Kung1 of the Kalahari. For the Kung, the concept of fire is used for healing. Richard Katz in his book Boiling Energy: Community Healing among the Kalahari Kung (1982), discusses in detail a healing dance that the Kung performs to help their bodies get into a trance-like state called kia. They reach this state by the activation of an energy that they call num. They say that num was given to them by the gods. It is a painful experience and is feared by the Kung. The cause of kia – the activated num – is said to boil fiercely within the person (Katz 1982: 41). Reaching the state of kia is a prerequisite for healing. Those who learned to heal, those that possess num, are called num kausi “masters, or owners of num.”
Num resides in the pit of the stomach and the base of the spine. The num in the healers heats up and becomes a vapor as a result of their continued energetic dancing. As they dance, their bodies become warm and they sweat profusely. This process is what they call “boiling num.” As the num “boils” it rises (gam) up the spine to a point approximately at the base of the skull, at which time kia results. This process is very similar to the Indian concept of Kundalini2 and the energy at the base of the spine that rises up the spine through levels of chakras until it reaches the crown chakra (the head) in which one arrives at a state of enlightenment. It may turn out that the origin of this philosophy originates with San people. Kundalini is often represented as a snake rising up the spine and often called “serpent power.” Many may recall the American soul group Earth, Wind and Fire’s song called Serpentine Fire which is based on this concept.
The num becomes stronger the hotter it gets. This warming up is aided by the healers physical exertion during the dance. It also becomes stronger (hotter) by actually coming into contact with fire; whether rubbing live coals in their hands and over their chest, or pushing their head into the fire. This process heats up the num to boiling and it vaporizes rising up the spinal column and induces kia. At that stage the num is at its greatest strength for healing.
The major difference between the Kung concept of boiling num and the Indian concept of kundalini is in how they both reach that transcendent state (kia/sahasrara): the Kung dance while the Indians meditate. It should be noted that among the Igbo of Nigeria, they have a term Ikedalani that is similar to Kundalini. According to Umeh (1997: 68) the Igbo too have a dance that they do during a masquerade celebration. On speaking of his grandfather (nicknamed Nwaakuleshi) who would perform at masquerade, he goes on to state:
The first outing of the masquerade was a whole day’s dance by the masquerade and its umuukwu/foot men (i.e. musicians and dancers) who were reminding the masquerade: Nwaakuleshi igbaa gbaa gbaa i suo n’ana i.e., Nwaakuleshi after dancing and dancing and dancing for a long while, you should pound your ike/energy/power on the ground, i.e., dance, descend and rest on the ground by effecting a recoil of your divine energy as Ikedalani that is at the base of your spine.
In other words, the Igbo have a divine energy coiled at the base of the spine they call Ikedalani that is activated during a long intense dance just like the Kung of the Kalahari.
Num is an energy that the healer “puts into” people in attempting to cure them. Once heated up, num can both induce kia and combat illness. Kia is thought of as an altered state of consciousness. Kia is more than an altered state of consciousness. I think of this state a little differently based on my familiarity with
African healing concepts. Before we can understand kia, we must examine what num is: not only among the Kung, but across Africa.
Num is the basis of the healing dance. The word num is often translated as “medicine,” but Katz (1982: 93) translates it as “energy.” I am in agreement with his assessment based on the nature of num lexically among the Kung and its possible cognates in other African languages. Num refers to medicine, sorcery, menstruation and power. It appears in inanimate things and among human beings. It is a neutral energy and its effects may be beneficent and maleficent (just like Ògún). The Kung believe that some num, such as that of the great god Gao Na, is especially strong. The word num itself carries the power of num. One Kung put it that if Gao Na were to come “near” to ordinary men, his num would kill them (ibid). Only the most powerful healers can approach Gao Na during their healing efforts and bargain with him to save a patient.
Num is invisible, though it can be seen and “picked up” by those experiencing kia. Otherwise, num is only known by its effects and actions. This energy force is not personalized or personified among the Kung. They say that no one can possess it exclusively nor control it completely. It is located only by its existence in a particular form. It can be a person, a song or an insect. In essence, num permeates all things. Its invisibility enhances its power. Num resides in the healers, their songs and even the fire which they dance around.
What is also relevant to our larger discussion is the fact that the Kung word for “to boil” refers not only to boiling num, but also to the boiling of water on the fire and the ripening of plants.3 Just as the num, which is dormant when cold, reaches its peak of available strength when boiling, so water becomes powerful when hot, and plant foods become nutritionally potent when ripe. The Kung even extends the concept to when females have reached menarch4 (Katz, 1982: 95). This is the first sign of “maturity” of “ripening” of the young woman. The Kung say that such women are now “ripe” for intercourse and impregnations. Here we see this fire philosophy among the Kung associated with growth, maturity and creation.
The Kung concept of num correlates in many respects with the Dogon concept of Nommo. Nommo even shares the same consonantal root (n-m-m) with num (n-m). Nommo is the life force which produces all life and influences ‘things’ in the shape of the word. Nommo can be seen as the divine Logos of the Greeks. The great Dogon sage Ogotommeli states that Nommo is “water and heat.” The vital force that carries the word issues from the mouth in a water vapour which is both water and word (Griaule 1948: 165). Nommo, therefore, is water and the glow of fire and seed and word in one (Jahn 1961: 124). It is my contention that the words num and nommo ultimately derive from words that mean “water” and “fire” as they are both seen in Africa as the sources of all life and vitality.
The element of water is often seen as “spirit” in African traditions. The human being’s true essence is spirit and it is formless and genderless like water. The numerous variations of water, with the -n- root, render as spirit or soul in many African languages with a slight alteration of vowels.
Bamana ni soul Djula ni soul
Sussu ni soul
Gola o-ngin, o-ngi soul
Sankrokofi ku-ni soul
Zulu ena spirit/soul, double
Ga-Asafo, E-Gbe won spirit
Common Bantu yene spirit, self
KiKôngo kini kia minika electronically radiated shadow (the double)
Yorùbá enia person, people
The spirit in African tradition is simply a spark of the infinite source of power of the Divine Creator. This concept of spirit and the soul has even survived in Indo-European languages.
Latin anima soul Latin animus spirit, courage Greek anemos wind Sanskrit anilos breath Irish anal breath
The energy of spirit is so vital to existence that it became synonymous with existence.
iKami un, unn to be, to exist
Yorùbá ni to exist
Wolof ni to be, to exist
Basa nene to be, to exist
Ewondo ne to be, to exist
Duala7 ne? Why exist? (interrogative form)
Kiswahili wana to be, to exist, to possess, to have being
Common Bantu ni, ne, na to be, to exist
The -n- root is shared across African languages with the core meaning of power and existence. This -n- base then becomes the root for the word for human being across Africa: PWS *ni/*nu (nitu, ntu, muntu/bantu). In discussing the varying components that make up the human being among the Mitsogho
more later
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