Mawu Is Not Yahweh

Did you know that the ancient African texts (on Vodun in particular) reveal three stages to becoming a God? First, you are born of a God out of nothing (dust). You eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and you become Human. Then you eat the fruit of the Tree of Life again: You become a God. (What this means is that we all started from one God (Mawu). This God will continue to multiply ad infinitum).

The ancient texts point to another implication: A Polytheistic existence, but whose source was the Singularity (One Supreme Being). The Supreme Being is no longer a thing to worship really: He is only made manifest by the unity of all the Gods. (How often does that happen?) Therefore African religious practices do not bother contacting (or pouring libation to) this ever divided deity. (He no longer exists but he exists. The form is different and ever dynamic. He is nowhere but everywhere. He is one and at the same time a billion. He is the Son and the Father, the daughter and the Mother. The man and the woman. Mawu-Lisa. You get it?)

It is not insignificant to mention that even in early Islamic doctrine the Supreme Being (Allah), the creator, was once the Black Man who finally evolved into the God. Proto-Semites worshiped a God they called A-Lah (the Black Rain-Deity). The Hebrew deity El is a linguistic mutation of the God A-lah or AL

Vodun practitioners believe that the unity of all the Gods occurs from time to time, at which points in time the Supreme Being becomes activated. Certain rituals are performed on such glorious days when the minds of all the Gods become one in remembrance of the one Source. Therefore traditional believers are not afraid of death. They are courageous in the face of it. They believe they don’t die. They believe they pass on into the Ancestral World where they can enjoy the second fruit of the Tree of Life and become Gods.

Now, the reason most Judaic religious followers are afraid to die although they have been promised Paradise after death is simple. Yahweh does not like human beings. Christians know this: He punishes his followers by heart, even when they have done nothing wrong (Job). In fact he does not want humans to become Gods like he and his relatives and friends. Yahweh is very tribal. He threw out Adam and Eve from Eden because he didn’t want them to eat the fruit of the Tree of Life again, lest they become Gods. Yahweh didn’t throw out Adam and Eve because they ate from the Tree of Life. No. Recall when Yahweh was so angry that he said to his followers: “You are all Gods, nonetheless you will die like men [because I will prevent you from accessing that Tree of Life again!]”

Mawu, for instance among the Ewe-Fon, is not like Yahweh. Mawu never punishes his followers. In fact he saves his followers from the punishment of other Gods like Yahweh. Mawu does not block out humans from the Tree of Life. Mawu does not place a cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth on the east side of the Garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life so that no human can touch it ever again.

Few Christians would dare to ask Yahweh any questions. He could strike them dead. If they could they would pose the simple question: Why send Jesus Christ to save us from Sin, when you could just remove the cherubim and the flaming sword flashing back and for on the east side of Eden so we can eat the fruit again and become like You?

In Vodun, Mawu (or more fully, Mawu-Lisa, meaning Mother-Father, the Creator) is happy all the time, and he can be contacted all the time. You can even name yourself Mawu and She will not be angry. In Vodun, the texts reveal that everyone has a second chance to eat from the Tree of Life. And become a God. That is you cannot become a God unless you die. Christians cannot become Gods because (1) they refuse to ask Yahweh the simple question above and (2) they refuse to enter the Garden of Eden again, fight and defeat the angels of their Judaic God, and eat from the Tree of Life again.

You see? Mawu is not Yahweh. Stop confusing yourselves.