Shamanic African Art, Part 1

Once in the past you would find on this blog a contribution about African Masks with some detail about how to care for them and so on. Once again I have the opportunity to make another presentation about matters akin to that.

A great many people acquire pieces of African Art, as it is called, and of course it has beauty and can easily be called art but that is not something I would claim to be an expert on. I am here to say today comments on the spiritual impact of such art pieces.

If the pieces have been produced as copies of other forms - meaning current or recent artists reproducing a figure for instance then this is what I recommend.

If it is something machine made and mass produced it can be treated with the respect that any art object might be but there is no worry about its impact on your life - but if it has been hand carved by an artisan who is actually looking at the original - not just a picture but the actual object or had ever been in the presence of the original or had even lived with someone associated in any way with the original then some caution needs to be taken.

African art is some of the most influential art spiritually on the planet today and many of these objects classified as art are really shamanic in their nature - intended to have a benevolent impact when used properly but when misused or when used with ignorance can have an unintentional impact.

Given the conditions I have stated above, if you have a piece of this shamanic work then it is attendant upon you - very important - to find out what the original piece was intended to do.

Try not to read only the best guess by historians or anthropologists. These people while being great experts in their fields are not always told the exact purpose for these things because shamanic peoples the world over do not always reveal all that can be known about a objects intent. This is not because there is an intention to fool or to manipulate but rather because the impact of the object is so great and also so subtle as to bring about the most desired outcome or even stimulate characteristics that would be latent in people already.

Some art objects are grossly misunderstood. These would have to do with things that would stimulate sexuality or perhaps would stimulate a long life or a life that would produce many children for example. If these objects are not used carefully - now remember I'm not even talking about the originals yet - if these objects are not used carefully then they can have this effect all the time but frequently in ways that are not desirable in current society.

Many people wonder why there is so much of a pervasive experience in society now of sexuality geared and structured into so many things. While sexuality is a beautiful thing when done with consenting adults and engaged in loving sharing with each other there are many other aspects to sexuality that are not desirable especially when one or more parties is not openly desiring this or is not an adult.

I am not saying that African Art being misused intentionally or otherwise is the cause of this but you can understand the analogy using for example todays medicines. A medicine is given to stimulate certain things that the body can do. The medicine itself doesn't necessarily take direct action but causes an effect within the body, in the case of my analogy here, to stimulate the body to bring about a more benevolent state in someone's body.

This we understand as something technical. We understand it as a scientific matter wherein one thing follows another on a predictable basis. In our times we understand that such matters are based upon hard and proven and reproducible theories, science and results. In other places though and in other times, ancient and even in current times we find other things that can stimulate and even excite in the wrong ways - meaning if you were to use a drug for example and misuse it then things can happen that are not desirable and I think we all know about that.

For your education today I want to offer some suggestions on African art objects - statues, forms and so on that have influences, as I've stated above - the person had seen the original, the person knew the original artist and so on or the artist was a ancestor for instance then this is what to do.

Find out to the best of your ability what the original piece was intended to do. Research it or have it researched as thoroughly as possible and in the most benevolent way. Do not cause harm in your research but find out as best you can.

If you find it has a specific impact, such as - I'm using the idea of being strong and able to produce children as one might find even as a desirable trait today to not just produce many children but to have the strength to raise them and raise them well, that is the sort of art object or shamanicly influenced object that ought to be exposed only under those circumstances when those people themselves, those women in that sense or those men, wish to be influenced by such an energy.

Lets remember that energy is something that not only runs through wires and stimulates machines but is all around and about us and sometimes is sensed by people who don't necessarily consider themselves to be sensitive.

You walk into a room and everybody has a strong feeling about something - you can tell something's up. "What's up", you say - but no one has said anything to you and then you find out what's up. So I also include that when I'm talking about energy - felt influence - that's energy as well.

So if you as adults - a young couple perhaps - want to have the strength, the endurance and the capability to produce a fine strong family of children and to raise them well and to be able to encourage the best of them you might expose yourself to an art-shamanic piece like that and this could have a similar effect as a influencing - not medicine - but an influencing energy not unlike what an herbal might do.

An herbal product is not usually designed to have an instantaneous impact. It's usually designed to have a long term influence which builds up a certain strength or quality in a person over time.

So then you expose yourselves to that object but you do not have it exposed to the world all the time for it might be having that same influence on others that has not so good an impact. Look upon these art-shamanic objects as art-shamanic objects for they are truly influencing all the time. This is not so unusual for any objects created by cultures of people who have within them heart connections to the past along the lines of lineage.

Now in part 2 I'm going to discuss the original artistic objects and what to do about that and some of those suggestions will also in terms of the safety, what to do, how to treat the objects can also be applied to this part 1.

Goodlife.