Re: ||NaijaObserver|| RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Modern African Witchcraft: Theory ,Practice, Ethics

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

Thanks, OAA.

Modern Western Witchcraft is one of the world's fastest growing religions, thriving across the West, from the UK to the US and beyond,  after it was founded by Englishman Gerald  Gardner.

So, witchcraft is growing rapidly at the centres of global scientific culture.

Parallels and divergences exist between pre-modern Western conceptions of witchcraft, modern Western witchcraft culture and those African  ideas that may be associated with their counterparts in pre-modern and modern Western witchcraft conceptions.

Scholars often argue that the Yoruba Iyami and Aje concepts, for example,  are different from Western witchcraft conceptions, referencing the greater complexity of attitudes, at times valoristic,   towards women in the Yoruba ideas, and grounded in a rich metaphysics, in contrast to the demonizing of women in pre-modern Western witchcraft  ideas.

The Yoruba ideas, however, in their blend of  valoristic and demonising attitudes towards women,  have strong parallels in the continuum from the female demonising orientations of pre-modern Western witchcraft to  the female valorising orientations of modern Western witchcraft, the latter also richly metaphysically grounded.

The concept of ''psychic batteries'' is my own construction, interpreting my experiences with trees and forests, often those described as sacred,  in Benin-City.

The identification of the phenomenon the way I have done indicates an effort to classify it within a clearly defined ontology, a scheme interpreting  the nature of various forms in existence and their relation to each other.

Such intellectual strategies are vital to moving away from superstition, which may be understood as belief that is not critically examined.

The terms I am using ''psychic'' and ''batteries'' indicate ideas about consciousness and energy, ideally precisely defined. 

In developing such conceptual definitions, one is developing an approach to the beliefs about relationships between witches and trees, such as the belief that they meet on trees.

I hold that some trees emit a form of energy that accelerates the development of psychic powers, powers that may be expressed in terms of leaving one's physical location mentally and converging with others in a dimension enabled by the energy field generated by that tree.

This is my interpretation of my own experience which suggests to me the belief in Southern Nigeria that witches meet on trees.

I am of the view that this experience of mine represents general human capacity activated by intimate relationship with the trees in question.

I am also of the view that the energy field represents the presence of a sentient entity for whom the tree or trees are a physical form, hence one may interact with these entities through cultivating these relationships.

I also hold that some of these entities are evil while others are divine. Some of them may suggest certain actions inimical to humanity in order to facilitate one's relationship with them while others enhance one's humanity.

Such actions inimical to one's humanity include the suggestion to sacrifice other people to the entity, akin to the belief that witches sacrifice people, particularly their loved ones, at their meetings.

All these conclusions are based on my personal encounters, represented by suggestions made to me in the course of my explorations.

These suggestions were not made by any human being, since I work on my own nor was  I initiated into these explorations by anyone, only through my own self cultivated relationships with nature.

The spirits can communicate with you mind to mind. You can be in your room and yet be in their location at the same time. You don't need a shrine or the accustomed paraphernalia of many African spiritualities. You are the shrine. This emphasis on internalized spirituality is correlative with the belief in the embodied nature of witchcraft  in Southern Nigeria.

Recognizing these possibilities for good and evil, I am insisting on the centrality of Christian ethics as well as of a focus on God as central goals of this form of witchcraft.

Defining one's understanding, constantly  examining the logic of one's understanding, explaining one's understanding and engaging with queries about or challenges to one's understanding, one moves away from uncritical belief, developing a rationality that may be both critical and imaginative, at the nexus of the objective and the intersubjective,  as the awareness one develops is corroborated by others one has never met, in the spirit of the Yoruba, Igbo and Kalabari beliefs that one may cultivate an inward vision that enables one see into the otherwise hidden identities  of phenomena.

thanks

toyin

On Mon, 1 Mar 2021 at 20:12, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Toyin Adepoju:

Arent 2 B & C contradictory?

How can you reconcile spiritualities on trees as psychic batteries  with eliminating superstition from witchcraft?

Can the concept of witchcraft be modernised in the age of science?

OAA

Sent from my Galaxy

-------- Original message --------

From: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com>

Date: 01/03/2021 16:36 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>, Yoruba Affairs <yoruba...@googlegroups.com>, Naija Observer <naijao...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Modern African Witchcraft: Theory ,Practice, Ethics

                                                               

                                                                      

                                                                   Modern African Witchcraft

                                                                       Theory , Practice, Ethics

                                                                       Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                                     Compcros

                                                          Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

                                             "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

                                                                                     

                                                               

       Painting by Victor Ekpuk of a bird ascending on a delicate white line into a cloud of enigmatic script evoking 

       mysterious  knowledge. 

        I am using the image in suggesting the idea from Nigerian witchcraft lore of witches moving across space 

        as birds. The bird evokes in this context, movement within and across dimensions in quest of  ultimate

        reality.

       

Contents

1. What is Modern African Witchcraft?

2. The Reasons for the Creation of Modern African Witchcraft

A. Actualizing the potential of the female centred spiritualities of Orisa cosmology in Iyami Aje concepts and the institutions of Ifa, Gelede and Ogboni.

B. Developing the possibilities of Benin nature spirituality on trees as energy batteries facilitating psychic acceleration, a process  also known as initiation into witchcraft.

C. Working towards the elimination of superstitious approaches to witchcraft and their outcomes in the demonization of women and children.

3. Philosophy of Modern African Witchcraft

A. The quest for the ultimate source of possibility as a fundamental goal.

B. The pervasive presence of spirit, understood as self consciousness unrestricted to material forms.

C. The pervasive presence of cosmic force, ase in Yoruba, ike in Igbo.

D. The activation of psychic powers through nature in the quest for the ultimate reality.

4. Inspiration of Modern African Witchcraft

A. Yoruba Iyami Aje, Ogboni and Gelede theories of feminine power.

B. Benin nature spirituality as psychic catalyst.

B. Personal experience of Benin nature spirituality.

4. Ethics of Modern African Witchcraft

A. Christian principles of love of God, love of others and of humanity above possessions.

B. Ogboni vision of unity of humanity as children of Earth.

C. Unity of all beings in Buddhism, Yoruba origin Orisa, Igbo Odinani and other animistic spiritualities.

5. Practice of Modern African Witchcraft

A. The quest for the ultimate through self and nature.

B. Cultivating relationships with nature, facilitating movement within and across dimensions.

C. Using trees, forests and other natural formations as points of entry into other dimensions.

Mode of Delivery: Audio Recording

Contact info- email at toyin....@gmail.com;WhatsApp and text at 002348051439554.

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