What's really necessary

http://lizettedeklerk.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/is-that-really-necessary/

Warning: the image on that page is very graphic, very real and very depressing.


I just find it very interesting that as soon as I get out of taking a final exam on Africism, with special focus on the heterochthonal (non-native) religions in Africa for 2 whole hours, that a friend on facebook posts this. It's one of those articles you see every once in a while about the apparent "atrocities" against people, mostly little children, carried out by indigenous African religions. This time the focus is on South Africa. For many many reasons, I have problems with stories like this as well as the ways in which they're reported and the ways on which they are commented.


First of all, the woman expressing such urgency on this situation (although how much of it she's working or willing to impact remains to be seen) is white. That automatically in my mind presupposes a lot and unfortunately, after reading her commentary I was not wrong. I left a comment on my facebook friend's post to this affect:

yet... i wonder how many babies were abandoned pre-colonization. i wonder how many incidents of this there were pre-colonization. white ppl always wanna fuss about what they need to do to help african people, but no mention is ever made of the current state of the peoples of africa being a direct result of colonization. they never want to say anything like, uproot all white colonizers and colonial rule. white ppl wanting to "help" africans is how they got like this. they never want to say anything about all the european and american businesses and factories, oil refineries and mines over there. the peoples in south africa in particular are not in a state of ruin because they're backward people with backward traditions, as statements like hers suggest.... they're a people under colonial rule. period. point blank. the whites are still the majority of wealth and ruling class there. soweto still looks now as it did by most accounts, during apartheid. c'mon now wit dat. 


My sentiment is simple. Although there are elements to Africism, its peoples, its traditions and rituals that we do not understand and may find absolutely revolting, AND there are some very old and unsavory elements such as female genital mutilation by some peoples, I make the case that it is very difficult, at this point to say what is truly indigenous and what has not been made an all new thing, yet called a tradition by ignorant white people, that may have stemmed from something indigenous but has now become something altogether different in light of the aftermath of the recent past. Granted, using abandoned babies for spare parts is horrific and shouldn't be done by anyone and upon revision, all peoples of the world can perhaps move into an understanding that such things should not happen. However, who are white people to ever judge? In terms of what to do with some children? Especially African children? Cut the patriarchal white man's burden crap out already. Africans don't need white people to "help" them do anything or be better at anything. They need white people to once and for all leave them the hell alone to clean up the mess they've left. They need their own resources in their own control. They need to somehow if at all possible, undo the political regimes that have been put in place by European rule or as a result of European colonial actions. I don't know if it's at all possible to have a "truth and reconciliation" of some sort that encompasses probably anywhere from 50 to 300+ years but I guess that's kind of what I'm getting at in terms of the peoples healing themselves, in that respect. If white folks can do anything, they can get their apartheid counterparts out of Africa completely. And they can take the likes of De beers, Johnson & Johnson, Firestone and Pfizer with them.


Africans do not need help as a backward people turning away from backwards ways, as that woman and many others have often suggested. I maintain that a people have the right to be indigenously what they are, although the ultimate problem is the inevitable impossibility of this being able to happen, due to the damage done by Europe, America (and to some extent Arab/Muslim) intrusion.

Omo Oshun Ewa: my craft

Omo Oshun Ewa

^^^ the official dotcom and home of all those wonderful creations I posted before... and then some. I made it allllll myself so it's my baby, in which I am well pleased! CHECK ME OUT :-D!

Back.. for the last time.

Hmmm. Blogging again. Sounds cool. Well! let's start with tonight's procrastinatory awesomeness:


The wonders of Apple Cider Vinegar


It discusses some of the many wonders of Apple Cider Vinegar. Some of my faves from this include:

Hair: It is widely known that apple cider vinegar can be used as a rinse for your hair after shampooing to add healthy body and shine. Recycle an old shampoo bottle and fill it with 1/2 a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a cup of cold water. Pour through your hair after shampooing several times a week.

Face: Did you know that apple cider vinegar can help regulate the pH of your skin? Dilute apple cider vinegar with two parts water, and spread the concoction over your face with a cotton ball as a toner. You can do this at night after washing, and in the morning before you apply your moisturizer. You can also dab apple cider vinegar directly onto age spots and leave them on overnight to lighten their color. 

Apple Cider Vinegar is one of those wonder liquids that's a healthy astringent for like... everything. I've used it for various things myself. I also love lemon juice for the same reason.

I'll see your ignorance, and raise you insurgence

So I'll try to keep it quick because that's all that mess like this deserves.
1. Always notice that those who make bold statements like these, just as those who committed these acts back in the day (and still to this day) are on the lowest rungs of even white society, doing worse off than many Black people regardless.  Counting their whiteness, they are people for whom the illusion of racism (because it is a fabricated lens through which to view human beings that was created for a specific purpose, mostly monetary and capitalistic) and the benefits that it is supposed to afford white people DOES NOT WORK!  They have the assumption that racism actually makes sense and will give them unfettered privilege and a ticket straight to the land of Bill Gates-hood.  But you see, they live disenfranchised, poor and ultimately failed even by their own white privilege on the whole.  They fail to see that capitalists only care about one color: green.  They only buy into racism because it allows them a permanent underclass to exploit.  Otherwise, they in general would not as much care.  He has no more of a brother in Glen Beck in real life than even I.  Cuz Glen Beck got money LOL and he follows the dolla signs!  The government and establishment does not like vicious white racism nor white racial vigilante violence.  Because it upsets the order of things.  They only allow it because it simultaneously feeds into the perpetuation and maintenance of the continued subjugation of the already established permanent underclass: basically, as long as they keep acting out against black people, black people will stay afraid and believe they're still inferior and so on and so forth.  Make no mistake about it, they like those poor white trash just where they are, on the fringes and poor and confused.  I pity his kind because at least I know where I stand in the eyes of the power elite lmao he apparently, is unclear about his place.
    1.a. With his race removed from the equation, he is a man who has no control over his own life and therefore seeks to claim some type of power or control that he otherwise does not have, by attempting to assert it over someone else.  Basically, he ain't shit, so he tries to make himself feel better by making someone else feel like they ain't shit.


2. "They" do shit like this because white privilege removes one crucial element: fear.  Black folk don't do mess we wanna do because we're afraid of consequence.  White folk by and large don't even factor in consequence, clearly. If this man was afraid that somebody would roll up to his house and punch him in the mouth, he wouldn't do mess like that but he's sure that it won't happen.  And you know what? It won't. LOL.
       2.a.   I say, in response, everytime one of "them" steps out like this, we must treat our adversary like an adversary!  He's not my enemy, he's my adversary!  He challenges you to a bout.  Okay.  I see your challenge and I will meet it.  My Halloween display, thus, would be comprised of one white man with a woolen beard (John Brown), one black man with a priestly collar (Nat Turner) and one black man with a powdered whig (Touissant) all standing gleefully with shotgun, hatchet and machete in hand, over cowering white women and children, with a beheaded white man lying on the ground.  Just like you have heritage, so do I. Game, endgame!


But I cannot personally do this, although I would, because I have positions in leadership and a community image and employment to keep in mind that I will absolutely put in jeopardy as a result.  I just can't afford to do all that.... at this point in life anyway.

What Dreams May Come: Voice

Not to be confused with arrogance and ego, self-expression is one of the most beautiful things that we as humans are gifted to do.  Ego and arrogance boasts that when expressing oneself, one has the audacity to assume or assert that others NEED or SHOULD be not only listening but benefiting.  I do not assume any of this but I appreciate the opportunity to share myself with whomever would take the time to give her audience.  I have been blessed with many gifts and talents, some involving expressing myself, some involving sensing and seeing others, and others involving finally, taking what I discern from others as an empath and giving voice to what I have found.  In this time of self cultivation, I must give birth to anything I can possibly create from within.  I still have yet to post pictures of my jewelry.  Well, find some of those pictures posted here and on my artisan's website page http://www.artfire.com/users/OmoOshunAdornments.  However, I also have the opportunity to showcase my work next week (with plans to unveil new pieces to be created during the course of this week and this weekend, since it is a long "holiday" weekend... I'll make the day hallowed in my own way... I might even post some blog thoughts on just that ;-))  Also be on the look out for my first ever attempt at posting pictures and possibly video of my creative process.

As of tonight, I've also picked back up my pen, graphite and brush.  I definitely look forward to reclaiming my studio art skills.  Ya know, drawing and painting and so forth.... Yeah, it's about to go down lol.

More on the showcasing next week: So for those who may not know, I serve in a position of leadership on campus at Boston College.  I am on the executive board of SIESTA (Sisters Influencing and Empowering Sisters Through Assembly) in which we broach topics, host discussion and create programming around one simple yet intricate thing: giving the experiences of women of color a voice, while also fostering sisterhood.  SIESTA runs through the Women's Resource Center on campus.  I also serve as the ALC (AHANA Leadership Council) representative for SIESTA which also therefore means the WRC simultaneously.  We have some major things planned this year.  Stay tuned for that :-).  Once every semester, the WRC hosts an event called AROO (A Room of Our Own) where all BC women are invited to show off their artistic prowesses through whichever type of media they prefer.  Although I've been asked to do spoken word, I have chosen instead to showcase my handmade craft/adornments.

Given my work and my recent readings by Audre Lorde and Carole Boyce Davies, bell hooks and the like, I only believe even more firmly that it is SO CRUCIAL that Black Womb-men are not forced into silences and not talked over by whatever the various dominant narratives say about us, as we are marginalized in myriad ways coming from all directions as systems of oppression intersect.  Regardless to when, where, how and by any means necessary, we must exclame! Audience be damned! Even if nobody listens, SPEAK SISPTAHS!

"It's a Black Thing"

So, As I was expressing thoughts on sex being the soul's playground, the energy involved and how it is important to be discerning and discrete with whom you share that soul and those energies, as well as that body in which your soul has been made to or has chosen to inhabit in THIS life, yatta yatta yatta.... a sisPtah @satori06 posed a question:  

@EarthenStar peace I agree w/ ur last tweet, do u think vibrational altitude is displayed by melanation or lack of ( i do)

I'll start out with the basics of what I believe in reference to the initial question: 1. I believe in universal humanity and universal energy as we are all children of the universe and while our bodies are finite in each life, our energies/souls are not. 2. energy is never created nor destroyed, only changes form and is transferred. 3. there are different frequencies and vibrations that are emphasized in certain ethnicities.  4. although this may be a bit muddled due to colonial and imperial actions on the parts of certain peoples in order to exploit and fragment certain other peoples, HOWEVER, I still also believe that one's karmatic lineage stays in basically the same ethnicity.  The ancestors return to us and never leave us.  We are them. So obviously then I believe in 5. Karma.


I do not "know" by far and I am still at a point of learning and discovering, of course. But at this point, I do not believe totally that your soul was the sole factor in the choosing of its body to house in this current life.  I do believe that other energies were at work there as well, keeping the karmatic circle going.  I believe in ancient concepts of "knowledge" and "learning" and "understanding" in that each new manifestation of life for your soul is the opportunity to strive for even more excellence and in that praxis, your soul "learns" and "understands" certain things.  Perhaps you got some things wrong or did not get to them, whatever the case may be, all of that is what carries you into the next physical manifestation, carrying that "knowledge" forward and building on it (hopefully).  One's purpose for one's soul and for one's body in that life as the soul is manifested, should be realized somehow and the choosing of one's physical manifestation however that happens in each life, has a lot to do with all these factors I'm mentioning here. I believe our ancestors return to us and are always with us.  Again, we are them.  I believe in what Toni Morrison referred to as "re-memory", that it is in our DNA, what is quintessential "us" and our experiences, our sensibilities, what has happened to us, so on and so forth.  In terms of chakra, the main point involved in this is the Alpha-major  chakra (just behind the ears) for remembering past lives and the Heart Seed chakra (at the base of the breastbone) as the site of soul remembrance.  Also involved can be crown chakra at the top of the head, and soma at the hairline above the 3rd eye.  Even though some of us don't have rhythm to save our lives and there are some white women who can dutty wine way better than I ever could (some things can be "learned"), there's an undeniableness of the fact that when certain drums and rhythms are heard, for example, we Black folks can't help ourselves.  We make music with our bodies!  I'm not saying it's better than whatever those European descendants do per se, it's just what I prefer because it's what I am and what I therefore enjoy or call "home".  I have been a dancer.  I have a very articulated tongue as well; language comes easily.  I have tried to learn other European languages.  I do not pick it up as easily.  Here lately, as I study Ifa, every word I encounter in Yoruban sticks to my mind like glue, without effort.  Irish stepdance never took, but anything from any brown folks came easily, even Indian and Indigenous American.  There's a reason for this!  Certain things resonate from us and resonate with us.


HOWEVER: Similarly as scientists believe that there are parts of the human brain that we have yet to unlock with other types of abilities (even though some people have been able to do so individually), I believe the same is possible.  Perhaps in this life, some souls never become self-aware.  Therefore, that whole karmatic circle for one's soul is thrown off and takes much longer for knowledge to be attained and realized for those particular souls.  It is even more probable that that's the case, due to all the external factors of the effects of slavery and all that other "stuff" that's happened to us since European rape and pillage of Africa for the last however many centuries, or eons.  It is quite understandable that many of us have fallen away from ourSELVES, basically.  This is where I align myself with the sisPtah, @Eye_of_Kemet on her thoughts from yesterday.  It is undeniable, to me, that different peoples are just that, DIFFERENT.  I'm not saying better or worse but in my eyes, as a predominantly African descendant by blood (with some indigenous American and even some white as well in my lineage), my re-memory is predominantly African and therefore to me, "our" way is better lol.  I'm not gonna lie about that.  There is something about "us" that has labeled us "the blues people" and it's obvious.  Our knowledge and connections with the unbridled flows of energies, connections with all that exist and have existed.  Our spiritual natures.  The omnipresent ancient knowledge.  Ways that have not even been destroyed after all this time and all the things that have happened to us and regardless to which corner of the world we've been scattered and re-indoctrinated.  You are a part of wherever you came from, genetically.  Your body is equipped to be wherever it belongs.  This is why our health issues are what they are as Black people in this part of the world.  Example: lactose intolerance.  There's a reason why our bodies reject this cow's milk over here.  We were not made for the stuff.  Period.  Our bodies resonate as they have for millenia with the food, liquids and minerals from our homeland.  Your location of origin is all inclusive with the animals you eat, who in turn eat other animals and plants that you eat as well, that grew from the same ground you sleep on every night, containing the same natural minerals and chemical equations, with the same radiation, frequencies, magnetic fields, vibrations and so forth.  Your body and soul are used to the radiation and electromagnetic energies that emanate from the ground to which you belong.  Just like there is gold in some places in the world and there is none in others.  There is oil in some places and none in others.  There is heulandite in some places and none in others.  You literally are what you eat.  That earth that we come from is what we are.  To remove us from that place throws us off kilt almost completely.  In terms of chakra, involved here are the earth chakra and higher earth, as linkage points to the earth and its fields and ether.  We melanated, African diasporic peoples have our own frequencies on which we resonate.  Others who don't, are on some other type of program lol.


So bringing it all forward, YES I do believe that your "vibrational attitude" and melanin are connected, as well as being connected with the house your soul inhabits in any life.  What affects those things are 1. who or from whom you are and; 2. the situations in which you find yourSELF.  And to the queen who posed the question, I thank you and I hope that suffices as a response :-).

Omo Oshun Adornments

This summer has marked a summer of growth! This is what I sensed, what I planned and what I put into action! Becoming the higher me! But more on that later...

I have always been an artist. I have always had a love for the natural, the beautiful, the aesthetic. I'm good with my hands and have always been what I call a "creator". So with that, I have begun crafting my own jewelry and adornments. The possibilities are endless! There are always more colors to play with, materials, things to re-create, recycle, create, so on and so forth. I am overjoyed!

How it all started was a simple desire to make things. I have dabbled in making jewelry and other types of craft over the years for my entire life. I used to make friendship bracelets, all types of keychains and embroidery. Then I branched into beadwork with which I made waistbeads. I made a few for myself, some for friends, etc. Culture has also always interested me. I love expression, colors, uniqueness!

So with that, I began gathering materials and creating my own custom designed and hand-crafted earrings and the like, but earrings especially. I posted them on facebook and got rave reviews, as well as requests. So hey... the journey began that is now known as Omo Oshun Adornments. www.facebook.com/OmoOshunAdornments, http://www.artfire.com/users/OmoOshunAdornments, http://www.twitter.com/OmoOshunAdorn (pictures to follow in the next post)

Find me! Follow me! Support me! communicate with me! What would you like to see created? How could some designs be improved! I'd love to hear what you all think! And of course as always, thanks for spending the time to send me back even a fraction of the love that I put into all my hard work!