When we speak of the transitional phase of life what are we referring to when it comes to our passing? I get a lot of questions about reincarnation and life after death. Most of these dogmatic ideas of reincarnation are birthed from many different traditional roots. Most of the ideology of ancient Egypt was based on the idea that the body was prepared to take on the afterlife so they could reincarnate rebirth after death was the forefront of their belief system. Where you can see similarities in Buddha they were far different from each other. Every culture prepares the way for the ancestors to receive you. In Palo Mayombe we are closely and more typically have this mindset like the Sadducees an ancient Jewish sect which came into play during the 2nd temple timeline. According to Josephus the Hebrew Scholar of his time…
- There is no fate
- God does not commit evil
- man has free will; “man has the free choice of good or evil”
- the soul is not immortal; there is no afterlife, and
- there are no rewards or penalties after death
This comparison by far does not hold true in all Palo Mayombe houses, where there is a more christian influence differing by far. We as Mayomberos believe that the soul that harnass energy like the light of the sun and stars lives on as a sentient soul. Most Bakulu go to the land of the ancestors (casa Nsambi) which is the Sun(ntango) Bakulu are ancestral forces that we venerate and we try to reach that type of honor. The bakulu do not have an afterlife because they never truly die and so to re-incarnate an energy that is already living just in a different form makes no sense in our cosmology and lore.
Most Palo mayombe lines with the exception of some mayombe lines who venerate the ancestral force in a nganga deal with more of a nkita spirit. Most nkita spirits are not bad but have died tragically and do not make it to the realm of the ancestors. In doing this you find that nkita spirits are made to work looking for one day to be let free to go the land of the bakulu. Most minkisi that are pacted in this new era are made with Nkita spirits. Not all Minkisi are nkita because you have so many other ways of working medicine(Bilongo) that often times you can have minkisi built from certain plants, or animals, articles like horns or bags. Many minerals and items of power from riverbeds and white clay(mpemba) which was an element very important to the making of minkisi.
When it comes to Minkisi you have the nkondi which is a subclass of minkisi. Most nkondi spirits are aggressive can cause or cure sickness. Look for wrongdoers and enforce spiritual oaths in this process we see how Palo Mayombe incorporated the nkondi and the nkita to work in conjunction with ritual practice to work in Palo Mayombe nganga. Most Briyumba lines practice in this way and has passed down to what Palo mayombe is today.
Mayombe as the birthplace of the 3 main ramas of palo mayombe has always understood that we as a community need to put forth concise teaching of all the lineages and bring back respect to an ever-growing population of misinformed people who are using Palo Mayombe to push their gangster rap careers, Commercializing violence and putting Palo mayombe in a bad light within our own supposed religious brethren. Gun posing and speaking on all criminal activities is not the mark of a cultural and religious person.Our ancestors were country people who believed in family first, than community and respect for the natural order of life in all its existence. The transition of a mayombero in life is to have a good death so that the earth takes in the body of a good man, woman, child, mother, father, sister,brother etc. and that he leaves a mark on this earth for future generations to come to up hold that same doctrine. Leaving a mark in life assures that your death will not be a memory that will be long forgotten.
“The biggest spiritual death is to not be remembered in life”
Tata Musitu