|
Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,961
|
Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power
#14531594 - 05/29/11 04:41 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I thought I'd share this here.. Andinkra symbols originate in Ghana, West Africa, and are commonly featured on products of that regioon and beyond. People often don't know that they actually have meanings, meanings that are as powerful as the symbols themselves.
Browse them, read their meaning, see their use. The very force you are contemplating working with, or are devoted or committed to in some way or other may have an age-old powerful symbol representing it, that you may not have been aware of.
The symbols often have meanings that stand apart fron theism, atheism or any particular affiliation but that which thewy represent, making them useful for many, and they are often very striking in their primal shapes.
The clear black/white pictograms can be brought through the magic of printers and graphics software into your life into places you need them most.
Expand your mind, and the realm of the culture of Adinkra.
http://www.adinkra.org/
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
|
EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance


Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,152
Loc: Time and Space
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Asante]
#14531966 - 05/29/11 05:46 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Thanks, this gives me some ideas for a tattoo
--------------------
|
Grapefruit
Freak in the forest



Registered: 05/09/08
Posts: 5,744
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Asante]
#14532204 - 05/29/11 06:33 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
You really believe these symbols help you in some way Wiccan? To me personally they just look like any other symbol. I would be interested to know your relationship to them and why you see them as beneficial. Also, what would be your rebuttal to the the above statement I made?
-------------------- Little left in the way of energy; or the way of love, yet happy to entertain myself playing mental games with the rest of you freaks until the rivers run backwards. "Chat your fraff Chat your fraff Just chat your fraff Chat your fraff"
|
Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,961
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Grapefruit]
#14534530 - 05/30/11 05:47 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
How powerful are symbols?
I believe that the more people believe strongly in a certasin meaniong to a symbol, and the more value you put in its personal use, the more powerful a symbol becomes.
Many people who do spiritual work wish to focus on a specific concept. It sure helps if theres a symbol attached to that concept thats ageold and widely given power to. Hence the importance of symbols.
Take a strong symbol associated with the avoidance of danger and alter it a bit:

Immediately you get a kind of mental short circuit to some degree. Its ALL WRONG. You ponder on its new meaning, its still not quite right. This sign by its confusing nature, strategically placed beside the road could CAUSE accidents by zoning people out conceptually. What the HELL does it mean? "Stop you cunt!" "Stop being a cunt!" "Cunt alert!" What does it mean? Does the white lined red octagon still impart the "STOP" alert to the message, or the danger aspect? Is it a joke or does it alert you to something you really should get -right now- as you drive up to it. Does it reflect on you, your fellow drivers, the county you enter or leave or general driving conditions? For some the conscious confusion is slight, for people much influenced by the power of symbols its an acute mental full stop, like for me, thats why I made it. It just doesnt compute to see that symbol altered this way. It really should say STOP, help you avoid danger, not insult you, blame you or shove offensive sexuality in your face. Its NOT RIGHT. If I encountered that I'd be pondering it long after, maybe even beyond the duration of the road trip, but thats because symbols affect me strongly.
I believe symbols have power becausae people give it power in the collective subconscious, which accessible to all. Like porn, you cant define a potent symbol but often you recognize one when you see it, even if you never saw it before.
Personal significance for me for Andinkra symbols are their specificness, ageold primal nature and African origin, all important factors to me.
Like with the cross, the swastika and whatnot, if you use a symbol you give it power, and all the people who ever strongly believed in it will add a little to that power, like the moon is far away yet it still regulates the tides on earth, distance is vast but the effect is profound.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
Edited by Asante (05/30/11 06:04 AM)
|
Grapefruit
Freak in the forest



Registered: 05/09/08
Posts: 5,744
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Asante]
#14534563 - 05/30/11 06:15 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Interesting, thanks for the reply. For me it's not possible to compare the symbols you mentioned with the symbols on the web page. Something like a swastika has power because it is well known to me and fits with the culture I'm from.
I read some stuff about magick which I've had a passing interest in and they sort of seem to create their own symbols to match up with the subconscious in significance which makes sense to me. I suppose if you did this with any symbol set it would give it your own value and the more you worked with those symbol the more value they'd have. The only bit that doesn't convince me is that an ancient set of symbols from another culture would have an intrinsic power without the individual having been brought up in that culture.
-------------------- Little left in the way of energy; or the way of love, yet happy to entertain myself playing mental games with the rest of you freaks until the rivers run backwards. "Chat your fraff Chat your fraff Just chat your fraff Chat your fraff"
|
Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,961
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Grapefruit]
#14534647 - 05/30/11 07:09 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
The only bit that doesn't convince me is that an ancient set of symbols from another culture would have an intrinsic power without the individual having been brought up in that culture.
Thats a point of belief you either cross or steer away from, that is more general, the fact that every single thing in thisa universe is affected by any other thing, and that there are associations that are closer (the moon) and further (the sun).
Another think I believe is that when we think, through our brain we reach into a collective unconscious where you can retrieve stuff you never learned in this lifetime, nor could even know about if you believe the brain is just a computer programmed since it went online in the womb.
I believe I can meet you in a dream and tell you to mind the white elephant, and you wake up with that information. Science says thats not been explained, but its fact this kind of thing has been described by any culture since the dawn of time. Science simply hasnt looked into it yet, just like theres no Manhattan Project underway right now to find out what happerns after death or whether the assertion 80% of humans hold that theres some sort of God out there, is true or false.
Right now we can say "it cannot be proven" but I think thats because science in those spiritual areas is in its infancy. Theres not even a basis, science focussed on other thingsd deemed more practically useful.
To me, there is TOO MUCH reportiong of certain "supernatural" phenomena to disbelieve in them or even to consider them supernatural. Nature is just a LOT more interconnected than we usually think of.
What I believe, with our brain we can access a dimension where time and space have no meaning, ande through it, information can travel faster than light, because we bypass travel in the physical universe but instead access a dimension of thought where time and distance have no meaning. Its possible in my view you and I can exchange information there, and even, access information of things that havent happened yet in the physical universe.
Theres just too many first person accounts from all over the world to not consider this to be possible. If we wait for science to confirm or deny it, we run a serious risk of missing out on greater things, so I choose to be openminded ahead of the progress of science in some fields.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
|
EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance


Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,152
Loc: Time and Space
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: Asante]
#14537069 - 05/30/11 06:12 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
so I got a tattoo of one of the symbols. it represents "perseverance"
--------------------
|
don_vedo
MerKaBa


Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 1,383
Loc: 5th dimension
Last seen: 3 years, 10 months
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: EternalCowabunga]
#14537096 - 05/30/11 06:18 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
In my opinion symbols hold so much power it's ridiculous. All words are, are symbols. In all ancient civilizations symbols were held with the utmost respect. I appreciate your post Wiccan, great read, I am always interested in culture and ancient wisdom.
@eternal: nice tat man, did you really go get that? if you did that's awesome, not wasting any time are you? Lah'Kesh
-------------------- Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us all. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Edited by don_vedo (05/30/11 06:30 PM)
|
EternalCowabunga
Being of Great Significance


Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 7,152
Loc: Time and Space
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: don_vedo]
#14537115 - 05/30/11 06:20 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
yep i really did get that
--------------------
|
don_vedo
MerKaBa


Registered: 05/12/11
Posts: 1,383
Loc: 5th dimension
Last seen: 3 years, 10 months
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: EternalCowabunga]
#14537156 - 05/30/11 06:30 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
EternalCowabunga said: yep i really did get that 
That's awesome! Lah'Kesh
-------------------- Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us all. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
|
Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,961
|
Re: Andinkra Symbols - West African Symbols of Power [Re: EternalCowabunga]
#14537342 - 05/30/11 07:12 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
May it work for you just like you need it 

WAWA ABA "seed of the wawa tree"
symbol of hardiness, toughness and perseverance
The seed of the wawa tree is extremely hard. In Akan culture, it is a symbol of someone who is strong and tough. It inspires the individual to persevere through hardship.
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
|
|