THE SUN AND THE COSMIC POWERS - by Onyeji Nnaji

    

A quintessential analysis of the religious systems of pagandom uncovers much evidence of the fact that its priests served the solar energy and that their Supreme Deity was in every case this Divine Light personified. Godfrey Higgins, after thirty years of inquiry into the origin of religious beliefs, is of the opinion that “All the Gods of antiquity resolved themselves into the solar fire, sometimes itself as God, or sometimes an emblem or shekinah of that higher principle, known by the name of the creative Being or God.”

Proper knowledge of the mystic strength of the sun is gained via careful consideration of the idea of the sun as a concept in the east. The knowledge of what the sun is to the aboriginal inhabitants of the eastern horizon exposes any researcher to the mystery behind the solar power. The Igbo of the east call the sun Anyanwu. The syntactic composition of the word gives room for two references which is natural and supernatural in nature. The first morpheme Anya is ordinarily used to refer to the eyes. The idea behind this is that the sun is seen as the universal eye of nature, and as the eyes bring light to the body, the sun is seen as the bringer of light to the world.

Anya, as the attribute of the sola orb, is in another sense referred to the personality of God the Almighty. The Igbo refer to God as Chukwu (Great God). In this sense, God is seen as the greatest of all other gods which the Igbo believe that they themselves are members; for the concept of Chi intones the sense of supernatural of beyond natural. The Igbo tell their story as a people who descended from unborn fathers. Igbo oral tradition reveals that the Igbo fathers descended from the sky; they were not born like Adam who was made from the dust of the earth. Their godliness lasted and transcended their very generations up till the period when their descendants began to mingle with the daughters of the created man and they were made flesh. As lesser gods, Chukwu is above all and oversees the activities of the rest Chi. Chukwu does this function through the sun which serves as His eye. In this guise therefore, the sun is not considered anything less than God Himself.

The second morpheme, Anwu, which is generally metaphysical, has defiled ordinary interpretation of many Igbo philosophers. Dividing the sun into its two composite morphemes, the former represents the sun bodily (as a body, entity or person/form), while the latter draws attention to the overall function of the sun as a mystic instinct; a personality that can only be felt, but not seen. Igbo epistemology explains Anwu as the heat/light from the sun. But Igbo metaphysis insists that the term can only be meagerly expressed as the overwhelming presence of God, represented in His person, Anya. To prove their point true, they revealed that the overall power and mystery of the sun is not ordinarily experienced through its presence as a body, but through its luminary strength, which they believe, is not felt every moment.

As a mystic instinct, the sun is examined in three forms, based on its normal movement everyday: the rising in the east, the interface and the setting of the sun in the west. Each of these periods is associated with different mystic power dispensed by the sun. Igbo metaphysics believe that these are the essences of the solar orb. The three periods are associated with three different energies; each is acquired differently in the respective periods of the day as the sun journeys from east through west. Among these three periods, the most mystic hour is the interface. This is the time mystic scholars acquire greater energy from the sun.

As the sun rises in the east every day, he dispenses blessings and healing. People who need powers like priests and dibias wait upon the rising sun. They wait upon the sun to observe it when it rises because of the level of energy the sun is endued with at the moment of sunrise. Palpable knowledge of this period may be gained through Achebe’s personal experience as shown below.

But before we embark on a consideration of the nature and implication of this concept which is so powerful in Igbo religion and thought let us examine briefly what connection there may be between it and the other meaning of chi. For a long time I was convinced that there couldn’t possibly be any relationship between chi (spirit being) and chi (daylight) except as two words that just happened to sound alike. But one day I stumbled on the very important information that among the Igbo of Akwa a man who arrived at the point in his life when he needs to set up a shrine to his chi will invite a priest to perform a ritual of bringing down the spirit from the face of the sun at daybreak. Thereafter it is represented physically in the man’s compound until the day of his death when the shrine must be destroyed (creation, 143).

In Nkalaha, a community in the north-eastern part of Igbo land, teachings on this aspect of the solar energy are done using land squirrels as instructional materials. They call this animal, Ururu/Uriri or Uyiyi, according to Igbo central, Nkanu and Nkalaha respectively. It belongs to the squirrel species. This animal is small in size like the rest in its family grouping, but very dangerous when it bites. No man has ever survived its bite. 

The reason for this is that it is clever enough to know that the highest venom is acquired from the sun. So, at daybreak every day, it waits upon sunrise. And as immediate as the sun shows up, the animal stands with both hands raised towards the sun for a moment before it vanishes. This same activity is repeated at noon and at sunset daily. To Nkalaha, the animal observes the trio reverence to the solar power and acquires incurable venom in return. This same line of explanation of the solar power is explicated by Ani; the architect of solar knowledge in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Being of a seeming Igbo Origin, he had the knowledge of the solar power at sunrise. (see the Papyrus of Ani). 

Again, as the time draws closer to midday, the sun changes his course. Within such time as 11.00/11.30am – 12.00 noon is the mystic moment of the sun when he is charged with the strength to dispense energy. Northern Igbo land refers to this period as Oge enyanwu Ututu, translated to mean the time of the morning sun. In a shorter form, Nkalaha mystic scholars call the period, Enyanwurutu (fade of the morning sun). There is a time for the sun; at every other time the sun is meant to be experienced as light. and it is only those who know about this time and wait for it that gets the energy (power) it dispenses it of the times. This time is so called because it is the sun’s time marked for his impact alone. It is the highest moment for the sun, and every mystic scholar expecting certain energy waits upon the sun for that moment to come. It is usually a brief moment of meagerly less than an hour. This is the interface period of the sun.

From the interview conducted in Nkalaha, it was obvious that, at a particular time such as mentioned above, a rope is usually let down from the sun to the earth. During this time of the day, “people who have eyes” will see beings moving up and down the rope in the manner of the biblical Jacob’s story of Bethel. According to my resource person, this condition holds on a daily bases at the same time. They refer this period to the highest mystic moment of the sun. They also affirmed that the rope remains until noon when the rope is withdrawn.

At the termination of the interface, the sun journeys to west for the last function. But this time, the function changes hands. As the sun journeys westward after the interface, basically around 5.00 – 6.00pm, it changes its colour: reddish like a furnace to consume sacrifices from men. The time is known as the time of return in Nkalaha metaphysis; for at that time the sun takes the sacrifices he carries to the universe. For so reasoned, Nkalaha dedicates the evening hours to the solar orb and uses the time to make sacrifices to their sun god called Anyanwu. Another staring moment in the Nkalaha mystic education is burials of elderly men. They believed that man came from the sun and returns to the sun at death. During burials, men are buried with their head locating east. But when a woman is buried the situation changes hands. The burial of an elderly man in Nkalaha society takes place in the evening. The sun must be allowed to set for the journey home before an elder is lowered. And as the sun travels yonder, his spirit joins in the journey to the abode of the gods. 

The mystery of the sun and its relevance to the aboriginal Igbo society is beyond mere comprehension. As the people in the east, the Igbo believe that whatever the sun has for being on earth, they (the Igbo) have the highest knowledge of it. And stating their intercourse with the sun, the Igbo of the north and north-east maintain that “nature begets nature, but abstract nature begets supernatural”. To them, the highest mystic body is the sun. According to George Oliver, D.D; in his Dictionary of Symbolical Masonry, as

The sun rises in the east, and in the east is the place for the Worshipful Master. As the sun is the source of all light and warmth, so should the Worshipful Master enliven and warm the brethren to their work. Among the ancient Egyptians the sun was the symbol of divine providence.

Some secret orders have taught that the sun was inhabited by a race of creatures with bodies composed of radiant, spiritual ether not unlike in its constituency the actual glowing ball of the sun itself. The solar heat had no harmful effect upon them, because their organisms were sufficiently refined and sensitized to harmonize with the sun's tremendous vibratory rate. These creatures resemble miniature suns, being a little larger than a dinner plate in size, although some of the more powerful are considerably larger. Their colour is the golden white light of the sun. From them emanate four streamers of Vril. These streamers are often of great length and are in constant motion. A peculiar palpitation is to be noted throughout the structure of the globe and is communicated in the form of ripples to the emanating streamers. The greatest and most luminous of these spheres is the Archangel Michael; and the entire order of solar life, which resemble him and dwell upon the sun, are called by modern Christians “the archangels” or “the spirits of light”.