Ra Un Nefer Amen
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Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent. Trained originally as a concert pianist, composer, and music theoretician, Amen passed on opportunities in the music industry to devote time to the spiritual education and uplift of African people. To accomplish this goal, he has written and published several books on the subject of ancient Egyptian philosophy and spiritual culture, most notably Metu Neter Vol. 1 & 2 and the Metu Neter Oracle. Amen's unique insight into the spiritual philosophies of various ancient civilizations has made him a well recognized and respected author on the subject of spiritual cultivation. He is a leading authority and publisher of works dealing with ancient Egypt (Kemet) and its spiritual and cultural foundation of traditional Africa.
Ra Un Nefer Amen was born Rogelio Alcides Straughn on January 6, 1944 in the Central American country of Panama. His initial exposure to African culture came through his visits to the island of San Miguel where many enslaved Africans had escaped to after being brought to Panama in the 18th century by Spaniards to work in the gold mines. These Africans of primarily East and Central African descent have been able maintain their culture intact to date. Amen attended Panama's Conservatory of Music when he was six years old. He arrived in the United States on May 30, 1960 to continue his formal musical training and graduated from the Brooklyn High School for Boys in Brooklyn, New York in 1961. Upon graduating, Amen continued his formal training at Juilliard.
Ra Un Nefer Amen currently leads an international following as the Shekhem Ur Shekhem (Chief Priest and King) of the Ausar Auset Society headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. In 1984 he was selected by the Ashanti King of Agogo, Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong, to host the first Durbar (royal reception) for an African king ever held outside of Africa. Thus, in October 1985 the Shekhem Ur Shekhem Ra Un Nefer Amen hosted the Durbar for Asantehene Otumfuo Nana Opoku Ware II. In November of 1985, Amen attended the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the Ashanti Confederacy, at the invitation of the Asantehene in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa where he was enstooled as an Omanhene of the Ashanti on November 15th, 1985. During this visit Amen was also presented the Epoh Stool officially establishing an alliance between the Kingship of the Ashanti and the Kingship of Ausar Auset Society. He was further conferred the position of Paramount King under the title of Odeneho (King of Kings). Additionally, Amen was enstooled by Nana Kwame Akuoko Sarpong as co-ruler of Agogo State in Ghana on November 18, 1985. In his role as cultural liaison between African-Americans and the National Ghanaian House of Chiefs, the Shekhem Ur Shekhem, along with the Ghanaian community in the United States have sponsored Durbars for several other Kings of Africa, including Togbi Adeladza V, King of the Ewe; Nii Aumgi V, King of the Ga; Nana Adodankwa III, King of Okuapemman, and others. In 1986, Ra Un Nefer Amen was given a formal reception by President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana as an official guest to the dedication of the Nkrumah Mausoleum Memorial in Accra, Ghana. In 1991, Amen was the official guest of the Oni of Ife (Chief Priest of the Yoruba), Oba Okunade S. Olubuse in Nigeria, where he was the sole African-American dignitary to the first Ile Ife Reconstruction Project. He was also received by the Emir of Kano, His Royal Majesty Alhaji Ado Bayero.
[edit] Works
- Ageless Wisdom Guide to Healing: Health Teachings of the Ageless Wisdom
- An Afrocentric Guide to Spiritual Union
- Healing the Errors of Living
- Maat, The 11 Laws of God
- Metu Neter, Vol. 1: The Great Oracle of Tehuti and The Egyptian System of Spiritual Cultivation
- Metu Neter, Vol. 2: Anuk Ausar – The Kamitic Initiation System
- Not Out of Greece: The Origins of Logic, Mathematics, and Science
- Tree of Life Meditation System
- Tree of Life Qi Gong, Vol. 1: Balancing Heaven and Earth
- Meditation Techniquies of the Kabalists, Vedantins and Taoists
- The Realization of Neter Nu