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The Power of African Myths
B y D r . C lyde W , F ord
My interest in traditional Af
rican sacred wisdom, especially
as it is reflected in African my
thology, was an unlikely out
growth o f my efforts to under
stand the relationship between
social and personal healing.
As a chiropractor and a thera
pist, I sought answers on how
individual groups, particularly
African-Americans, might heal
from long-standing trauma and
pain. I knew that a turning point
in the individual healing process
often came when the “personal
stories” of trauma shifted from
victim ization to empowerment,
and I felt that something sim ilar
must be true about social heal
ing, though it was harder to
grasp what those “social sto
ries” might be.
Myths are, in fact, the “so
cial stories” that heal. For myths
supply more than the moral tag
lines we learned early on to as
sociate with nursery rhym es
and fairy tales.
Properly read, myths bring
us into accord with the eternal
mysteries of being, help us man
age the inevitable passages of
our lives, and give us templates
for our relationship o f these so
cieties to the earth we share
with all life. When trauma con
fronts us, individually or col
lectively, myths are a way of
reestablishing harmony in the
wake o f chaos.
Mythology is interested in
the timeless questions o f hu
manity: What is the relationship
of human life to the great m ys
tery o f being behind all life?
How are we to understand
our relationship to the earth we
inhabit and to the cosmos in
which we find ourselves? How
am I to pass through the stages
of my life?
The movement of human con
sciousness from birth, through
life, and into death can be found
in African mythology.
As an example, death appears
in many African creation myths;
in fact, one form of its entry
into the world is so common
that it has earned the name “the
failed m essage.” From the Khoi
of Southwest Africa comes a
simple and exemplary version
o f the tale:
The Moon, it is said, once
sent an insect to men, saying,
”Go to men and tell them, ‘As 1
die, and dying live; so you shall
also die, and dying live.’”
The insect started with the
message, but while on his way
was overtaken by the Hare, who
asked, “On what errand are you
bound?"
The insect answered, “ 1 am
sent by the Moon to men, to tell
them that as she dies and dying
lives, so shall they also die and
dying live.”
The Hare said, “As you are an
awkward runner, let me go.
With these words he ran off,
and when the reached men, he
said, “I am sent by the Moon to
tell you, ‘As I die and dying
perish, in the same manner you
also shall die and come wholly
to an end.’ ”
The Hare then returned to the
Moon and told her what he had
said to men. The Moon re
proached him angrily, saying,
“ Do you dare tell the people a
thing that 1 have not said?”
With these words the Moon
took up a piece of wood and
struck the Hare on the nose.
Since that day the Hare’s nose
has been slit, but men still be
lieve what the Hare told them.
The failure of humanity to
receive the m oon’s message
adds a marvelous twist to this
myth, for the hare is the trick
ster figure. By inaccurately de
livering the m oon’s message,
the hare serves as a lure to the
spiritual quest; the challenge is
to discover the intended mes
sage o f the moon in spite of
what the trickster says.
And this message - the ability
o f human beings to find immor
tality through their message -
the ability o f human being to
find immortality through their
mortality - informs the mythic
wisdom of traditional Africa.
Still, in an age where technol
ogy allows for the instantaneous
transfer o f information anyplace
on earth, why bother with Afri
can mythology, coming as it
does from an era when infor
mation flowed simply from the
storyteller’s mouth to a small
audience? A very short creation
story from the Bulu people of
Cameroon offers one answer:
Zambe, son of the supreme
god M ebe’e, created a chim
panzee, a gorilla, an elephant,
and two men - a European and
an A frican - each of whom
Dr. Clyde IV. Ford is the author of
The Hera With An African Face:
Mythic Wisdom ofJraditiQnal
Africa.
was named Zambe as well.
To these creatures, Zambe
gave the tools o f survival -
fire, water, food, weapons, and
a book. In tim e, Zam be re
turned to check on the earth.
“All the tools you were given
for survival,” he asked each
c re a tu re , “ w h ere a re th ey
now ?”
The chimpanzee and the go
rilla had discarded all but the
fruit, and Zambe banished them
to the forest forever. The e l
ephant could not rem em ber
what h e’d done with his pos
sessions. The European kept
the book but discarded the fire,
while the African discarded the
book but kept the fire. Thus,
Europeans remained keepers of
the book, but Africans keepers
of the flame.
The book is symbolic of hu
man efforts to control the natu
ral world, and hum anity within
it, through reason and intellect;
this is the course W estern civi
lization has taken.
Fire is symbolic o f the sa
cred wisdom that sees beyond
the created world o f hum anity
to the divine mystery which is
its source. Fire signifies the
passionate burning o f the light
o f the human soul.
To control the m undane, the
myth tells us, Europeans sacri
ficed the sacred. To hold on to
the sacred, Africans sacrificed
the mundane. And now, as we
are poised at the m illennium ,
we cannot hope that page in the
book o f intellect and reason
alone; there must also be turn
ings o f the soul, and here the
mythic wisdom of Africa keeps
a flame that may help light the
way.
» » • » •
1999
1 9 9 9 • 31 lye Ç o
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out o f the sea and several very
pow erful Beings com ing to
ward him unconscious, with
a sm ell o f perfum e all around
him. She carried him hom e.
From that day forth, he never
suffered from the m igraine
headaches again.
Learning to survive as a pre-
teen, Eric found two jo b s. In
b e tw e e n jo b s , he w e n t to
school, and although he had a
tough tim e catching up w ith
other students, he persevered,
m anaging to learn basic re a d
ing, w riting and m ath. His aca
demic d iffic u ltie s m ade life
m iserab le in school and at
hom e. Eric believ es that he
was in som e way “b lo ck e d ”
from learning traditional linear
way o f thinking. He thinks it
may have been another part of
his Spiritual development which
encouraged his intuitive “know
ing” and a deeper sense o f the
people and world around him.
At age seventeen, Eric was
ready for his journey out o f
Africa to Europe and, eventu
ally, to the United States and
Canada. The journey lasted five
years and is a tale o f great hard
ship and great faith. He was
jailed, he begged, he walked, he
hitchiked, he slept in the desert.
Burned by the sun and freezing
at n ig h t, he o ften felt the
“warmth” of his guides but they
never interfered with his “initia
tion.”
It took some years for Eric to
use his healing gifts again. In
1984, with several other people,
Eric began “The World Federa
tion for Spiritual Healing” in
Belguim. His vision was to cre
ate a place where people could
receive healing, and where he
could teach as many students
as possible his techniques of
energy healing.
Eric’s intention is to bring
healing to any situation. One of
Eric’s deepest beliefs is, “ Heal
ing is a matter o f sim plicity and
honesty. We are all born with an
innate ability to heal. We need
only the will to serve without
discrimination.
Eric is especially interested in
the children o f the world. He
believes that the children, from
very young to teenagers, can be
taught to use their “hidden heal
ing powers” to help us to change
the world and provide a brighter
future for themselves and all of
us!
Fasil G hem b
Photo caption Built by Emperor Fasilides during the 17,h century. Fasil Ghemb stands still to this date to grace
Gondar, A Northeastern city o f Ethiopia. Surrounded by a 900-metre wall, the enchanting royal compound contains
palaces churches, monasteries and extraordinary public and private buildings. Although factual documents d o ™t
support it. the castle is said to have been built with mixture o f wheat flour and thousands o f eggs in order to hold
the building together. Today, the castle stands among other sites as the most visited tourist attractions in the country.
Master Healer from Ghana
B y D onna S elby
T hroughout history, people
the w orld over have told sto
ries about special individuals
who gave the ability to heal.
O f particu lar interest lately by
the “ c iv iliz e d ” W estern world
is the study o f how physical,
em otional and m ental disease
m ay be affected by w orking
w ith the “u n seen ” energy o f a
p e rs o n . V ery few W estern
m in d s a re a b le to b r e a k
through the veil o f physical
form and see this field o f en
ergy. Eric V orm anns is such
an individual.
Eric was born in a tiny v il
lage in G hana, W est A frica.
B efore his b irth , his parents
and G randm other w ere told
by the villag e elders that this
child w ould possess the gift
o f healing and bare the re
sp o n sib ility o f teaching h e a l
ing to others. A fter his birth ,
he was taken to the O raclist,
w ho c o n firm e d the p re d ic
tions. D uring this first seven
y ears, Eric gained a rep u ta
tion in his com m unity for b e
ing able to tell people m any
hidden things about their lives
and health.
E ric “h e a le d ” by sim ply do
ing w hat his S p irit guides in
stru c te d him to do. He also
receiv ed sp iritu al instruction
in the gath erin g and ap p lic a
tio n o f plants and leaves that
could be used as a talism an to
p ro tect an individual.
E r i c ’s p a te r n a l G r a n d
f
in o t h e r
w anted him
to live with
her as she
knew about
his healing
p o te n tia l.
S tric t, but
with an un
conditional
lo v e
and
a c c e p -
ta n c e , she
gave Eric a
s tro n g
sen se
of
b o undaries
an d s e l f
re s p o n s i
bility . She
w as w e ll
a w a re o f
his destiny
and alw ays
e n c o u r -
a g e d h is
c o m m u n ic a tio n s w ith the
S p irit guides he called his
“ frie n d s.”
D uring this period o f tim e,
Eric suffered from m igraine
h e a d a c h e s . T h e s e a tta c k s
were so severe that he could
not m ove for days at a time.
His entire head w ould feel as
if it was on fire and when cold
w ater was applied to soothe
him, it im m ediately turned to
steam . W hen he was seven,
his aunt decided it w ould be
best to seek m edical advice
since the m edicine men and
h erbalists could not affect his
condition. An operation was
then recom m ended.
Draped for surgery, w ith a
nurse w heeling him down the
hall, little Eric heard the voice
o f his Spirit guides in stru c t
ing him to tell the nurse he
had to go to the bathroom .
W ithout question he m ade his
sudden request. A nnoyed and
baffled, the nurse allow ed him
to go. From there, the Spirit
guides told him to go hom e to
his G randm other. L ater that
day, on a nearby beach where
Eric often went, he had a life
altering experience. All he re
m em bered is seeing a sw irl
ing, colorful, smoke com ing
THE FUTURE OF
AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY
IS NOW!
AMERICAN FAMILY
i=l
OS
■ i.i r i A i a - g . ; — -
4t/ro MOMi misiwss M u m uri
uSSI
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