Oppression, Poverty, and the Wealth of the Soul
- Umbanda, USA
- Mar 24, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 24, 2019
Spirituality is held dear by oppressed groups because it’s something that can’t be bought, and it's something immaterial that can’t easily be taken from them.
Material wealth is not a prerequisite for spirituality.
Our bodies are spiritual, our voices are spiritual, our earth and everyday experiences are spiritual.
It seems obvious but it's worth saying:
Money is not required for access to spiritual states or for engagement in spiritual communion. We don’t need money for retreats, expensive crystals, $1,000 courses or generally the accumulation of spiritual objects or books to be a loving and spiritual person.
Accumulating more and more, whether of material possessions, of knowledge, or even of spiritual experiences, does not mirror the spiritual path. The spiritual path is about being, about giving, not about having and sequestering, whether it be energetic or material.
As animism, ancestral work, and shamanism gain popularity, it is my hope that people are educated that we don’t need anything fancy, intricate, or expensive in order to give love and respect to our ancestors, the earth, or to any sort of energy in general, including the divine. What is given is recognition, gratitude, a desire to be lead by love and freedom, and some feeling of humility.
On your own spiritual path, consider that the river-rock is as mighty as the crystal, the illiterate woman as mighty as the published author, love as mighty as prestige.
I write this blog as a white woman of relative privilege. I recognize firsthand that oppression is an abuse of power meant to perpetuate a power system with those at the "top" remaining at the top and those at the "bottom" remaining at the bottom. I do not romanticize oppression. My great-grandmother was not allowed to speak her native tongue or practice her religion. This was a trauma, not a gift to her spirituality.
Power abuses can and do impact people's spirituality, especially when it concerns the taking of land, which is the means of livelihood for many oppressed groups. The land is also a spiritual touchstone. This sort of taking is also a trauma, and the resultant lack of money and resources is a trauma on top of that. Trauma separates us and fractures our spirituality until it is healed. On the other hand, colonizers, neo-colonizers, perpetrators, and those who abuse power often take and take and take to fill a spiritual void.
Spiritual work is considered the most ancient form of healing. Consider when writing was invented, when the printing press was invented, when the kindle was invented. For 10,000s of years spiritual work was done without book-learning. Spirituality does not belong to academics, the affluent, or any person or group of people who are tyrannical with power in any way. It is exactly the opposite. There are still millions of people around the world who can’t read. I met many women in West Africa who were illiterate. They are kept this way by their husbands, that they have only a small means to make money, and thus have to stay in what is usually a rather abusive home situation. Yet these women were intensely spiritual.
Spirituality is something that can be accessed even by those (especially by those) who are being oppressed by others in authority. In particular this includes women, people of color, groups with histories of colonizations, LGBQT individuals, and anyone lacking status or prestige: people of low income, of low formal education, among others. Unfortunately these groups are also vulnerable, and they are kept within the existing power structure using threats, public shaming, and entitlement ("you owe us this" and "you can't do that" type language) by whatever tyranny is in place.
There are 1000s of shamans and spiritual workers around the world currently who are being persecuted for their abilities and beliefs, including the people who trained me in Brazil. African religions in Brazil (and here in the US) are generally looked down upon due to a legacy of racism and also of fear, and most practitioners hide or minimize that they are initiates because of the intense need for work right now during a severe economic crisis, the desire not to be harassed on the street, or to avoid their places of worship destroyed or burned. I myself am one of these people, never having told any employer about my Umbanda initiation because of discrimination.
It’s worth noting that the Mae-de-Santo (Mother of Saint) who has trained generations of healers through the African Traditional Religion of Umbanda, including me, has never written a book, taught a course, or engaged in research-related endeavors because she was not in a position to attend university or even high school, being an older woman of color. Her spiritual endeavors are based on initiation plus direct-experience and the needs of the community, not by what she was able to access with money and books. During the thirty-year military dictatorship in Brazil that ended in the 1980s, she and millions of others were silenced, threatened, and at risk from an oppressive authority because of their power, practices, and beliefs.
But these religions carried on even during the extreme oppression of slavery. Enslaved people pretended to pray for Catholic saints while they were actually praying to the Orishas using Catholic statues. Eventually the saints, images, and prayers became integrated into the religion as is the case with Umbanda. Enslaved worshippers also used drums, singing, and dancing to pretend they were having a party when they were in reality carrying out a serious spiritual work. Even the oppression of slavery did not separate many of these people from their faith and practices. Offerings were done in a forest, with candles to keep away animals, so slaves who escaped could find and eat the food of the offerings. The offering would also often point the person in the direction of quilombos, secret communities of escaped slaves.
I’ve included in this blog images of two offerings. The image below is an example of an offering that makes it seem like we need accumulation: of money, objects, or in some cases knowledge, to do “real,” “powerful,” “beautiful” or the "best” spiritual work. The first image at the top, on the other hand, is an offering of simple domestic herbs and leaves that demonstrates offerings can go bone-deep, not wallet-deep, and that the "best" offering is one given from the heart with attention.
Faith is inside of each of us. Love is inside of each of us. Strength is inside of each of us. All of nature is spiritual, from the dirt under our feet to the crystal that costs $40, from the rain that falls right on our heads (which are also spiritual!) to the most pricey plant medicine experience.
If you’re interested in a spiritual approach that is inclusive, inexpensive, and focused on spiritual wealth and connection in our everyday lives, join us in a donation-based Ceremony of Umbanda at the Vali Soul Sanctuary every-other Monday in Boulder, Colorado. Find more information here.
I also provide affordable animism training and interventions focused on embodied connection, self-understanding, and balance here.
With OneHeart,
Nicole Kennerly de Lima
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