This week I have said this over and over and over and…….!

This week I have been trying to get an essay written, a tractor towed home, a mammoth pile of sleeping bags and blankets washed (but more about why all the blankets later!) as well as all the usual stuff…shopping done, care for my eldest daughter, housework stuff, looking after the animals etc etc.

I still can’t quite believe that I should be doing an essay, that’s the problem. What was I thinking, signing up for a degree?

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Kebra Negast

53. How the Wagon was given to ETHIOPIA And they halted by GÂZÂ, the city of the mother of the king, which SOLOMON the king had given to the Queen of ETHIOPIA when she came to him. And from there they came in one day to the border of GĔBĔṢ. (EGYPT), the name of which is “MESRÎN”. And when the sons of the warriors of ISRAEL saw that they had come in one day a distance of thirteen days’ march, and that they were not tired, or hungry, or thirsty, neither man nor beast, and that they all [felt] that they had eaten and drunk their fill, these sons of the warriors of ISRAEL knew and believed that this thing was from God. And they said unto their king, “Let us let down the wagons, for we have come to the water of ETHIOPIA. This is the TAKKAZÎ which floweth down from ETHIOPIA, and watereth the Valley of EGYPT”; and they let down their wagons there, and set up their tents.

And the sons of the warriors of ISRAEL went and drove away all the people, and they said unto [DAVID] their king, “Shall we tell thee a matter? Canst thou hold it [secret]?” And the King said unto them, “Yes, I can [hold it secret]. And if ye will tell it to me I will never let it go forth or repeat it to the day of my death.” And they said unto him, “The sun descended from heaven, and was given on SINAI to ISRAEL, and it became the salvation of the race of ADAM, from MOSES to the seed of JESSE, and behold, it is with thee by the Will of God. It is not through us that this hath been done, but by the Will of God; it is not through us that this hath been done, but by the Will of Him that fashioned it and made it hath this happened. We wished, and God hath fulfilled [our wish]; we agreed concerning it, and God made it good; we held converse [concerning it], and God performed; we meditated [upon it], and God devised the plan; we spoke, and God was well pleased; we directed our gaze, and God directed it rightly; we meditated, and God hath justified. And now God hath chosen thee, and is well pleased with thy city, to be the servant of the holy and heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God; and it shall be to thee a guide for ever, to thee and thy seed after thee if thou wilt keep His command and perform the Will of the Lord thy God. For thou wilt not be able to take it back, even if thou wishest, and thy father cannot seize it, even if he wisheth, for it goeth of its own free will whithersoever it wisheth, and it cannot be removed from its seat if it doth not desire it. And behold, it is our Lady, our Mother and our salvation, our fortress and our place of refuge, our glory and the haven of our safety, to those who lean upon it.”

And AZÂRYÂS made a sign to ÊLMEYÂS, and he said unto him, “Go, beautify, and dress our Lady, so that our King may see her.” And when AZÂRYÂS had said this, King DAVID was perturbed and he laid both hands upon his breast, and he drew breath three times and said, “Hast thou in truth, O Lord, remembered us in Thy mercy, the castaways, the people whom Thou hast rejected, so that I may see Thy pure habitation, which is in heaven, the holy and heavenly ZION? With what shall we requite the Lord in return for all the good things which He hath done for us? there being with Him no glory and praise! He hath crowned us with His grace, so that we may know upon earth His praise and may all serve Him according to His greatness. For He is the Good One to His chosen ones, and unto Him belongeth praise for ever.” 

And King [DAVID] rose up and skipped about like a young sheep and like a kid of the goats that hath sucked milk in abundance from his mother, even as his grandfather DAVID rejoiced before the Tabernacle of the Law of God. He smote the ground with his feet, and rejoiced in his heart, and uttered cries of joy with his mouth. And what shall I say of the great joy and gladness that were in the camp of the King of ETHIOPIA? One man told his neighbour, and they smote the ground with their feet like young bulls, and they clapped their hands together, and marvelled, and stretched out their hands to heaven, and they cast themselves down with their faces to the ground, and they gave thanks unto God in their hearts.

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Reasoning

Command

Joshua 1 v8
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt
meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Will

Psalm 68 v11
11 The Lord, Emperor Haile Selassie I, gave the word: great was the
company of those that published it.

Desire

Deuteronomy 29 v29
29 The secret things belong unto the LORD, Emperor Haile Selassie I,
our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Wish

Isaiah 56 v6-7
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD,
Emperor Haile Selassie I, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, Emperor Haile Selassie I, to be servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my
covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be
accepted upon mine alter; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.

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The Book of Enoch: Chapter 7

1 And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms 2 and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. And they 3 became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three thousand ells: Who consumed 4 all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against 5 them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and 6 fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.

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I bought myself a copy of ‘The Promised Key’ recently and have been reading it. I will bring it in with me when the group starts again so you can have a look at it, but for now I have found an online copy on the website ‘sacred-texts.com‘. Here it is, along with a copy of the title page and the introduction. I thought, like the Book of Enoch and the Kebra Negast (although this is much shorter), I would put in a chapter a week.

This is a proto-Rastafarian tract by Leonard Howell, a Jamaican preacher. Published around 1935, this is obviously an edited, much shorter, version ofThe Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy, without the stream-of-consciousness language, long opaque abbreviations, and repetition. Most significantly, the identities of ‘King Alpha and Queen Omega’ were transposed from Fitz Balintine Pettersburg and his wife as in the Royal Parchment Scroll, to Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Astaw. This was one of the key innovations of the Howellites, and is today an article of faith of Rastafari.

In 1933, Howell started to preach that the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (Ras Tafari) was the Messiah, that Black people were the chosen people, and would soon be repatriated to Ethiopia. He soon attracted the attention of the colonial authorities, and was arrested in December 1934 for sedition. In March of 1934 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment, during which he apparently wrote The Promised Key. After he was released in 1936, he published a newspaper called “The People’s Voice”. In 1954 his commune was raided and much literature, including copies of this book, were burned. Howell was found dead under suspicious circumstances in February 1981.

Chapter 1…….

The Mystery Country

I wish to state to you my dear Readers, that Ethiopia is a Country of great contrasts largely unexplored and is populated by Black People whose attitude towards this so called Western civilization has not changed within the last six thousand years.

The people are Christians while retaining Primitive customs. The result is that the Black People of Ethiopia are extraordinarily blended into a refined fashion that cannot be met with in any other part of the world.

In 1930 the Duke of Gloucester undertook one of the most interesting duties he had been called upon to execute up to this date. The occasion was the Coronation of His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the conquering Lion of Judah, the Elect of God and the Light of the world.

The Duke was to represent his father The Anglo-Saxon King. The Duke handed to His Majesty Rastafari the King of Kings and Lord of lords a Scepter of solid gold twenty seven inches long, which had been taken from the hands of Ethiopia some thousand years ago.

The Duke fell down on bending knees before His Majesty Ras Tafari the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and spoke in a loud voice and said, “Master, Master my father has sent me to represent him sir. He is unable to come and he said that he will serve you to the end Master.” See Psalm 72: 9 to 11 verses, also see Gen. 49 chap. 10 verse.

On one side of the Scepter was inscribed Ethiopia shall make her hands reach unto God, and on the other side the King of Kings of Ethiopia,  the top of the shaft was finished with a seal and above was a clen cross in which a single carbuncle was set.

The Scepter was a magnificent piece of workmanship and had been designed from an historic piece in which the special ceremonies of His Royal Highness of Ethiopia, Earth’s Rightful Ruler.

The Duke also handed to Queen Omega the Empress of Ethiopia a Scepter of gold and ivory. The shaft is in the form of a spray of lilies and at the top a spray of lilies in bloom.

It was a brilliant ceremony, the church began to be filled. The Ethiopians were brilliant in special robes having discarded their precious white robes, and wore Jewels of great value.

The men’s swords were being heavily ornamented with gems. On their heads they wore gold braided hats, in which the covered lion’s manes were to be seen. In contraction then were the solar note struck by the women who were heavily veiled, and wore heavy cloaks.

His and Her Majesty King Alpha and Queen Omega the King of Kings drove to the Cathedral in a Coach drawn by six white Arab horses.

Queen Omega in a Robe of Silver and the escort on mules wearing lion’s skin over their shoulders, forming into procession outside the Cathedral.

King Ras Tafari and Queen Omega the Royal pair, the escort and a line of Bishops and Priests entered the guest rank obeisance.

King Alpha sitting on his Throne homage was done to him by the Bishops and Priests fulfilling the 21st. Psalm. The ceremony took 10 days from the second day to the eleventh day of November 1930.

King Alpha was presented with the orb spurs, and spears and many other mighty emblems of His High Office, Dignitaries of the world power presented King Alpha with the wealth of oceans.

The Emperor attended to most of his preparations for the reception of his thousands of guests himself, and day after day could be seen rushing about in his scarlet car seeing how the white laborers were getting on with the new road he had ordered that the lawns he had laid down be attended to and that the extension of the electric lights throughout the city were being hurried on.

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Psalm 8

¹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a strongholdagainst your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?^[c]

⁵ You have made them^[d] a little lower than the angels^[e]
and crowned them^[f] with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their^[g] feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

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Prayer

Blessed Be God (“yetbarak”)

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
Who created great things and wonders,
marvellous, the only holy One;
and blessed and sanctified be the name of His glory,
holy and blessed forever.
And the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,
May it be, may it be, one is His name.
Holy holy holy Lord of hosts
Your glory fills the whole world. Amen. Amen. Amen.

(From Earth, Culture, Roots website)

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Someone is in bad books in my house…..

My room is almost finished finally (only taken forty thousand months!)…it has an antique fireplace put in, its painted so dark navy that its almost black, new curtains. I’m really pleased with it. I bought a really posh duvet cover to finish the room off.

A member of my household then managed to stand a tin of dark blue paint with the lid only 1/2 on, on my bed which had my brand new, only using it for the 2nd time, never-had-as-posh-in-my-life-before, only-bought-it-cos-it-was-in-a-very-good-sale white duvet cover on it. Guess what happened next?

I will give you a clue…I’m looking into whether this counts as grounds for divorce! 😊

I have now washed the duvet at least a million times, I have many different chemicalled it and it still has a big blue stain. It’s a good thing I’m fairly calm about life and sort of, after a whole nights sleep (under a not stained, but not anywhere near as posh duvet cover) find it almost funny.

The heap of blankets and sleeping bags in the wash….on Wednesday it was one of the ‘spare teenager’s’ 16th birthday and he, my son and another friend decided it would be fun to stay in our hay barn for the night. Wednesday….the day when the gales, cold weather and rainstorms were due to hit. I bought lots of party food to keep them company. They found ALL the blankets, dog blankets, carrimats and sleeping bags in the house (a lot!) and trooped across to the barn with their bedding and feast and set up camp. You probably heard the gales that night, they were quite intense. We lost glass from the other barn windows, lots of things were in a different place to where they should be by the morning and the boys were a bit chilly, but they didn’t give in, they stayed out for all of it!

We’ve got a puppy with a headache here. Anya (Boiing) managed to run absolutely full pelt into a metal five bar gate and send herself flying. She is daft. She’s been exercised in that field pretty much every day of her life and she knows that gate is there. She has a cut under her eye and a huge bump on her head. She’s been feeling very sorry for herself and has been very quiet. Usually we reckon she’s 1/2 dog, 1/2 kangaroo but she was a quiet, mostly well-behaved puppy that kept all 4 paws on the floor last night. Here’s a picture of her (without her bumpy head)…

Blesssings,

Elizabeth