Initiation into Afro- Caribbean and Taino traditions

Initiation into Afro- Caribbean and Taino traditions

When Ni Bon Te Ban was first presented to Palo Nkisi (Fundamento) back in 1988, access to our Spiritual traditions was through word of mouth, extended family, neighbors and so on. It was clear that if one found oneself in front of Fundamento, one clearly had a destiny within, if not Palo, then within one of our sister traditions within the Caribbean. While this did limit who could find their way to Fundamento or Zemis (Taino Nkisi), it did simplify the process of finding an elder. For good or bad, your elder was your elder, and you could not just go out and "shop" for a new one. We reflect back on this process, because today our traditions and specifically INITIATIONS are marketed heavily on social media, radically changing the process of finding an elder.  

When Guariche Kao first sat with Ni Bon Te Ban for a divination in May, 2000, he asked her "who brought you here?"  She replied with the usual response, pointing to the person who had told her about Ni. "No!" Ni replied. "Spirit brought you here, your Ancestors brought you here!" At the time the internet was in its infancy and very few books were readily available concerning Palo, and only few concerning Taino. The idea of shopping for an elder had not yet manifested. There was a clear understanding that DESTINY had brought one to the mat. 

Destiny brought Ni to Tata Justino back in 1988. Destiny brought him to the elder (who we will just call JV at this time) who initiated him back in 1995 into a Briyumba line of Palo. Justino was a Tata of integrity, love and great wisdom, who sadly (for us) returned to our Ancestors soon after Ni met him. Meanwhile destiny brought Ni to a crossroads with the newly emerging Taino resurgence in 1989 in NYC with L'Association Indigena Taino (which later split into La Nacion Taino de las Antilles and Maisiti Yucayeke Taino).

In sharp contrast, Tata JV was petty, vicious, and completely lacking integrity. In today's environment, Tata JV would have been thrown to the side and another elder sought out. However the 90s were a lifetime away from where we stand now. Now we can all fact check or get a second, third or fourth opinion on social media, back then, we had to figure it out ourselves. The spiritual battle that Ni had with JV was an epic one, which perhaps one day we will share in its own book. Looking back, we cannot deny it was destiny for us to fight that spiritual battle to its conclusion. It contributed greatly to making us who we are today. As per the Lucumi proverb "Your enemy will do you evil, your enemy will do you good", this irony, or apparent contradiction, is woven deeply through many aspects of life. 

A strange trait of destiny, is that when one comes upon those crossroads, nodes of destiny, there can be an overwhelming desire to run away from them.  After all, physical death, is destiny, one that we find incredibly hard to prepare for and deal with and which we would rather avoid. 

Many people are initiated into Afro-Caribbean traditions, especially now with the resurgence of interest and increasing social acceptability of our traditions. It is even "trendy" to be initiated these days. These initiations which are being marketed on social media, range from being legitimate initiations with responsible elders, to being diluted initiations, to being down right fake. It can be very difficult determine one from the other with all the dust in the air. Those with an experienced eye can easily tell the difference, but for those who have little experience, it is not so easy.

Let us assume that one does receive a legitimate initiation into one of our traditions. This does not insure that one has an elder of integrity. One's elder may pass to the Ancestral World, as Tata Justino did. Or one's elder may be using the Fundamento to manipulate, confuse and entrap, as Tata JV has done.  This does not mean that receiving the Initiation was in error. If one receives a legitimate initiation into one of our traditions, it was a destiny that emanated from the Ancestral realms, and should be valued as such. The spiritual battle that sometimes comes along with it should also be valued as destiny.  

When we knock on that door, we have no ability to foresee where that fateful decision will lead us. If we run away from what that door opens to, then either we ran away from our destiny or perhaps it was not our destiny to begin with and we should not have knocked on the door in the first place. Life is a Mystery and the human experience is cloaked far more in obscurity than illumination. As limited as our ability to see visible light on the entire spectrum of light, is our limitation inside of the human experience. Initiation opens the doors of our Vittiti, our spiritual vision. We can then choose to develop Vittiti, or to sink deeper into denial. 

Initiation is a rebirth, and just as a baby takes time to develop her ability to discern shapes and colors and understand what they are, the initiate takes time to be able to make sense of the new entities that they are sensing. Initiation is not a winning lottery ticket, it is not a guarantee of success, it is not an ego trip or an item on our resume. Initiation is an opportunity to express our best and highest and to embody our true selves.

Unlocking the Spiritual Power of Plants- Book to be published 2021

 

                        Unlocking the Spiritual Power of the Plants

                                        Our upcoming book

 2021

Our book, long in the writing, is taking its final shape, and we anticipate publishing it this year.  

The book is an in depth look into the spiritual powers of plants, understanding some of the most commonly used plants within our traditions, as well as a guide to unlocking the spiritual power of plants found in our "new" surroundings in the diaspora. 

We write from our perspective as Palo Kongo Taino, honoring our dual roots of Kongo and Taino (not negating European). We have combined 45 years of experience as initiated Paleros and elders of our Munanso. Spanning the Kalunga line, this book is both a dedication to our Ancestral Tree and to our Future Generations in the widest sense of the word "our" to also embrace "your".

The book also contains recipes for spiritual baths, incenses or smudges, Chamba, Wine, and more. We also discuss Nkisis or Zemi carved from plants.

We thank you for your patience.

DIA DE LOS BAKULU 2019 (in the absence of Denial!)

Dia de los Bakulu (Dia de los Muertos)

A Bakulu is an Ancestor who was able to achieve the state of expertise within the destiny of their Spirit.  They were able to truly fulfill their rite of passage (tratado), which is life, holding onto their principles and expressing their "best and highest".  A Bakulu is a very sacred Ancestor, one who embodies the greatest Wisdom and Love.  When we have the great blessing to know a future Bakulu, while they were still walking upon this Earth, their transition to the World of the Ancestors is both devastating and full of phenomenon.  The devastation is perhaps more of a function of the ignorance and fear that modern "society" has towards "death" in general.

On this Day of the Bakulu, we take a moment to reflect on this ignorance and fear that causes our many peoples to consent to the incarceration of the sacred bodies of their loved ones in concrete, filled with poisonous embalming fluid.  We take a moment to make an invocation for all those Spirits, who, upon leaving their human experience, find their former bodies treated with such disregard by a system that sees those bodies as a final payout, a final profit, from that person's life.  We also take a moment to reflect that our Taino Ancestors kept their loved one's remains within their Bohios (homes) hanging in a gourd from the ceiling or buried beneath the floor. Perhaps the devastation arises more from the memories of our Spirits, who remember how closely we held our Ancestors, who cry out in pain, seeing our loved one's bodies in a warehouse of corpses, lined up in rows, stacked up one on top of the other.

Is it possible to "celebrate" the "Day of the Dead" when we allow strangers to bathe our loved ones for the last time? To dress them for their final journey out of this physical world? When we consent to the draining of the blood from the body and that sacred substance discarded as "medical waste"? 

While Day of the Dead is a wonderful moment to acknowledge and honor the ancestors, does our responsibility end here? Have we ourselves considered, in a clear, honest way, our own inevitable transition to the World of the Ancestors?  How will we choose to make that transition? In denial? Leaving the hard decisions to our distraught and devastated family and loved ones? 

Over the years we have written extensively concerning the Day of the Dead and included many photos of the offerings that we give to the Sacred Ancestors, known and unknown. This year demands a different conversation, an honest assessment of how we, as Taino, as Paleros, as Spirits having a Human Experience, are allowing our loved ones, and ultimately ourselves, to make that momentous transition into the World of the Ancestors.  Are we empowering or disempowering our loved ones within that most significant ceremony of Life/Death?

A Bakulu will be able to manifest their continued influence within the Physical Realm- Here a double Rainbow

Here Eagles....

A couple resources for Home Funerals:
www.crossings.net (home funeral resource)
www.homefuneralalliance.org (national home funeral alliance)

Walk in Nfinda 2019

A walk through the Nfinda, where we discus tratado!

Conuco 2019 Part 3

The 3rd and final part of our Conuco/ Botanica walk.

Conuco 2019 Part 2

Part 2- Our Conucos, our Botanica!

Conuco 2019 Part 1

We give an update on our Conucos, Bateys and Nfinda. Lots of medicinal plants, lots of fruit, lots of trees are in our BOTANICA!!!! This is part 1 of 3.