My Response to "The Gathering of the Rainbow Tribe"

The Gathering of the Rainbow Tribe: New Age delusions and rude Awakenings

I am writing to say that overall, your article was very informative. Of all those I have read on this "New Age" thing, I think it says a lot, because I have often wondered about the separation into respective corners or the exclusivity of many of them. But I would like to stretch this topic a bit further. Being trained in the Spiritual Traditional System of an African Nation, I find it interesting that the idea you put forth about inclusion does not include African Spirituality.

Too often there is little mentioned and maybe that is because there is little known. But African traditional spirituality in an overall perspective along with the African people includes many of the other belief systems. Being strongly nature based and keenly aware of expression of Divine Life in all things, animate and inanimate. Additionally, they also have cultures with great mastery of fire, water, air and the earth energies.

 Yemoya - Goddess of the Sea

Yoruba Pantheon, Nigeria, West Africa

http://katherineskaggs.com/wp-content/uploads/wpsc/product_images/Yemaya_4b1538a18997e-2.jpg

http://api.ning.com/files/LVIPWldko05URyZOGp0AYQY4S-f15zOfveODXeMwhte6RZYf810HMfTKF1kgManc/yemaya3artpearl.jpg?width=737&height=426

Yemaja (Lemanjá, Yemalla) is a mother goddess, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American religions.
In (Cuban) Santeria, she is seen as the mother of all living things as well as the owner of all waters.
Her number is 7 (a tie into the 7 seas), her colors are blue and white (representing water).
She rules the sea, the Moon, dreams, deep secrets, ancient wisdom, ocean secrets, the collective unconscious, and the surface of the ocean, seas, and lakes.
In Africa she is known as Mama Watta, Mother of Waters.http://santiagoribeiro.ning.com/photo/yemaya-lemanja-yemalla-the?context=popular

Maybe in some instances, people use Egypt as the so-called genesis of African Spirituality, or maybe it's just plain ignorance, but there are so many people who do not even see Egypt as a part of Africa nor do they relate to the traditions. There are some spiritual systems that may trace their origins back to Egypt but even in that vain it limits the impact and breath of the indigenous African Spiritual Traditions.
In mentioning the so-called races of humanity, and then limit the Blacks to emotional water energy sounds a bit racist to me. Perhaps, that was not the intent and perhaps I am a bit sensitive.. but if you do not consider or include the other aspects of African traditional cultures, your are in a sense misleading those who read this who may not have another reference.

 Oshun, Goddess of Love

Yoruba Pantheon, Nigeria, West Africa

Oshun, the Yoruba diety of feminity and beauty. She leads the fearful Iyami, the feminine life force that can be either destructive or creative. Yoruba kings cannot
rule without Iyami. The Yoruba Culture, What you want to know........

I would suggest to you that there may be a predominance according to the lessons learned and capabilities acquired by the perspective so-called races, but I would further it by saying that even in this the predominence of one aspect of expression may be in one racial memory or cultural make-up but that humanity has shown its ability to manipulate and manage their environment across the entire spectrum of earth, wind, air, water and fire. In fact, gunpowder was first created in China.

 Ogun, God of Iron

Yoruba Pantheon, Nigeria, West Africa

Oggún
He is one of the oldest orishas of the yoruba vault. God of minerals and tools. Pattern of the blacksmiths and blacksmith himself. He also dominates the secrets of the forest and knows how to use them in enchantments.

With his physical strength, personifies the warrior and the irascible and strong man. His children are the proper ones to sacrifice animals, because Oggún is the owner of kuanagdó (knife). He dresses himself as mariwó (skirt made of palm tree leaves) and with a ribbon around the head. He holds a machete which he uses to cut the thicket where he walks. His necklaces are green and black, and sometimes purple. http://mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?236108-Og%FAn-Ogg%FAn-God-of-the-Week

I think your attempt to get folks to "all get along" is admirable. I think that the time and research you did to come to your conclusions is commendable. I shy away from your theory that the West is where it can all culminate into one big happy Rainbow family. Not to be curt, but simply because it is the West, and its destructive ways that has attempted to annihilate every member of the human family, including its own primarily European descendants.

 

Shango, Yoruba God of FireNigeria, West Africa

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRXmnbAl04rNFFICH8uXa9Teduvu9GSKYsQ8YFK6uFNcKw7ohmbn3pkvvKcRoOrrQ_7oQKsCyoo8VqK7tu1hbfJsTgPVMlGclTYKV6vyivUCf1X4ay2QfpZRQ2K2sBR_43yeNO1ei2rJht/s400/chango2.jpg

In Yorùbá religion, Sàngó ( also spelled, Sango or Shango, often known as Xangô or Changó in Latin America and the Caribbean, and also known as Jakuta[1]) is perhaps the most popular Orisha; he is a Sky Father, god of thunder and lightning. Sango was a royal ancestor of the Yoruba as he was the third king of the Oyo Kingdom. In the Lukumí (Olokun mi = "my dear one") religion of the Caribbean, Shango is considered the center point of the religion as he represents the Oyo people of West Africa. The Oyo Kingdom was sacked and pillaged as part of a jihad by the Islamic Sokoto Caliphate. All the major initiation ceremonies (as performed in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela for the last few hundred years) are based on the traditional Shango ceremony of Ancient Oyo. This ceremony survived the Middle Passage and is considered to be the most complete to have arrived on Western shores. This variation of the Yoruba initiation ceremony became the basis of all Orisha initiations in the West. http://dojos-godfire.blogspot.com/2009/12/shango-god-of-lightning-thunder.html

Ashtar Command Galactic Federation

A prophet with a keen sense of this cognitive dissonance and its destructive ways may want to bring all people together under one banner, "Rainbow Coalition", if you will, but I must say in reality, racism has not at all diminished over the past 40 years but has escalated, taken on many forms, and in some instances has destroyed communities, nations and in its trek the planet. We must not be naive in this to think that folks can come together here in the West, as it were, without truth, knowledge, sincerity, and cognition of what the real problems are. Being inclusive means to include all in a representative way. Here I agree with you, that it is not seen in the New Age Movement, "Love & Light" scenario because it is not inclusive, at all, and in fact, has taken the Blonde Hair, Blue eyed Arian image of Jesus, and placed it in a superior position over all.
  

 

Oya, the Yoruba goddess of the wind. 

She is the female warrior and Shango never goes to war without her. She rules the cemetery. http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-544320.32.html

The discussion about new age-isms can be quite long and burdensome, but it needs to be discussed and put in its proper perspective. We are all part of Creation. In a garden no two flowers are alike. But they all contribute to its beauty without having to become another flower to do so. The blending of the color frequencies enhance the beauty of the garden, but each flower has its own uniqueness. That being said, I do not believe the Rainbow Family means a blending, but as you put it, an equal acceptance of each other and the contribution that the other brings.

 Asase Yaa, Mother Earth Goddess

Akan People of Ghana, West Africa

ASASE YAA, whose day of birth (Yaa) falls on the Christian Calendar day of Thursday, is Nyamewaa (goddess) and the personification of the planet many people call Earth. She is also identified as the First Woman in the form of Aberewa. 

She is wife and consort of Nyame: Anansi Kokuroko, the Creator of All. She is the mother of the famous Kwaku Anansi, whose legend had survived in the Americas despite attrocities against humanity. Her other two sons are Tano and Bea. The sign on top of Her Head is called an Adinkra. Adinkra symbols are from the Akan Peoples and convey messages of wisdom, history, and spirituality.
 
The reason why I did this piece is because I never saw any interpretation of Her artistically. DEOZI! For Artwork Services, Contact deozi@deozi.com!

All things in life that we and see behold are living since life is motion. Even things that we consider to be inanimate objects are actually moving. Movement is life. The greatest expression of this is what we call Nature. And since Nature is the oldest of things - the most mysterious of things, we label it as a Mother. Nothing could be so ancient and not be viewed within the feminine since it is the bringer of life upon this planet. She goes by many names: Mut, Atabey, Asase Ya, Yemoja, Mamiwata, and the list goes on. We respect her in all her glory and magnificence. DEOZI! For Artwork Services Contact: deozi@deozi.com 

Thanks for reading this.
Peace & Blessings, Nana Baakan

The Seth Material On Dreams

Seth Quotes: Chapter 14
http://wespenre.com/seth-material.htm 
 
Seth: "Humanity dreams the same dream at once, and you have your mass world. The whole construction is like an educational play in which you are the producers as well as the actors. There is a play within a play within a play. There is no end to the "within" of things. The dreamer dreams, and the dreamer within the dream dreams. But the dreams are not meaningless, and the actions within them are significant. The whole self is the observer and the participator in the roles. "

 "When you dream of others, they know it. When they dream of you you know it."
"(Seth-Jane leaned forward, whispering and smiling, as if telling a joke.) In dreams you are so "dumb" that you believe there is a commerce between the living and the dead. You are so "irrational" as to imagine that you sometimes speak to parents who are dead. You are so "unrealistic" that it seems to you that you visit old houses, long ago torn down, or that you travel in exotic foreign cities that you have actually never visited."

"In dreams you are so "insane" that you do not feel yourself locked in a closet of time and space, but feel instead as if all infinity but waited your beckoning."

"If you were as knowledgeable and crafty when you were awake, then you would put all religions and sciences out of business, for you would understand the greater reality of your psyche. You would know "where the action is."

"Your dead relatives survive. They often appear to you in the dream state. You usually interpret their visitations, however, in terms of your own station of reality. You see them as they were, confined to their relationship with you, and you usually do not perceive or remember other aspects of their existences that would not make sense in terms of your own beliefs."

"Throughout the ages, some have recognized the fact that there is self-consciousness and purpose in dream and sleep states, and have maintained, even in waking life, the sense of continuity of the inner self. To such people it is no longer possible to completely identify with the ego consciousness. They are too aware of themselves as more. When such knowledge is gained, the ego can accept it, for it finds to its surprise that is is not less conscious, but more, and that its limitations are dissipated."

"A man's thoughts and dreams are more far reaching than he knows. They exist in more dimensions; they affect worlds of which he is unaware. The are as concrete, in effect, as any building....The dream world is constructed within a field that you cannot physically perceive, but it has more continuity than the world you know."

"When you are manipulating within physical reality, you have a fairly simple set of rules to serve you. Within dream reality there is greater freedom...Each dream begins with psychic energy which the individual transforms into a reality which is just as functional and real as physical reality."
"Through our dreams we change physical reality, and our physical daily experience alters our dream experience. There is constant interaction. Our consciousness is simply directed in a different kind of reality when we dream, a reality as vivid as waking life."

"On one level the personality attempts to solve problems through dream construction....Dream action CAN be turned toward fulfilling constructive expectations, which will effect a change for the better!"
"Dreams can be utilized creatively to improve health, gain inspiration, restore vitality, solve problems and enrich family relationships. You can have a pleasant and joyful dream that will completely restore your good spirits and vitality."

"In our dream life we also visit other levels of existence, and gain needed skills."

"The ego is not present in dream reality. The waking consciousness is not the ego. The ego is only that portion of waking consciousness that deals with physical manipulation. Waking consciousness can be taken into the dream state, but the ego cannot, as it would falter and cause failure there. When you take your consciousness into the dream state, you will meet with various conditions, some you can manipulate, some you cannot. Some dream locations will be of your own making, and others will be strange to you because they belong to other dimensions of reality."

"As the personality is changed by any experience, it is changed by dreams. We may forget our dreams, but they are always part of us. The dreams experience is felt directly by the inner self. Dreams have their own actuality, they not only exist independent of the dreamer, but they also have tangible form, though not in the form of matter as you are familiar with it. They are forever contained as electrically coded data within the cells of the physical organism."

"The dream universe possesses concepts which will someday completely transform the physical world, but the denial of such concepts as possibilities delays their emergence."

"There are also shared or "mass" dreams. In these mankind deals with problems of his political and social structure. In these man dreams individually and collectively of ways in which change about could occur. These dreams actually help bring about the resulting change. The very energy and direction of these dreams will help change the situation. The solutions reached are not always the same as those he accepts in the physical world."

"The energy behind a 'bad dream' is the energy of hidden fears, which could be formed by anyone, since there are fears in anyone. ... Fear directs your conscious energy into the realm of reality of that fear, and you then must deal at that level. The words 'May peace be with you' will get you through any difficulty in other layers of reality."

"In a dream, I have said, you can experience many days while no corresponding amount of physical time passes. It seems as if you travel very far in the flicker of an eyelash. Now, condensed time is the time felt by the entity while any of its given personalities live on a plane of physical materialization. To go into this further, many have said that life was a dream. They were true to the facts in one regard, yet far afield as far as the main issue is concerned."

"The life of any given individual could be legitimately compared to the dream of an entity While the individual suffers and enjoys his given number of years, these years are but a flash to the entity The entity is concerned with them in the same way that you are concerned with your dreams. As you give inner purpose and organization to your dreams, and as you obtain insight and satisfaction from them, though they involve only a portion of your life, so the entity to some extent directs and gives purpose and organization to his personalities. So does the entity obtain insights and satisfactions from its existing personalities, although no one of them takes up all of its attention."

"And as your dreams originate with you, rise from you, attain a seeming independence and have their ending with you, so do the entity's personalities arise from him, attain various degrees of independence and return to him while never leaving him for an instant."

"You are familiar through your reading with so-called secondary personalities. Now, this idea comes close to the relationship between the entity and its personalities. They are independent to various degrees, and they operate on various planes of existence for purposes of overall fulfillment and development."

"To a lesser degree, you function along these lines in varying roles when you exist simultaneously as a member of a family a community and a nation and as an artist or writer. As you attempt to use your abilities, so does the entity use its abilities, and he organizes his various personalities and, to some extent, directs their activities while still allowing them what you could call free will . . . "
"Your own dreams are fragments, even as you are fragments of your entity An unrecognized unity and organization lies within all of your dreams, beneath their diversity And your dreams, while part of you, also exist apart."

"The dream world has its own reality its own 'time' and its own inner organization. As the entity is only partially concerned with its personalities after setting them into motion, so you are unconcerned with this dream world after you have set it into motion. But it exists."
"To a different degree, it is filled with conscious semi-personalities. They are not [as a rule] as developed as you are, as you are not as developed as your entity is. That dream world experiences its own continuity. It is not aware of any break, for example, when you are waking. It does not know if you sleep or wake. It merely exists to a fairly vivid degree while you dream or sleep, and it sleeps but does not 'die' when you waken . . . "
"The entity itself does not have to keep constant track of its personalities because each one possesses an inner self-conscious part that knows its origin. This part, for now, I will call the self-conscious beyond the subconscious . . . I mentioned that some part of you knows exactly how much oxygen the lungs breathe, and this is the part of which I spoke. It also receives all inner data."

"This portion of the personality translates inner data and sifts it through the subconscious, which is a barrier and also a threshold to the present personality. I told you also that the topmost layers of the subconscious contain personal memories and beneath—racial memory. The personality is not actually layered, of course, but continuing with the necessary analogy beneath the racial memories you look out upon another dimension of reality with the face of this other self-conscious part of you."

"This portion is 'turned toward' the entity. When such abilities as telepathy are used, this function is carried on continually by this other self-conscious part of you. But as a rule, you act upon such data without the knowledge of the ordinary conscious self."

"There is also a corresponding, but 'lesser' self-consciousness that connects your present personalities with the dream world, which is aware of its origin and communicates data from you to dream reality....