RS VII Dogon
On the 20th I was sitting in my car at a Target in Pasadena when someone yelled, “Byron.” I turned around to look and at first didn’t recognize who was calling me. He yelled again and I realized it was Eli in the passenger seat of his mother’s car. Eli does not live in Pasadena. One strange coincidence that we would both be there at that instant.
How does one distinguish written or verbal information from disinformation? Disinformation commonly lacks detail. Rather than state simple facts that led to a conclusion, emotions are elicited using defamatory statements. In the absence of these statements there is little fact to substantiate a purported conclusion. A wonderful example, and more to the point, can be found in a book titled, “Dogon: African People of the Cliff,” written by Walter E. A. von Beek published in 2001 by Harry Abrams. It is an oversized book with glossy photographs.
Walter E. A. von Beek, PhD. Utreck University, is a professor of cultural anthropology at Utreck University, The Netherlands, and a research fellow at the African Studies Centre in Leiden. A first clue to his motivations is found when examining other material he has written. A quick search of the Internet found he has written: “Quest for Purity, Dynamics of Puritian Movements,” “Pathways to Fundamentalism: The peculiar case of Mormonism,” a review of “A Comparative Exercise in Mormon Theology,” and various writings on John Smith. His review of “A Comparative Exercise in Mormon Theology ends by von Beek stating, ” …This book is not only a must for everyone who takes Mormon studies seriously, but also for anyone interested in Mormon theology …” Not exactly the kind of thing a professor of cultural anthropology ordinarily writes.
In Chapter Five of “Dogon: African People of the Cliffs,” page 103, paragraph three he states, “The Dogon have no creation myth, no deep story relating how the world came into being. (An anthropologist some decades ago probed his informants for creation myths so insistently that the Dogon, polite as ever, obligingly produced them. Some of his publications still in print tourist guides perpetuate this mistake.)”
Vague details and defamatory. The unnamed anthropologist referred to by von Beek was Marcel Griaule. Griaule never wrote a “tourist guide.” He was a dedicated and serious anthropologist who dedicated his life to anthropological research. After working in Abyssinia from 1928 to 1929, and Dankar and Dijbouti from 1931 to 1933, he made three expeditions between 1935 and 1939 to Mali, Cameron and Chad. Between 1946 and 1956 he continued his research in Mali studying the Dogon accompanied by a fellow anthropologist, Germaine Dieterlen.
The Dogon are believed to have originally come from Egypt. They migrated west to Libyia and afterwards south to Ghana. In 1050 Islam was introduced into West Africa. Over time large populations were converted to Islam, but the Dogon resisted and as a result were probably persecuted. The Dogon, according to Griaule, claimed responsibility for protecting a secret knowledge.
In 1240 the Dogon ended their vassalage to the powerful Empire of Ghana. Between 1307 and 1333 they were driven westward to central Mali where they finally settled in the Bandiagara Cliffs. The Bandiagara Cliffs stretch for 120 miles with adjacent savannas. From 1330 until the early 20th century the Dogon were isolated from neighboring peoples. Their language Dogon, is classified a Voltaic of the Niger-Kordofanian Family, subgroups Niger-Congo. The Dogon have never claimed special status and they have never proselytized their beliefs, nor have they been negatively influenced by their beliefs. Their special knowledge must be earned and even the average Dogon is not allowed total access to this knowledge.
In 1903 Louis Desplagnes, a French anthroplogist briefly studied the Dogon. It was not until Griaule began his research in the late 1930 and especially between 1946 and 1956 that they were studied seriously. In October 1946 Griaule was summoned by a Dogon priest (Hogon)named Ogotemmeli of Lower Ogol to his house for 33 consecutive days. In those 33 consecutive days he was told much of the secret Dogon knowledge. In 1947 Griaule published “la parole de face,” (the pale fox), “the simple knowledge of the Dogon.” In 1965 Griaule and Deieterlen’s “Conversations with Ogotemmeli, An Introduction to Dogon Ideas,” was published by Oxford University Press and in 1967 it was published in English.
According to Ogotemmeli, stars came from pellets of earth like material flung into the space of the God, Amma. The sun, like other stars is in a sense a pot raised to white heat and surrounded by spirals of red copper with 8 turns. The sun was heated 1/4 at a time.
The earth is like a human body and compared to a termite mound, female below and male above. Amma threw off the male (cut the top of the termite mound) and had intercourse with the female. From the union came the jackel. The earth was scorched and barren.
Amma had intercourse with the earth a second time and water, which is the divine seed, was able to enter the womb of the earth and normal reproduction began. From that union came twins. They are spirits called Nummo. (also known as Nommo and Nomo.)
Nummo are born of water and the Dogon word for water is synonymous with Nummo. Nummo are described as 1/2 human from head to loin and 1/2 fish serpent below that. They have red eyes, forked tongues, sleek shinning bodies and an unpleasant odor.
According to Ogotemmeli the Nummo came down to earth in a vessel along with fire and thunder while a red star appeared in the sky emitting red flames. They came to earth as 4 sets of twins to put an end to disorder with fibers pulled from plants already created in heavenly regions, ten bunches of fibers corresponding to ten fingers. They settled their craft in a swamp since they preferred to lay in water.
