relearning healing journeys (with growing vijiji)

kuna hadithi najua, about how the earth floats in space on the back of a turtle…

en Obatala came down with the chicken en there was (Ile) Ife,

usanii ya preparing sacred space

every time someone tells this story it changes,

sometimes, it’s Nambi that came (back) to Earth with Kintu, the chicken en the millet that she went back home to get.

in others, Mwedzi (moon) na Hweva (morningstar) become lovers en co-parent the first sacred village into thriving manifestation

oshun na awos

leo, dis hadithi ni how spirit-led/to go (back) to Kuba,

harvesting de blessings of we global panafrikan village,

in a different kind of world.

infinitely grateful for (relearning) healing journeys

akina dada, mama na awos wa Afreeka

so grateful for time for rest and ritual, surrounded with blessings in abundance.

give thanks for de synergy of spirit circles in turtle island, across the diaspora of righteousness en on the afreekan shores.

healing circles kama

the last ijumaa ya februari, pamoja (con nuevo familia) tulifika kwa mto, in ritual and with offerings for oshun.

enroute

na in honour of harvesting synergy ya sacred leadership en #PanAfricanArtsMovements.

sharing our hadithi; true true stories of resiliency, renewal en reclaiming a liberatory kind of powah.

.

in spaces between rituals & feasts for oshun y yemoya,

ubuntu.

all we are is love, love, upendo, amor en stardust.

kijiji feast for yemoya

 

Ancient Hirstory 104

God/desses of de Metutu [as re/presented in de Metu Neter Vol.1  The Great Oracle of Tehuti and the Egyptian System of Cultivation, a kitabu re/written by Ra Un Nefer Amen] remixed

1.       Maat aka. Aje Chagullia, Lakshmi, Tzadki-El….

She likes aloes en anise and….walks with a papyrus sceptre. She achieves abundance. Maat’s sceptre fuses divine law with de abundance that follows from living it. Its color, green, symbolises abundance and fruitfulness, while de papyrus, which was used for writin’, symbolises de book of de law. She realises that even her enemies are integral parts of de whole; en thus works en shares with them.

Seshat raises her consciousness to de hall of de Metu Neter en realises the ultimate unity of all things. There are no irreconcilable opposites in de world. This is de source of undaunted optimism, faith, en inner joy which reveal themselves in a peaceful genuine smile en relaxed (Hetep) state of being in de midst of setbacks en de greatest of external difficulties.

Maat (de divine law) is de food en drink of Ra (de Life-force). She nourishes her Ra with de divine law, en gives endlessly of her love (shares seeking nothing in return). There is no end to her worldly fortune as her giving is answered from de depths of Nut.

Perseverance in adhering to a belief system based on the cosmological arrangement en synthesis of divine laws, such as achieved through de Tree of Life, leads to success in all undertakings, as de view of unity that is concealed in de midst of de municipalities that life presents to us, is neva lost.

A collection of wise sayings, en divine laws, however true cannot save us, if they are not arranged into an integral system of guiding us in our day to day existence. We have seen how de abstract analogies re/presented in dis blog, especially de symbols of de Tree of Life, serve to unify specifics across general categories. Unless de elements making up our belief system (whether secular, or religious) are unified in dis manner, they become enslaving agents of dogma, instead of vehicles of salvation…..

Biological Correspondences

Physiology: Like Venus, Jupiter is responsible for de conservashun, preservashun, en expansion of de life-force en spiritual powah! It is de establisher of physiological equilibrium en fruitfulness, hence, it is de “Fortuna major” (major fortune) en greater healing force of de body. Its action is centered in de liver where it is in charge of de producshun en storage of blood suga, breakdown of protein waste into urea, etc., en the creashun en regulation of sex hormones. It also exerts a major influence on de arterial circulation en arterial blood itself….

Spiritual Counsel

When you receive a Maat reading, you are being counselled to stop on your forward movement to achieve your goal, en to meditate on de abstract principles that will enable you to acquire a broad view of de subject at hand….

2.       Het-Heru aka. Oshun, Kamalatmika, Nebt-Het, Hana-El….

The arousal of de life-force (Chi, Ra, Kundalini) through joy and pleasure, especially when ecstatic, provides de motive force for de accomplishment of our minor goals, en vitalization of de will. Unfortunately, most people are ignorant of this fact, en surpress their joyfulness waiting for success and overindulge their passions en neva know why they have so much difficulty carrying out their will, concentrating etc….

Esoteric Herbalism:

Baths: yellow roses, honeysuckle, calendula flowers, maiden’s hair, parsley, vetiver, spearmint, sandalwood

Oils: rose, sandalwood, honeysuckle, cinnammon….

Spiritual Counsel

Whenever you receive an Oshun reading you are being reminded that de purpose of indulging pleasurable (or negative) sensations is for de arousal of Ra. When they are combined with your visualisations (daydreams, meditations) of occurrences in your life ( past en future), they are given powah to manifest. In de same vein, you are being warned against wasting your life-force through over-indulgence, in order to avoid weakening your constitution en de ability to achieve your will….

3.       Sebek aka. Elegba, Eshu, Matangi, Apuat, Rapha-El….

However pragmatic en necessary for de manipulashun of physical phenomena, de mastery of definishuns, names en descripshuns – de fundamental elements of our educashun – does not constitute knowledge of reality. Proceeding with awareness of dis limitation will bring us good fortune. Proceeding without awareness of this limitation; misfortune. We speak glibly of de person coming into being in de third month of

gestation; of life arising out of de chance coming together of nonliving particles, in de same breath that we give betta odds to a random assortment of 800,000 words en definishuns on index cards  being tossed in de air en falling in alphabetical order. And with pride we call ourselves scientists.

Special Correlates:

Sebek/Tehuti: To remind people that wisdom is not represented by de accumulation of information, de Kamitic men of wisdom used de dog-headed ape (Auaun), a very cunning, en imitative animal, en hence a Sebek type, to symbolise education as de

 aping (imitation) of wisdom. At best, de most it can do is to inspect de measuring hand of de scale of balance, record de verdicts, en chastise de pig.

Sebek/Maat: Maat is de means of giving order to thinking en provides de “truth premise” that has eluded western logicians from de days of de Greek philosophers.

Sebek/Het-Heru: This is de configurashun of de “Hermaphrodite.” Verbal thinking that is guided by images (description) gain coherence, unity, en a certain degree of objective reality. While we must experience something in order to describe it, we can easily delude ourselves with definitions, which essentially are “hearsay” (verbal explanations not necessarily associated with experience).

Sebek/Auset: All of de beliefs en rationalisations bout life…are based on our identifications with our persons. However lucid, they are sources of self delusion (maya) as they cannot uplift us…..

4.       Auset aka. Yemaya, Dhumavati, Yesod, Gabri-El

Underlying Principles:

+ By devoting ourselves to realising our true self, de indwelling intelligence, we come to realise that de true Self in all beings is none other

than de Supreme Being. Thus we elevate our devotion to uplifting our character, en de caring for others to de highest level of spirituality.

-The ignorance of de divinity of de inner being constituting our true self, en that of others degenerates our caring for ourselves, en others into permissiveness, thus undermining our spiritual development.

Spiritual Counsel

Whenever you receive an Auset reading, you are being reminded that every emotional experience is a mediumistic trance induction which creates or reinforces a conditioning.

From another perspective, you may be reminded that as Auset is de point through which you express your devotion to things – emotional identification! -, it reveals to you what you truly worship. Is Ausar,  de likeness of God in which you are made, what you identify with-care most for-, or is your person-de complex of conditioned thought, and emotional reactions to situations you identify with? Do you know which God/dess you worship?……

Hadithi? Hadithi?

 

quest for gif’ networks en sustainin’ vijijis

in de werds of another sista I love, respekt en admire so….

unspoken sentiments

I have such admiration for the diversity of character amongst friends [rafikis].

There are the brutally honest, with no filters for hot, sterilizing tongues-the poison suckers who carry loads too painful for the weak,

the soft spoken listeners who take forever and a day to take a stand, they care less (i guess) about being counted anywhere- they’re everywhere.

There are the mediators, the monotony shakers, the promise keepers, the silence breakers, group facilitators, and those with the patience to explain it all, just one more time…

There are the knowers who need a nudge. The worriers who just won’t budge, nose divers, cautious survivors, carefree caregivers, and self-directed newcomers …in/Compatibilities cause for the most magical web of relations.

Some in the net work, some don’t, some seem like they can’t, while some seem destined, but one thing that I have found is that all are capable of communicating, and love appears to be the strongest coach.

In my life I have learned so many preparations of “truth”

sour, salty, sugar sweet, bland, like sand, enough to save a dying man…

fire hot red pepper tears

congestion clears

At this point I can honestly confide: I give thanks for every serving.

U know how many truths u’ve read,

on the tip of my tongue

across my forehead,

in my heated connection,

in my nervous stance

in my silent absence

in my raging dance

and, so much more, behind my words, they hide

let the intelligences amongst us be our guide.

[ase, ase, ase…….]

By yene konjit

[daughta of de most high]

 

access to koko mwezi en de powah! to pika

hadithi ya  [remixed excerpts from sassafrass,cypress and indigo by Ntozake Shange]

…& she layed up nights readin’ herstories of ancient civilizations that were closer to her than all that stuff abt England & the wars of the roses. She wrote songs of love & vindication for all the afrikan & indian deities disgraced by the comin of the white man/& loss of land/& cities reflectin’ respect for livin’ things.

“ i yam sassafrass/my fingers behold you i call upon you with my song you teach me in my sleep…”

Cypress opened up a large stained-glass box and pulled out four finely embroidered pieces of cloth.

“Hey, Miz Weaver…Sassafrass.  These are my inheritances for some children I don’t have yet.”

Sassafrass looked over, and saw blocks of minute figures and arrows and circles in different colours. Cypress became terribly excited while she explained that each of the cloths was a complete notation of a dance developed from her own experiences in de Kushites Returned. Sassafrass checked that de stitches were even en de designs exceedingly intricate.

“Cypress, if de white folks knew you were doin’ dis, they’d steal all of it and put it in a museum!”

Cypress was wallowing in Sassafrass’ appreciative statement when she recalled what their mama had said: “whatever ideas you have that’re important to you, write down…but write them so your enemies can’t understand them right off.”

Feeling triumphant, Sassafrass en Cypress did the time step down Fulton Street.

At de bus stop, de two sistas enjoyed one mo childhood pastime: singing rhythm & blues; first, Tina Turner’s “I’m Just a Fool, You Know I’m in Love” and then de Marvelettes: “I saida look, look, heah comes the postman, twistin’ down de avenue…he’s gotta lettah in his hand, an’ I know it’s gotta be from you-who ooooooo” And Cypress announced plans for a whoop-la get-down after the show at her house, with lots of good wine and good, good food. Like maybe……..

Three C’s: Cypress’ Curried Crabmeat

2 tbls vegetable oil                                                                           pinch of cinnamon

1 onion, chopped                                                                             pinch of ground cloves

1 fresh green chilli pepper (seeds removed)                          pinch ground cardamom

½ tsp grated ginger                                                                         2tbls chopped parsley

¼ tsp turmeric                                                                                   2tbls lemon juice

Heat vegetable oil and fry onion until soft. Add chilli pepper and ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, and fry for 3 minutes, sprinkling with wota to avoid burning. Add crabmeat and salt to taste. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice and chopped parsley. (serves 4)

 

My Mama & Her Mama ‘Fore Her: Codfish cakes (Accra)

4 ounces salt fish (cod)                                                                  1 small onion, chopped

2 cups flour                                                                                         ¼ tsp black pepper

1tsp dried yeast                                                                                1 ½ cups warm wota

2 blades chives, chopped                                                              1 tsp suga

 

Put yeast en suga in bowl with ½ cup wota, en set aside. Soak fish for ½ hr, remove skin en  bone. Pound fish, chives, onion, en pepper until very fine. Sift flour with yeast mixture and add rest of wota; stir until a soft batter is formed. Let stand in a warm place. Add fish mixture en beat for 2-3 minutes. Spoon fish into smoking oil. Drain, and serve with hot floats.

 

De Floats Be-fore de Fish

1 pound flour                                                                     1 tsp dried yeast

4 ounces shortening                                                       1 tsp suga

 1 ½ tsp salt                                                                         warm wota

Mix yeast, suga and a little wota in bowl en set aside for a few minutes. Sift flour en salt together; add shortening, yeast mixture, en enough wota to makea soft dough. Knead until smooth. Put to rise in a warm place for 2 hrs or until dough has doubled. Punch down. Knead again, cut dough into small pieces, en roll pieces into balls. Put to rise again for 20 minutes. Flatten balls out to 1/8-inch thickness en fry in smoking hot oil. Drain en serve hot.

Cypress’ Sweetbread: The Goodness

Use any kind of cornmeal, add cooked beans and mashed sweet potatoes, baking soda, salt, a dash of cinnamon, en ¼ cup honey. Cook in pan as ordinary cornbread. Eat hot or cold 

 

maisha yetu: spaces between the ocean en de source

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.

Mama Mbewe’s voice raced through de forests, de makeshift cabins where weavers, potters, painters, musicians, dancers en ordinary folks seeking another life had made home

                             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

 

s is for sunshine hadithi

I love beautiful surprises. Like today, me en 2 of de village pikney set out in de hottest day yet with de intention of playing in healing [spiral] gardens. Along de path of pickin fruits n juice, receiving zawadis on de streets of this concrete jungle….we ended up in another place, not t/here

Who knew we’d end up on cherry beach, reclaimin safe spaces, swimming, feastin en building altars with beloved villagers?

Give thanks for sacred circles en divine chosen families…..your energy is healing to my soul.

 

Di spaces between life/death/ngoma cycles

Deep drumming is heard from di street; folks turn their head backwards. The Kushites Returned leap, sweep down the aisles, silk cloth flies in the air gleaming with silver threads, the painted dancers burst through di darkness….the dancers had been in the aisles doing modern black Amerikan contractions and slides and swivels and things, and now they were all ancient en Afrikan…it’s so magic folks feel their own ancestors comin up out of di earth to be in di realms of their descendants; they feel di blood of their mothers still flowing in them, survivors of di diaspora…en all of Afrika is thundering in di air.

The audience doesn’t exist; everybody is moving, all is not lost. Cypress laughed as she samba’d to di exit….

Sassafrass wanted to know everyone, but everyone was dancing so hard, until Ariel arrived in a white satin robe en a silver and lapis headpiece. Then something holy and quiet started happening, and folks began talking to each other….and Sassafrass wandered in Cypress’ world….

It was day. It was time to dance, no matter what…

Braided lady of subway scents & magic

Rings in nose & wrists/music in di style of di islands

Lacin di trains dancing in di tunnels of hades

Ka-jungle-jingle-ka jungle juju

In damp downtown nites of love/di secrets of muscles used

Lights cajoling the tense spring of calves jumpin/space

Taken by di rippling womanness of yr back/

Do as you please/afrikan lady roaming los campos

Of di lower east side/caresses you with fried plantains

& drummers stealing corners for di winds to lift you

To di sun’s scant ray/lyric lady/dance di original dance

The original aboriginal dance of all time/challenge di contradiction of perfected pirouette with di sly knowin of hips that do-right/stretch till all di stars en sands of all our lands abandoned/mingle in di wet heat/sweat & grow warm/must be she di original aboriginal dancing gyal….

Someone found her. Another woman in a red tunic took her to an official place inside di grey world, where she was introduced as a survivor. Di leader, di queen, di reigning glory of dis community was a tall woman with red hair who welcomed Cypress and kept saying she would be safe…

Drums, drums. Drums, welcoming di faithful. Pulling them to move to dance. Shango conquered di forests. All human challengers. When Sassafrass hit di door, di smells overcame her. Incense, smoke, whiskey, rice&beans, lamb curry, honey…one by one di followers went to Shango’s mountain of apples to pray & reveal their most secret desires.

When Sassafrass lay flat on her stomach before Shango’s bounty, di seven holy ones laid hands on her. Sassafrass was blessed. She’d risen off di floor…she prayed that she might have a child. You leave your palms open that di gifts of di goddesses might have a place in your life….she prayed. She wove cloth, not thinking who it was for. She’d fallen from grace.

Mama Mbewe, Mama Sumara, Mama Iyabode passed chickens over her all nite. In the morning, she saw a vision of her mama. She lay on a bed of oranges, surrounded by burnin yellow candles, eating honey.

“I think I’m going to carry these spirits right on home. I guess I live in looms after all. Making tings: some cloth and one child, jus’ one.” [or a couple mo’…]

hadithi reposted na overflowin upendo from a kitabu called Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo