My Journey to Recognizing the 1800s Adze Used to Assault a Tennessee Black Man Having its Origin in Africa

Years ago I stumbled upon a historical figure called Robert Renfro, also called Black Bob. I was intrigued by him as he was considered a hero in his day by Nashvillians and became the first emanepated black and first black business owner in Tennessee. Actually, he helped found Tennessee. Many Africanims emerged from his story as I read into his life. Kemetic Africanisms. He was on the boat that founded Fort Nashboro with masonic surveyors from Virginia. Initially this was call the district of Meroe, and later became the state of Tennessee. This term was famiar to me from my African studies of Nubia and Kemet and the Moors. Black Bob was a friend of Andrew Jackson, a freemason. When I went to Andrew Jackson's home, which is a museum now, I saw a book from his lodge, the first lodge in Tennessee, it was the first book and listed the names of the first head people of the lodge. Those names were the same names that I read on Black Bobs emancipation papers signed 5 years after Tennessee became a state. He did not fit the mold of the story of who black people were in America during the 17-1800s. "Bob" has a dual meaning in freemasonry. Part of it comes from the plum bob surveying tool. Which is an interest to me and my studies of Seshat. Which is also see with her holding it in the Temple of Edfu. 

One of the things about Black Bob that I found interesting was his lawsuit won at the hands of his friend and former attorney, now judge, Andrew Jackson. It was a lawsuit against a schoolmaster, Anderson Lavender, who assaulted Black Bob for talking proper  on April 25, 1800. The Grand Jury of Davidson County indicted him on this charge. Andrew Jackson, Archibald Roane (future Governor) and David Campbell were the judges when the suit was before the Superior Court, all freemasons in Nashville. 

John Hamilton, the attorney for the State wrote in May of 1800 that Anderson Lavender, “Did make an assault and battery with an intent him the said Bob then and there feloneously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought to kill & murder, against the Statue in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of our State.” Tr, TdaCo-MDSC Law Min. Bk., 1788-1803, pp 316-317. From Legal Papers of Andrew Jackson pg 162. What does the foot-adze that Lavender carried in his right hand to kill Bobb look like?

This brings me back to Kemet and its tools. The iron for why people settled in Tennessee during the frontier days. Why they needed Africans in the first place to conquer this land. The knowledge. Metorietic iron on a wood handle was used in the Opening of the Mouth Ceremony. The irony (no pun intended), of Black Bob being assaulted with an adze, similar to the instrument used in rituals to Open the Mouth, or be seen. 

The adze is depicted in ancient Egyptian art from the Old Kingdom onward.[1] Originally the adze blades were made of stone, but already in the Predynastic Period copper adzes had all but replaced those made of flint.[2] While stone blades were fastened to the wooden handle by tying, metal blades had sockets into which the handle was fitted.

A depiction of an adze was also used as a hieroglyph, representing the consonants stp, "chosen", and used as: ...Pharaoh XX, chosen of God/Goddess YY...
The ahnetjer (Manuel de Codage transliteration: aH-nTr) depicted as an adze-like instrument,[3] was used in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, intended to convey power over their senses to statues and mummies. It was apparently the foreleg of a freshly sacrificed bull or cow with which the mouth was touched

The Egyptian terms for the ceremony are wpt-r and wn-r, both translating literally to "opening of the mouth." The verb wpi denotes an opening that entails splitting, dividing or separating, and is used to describe the separation of two combatants, the dividing of time or even a determination of the truth. The verb wn emphasizes accessibility and exposure, used in contexts such as wn-hr, literally "open the face", but more correctly meaning "see" or "be seen".

1. Setep

Wood; New Kingdom
From the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Rogers Fund, 1925
The Metropolitan Museum of Art 25.3.40
2. Adze
Bronze, wood and leather; New Kingdom
From the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut
Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1896
The Metropolitan Museum of Art 96.4.7
3. Pesesh-kef knife
(replica)
"offering ritual in which two blades of meteoric iron, called the ntjrwy, are said to open the mouth. Faulkner translates this spell as "O Osiris the King, I split open your mouth for you gods iron of Upper Egypt, 1 ingot; gods iron of Lower Egypt, 1 ingot."
The ritual was thus be performed with various implements, most commonly a wood-carving adze, which were touched to the lips by the officiating priest. An adze was an arched metal blade fasted across the top of a wooden handle with leather thongs, used in woodworking. The ceremonial adze was made from the metal of heaven, bi3 n pt, meteoric iron. The adze mimicked carving and sculpture, logical if the Funerary ceremony evolved from the ritual performed on a statue.

Another implement often depicted in the ceremony was the psh-kef knife. The psh-kef knife is first attested in prehistoric tombs as early as the Naqada I period.
Psh-kf sets were limestone platters with recesses that usually hold the two ntjrwy blades, a blunt psh-kf knife, two tiny bottles and four tiny cups. The bottles and cups are half of light-color and half of black. The same set of implements is listed together in the inventories of temple equipment found at the mortuary temple of Neferirkare at Abusir.

The implements used in the Pyramid Text ritual continue to appear in private tombs of the Middle Kingdom, but a rather different version of the ritual also appears in the Coffin Texts. Now Ptah joins Horus to open the deceaseds mouth, then Ptah and Thoth transform the deceased into an akh, and Thoth replaces the heart in the body, so that the deceased remembers what has been forgotten and can eat bread as desired."

Give us this day our daily bread. After the opening of the mouth with the iron instrument from heaven we today call from a meteor because it is not found on earth, the deceased could eat bread. Then the mouth is opened with the ntjrwy tool, and the mummy is presented to the son "who loves him." More scenes depict the son coming to the House of Gold, opening the mouth with the mdjdft-tool, and touching the mummys mouth with the little finger again.

Carpenter's Adze from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Templeca. 1479–1458 B.C.

Seshat, Ocean Goddess and Creation Stories in East Africa

We stand tall because we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors...

My notes from Sept 2, 2012,
Mawu sent Adanhu and Yewa from the sky with Ayida Weddo. To me this story sounds very similar to the Adam and Eve story. The slaves brought over who carried these stories thought so as well, it was why they accepted the doctrine because it was their truth, but told in the way of the foreigners that brought them here. They noted that the key difference was the Christian inclusion of the fruit in the creation story (Dahomean Narrative: A Cross Cultural Analysis by Melville J. Herskovits). They stated Legba does not give fruit. In my opinion this is because the fruit in the bible creation story is symbolic of knowledge.

Mawu was the moon god. Lisa was the sun god. In their creation story only Mawu can give sekpoli (breath of life). Their story includes a monkey and Veve of Damballa (sky godm Damballah-rainbow serpent, becongo of Angola and Bantu) with a 7 pointed star on top. They associated this with Christ, Our Lady of Mercy, St Patrick, and Moses. The Black Madonna of Czestochowa.

What was striking to me in how this connects to Egypt was Ayida Weddo representation of holding up the heavens, the rainbow serpent. They also associate red with male, and blue with female. This reminded me of Shu & Nut in the Egyptian pantheon.

Yewa was said to make record of tombstones and was associated with the final resting place. There were several other attributes:

1. maintained garden of rare flowers
2. virgin
3. looked in his EYEs (sin)
4. Fest day is 10/30
5. cemetary tools are known, other tools are secret
6. knowledge of embalming, body preservation, passing over.
7. she likes silence, no sex
8. Day is Thursday
9. maiden-old maids, fierce, independent, crone, wisdom
10. Egg is placed on a mound of flower in ritual to her
11. rules mind, intellect, cosmic equilibrium
12. Veve Damballah emblems all have stars, some with a heart , cross, two right angles inverted.

Yeye means mother, Awa means our. so her names means Our Mother. She was compared to Our Lady of the Homeless and the Virgin of Montserrat. The number is 11 and its multiples (Seshat was noted as the women of the 11th hour in instances of transformation into the otherworld and the souls travel to heaven. She stood at the last gate in the journey into the Duat, only achieved after the soul could defeat the serpent.)

"Behold", said Ra, "I will send SHU to breath upon GEB, and he will have air that is sweet and blue, and I will kiss him and all manner of vegetation will clothe him." Now the hands (PTAH) pushed together GEB and NUIT, and from this union came forth all manner of living things. 

During this union the great serpent APEP entered into many of the living beings and told them, "Perhaps RA was not so vigilant, and what of it if he saw them do things that he would not approve of; he was not the all-powerful and the night was just as beautiful as the day..."

In Egypt Nut (sky goddess):

1. Having power over the water Khort-Neter
2. Sycamore Tree of Nut
3. Egg of Nekek-ur
4. Wore a blue robe or rainbow colored robe.
5. Apep-Rainbow Serpent

September 9, 2012 notes

I came across info on Yoruba then back to New Orleans and Voodoo, Marie Luvoux. I listened to a webcast where she was described as the "architect of New Orleans" she had a Congolese background. 

Yemaja(Yemoja, Yemaya, Yemaja) is considered to be the greatest deity in Santeria. She is of all time. She is the mother of all things. In the bible the creation story/eden and serpent-knowledge. Without Yemaya their would be destruction and death she germinates the seed. 

Comes from the Ifa Nigeria Oresha. Osha-of the sea. Olugun-bottom of the sea. among the Benin/Ghanian/Togo-spirit of the ocean. She is transatlantic slave trade, mother of water. In voodoo-Hegway capt of the sea. La Terena-sustunance from ocean, mother of the waters. The ocean bring her number is 7. 9/7 is her birthday. 9/10 is Marie Lavous. 9/8 Oshun. 7 is the master number. 3 Trinity, 7 creation, 9 completion. Divine Mathematics. Her food offerings are watermelon, celery, watercrest, molases. Her day is Saturday.Yemaya/Yemoja/Yemoja- color is blue and white. Our lady of Regla and Our Lady of Immaculate Conception. Ymoja Yemowo Mami Wata.

• Brazil the names are Yamanja, Iemanja, Janaina. 
• In Cuba Yemaya Yemayah, Iemanya. In Haiti La Sirene, La Siren (Mermaid). 
• USA Yemalla, Yemana, Yemoja. Uruguay Ienanja. 
• Dominican Republic Yemalla, La Diosa der mor ( sea goddess). 

Her symbol symbolizes anything ocean related. 2 tailed mermaid, 7 bracelets, 7 blue and 7 white beads.
Food Fish, coconut, watermelon, cantaloupe, white wine, seafood, coffee, lettuce.
Feast Day is 9/7 (Santeri). 2/2 (Brazil).
Chakra is heart.
Animals are dolphins, ducks, geese, swans, sea horses, and blue butterflies.

Veve Baron Samedi

Legend holds that one must not look at Ashaba, she is so beautiful you can not look at her directly. Benin Fa - spirit of celestial palm tree (Ifa).

Veve of Maman Brigitte

Veve of Maman Brigitte

"Yemonja is Yeye mo eja or mother of fishes. She is not just the to layer of the Sea(because that is where most of the fish live) she is also the Orisha of the Ogun river in Nigeria and the spokes person of Olokun the Orisha of the Ocean. We call on Yemonja or Ora so that she can send our prayers to Olokun. Remember there are different Yemonjas, Ashaba, Asesu, Ogunte, Mayelewo, etc." Orijuwon

Seshat, "She is drawn with her standard atop her head, wearing the spotted leopard skin robes of the Setem priests, the funerary priests who are drawn on temple friezes with the spotted robe and mask of Yinepu (Greek: Anubis). Where other Gods hold the was-scepter in hand, she bears one of notched palm leaves that terminates at the bottom with a tadpole which rests on the symbol of eternity"http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/egyptian-goddesses/s.htm

OME. The palm tree, from the leaves of which the dresses used by the dancers of the OBUDU are made.

The leopard is known by the names ATALAGBA, OGYUHA, EKME, and OGIAME or queen.
OGIAME reminds me of the XIVILI word KAMA, royal wife or queen. OGIE-CI is the word the Bini use for the King indigenous to the country, equivalent to NKICI CI of the BAVILL
When a man killed a leopard he had to take it to the OBA, who gave the hunter a boy and a girl in exchange for it. The OBA used to try very hard to obtain the leopard alive, so that he might sacrifice it. On doing so he would put his finger into its blood and make a mark with it on his forehead, from his hair to his nose. Fans for his use were made of the leopard's skin, or it was made into a coat for the great war chief EZOMO or OJUMO. The claws also were strung together and worn by this chief as a band around his head.
Women were not allowed to look at the leopard's face.
The dance connected with the leopard ceremonies is called IGWE.

Naples Archaeological Museum Picture of Sculpture of Atlas with Farnese Globe on his shoulders. Roman Copy of Hellenistic original, 2nd Century AD.  Oldest known representation of the celestial sphere

"Orpheus," says he, "introduced from Egypt the greatest part of the mystical ceremonies, the orgies that celebrate the wanderings of Ceres, and the whole fable of the shades below. The rites of Osiris and Bacchus are the same; those of Isis and Ceres exactly resemble each other, except in name." Now, as if to identify Bacchus with Nimrod, "the Leopard-tamer," leopards were employed to draw his car; he himself was represented as clothed with a leopard's skin; his priests were attired in the same manner, or when a leopard's skin was dispensed with, the spotted skin of a fawn was used as a priestly robe in its stead. This very custom of wearing the spotted fawn-skin seems to have been imported into Greece originally from Assyria, where a spotted fawn was a sacred emblem, as we learn from the Nineveh sculptures; for there we find a divinity bearing a spotted fawn or spotted fallow-deer (Fig. 21), in his arm, as a symbol of some mysterious import. The origin of the importance attached to the spotted fawn and its skin had evidently come thus: When Nimrod, as "the Leopard-tamer," began to be clothed in the leopard-skin, as the trophy of his skill, his spotted dress and appearance must have impressed the imaginations of those who saw him; and he came to be called not only the "Subduer of the Spotted one" (for such is the precise meaning of Nimr--the name of the leopard), but to be called "The spotted one" himself. We have distinct evidence to this effect borne by Damascius, who tells us that the Babylonians called "the only son" of the great goddess-mother "Momis, or Moumis." Now, Momis, or Moumis, in Chaldee, like Nimr, signified "The spotted one." Thus, then, it became easy to represent Nimrod by the symbol of the "spotted fawn," and especially in Greece, and wherever a pronunciation akin to that of Greece prevailed. The name of Nimrod, as known to the Greeks, was Nebrod. * The name of the fawn, as "the spotted one," in Greece was Nebros; ** and thus nothing could be more natural than that Nebros, the "spotted fawn," should become a synonym for Nebrod himself. When, therefore, the Bacchus of Greece was symbolised by the Nebros, or "spotted fawn," as we shall find he was symbolised, what could be the design but just covertly to identify him with Nimrod?


* In the Greek Septuagint, translated in Egypt, the name of Nimrod is "Nebrod."


** Nebros, the name of the fawn, signifies "the spotted one." Nmr, in Egypt, would also become Nbr; for Bunsen shows that m and b in that land were often convertible.


We have evidence that this god, whose emblem was the Nebros, was known as having the very lineage of Nimrod. From Anacreon, we find that a title of Bacchus was Aithiopais--i.e., "the son of Aethiops." But who was Aethiops? As the Aethiopians were Cushites, so Aethiops was Cush. "Chus," says Eusebius, "was he from whom came the Aethiopians."



Atlas (/ˈætləs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄτλας) held up the celestial sphere

The first part of the term "Atlantic Ocean" refers to "Sea of Atlas", the term "Atlantis" refers to "island of Atlas".

(the idea of Atlas carrying the Earth is not correct according to the original myth) on his back. One of Heracles's labours was to collect the apples of the Hesperides, guarded by Ladon. Heracles went to Atlas and reasoned with him. Eventually, Atlas agreed to collect the apples, and Heracles was left to carry the weight. Atlas tried to leave Heracles there, but Heracles tricked him and Atlas was left to carry the heavens forever. In his epic Odyssey,Homer refers to this Atlas as "one who knows the depths of the whole sea, and keeps the tall pillars who hold heaven and earth asunder".

The armillary or celestial sphere is traced to Hipparchus (said inventor of trig), who traces it to Eratosthenes (said inventor of geography). Eratosthenes was a "Greek" mathematician, geographer, poet, athlete, astronomer, and music theorist. A lot of specialties for one man to invent..... Needless to say, although given a title as a Greek he was born in Libya and was the Chief Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria. He died in Alexandria. Both Libya and Alexandria, Egypt are in Africa. 

Izapa Stela 5 Seshat and Early Egyptian Writing

There are several studies that address the early writings of Africa and how they have shown up in the Americas. I will begin to touch on them here. There are also more concrete correlations between Thoth/Seshat and these gods/goddesses represented in the language and script of the early writers in South America. I will go into detail about this aspect in another post.

Izapa Stela 5

"Some researchers claim that the Mesoamerican writing systems are related to African scripts. In the early 19th century, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque proposed that the Mayan inscriptions were probably related to the Libyco-Berber writing of Africa.^[7] Leo Wiener^[8] and others claim that various Olmec and Epi-Olmec symbols are similar to those found in the Vai script, in particular, the symbols on the Tuxtla Statuette, Tao Mask, Cascajal Block, and the celts in Offering 4 at La Venta. These assertions have found no support among Mesoamerican researchers. While mainstream scholars have made significant progress translating the Maya script, researchers have yet to translate Olmec glyphs."

Also, there is an online document called Ancient Mariners in America that is noteworthy that has also addressed the writing that the Libyan women practiced, Tifnag, and its occurrence in the United States.

"Tifinag lettering originated in Mauretania, where it is still in use among the Berbers in the Atlas Mountains. Examples of these lettering forms are scratched on cave shelters and rock outcrops throughout the United States and Canada, and in North Africa. Universities in present- day Algeria, Morocco and Libya, having worked with Dr. Fell, can verify and translate the ancestral scripts housed in the archives and libraries."

Seshat, The Tree of Life, & Operation Odyssey

In March of this year Libya, the land of the ancient women who ruled, was attacked in a war that has been coined Operation Odyssey. My interest in Libya began with my research of Seshat and women who were ancient writers in Africa in 2011 because of an ancient script called Tifinag. Tifinag was used among the Libyan women and was intricately tied to matrilineal societies and the early women of Egypt who were scribes for the tracking of property, lineage, etc.. 

The history of early writing, women, agriculture, and land ownership in North Africa was tied to this early writing and the heiroglyphs that developed in Egypt. The early forms of writing, knowledge, and wisdom were represented by "she who scrivens" which was related, in my opinion, to matrilineal society. According to wiki, "Matrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality also is a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles."

In my research of the early history of writing in Egypt I saw a correlation to the culture of the women in Libya who were writers and the symbol Seshat "she who scrivens". Gadhafi, the leader of modern Libya, had a desire to display women today as they were in the ancient days also known as "Amazon Women" warriors.

The timing of the war against Libya seemed strategic so I took note of its name and saved this bit for future reference. According to Wired, "The U.S. military’s nickname for the no-fly zone in Libya sounds like the beginning of a long adventure. But Defense Department officials insist that there’s no hidden meaning behind 'Operation Odyssey Dawn.' It’s just the product of the Pentagon’s semi-random name-generating system." So here we have the women of Libya in the news, at a location I consider to be the hub of early writing systems represented by gardens, trees, and papyrus (paper) to the anceints.

Fast forward to June and The Tree of Life, written by Terrence Malick, is about to hit the theaters. It comes out 7/1/11, the day of a solar eclipse. Of course its reference to the Tree of Life caught my attention when I saw it advertised with Thor, so I googled it. The film opens with a quotation from the Book of Job, when God asks, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation...while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Then a waving light like a flame emerges. As you know from my previous post Seshat was the Mistress of the House of Architects and instructed in the laying of the foundations through her wand and headress which was connected to the stars. I think of tools such as an astrolobe and books about geometry when I conceptualize the need of early architechs and surveyors to honor Seshat to legitamize their work, her "school" was their branding.

Sean Penn is an architect in the movie. It is the moment of a planting of a tree that the central reminiscence of the film begins. Now a movie titled the Tree of Life with a central character as an architect that uses imagery of astronomy, tree of life, number 7 and 11, laying of foundations, etc., all central themes of Seshat obviously is using her symbolism but why?

This is a brief synopsis of how the Tree of Life (symbol of Seshat) and Libya (Operation Odyssey) have integrated in the past. How it integrates in the present and future is yet to be seen as this drama unfolds. I will post more after I see the movie.

The Tying of The Knot

I stumbled upon a noteworthy website while looking for information about the New Year's Festival and Seshat. My interest was peaked in the knot-tying ritual recently after reading about the mathematics behind it from a surveyor's website, as well as recalling its mention in the Book of Solomon, King Solomon's Knot, as a symbol of wisdom.

Dispite the connotations derived from the url, I read on to see what this "spell" on the website was all about. Now, considering in my view that spells, which the Romans and Europeans among others ritualized, were originally in Egyptian language the spoken word, which was sometimes poetic. Or more aptly, as in the Book Of Life and Book of Thoth "words to be spoken" as though the intended reader were an actor reading a written script (lets just say for a festival).

As millenia progressed and the art of writing flourished worldwide, various cultures continued to use the symbols from the teachings of Seshat (she who scrivens) without maintaining the authentic science or reason behind what the objects were originally intended. However, today, through archaeology, we are able to get a glympse of this ancient african history as it was and see its progression and alterations through time. For instance, several thousand years ago a surveyor's tool (I will post more about this) used to build temples was later used only ritualistically as the ages passed. Its demonstrations of use repeated at festivals and during church services, see the stretching of the cord ceremony in the Holy Bible. I share this not to endorse the usage of magic or spells but to show how humans have integrated Old Kingdom science from the "Mistress of the Books" ('ss3t in Egypt or 'srt among the Hebrew) into ritual.

New Year’s Day Magick

    New Year’s Day Magick: A spell requesting Seshat grant your wish for the new year. Tie four knots equal distance into a piece of red hemp twine less than one meter (or one yard) long. Red represents life force. The hemp twine represents time. Tie the knots from left to right and concentrate on your wish for the year being tied into the fabric of time. Open your front door. Tie the knotted hemp twine into a circle. On the first knot tell Seshat your hope. On the second knot tell Seshat your wish. On the third knot tell Seshat your belief. On the fourth knot receive Seshat’s blessings. Place the knotted red hemp twine on your altar to remind yourself of your request of Goddess. Note that this spell involves breathing on knots and therefore carries the death penalty in Islamic nations.