said
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@HounganRocky said
"A good friend of mine, who is a priestess of Oshun said that when she dies she will become a "camino" or "path" of Oshun. I concluded that the purified Ruach of the deceased priest or priestess becomes part of the Yetziratic "trappings" of the Briatic beings."As someone who works a lot with this, is it your impression that the Orishas might be a sort of hive minds? I am curious about that."
Hmm, I don't think the term "hive mind" is what I'd use, but to some extent it seems to fit and isn't that the case with all (most) divinities (and what happens with the Orishas here happens with all of them)?
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@Simon Iff said
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@HounganRocky said
"A good friend of mine, who is a priestess of Oshun said that when she dies she will become a "camino" or "path" of Oshun. I concluded that the purified Ruach of the deceased priest or priestess becomes part of the Yetziratic "trappings" of the Briatic beings."As someone who works a lot with this, is it your impression that the Orishas might be a sort of hive minds? I am curious about that."
"Hive minds" is far from the truth. The Orishas themselves are Briatic Beings. The Caminos of the Orishas are in fact Yetizratic beings that build the link between the initiate and the Orisha. Generally, the Yetziratic Camino helps the initiate by pointing out potential problems along the way. When the Orishas possess properly, they are in fact Briatic and keep Yetziratic entities away.
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Edited: Just decided to read more first.
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@HounganRocky said
""Hive minds" is far from the truth."
So the Orishas are very distinct and separate, individualistic, beings in your experience?
@HounganRocky said
"The Orishas themselves are Briatic Beings. The Caminos of the Orishas are in fact Yetizratic beings that build the link between the initiate and the Orisha. Generally, the Yetziratic Camino helps the initiate by pointing out potential problems along the way."
Are you saying that the Caminos and the Orishas are different beings here? That happen to work together, but are not fused?
@Deus Ex Machina said
"Hmm, I don't think the term "hive mind" is what I'd use, but to some extent it seems to fit and isn't that the case with all (most) divinities (and what happens with the Orishas here happens with all of them)?"
@HounganRocky said
"When the Orishas possess properly, they are in fact Briatic and keep Yetziratic entities away."
I agree with the former, so I would ask, why shouldn't an entity be briatic and a hive mind?
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So the Orishas are very distinct and separate, individualistic, beings in your experience?"Yes. Absolutely distinct and individual. They may work together, but they are individual and are approached as individuals.
"Are you saying that the Caminos and the Orishas are different beings here? That happen to work together, but are not fused?"
Each Orisha is it's own territory. The Yetziratic Caminos are separate and distinct within the realm of each Orisha, acting as envoys. The Caminos have their own likes and dislikes and can operate independently from the Orisha itself.
"I agree with the former, so I would ask, why shouldn't an entity be briatic and a hive mind?"
A hive mind is a lower Yetziractic quality, and the Orishas themselves are purely Briatic by their manifestation. Even the caminos are not worker bees, they have their own distinct personalities that one must experience in order to understand. Ultimately, the camino will behave in accordance to the Orisha, but they may communicate and be more sympathetic to an initiate than the particular Orisha.