In my walk of faith, I was taught to pray in a concise yet meaningful manner. Yes, God is the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. [S]He can do anything, is everything and is everywhere. And yes, God is not limited to a specific name. We humans use words to name things, sensations and experiences in an effort to create familiarity and understanding at a low vibration of consciousness. But I also understand the power and authority that is vested in the tongue. When God created the heavens and the earth [S]He did not think or do but spoke the words "let there be light". For "in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God," John 1:1. Hence the need to be specific and intentional when I bind the earth and loosen the heavens. So I started uttering Hebrew words I came across in the bible calling onto El Shaddai and Yahweh. I enunciated Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Shalom desperate for a deeper connection. The moment I got fully immersed in God's presence was when I reverted back to my roots and called onto Mdali, There was an immediate shift in perspective and God stopped being a foreign white man in the sky. The switch in language created a warmth in my belly, an environment that was personal, a space that felt like home. I started strolling around this home and discovered rooms of celestial beings and the associated closets of hierarchy.
The supreme being is known as Menzi or Mdali which means to "make" or "create". This is the God that we know; the alpha and omega, beginning and the end. The creator who breathed life into our nostrils imparting His/Her essence to dwell within us. uMenzi has seven messengers known as izithunywa which means "to be sent". uMenzi is usually conflated with uMvelinqangi which means "he who was in the very beginning" who is the sky god, the god of thunder and god of the earth. The first feminine principle is introduced with uMa who is the goddess of creativity and nature. The second feminine deity is introduced as inkosazana yezulu known as uNomkhubulwane loosely translated as "she who chooses the state of the animal". She is the goddess of light, rain and fertility; the one who bears the fruit sown by man's seed in the ground. She is revered and celebrated by the community for she brings life and sustains it. The third and last goddess is uNomhoyi who is the goddess of sexuality and cleanliness for cleanliness is the closest thing to godliness. The last three deities are uSomandla: god of virility, authority and strength, uSodumo: the god of destiny and rebirth as well as uMlenzemunye: god of vitality and change. African Spirituality dismantles the chains of patriarchy and misogyny by acknowledging and uplifting the divine mother from celestial beings right down to human beings. The equilibrium between masculine and feminine and harmonious flow thereof is derived from names in our native tongue. The word Ramasedi who is the supreme God in seSotho is broken down into Ra-Father, Ma-Mother, Sedi-light thus the father and mother of light. In nature, our ancestors sang to the sun (masculine) and prayed to the moon (feminine) maintaining balance in the cosmogenesis.
Christian angelology is scattered amongst doctrine including but not limited to revelations by prophet Isaiah, testimonies in the book of Ezekiel as well as the rejected chapters of the book of Enoch. There are three spheres in angelic hierarchy:
First sphere - Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones
Second sphere - Powers & Authorities, Virtues & Strongholds, Dominions
Third sphere - Principalities & Rulers, Archangels, Malakhim
At the lowest order of the hierarchy are the Malakhim guardian angels who work hand in hand with mankind to align them with God's purpose. Their functions are to guide, guard, advise and protect doing so through thoughts, emotions, conversations and art. Archangels translated from the Hebrew word Mal'akh are chief angels that the guardian angels report to. The last class in the third sphere are Principalities & Rulers who guide and protect groups of people, nations and institutions. They are the educators and guardians of the realm of earth inspiring art, medicine and science. The celestial beings in the second sphere work as heavenly governors of creation by subjecting matter, guiding and ruling third sphere spirits. They do not govern mankind but the spirits assigned to mankind. Dominions are assigned to regulate the duties of the third sphere and rarely interact with mankind. On rare occasions, proclaimers and izanusi have engaged with these beings under the approval of God. A tangible example is the late great Credo Mutwa. He saw and spoke of historical and forthcoming events that were unheard of until they started physically manifesting. Personally, I have tried watching his videos but I fail to translate and resonate with anything he says. Its clear that one needs to reach a certain level of consciousness to access and understand such. Virtues & Strongholds are those through which signs and miracles are manifested in the world. Powers & Authorities are responsible for the movements of the stars, planets, galaxies, heavens and the primordial waters. Remember my article "The Winter Solstice" where I spoke about the great stillness and rebirth of the sun? Such phenomena is under the authority of these angels. They are also warrior angels that fight against spirits of the shadow kingdoms especially those that affect worldly systems. The first sphere are the closest to God. The Seraphim are the 6 winged creatures described by prophet Isaiah and Cherubim are the 4 winged creatures with four faces (ox, eagle, lion, man) seen by Ezekiel. This is the highest order of angels with a primary duty to serve God directly.
Our ancestors in Kemet recognized "an indivisible unity among three lifestreams - the Neteru gods or divine principles, the akhiu spirits in nature including the elevated souls of the deceased as well as the ankhiu living human beings" [The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt]. Our ancestors were cognizant of the power of the spoken words with the names of the gods designing the framework for a scientific and supernatural knowledge system. According to ancient traditions, there are over 45 deities that govern different spheres in the cosmos. The names of gods although hidden were known by all throughout the land. Hiding it was a tool to shield its essence from perversion not scatter and obliterate its existence. It left the onus on humans to ascend into their higher selves and personally discover spirituality thus establishing an intimate relationship with God.
"One falls down with terror if his ineffable name is spoken.
Not even another god can call him by it,
He whose name is hidden.
Because of this he is a mystery" - A poem about Amun
Papyrus Leiden I:350 [The Sacred Magic of Ancient Egypt]
The difference between us and our ancestors is how we transferred these knowledge systems from one generation to the next. Our predecessors expressed themselves in the form of words and graphic illustrations in tombs, temples and caves whereas we decided to be regressive utilizing ditshomo around the fire. Our great-great grandparents right down to our parents created an oral method which in my humble opinion is a disservice to us. We blindly hide behind the façade of sacredness which opens up room for our body of knowledge to either get lost in translation or stolen. It gets stolen and then published as their own and we end up stuck with the unnecessary task of proving that Jesus was black.
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