But this is the exact reason I’ve traveled over 23 hours by plane to Bali: to learn about the ancient Indonesian wellness practice of jamu, and hopefully restore some parts of my body (and mind, and soul) in the process. To no one’s surprise, New York City - and life, and my pasta-wine habit - has done a number on my body. My kidney and bladder need green tea (for detoxing), my lymph glands could do with some tapioca pudding (for fiber and collagen), and my pancreas would work better if I avoided white rice (unless I supplement with sweet potato and corn). “You need more fiber and to drink more water.” Over the next hour, he digs this stick into different areas of my foot the louder I yelp, the more it indicates a specific part of my body needs help. “This means your stomach is bad,” he says solemnly. “Four,” I respond, voice muffled because I’m lying face down and my face is in a pillow. You are welcome to my facebook community The unbounded wisdom community for insightful quotes and ideas.“On a scale from 1 to 10, tell me how much this hurts.” A healer, dressed in head-to-toe white linen, is poking different parts of my foot with a sharp, pointed stick. Things that modern religious leaders cant. Was powerful as it protected nature, promoted virtue, and enabled people to do This belief was important to nature because it prevented deforestation and reckless hunting.Īlthough many modern individuals, including Africans, look down upon AAS, it I believe many Africans were able to see spiritual entities we can’t see today due to their prayerful nature, as it strengthened their connection to the spirit world.Īccording to AAS, the gods dwelled in the forest, and every living thing, including trees, had god’s soul in it. In some African communities, every family had a shrine that family members used for daily prayer. For this reason, Africans supported the disadvantaged and provided free food, water, and sometimes gold and silver to strangers.ĪAS also encouraged people to pray regularly: Africans prayed every morning and evening. Some Africans, especially West Africans, used spiritual powers to make dead bodies work in their farms.īesides this, AAS encouraged people to be kind towards everybody, including strangers. Jomo Kenyatta, in his book, Facing Mount Kenya, ‘magic that was used for evil purposes was feared, not only did itĬause death when administered to a person, but its nearness to a homestead wasĬonsidered as bringing misery and suffering which would dog the footsteps ofĪAS enabled Africans to summon spiritual entities and communicate with the dead. ![]() Some Africans used magic for evil purposes. ![]() The spiritual leaders used magic to heal people, obtain information from the spirit world, ward off illness, and induce higher states of consciousness. Syokimau, an African spiritual leader, predicted the coming of the Europeans by informing her people that ‘she saw a long snake belching fire and smoke (train), and in it, there were people with skin like meat who spoke unintelligibly like birds and carried fire in their pockets (Wikipedia).’īesides divination, AAS enabled African spiritual leaders to understand magic. ![]() So powerful that it enabled ancient Africans to do what we now considerįirst, it enabled Africans to master the art of divination: there are several true stories of African prophets who accurately predicted the future. History for a while, I discovered that Ancient African Spirituality (AAS) was
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