Greetings! I would like to welcome everyone to the Art of Ninzuwu blog page. If this is your first time here, please take this opportunity as a chance to review some of our previous articles and do not hesitate in sharing some of your experiences and insights by posting a comment. We wish you all the best in your spiritual endeavors. Have a great day!
Johuta is a term that appears exclusively in Ninzuwu metaphysics that has many expressions. Popularly, among Ninzuwu Priests and Priestesses, it means the “invocation of the spirit of life” in Sanskrit, as found in the article Understanding the Rite of Johuta the Mirror, The term Johuta, however, has many expressions that are revealed to the Initiate as he/she moves up the initiatory ladder, as it is with other terminology appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow itself.
Johuta is also a term associated with the “divine spark” within man, commonly referred to as The Crow. In the Editor’s Notes, appearing in the Ivory Tablets of the Crow, the Crow is equated with “the Soul of the Adept, the Inner Sun.” The Shaman Between Worlds by R. E. Day Jr. gives us a clear definition of the teaching of the divine spark that appears in both Western and Eastern mystical traditions. The author states the following in the work cited:
“The purpose of this initiatory process is for the soul to come into conscious union with the spirit…The best understanding of the human spirit comes from the image of the Great Spirit in manifestation as Godhead, as the central Spiritual Sun, of which each human spirit is a divine spark. Each human being at the most original and basic level is spark of this divine fire, and the aware, self-conscious identification with this divine spark is every human’s ultimate goal. Taoist tradition holds that one “breath” of this divine fire can make what is dead and rotting new and whole again.”
We find similar thoughts, as those expressed by the author cited above, in the article entitled, The Art of Ninzuwu History Class Part 1: The Divine Spark Within:
“The Birth of the Crow is a universal process. It is simply recognizing the divine seed of consciousness within ourselves. This “divine spark” is known by many names among many nations, but essentially it is the same description of the quality of the creative source that exits within us. In the Art of Ninzuwu, this “divine spark” of consciousness is known as The Crow. We will discuss this more in detail as we move on in our discussion, but first let us talk about the divine nature residing within us.”
The idea of the Divine Spark, or the fact that man contains within himself a seed of his creative source, is why Johuta the Crow is described in the Birth of the Crow, the first section appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow, as a “daughter of heaven” and then later as the “Queen of the Stars.”
Not only does Johuta represent the soul of the adept, but also Takama-ga-hara, or heaven itself. It is for this reason that we also find in the Editor’s Notes, appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow, that Johuta is described as a Sun Goddess and as an attribute of Amaterasu Ohkami. In the term Johuta we find the formula for the cultivation of the divine spark and re-connection with Takama-ga-hara, as the Sun is often seen as a lens of focus to connect with the higher worlds, a reason why Amaterasu Ohkami is seen as a mediating force also in prayer in the many esoteric Shitno teachings and also that h=the sun is a great purifier, an essential rite in Shinto cosmology. It should be noted also that Johuta is associated with the heaven trigram in the Yi Jing Apocrypha of Genghis Khan.
Purification is an essential part of Shinto cosmology, whether in ritual or an esoteric sense. Heavy importance is place on such because in one aspect it is considered that the more we strip away the layers of pollution clouding our “mirror,” or Johuta, the more we can allow our inner kami to shine out brightly into the world. Praying: The Rituals of Faith by Lucinda Mosher, states:
“We send and receive vibration to and from the kami, and we offer respect,” the Rev. Barrish explains. Beyond this ritual, daily acts of purification are the very essence of Shinto. “Physical cleaning — house-cleaning — is pivotally important,”
The importance of purification is seen in Ninzuwu cosmology by the very word Johuta itself. In Japanese the term Johuta consists of two components, joh (浄), meaning purification, like in the term Johrei, and uta (歌), which means song. Therefore, the term Johuta (浄歌) in Japanese means purification song, or song of purification, a distinct reference to many of he metaphysical practices performed by practitioners of the Art of Ninzuwu.
Johuta is a term that appears exclusively in Ninzuwu metaphysics that has many expressions. Popularly, among Ninzuwu Priests and Priestesses, it means the “invocation of the spirit of life” in Sanskrit, as found in the article Understanding the Rite of Johuta the Mirror, The term Johuta, however, has many expressions that are revealed to the Initiate as he/she moves up the initiatory ladder, as it is with other terminology appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow itself.
Johuta is also a term associated with the “divine spark” within man, commonly referred to as The Crow. In the Editor’s Notes, appearing in the Ivory Tablets of the Crow, the Crow is equated with “the Soul of the Adept, the Inner Sun.” The Shaman Between Worlds by R. E. Day Jr. gives us a clear definition of the teaching of the divine spark that appears in both Western and Eastern mystical traditions. The author states the following in the work cited:
“The purpose of this initiatory process is for the soul to come into conscious union with the spirit…The best understanding of the human spirit comes from the image of the Great Spirit in manifestation as Godhead, as the central Spiritual Sun, of which each human spirit is a divine spark. Each human being at the most original and basic level is spark of this divine fire, and the aware, self-conscious identification with this divine spark is every human’s ultimate goal. Taoist tradition holds that one “breath” of this divine fire can make what is dead and rotting new and whole again.”
We find similar thoughts, as those expressed by the author cited above, in the article entitled, The Art of Ninzuwu History Class Part 1: The Divine Spark Within:
“The Birth of the Crow is a universal process. It is simply recognizing the divine seed of consciousness within ourselves. This “divine spark” is known by many names among many nations, but essentially it is the same description of the quality of the creative source that exits within us. In the Art of Ninzuwu, this “divine spark” of consciousness is known as The Crow. We will discuss this more in detail as we move on in our discussion, but first let us talk about the divine nature residing within us.”
The idea of the Divine Spark, or the fact that man contains within himself a seed of his creative source, is why Johuta the Crow is described in the Birth of the Crow, the first section appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow, as a “daughter of heaven” and then later as the “Queen of the Stars.”
Not only does Johuta represent the soul of the adept, but also Takama-ga-hara, or heaven itself. It is for this reason that we also find in the Editor’s Notes, appearing in The Ivory Tablets of the Crow, that Johuta is described as a Sun Goddess and as an attribute of Amaterasu Ohkami. In the term Johuta we find the formula for the cultivation of the divine spark and re-connection with Takama-ga-hara, as the Sun is often seen as a lens of focus to connect with the higher worlds, a reason why Amaterasu Ohkami is seen as a mediating force also in prayer in the many esoteric Shitno teachings and also that h=the sun is a great purifier, an essential rite in Shinto cosmology. It should be noted also that Johuta is associated with the heaven trigram in the Yi Jing Apocrypha of Genghis Khan.
Purification is an essential part of Shinto cosmology, whether in ritual or an esoteric sense. Heavy importance is place on such because in one aspect it is considered that the more we strip away the layers of pollution clouding our “mirror,” or Johuta, the more we can allow our inner kami to shine out brightly into the world. Praying: The Rituals of Faith by Lucinda Mosher, states:
“We send and receive vibration to and from the kami, and we offer respect,” the Rev. Barrish explains. Beyond this ritual, daily acts of purification are the very essence of Shinto. “Physical cleaning — house-cleaning — is pivotally important,”
The importance of purification is seen in Ninzuwu cosmology by the very word Johuta itself. In Japanese the term Johuta consists of two components, joh (浄), meaning purification, like in the term Johrei, and uta (歌), which means song. Therefore, the term Johuta (浄歌) in Japanese means purification song, or song of purification, a distinct reference to many of he metaphysical practices performed by practitioners of the Art of Ninzuwu.
