RASTAFARI

LIVITY

 

A Basic Information

Ethiopian World Federation, Inc. (NNL3)

 

Copyright ã 1982 and 2001 by

Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated

Negusa Negast Local 3

P.O. Box 672

London, S.E.11 4AA

 

The copyright of this book is reserved.  Except for small personal educational extracts, no part of this book is to be reproduced in any form, or for profit, with out  the expressed  permission of the copyright owners.

 

FIRST PUBLISHED, 1983

SECOND EDITION, 2001

By ETHIOPIAN WORLD FEDERATION, INC. NEGUSA NEGAST LOCAL3.

ISBN 0-9509691 - -

 

Prints in Britain by RUZ Comprint

 

 

I  Acknowledge

 

I  Acknowledge strength, assistance and inspiration for this publication from:

Almighty I Jah Rastafari, Haile Selassie I, without whom we can do nothing worthwhile;

I  Parents, may Jah Bless them Itinually; and

The Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated and Members, especially Ras Tinish and Ras Lion for their own gracious acknowledgement;

And Sis Sonia for her typing;

 

Ras Kwende

 

 

SPEECH: A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED

 

The overstanding of word, sound and power is important to our relationship and achievements.  Different word-sounds have their own vibrational power and effects.  It is also psychologically more satisfying to have a one’s language compatible with one’s ideology and world view so, therefore, we should know and use I and I Afrikan Language.

In the English language, the word “I” best expresses I and I knowledge of the fundamental unity of all of Creation. It therefore replaces “You” with the ‘I’ and ‘you- sounding’ verbs which generally begin with the letter ‘U’ or ‘Hu’ with an I sound.   Certain other English words are modified to express truth, essential Godhead, extended familyhood and positive existence, such as:

 

Rasta Usage                 English Usage

 

Jahnoy, Jah, Jahovah        Our Emperor, Father, God

HIM                         His Imperial Majesty

I and I ( I and I, I&I )    We humanity, us, our

Humanity Imanity            Unity

Ipatrilove/ Repatrilove     Repatriate (sounds of “hate”)

I-Story History            (his-story has been told for too long)

I-Tal                       Natural, from the earth, righteousness

Iver                        Ever

Ivine Idren                 Brother, Brethren of God Divine

Sistren                     Sister(s)

Babylon                     Places and people of wickedness

Crealove                    Create

Defender                    Righteous warrior or soldier; upholder of righteousness

Downpress                   Oppress

Wool                        Afrikan type of hair

Dreadlocks                  Afrkan wool grown naturally, without combing

Forward                     Back, backward

Green, gold and Red         Order of Ethiopian flag colours as stated in HIM’s 1955 Constitution and EWF constitution. Also, the Afrikan national colours

Heartical                   Sincere, earnest

I.N.R.I.                    I Negus Rule Ityopya/I

Overstand                   Understand

Strong                      One week, ie, of 7 days

Yesus Christus             (Ethiopic) Jesus Christ

Zion                        Heaven

 

AFRIKA/AFRIKAN

 

The ‘K’ spelling is used to respect how the vernacular or traditional languages on the motherland pronounce the word with a strong vocal ‘K’ sound rather than a ‘C’ sound.

Secondly, modern pan-Afrikanists have adopted the ‘K’ spelling as part of the Afrikan world-view. Selah.

“Haile Selassie I; King of kings, RasTafari”

 

“Spiritual and Cultural Education leads them back into Unity on the national as well as on the personal level”  (Haile Selassie I Speech)

“I am because we are and because we are therefore I am” (Ancient Afrikan Wisdom)

 

 

RASTAFARI LIVITY - A BASIC INFORMATION

 

Introduction

 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RASTAFARI HQ IN ENGLAND

 

Since the late 1950s, Rastas have been grouping together in England, and London in particular.  Most of these groups were communes mainly for teaching and practising Rastafari Livity and the two prominent areas of London from which Rastas came to public notice were Ladbroke Grove in the west and Brixton/ Kennington in the south.

The Universal Black People’s Improvement Association (UBIO) was established in 1969 as one way to help Black People maintain our bearings in a hostile white society who are oppressing and persecuting us.  UBIO was influenced by Marcus Garvey’s UNIA organisation and it comprised of members from Shepherds Bush and Ladbroke Grove in West London, from Mayall Road in the Brixton Frontline and Battersea in South London and from north of the River Thames.

 

    Out of UBIO came the Emperor Yohannes Local 33 branch of the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated (EWF).  Local 33 was established in Portobello Road, West London, on August 25, 1972 as a sub-local of EWF Charter 37 in Jamaica.  On 24 May 1974, with approval from Ethiopia, Local 33 established the first branch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) in England, in Ladbroke Grove.  Members were mainly Rasta who were already members of the various Rasta tabernacles.  However, in 1975 and 1976, many left the Church because of ideological differences with the priest over I and I Dreadlocks and I and I Creator, Emperor Haile Selassie I.  All throughout this period, the Idrens had continued to attend their local tabernacles also, where they now settled.

 

   The early tabernacle at numbers 26 to 34 St. Agnes Place, Kennington, South London, was established in 1968 by local Rastas from Mayall Road and Battersea.  These five houses were empty and unused by Lambeth Council, the local government, while the other houses on the street were already squatted in by white, middle class rebels.  Being in need of the empty houses, I and I soon occupied them for our religious and community uses.  At that time, however, the government were very open in their persecution  of Black People, and Rastas in particular.  Several attempts were made to evict I and I from the Houses, through brutality, while the white squatters were left unmolested.  Our gas and electricity supplies were cut off; the fire brigade smashed down the doors and “mash down” the houses, so that Nos.26, 30 and 32 became  derelict.  Armed police with ferocious dogs terrorised and beat up I and I youth and woman folk.  Brethren were dragged off to prison for further beatings and to be forced drugged.  Sistrens suffered miscarriages and other health damages due to police brutality.  Some of these events are captured in a Rasta film called “Rasta Ina Babylon” which introduced Black film producer, Howard Johnson.

 

  Around 1975, Rasta elders founded, at St. Agnes Place, the British headquarters of the Jamaican organisation, the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  By 1979  though, with ideological misunderstandings, a large group of Brethren had left St. Agnes Place and had taken the name “Twelve Tribes” with them.  However, the founding members and other early members remained and were soon joined by new faces who helped to set up an administration named Rasta International HQ (RIHQ) to functioning as a school of Rastafari Livity, a community welfare unit and a Repatriation Body.

 

Soon, we saw that although Rastas are the vanguard of Black salvation and are rapidly growing in number throughout the earth, centralisation was still lacking. Inspired by two of Haile Selassie I Utterances, “Goal Unity” and “Action Now,” I and I held a seven-day seminar, ending 23 July 1980, on Unity and Repatriation.  This was not so successful so we decided to plan an international conference for the following year.

But Babylon continued their war against I and I.

 

The London Electricity Board again cut off our electricity and our street lighting on a false claim of unpaid bills.  Various tactics were used to delay return of our supply so we had to plan the conference in dim candle light in  what became known as “The Back House”. Throughout the later cold weather, adults, youth and babies had to gather around the paraffin cooker heater in the kitchen at No. 28, to avoid the cold drafts from the other rooms more badly damaged by the government assault.

 

Despite all obstacles, Jah is always with I and I so, as planed, our International Conference of RastasfarI and other Black-conscious people on centralised Unity and Reparation was held at Brixton Town Hall on Thursday, 23 July 1981.  It was reported to be an “unprecedented and a successful event”.  Many people saw Rasta Drumming and tasted I-Ital Rasta cooking there for the first time, and free of charge.

 

Conference resolved to set up an umbrella organisation to maintain and develop Unity and help to achieve Repatriation. The sleeping Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated (EWF) was re-activated for this purpose and a national Executive was sworn in from the delegates on Thursday, 27 August 1981 at RIHQ, St Agnes Place.  However, it was clear that effective centralisation within EWF needed a better overstanding of functioning a large international body in alien and hostile societies, and knowledge of the history of the EWF and the reasons for its past slumber.  We    therefore opted to research into both the EWF and Repatriation so we set up a Repatriation Research Committee ( RRC) for this purpose.

 

 Whilst we sojourn in Babylon, New Flower Dawn (NFD) was also a project we had set up to continue our community welfare work, despite refusal from the government Charity Commission to register us as a charity.  The HQ’s activities included prison and hospital visiting, psychological refugee, Rastafari Drumming and Chanting, moral support at court attendances, counselling, and community feasts and functions on Rastafari  Holidays, all given free of charge and on a self-help basis. However,  in 1981, NFD applied to the government for funds to renovate the Houses which they had “mash down,” and also to continue our community works, some of which was also  their responsibility.  Only £75,00 was allocated instead of the £300,000 we claimed on official professional advice.  NFD agreed to run, with official help, a hostel for homeless Black youth who the government classed as being “at risk” of becoming criminal or mental.  This project depended on renovation of the Houses and had to be met from the £75,000 allocated.

 

 In May 1982, the RRC received, through our international communications network, a call from the EWF Pioneer Settlers Corps in Shashamane, Ethiopia to visit and morally support them and also to research and publish the Land and the reality of Repatriation.  Plane fares were quickly raised by all the EWF Locals in England and a two-man delegation left our HQ on Tuesday 28 September and returned on Sunday 5 December 1982.  Since then, members have successfully repatriated, and several building and development projects have been established on the Land.

 

Finally, this booklet has resulted from the expansion of a five-page information sheet quickly put together in 1982 to meet the large demand from young and old of all races  nationally and internationally, for us to supply information on RasTafari Livity .  This is the first reprint since being published in 1983.  Rastafari.

 

Haile Selassie I Liveth

 

 

 

RASTAFARI  LIVITY - A BASIC INFORMATION

 

1. RASTAFARI - THE PREAMBLE

 

RasTafari is more than a religion, it is I and I livity, meaning our Total Way of life, based on Peace, Love, Purity, Truth and Justice, which are all represented in the Personage and Embodiment of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, RasTafari,  Jah Almighty of Creation, and which I and I live and express through our culture as loyal Afrikans.

 

Rastafari gives I and I pride and the strength to persevere and overcome the tribulations of life and those from wicked men, thus giving testimony that I and I are RasTafari’s Original and  Chosen People through whom mankind will be blessed.

 

2. THE AFRIKAN CONDITION

 

 Rastafari  Livity first emerged outside of Afrika in the Caribbean Island of Jamaica were it was reconfirmed by The Coronation of Ras Tafari, Negus Tafari Makonnen as His Imperial Majesty (HIM) Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930.  However, the inspiration is from Afrika, from I and I own Ancient Order of Ethiopian-Afrkan Livity previously unknown to the rest of the world.

 

The white societies of the world are still trying to subjugate I and I  Afrikan Race into mindless slavery.  Much has already been written of the atrocities committed against the Black Race by the white men during their wicked crusade of chattel slavery and colonialism of our Race.  They could not crush our Spirit and humanity so they have intensified their psychological tricks and means, geared to make us enslave our own minds for their benefit.  They continue using deceit to steal and exploit our natural minerals and resources, and also our ingenuity and expertise and our labour in order to build up their technology which they use in turn to further exploit and downpress us economically and otherwise. They continue depriving us of the basic necessities of a decent life after forcing us out of Afrika to build up their countries and colonies.  They continue to persecute and imprison us in their prisons and mental institutions where they beat, force-drug, and murder us. They continue trying to brainwash us with their biased education, delusions, propaganda and false religion. And, they still continue their subtle and blatant-stealing and adoption of our cultural and religious expressions and then barefacedly trying to deny our human worth and our contribution to the world.

 

Many of our people are still now ashamed of their skin colour and act as if they are white, regardless of whether they are brown in shade, or part white, or of the darkest shade of Black.  Some also feel that their hair is too woolly or too Afrikan so they burn it with hot iron-comb or chemical-cream as if it’s something to be destroyed.  They are really “straightening” it to make themselves look more like white people.  When they also reject their Afrikan language and names they finally reject themselves and therefore their human dignity.

 

The confused of our Race react in the same way, be they in Afrika, the Caribbean, America, Europe or Asia.  However, the weight which the white world puts behind any of their dis-orientating tactics against us depends not only on where in the world we live and on the proportion of the population we occupy, but also on how well their black puppet governments of our countries obey their orders.  We have to be alert  and united, for His Majesty Says:

 

It is not the strength or the power or the determination of those who oppose us that will delay success in this battle, but only the weakness of our unity.

(“Find Solutions” Speech).

 

Out of this crisis Our Emperor Haile Selassie I has come to deliver the Afrikan Race through those of I and I who have stood firm in His Ivine Name to pass His test of time and circumstances, so that we can all abide with HIM forIver and Iver, for this means we shall enslave no-one and  no-one  or ones can wrong, harm nor enslave us.

 

3. EARLY RASTA I-STORY AND DEVELOPMENT

 

From the earliest days of the slavery of I and I People, over 400 years ago, there has been those of I and I who have always remained true to our Ancient Order of Afrikan Livity

 

Although the Maroons of the hills of Jamaica are famous as the fierce resisters of slavery who brought the British slavers to their knees in 1738, it was the more Monastic Hillsman, with whom they were often confused, who maintained the strongest link with our Ancient Way.

 

Through this mystical link, and also through higher study of the Bible, the Hillsman Brethren knew of the Divinity of the Ethiopian-Afrikan King who was to come for Black Redemption and Regulation of mankind; He who is now revealed as RasTafari, Negus Tafari, Haile Selassie I.  This they preached before the birth of Marcus Garvey, that shining Black Star who was also to arrive later.  The Hillsman were therefore the first re-emerged Rastafari and it was from their high Iniversity that Marcus Garvey graduated and went out into the world to preach their doctrines which he had by then become one with.

 

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was re-incarnated on 17th August 1887 in the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica and he was a direct descendant of the Maroons.  From an early age, Papa Garvey was in the forefront of the Defence in the war of freedom and justice for I and I Afrikan Race.

 

In 1914, Prophet Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica.  Its motto was: One God! One Aim! One Destiny! and its aims were Black Pride and Dignity, positive development, and Repatriation Back-to- Afrika.

In 1916, Mosiah Garvey went to America and established the first of many branches of the UNIA. Soon the international membership rose to around five million.  In 1918, Garvey founded a weekly paper, ‘The Negro World’, with international circulation in French, Spanish and English.  That same year, he also founded the Black conscious, Afrikan Orthodox Church.  This was followed in 1919 by his setting up of the Black Star Line Shipping Company, partly in response to discrimination against Black passengers on white-run ships; partly to link up the world’s Black People and partly as future transportation forward-to-Afrika.  Garvey also established the Negro Factories Corporation and the Black Cross Nurses.

However, the forces of Babylon reacted and, in 1927, after years of white harassment, the American Authorities framed, imprisoned, and finally deported Garvey back to Jamaica.  Yet, although this great man was by now very weakened due to lack of contact with his spiritual and ideological source, the early Hillsman Rastas, Garvey was still undeterred and continued his good works for inspiration of the Race.

Earlier, in “Philosophy and Opinions”, Prophet Garvey said of our Afrikan Race: “ ...We have handed  down a civilisation through the ages which has been claimed, exploited and abused by a morally weaker people who, like ourselves in the past, are forgetting their God and making a mockery of Him. The time is near ... when our princes shall rise to bless and glorify the true and living God. Surely the Negro shall put the world to wonder in the REVELATION OF GOD THROUGH THE RACE”. And again, “If the white man has his idea of a white God... We as Negroes have found a new ideal... We believe in the GOD OF ETHIOPIA...” Prophet Garvey echoed the Hillsman Rastas earlier teachings when he told a Kingston congregation before he left for America: “look to Afrika where a Redeeming Black King shall be crowned for He will be the Black Man’s Deliverance”.

This prophesy was fulfilled on 2 November 1930 with the crowning of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.  His full title translated as His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I; King of kings, Lord of lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah was, to many people, further fulfilment of Biblical prophesies in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, Daniel 7 v 9, PSALMS 87 v 4, 1 Timothy 6 v13-15 and Revelations 5, 17 v 14 and 19 vs 11-16.  However, it was followers of Garvey in Jamaica who became best known for preaching that Haile Selassie I is that Black God and King of Ethiopia whom Garvey often spoke about.  The most prominent of these preachers was Leonard P Howell, a world traveller and defender against the British colonialists in the Ashanti war of 1896 in Ghana.  Back in Jamaica, Howell was jailed in 1937 for two years on a sedition and blasphemy charge for preaching Haile Selassie I’s Divinity.  In 1940 he purchased an old estate near Sligoville in the hills of St. Catherine, Jamaica, where he established a community called Pinnacle.  It was at Pinnacle that Rasta Livity and the first Rasta Government developed, amidst constant policeharassment and brutalisation by order of the colonialist slave owners in Parliament at Westminster,  London. The Idrens were finally forced out of Pinnacle and into the Kingston slum area called Back-O-Wall or Shanty Town in 1954, before its demolition in July 1966.

 

4. MORE ON JAH AND MAN, AND CODES

Jah is the Highest and Perfect Man and Righteous Man is Jah.  Check Genesis 1v26 and 27, and the Biblical History of Yes-us Christus.  The majority of people (ie, the men as opposed to Man) have strayed from the Holy, Man-is-Jah Truth and now need to recognise the Fatherhood of Jah and the spiritual Brotherhood of Mankind in order to find their Manself and become again one with the Divine-I.

  From ancient times, before the birth of Yesus Christus, the other peoples of the world had fallen to paganism, barbarianism, and worshipping stones or other inanimate objects but, Ethiopia-Afrika have always maintained a Faith established on the ideals which some men today call Christian.  Centuries later, when the Faith of Ethiopia started to spread due to the writing of the Bible and then the works of Jes-us Christus, it became evident that certain nations were trying to corrupt the Righteous Afrikan Teachings of the Bible and of Jes-us Christus.  After the Ethiopian Eunuch met the Apostle Philip and tested his knowledge (Acts chapter 8v27), he learned how widely and diversely the Original Afrikan Faith had been translated, especially later with the influence of Rome and its empire.  The Ethiopian Holy Fathers then decided to establish a more structurised and regulated religious body or Order so as to righteously influence the corrupted bodies and at least, to keep them from completely leaving the true path.

 This Order was later confirmed in the 4th century AD and is today called the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (to which is related the Egyptian Coptic Church).  Jes-us the Christus said that no man can get to The Father but through Him (John 14v6+9).  I and I EthiopianAfrikan have, since  olden times, been heartically seeking the Christ Spirit for so long that now, God The Father has been Revealed to I and I  Rastafari as being HIM, Emperor Haile Selassie I.  It is noteworthy that the rest of I and I Afrikan Race are spiritually developed enough to receive and operate this Revelation right now but are so afraid to break free of the psychological chains clamped on them by the white system that even basic Biblical proofs of HIM’s Divinity (see section 3, above) are rejected without consideration; how much more so in obeying the Ancient Call to Afrikan Consciousness and Unity which this Revelation entails.

 

A. The Jahhead (Godhead)

Ras Tafari Makonnen, Negus Tafari Makonnen, Great Grandson of King Sahla Selassie, was reincarnated on 23 July 1982 at Ejarsa Goro in Harar Province, Ethiopia, East Afrika.  Then on 2 November, 1930, he was crowned Negusa Negast which means King of kings or Emperor, and was thus confirmed as: His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I; King of kings, Lord of lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah and 225th in an unbroken Line of Black Kings from the Union of the Black King Solomon which Makeda, the Ethiopian black Queen of Sheb-ba. This union is related in the Bible, 1 Kings 10 verses 4, 5 and 13 and in the ancient Official History of Ethiopia, the Kebra Negast (Glory of Kings).

Kings, rulers and envoys of 72 different nations from all over the world went to His Coronation to pay HIM homage.

His Names are evolved from the Ancient Ethiopic Tongue which was forerunner to ancient Coptic-Egyptian, Hebrew, Arabic*, Ge’ez and its modern derivative, Amharic with its own script or writing symbols.  The English translation of His Names and titles are:

 

Ras Tafari = Head Creator;

Negus Tafari = King of Creation;

Makonnen = High Ranking Nobleman;

Haile Selassie I = Power of the Holy Trinity, The First and Only, The I AM (of Exodus 3v14).

Negusa Negast = Kings of kings (or Emperor)

 

Ras Tafari is His Divine Office and Haile Selassie I His Holy Name.  Although there are men called Tafari and Haile while others are surnamed Selassie, there is Only One who bears the full Name of Jah (God) Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I, The First and Only.

 

In 1974 in Ethiopia there was a rebellion against His Majesty’s Government, as He had expected and planned for. The time had come to confirm the schemes of mankind and to give new lessons and Revelations to the world.  Like how the sun disappears behind the horizon or behind the veil of the clouds, so His Imperial Majesty mystically transferred Himself to a likewise mystically hidden part of Ethiopia.  This He performed because He has been Revealed now, not as a “Lamb to be slaughtered” as men in their speculations  like to think of His previous revelation as the Christ,  this time He is in His Fullness as The Son and The Father with His Holy Force, representing a total cosmic unity.  This time He comes as The Conquering Lion who shall break every chain and barriers and give I and I  a victory again and again.  Jah Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I is Eternal and Supreme. He is Everliving.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*On page 48, chapter 4 of  “The Ethiopians” (1973 ed.), the translator of vol. 1 of HIM Autobiography, E Ullendorff spoke truth when he wrote:

“... the Abyssinian influence on pre-Islamic Arabia is reflected in a fair number of Ethiopian loan-words in Arabic”.

 

Likewise, I and I Rastafari do not come as martyrs to be thrown into the arena of wickedness to be devoured by wicked men as is the popular thought about the early Christians.  Instead, I and I come as Righteous and Noble Lions to chase evil and spiritual wickedness out of the world and to live forIver and Iver.  I and I bring a new and final Revelation and correction. No more false doctrine of being martyred, killed or crucified and buried.  Instead, a one must crucify and bury all their own lusts and bad personalities.

 

I and I seek to maintain complete unity with the True and Living Godhead, Haile Selassie I, Ras Tafari.  Indeed, our God is our Unity.  Black Unity is when we have One Jah, One Righteous Aim and One Destiny.  We have to remember that Ras Tafari is one of the Personal Names of HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I Jah Almighty, and He cannot be separated; He is our Unity.

 

Their Imperial Majesties at Coronation Ceremony-2 November, 1930

“During our companionship We never had differences that needed the intervention of others... Our wishes were mutual...” ...HIM Utterance.

 

B. Man and Woman

•  

As RasTafari is the Head of Christ and Men, so Man is the head of Woman (1 Corinthians 11v3; Genesis. 1v20-23 and 3v16).  There is not superior and inferior; instead, there is complementary relationship.  RasTafari makes Man and Woman to complement each other physically, emotionally, spiritually and in the roles they must perform - they are to be building units of Creation.

 

Man represents the active principle of the universe and does the physical work like ploughing the fields in which he sows his seeds. Woman represents the passive principle who nurtures the seed and the young plant and then picks the fruit out of the field.

 

In spiritual Unity with each other, man and woman, the woman adds greatly to the protective force of I and I Family.  Man’s duty is to protect, and provide for his family and guide them with compassion and through just and righteous examples and teachings.  Woman are responsible for the domestic care of her family and her household -  the Afrikan Woman is the Queen and Mother of Creation.  Woman is to be virtuous and modest.  She covers her head in public and before a man other than her husband.  She dresses modestly, covering also her knees, so as not to arouse carnal thoughts in man.

 

 She has only one man.  During her period of blood flow, ie, menstruation, a woman must exclude and confine herself indoors, as much as possible, from personal and social interaction for 7 days This is in order to properly complete this cycle of bodily and spiritual regeneration and preparation.  This confinement is an African and Biblical tradition and is also necessary for preventing interference with the spiritual balance of other people with whose spirit a menstruating woman may clash during her regeneration.  Her husband traditionally does the cooking at this time and obstains from sex  with her at this time, also (Liviticus 15v19)

 

Man should maintain a high level of self-discipline in order to be the ultimate vanguard of God’s Creation.  He is not to behave as a woman, nor is a woman to behave as a man, including in the clothes they wear (Deuteronomy 22v5).  It is better for man to chose a woman with his spiritual I rather than his carnal eye.

Finally, total communication, that is, in words and spirit, is necessary for all good relationship.

 

C. Life and non-life

 

Destruction of life came into the world through men’s folly, vanity, recklessness and RasTafari crealoved all to be everliving and takes no pleasure in men’s destruction.  wickedness.  However, I and I intend to live forIver and generally avoid attending funerals and other celebrations of non-life.  Non-life is a hypnotic doctrine preached by killer Babylon.  See also Numbers chapter 6v6, Psalms 115v17-18 and Matthew 17v1-13.

I and I know that hell is on earth and, likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is also on earth but can be experienced only by those who are godly and therefore, also living.

 

D. Food and Nutrition

 

The basic principles of Rastafari Traditional nutrition are written down in the Bible (Liviticus 11; Deut. 14 and Numbers 6).  Although a few Rastas eat fish, and even less eat meat according to the Nazerite and other Biblical codes of diet, the ideal is vegetarian and most of the Niahbinghi Order eat only, I-tal food, cooked with traditional Afrikan spices if required.  Pork shell fish and alcohol are particularly offensive to us.  As salt is already present in natural foods, we no not normally add salt to our food.

It is necessary to eat a daily balanced meal of greens, vegetables, grains and fresh fruits.  Nuts are a good source of protein for vegetarians.  It is also important to drink lots of pure water to cleanse one’s  blood and irrigate the body.  As tonic, we also drink traditional herb teas, roots and fruit juices.  Rasta say release the “junk” food; eat from nature and live.

 

E. Spiritual and Material

 

Man is both spiritual and material (physical or corporeal).  His body is the material Temple which houses the Ivine Spirit, the IvineI, so he must maintain the right balance between his spiritual and the material.  We must all satisfy the basic needs for our bodies to function correctly but should learn which things, dietary and otherwise, will interfere with our spiritual development, that is, which things are “unclean” to us.  The Bible specifies many examples.  His Majesty says; “Whenever conflicts arises  between material and spiritual values, the conscience plays an important role in resolving the matter.”

 

F. Sex and Birth

 

All types of sodomy are prohibited as being anti-humanity and anti-Traditional Afrikan Livity.  See also Leviticus 18 and 22.

Abortion and other forms of murder are so prohibited for the same reasons; God commands us to populate the earth (Genesis 1v28) and this is by a man to woman sexual union.

Man should not sexually know a woman during her period of menstruation, while she is bodily and spiritually renewing her being because, so-called bad luck and weakening of the body will result.

Marriage and sex within the race promotes the Afrikan Family.

 

G. Vanity and Sorcery

 

Burning and other forms of straightening of Afrikan wool-hair is a sin to God and an insult to our Great Afrikan Family.  This and other means of mock-up to change one’s natural image are vanity and falseness.  True beauty is manifested only by a developed personality.  I and I are meant to know ourselves, not to vainly try to improve on God’s Creation of Perfection.

Sorcery and witchcraft are not prohibited and are also vanity.  See also Leviticus and other Biblical chapters.

 

H. Days of Observance and Fasting

 

The human body should have a day of rest and spiritual expression; a Sabbath (See Exodus chap. 20v8-11).  I and I observe Holadays (Holidays) and other celebration days of the year, of which, His Majesty’s Day on the 16th Hamle, being 23rd July, and the 2nd November, Coronation Day, are the highest.

Fasting and meditation are good for I and I.  Fasting is specifically good for resting the body organs and cleansing the body, humbling and calming the spirit, and developing the will.  However, it is a two-edged sword so a one should be properly advised.  Also, young children, nursing mothers and pregnant women, and the old and sick should refrain from fasting.

 

The following Days are observed by Rastafari Internationally:

 

23rd July      -  Earthday of Emperor Haile Selassie I

2nd November   -  Coronation Day of Haile Selassie I

17th August    -  Earthday of Prophet Marcus Mosiah Garvey

25th May       -  Afrika Liberation Day (When the Organisation of Afrikan Unity (OAU) was establish in 1963).

11th September - (1st of Maskaram) Ethiopian New Year’s Day.

7th January    -  Ethiopian Christmas (GENNA)

 

5. GANJA HERBS (Marijuana)

Ganja is incense for burning in the temple of I and I body. I and I are not drug takers as Babylon tries to claim since, “The herbs are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22v2) psalms 104v14 and Genesis 1v29).  Nevertheless, ganja is seen by Babylon-Europeans, and their lackeys, as an excuse to economically exploit I and I through such methods as:- heavy court fines for possession of even the smallest of quantities; huge sales of Rizla wrapping paper, the revenue from which the State benefits; and by allowing key-businessmen to safely trade in it while persecuting I and I.  They also see their laws on ganja as a way of trying to debase I and I traditions, and to use their police to brutalise I and I for what they call “illegal” possession, even if they “plant” it on us themselves.

Scientific and medical evidence proves that cigarettes and alcohol, both favoured by Babylon, are harmful to health.  However, the ganja herbs have been used for centuries in Afrika and India to heal many ailments.  It has also been used as one of the herbs in the communal peace-pipe because, when smoked in a group, ganja induces oneness of Spirit and mind, in righteousness.

Many “not-rastas” are smoking ganja as an escape and for a “kick” and a thrill.  However, Rastafari use it as a traditional sacrament in Spirital illumination and in mediation on Jah, Haile Selassie I.

Ganja herbs is Spiritual food and is blessed before use, just as how Grace or Thanks is given to God for body food.  Likewise, as overeating and other abuse of food will cause ill-health, so mis-use and abuse of ganja will cause negative mental and physical health, contrary to its beneficial role of providing “healing for the nations”.

 

6. NYAHBINGHI

Niahbinghi is both a special gathering or Isembly (assembly) of Rastafari, formally called a Groundation as well as the Righteous Foundation of Mystical Defence and Protection for the Black Original Man of Grace with our God Rastafari Haile Selassie I.  It is therefore the root of Rastafari and is represented by the Divine Theocracy of  Rastafari.

 

A. Gatherings

 

A Nyahbinghi Convention or gathering is a special large gathering of Rastafari for crucial reasoning, planning and review, cultural inspiration, and the essential Nyahbinghi drumming, prayer chanting and dancing. In March 1958, the first Nyahbinghi Convention of Rastafari was held in the Back-O-Wall area of Kingston, Jamaica, in the spirit of the first recorded Nyahbinghi Congress conducted by HIM in 1930.  This Rasta Convention was, sadly, disrupted by police brutality, causing the Brethren to defend their bodily structures.

Prince Emmanuel Charles Edward, the Elder of the house of Rastafari known  popularly as the Boboshanti, was reincarnated in 1915 in the parish of St, Elizabeth, Jamaica. His house was responsible for calling and arranging the 1958 Convention and he is regarded as a staunch and ardent Defender of Black Rights, Redemption and Repatriation.  His original base was at Back-o-Wall until police bulldozed the area in 1966.  His commune is now at Bull Bay in St. Thomas, Jamaica.

 

B. Defence

 

On Saturday, 7 December 1935, the Jamaica Times published an article about a powerful world-wide Black Secret Society called Nya-Binghi.  The report stated that the Society, with its headquarters in Ethiopia, was inaugurated in 1923 and consolidated at the 1930 Congress.  Says the article: “The Blacks know now that their weakness has lain in a lack of cohesion (unity) which the whites, through their knowledge and clever colonising methods, took advantage of”. On realising unity, “Haile Selassie I started the ball rolling by allying with Egypt and Liberia in order to facilitate co-operation.  The Negus (the Head of the Negro Race) proposed a Pan Negro Congress on checking the growing influx of Europeans into Afrika and driving them out...The 11 days international Black Congress of  1930 took place in Moscow and most Afrikan States were represented in the 82 delegates in attendance.  The article continues: “The Negro, Haile Selassie I was unanimously voted supreme powers in the Nyah-Binghi.  On accepting the position, the Negus pronounced: “DEATH TO THE OPPRESSORS OF THE BLACK RACE”.  Those white killers of Black People, “The Ku-Klux-Klan,” were the first to become aware of the power of the Nyah-Binghi (and the Negus’ Pronouncement).  Klan leaders in numerous American cities... were smitten with a “strange and fatal disease.”  According to the article, Members of the Klan fled the culture (since)... they could be marked by the Nyah-Binghi!”  As the  Jamaica Times correctly stated in the article, “Haile Selassie I is regarded as a veritable Messiah..., the Emperor of the Negro Kingdom.”

The word Nyah-Binghi is said to originate in the former Congo (now the Zaire/Rwanda/Burundi region of Afrika).  Be that as it may, the word expresses the fundamental essence of Rastafari. It expresses the Divine Protective Black Force which maintains all of Creation and is manifested through Rastafari who are the Black Original Man of Grace in Favour with The Almighty Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I.  Nyahbinghi has its visible material foundation as well as its invisible mystical manifestation.  The visible operates through Bodies or Organisations such as the Ethiopian World Federation and the Organisation of Afrikan Unity.  The invisible mystical aspect operates when for example the Ku-Klux-Klan leaders became mysteriously afflicted and destroyed.  It therefore works on the Righteous Principle of action-and-consequences against all downpressors of Ras Tafari’s Chosen People.

 

(Yemikelakel) “Protector”

 

7. DRUMMING AND PRAYER-CHANTING

The drum originated in Afrika, and has remained part of the Afrikan Traditional Livity.  It is used to induce trance, to release mental and physical tensions and as an aid in  individual and group meditation and concentration.  It produces the vibrations for toppling down Babylon/Jericho walls, like of old, Nyahbinghi Rastafari style.

Rasta drumming is Afrikan and at the same time, it has still a very distinctive, super-Afrikan character.  This came to be known as Nyahbinghi Rasta Drumming, after the Order of Nyahbinghi Rastafari, the Original Rastafari.

Rasta drums, called the akete, come in a trinity.  The repeater, also called the Ketty and the funde are similar in size and are types of bongo drums except that they are longer and more mellow sounding.  The repeater gives the high-sounding melody while the lower-sounding funde keeps the time, or syncopates.  The double-sided bass drum is much larger and it produces the rhythm and depth. It is played with a heavily padded stick.

Nyahbinghi drumming is a spiritual experience and so, no symbols or reminders of vulgarity are involved,  Popular music can stir up all sorts of emotions, including lust and vanity but Nyahbinghi music is a prayer  music.  It is important, then, to see that the “technology” produced instruments of popular music such as trumpets, pianos, saxophones, and the like, are not fitting to Nyahbinghi.

The tempo, or speed, of playing is usually medium but it can be slow or fast.  Whatever the speed, it is always regular, like unto the beats of the human heart.  Indeed, Nyahbinghi drumming induces unity of spirit and oneness of hearts.  It is one of I and I many tonics.

 

8. REPATRIATION AND HEAVEN: “OWN VINE AND FIG TREE”

Living in Babylon prevents I and I full spiritual and economic development as well as the full practice of I and I culture.  By so doing we are also contributing to the “brain-drain” on our beloved Land.  I and I must, therefore, repatrilove forward to Afrika, our God and forefather’s Home and Heaven, our Zion.  The Bible, Micah chap.4 verse 4, shows us that “they shall sit every man under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid... And we will walk in the Name of the Lord, our God, Haile Selassie I, RasTafari, forIver and Iver”.  Be warned, however, that “you can’t go to Zion with a carnal mind”.

Ethiopia is widely acknowledged to be the oldest Christian Kingdom in the world and I and I know also that Ethiopia is the head vanguard of the ideal of the Divine I, otherwise called, the Christ Concept.  However, the Truth is an offence to the vain and wicked who want to perpetuate lies in order to seek false supremacy.  Thus it was with Rome, now generally called Italy, who have long being waging ideological and spiritual warfare against beloved Ethiopia-Afrika.  They finally dared to physically in-vade Ethiopia in 1882, only to be badly beaten at Dogali and summarily driven out of Ethiopia in 1887.  Nevertheless, two years later, in 1889, Menelik 11, the new Emperor, signed with Italy the Treaty of Wucale (or Uccialli) but ironically, this became the source of renewed Italian aggression.  They used this treaty to impose on the good and accommodating nature of the Ethiopians; Italy claimed that certain clauses in the treaty entitled them to steal our Land and restrict our Sovereignty! Incredible, isn’t it?  So, still fuming from the beating they received at Dogali, the Romans again invaded Ethiopia and occupied Adowa.  In the ensuing Battle of Adowa in 1896, Ityopya again inflicted a resounding defeat on Italy’s 14,000 well armed bandits, rapists and downpressors.

Still yet again, in 1928, Ras Tafari ( now Haile Selassie I ) signed another Treaty with Italy, the twenty-year, Treaty of Friendship. But again, Italy tried to use treaties to steal our Land and restrict our Sovereignty.  The “Walwal Incident” of  5 December 1934 was the start of renewed  Italian aggression;  Italy tried to capture the wells and all the locality of Walwal.  After months of conflict, Italy openly declared war on Ethiopia in September 1935 and proceeded with its armed invasion.  It was this war that later caused His Majesty to say: “We have forgiven but not forgotten”.

Indeed, how can we forget that the Roman Fascist devil, Mussolini and his hordes from hell inflicted untold disaster and misery on innocent man, woman and children of Afrika.  The anti-Christ forces bombed our People with poison mustard-gas bombs and liquid-fire, both of which were, at the time internationally outlawed as being anti-humanitarian.  Yet it was those same European nations who were willing to sit and watch their fellow European destroy our People.  This is why Haile Selassie I went to the League of Nations in Geneva on 30 June 1936 to appeal to their conscience and human decency.  Instead, He was jeered at and, in fact, Britain and France took council together and proposed that Ethiopia give up a large part of her Land to Italy, to complete European white domination of Afrika.  His Majesty pronounced: “God and History will remember your judgement...today it is us, tomorrow it will be you”.  Jah’s pronouncement could not fail; on June 10, 1940, the Roman Mussolini went insane and turned on France and Britain!  Britain then, in an act of vengeance upon Italy, decided to aid Ethiopia in the last stage of the war.

However, war on one of us is war on all, so as soon as reports of the fascist atrocities had been received, Black Wrath from all over the world was incurred.

 

In action during the Italo-Abyssinian war  (early 1936 )

 

The Nyahbinghi memory rose up and Black People from all over the world went to help our People defend our Homeland and repel the Roman devils.

In 1941, victory was achieved, thus fulfilling the Biblical prophesy of Revelation 17v14: “These (beasts) shall make war with the Lamb, and He shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful”. Yes, His Majesty has overcome.

Attacks such as those on Ethiopia were examples of the lack of a total Black collective security; the Nyahbinghi organisation of the people (as different from the select and mystical) was diverting into mainly an Afrikan-at home concern, due to lack of Black consciousness, and despite the loyal group of Blacks in the West who Defended Ethiopia in 1935.  His Majesty, therefore, because of the 1935 attack, empowered one Dr. Malaku Bayen to organise and establish the Ethiopian World Federation, Incorporated, (EWF) so that “ We the Black People of the World, in order to effect Unity, Solidarity, Liberty, Freedom, and Self-determination, to secure justice and maintain the Integrity of Ethiopia, which is our Divine Heritage do hereby ordain and establish the constitution for the Ethiopian World Incorporation, Incorporated.” This was done on 25 August 1937 in NewYork USA and the EWF soon had strong support in Jamaica, Ethiopia and later, in England.

In 1955, the New York HQ wrote to Local 31 in Jamaica with details of the Land Grant of 500 acres in Shashamane which HIM Haile Selassie I had previously Granted from His own fertile land, through the EWF, to the Black People of the West.  This is a Legacy from HIM to I and I who had helped HIM in the war, and also to I and I descendants who want to repatriate forward to Afrika.  When successfully used, more land will be given to I and I.

The Land Grant must be seen as part of a larger reality of which it is but the start for, the Almighty RasTafari has promised us, in Isaiah 43v5-7:

Fear not, for I am with thee.  I will bring My seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.  I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring My Sons from far, and My Daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one who is called by My Name, RasTafari...

 

When Haile Selassie I visited Jamaica on 21 April 1966, He told Rastas to organise and centralise because Afrika awaits our return.

Return of our People to our rightful Homeland and to our own power base would put mankind back on the right road to equality, truth and justice.  All peoples are to return to the Land of their forefathers.

Our final word on Repatriation must rest with HIM, from His Speech, “Goal Unity” made on 25 May 1963 (Afrikan Liberation Day):

“In a very real sense, Our Continent is unmade; It awaits its Creation and its Creators”.

 

9. DREADLOCKS

Outside of Afrika, Dreadlocks as a Way of Life first re-emerged with the Hillsman and, although the Brothers and Sisters who came off the slave ships had dreadlocks in an early stage of growth after months at sea, the locks offended the slave makers who had them cut off, as was the case also with their language and culture. Dreadlocks first became confirmed as a family Livity at Howell’s commune, Pinnacle.  However, Dreadlocks have been part of the Original Afrikan Man of RasTafari before Adam.

The early Hillsman Rastas and the Rastas at Pinnacle lived to nature in the freedom of the hills.  They did not cut nor comb their beards nor their wool, preferring only to wash them.  As a result, the characteristic Afrikan Dreadlocks developed and were seen to be the same as those they later saw in pictures of Ethiopian Batawi priests and  other Afrikan people, including, after 1952, the Kenyan Mau Mau.

 Dreadlocks are also sanctioned in Numbers Chap. 6 of the Bible.

A one must respect the deep cultural, religious and mystical significance of Rastaman and Rastawoman’s Dreadlocks.  They are a covenant with our Jah, Haile Selassie I and with each other. They counteract the racial self-curse of those of our race who insult God and Man by burning and straightening their Afrikan wool. For although they glorify the European type of hair, or fur, they misguidedly refer to their wool as “bad hair,” besides other negative and destructive approach to their Afrikan self.

Although free-flowing Dreadlocks are part of the natural righteous Man, many Rastaman, whilst living in an environment where divers un-natural and unrighteous practises are maintained, and where atmospheric pollution is heavy, have to cover their locks in public. They removed their crown (hat) in public only for specially chosen reasons, or while in Rasta congregations, unlike the Rasta Queens and Princesses who must always be properly crowned in public.

Finally, remember that nature and reason are against our combing of our Afrikan wool and that even the so-called afro-combs cannot spare us the agony of a combing session.  Dreadlocks mean going forward to our Ancient Afrikan Righteous and Natural Livity; they are our ideal of Black Beauty without vanity.

 

10. LOVE

Love conquers all. With Love in your heart you fear no-one.  Some people mistake selfishness and possessiveness for love.  Love is unselfish yet it is self, for, if you do not love yourself you cannot Love others.  Yet, Love is not vain. Love is forgiving while still maintaining your moral principles; Love is compassion with firmness. Love is doing unto others as you would like them to do unto you and so it means standing up for your rights. Love is getting to know one’s true self, that is, knowing the Divine I in yourself and then learning to recognise that I also in others, so ultimately, knowing The Almighty Jah of Creation, Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I and I and I.

Love is Iternal while everything else fades; Love is Jah, Haile Selassie I  and I and I. Love is shedding tears for others, not for selfish reasons such as missing then for what they could do for you but instead, for what you cannot do for them, in righteousness, to help them out of their pains and misery and confusion.  Love is wanting Peace and Justice and Happiness for ALL.  “Knowledge paves the way to Love, and Love in its turn fosters overstanding, and leeds one along the path of Great common achievement.” #

Love is not lust and based on carnal desires.  Love is not that emotion brought to one’s being through frustration and a false sense of helplessness before the downpressors of Humanity; it is not submission or that feeling of inferiority to others because, this is an illusion.  Love has no colour, race, nor nationality, yet, Love begins at home, in I & I Unity.  Otherwise if it is expressed somewhere else and to others only, then it is but a sham.  Love created you and I to be One.  Love is cosmic and universal, and Love is  Iternal for Love is the Almighty Creator, Haile Selassie I & I & I, Jah, RasTafari.

 

# HIM Utterance

 

11. THE UNIVERSAL ITHIOPIAN ANTHEM

 

Ithiopia Thou Land of I & I Fathers

Thou Land where RasTafari loves to be

As the swift bee to hive suddenly gathers

Rastafari children are gathered to thee

With Our Green, Gold and Red floating over I & I

With our Emperor to shield I&I from wrongs

With Rastafari and our future before I & I

I & I hail Thee with chants and with songs.

 

CHORUS

Rastafari Bless our Negus, Negus I

Who keeps Ithiopia free (to advance)

To advance with Truth and Right (Truth and Right)

To advance with Love and Light (Love and Light)

With Righteousness leading

I & I haste to RasTafari and King

Imanity’s pleading, One RasTafari for I & I all.

 

O Iternal RasTafari of the ages

Grant unto I & I sons that lead

They Wisemind as given to I & I

When Rasta was sure in need

Thy Voice through the dim past has spoken

Ethiopians now stretch forth I & I  hands

And by Thee shall all barriers be broken

And Rastafari Bless I & I dear Fatherland

 

Ithiopia, the tyrants are falling

Who smote thee upon I & I knees

Thy children are heartically calling

From over Jah distant seas

Haile Selassie I  the Great One has heard I & I

He has noted our sighs and I & I tears

With His Spirit of  Love He has taught I & I

To be one all through the coming years

( Optional )

One RasTafari for I & I all, ina Ithiopia (repeat)

The Conquering Lion for I & I all, ina Ithiopia (repeat)

 

 

12. ILIVERANCE PRAYER OF RASTAFARI

 

Princes and Princesses must come out of Babylon

I & I  Ithiopians now stretch forth I & I hands and heart unto RasTafari*

O Thou Ivine Majesty, Thy Spirit come into I & I hearts

To dwell in the Path of Righteousness, help I & I to forgive

So that I & I may be forgiven

Teach I & I Love and Loyalty as it is in Mount Zion

 

Endow I & I with Thy Wisemind, Knowledge and Overstanding

to do Thy Will

Let Thy Blessing to I & I be: that the hungry be fed

The naked clothed, the sick nourished

The aged protected and the infants cared for.

 

Deliver I & I from the hands of I & I enemies so that I & I

may prove fruitful

Not only in this day, but also in these last days

When I & I enemies are past away and decayed

In the depth of the sea or in the depth of the earth

Or in the belly of the beast, or in the lake of fire

Give I & I all a place in Thy Righteous Kingdom forIver and Iver.

Haile I Selassie I,  Jah, RasTafari

 

* Psalms 68v31

 

 

FOR FURTHER KNOWLEDGE:

 

Reason with Niabinghi Rastafari Houses. EWF  INC

hold general meetings every other Monday at 8pm

 

FOR FURTHER READING:

 

The Autobiography of Emperor Haile Selassie 1, “My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress” (a) volume 1

translated by E Ullendorff, pub. Oxford. University Press;(b) vol.2, edited by Harold Marcus, translated by Ezaeel Gebissa; both published by; Research Associate’s School Times Publications

 

Holy Bible

 

Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey -(a)volumes 1and 2,

Publ. by Atheneum (NY);  (6) Vol.3,  pub. Collier-Macmillan

 

Beloved Land Afrika Centralises Kinship FOR I AND I

This book is amongst those of the first few to be both written and published by I and I, Rastafari, being first published in 1983.  You are, therefore, getting the essential doctrines direct, and not from ‘not-Rastas’ who most often seek to pollute our teachings with their own bias and prejudice against I and I (us).

 

Remember, though, that one cannot fully know Rastafari from a written book, but only from I and I, The Living Books.  Remember, too, that although Dreadlocks are a part of Rastafari, not everyone who wears dreadlocks is Rastafari.  True followers of Ras Tafari are recommended also by “the words of our mouth, the meditation of our hearts, and by the behaviour which we defend”.

 

So, whilst this book is but a flavour, I and I hope that this humble effort will be ‘appreci-loved’ by brethren and sistren all over the earth, as well as by everyone else who want to be honestly informed and illuminated from the heart of Rastafari.  Selah.

 

Haile Selassie I, RasTafari Liveth.

 

“ ...in a strange way Rastafari Livity was a good read, with language that sometimes seemed like poetry.”  - The Voice Newspaper (Oct. 13,1984)