In Defense of Witchcraft, Magick and Alternative, Deviant Spirituality (for Africa, and for all humanity). Author: Joe Willrich Lutalo (~Nemesis Fixx) School: NuChwezi Esoteric School, Uganda. Date: Email:
30 August, 2016 joe@nuchwezi.com
Introduction This brief essay is written in defense of Witchcraft (not just African Witchcraft), and any other apparently “primitive”, “repulsive”, “uncivilized”, “noninstitutionalized” forms of Magick and Spirituality, especially, as explored and practiced by apparently “primitive” cultures, some consciously deviant, free-thinking and or otherwise curious human beings in our day and time. These systems of faith have been under attack, in the face of mainstream, popular and predominantly western systems –the Abrahamic faiths being the worst culprits, and yet, to many of those who engage in them, especially we as native Africans still in touch with our ancient, collective unconscious, they hold the same or even more potency than what mainstream systems can offer.
This essay is not an attack on mainstream faiths, but is instead an exploration of the principles that might help see to a more harmonious, more liberal and more progressive co-existence of the many faiths and spiritual systems – old and new; how and why we need to embrace a bold new world, in which spiritual diversity is not only tolerated, but greatly encouraged, without fear and without favor.
In Defense of Witchcraft, Magick and Alternative, Deviant Spirituality (for Africa, and for all humanity). As at this moment, the summit of my philosophical understanding, and based on which I discern or attempt to color Truth is this: Relativity seems inevitable, and it probably is legitimate, but in any relative reference frame, the most optimal truth is that which yields the most utility to those concerned, and which is additionally pragmatic at that. The big question then concerns who defines the utility function by which one truth is ranked relative to another. In my system, the concerned party ought be the ultimate authority, and if I am to limit my ideas to a humanist perspective, then it is whichever human is concerned, but otherwise, any authority that the concerned freely chose to delegate their judgement to (which could make sense for those with less developed faculties of discernment such as children) - a deity, an algorithm, another human, doesn't matter; the important thing is that this authority is granted such power by the concerned. We could be infinite and absolute - nothing in my current understanding negates that, but it's more prudent to assume we aren't: pessimism often yields more truth than not. The best a relative being can do is to seek the best approximation of the absolute they can, anything else is very rudimentary, or is too much of an illusion (though, not all illusions are void of utility, approximations are practically better than naught - the reason even scientific fantasy holds more weight that random day-dreaming.)
With my philosophical underpinnings exposed, I can then comfortably and sincerely enter into a fair exposition of my ideas on this most critical matter.
We are spiritual beings - anyone that would challenge or ignore this, needs only exhaustively seek the answer to the question: "What Am I?" or the lesser, "Who is I?" Attempts to explore this critical question using any paradigm that best lends itself to one’s current faculties of contemplation and understanding, especially when sought earnestly, patiently and with persistence - not as a race to out-think the other person, or as a means to impress others with pompous oration and arguments, but as a sincere, solemn pursuit of one's True Self - for one's own illumination and empowerment, will finally lead you to this Truth (or some close variations of it). This is very critical to anything else we might ever have to ponder or concern ourselves with - as individuals, as communities and the entire species as well, and it ought to be the gist of any truly transformative, constructive work we engage in.
Okay. Then let’s talk about VooDoo & Magick. Yes, we need not just VooDoo, but actually - and this is true of all humans, regardless of whether they are colored, white
or black: we need not just abstract spiritual freedom, but we need to be able to freely, openly explore and express our spirituality as we deem most fit. If VooDoo were the predominant system of spirituality globally, then undoubtedly, there would be a minority somewhere, seeking to assert or practice their own system - possibly even trying to impose it onto the majority. It's only natural. Everywhere there's a majority, by necessity, there is a minority - this is true of spirituality, and all other human activity, as well as any system that doesn't contain a unity of elements (and which also isn't void). Imbalance and inequality isn't unnatural, and neither is it good or bad - it just is.
Let's first abandon entire states, black or white races, creeds and universals, and come down to YOU. The simple question is this: Are you capable of exercising your powers of discernment and free will? Can you take independent, conscious action? Then, what best holds utility for you? Who should define what holds utility for you? If something holds no more utility for you, then why not adopt or develop an alternative? Unless, you consciously admit to being helpless and impotent, which case it would truly be vile to want to exorcise you of your self-inflicted predicament. But, if you are a being capable of consciously exercising your faculties of discernment and free will, and if for some reason, you are compelled to use something that doesn't or no more holds utility for you, then at that point, you choose sacrifice both your freedom and power. It is this sort of thing that is the problem with the dominant spiritual systems of this day (or any time in human history and possibly for all the times of our future, assuming we don’t evolve for the better in this regard – some philosophers have analyzed human history, and concluded that all true progress is indeed an illusion!) It's not a new problem - it's been with us from the very moment two humans first disagreed on an otherwise internal, subjective, and essentially spiritual matter.
Faith is a tool – a very powerful one at that, with which any being capable of exercising powers of discernment, can accept as true, something for which they have no proof. This is true of human especially, and doesn’t depend in any way on one’s intellectual or cultural biases – faith is exercised by humans, possibly universally. Faith, applied practically, makes possible such incredible things manifest in seemingly limited humans as; healing by placebo, constructive contagion, potent optimism even in the face of dire adversity, irrational powers of persistence and perseverance irrespective of recurring failure, the ability to tap into and leverage otherwise censored parts of the unconscious, the ability to develop and exploit vivid imagination, the resolution of otherwise intractable existential and subjective enigmas that could otherwise render a person impotent, etc. And I haven’t even mentioned the obvious side-effects of practically exercising this faculty, especially in conjunction with the imagination; the creation of the most majestic, “divinely”
inspired forms of art, architecture, music, and fashion – which are the things that actually end up defining much of what a culture is or isn’t.
Faith gives every human the license to dream, and as we know, only dreamers can create! But, as with all power, it is either abused or misused from a point of ignorance or pure greed. In and of itself, faith just is – just as with faculties of reason, the imagination, memory and the other external and internal tools of our being; it’s the effects of its application that possess color – mere accidents, itself, remaining purely colorless and indifferent. What then makes faith, or its application as in the various forms and expressions of our spirituality, such a problematic aspect of the human creature and the entire race?
It's not that Christianity or Islam or Hinduism or whatever, is bad or impotent – don’t forget, utility is relative. These spiritual systems have their true merits, and have potency to those who know best how to leverage and milk them – even when we strip them of all their fancy ceremonial, accumulated heritage and political authority – leaving them nothing more than just “yet another system of exercising faith.” The problem is, their utility isn't universal – it isn’t even absolute, as far as I know, and that's what the cynical fanatics and blind messiahs of any spiritual system you know of, get wrong or deliberately choose to ignore. Within the context of a system of faith, it definitely makes sense to assert infallibility and even claim absolute power – that’s much of what makes faith potent (both to the believers and those presiding over them.) But, once you decide to step out of the subjective arena, the spiritual arena, and start to talk objectively and universally, then no one can claim with authority, concerning the absoluteness of their beliefs or expressions thereof. As far as I currently understand, it is plain absurd for anyone to claim as universal, any matter that is essentially of a subjective nature – of which spirituality & faith have the worst offenders! This is the sort of stupidity that has plagued our species, leading to much conflict and stagnation of progress, and the reason we need enlightenment and some sort of renaissance and spiritual revolutions every once in a couple of generations.
If you, as an individual or as a group of individuals (a family, a state, a nation, a race, or even the whole of humanity), were to delegate the answering of our most fundamental questions to an alien or external authority, no matter how incredible it were, or how pathetic you are – you my dear would no more deserve of any legitimate freedom and power. You would have lost not just freedom and power, but also identity as well; at which point, even the purpose and meaning of existence, for those concerned, would make no more sense. The individual might dissolve into the whole, or the whole might dissolve into nothingness. You would essentially
cease existing. It’s possible this is the grand scheme of things – but that’s not proven as of now, and I doubt it can be universally proven, but it holds more utility in my opinion, to regard that we have within our domain, both the power and responsibility to be the authorities on who we are, what we are, and what we ought be. That’s how serious the matter of spirituality is to us.
Without the ability to pause, seek and answer such questions as "Who Am I?", "What is the Purpose of My Existence?” You have no business seeking any form of emancipation, rights or freedom - be it financial, political or even physical freedom. You basically are as good as dead. If the power to define who we are is the ultimate power, then indeed, not only is Might is Right, but additionally, only those with this power deserve to live. But this would be unfair, especially if such a situation were to be reached, at the expense of others, whose spiritual freedoms have been consciously, systematically suppressed or obliterated – especially by institutionalized, coordinated spiritual dictatorship. Where are our real saviors?
How does this relate with my defense of witchcraft and the battle to liberate Africa and all of humanity, from our current spiritual slumbers? The situation is so bad, that besides being asleep, many humans today are sleeping in chains, so that, even though they were to be awakened, they wouldn’t have any real means of movement or progress spiritually. It’s not just with Africa, but it’s worst when it comes to us. But this need not be the case, and it is bound to change. If we can't define and build our own spiritual systems - right from the individual level, all the way up to the highest levels of society (note: you can't expect individuals enslaved spiritually, to define or build a society that's spiritually liberated), then we won't have any right to claim a thing of free existence - anything already granted us, whether by indifferent nature, or by other humans, is but pure philanthropy, not our right, since we can’t even start to claim any of it in a real way - until we clearly know who we are, and why we ought be, we can’t claim anything as ours; we as pathetic as a newborn, entirely at the mercy of its parent – who could as easily choose to dump it into a pit.
The survival & wellbeing of those who are spiritually enslaved is but a clear illustration of the generosity of those who aren’t. It’s a problem of the entire race – the enlightened, the awakened, the spiritual elite are only few, but, what I see as fair, is that the opportunity be granted whoever desires to awaken unto the light, to be able to seek it freely. The sun shines upon all, even though only few dare tap its real power – but none is hindered from doing so.
If someone else - the priest, the politician, the judge, the parent, etc., is going to define for us what we are, why we are, they might as well dictate what is right and wrong for us; what we are entitled to and what we can't have. Basically, real enslavement starts with enslaving you spiritually, then intellectually, and then physically (or some mixture of these to the same effect - but always, if one is still free spiritually, then they can essentially liberate themselves everywhere else). All tyrants know of this, and guard this knowledge secretly, and they apply it covertly, but deliberately. Even in seemingly secular societies and institutions, it’s not uncommon to find sanctions on certain spiritual expressions or to punish, ridicule or discourage them openly or not.
In the case of Africa, we have suffered what all the other civilizations of the past suffered when they were being vanquished by new tyrants and conquerors - we have been systematically or deliberately driven to abandon the source of our real spiritual power - which has a lot to do with tradition, and age-old practices, beliefs and specific worldviews that have been with us for eons before new, alien spirituality systems were imposed on us in the last couple centuries. Modern advances in psychology, in particular, the works of such psychoanalysts as Jung, illustrate what has been true to us Africans for ages – even without formalizing it using such forms as are typically western - that we are not only influenced, nor animated by just our currently held conscious ideas and ideals, but by a cascading, self-reinforcing cacophony of preexisting psychic forces as well – many of which originate not just in our own subconscious mind or our immediate environments, but also from those parts of our unconscious that we’ve inherited or soaked up from the cultures and environments we and our ancestors have lived through for ages, all the way back to prehistoric times!
Ancestral worship, or the acknowledgement of ancestral influence on us, is not an idea only limited to ancient Christian saints and prophets, but also one that’s been very much alive in the traditional systems of witchcraft and sorcery as practiced in the many, varied forms all across Africa and the rest of the world. The dead are not dead – even as mere memories or archetypes that can still have impact on our current and future actions; Plato is dead, but his spirit lives on in his works, and his influence is apparent even in this very paper! Such is the power of spirituality that we risk losing, as we stupidly throw out the baby with the water! The past, and what experiences our predecessors went through; the things that informed their choices of words, actions, symbols and relation to nature when exploring spirituality, carry much more potency for you today, than concepts you might adopt from an entirely alien culture or foreign system of spirituality. Ultimately though, all humans share a common ancestry, and starting from that perspective, one might argue that any current spiritual system can readily be swapped for another basing on the above
argument, but then, this is not a matter of absolutes – it’s more a matter of degree! To what extent would the reading of a poem about the Great Fire of London evoke sentiment in a classroom of kids somewhere in Masindi, when compared with an ordeal about how hundreds of peasants were driven out of their homes and some burned to death when entire villages suffered as colonial invaders applied scorch earth methods all over Bunyoro-Kitara? Context does matter, so that witchcraft and sorcery do carry much more weight in some cultures and circumstances, than stale, commoditized, mainstream faiths.
But, as some might argue, it's not that we have lost all spiritual vitality - more to the contrary (especially in contrast to the prevailing western ideals and sentiments, which are pathetically plagued by dehumanizing materialism and some destructive forms of nihilism). Instead of entirely loosing spirituality, what has happened to us, is that we have been compelled to abandon our ancient, traditional, powerful spiritual systems - systems which carry with them thousands of years of symbolic potency and meaning that many Africans would immediately be able to relate to and tap into, and in its place, adopted alien spiritual systems - themselves thousands of years old, but which in the collective unconscious of the African (or at the individual level - in our subconscious mind), carry little or no potency at all. Definitely, and this I have seen with my own eyes, when some alien, and fascinating concepts or artifacts are introduced to a gullible people (or for that matter, any humans), and claimed to possess magical potency, surely, at least for a time, they are bound to carry some real transformative power over them.
Novelty always carries the power of mesmerism – this is true even of such ultramodern concepts as new forms of technology, movies or information. Even emerging scientific theories carry this sort of mesmerizing power on the majority of western minds! So, yes, to introduce new, alien spiritual systems into “primitive” cultures might be a means to revitalize their spirituality or add more wood to the fire – many witchdoctors and even western magicians advance by adapting or incorporating many alien symbols and concepts into their systems – and it works wonders on their less exposed subjects and clients.
But, I’m not talking about the impotence of alien spirituality, instead, I’m concerning with the stagnation of spirituality in general! Without being able to grab a rosary from a priest, add a bone from a cow, introduce incense from India, mix it with a song from some long-dead grandmother, one is denied the freedom to explore and express themselves spiritually. This is the sort of power and freedom our ancient fathers enjoyed, as they travelled the continent; gathering wisdom and ideas from each culture and system they encountered, and incorporating these into their own
existing paradigms – it worked well for us, and it still can. For those who still explore, it still does work. To expect that a single religion and way of expression can accommodate the spiritual needs of a people for hundreds or thousands of years is a very anti-African way of approaching spirituality.
We were not just gatherers of fruits and roots, nor mere hunters of game; we trekked the jungles, sometimes even raided or took each other hostage, just so we could discover what powered the other tribe’s magick, and how we could assimilate those elements into our own pantheons. That is the sort of freedom & adventurous spirituality we risk losing. If we can encourage our children to travel the world (even if virtually via the internet), gathering ideas and knowledge of science and the arts, why not likewise extend this ability to the sampling and free, explorative mixing of spiritual ideas? This is how new cultures evolve, it is how language extends, it how minds expand, it is how we grow as a species – spiritually and not. If you want clear evidence that this is how much of traditional African spirituality was from the most ancient times, look to the way the Africans that were taken into slavery, especially in the Americas, evolved their new, potent spiritual identities, by intermixing western and African ideas to form such amazing systems of spirituality as VooDoo, Palo Mayombe, Santeria and the others. Should we sacrifice or fear to exercise these freedoms anymore – especially on mainland Africa, where it is our birthright to practice magick and witchcraft? Or is it only from the various cults and orders of the Catholic faith that we are allowed to sample and mix ideas?
To the elite, who by necessity need to preside over mundane, powerless subjects, it makes all sense to keep the majority from realizing how powerful spiritual freedom is. Unfortunately though, many of the elite of today, are themselves weak spiritually - but this doesn't directly affect their status, as in today’s social systems, it’s not wisdom and enlightenment that make one an elite or an elder in their social class, but instead money and fame. Yes, some elite have even chosen to redefine spirituality in terms of money and fame – Mammon is back in style, under new names and symbols, but still, the majority of these are only experiencing evidently shallow lives. In the more distant past, and more commonly here in Africa, to be considered a leader of the people required mastery of your people’s culture and history, but also a deep understanding of the general human condition – including matters of the body, mind and spirit. How many of the rich and famous, especially those who exhibit their clear ignorance and arrogance on popular media, can even talk about their history coherently for even a minute? How many of today’s “elite” can understand the consequences of a spiritually deprived populace, and how this can direly undermine their very power and status in subsequent generations if not sooner? I’m not claiming that we need philosopher-kings (although I believe we are more than capable to have them today than ever before), but what we need is
realization that the general spiritual sentiments of us as a race – not just Africans or the minorities of the world, are endangered, and this is bound to have serious consequences on not just our survival as a species, but likely our general levels of contentment, happiness and existential meaning, now and in generations to come. That is if this and other calls to see a reawakening of individual and noninstitutionalized spirituality isn’t allowed to blossom and nourish and otherwise starved populace.
Whether we all enter the new churches of science and humanitarianism, or abandon all structures and just pray and incorporate our rituals of faith into technology, and the ever increasingly invasive work lives doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we have freedom to break free, to diversify, to reject, to remix, to add or subtract from what is available – so we can live our spiritual lives consciously, and as richly as we possibly can. We are increasingly building machines that look and act like us, but this is no reason to sacrifice who we are so as to become the machines we have made! If we ever lose our spirituality entirely, I have no doubt that sooner than later, it will be even easier, that machines should overtake us as the real masters of this realm and our destiny – and I’m speaking as someone who is actively engaged in the pursuit of building more intelligent machines.
The threat is there, and it’s real. Spirituality, the ability to exercise and tap into what is seemingly irrational or entirely chaotic – that’s part of what makes us human, and very much what sets us apart from the lesser creatures we might otherwise be no better than. If there’s an ever increasing number of humans losing their religions or abandoning mainstream spirituality than ever before, it’s not because they find no more applications for spirituality, it’s because the religions and spiritual concepts of yesterday, no longer hold any real value for them today. Religions need to evolve, just as do languages, cultures and technology. It’s only in totalitarian, draconian and dogmatic faiths that stasis is plausible – and this is bound to be the unfortunate cause of their demise.
But, in more elastic, dogma-free, ad hoc or even entirely chaotic systems such as the meta-paradigm systems of chaos magick, stagnation and irrelevance of ideas, rituals or paradigms is unheard of, and that’s because these systems have been built from the ground up, to not lock anyone in, but instead offer a mere framework upon which anyone can construct their preferred system of faith and spirituality. These are the only systems likely to stay alive for generations to come, and the only forms of spiritual expression to have relevance to future believers and practitioners of spirituality. Compared to more traditional spiritual systems, including even such extreme, deviant cults as those of Larvey, Chaos Magick doesn’t impose or prefer
any spiritual paradigm over another, but instead freely inherits from all, and greatly encourages the exploration or development of new forms of spiritual expression and exploration – that’s what progressive spirituality ought be, and undoubtedly, many ideas of this beautiful modern system borrow from traditional Shamanism, including that of the African Witchcraft variety. This is the future of human spirituality – assuming we don’t lose sight of the Truth or blow out the Light entirely.
So, for Africans, as for all humans everywhere, what is needed, is for people to realize they are spiritual and not just material automatons; and that there’s a possibility (or none), that our essence extends beyond what we perceive as our immediate, physical selves – which aren’t themselves any more fixed based on concepts of modern science, and thus enlightened, seek where their true source of power, meaning and purpose in life comes from. If we can thus solve the spiritual problem, it should either matter no more if we solve the intellectual, economic and political problem, or the solutions for these will be readily within reach. It has been done before. We need spiritual liberation from our current tyrants, in order to breathe and then begin to properly think.
Needless to say, there are perhaps thousands, or millions, of Africans, who have managed to adopt, adapt and make Islam or Christianity "theirs" – whether by modifying it in one way or another, or blindly accepting it with unwavering faith. Some of these kinds of believers, many of them clergy (who might be reaping, not because their faith works, but because they are part of a flourishing political and economic institution) have definitely gained much from it. Schools, hospitals, and businesses have been built while tapping into these streams of faith. But, at the same time, many more – arguably the majority of believers, have been left stranded in clogged churches, and other kinds of mainstream shrines, incapable of thinking for themselves; incapable of finding happiness and contentment despite all the sermons and singing; incapable of finding lasting healing to their physical and psychological afflictions; many not even capable of reading or interpreting a single verse from their official books of faith, and even among those who can read and write, many cant meaningfully integrate such concepts as “Logos”, “Love”, “Virtue”, “Charity”, “Sacrifice”, and more, in the manner that western faiths present or preach them to the people. We don’t need new religions per se, we need to let people take existing religions, including ancient, primitive ones such as the worship of rocks, celestial bodies or phantoms, and isolate for themselves what works and what doesn’t work. With the freedom to pick a faith, learn it, use it, and then discard it once it ceases to make sense or deliver utility. For those with the ability and creativity to form entirely new faiths, just as people are free to write books or create works of art, they
should be left free to start new shrines, invoke new gods or declare themselves gods – as long as it all fits well into the overall natural ecosystem.
Ultimately, as with knowledge, those with more maturity spiritually, have the responsibility to guide or help the less privileged - any truly accomplished person is only accomplished in proportion to their utility to the rest of existence. There might be a need to keep institutionalized religion around, and it does serve a real purpose in a social and magical context, but for communities and individuals that have alternative, relatively more meaningful, more potent systems of spirituality of their own, it is only fair that they be left to explore and apply their spirituality as they see fit.
If you would free a man from a physical chain, and yet threaten him to death (and in the after-life) for his internal, personal and spiritual inclinations, then you have essentially kept the man tied to the strongest chains of all. Such is not freedom, but a mere delusion of it.
Yes, let's explore VooDoo, witchcraft, magick and even the more esoteric, more meaningful and truer aspects of Christianity, Islam and the other ancient wisdoms left for us by those great sages and mages that have come before us.
If you find these ideas inspiring or have a desire to share, concerning the practical and theoretical exploration spiritual freedoms, please contact me and others like me, via: esoteric@nuchwezi.com , or even better, invite me to one of your own shrines. Diversity nurtures progress. Let’s embrace who we are, and never stop evolving.
ABOUT the AUTHOR I'm one of the founders of NuChwezi ( https://nuchwezi.com ) - a forward thinking, African, innovation entity based in Uganda - the home of those majestic, mystical and innovative ancestors of ours called the "Chwezi", in whose spirit we seek to advance as well. I'm a proud a proponent of progressive thinking, and the core of my research interests heavily borders on applications and original ideas in technology, emergent psychology and modern philosophy. But, unlike most of my peers in science and technology, I also approach the pursuit of knowledge in the same manner our ancient masters used to – without excluding spirituality and the mysteries. I trust, this is the only holistic path towards true self-empowerment and self-actualization, regardless of the zeitgeist. I cherish the pursuit of true knowledge, happiness and freedom, and wish the same unto all my fellow brothers and sisters, regardless of race, color or creed. But, I also acknowledge that we don’t exist in a vacuum, and not everyone is ready to agree with me or sympathize or even support me in this pursuit, and so, I’m consciously fighting the good fight, with hope of gaining victory one way or the other – or that failing, die on the battlefield. I’m natively African, and thus feel more responsibility towards my immediate African neighbor, than any other. And so, the problems of Africa are undoubtedly mine as well – but so are the problems of us as an entire species – colors and creeds only serve to divide and weaken us further. In the context of Africa though, unlike what most other liberators and sympathizers might have claimed, I strongly believe, the best approach to solving one of the world’s toughest conundrums today – the “problem” of Africa, is to start by liberating our spirituality. By empowering the African, illiterate and simple as we are, spiritually, we shall not take back what pride and joy in our identity that we once possessed, but shall be able to base on that, to dream, dare and act. The fallacies that Africa needs food, donor aid or cheap medicines are only one side of the delusion. The real illusion is that we are spiritually free!
All creation, all production, starts with the mind – in the spirit. Kill or enslave the spirit, and you have utterly destroyed or dismembered a potential god. We don’t need another messiah or savior, we need only awaken our True Selves – and only true, genuine Magick can achieve this for Africa.