Over the decades there has been much talk in higher education of ‘raising the aspirational levels of black students’. My own experience, especially post-crisis in 1990, indicated that it is the continued lack of a culture of origin post-slavery, providing primary socialisation, which is the problem affecting the perceived lower aspirational levels of ‘black’ Caribbean students. Acting on this insight, I pursued professional identity/practice development as a spiritual path in achieving greater levels of life attainment in service to other DoEAs. It is during this period that I came across the practice of African-Centred scholars in the US of introducing their students to ‘The Divine Essence in Your Name’ as shared below (I am no longer able to locate this article on-line) and as a result am sharing my saved copy (The Drum, 1999) below:
The Divine Essence in Your Name
THE ANCIENTS RECOGNIZED that to know the name of something was to have knowledge and power over it, but it implied knowing all aspects of the name. Our individual names contain much power, and if we come to “know” them properly, we can discover much to release our spiritual energies more effectively into our physical lives. The meaning, the sounds, the rhythms, the nature of the letters and their combinations, all disclose secrets about the individual’s essence past and present, physical and spiritual. We are an integration of past energies and experiences, and the potential creativity within our personalities is reflected within the name we have taken upon us for this incarnation.
Our names reflect the energy signature the energy patterns we have come to unfold, expand, and overcome within this lifetime. Numerology and nameology are based upon the idea that each soul comes into the world to learn certain lessons and achieve certain goals to round out its overall development and propel its evolvement. The problem arises when the soul takes upon itself the physical vehicle.
In the process of reincarnation, our true essence must slow its intensity and vibration down to the point at which it can integrate with the physical vehicle it has chosen. To do this it builds bands of energy about it — what is often termed subtle bodies. These bands of energy slow the vibration down so that our physical vehicles do not “burn up” in the process of integration, and they filter out the intense energy vibrations so that we can function and learn what we most need to learn while in the physical.
This filtering, along with the density of the physical body, causes us to lose much contact with our higher essence and consciousness. Our soul though, ‘in its infinite wisdom, realized that the shock and density of physical form would create this problem, so it makes sure there are some built-in “reminders.” It chooses a time and place of incarnation in which the universal energies can work in our lives to provide the learning circumstances, and it chooses a name whose vibration will serve as a catalyst for certain energies to play upon us throughout the incarnation. The soul knows that the letters and sounds and numerological correspondences of its particular name ties one to specific archetypal energies that it can respond to, consciously or unconsciously. In this manner, we set events and energies into play within our lives through our name.
The letters, the meaning, the sounds, and the configurations of the name you have taken upon yourself communicate with your soul essence in a very real and subtle manner. These subtle energy communications do not rule us, even though they can strongly affect how we respond to life circumstances. We always have free will. We do need to understand what kind of communications they are so that we can more consciously direct them. By learning how to use our name as a communicator with the soul, we can manifest the energies of the soul more powerfully. We can begin to understand the rhythms and patterns of events playing themselves out within our lives. We can initiate the process of unleashing our soul potential to create greater fulfilment, prosperity, love, joy and creativity. We can take in hand the divine process of accelerated initiation and heightened consciousness.
Our name gives a true indication of our purpose in this incarnation. It indicates the goals, the tools, and the handicaps, and it gives us information as to why we came into being on this planet at this time, what lessons we have chosen to teach ourselves, what gifts and abilities we have come to unfold, as well as some of the obstacles we will have to learn to overcome. When we understand this, and then learn to direct the communications with the soul from a conscious level, all life opens up to us.
The Drum – Spring 1999