| SRI VIDYA FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL www.srilalitha.org Special Articles |
THE BIRDS –THE SYMBOLS OF SOULS By Rob Milne, South Africa |
The Birds
The Symbol of Souls
By Rob Milne, South Africa
The ancient Africans believed that our souls are an integral part of God, not created by God, but which came
into being when God created himself. The soul is made up of two parts: the ‘ena’ and the ‘moya’. The moya is
present forever and is re-incarnated into animal, plant and human forms. It is depicted as a sphere of perfect
transparency and floats in its disembodied form. Female souls have transparent wings, like a mosquito, whilst
males float without wings. The ena, called “the self” is made of a spirit substance and takes the form of the
person. If you were to see the ena part of the soul, it appears as a transparent mist, like a ghost. The ena
part of the soul is not there when a child is born, but develops out of memories and experiences. When a
person dies the ena lives on for a while, but this is not the immortal part of the soul.
The traditional Africans believe that the soul goes through a number of incarnations as it progresses towards
the ultimate goal of maturity. They therefore symbolize the stages of a soul’s development as a butterfly: from
the egg, to the caterpillar, then to the pupa, and finally to the butterfly.
So the ancient Africans see the immortal soul as a floating sphere (with transparent wings in the case of a
female soul), and its ultimate development as a butterfly. Southern African mythology also links the soul to
birds. The Zulu people believe (and they share this belief with the Australian Aborigines) that there was a
very ancient time called the “Dreamtime” – the most ancient of times. (This was when the rocks were soft and
everything was being formed. The ancients made the rock engravings then, as well as images of gods and
animals and the tracks of animals). This was when the pattern of dreaming was established, and it still affects
us today – children especially experience the dream sensation of falling and flying. This, the Zulu say, comes
from a time when the souls of all children flew like birds among the stars.
African legend tells us that the children see the twelve great ostriches of light carrying the children from star
to star on their backs. It was ostriches that saved our ancestors from a terrible fire in the center of the
universe, and in so doing sacrificed their ability to fly in order to serve the Great Earth Mother. The Zulu word
for ostrich is ‘Intshe’, meaning “The Renewer”, and these birds are considered to be sacred. Throughout
Africa, the most common animal rock art subject is the giraffe and the ostrich. It is interesting that many
African people call the stars of Crux Australis (the Southern Cross) the giraffe e.g. the Tswana name is
‘Dithutlwa’. In African rock art, bird depictions are most commonly those of birds that walk on the ground such
as the ostrich, flamingo, stork, bustard and guineafowl.
Ancient Africans therefore say that souls fly, and were once rescued by ostriches from a great conflagration
in the center of the universe. The Bushmen (San) people of South Africa are Stone Age hunter-gatherers,
who have largely died out, except in remote areas. They say that when a person dies, certain dormant links
between the stars, birds, and people are activated. A person’s passing triggers a shooting star, and this is
then confirmed by a hammerkop (a water bird also known as the ‘Lightning Bird’).
Bibliography and further reading:
Mutwa, V.C. 1996. Song of the Stars. New York: Barrytown Ltd.
James, A. 2001. The First Bushman’s Path. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
Coulson, D. and Campbell, A. 2001. African Rock Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc.
© Copy Righted Rob Milne 2006.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Want to see other articles?
The Symbol of Souls
By Rob Milne, South Africa
The ancient Africans believed that our souls are an integral part of God, not created by God, but which came
into being when God created himself. The soul is made up of two parts: the ‘ena’ and the ‘moya’. The moya is
present forever and is re-incarnated into animal, plant and human forms. It is depicted as a sphere of perfect
transparency and floats in its disembodied form. Female souls have transparent wings, like a mosquito, whilst
males float without wings. The ena, called “the self” is made of a spirit substance and takes the form of the
person. If you were to see the ena part of the soul, it appears as a transparent mist, like a ghost. The ena
part of the soul is not there when a child is born, but develops out of memories and experiences. When a
person dies the ena lives on for a while, but this is not the immortal part of the soul.
The traditional Africans believe that the soul goes through a number of incarnations as it progresses towards
the ultimate goal of maturity. They therefore symbolize the stages of a soul’s development as a butterfly: from
the egg, to the caterpillar, then to the pupa, and finally to the butterfly.
So the ancient Africans see the immortal soul as a floating sphere (with transparent wings in the case of a
female soul), and its ultimate development as a butterfly. Southern African mythology also links the soul to
birds. The Zulu people believe (and they share this belief with the Australian Aborigines) that there was a
very ancient time called the “Dreamtime” – the most ancient of times. (This was when the rocks were soft and
everything was being formed. The ancients made the rock engravings then, as well as images of gods and
animals and the tracks of animals). This was when the pattern of dreaming was established, and it still affects
us today – children especially experience the dream sensation of falling and flying. This, the Zulu say, comes
from a time when the souls of all children flew like birds among the stars.
African legend tells us that the children see the twelve great ostriches of light carrying the children from star
to star on their backs. It was ostriches that saved our ancestors from a terrible fire in the center of the
universe, and in so doing sacrificed their ability to fly in order to serve the Great Earth Mother. The Zulu word
for ostrich is ‘Intshe’, meaning “The Renewer”, and these birds are considered to be sacred. Throughout
Africa, the most common animal rock art subject is the giraffe and the ostrich. It is interesting that many
African people call the stars of Crux Australis (the Southern Cross) the giraffe e.g. the Tswana name is
‘Dithutlwa’. In African rock art, bird depictions are most commonly those of birds that walk on the ground such
as the ostrich, flamingo, stork, bustard and guineafowl.
Ancient Africans therefore say that souls fly, and were once rescued by ostriches from a great conflagration
in the center of the universe. The Bushmen (San) people of South Africa are Stone Age hunter-gatherers,
who have largely died out, except in remote areas. They say that when a person dies, certain dormant links
between the stars, birds, and people are activated. A person’s passing triggers a shooting star, and this is
then confirmed by a hammerkop (a water bird also known as the ‘Lightning Bird’).
Bibliography and further reading:
Mutwa, V.C. 1996. Song of the Stars. New York: Barrytown Ltd.
James, A. 2001. The First Bushman’s Path. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
Coulson, D. and Campbell, A. 2001. African Rock Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc.
© Copy Righted Rob Milne 2006.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Want to see other articles?
“The star knows the time when our heart no longer breathes, And then it shoots; it falls down as our heart falls down, And the star’s noise, dying away, takes our heart away: For a star’s falling tells us that one of our own has died, It tells us, who do not know, that one of our own is dead: And as soon as people see the star, they hear the hammerkop: For when a star falls, the hammerkop sees it in the water And it comes to the people and flies over them and cries, ‘The hammerkop cries because the star has fallen,’ they say, ‘It has come to tell us that one of our people has died.’ |
The credit for the Firebird is from the cover of a book: "Bechuana Fireside Tales" by Phyllis Savory, illustration by Jillian Hulme, 1965. Howard Timmins Publishers, Cape Town. |
Credit for the bird
sound effects:
http://www.grsites.com
sound effects:
http://www.grsites.com