Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook151 pages2 hours
Yoruba shamanism
By A. B. Ellis
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The striking resemblance which the Yoruba religious system bears to that of the ancient Greeks can scarcely have escaped notice. Olorun, the sky-god proper, now being gradually displaced by the more anthropomorphic Obatala, resembles Uranus, who was displaced by Kronos. In Greek mythology Kronos married his sister Rhea, the earth, and the Yoruba myth makes Obatala marry Odudua, who also represents the earth, though the qualities of Aphrodite appear to predominate. Olokun answers to Poseidon, Ogun, worker in iron, to Hephœstus, Orisha Oko to Priapus, Osanhin to Æsklepius, Orun, the sun, to Helios, and Oshu, the moon, to Selene. Zeus' messenger, Hermes, the lightning, was the protector of plunderers, and Shango is the god of lightning and plunder. Ifa, as the, god of prophecy, and the being who wards off evil and affords help, resembles Apollo, who, in Homer, is perfectly distinct from the sun-god, though identified with him in later times.
The spirits of the trees answer to the Hama-dryads, and we have river-gods and sea-spirits. Metamorphosis to a brook, spring, or lagoon is common, and we have one example of a girl, being transformed, like Daphne, into a shrub. The gods, when consulted, gave oracular responses that differ in no essential particular from the answers given by the Oracle of Delphi. The Yorubas, like the Greeks, offer human sacrifices in time of national need. Dancing was, with the Greeks, intimately connected with worship, as Lucian says: "You cannot find a single ancient mystery in which there is not dancing;" and by the Yoruba every god of note has his own dance, which is sacred to him, and known only to the initiated.
The spirits of the trees answer to the Hama-dryads, and we have river-gods and sea-spirits. Metamorphosis to a brook, spring, or lagoon is common, and we have one example of a girl, being transformed, like Daphne, into a shrub. The gods, when consulted, gave oracular responses that differ in no essential particular from the answers given by the Oracle of Delphi. The Yorubas, like the Greeks, offer human sacrifices in time of national need. Dancing was, with the Greeks, intimately connected with worship, as Lucian says: "You cannot find a single ancient mystery in which there is not dancing;" and by the Yoruba every god of note has his own dance, which is sacred to him, and known only to the initiated.
Unavailable
Read more from A. B. Ellis
The History of the First West India Regiment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Land of Fetish Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Yoruba shamanism
Related ebooks
God’s Mysteries Lwas and Orishas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yorùbá Culture: A Philosophical Account Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spirits, Blood and Drums: The Orisha Religion in Trinidad Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Africa's Ogun: Old World and New Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arts of Being Yoruba: Divination, Allegory, Tragedy, Proverb, Panegyric Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diloggún Tales of the Natural World: How the Moon Fooled the Sun and Other Santería Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oduduwa's Chain: Locations of Culture in the Yoruba-Atlantic Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ojise: Messenger of the Yoruba Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Orisa Ibeji Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divining the Self: A Study in Yoruba Myth and Human Consciousness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Handbook of Yoruba Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntermediate Yoruba: Language, Culture, Literature, and Religious Beliefs, Part Ii Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Architects of Existence: Aje in Yoruba Cosmology, Ontology, and Orature Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Divination with Diloggún: Divination Magic for Beginners, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yoruba Traditions and African American Religious Nationalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOsogbo: Speaking to the Spirits of Misfortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enlightenment: Cowries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vodún: Secrecy and the Search for Divine Power Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of the Coconut and the Yoruba Religion: (A Manual for the Yoruba Religion) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orishas of Trinidad: African Spirituality Beliefs and Practices, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secrets of Afro-Cuban Divination: How to Cast the Diloggún, the Oracle of the Orishas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ah Jubah! A PleaPrayerPromise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Honey in the River: Shadow, Sex and West African Spirituality Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Oracle of Divination: The Mythology of Yoruva Religion Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Sixteen Cowries: Yoruba Divination from Africa to the New World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Obí: Oracle of Cuban Santería Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ile Ifa International: Orunmila’S Healing Spaces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sacrificial Ceremonies of Santería: A Complete Guide to the Rituals and Practices Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 6 Ifa Paths to Success and Prosperity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Teachings of the Santería Gods: The Spirit of the Odu Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Anthropology For You
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermined America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays On The Biology Of The Human Predi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White Album: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Regarding the Pain of Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Collected Essays: Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, and After Henry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bullshit Jobs: A Theory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories of Rootworkers & Hoodoo in the Mid-South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Folk Medicine in Southern Appalachia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Songlines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Matter of the Mind: The Culturally Articulated Unconscious Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bruce Lee Wisdom for the Way Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Way of the Shaman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Survive in Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Yoruba shamanism
Rating: 3.6666666666666665 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
6 ratings1 review
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This book reeks of Colonial mentality of Indigenous Cultures. A lot of errors in identifying the different Cosmic Spirits. The Yorubas never termed the deities as gods,, they are Spirits elements. There is only one God in the Yoruba Culture. OLODUMARE. IFA Cosmology is about Peace and Love, a Culture, not a religion.
7 people found this helpful