Today will mark the official beginning of my online correspondence courses on Raising Children in Orisha, Afrikan Spirituality and Gynocentricity...

Those who have ordered a course will receive their first lessons via email today...

For those who did not order a course...each online lesson is $10 and there are up to 8 lessons per course

Each lesson may be purchased individually by clicking the link below and then clicking on the order an online course button to the right of my blog

http://yeyeyeyeo.blogspot.com

Also here are short descriptions of each course for those who are interested...

Raising Children In Orisha

Near the end of May, I was blessed to be invited to a celebration of the life and teachings of the Ifa sage Medahochi Kofi Omowale Zannu-The Ajinaku "Great Elephant". Baba Medahochi as we affectionately called him...passed away last year. So this celebration was the traditional Yoruba one that takes place a year after the passing over of the deceased. He was honored by his children, his godchildren and his disciples/followers. The guest speaker was Wande Abimbola. Dr. Abimbola is always uplifting and fortifying to hear and read but he spoke on a topic during the celebration that resonated deep within my ori-inner self/highest self.

He reminded us that from the perspective of Our Ancestors the Spiritual Realm, known as Orun in the Yoruba language is within the Earth...NOT in the sky. Our Ancestors taught that the Cosmic Forces-which we called Orisha in the Yoruba language dwell in the Earth, along with our Ancestors. There are only two Cosmic Beings in the sky-Olodumare-the owner of the womb of the rainbow, the source of existence and Shango (kabiyesi)-the orisha that brings thunder, lightening and rain.

May 1st marks Beltain. The Celtic name for the time of year when life is reborn in the Western Hemisphere.

Beltain, is an actual New Year, in that it is the time when life springs forth new and fresh once again. We celebrate Beltain by celebrating fertility, our own and that of Earth Mother in any and all ways possible.

This year Beltain is also falling within an astrological vortex of power called a Grand Trine...

According to Wikipedia " a grand trine occurs when you have three planets or other points in the horoscope that are all separated by a span of 120 degrees. With the placement of the planets, the grand trine visually looks like a large triangle across the horoscope of the recipient. It is a special configuration that is thought to promote high ideals, insight, vision, creative expression and well being..."

This Grand Trine is the alignement of Venus, Pluto and Saturn.

In conjunction with the Juicy Goodness that EarthMother is exemplifying at this time...

I work at a Youth Development Center
A Youth Development Center is a "treatment program" for juveniles adjudicated delinquent
it is a place to house criminals under the age of nineteen
I am a counselor here
I am the person these young men discuss their problems , their fears, their concerns with
it is a junior jail
Most of our students leave here and either very promptly return here or go on to the big boy house as we call actual prison/jail in here

As a mother, this place drains me, frightens me and enlightens me all at once, every day
Most of my students attach to me pretty quickly because I do not cuss them out, or hit them or degrade them
Because those are the methods of "counseling" that are used in here
One of them...an intelligent young man who has an 8year adult sentence to do...calls me "moma"...his own mama is in prison and feels that her motherly duty is to send him sexuallly explicit mail from her cellmate...whom he considers his woman...he is sixteen, she is thirtyfive

This place, makes me hold on to my children more tightly, to watch them more closely and to love them more deeply

My earliest memories are lying in your lap and being rocked to sleep
Trying to suck my thumb and you telling me that that would make my teeth look like Bugs Bunny...vanity got me even then...smile...so I stopped

Sleeping with you in our bed in Grandmaw's house, with the big portrait of you that hung over the fire place in our room...looking at that portrait every day and thinking how beautiful you are and praying to look like you

The sweet smell that permeated our room

Of being left at your best friend's mother's house and how long the hours would seem before I saw you again...and how I would cry an cry and cry myself to sleep cause I could not stand or understand being separated from you, your sweet smell and your face

You coming home from work and bringing me half eaten packages of life savers, being jiggled on your lap while you talked on the phone....not really liking it BUT not wanting it to end, cause I wanted to be close to you

Standing up beside you in our red VWbug and you putting your hand out to shield me when the car stopped

I was at work yesterday and was invited to a prayer circle with my sistahfriends there...of course I hastened unto the call...because I know the power of Black women's prayers...I come from a single parent home and the prayers of a Black woman are what brought me safely into this world, what fed and clothed me my whole life, what paid my way through college AND what continue to feed and clothe my own children...anyway...once I arrived, folx where airing what issues they needed prayer for and someone happened to mention that the secretary in the front office with the worst attitude is a witch...this to them was why her attitude is so bad and it also meant that she was bringing demons into the facility etc etc etc

WELL

I consider myself a witch

BUT

I continued to prayer with my sistren

Cause for me the reality is to be a Black woman is to be what most whitefolx would consider a witch

Our words carry power , All By Themselves...in the Yoruba tradition we are taught that women are born with Ofo Ashe-The Power of the Spoken Word...meaning what we say comes to pass...we see it every day, Black women create reality by speaking it into existence

From my bone marrow to my hair follicles

I am Oshun's Child

This colors everything I do

Everything I say

Everything I am

It makes much of my life a mystery to "mainstream" individuals and it allows me to see the daily rituals and mediations in what most simply consider a part of life

 My 15 years of Orisha worship and priesthood work have taught me that in order to truly devote yourself to the Orisha in the Western world you must be willing to turn a deaf ear to that consciously silent but subconsciously ever buzzing overwhelmingly influential inner voice Daniel Quinn called "Mother Culture" in the highly recommended life changing story of Ishmael. "Mother Culture" was Quinn's name for the ways and mores of society that have become so much a part of our psyche that they subconsciously led and guide our actions at all times. Like some cosmic check and balance system, to make sure that we do not stray to far from what our "culture" teaches us is the norm, even in our thoughts

I remember the moment I decided to home school...I was pregnant with baby number three and my eldest was in kindergarten at the local "prestigous" Black private school and my second was in a wonderful daycare owned by a dear sistah friend...

I had hesitated to enroll the oldest in school because , being from the area I knew how poor the education was here and how Eurocentric and patriarchal the schools are

Meaning...there was no where she could go to teach her about who SHE is...you know? No one was interested in telling her more about Her Ancestors and Her place in the Universe...folx only wanted to teach her where she didn't fit and who she was NOT BUT..

I did it anyway because I didn't feel as if I had a choice

Conceiving my third led me into a researching, self learning frenzy...every child you bear will take you on a different journey and help you to reach your highest self...if you listen