July 25, 2015
the divine consciousness that I yam
ni infinitely grateful for the magic of growing vijiji,
blessings of he/artfully cocreating a world with courage, compassion
en responsibility to each other, captured in moments kama
riding with overflowing abundance ya upendo
October 19, 2011
Paukwa! Pakawa! There are stories we know en more that we’re relearning in de spaces between Imagine Native and Pan-Afreekan hadithi.What assumptions do we need to challenge in diasporic journeys from our true true homes to global vijijis in Tdot (Kobe Island)?
Hadithi? Hadithi? Who among us carry the sage secrets of loving? What is it we’re not (used to) seeing (anymore)? What’s the next level of thinking of we need to do? If our success was completely guaranteed, what bold steps might we choose in working on our own unity first?
Consider this hadithi bout de visionary in US….
SEVERANCE
Waiting. If you are sincere,
You have light en success.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
It furthers one to cross de great wota.
I Ching, “Waiting” (Hexagram 5)
Referring to de Greek mysteries, of which he was an initiate, Aristotle maintained that it was “ not necessary for the initiate to learn anything, but to receive impressions and to be put in a certain frame of mind by becoming ‘worthy’ candidates” (Eliade, 1967).
In other werds, it is not as important for you to master a certain body of knowledge about de vision quest as it is for you to be open about “impressions” (messages) that engender an inner attitude that claims: “I am a worthy candidate.” It is indeed necessary for you to become worthy of the next life stage. By de time you cross the threshold you must be capable of assuming de tasks en roles de new status will require.
From de moment you commit yourself, you begin to set your nyumba (house) in order, square yourself with your friends and loved ones, and review your former life as if it had come to an end. From de standpoint of severance, your life story or value system will stand in bold relief against de background of past events. You will recognise what is no longer meaningful to you – and what is. That which is still relevant will enrich de placenta, de yolk, upon which you will feed while you are in de “uterus” of de threshold passage. This placenta must have time to develop……
THE SACRED TIME
Now you stand alone at de gates of sacred saa (time). Before you lie de features of eternity.
By y/our own efforts you have become a worthy candidate. Now de cord binding you to your former maisha (life) must be severed. You will cut de cord by actually entering de passage. This is an auspicious and powerful moment.
An invisible door stands before you. This door opens beyond de former borders of your ego. In a literal sense, your border crossing will be undramatic. You will simply open de door and step through it. you may want to ritualise this crossing by paying formal respects to de spirits and life forms of dis sacred place, asking for safe passage en de blessing of vision……..
THE VISION
….De vision you seek, and need, can be many different tings. Vision is wisdom. Vision is insight into de nature of tings. Vision is de ability to see de future. Vision is de ability to dream. Vision is de surging upward of creative energy. Vision is one’s life work. Vision is a marrow of deep feeling, a knowing, a recognition of self, a realization of wot you can do. Vision is transcendent, mystical knowledge-cosmic consciousness. Vision is de sight of de sun rising in de east to answer de hope that another day will come. Vision is a a series of “ahas!” about wot your life has been and could be…
THE (BIO-) MYTH (OGRAPHICAL)
A mnyama is both animal and spirit. A mlima is both a mountain and a quest. A nyota is both a star en an angel. A direcshun walked is both a trail en de way. A ndoto is both a dream en a divine visitation. A mbu is both a mosquito en a messenger.
De hadithi is always different, depending on de life that is telling it. but no matter how de episodes differ, there is a basic, underlying similarity among them, a kind of archetypal plot or dynamic. This dynamic energy energizes countless heroic myths, ancient en modern, en stands at de head of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, en many other religions. Joseph Campbell (1970) identifies it as de “mono-myth.” (it be an ancient concept o…)
De mono-myth itself is a kind of story: and then de s/hero left everything behind en went alone to a sacred place on de body of de Great Mama. There the s/hero was tried by de monsters of hir life (or karma) en visited by a spirit guide, a malaika (an angel), God/dess, de Great Spirit. Through a long dark nite of de soul, de seeker was rewarded with wisdom, strength, en over standing. S/he was revived, reborn, inner eyes were opened, a vision was granted. But de main condition of de gift received was that de protagonist had to return to de mortal world with de vision of healing or regeneration.
Such is de basic mythical foundation of de vision quest. Likewise, de modern s/hero leaves everyting behind en goes off to a wild place on Mama Dunia. There s/he is tried through a long, hard time, seeking a glimpse of de visionary treasure. s/he returns with zawadis (gifs) to give away, seeds to sow.
In dis correspondence between mono-myth en vision quest lies de essence of de therapeutic formula that underlies all passage rites: “As in de rite of passage, so in life.” De mono-myth is not only de basic myth of de vision quest; it is also de basic myth of maisha. De vision quest merely provides de chance for modern individuals (heroes and heroines and two-spirited folk) to live dis basic plot in a formal ceremony and setting, matching their sense of who they are against archetypal motifs of de mono-myth….
THEN YOUR EYES (MACHO) WILL BE OPENED. YOU WILL SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO.
De gift to give, de trail to follow, is revealed to de s/hero when de eyes are opened en de quester sees with de eyes of eternity. De name of de zawadi is no secret (siri): de zawadi of upendo (love). But it is one ting to know love; it is another to see with de eyes of eternity.
The modern s/hero, living in a mythically impoverished culture, is nevertheless capable of experiencing mystical insight….
[Remixed en reposted with deep gratitude from The Book of The Vision Quest, Personal Transformation in The Wilderness by Steven Foster with Meredith Little]
What we look for beyond seeing
And call the unseen,
Listen for beyond hearing,
And call the unheard,
Grasp for beyond reaching
And call the withheld,
Merge beyond understanding
In a oneness
Which does not merely rise en give light,
Does not merely set en leave darkness,
But forever sends forth a succession of living
things as mysterious
As the unbegotten existence to which they return
– Lao Tzu, The Way of Life
Ase….
August 7, 2011
Sassafrass was running all thru herself lookin foh some way to get into her secrets en share, like Richard Wright had done en Zora Neale Hurston had done….de way de Lady gave herself, every time she sang.
Do Nothing till you Hear from Me
Pay no Attention to What’s Said
From out de closet came Billie, de Lady, all decked out in navy crepe en rhinestones. She was pinning a gardenia into her hair, when Sassafrass realised wot was happening.
De Lady sighed a familiar sigh. Sassafrass tried to look as calm as possible en said, “I sho I’m glad to see you – why you haven’t come to visit me since Mama used to put me to bed singing ‘God Bless The Child,’ en you would sit right on my pillow singing with her.”
De Lady smiled sort of haughty en insisted Sassafrass listen carefully to everyting she was going to say.
“It’s de blues, Sassafrass, dat’s keepin’ you from your writing, en de spirits sent me because I know all bout de blues….dat’s who I yam: Miss Brown’s Blues….” De Lady was holding a pearl-studded cigarette holder dat dazzled Sassafrass, who could hardly believe what she was hearing. De Lady went on en on. “Who do you love among us, Sassafrass? Ma Rainey, Mamie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Freddie Washington, Josephine, Carmen (DeLavallade), Miranda? Don’t you know we is all sad ladies because we got de blues, en joyful womben because we got our songs?
Make you a song, Sassafrass, en bring it out so high all us spirits can hold it en be in your tune. We need you, Sassafrass, we need you to sing as best as you can; that’s our nourishment, that’s how we live. But don’t you get all high en mighty ‘cause all us you love so much is hussies too, and we catch on if somebody don’t do us right. So make us poems en some stories, so we can sing a liberation song. Free us from all these blues en sorry ways.”
De Lady turned to de doorway on her right en shouted, “Come on, y’all,” en multitudes of brown-skinned dancing girls with ostrich-feather headpieces en tap shoes started doing
de cake-walk all around Sassafrass, who was trying to figure out de stitching pattern on their embroidered dresses, en trying to keep them from jumping up en shaking her ass when, in unison, de elaborately beaded womben started swinging their hips towards her, singing: SASSAFRASS IS WHERE IT’S AT, SASSAFRASS GOT A HIPFUL OF LOVE, A HIPFULOF TRUTH….SASSAFRASS GOTTA JOB TO DO, DUES TO PAY SO SHE COULD DANCE WITH US….WHOOEEE!
And all of a sudden de chorus line disintegrated….en Sassafrass gathered all there was that was mo to her than making cloth. Just as she was about to slip out of de room, Sassafrass turned to de Lady to capture jus a lil mo of de magic, en de Lady only murmured, 
“We need you to be Sassafrass ‘til you can’t hardly stand it….’til you can’t recognise yourself, en you sing all de time.”
……Sassafrass had made an appliquéd banner saying jus’ that, en hung it over de stove:
CREASHUN IS EVERYTING YOU DO
MAKE SOMETHING
De visiting Padrinos & Madrinos could be heard beginning de rites foh Shango’s day of birth. Caboe. Canta para Ebioso. De Abaqua. Drums & chanting ran through de lush backwoods of Louisiana.
Sassafrass liked to think de slaves would have been singing like dat, if de white folks hadn’t stole our gods. Made our god/desses foreign to
us, so de folks in Baton Rouge nevah came near those “crazy fanatic niggahs” out there.
Shango para icote
Shango para icote
O de mata icote
A la ba obaso icote
A la ba obaso icote…
Drums, drums. Drums, welcoming de faithful. Pulling them to move to dance…..
Hadithi? Hadithi? Hadithi njoo…
[kama] Remixed excerpts from Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, a kitabu written by Ntozake Shange
Molisa wa NyaKale 