Wahya Circle
Tuesday Travels

World Studies 101
Central America
Olmec Tribe

In modern times, various types of witchcraft and occult religious practices exist in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean cultures. Colonized mostly by the Spanish, it has come to be known as brujería in many places. Over running much of the indigenous beliefs, Catholicism and European witchcraft fueled much of the magick in Central America, causing it to be viewed  through that Catholic lens.

As we have studied other Indigenous cultures around the world, we have learned that innocuous folk beliefs are purposely turned around and corrupted for erroneous use by the Church. Due to that colonization of indigenous, cultures were assimilated and blended with other religious practices. Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomble, etc formed with that blend.

HISTORY
Although we know the peoples of southern Central America included the Chorotega, Miskito, Guaymí, and Kuna, the languages of the area were many and varied, mostly belonging to the Macro-Chibchan, Arawakan, and Cariban language groups.

On the southern lowlands resided one of the earliest Indigenous tribes to this area, the Olmec. The civilization was one of the first major Mesoamerican civilizations, beginning around 1600–1400 BCE and ending around 400 BCE. Mesoamerica is considered one of the few sites around the globe in which civilization developed independently and indigenous to that area. In other words, they settled the land first. The Olmec civilization site can be found in the coastal regions of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico at San Lorenzo.

Although the Olmec people were descendant from the early farming peoples of the Tabasco region in modern-day Mexico, the first known signs of a cohesive Olmec culture were discovered in the El Manati shrine in the form of ritual burials dated to 1600-1500 BCE. But, Olmec civilization as we know it appeared in 1400 BCE in the prosperous city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán.

Here we find the hallmarks of Olmec tradition—a dense, stratified population with skilled artisans creating luxury goods from jade and obsidian, sourced from a wide trading network, and served to an elite ruling class… or so some think.

The Indigenous tribe of Olmec believed in the “Eight Gods”. They believed  in gods who controlled the natural forces of life. Their religion centered around: the Olmec Dragon, the Bird ‘Monster’, the Shark ‘Monster’, the Banded-Eye God, the Maize God, the Rain Spirit, the Were-Jaguar, and the Feathered Serpent. These are reminiscent of gods from both the Asian and African continents. (We are reminded of the dragon of our Asian studies and the “winged serpent” of Middle East such as that in Zoroastrianism.)

Around 900 BCE, the Olmec abandoned San Lorenzo, and the civilization’s new hub grew in the flourishing city of La Venta. For the next 500 years, La Venta was the beating heart of Olmec society and religion, becoming home to their Great Pyramid, the largest structure in Mesoamerica.

Between 400 and 350 BCE, the Olmec population dropped dramatically, for reasons that scholars can only speculate. For 1000 years the Olmec had invented, traded and sculpted with the help of Mother Earth, and suddenly, they vanished. No doubt their citizens and craftspeople emigrated to other developing societies, but their unique forms of art and architecture DID NOT.

Looking for descendants, historians have speculated that the facial features of some monumental carved heads indicate an African origin of these people. However, most scholars believe that the Olmec, like other native Americans, descended from Asian ancestors who entered North America during the Great Ice Age walking across the Bering Strait or Pacific Coastline. (This is the path we walked during First Quarter Turn.)

As we know currently, and are archaeologically studying, the Mayans may have evolved as a civilization alongside the Olmec. Avoiding “fixed labels” of indigenous, it is thought that these two civilizations influenced each other and exchanged ideas.

Regardless, early indigenous life did not center around the villages but a ‘ritual center’ that all inhabitants could go to. This is seen in Mayan, Incan and Aztec cultures.

GROWTH
A factor that may have contributed to the sustainment of growth for so long was a genetic mutation in corn. This is when corn became agriculturally important to the indigenous. Keep in mind, the corn utilized by these tribes thousands of years ago looked very different than the corn we eat today. Many feel that there were genetic changes in the corn itself due to planetary changes and as such occurrences are natural ones. The people moved with the cycles of Mother Earth.

INDIGENOUS AMERICAS
You should know, the indigenous of the Americas are still misunderstood by many. The most attention has been paid to North American indigenous but only through exploitation during times like that of enslavement or war time such as the Dineh “Code Talkers” of WWII. Many of the indigenous of Central America (and South America) are not understood by even those that assimilated to colonized life so long ago. They speak VERY different languages that very few understand today.

Divination 101
Boleomancia - Maize

Speaking of corn, Pre-Hispanic colonization civilizations in the Americas possessed advanced knowledge of divination. Here the practice was combined with the sciences of astronomy and meteorology, and especially towards the counting of time on calendars and to augur the life of crops.

Prediction with grains of corn was a rather personal method of divination, similar to the method with sand where grains are thrown onto a surface, preferably a white canvas (although they might be thrown into water).

These are then translated depending on the positions they fall into or whether they float or sink, depending on method used. Grains of corn may also be of different colors. Amongst all the Indian cultures the number of kernels cast will be between four and 100. As with many methods of divination, the wonder lies in the possibility of decoding the revolutions of our own energy.

Many indigenous peoples of Central America personally practiced the divining arts, essentially the reading of decoded signs regularly. Divination has always appealed to peoples all over the world. Each of them have used the resources at hand in their respective locations to predict (or to “pre-See” as Plato would say), all of the issues of concern to them.

It is only logical that maize, the staple food of the Mesoamericans, and one considered even a sacred entity (only men “of the fourth sun” were worthy of eating it) was esteemed enough that it was propitious for predicting health issues and for providing forecasts of future events to the Mexica cosmic vision.

Divination by corn kernels is somewhat similar to tarot reading as it to uses symbolic interpretation. The grains are cast into a certain pattern, and the results are interpreted according to a symbolic combination of the parts of the “roll.”

The method could be called boleomancia (from the Greek, bole, “to throw”). Within Mexican cultures, dozens of techniques for mantic practices with corn are known, and most of this knowledge comes from codices like the Borbonicus, the Tudela and the Magliabechiano. (12th Century travels.)

CORN DIVINATION TODAY
In modern Mexico, multiple indigenous groups still practice divination with corn. These peoples include the Nahua, Huastec, Mazatec, Tzotzil, Tlapanec, and Purepecha peoples to which could be added the Mixe, Zapotec and Yucatecan peoples. The variety of techniques can be explained in that many ethnic groups use grains of different colors, others throw the corn onto a white canvas, and still others will cast the corn into a basin of water.

They will also often use different numbers of grains: for example, the Mixe people will cast 18, the Zapotecs between four and 100 and the Tlapanecos cast 22 to 40 or 60 seeds. Once selected, the corn kernels acquire a special virtue and are stored in bags for use in therapeutic rituals only. Generally, a spell is performed before an altar, and these are performed by soothsayers uttering prayers and supplications.

In a formidable study, Dr. Yolotl González Torres details the varying types of divination with corn kernels and their use throughout Mesoamerican cultures. For example, we learn that all of the various techniques can be divided into two broad categories:

1. Dry Divination
By counting the kernels, the varying numbers will determine how the divination is carried out, and the corn may also be cast with seeds or even objects like crystals or fragments of archaeological artifacts.

2. Wet Divination
Reading here is determined by whether kernels float or sink. Water divination can cover virtually all aspects of life, for finding lost or misplaced objects for example, but it’s especially relied upon for diagnosing diseases and recommending cures or healing processes.

The very selection of the kernels used can be important too. Specific cobs are kept for just that purpose and these may be the most plump, those with a specific number of rows of kernels, or those of specific colors, and so on.

The fascinating thing about these practices, which will apparently never be lost so long as corn grows in the fields, is the important role played by corn not only in the myths, the food and the Mexica identity, but also in the uncertainty that has plagued men since ancient times. To cast the corn is thus to roll the dice, because, according to the Popol Vuh, of corn is made man.

World Studies 101
”Murder Cauldron”
Magick Against Will

You should know, from this point forward in our studies, there may be Lessons of “magick against free will” the further into the colonized world we go. Prior to this point, most ancient cultures saw no need to sacrifice to malevolent gods or goddess, as most moved with the Energies of Earth.

Sacrifices when called for were sacred and from specific people who were honored to be in the role for their people and their beliefs. As we see more and more of the dogmatic influence of Christianity, Islamism, etc, we will begin to see this type of “magick”. We will see magick used for personal gain.

THREE CIRCLES MEDICINE & MAGICK VIEWPOINT
We do not endorse a “no baneful magick” practice, but we do ask that Practitioners seriously take into account ALL matters, good, bad, indifferent in accordance to the laws of the society they choose to live.

We also ask Practitioners to look at what ripples on the pond your Medicine or Magick will make. There is NOTHING in this Universe – that we currently know of – that does not cause an equal and opposite reaction if enacted upon. There are ways to minimize your return collateral effects, but these were not explored by these Practitioners.  

In this account, a group of magickal individuals took it upon themselves to ONLY “kill for increase of power”. An Ego driven move on their part but it was not without many consequences for all energy they touched. They did no Shadow, Ego, nor Self work, at least NOT until they were imprisoned by our government for their acts.

Here is an excellent account of written details and this story is easily found in the 1s and 0s: LINK

Here is an excellent oration of the story by our friend Mr. Allen, who goes by MrBallen on his social media. (Be sure to give him a “like” or “follow” or leave a comment, he reads most.) :

LINK – story at 12:45  Number 3

Think About It

What are your thoughts on this type of Magick? (Against Free Will) Do you have an opinion, or thought? Do you protect yourself from instances such as this?

Tuesday WQ3

General - Journal - Book of Shadows

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