	Article Directory		Article Submission Service		Article Marketing Blog		Publishers		Member Log In

Article Directory :: Religion & Faith Articles

Chango And The Spirit Possession

By Yamaya Cruz

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 04Mar2012
Word count: 459
Viewed: 57 time(s)

Get Free Content For Your Site

It is commonly known that drumming is used in African diasporic traditions to help people go into a trance. The drum is associated with the Yoruba deity Chango for two reasons. The drum is not only a musical instrument, but also a tool that helps to regulate the human heart. Also, the beatings of the drums represent the vibrational frequencies of energy. These frequencies have an effect on brain waves and electrical impulses on the body and soul.

For years, anthropologist and historians have studied African traditions, and never understood the ceremonial dances around fire. The Yoruba deity Chango rules over the domain of fire. Fire is not only a major earth element; it is also a symbolization of the spirit mounting the soul. During altered states of consciousness, the body begins to change. The drumming alters the autonomic nervous system, increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse.

In dummy terms, the body gets burning hot. The spirit possession pushes the body to its most elevated state, where it begins to burn away impurities that have been inflicted on the soul. The drumming works as "music to the ears" for it allows the nervous system to disseminate the sounds as electrical energy. This helps people to release trapped emotions, illnesses, and negative energies that have impeded the soul. In short, this was our ancestors' way of cleaning and healing themselves. They not only understood the power of the possession and its effects on the body but also on the mind.

There are some who would argue that beta waves are active during spirit possession. This is when the brain is focused. Others might say that the brain is in alpha or delta mode during spirit possessions. Alpha waves are active during times of relaxation, while delta waves are actives during dreams, or dreamless states of sleep. I like to believe that the brain is in delta mode, in a dreamlike state. For the spirit possession involves a level of surrender. If the mind is active, in the beta or alpha states, it will not allow itself to transcend into parallel realities.

I believe that the mind is incredibly strong and can "trick" people into believing that they are being spiritually possessed. It is difficult for many people to become spiritually possessed because their "minds" are always getting in the away. In African diasporic traditions it is believed that only those on the highest spiritual levels are able to experience spiritual possession, for it involves a great level of clarity and insight. These are the people who are often chosen by our ancestors to bestow knowledge and truth, and to help the community transcend to higher levels of consciousness.

Yamaya Cruz is the author of When The Shadows Began To Dance. She writes about African spirituality, chakra healing, shamanism and much more. For more information go to http://newafricanspirituality.com/page8/page8.html

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here