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Originally Posted by Gem
In new guinea there is a general belief that everything has a spirit, but it's not particularly individualised, more like there is a spirit of a species, and the geological features like mountains, rivers, lakes etc are associated with a human-like totem. Hence when they say the 'devil of the shark', for example, it can mean the spirit of a shark or it can mean the spirit of that species. Otherwise, when they say 'the man of the river' or the 'man of the lake' it's like a spirit that is happy when you treat the geological feature with respect, or becomes angry if you don't. Based on this, there are traditional protocols involved in activities like hunting, fishing that have spiritual overtones, but also contain all the knowledge relevant to the undertaking which are purely pragmatic. In this way human knowledge is placed in the landscape and it is said that the land contains the knowledge, and this is revived in rituals, dances and songs etc. Along with the performance of these is a connection with ancestors and the human-like spirits of the land. In hunting rituals a connection can be made with the amimal spirit, not the individual one but the overarching spirit of that species. Not all cultures have these systems. There are many different cultures in New Guinea, but this is a reasonable overview in a very general sense.
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Interesting Gem – thank you.
Even though I do come from an animist culture and there is the overlap of similarities with other cultures, there are differences too.
Though, I must say, I can’t really learn about anything in depth by reading about it. I have to experience it. Connect with it.
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Since I haven’t been to PNG (I have only been a visitor in their houses in OZ), - all I can say, what has naturally happened, is that we either have had the same dream or one of us have had an astral visitor or sleep paralysis thing happening involving each other.
So there is an openness towards one another on 'another level’.
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And this one PNG woman, who at the markets sat next to me on a bench scrutinizing me with the corner of her eye first and then turning around and said:
“When I look at you, I see a white person – but you are not. Not r-e-a-l-l-y.”
(Referring to my 'reverse coconut' identity, so of course I knew what she meant and how she ‘saw’ it by ‘reading’ my energy field – because I’ve done it myself.)
A few Aborigines have done the same – of which I have been very grateful about.
You don’t know how frustrating it is to be ‘invisible’ – to live in the world that only sees appearances – and not the real you, or the real beyond physical senses.
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