Zeitgeist (Religion) The Greatest Story Ever Told

1 Corinthians 13

I realize that this is full of sarcasm, which I personally view as an art form, but please try to listen even if you are sarcasm-sensitive. I would love to know your thoughts. When I was considered myself a Christian, I thought of lots of contradictions, but not in this way. Please let your responses be intelligent and well thought out, not based in anger. Thanks and enjoy. BTW, this was and still is one of my favorite scriptures.

The Blood Never Loses It's Power...

I was listening to T.D. Jakes as he was preparing to pray for Eddie Long's situation and it struck me for the first time how dependent the Christian religion is on the idea of the blood. He was pleading the blood, asking to be covered in the blood, miming as if he were covering himself in blood etc. Now, I grew up in church and I remember a lot of talk about the blood of Jesus and even sometimes they might talk about the sacrificial animals used by the "Old Testament" Jews. They were always very careful to make a point to remind you that Jesus was the perfect sacrificial lamb so that no more blood needed to be spilled.

In my former brush with Ifa culture I witness my first animal sacrifices. The first one caught me a little off guard because it was one of the chickens that I had cared for every morning. By the time I saw other chickens, goats, turtles, etc. it seemed normal. It was done with such love and respect. It was as if the animals completely understood that they were giving themselves so that we could continue to be.

I returned to the church and although I was at the same church that I had grown up in, everything seemed different. I saw things from a different angle, although I didn't understand much of it. The main thing that I understood in a different light was communion. During communion what is said is that the juice represents the blood spilled by Christ on the cross. Well, before seeing the animals sacrificed I had never seen anything bleed and die for me. Communion was different for me. I took it seriously. I cried. I mourned. I repented. I gave thanks.

When I heard the story of Cain and Abel and how Abel's blood cried from the ground when he had been killed it sounded different to me. I had never thought about the ase having the power to speak for us. The ase of our ancestors still speaks and cries out from the grown, trees, oceans, and hands of those that slaughtered us. That blood still has power because those that it spilled from understood the power that it held. They knew that it would continue to speak for them, scream for them, cry for them, and fight for them. They knew.

Since beginning, in earnest, on this path (again), I understand that the blood never looses it's power or ase. If ase is spilled there is power there. That is why even Christians are able to pull on the residue left behind by their sacrificial lamb and see results, even if only a shadow of what the results should be. Blood has been and still is, though denied by many, a main source of power or ase. It is our life force. All that you are in contained in your blood. Ase Ase Ase O

Funny how things happen

This is going to be one of those long story short kind of things. I was raised Christian as you know. When I was Georgia I was exposed for the first time to Afrikan beliefs and such. It was like a whole new world opened up. As with any whole new world there is both good and bad. The bad was that the people that introduced me to it were extremely manipulative and so that put a bad taste in my mouth, but for many reasons I was stuck in the situation. I met a Babalawo, and went to Miami to stay with him in the capacity of a help/CNA while he was sick. In exchanged for my work he taught me a lot. He, however, kept thinking that I should want to marry him (he was 60 or 70 and I was in my early 20s. UGH!) I still loved the culture. Although I went back to church and became a minister I think that I seed was planted. Current day. I have been on FB for a while like most people. Also, like most people, I don't really "know" most of the people that I am friends with. For me that makes sense because if we are really friends I could just call you. Anyway. I was on FB one day and this Sista that I had been FB friends with for a while said something to me. We never really talked before that, we just crossed paths. That day has changed my life. We have so much in common and she is just wonderful to me. I know that she is a God send. I don't know how long she is supposed to be in my life, but I will learn all I can while she is here.

It's funny to me how things came full circle, because she practicing Ifa and is training to be a priestess I believe. I have really found a sister in her and it feels like a coming home. The only problem now is that I have allowed myself to become scared of everything and so I am very timid with a lot of decisions that I know need to be made. It's okay, because like somebody said in my honesty box on FB, "you are growing", and I am. Everyday, with every decision. I am getting stronger and more confident. My only hold up know is that if I am initiated to priestess I will have to wear white for a year I think and then my Mama will know what I am doing. I know that I have to follow my own path even if it flies in the face of everything everyone around me believes in, but that is easier said than done most times.

Just thought I would post an update.