I know it is taking a lot for us to survive this struggle, but remember, I got your back. The things I SEE. The things WE see. The things I FEEL are the things WE feel. I am trying my best to be Strong and I hope You are too. Let’s do it together. Let’s make Our move.
Don’t you let your young life get you down
It always had a certain mystery
Many changes come to everyone
About the time that they turn seventeen
Grandma said, at times you’ll feel a sting
There’ll be sharp turns and uphills and closed doors
Then she said, hold onto your faith
‘Cause in this world you’ve got to go and get yours
So you stand up be strong
Go out there and hold on to the real things that matter
‘Cause no one’s gonna hand it to you on a silver platter
There’s no need to feel you’re on your own
Just let your intuition guide you through
Take one step toward what you believe
Don’t be afraid to make your move
In my head those words remind me
What Grandma said, at times you’ll feel a sting
There’ll be sharp turns and uphills and closed doors
Then she said, hold on to your faith, don’t be scared go out there
Just stand up and be strong
Go out there and hold on to the real things that matter
‘Cause no one’s gonna hand it to you on a silver platter
Stand up and be strong
Go out there and hold on to the real things that matter
‘Cause no one’s gonna hand it to you on a silver platter
Don’t be scared go out there, just stand up and be strong
Go out there and hold on to the real things that matter
‘Cause no one’s gonna hand it to you on a silver platter
Stand up my brother, stand up my sister
Stand up my brother, stand up my sister
So you stand up and be strong
Go out there and hold on to the real things that matter
‘Cause no one’s gonna hand it to you on a silver platter
Stand up my brother, stand up my sister
Stand up my brother, stand up my sister
…with Jalá-Rani Ji aka The Goddess Guru & Rajah Laxshmi musically and affectionately known as LaToya Kent
The beginning of freedom is the realization that you have the power to attract the things you want in life. Start from within.
“What you seek is seeking you.”
-Rumi
The Year 2015 has been all about RE-discovering mYseLf. (Hi, I am Shila. It’s so nice to finally meet You!) I have been searching, to the point of obsession, for ways to share myself with the world, without feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and disappointed. I was looking for Maat– balance, understanding, peace, and happiness. So I looked into the mirror and started talking to God. I could see God in my eyes, and God was pleased that I had finally come for a visit. God spoke to me, and I listened. So, I arrived in a place, in a space, where I started to examine my nucleus, which is my heart, and from that place, I give, and I receive. I GIVE to you:
THE SACRED YoUnion RETREAT: I see my reflection in You, and I am pleased.
Are you looking from within?
So, in learning myself, I find gatherings like the Sacred YoUnion to be necessary, because they remind me of how powerful I am when I open my spirit.
Please be sure to register for the event. Here are a few guidelines:
Note: Once you register for the event, You can retrieve the location/address.
There is no admission fee, but it would be kind to donate money to the cause.
There will be vendors on site, so bring CASH (as opposed to credit)
Each person is liable for their own safety, so be cautious, it’s a farm!
This is an outdoor event and their will be a portable bathroom on site.
This event is open to children, men and women.
Light refreshments will be served, but please bring additional food for you and your Family.
Wear long pants to prevent bug bites, as well as bug repellent, and bring galoshes/boots for protection from mud. Bring comfortable shoes as well and a picnic style blanket and folding chairs for your comfort.
And most importantly!!!! Bring Your positiveenergy and love!
I REALLY HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE! ♥
Regardless of where you are on the spiritual path, if you’re in contact with any part of our materialistic world, you are bound to attract or experience both positive and negativity in some form. After all, opposites attract; like moths to a flame, the light is powerful enough to draw out darkness from within and from without. Whether it’s your own shadow issues that surface in interactions with others, or someone else’s bad vibes or resistance you encounter along the journey, accumulated negativity in your space can adversely affect your thoughts, emotions and even your health. As such, it’s essential to practice regular cleansing rituals to keep your physical and energetic space clean and intact.
COME CLEANSE WITH US!
… and take this opportunity to look inside of You…
Hair and grooming have always played an important role in the culture of Africa and the African Diaspora. The traditional African comb or pick has played a crucial part in the creation, maintenance, and decoration of hair-styles for both men and women.
In many African societies, ancient and modern, the hair comb symbolises status, group affiliation, and religious beliefs, and is encoded with ritual properties. The handles of combs are decorated with objects of status, such as the headrest, human figures, and motifs that reference nature and the traditional spiritual world.
In the 20th century ‘afro’ combs began to take on a wider political and cultural message, perhaps most notably in the form of the ‘black fist’ comb that references the Black power salute.
In Ghana, elaborate combs such as these, were gifts from Akan men to women to commemorate special events, such as puberty celebrations, weddings, or births. The 1st comb below, informs the reason for its commission: crowned by a female bust with a disk-like head, it echoes the highly conventionalized akua ba fertility figures. As a gift from a husband to his wife the comb underscores the couple’s desire to have children. Evident is also the relationship between the akua ba as an ideal of feminine beauty and the function of the comb in the creation of the coiffure.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Try researching the history of the Duafeyourself!
Peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learned.
All is beautiful. Her smile. Her eyes. Her smell. I am her, and she is me.
What is a Double Goddess? An ancient icon, an archetype that represents the sacred potential of female bonding, whether between mother and daughter, teacher and student, friends, or sisters.
Sister,
you’ve been on my mind
Sister, we’re two of a kind
So sister,
I’m keepin’ my eyes on you
I betcha think
I don’t know nothin’
But singin’ the blues
Oh sister, have I got news for you
I’m somethin’
I hope you think
that you’re somethin’ too
-from Miss Celie’s Blues (The Color Purple)
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
… hold her hand, and not just for the camera, but because in life, we need our sisters, our friends.
Gold Double Goddess figurine. Dual, polar aspects of one Goddess; 2 Faces of the SAME source.
Do not allow masculine forces to interfere with the Goddess in you. Balance your life out. There is room for it all. I say this because women turn on each other for men, but when true love is present, you never have to despise or abandon one love for another.
I want somebody to walk up behind me
And kiss me on my neck and breathe on my neck
If you want to feel me
Better be divine
Bring me water, water for my mind
Give me nothin
Breathe love in my air
Don’t abuse me
Cause these herbs are rare
If you want too feel me baby
Better be divine
Bring me water for these flowers
Growing out my mind
Give me nothin’ just be gentle
Breathe love in my air
Use me, don’t abuse me, love me
Cause these herbs are rare
Well behaved women, rarely make history. Don’t label me a good girl. Don’t label me a bad girl. I’m living my life!
We stay swarming, so, watch out, you might get stung…
“So tell me Slim what you wanna do
When you know I’m in love wit you
Every time that I turn around
Look for you but you can’t be found
Fly free baby fine wit me
I’m in love wit a bumble bee
Ooh Slim, boy you killing me
But you so sweet to me”
Join the Queen Team- let your natural beauty show. No fillers, no filters, no make-up, no pretending, no adjustments, Just You.
Who is Emily, you might ask? Not even Esperanza knows, but I guess you’ll have to show up to find out. This production is sure to be a smashing hit, as Ms. Spalding puts on many hats and presents what we could sort of call her “alter ego.” Are you ready? I am ready! It’s playtime!
Can you pretend to be yourself?
The shows starts at 8:00 pm and tickets range from $20-37. If you haven’t seen her live, this would be a good opportunity to experience her wonderful jazzy majesties. She is stunning in character and in talent, and I am all about her exploration of the many dimensions inside of herself. Peace and love sista soul. Can’t wait to experience you.
In the library book display, I also highlighted several others for breaking records and leaving everlasting memories: The Wailers, Peter Tosh, Chuck Berry, Thelonious Monk, Augustus Pablo, The Neville Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Art Blakey, The Treacherous Three, Whitney Houston,TLC, Tupac, DJ Kool Herc, Chaka Khan, Notorious B.I.G., Miles Davis, Esperanza Spalding, Kool & the Gang, Marvin Gaye, Run-D.M.C., Aretha Franklin, Max Roach, Quincy Jones, Cootie Williams, the wonderful Terence Blanchard, and the list goes on and on and on… One Love!
I like the light on this photo!
Inside of the book: Soul Rebel
Mo Meta Blues by Questlove
TLC!
Black Music Month is undertow, and this year I’d like to salute, brother Bob Marley for his ability to transcend the every day ills directed at people of African descent. I could have just as easily saluted Sun Ra, Yabby You, Augustus Pablo, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, or Nina Simone. They all elevated, with grace, and love, and the desire to be FREEEEEEE! Let’s get liberated in the music. I call it FREEDOM MUSIC. So, I give praise to all the artists who tell their stories, the griots, who loosen and tighten our heart strings with beautiful melodies.
Why we must celebrate:
Most jazz critics have been white American’s, but most important jazz musicians have not been. This might seem a simple enough reality to most people, or at least a reality which can be readily explained in terms of the social and cultural history of American society. And it is obvious why there are only two or three fingers’ worth of Negro critics or writers on jazz … usually the critic’s commitment was first to his appreciation of the music rather than to his understanding of the attitude which produced it. The difference meant that the potential critic of jazz had only to appreciate the music, or what he thought was the music…
Leroi Jones, 1961…
nonetheless,
Although Jones aka Baraka wrote this decades ago, the same can be said about Black music today, we aren’t our own critics! The world we live in has been crafted in such a way that we can’t even own our music, moreover, be the primary critics of our own sounds. We hope for the day when we can have full control over what we produce, and this is why I believe that BLACK Music Month is necessary!!!!!! Our ancestors shouted and hollered in the fields because it was one of the few areas of human expression available to them. In 2015, Black music still evolves. We continue to produce the wonderful sounds of glory, and we get more and more creative as the years go by. Artists like Michael Jackson, Prince, and even Beyonce have battled for the rights to their own music. The fight goes on and the music will live forever!
My mind is overwhelmed with the reality that I’ve been captured
melancholy rigor mortis becomes me
my spirit is heavier than my mind, my body
my legs shake, denying me mobility
i lay here, but i am not present
i want to stay
but I don’t know how to exist
in this space
I’m fighting
my mind is rotating 345, 360, 315
i daydrift into a dream
i am an earth goddess, spinning
needing to be with you
but needing my solitude
healing, with gel and latex
rubbing herbs into my soul
i contemplate
i look at my face through the fog
“you can do this” i say
affirmations is the way
i can say i love you and mean it
i can walk away,
but that doesn’t mean i’m leaving
just
feed me
food and water,
relieve me
I’ll give you the world
cause I have it,
just let me be free to choose
so I’ll close my eyes
and allow the fear to die,
so I can wake up
and be with you.
I am an Aquarius. we are slow to respond sometimes, because we’re thinking. let us.
more and more, I see, that excuses and blame are tools of the incompetent.
Say what you feel, before what you want gets away.
Dreamless sleep
refreshing, sometimes
not to think
Just lay, in peace
and listen to the sound of my heart beating
thumping,
Mind free of matter
Body free of desire
All I have is ______
In this space,
I am wicked, spinning,
three sheets to the wind
awakening
In this bed,
on the clouds,
brown linens, the earth
gathering my wetness
I am breathing in,
exhaling, stretching,
Opening my eyes,
I see
you.
Together, we climb into the night
PEACE
Are you ready?
THE LYRICS:
People climbed into the night like space suits
People stepped into the night like moon boots
Marching like moon troops
In their zoot colored zoot suits
People climbed into the night like cool wells
Shiney bottles in their hands
Drinking their new selves
They say it’s their true selves
People climbed up in the night like green trees
They were hanging from the night like green leaves
Buzzing like queen bees
People climbed into the night like space suits
People stomped inside the night
Stomping and stomping and stomping and stomping and stomping
Where are they going?
What’s the rush?
Everybody in the place was so out of touch
Hey
Night-time is when the things get heavy
You feel alone and you want somebody
Loneliness whispers desperate measures
And your frantic all by yourself
Night-time is when the things get heavy
You feel alone and you want somebody
Loneliness whispers desperate measures
Baby don’t make no fast moves
Baby don’t make no fast moves
Baby don’t make no fast moves
Baby don’t make no fast moves- Tonight
La La La [humming…]
People stomped inside the night
Let me climb into the night…
Let me climb… [vamp to fade]
Close
your
eyes
Don’t be afraid
in the shadows of darkness
the night balances out the day
equal
as the vernal equinox finds its way
6, 4, 5
post meridian, it’s time
find me
all that you thought mattered
wasn’t filling
i am your fullness
i am your Spring
the mistress of mystery
goddess ciphering
rotating, evolving, blossoming,
untouched by your inability to feel
the real, I am the way,
come lift me
let go of the dead weight
my womb is thirsty
the life inside of me has yet to be born
put your hands into my loop
and bring forth eternal life
close
your
eyes.
i am waiting
allowing the medicinal metaphors of history the prophetic memories of the seasons past
redirect my high
i am turnt
i am in another di e
mension, i fly
through the evening sky
you haven’t felt it yet,
but i have,
let me tell you about the reasons, last
night i was fucking the light
it keeps me grounded
i am
rooted in the things you told me to pay attention to
you are in my dreams
cycling through my thunderous extremes
i receive
messages from gods
i process the important data
hieroglyphs painted on my walls
my soul left my body
i am traveling
my unconscious mind
con trives
the TRUTH,
the story of my genes
my ancestors, the creators of liberty
want me to be free
to say words like:
you are the day, and I am the night
put your fingers in my sands and
draw two parallel lines to measure us
tomorrow,
wake up
life is experimental, but he plays chess
the living doesn’t start until you say yes,
to greatness,
let go of an empty search
you should ask the god in you for me
or should you let life just be?
don’t live in misery,
when you could have my mysteries
ok, so it’s like this
i want you
in the Spring
do you want me?
it took me forever to be right on time
peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learned,
shila_iris is OSiRiS RiSinG is your Queen is your Reality, i am power, come play with me
Face it.
i am poet.
… if you must harness the sunshine
and hold the air in your hands, fairy tales and miracles are splendid
If you’re planting seeds and
watering them with the right things,
hopeless romanticism is an experience,
that leads, to growth
But you musn’t be surprised when someone on the other side
of the world flicks the light switch and the season is over.
Energy is a whirlwind waiting for you to walk in,
it may be fate or coincidence, you spin
I believe in love manifesting itself in bodies from our dreams
Now, are you ready to face reality?
________________ I want to get to know you, and you need to get to know me. That means we can choose to see one another when we can, but don’t feel obligated. Let’s have a free flow mind dance. I believe in liberation. I believe in evolution. If we ever decide to go beyond, let it be because we trust and respect one another and because we arrived, naturally, at a place, where we both want to be. ________________
I am learning so many things about real human emotions. I was taught to put my love in a box, but it’s not how I want to love anyone and it is not how I want anyone to love me. I have discovered that I am not interested in a love filled with forevers and nevers. Anything is possible when you really love someone. I believe in LIONHEART LOVE where we don’t need to pretend or make a show. WE HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE. We are NOT afraid of one another. We know each other well. We accept the flaws and all.
LOVE IS MUTUAL. I feel like the healthiest loving is reciprocal. The Universe has a tendency to align us with the right people when we are righteous and ready. You will know when you arrive at this type of love because it will feel right. It will be more than infatuation or physical stimulation. You will be able to look into each other’s eyes and know. It is a deep experience- to grow with someone and go through trials with them. Love is earned, not something that should be given so freely. Lot’s of people throw it around, but I say, please don’t misuse it!
Growing a real love could take seasons! But don’t be intimidated by this. Have faith, patience, and fun! A REAL love has to stand the test of time. You won’t know how much you love someone until you have to go through things with them. The people that I love are those who stood by me throughout the years. It took 15 years for me to know that I really loved my best friend! 10 years for me to trust my college sisters. Imagine that. We made all types of mistakes, but we still had each other’s backs. I know that it is pure because we never had to cross anyone for our love to manifest. It has always been a good thing.
I don’t want to rush or anticipate it It’s much more interesting when we just let it be We connect our personalities and histories, call it chemistry Hasty declarations can ruin a good thing just open your heart to me… _____________________________
Don’t declare love out of fear. Would you rather have the security of a lie, someone telling you what you want to hear? Or the truth?
I want a beautiful becoming, an awakening, where I don’t know what’s going to happen.
If you’re scared that you’re losing control then yes, say you love me! Do you want to be in a relationship because you’re afraid of losing me or do you want the real thing? Let life happen. Love yourself.
I care for you. I admire you. I want to be around you. I want you. Those are things that I’ll believe, nothing prematurely. It’s only right that I, we, take the time to season our greens, let nature be. Peace. This woman said it best:
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Maya Angelou
i really dig her. that girl is dope ♥
she’s wonderfully stylish. just like me ♥
she’s a loyal sister. she’s got my back ♥
we experiment, grow, and learn. she’s earned my trust and my loyalty ♥
she’s my homegirl. i love her confidence ♥
Sometimes 2 is better than 1… that’s what he said… that’s what we say! ♥
she’s so much fun! our souls speak ♥
coming to see you today, Queen…
She makes me feel so good!
“Is solace anywhere more comforting than that in the arms of a sister.” -Alice Walker
“Nothing can satisfy me like a hug or a kiss from my mother, my sister, my brother, or my father.” -Shila Iris
Ujima principle teaches each family member to recognize that their own well-being is derived from their family and community. Our lives are bound together.
I have learned that taking care of your family and fostering good and honest relationships with true friends, is one of the most revolutionary things you can do in this life. It takes hard work and lots of lovin.’ It takes humility to be there for your family, and it takes discipline and respect, not to cross lines with your friends. Before this year, I honestly had no idea what a real community felt like.
My community is my family, my community is my friends. When we are all strong, then we can change the world. I want to feed them first.
I’m an aunt…
Last night, I was talking to my best friend and all of a sudden, I was crying. I got off of the phone with him and lay in bed wondering, how will I survive this? The past few months of my life haven’t been easy. These are some extremely trying times. Great change takes work! Those who saw me through this, empowered me by doing real things like providing any type of support I needed, rather it be financial or just a listening ear; they’ve cooked healthy meals for me and smiled with me and basked in my glory. I have learned so much.
I lay in bed and after a few minutes, my friend called back and he said these very sweet words to me:
“You don’t have to do this alone. You never do. I will be here. I know how it feels. I will come and sit with you if you’d like. You should know that I love you and that is what I am here for. I can help.”
That is Collective Work & Responsibility. The real work starts at home.
Peace and love,
Shila Iris
my cousins and I
cousins
the babies
….the children
My mom, aunts, and uncles
me and baby
me and baby
baby and i
thumbsucker!
niece
cousins
my brother and niece
these babies!
#ilovethecrew
#iloveher
i miss them being this young
read babies!
girlfriends
the fam
girlfriends
girlfriends
zarina asha and i
Zarina Asha and I @ my Masters Degree Ceremony in Virginia Beach