I’ve said it before and I’ll saw it again: my grandmother was devoted to God. She honored him in the ways that spoke to her spirit and in the ways that she deemed good. By her summation, Hoodoo was anything but good. Long after my grandmother passed away, my mother told me stories about college acquaintances of hers that my grandmother had given the side-eye because they wore antique jewelry and fragrant oils. My mother had confirmed with her acquaintances... Read more
I have been missing . . . . . and I have found myself avoiding much of the conflicts that seem to consume my spiritual community a large portion of the time. Read more
Parenting is much like magic; It is part experimentation, part training, part education, part tradition, some patience and a whole bunch of hope. I have always found that my biggest manifestations of magic happen with my children. This is not to say that my kids choices are not their own, because they are, but it is to say that the role of mother and priestess are synonymous in my life. The process of magic, family, and children start at conception... Read more
By Tamilia R. I am a devotional polytheist, among other things. I am not an initiate in any particular tradition but have developed and maintained my own religious practice over the years. I incorporate some African-American Folk Tradition, African Traditional Religion (ATR), Hellenic, Germanic, and Roman religious practices into my work with the gods, ancestors, and spirits. That often means that I am juggling multiple religious practices, ritual forms, festival and offering days, and the like. I am not complaining.... Read more
The first step is a simple but difficult one which involves working on your own mind. Accepting your culpability. Accepting how you benefit from racism. Accepting your privilege. Read more
Although December still reigns as one of the most festive months due to its many intersecting religious and secular observances throughout its days, the year of 2015 has continued a path of turbulence. For many the year was a growing awareness of the balance or imbalance in the outside. For some, it was the yearly time to battle or celebrate with one’s family, whether of origin or of choice. For a few, this is a time when the soul questions whether a continued choice to live and practice a tradition under the Pagan umbrella would last into 2016. Read more
2015 has been one hell of a year. So many incidences, so many opportunities to engage, so many open doors for social change, so many tears. This year has probably been one of the most challenging years for those who are pushing for social justice, and there have been a lot of areas of need as a result. When thinking about the closing of 2015, I have been reminiscing on some of the most courageous work of people I feel... Read more
For the last week, during prime holiday time, I have been comfortably installed in my childhood home in sunny Florida sipping tea, eating three square home-cooked meals per day, and enjoying my mother’s company. As I mentioned in a previous post, my mother is not Pagan but she identifies as spiritual. She views herself as a Black woman who has a powerful personal relationship with the divine. Like many others at this time of year, we focus on reinforcing the... Read more
I love the people who find ways to be the best version of themselves during the holidays. I love the people who embody the season for giving. I love the families who are able to put their differences aside and come together over holiday dinners. I love the smiling strangers, the caroling, and the playfulness. I am grateful for all the ”Happy Holidays” and even “Merry Christmas” as long as it is coming from a place of sincere blessing. I love the pitch of cold on my nose, the freshly fallen snow and the glistening slightly frosted grass. The winter holiday season at it’s best is beautiful, charitable, inclusive and playful. Read more
At the time of writing I'm 6 months into growing the physical vessel of a future human-beast-god, a little boy. Conceived on purpose near Summer Solstice, he's due to make a Malkuth appearance not long after Spring Equinox. Apparently I wanted to play this one close to the archetypal chest because what is happening is a sacred and mythic story – in my body, my family, my psyche. As days turned into weeks of pregnancy, I realized I needed to prepare within myself as much as I needed a nursery. As I began rummaging through who I thought I was, I realized how uncomfortable I was with dwelling within one of the obvious basics: Mother. Read more
Daughters of Eve
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