The Alchemists of Kush
Page 47
M
M* Minister: “A minister is one who ministers. To minister is to care for and serve others.”
Maã: Justice; unalterable cosmic law.
Maã~kheru: 1. “Triumphant; vindicated.” 2. “Resurrected.”
Maafa: The European and Arab holocaust in Africa, including Atlantic and Pacific human, the subsequent genocidal military occupations of the continent, and the proxy wars of the neo-colonial period, whose combined death toll exceeds, conservatively, 80 million.
Maãt: 1. “Right, true, straight.” 2. The netjer of justice, represented as a woman with a feather (the Maãt feather) suspended above her head.
Manu: Mountain range west of the Holy River Nile.
Medu netjer: “Words divine.” Hieroglyphics.
Menfítu: Soldiers.
Meröe: A pyramid-building ancient civilisation of Sudan.
Mesnet: Any Alchemical base of operations (lit., “foundry”).
Mesnitu: Blacksmiths, i.e., followers of Hru of Behudet (the Lord of the Forge-City, Edfu).
N
N* Nature: “Nature is the universe, everything it contains, and the way it behaves.”
Narmer: Semi-mythical first king in the Archaic Period. He united of the Two Lands in a military victory recorded on the proto-hieroglyphic Narmer’s Palette, a bas-relief stone tablet. (Also, “Mena” and “Menes.”)
Nebt-het: Sister of Lady Aset, wife of Set, mother of Yinepu. Literally, Lady of the House. Called Nepthys in Greek.
Nefer: Good, happy, beautifully-spoken; divinely beautiful. Plural is neferu.
Netjer: 1. A “god,” or the name of a divine aspect, e.g., justice (Maãt), industry (Ptah), science (Jehutí), etc. 2. Holy or sacred.
Nile: 1. Hãpi, the largest river in North Africa, and lifeblood of Kemet. 2. In E-Town, the North Saskatchewan River.
Nisut: King.
Nome: A district of ancient Kemet which, in religious terms, had its own twinned region in heaven.
Noot: The sky netjer of Kemet.
Nub-Wmet-Ãnkh: 1. Lit, “Gold, fortifications, life.” Greeting. 2. “The Golden Fortress of Life” or “the Golden Fortress,” an alternate name for the Alchemists. 3. The oath forming the basis of Daily Alchemy, employing the ten Alchemical Numerals.
Nubian: 1. Literally, any member of the Nubian nationality of Sudan, found also in Egypt. 2. The language of the Nubians. 3. An Alchemist; one who has transmuted his Lead into Gold (nub is Ancient Egyptian for “gold,” as Nubia was rich in gold).
O
O* Orbit: “To orbit is to circle a body because of its superior mass and gravity, but both orbiter and orbited exert power over each other.”
P
P* Power: “Power is the ability to make things happen, meaning to create, build, replace, elevate, degrade, or destroy.”
Per-em-Hru: “The Book of Coming Forth By Day,” the Kemetic resurrection manual for the souls of the dead, recorded on papyrus and inserted into the coffins of the dead whose families could afford them.
Pharaoh: Hebrew version of Per-ãã, or “Great House.” See Nisut.
Professor X: Dr. Foday Xaasongaxango, a student of Cheikh Anta Diop and adept in Diop’s Shemsu-Hru. Acknowledged as the English translator of The Book of the Golden Falcon (unofficially credited to Diop), he may have written much or all of it.
Ptah: The netjer of construction, portrayed as a potter. Ptah-worship was centered in Het-Ka-Ptah (“House of the Ka of Ptah”), a name the Greeks turned into Aigyptos and the Anglo-Saxons rendered as Egypt.
Pyrite: 1. Iron sulfide (FeS2), or “fool’s gold.” 2. Any of the ten per cent of the human race who deceives and defrauds eighty per cent to control them so as to live in splendour with impunity.
Q
Q* Question: “To question is seek information so as to expand intelligence. Failing to question is to stagnate or destroy intelligence.”
Qebehsunuef: One of the four sons of Hru.
R
R* Revolution: “Revolution is revolving or total change internally or externally.”
Rã: The eagle-headed netjer, chosen by some priesthoods as the supreme netjer of the universe.
Rebarna: Modern Lebanon and nearby land, known also as Phoenicia or Canaan.
S
S* Simultaneous: “Simultaneous means existence or action of two or more things at the same time.”
Savage Lands, the: 1. The Delta, the brutal land of slavery and war, centre of the Destroyer’s empire. 2. Symbolically, any place of strife and misery.
Scroll: Any Alchemical document, whether brief enough to be printed and rolled into cigarette size, or large enough to fill chapters.
Set: Brother and murderer of Lord Usir, also called the Destroyer.
Shemsu-Hru: 1. “The Bodyguards (or, Followers) of Hru.” 2. The Alchemists.
Shenu or shen-ring: 1. In medu netjer, the rope-line encircling the names of kings and queens. 2. In Alchemy, any group circle, especially for reciting the Daily Alchemy.
Street Falcon: Any member of the E-Town based offshoot of the Alchemist Society.
T
T* Truth: “Truth means that which actually is, as opposed to lies, incorrect beliefs, fantasies or foolishness, and exists independently of thinkers.”
Ta-Setí: “The Land of the Bow.” Nubia.
Throne, the: A name for Lady Aset.
Transform: 1. Interjection of encouragement. 2. As a verb, a synonym for “understand,” as in “Can you transform that?”
Transformed: Interjection meaning “victory,” “justified,” or simply, “excellent.”
Two Lands, the: Ancient name Kemet, the state formed around 3400 BCE by southern king Narmer (Mena) by annexing the northern Delta kingdom.
Two Rangers: Hru and Yinepu, especially before coming under the guidance of Master Jehu.
U
U* Unite/Universal: “To unite is to bring together. Universal means existing throughout the universe, or throughout human affairs.”
Ujat: “The Eye of Hru” or Eye of God, the hieroglyph and amulet of a stylised falcon eye. In Kemetic mathematics, its various parts representing fractions ½, ¼, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64, giving a total of 63/64, implying a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and a progression towards infinity. Also spelled utchat, utjat and watchet.
Un-Nefer: Lord Usir following his resurrection, meaning “the beautiful being,” “the ever-joyful one,” or “the beautiful hare.”
Usir, Lord: The mythical founder of pre-historical Kemet who introduced law, agriculture and moral philosophy (the lost Instructions of Lord Usir) in neighbouring countries. Assassinated by his brother Set. With his wife, the Lady Aset, he posthumously sired son Hru. In the Duat, Lord Usir discovered the techniques of resurrection and revealed the Wisdom through his son and other mystics. Hru avenged his father to take the throne. Called Osiris in Greek.
V
V* Victory: “Victory means triumph over obstacles or enemies, internal or external.”
W
W* Wisdom: “Wisdom is the application of intelligence towards action and justice.”
Wanderers: The orphans and other displaced people in the Savage Lands, and a more compassionate term for Leadites.
Waset: Capitol of Kemet in Dynasty XI and most of Dynasty XVIII, except during the Ikh-en-Iten Revolt when the capitol was transferred to Iakhut-et-Iten. The Vatican of the ancient world. Called Thebes in Greek, Al Uqsor in Arabic and Luxor in English.
X
X* X-ray: “X-rays are short wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation produced when high-speed electrons strike solid targets. To X-ray is to look through opaque surfaces to see what is hidden within.”
Y
Y* Yam: “A yam is a tuber or root, the base of its plant, rich in sweetness and nutrients. The yam symbolises origins.”
Yimun: The hidden netjer (“The Mysterious One” or “The Hidden One”), spelled variously as Amen, Amon, Amun, Imen and Imun.
Yinepu: Cousin and a
lly of Hru, son of Set and Nebt-Het, Yinepu assists resurrection as a guide or guardian of the dead. His symbol is the black jackal. Called Anubis in Greek.
Z
Z* Zenith: “The zenith is the supreme or highest point in a sphere, opposite of the nadir.”
ABOUT
MINISTER FAUST
(Photo credit: Aaron Pedersen)
Minister Faust is a long-time community activist, writer, journalist, broadcaster, public speaker and martial artist in several disciplines.
As a member of E-Town’s anti-fascist movement in 1990, he and other youth marched on a Nazi skinhead gang house, the hub at that time for a series of violent assaults. Confronted there by skinheads with guns, Minister Faust held them back with nothing but the power of his words. Thus began a speaking career that has taken him across Canada and before crowds in the tens of thousands, including during the 2002-2003 peace movement against the illegal US war of aggression against Iraq that killed over a million people.
Minister Faust taught English Literature in E-Town junior high and high schools for a decade, and later worked as a mentor and trainer for the Keshotu Leadership Academy, an Africentric organisation whose manual he wrote.
A radio broadcaster since 1989, he hosts Africentric Radio (formerly The Terrordome), for which he’s interviewed luminaries such as Tariq Ali, Molefi Kete Asante, Martin Bernal, Noam Chomsky, Chuck D., Austin Clarke, Angela Davis, Karl Evanzz, Tom Fontana, Glen Ford, Nalo Hopkinson, Reginald Hudlin, Ice-T, Janine Jackson, Michael Parenti, Ishmael Reed, Gil Scott-Heron, Vandana Shiva, David Simon, Scott Taylor, and many more.
As a radio and print journalist, he’s gone as far as the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, DC, and to the Ain-al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, to collect stories and hear directly from people living and making history.
A maverick novelist increasingly described as one of the finest voices of his generation, Minister Faust is the author of the critically acclaimed The Coyote Kings, Book One: Space-Age Bachelor Pad, and the Kindred Award-winning Shrinking the Heroes.
He refers to his sub-genre of writing as Imhotep-Hop—an Africentric literature that draws from myriad ancient African civilisations, explores present realities, and imagines a future in which people struggle not only for justice, but for the stars.
He lives in Edmonton with his wife and daughters, where he also runs Canada’s top bean pie bakery, Desserts of Kush.
ABOUT
THE ALCHEMISTS OF KUSH
The ideas that went into this novel were gestating in my mind for more than twenty years. The seeds found soil when I began learning in the late 1980s about the Nation of Gods and Earths, also known as the Five Percenters, and sprouted shoots and leaves when I attended the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C.
Although the story in this novel’s “Book of Now” is inspired by the history of the NGE, I can’t stress enough that my story is far from a rigid parallel. Some members of the NGE, doubtless, will be offended by this book, and I’d like to assure them that doing so was never my plan.
The richest histories offer endlessly fascinating opportunities for allegories, and I’ve always loved allegories. I hope that Earths and Gods will take this book the way that some Muslim and Arab readers take Frank Herbert’s Dune (an allegory for the Arab Revolt in which T.E. Laurence participated)—not as the forensic photograph of a victim, but as the reflection of a face in a rippling pond.
Below is an excerpt from the list of resources that inspired this novel. If you’re interested in reading or viewing more about the ideas, personalities, and histories dramatised in The Alchemists of Kush, I hope you’ll find these sources enriching.
History of Kemet
Mario Beatty. Reflections on Cheikh Anta Diop. http://www.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3434087937070392047#
Martin Bernal. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilisation (The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985, Volume I). Rutgers University Press, 1991.
Cheikh Anta Diop. The African Origin of Civilisation: Myth or Reality? Lawrence Hill Books, 1989.
Shomarka Keita. Ancient Egypt, Its Neolithic History and its Sudanese & Saharan Connections. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoeELytDAFo
Richard Poe. Black Spark, White Fire: Did African Explorers Civilise Ancient Europe? Prima Lifestyles, 1999.
Myth, Manhood and Education
Robert Bly. Iron John. Perseus Books, 1990.
Wallis Budge. Egyptian Religion [1900]. Citadel Press, 1987. I include it here because it contains Plutarch’s rendering of the Passion of Usir, the Lamentations of Aset, and the Contendings of Set and Hru.
Geoffrey Canada. Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America. Bacon Press, 1998.
Clyde W. Ford. The Hero with an African Face: Mythic Wisdom of Traditional Africa. Bantam, 2000.
Jawanza Kunjufu. Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZzIx6aKqw
Joseph E. Marshall and Lonnie Wheeler. Street Soldier: One Man's Struggle to Save a Generation, One Life at a Time. VisionLines Publishing, 2000.
The Nation of Gods and Earths, AKA The Five Percenters
C’BS Alife Allah. Journal of Allah’s Five Percent. http://www.allahsfivepercent.blogspot.com
Saladin Quanaah Allah. ASIA: Allah School in Atlantis. http://www.atlantisschool.blogspot.com
Wakeel Allah. In the Name of Allah. A-Team Publishing, 2009.
Karl Evanzz. The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X. Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1993.
Karl Evanzz. The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad. Vintage, 2000.
Mattias Gardell. In the Name of Elijah Muhammad: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Duke University Press Books, 1996.
Michael Muhammad Knight. The Five Percenters. Oneworld, 2008.
Felicia M. Miyakawa. Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission. Indiana University Press, 2005.
Prince-A-Cuba. “Black Gods of the Inner City.” http://www.geocities.com/dre_wali/blackgods.htm
Ted Swedenburg. “Islam in the Mix: Lessons of the Five Percent.” http://www.comp.uark.edu/~tsweden/5per.html
The Music of
THE ALCHEMISTS OF KUSH
I’ve been a lover of a wide range of music my entire life, perhaps largely because of my mother’s diverse tastes. I grew especially to love the synergy of music and story I found in television and movies, and how some writers (especially Alan Moore in his landmark series Watchmen) could invoke music in a silent medium to comment upon their stories.
Like many writers, while I write, I play music constantly to inspire me. Sometimes the songs of my work-time soundtrack find themselves embedded in the stories themselves. So even when the narrative demanded that readers couldn’t know most of those selections (as with Shrinking the Heroes), music has been part of every novel and screenplay I’ve ever written.
The Alchemists of Kush contains reference to what I think is the largest number of songs in any of my published or yet-to-be-published manuscripts. Thanks to the linkability of ebooks (and typed urls in paper books), I can actually, finally, connect readers directly with music I love, and hopefully help musicians to sell a few mp3s and even some albums.
So please visit the music page of ministerfaust.com for videos of most of the songs in this book, plus purchase-links for each album. And I’d love to hear from you about your reactions to these songs, especially if these artists are new to you.
Praise for
Shrinking the Heroes
Originally published as From the Notebooks of Doctor Brain
WINNER
Carl Brandon Society Kindred Award 2008
SPECIAL CITATION
(Runner-Up) Philip K. Dick Prize 2008
CHARLES SAUNDERS, author of Imaro: “Pure satire . . . laugh-out-loud comedy. Superhero parodies have been done before. So have dysfunctional super-beings, ranging from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Fou
r to Watchmen. But nobody has done it as well as the Minister. If Richard Pryor had ever written science fiction, he might have come up with something like Shrinking the Heroes . . . . Minister Faust is shaping up to become a one-man New Wave in the SF genre.”