THE PURE SOURCE #146 - THE ANCESTRAL STREAM: MĀORI AND ETHIOPIAN SPIRITUAL FOUNDATIONS

An ancient connection

When we look back into our history, we often see our faith through a lens that was given to us by European teachers. But before those systems ever reached our shores, the original spiritual signal was already moving across the earth. In this post, we are tracing the footprints of Wairua Tapu back to some of the oldest Christian foundations on earth, specifically the ancient mountains of Ethiopia. We are exploring how our deep Māori understanding of the spiritual world matches up with their sacred ancestral stream.

The shared breath

For us as Tāngata whenua here in Taitokerau, the spirit is not an abstract concept or a set of strict rules written in a textbook. It is a living, breathing reality. It is the breath of life that connects us to the land, to our ancestors, and to each other. When we look at the ancient Ge’ez scriptures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, we find an identical understanding. They do not view the Holy Spirit as a distant force, but as the very life breath of creation that sustains the entire world.