Many of the facts presented resonate with me. But one in particular inspires this reflection. Swimme illustrates how the origination of earth is more accurately explained by the ignition of fire, as opposed to a “Big Bang,” and he refers to the stars as our ancestors! As Swimme explains how stars combust and their particles actually become us, illustrations that depict how the stars’ significance has been symbolized throughout history in art and story capture viewers’ attention. What an honoring of mythology in the ontological context of its meaning to culture and collective identity! To hear this reference outside sources of African cosmology shocked me into the integrity and credibility of the film’s content. More significant though, for me personally, was the “remembrance” and meaning generated from the statement, “the stars are our ancestors.” Allow me to share two cosmological stories here, as derived from indigenous African societies. First, for the Dagara [of West Africa]:
cosmology begins with the story of creation. In the beginning there was no earth as we know it. In its place was a burning planet, a ball of fire combusting at high speed… Fire is present in everything, and everything needs fire. It was not until this moving and burning sphere encountered a huge body of water that things began to change… The shock resulting from the collision of fire and water not only slowed the combustion process, but also chased fire into the underworld, leaving the surface as a hot steamy place, fertile for the breeding of all kinds of life forms. This surface, hospitable to life, is what is known as earth...
The story, taken from Malidoma Somé’s book, The Healing Wisdom of Africa, goes on to explain the significance of water in the development of life on earth.
Secondly and according to Queen Afua in Sacred Woman: A Guide to Healing the Feminine Body, Mind and Spirit, the people of Kemet, better known as Egypt:
viewed the Creator as the undifferentiated One/All-Divine from which all life emanates. However, NTR [neter or netcher] has many wondrous divine attributes, and all of these manifesta-tions-the NTRU [neturu or netcheru]-are aspects of Its whole-ness…
The [Kemetic people] believed that within the heavenly realm the presence of the Divine is reflected in the balanced worship of NTR-the Mother/Father Creator, where both aspects in One are given equal respect… They saw Nature and their environment as an expression of NTR…
The aspect of Netcher that the film reminded me of is Nut, as she is the “cosmic womb.” Nut gives birth to all the “fiery orbs-stars, planets and constellations.” She is visually represented as a healing, life-giving mother whose body arches over to nurture life on earth with the milk of her breast. She is symbolized by a blue, starry sky. The spirit and energy of Nut dwelled upon my sacred alter last spring as I performed Queen Afua’s 27-day purification and rejuvenation ritual for womb healing.
As I sat through the images in the film of stars and starry nights, I was reminded of recent nights in Jamaica. On that beautiful, yet ramshackled Caribbean island, where I witnessed, through my husband’s reaction to the land erosion and “development” of his home town, the harrowing effects of modern man using nature to suit his needs, I stood – mesmerized and entranced – under the most brilliant and multitudinous stars a night sky can hold. I recall the awe, the beauty, the vastness of the universe’s self-organizing!
Two weeks after our return to the states, I saw that same bright, starry vision in my mind’s eye. As my husband and I generated the heat that erupts from constant motion in rhythm and our cosmic bodies organized themselves to create of collision of fire and water, I conceived! Almost twelve weeks later, life is expanding within my womb – in the same fashion that life perpetually expands within the womb of our awesome universe!
Journey of the Universe Film & Companion Book will be available for Release July 1, 2011. The 13-part Educational Series will be available for Release July 20, 2011.
To purchase a copy, find a local screening, or to view the trailer online, please visit: http://www.journeyoftheuniverse.org.
Arden maybe reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .