Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right...
Abundant blessings to you and yours in
this season of returning light.
Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Abundant blessings to you and yours in
this season of returning light.
Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Showing posts with label ritual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ritual. Show all posts
Friday, December 20, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Moving with ancestral spirits: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega at NJPAC
Meet
Dr. Marta Moreno Vega
Saturday, May 4 (3-5pm)
Chase Room, New Jersey Performing Arts Center
screening of
Let the Spirit Move You! Espiritismo in Puerto Rico
Advance screening of Dr. Marta Moreno Vega's new film and research regarding ancestral Kongo-based sacred tradition of Espiritismo in Puerto Rico. Dr. Vega explores the divine knowledge of traditional elders and practitioners and expresses the concern that the tradition will not be passed on / transferred to younger generations because traditional practices are in danger of not continuing.
Also, learn more about Dr. Vega's life-long legacy and work in the following clips, including an excerpt from the HBO documentary: Latino List.
Baraka Sele
guest curator / moderator
Latino List - Marta Moreno Vega Interview on Vimeo
Latina Spotlight: Dr. Marta Moreno Vega on New Latina
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
Saturday, July 24, 2010
At home in both worlds
Weekdays, the Adman Worked. Sundays, the Shaman Healed
by Samuel G. Freedman, The New York Times, July 23, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Poetry: make a charm
make a charm
take a coin from your pocket
or change purse any amount
rub it briskly until it knows you
musky hot from your palms
place this coin say a foot and a half
away from you on a table
gaze at it send vibrations images
think about what you want to see happen
do you want a sunny day?
send the energy of sun
six times to your coin visualize
the sun’s emergence at the dawn of winter
become apollo the angel raphael or ra
or strip down and clown for amaterasu
so that she barrels forth
from her mountain’s depths and laughs
a thousand gongs from its heights
transfer white gold rays from mind
into quarter or nickel penny or dime
until you see feel the subatomic dance
do this once twice thrice six times
wrap your coin in silk or parchment
or just place it apart from all others in a high place
until the sun rolls up in the sky
then you must absolutely must
spend or give it away give it back
what other charms can you make?
send energy once for unity
twice for harmony
thrice for love and fertility
circle a coin with it four times
to multiply that coin twice thrice and more
and anchor it beneath each gate of eden
send energy five times to make revolution
seven for peaceful reflection
eight and none may vanquish you
nine and come tomorrow
you’ll shed the skin that bore you
come tomorrow you are a coin
unwrapped of silk dancing
dissolving
©2003, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A Pilgrimage to Sorte Mountain
Rites in Venezuela
Devotees of the María Lionza religion, a mix of Catholic, West African and other customs, make a pilgrimage each October to Sorte Mountain in Yaracuy State, Venezuela, home of the high altar to the religion's central figure.
Devotees of the María Lionza religion, a mix of Catholic, West African and other customs, make a pilgrimage each October to Sorte Mountain in Yaracuy State, Venezuela, home of the high altar to the religion's central figure.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
May 1 is Beltane!
Wishing all of you a joyous Beltane!
Celebrating the Seasons: Beltane by Serena Fox of Circle Sanctuary
Wikipedia: Beltane
Celebrating the Seasons: Beltane by Serena Fox of Circle Sanctuary
Wikipedia: Beltane
Thursday, July 24, 2008
All you need is Aphrodite
Some months ago, Laurelei Dabrielle--High Priestess of Dragon's Eye Coven--sent me an invitation to review her book, In Her Service: Reflections from a Priestess of Aphrodite (Magic Woods Publishing, 2007). I was in the middle of one of the busiest times in both my personal and professional life. It was sent in the form of an e-book, which usually makes me leery--quality being a gamble there. I took a look at the stack of pages emerging from my printer, took a quick flip through ("Chapter 1: Priestess or Prostitute?") and thought, "Right...I'll get around to this someday..."
Someday--coincidentally?--turned out to be July 22, which is the Great Lady Mary Magdalene's day and, as I learned from Dabrielle's text, deep into Hekatombaion, the first month of the Athenian calendar, during which fell the bathing feast known as Aphrodisia. I also discovered that there was much to admire and enjoy in Dabrielle's well-written account of this little-publicized aspect of pagan practice.
Raised a Baptist in the Midwest, Dabrielle began to explore neopagan paths through the Internet and some covens and eventually felt most called to service of the One she calls "the violet-crowned Kyprian" and many other expressive honorifics. She interprets and honors Aphrodite in a way that makes sense to her, and she's not out to convert anyone to her particular approach. She is, by her own admission, a "hodge-podge," and I can certainly identify with her eclecticism and avoidance of dogma. She does not take herself too seriously, and her voice, throughout the book, is conversational even when authoritative.
If you have never considered Aphrodite (a.k.a. Venus) a serious goddess, then read this book, and the scales will fall from your eyes. I remember once hearing someone opine that the reason so many ancient statues of Aphrodite are armless is because they were deliberately ordered de-armed by the testosterone-fueled, but highly threatened, powers that be. I can't say if that's historically accurate, but Dabrielle underscores the formidable power of Aphrodite as more than a beneficent, even lightweight and easily-trivialized, goddess of romance and sensuality. The Lady should be understood as a Great Goddess archetype--Mother Creator, Majestic Harlot and Fierce Avenger. In Her Service relates the interwoven myths that show Aphrodite in all of these powerful roles.
Okay, so what about the nervous-making "prostitution" angle? Dabrielle includes an extensive discussion of the historical practice of "temple prostitution" or "sacred sex" and its problem for modern sensibilities and United States law but argues that "sex is only one aspect of Her service" and, indeed, an aspect that can be omitted if does not suit you. Priestesses did then and do now invoke, contact and often embody the Goddess, enabling supplicants to benefit from Her energy, whether it be through simple, compassionate acts of warmth and kindness or through actual ritual copulation as in the neopagan Great Rite (physically uniting the embodied Goddess and God). While Dabrielle notes the many ways in which Aphrodite worship may be expressed, she has her personal limits and counsels readers to decide what's best for them and respect their own boundaries, too.
"At its essence," she writes, "the force at work is that of Love," and goes on to speak about the priestess (and Goddess) as healer in a way that reminds me of the wonderful role Ann Margaret played in the movie Grumpy Old Men! Really! Rent that very funny movie, and you'll see what I mean!
Besides the personal and historical material, Dabrielle offers examples of ritual procedure, a mytho-history of the Venusian idea, some lovely description of the Three Graces (considered by some to be daughters of Aphrodite and ideal models for us) and the Oreads, mountain nymphs (who gift Aphrodite with unpolished gems and wildflowers, appealing to Her wilder side). She previews a book she's working on which should please potential lesbian and bisexual fans of The Goddess who might otherwise wonder what all of this has to do with them.
Dabrielle also lists and translates numerous names for Aphrodite, breathtaking in their diversity. Some of them are:
Find In Her Service on Amazon.com
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Someday--coincidentally?--turned out to be July 22, which is the Great Lady Mary Magdalene's day and, as I learned from Dabrielle's text, deep into Hekatombaion, the first month of the Athenian calendar, during which fell the bathing feast known as Aphrodisia. I also discovered that there was much to admire and enjoy in Dabrielle's well-written account of this little-publicized aspect of pagan practice.
Raised a Baptist in the Midwest, Dabrielle began to explore neopagan paths through the Internet and some covens and eventually felt most called to service of the One she calls "the violet-crowned Kyprian" and many other expressive honorifics. She interprets and honors Aphrodite in a way that makes sense to her, and she's not out to convert anyone to her particular approach. She is, by her own admission, a "hodge-podge," and I can certainly identify with her eclecticism and avoidance of dogma. She does not take herself too seriously, and her voice, throughout the book, is conversational even when authoritative.
If you have never considered Aphrodite (a.k.a. Venus) a serious goddess, then read this book, and the scales will fall from your eyes. I remember once hearing someone opine that the reason so many ancient statues of Aphrodite are armless is because they were deliberately ordered de-armed by the testosterone-fueled, but highly threatened, powers that be. I can't say if that's historically accurate, but Dabrielle underscores the formidable power of Aphrodite as more than a beneficent, even lightweight and easily-trivialized, goddess of romance and sensuality. The Lady should be understood as a Great Goddess archetype--Mother Creator, Majestic Harlot and Fierce Avenger. In Her Service relates the interwoven myths that show Aphrodite in all of these powerful roles.
Okay, so what about the nervous-making "prostitution" angle? Dabrielle includes an extensive discussion of the historical practice of "temple prostitution" or "sacred sex" and its problem for modern sensibilities and United States law but argues that "sex is only one aspect of Her service" and, indeed, an aspect that can be omitted if does not suit you. Priestesses did then and do now invoke, contact and often embody the Goddess, enabling supplicants to benefit from Her energy, whether it be through simple, compassionate acts of warmth and kindness or through actual ritual copulation as in the neopagan Great Rite (physically uniting the embodied Goddess and God). While Dabrielle notes the many ways in which Aphrodite worship may be expressed, she has her personal limits and counsels readers to decide what's best for them and respect their own boundaries, too.
"At its essence," she writes, "the force at work is that of Love," and goes on to speak about the priestess (and Goddess) as healer in a way that reminds me of the wonderful role Ann Margaret played in the movie Grumpy Old Men! Really! Rent that very funny movie, and you'll see what I mean!
Besides the personal and historical material, Dabrielle offers examples of ritual procedure, a mytho-history of the Venusian idea, some lovely description of the Three Graces (considered by some to be daughters of Aphrodite and ideal models for us) and the Oreads, mountain nymphs (who gift Aphrodite with unpolished gems and wildflowers, appealing to Her wilder side). She previews a book she's working on which should please potential lesbian and bisexual fans of The Goddess who might otherwise wonder what all of this has to do with them.
Dabrielle also lists and translates numerous names for Aphrodite, breathtaking in their diversity. Some of them are:
- Eurynome: Creatress who rose from Chaos and danced all creation into being
- Moira: Fate
- Ambologera: Postponer of Old Age
- Chrysheie: Radiant Like Gold
- Euploios: Fair Voyage
- Praxis: Action
- Epitymbria: She of The Tombs
- Callipygos: Beautiful Buttocks
- Porne: Goddess of Lust and Patroness of Prostitutes
Find In Her Service on Amazon.com
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
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