The Blemish on Authenticity

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In the past couple of decades there has been an increasing interest in the traditions of Latin America and in particular the ones from Mexico, though many others also come into the fore on a more careful examination. The reasons for this are many, among such as the fact that there are millions of latinos in the United States looking to tap into their roots in a land that saw such a tremendous massacre of local traditions while trying to get a better outlook for their families.

As with all disruptive things this has also fueled some fairly heated arguments about who can call themselves the bearers of tradition and who can't and how it should be practiced. There are many complicated karmic and historic wounds that still need to be tended to but besides those there also needs to be a process of acceptance and healing in order for this sacred knowledge to be made use best. In my opinion part of that process needs to happen by accepting that most of what the Mexicas, the Incas and the Native Americans had was lost forever in its original form and that the cultures and the people that currently have the remaining knowledge are as contemporary citizens of today's world as you and I.

In the same way, our cultures are not the same as they were when the temples of Tenochtitlan last saw their ceremonies and at least much of what we consider Latino culture today is actually heavily influenced by European and African sources on top of what remains from the past, very much integrated in a way that we can call our own. That is not to diminish its very rich value but it needs to be considered carefully for the same reason that this is one of the first lessons in Traditional Mexican Medicine, which uses Hippocrates's humoral system and works with the codexes of several Spanish friars and men of wealth to derive at what we can call today a complete system of therapeutics, magic and religion.

The Nahui Ollin or Four Movements from the Codex Borbonicus

Many of what we would call today the greatest Mexican artists have merged the aesthetics of European atelier precision with the color and movement of the land. One of such is Diego Rivera, whose portrait of another Mexican artist, Adolfo Best Maugard while in Paris depicts the feel of the time. In its inverse many scholars and devotees from abroad come to have an influence on the tradition such as the artist shown below with his illustration of Huitzilopochtli on the Cerro de la Estrella commemorating his birth at the time of this past winter solstice from whom I've had the pleasure of getting some items for my tlalmanalli.



That is to say, the traditions we refer to are ongoing concerns that today, in a world with much less frontiers that a few centuries ago are going to see some changes to incorporate a wider array or people. And even though this happens, there are still many people that consider themselves to be the sole bearers of authenticity by the way they look or the things they do in an attempt to grab unto a new identity. For example, the contemporary purists that think that having Christian celebrations isn't appropriate, when the rich devotion towards the Virgin and Christ have a stronghold here and has seen much syncretism in the fields of worship, agriculture, magic, mysticism and medicine.



So there isn't much that we can call "authentic" about the current teaching and traditions of Mexico and beyond but the fact that they come from ancient sources and whose power still instills the people that take it up to themselves to rise and make it speak through them as Jacobo Grinberg puts it. Perhaps today more than ever we are seeing a flourishing of five hundred years of mestizaje surrounding the people that once roamed this land powerfully and whose practice is been retaken once again. Altars to Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl have started to appear on the streets in a similar fashion to the shrines dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, that colorfully dot every corner of Latin America next to each other as well as giant street art.



That isn't to say that we don't have to be grateful for the native traditions in their original forms and in many cases, it is a good idea to maintain them but when tradition stifles creativity we lose the vitality of practice. As the manual for the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn puts it

Both these communities, in America and elsewhere, are very largely split down the middle between partisans of tradition who bristle at the thought of innovation and partisans of innovation who see no value whatsoever in tradition. The reality is that any spiritual or magical practice worth the name necessarily includes both tradition and innovation, but this simply adds spice to the bubbling cauldron of acrimony that too often results from this split.

and a similar approach to the Frequently Thrown Tantrums section from their website can be taken to make sense of the issue at hand.

I personally believe this balance to be necessary if we are going to take the powers that are behind the lands that saw pyramids and temples dedicated to the gods and goddesses of Mesoamerica into new directions that are now possible. In general, the tentacles seem to be spreading far and wide capturing the imagination of millions, awaiting for people to rise above the ordinary and restore the portals to Spirit making them spring into abundance once again.

Comments

[sdi]

A month or so ago I was reading Lorna Byrne, an Irish Christian mystic who has frequent contact with angels. Her second book, Stairways to Heaven, has this to say on the topic:

Americans don't need the past of others to bolster themselves. They are a different race, in many ways more advanced. They may be made up of a mixture of people from different nationalities, but these people have blended together to form a new race. [...] Americans are a chosen people, even though many people in the world may not be happy to hear this. They have been chosen and gathered from all around the globe by a special powerful force of angels. This powerful force of angels has driven the development of America. People who went to America were to some extent chosen, including—strange as this may sound—those brought there as slaves. The angels have been gathering people of all nationalities to this one continent to help fulfil mankind's destiny. [...]

The Native Americans are a part of this new race. The people who were chosen to come to America by ship didn't understand that Native Americans were an integral part of the new world. The angels have told me that they worked hard to try and stop massacres, but we humans can behave disastrously at times. We are prone to think that we are superior to other races and Native Americans suffered greatly in the past. They are still kept on the outside today. This needs to be changed. Native Americans need to be drawn into the mainstream. They have a spirituality that is different and is needed for the evolution of mankind, for the body and soul to become one.

[...] Outrageous though it may seem, [slavery] had a part in making sure that the right mix of people were brought to the new world. The slave traders never realised that they were being used to bring to America people who had been chosen—people who could never have come to America by other means. This was a part of America's path. This does not excuse turning another person into a slave, taking their freedom or dignity, whipping them or working them to the bone. Yet, hard as this might sound, it was a part of these individuals' paths. And these individuals and their descendants are a vital part of what makes America what it is and what it will become. [...]

That is, she seems to agree with you, that the way forward isn't blind adherence to past tradition or obsessive innovation, but rather the mingling of all and sundry: European and Indigenous spirituality blended together to form something new and powerful and beautiful, despite all the difficulties involved in getting there.

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Thanks for the quote sdi!

As the author, I don't find it conclusive that misery can be karmically justified, but I am sure there is a large array of things moving that also have lessons to learn and karma to shed. In general, I still see America as a continent the place for many developments because of this mixture that goes all the way down to the racial memory. It really is quite unique.

I don't think traditions can be blended, though inevitably they will cross-pollinize to each evolve. The barriers that prohibit merging should be tended but it is just inevitable to keep things from changing and accommodating the people that use it.

Thank You

[(Anonymous)]

Your essay is a breath of fresh air! Thanks for linking from Magic Monday tonight. If I remember correctly, one of JMG's frequent commenters (perhaps yourself?) suggested that if one is of Northern European ancestry, and wants an introduction to the Mesoamerican Holy Powers, to ask the Norse pantheon for assistance. Perhaps the Holy Ones interact with each other, form friendships and alliances, and are no more static in their relationships than the humans who are attracted to them.

There's much to reflect on in your essay. It gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, the people of the Americas, all of them, will in time harmonize better than they have in the past.

Valerie

Re: Thank You

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Thanks Valerie, I'm glad you liked it!

I am not that person but I agree, I approached the mesoamerican pantheon through the christian one because I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to invoke ancient gods and they do seem to have their own theocracy to see if it's a good idea or not. I bet the heathen pantheon is also a good idea.