face BEAUTY

Sereda Aleta Dailey, some things go without sayings to the soul and the memories of things ancient and eternal can be evoked by the presence of dynamic energies emanating from the essence of young women, and men closer to the womb of Life than older men, and women looking at Life through other sets of eyes. Looking full into your face are stories saying, “Life's mysteries are dancers, and the joys of living are beauty, gaiety, food, intercourse between states of being, and the simple pleasures of single moments full of eternity banishes all thoughts of permanence into the four winds.”

I recognize in your eyes that youth has a longer shelf life than social engineers have planted within us. It is immaturity that lives the short lives, and the energies of youth are sustaining the joy of living in old age, and youthful resilience is dependent upon the joy of discoveries within the soul. We discover these magical things as a child, and not divorced from childhood but initiated from childhood adulthood maintains the wonder of youth thus giving it a longer shelf life than immaturity! These are powerful stories living within you! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

April 25, 2012 

CHEROKEE STORY

So much of the sensibility of this so called Cherokee proverb, I suspect, cannot be taken at face value. The Cherokee met and sustained relationship with the Whites much longer than most tribes. So much so they developed survival tactics that profoundly altered their culture and their traditional worldviews. Many people from other tribes think the Cherokee people lost too much of themselves to the whites. If true it was inevitable because relationship with whites exacts a high cost upon villages, tribes, people, customs, and sense of self, and values, and one's relationship with and understanding of the Creator. Other tribes are grateful for the Cherokee nation because their losses to the whites left some tribes without land, identity, or any customs to remember, practice and follow. The Cherokee's resilience is renown, and their spiritual practices are deeply embedded within the Earth, their Mother. The fact and the power of their survival as the Principal People has helped thousands of Native people regain a sense of 'Indianness" and helped many whites married into the tribe to be People.

The feel of this alleged Cherokee proverb which reads, "A woman's highest calling is to lead a man to his soul, so as to  unite him with Source. A man's highest calling is to protect woman, so she is free to walk the earth unharmed." doesn't understand the relationship Cherokee people have with blood. The traditional woman's relationship to blood is through her menstrual cycles, and birth. Men's relationship to blood is through war and hunting. This is a mirror into a fundamental difference between European and matriarchal nations like the Cherokee (Tsalagi). Matriarchal societies didn't just wake up deeply engrossed and engaged in the mystery of blood in relationship to community, and marriage and the Earth, our Mother and to each other. These cultures didn't indulge in sentimental pining about romantic notions of marriage 20th and 21st century Americans are fond of attaching themselves to instead of plunging into the deeper aspects of power, communing with Nature, and the mysterious depths linked to the art of love, the primal elements, and so on...

Cherokee medicine is deep. It is powerful, and somehow they learned how to keep their Medicines alive through the hard centuries of relationship with the whites, and managed to retain secrets. I won't go any further with this teaching, but it is good to gain a sense of the relationship the Cherokee people had that made them strong enough to survive as a people amongst the whites. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

COSETTA CHANTAL

a PARENTING STORY

The Boys Who turned to Geese - Chumash - California Long ago, when animals were people, there was a little boy whose mother and stepfather wouldn't give him anything to eat, though they had plenty for themselves. So the boy went off to find his own food and met another boy who was also abandoned. Raccoon came along, felt sorry for the two boys, and helped them dig roots to eat. In the next few days, five more hungry abandoned boys came by, and they all went to stay with Raccoon in the temescal (sweathouse). Finally they decided to go north and take Raccoon with them. So they sprinkled themselves with goose down and sang songs. For three days they went around the temescal, singing and rising higher and higher off the ground. But Raccoon couldn't fly even though he was covered with goose down. All the mothers came to see the boys and begged them to come down, but they refused. They all turned into geese and flew away to the north, to become the seven stars we call the Pleiades.  And when geese cry, they sound just like a little boy. From the Archives of Blue Panther

THE BAT a Modoc story

Once there was war between beasts and birds. Bat was on birds' side. In the first battle, the birds were badly beaten. As soon as Bat saw that the battle was going against them, he crept away, hid under a log, and stayed there till the fight was over. When the animals were going home. Bat slipped in among them. After they had gone some distance, they saw him and asked one another: "How is this? Bat is one of the men who fought against us? "Bat heard them and he said: "Oh, no! I am one of you; I don't belong to the bird people. Did you ever see one of those people who had double teeth, you can see that I belong to the bird people. But I don't; I am one of your own people. " They didn't say anything more; they let Bat stay with them. Soon after, there was another battle; in that battle birds won. As Bat's side was getting beaten, he slipped away and hid under a log. When the battle was over and birds were going home, Bat went in among them. When they noticed him, they said: "You are our enemy; we saw you fighting against us." "Oh, no," said Bat, "I am one of you; I don't belong to those beasts. Did you ever see one of those people who had wings? "They didn't say anything more; they let him stay with them. So Bat went back and forth as long as the war lasted. At the end of the war, birds and beasts held a council to see what to do with him. At last they said to Bat: "Hereafter, you will fly around alone at night, and you will never have any friends, either among those that fly, or those that walk." Modoc, California

Women Providence provided ...

“A Woman whom Providence has provided with beauty of spirit and body is a truth, at the same time both open and secret, which we can understand only by love, and touch only by virtue; and when we attempt to describe such a woman she disappears like a vapor.”  ~ Kahlil Gibran, poet

dark haired beauty !!!!

Mischievous beauties capture people’s imaginations before they realize they are part of these women’s worldview.  Wild women who manage to gain fame shape women who have dared not themselves to dream or see themselves playing with wolves and other wild animals.  Women like Pussycat Dolls singer Melanie B. are essential to the movement of many worlds.  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2009

RELIGIOUS CONSERVATISM

‎"However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this Supreme Being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C," and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism." [Senator Barry Goldwater]

The Magic of Mushkil Gusha

Once in the royal city of Isfahan, there was an old woodcutter who lived alone with his young daughter. Every day, the woodcutter went out to the desert to gather camel-thorn bushes, then sold them in the marketplace as firewood. In this way, he earned barely enough for the two of them.
One morning, the woodcutter's daughter said, Father, we always have enough to eat. But just once, it would be nice to have something special. Do you think you could buy us some date cakes?

I think I could do that, my dear, said the woodcutter. I'll just gather some extra wood today.

So the woodcutter walked farther that day to gather more thorn bushes. But he took longer than he meant to.

By the time he got back with the wood, darkness had fallen. It was too late to go to the marketplace. What's more, when he reached his house, he found that his daughter had already bolted the front door and gone to bed.

Knock as he would, there was no answer. So he had to sleep outside on the doorstep.

Next morning, the woodcutter awoke while it was still dark. He told himself, I might as well go out right now and get another big load of wood. Then I can sell twice as much and buy even more date cakes.

So he left his load and went back to the desert to gather more bushes. But again he took longer than he meant to, and when he got back, it was dark and the door was bolted. So again he had to sleep on the doorstep.

He awoke once more before dawn. There's no sense wasting a day, he said. I'll go back out for one more big load. How many date cakes we'll have then!

But yet again he took too long, and yet again the door was bolted when he got back.

The woodcutter sank to the doorstep and wept.

What's wrong, old man?

He looked up to see a dervish in a long green robe and a tall green cap.

Holy sir, for three days I have gone out to gather thorn bushes, and for three days I have come home too late to get into my house. And in all that time, I've had nothing to eat.

What night is this, old man?

The woodcutter said, Why, Friday eve, of course.

That's right. It's the eve of our holy day. And that's the time of Mushkil Gusha.

Mushkil Gusha? said the woodcutter.

That's right, old man -- the 'Remover of Difficulties.'

The holy man took some roasted chickpeas and raisins from his pouch and handed them to the woodcutter. Here, share this with me.

Thank you, sir!

You may not know it, the dervish went on, but Mushkil Gusha is already helping you. If you want your good fortune to continue, here's what you must do: Every Friday eve, find someone in need. Then share what you have, and tell a tale of Mushkil Gusha. That way, you both will be helped.

And with that, the holy man vanished.

As the woodcutter stared at the empty spot, the door to his house swung open.

Father, where have you been? Oh, please come inside! I was so worried!

A few days passed, while the woodcutter and his daughter enjoyed the many date cakes he bought after selling his wood. Then one morning, when the woodcutter had gone to the desert and his daughter had finished her housework, she decided to go walking in a public park.

She was strolling down a broad path when a carriage stopped beside her.

What a pretty little girl! said a royal young lady. I am the daughter of the king. Would you like to be my handmaiden?

Yes, Your Highness, the girl said, blushing.

So the woodcutter's daughter became a handmaiden of the princess. With the gifts the princess gave her, she and her father became quite rich. He bought a nice house, and he didn't have to gather thorn bushes anymore.

But somehow he forgot what the dervish told him.

A month went by. One day, the princess went on a picnic to one of her father's private gardens, and she brought along the woodcutter's daughter. There was a small lake there, so they decided to go for a swim.

The princess took off her necklace and hung it on a branch overlooking the water. But when she came out, she forgot all about it.

A few days later at the palace, the princess looked for the necklace but couldn't find it. She turned angrily to the woodcutter's daughter.

You stole my necklace! You must have taken it when we went for our swim!

No, Your Highness, I wouldn't do that!

You're a thief and a liar too! I'll show you what happens to people of your kind! Get out of my sight!

The woodcutter's daughter ran home in tears. But an hour later, soldiers came to the door. They arrested the woodcutter and carried him off to a public square in front of the prison. Then they locked his feet in the stocks and left him there.

The woodcutter had to suffer the taunts and jeers of the passersby. Some people were kinder, though, and even threw him scraps of food.

Now, that evening was Friday eve. As the sun set, the woodcutter cast his thoughts over all that had happened to him in the past weeks. All at once, he cried out.

Oh, what a foolish, ungrateful wretch I am! Didn't the dervish say to share what I have each Friday eve and tell of Mushkil Gusha? Yet I haven't done it once!

Just then, a packet of chickpeas and raisins landed by the woodcutter. When he looked up, he didn't see who had thrown it. But he did see a beggar boy coming by.

Young friend! called the woodcutter. Please share this with me while I tell you a story.

The boy sat down and gratefully took what was offered. As he ate, the woodcutter related everything that had happened, from when his daughter asked for date cakes, to when he was put in the stocks.

Thank you, sir, said the boy. I needed the food, and the story was good too. I hope it has a happy ending.

The beggar boy went on his way. But he'd only gone a block when a rich merchant stopped him.

My one and only son! Ever since you were stolen at birth, I've looked for that birthmark on your left cheek. Now at last I've found you!

But they leave our story here.

The next day, the princess had another picnic in her father's private garden, and again she went down to the lake for a swim. She was about to step into the water when she saw the reflection of her necklace. She looked up into the tree -- and there was the necklace itself, right where she had left it.

That woodcutter's daughter didn't take it at all!

By the end of the day, the woodcutter was free from the stocks, and his daughter was back in the palace.

And every Friday eve after that, the woodcutter always remembered to find someone in need, share what he had, and tell his tale of Mushkil Gusha.

Les Nubians-La Guerre

BLACK PRIDE, the lack thereof…

“I regret letting my third language languish (French). The lyrics of Les Nubian's song, La Guerre, reminds me of how unevolved Black Americans were when I returned to the States from living in Africa. Their resentment of anything remotely connected to deep African spirituality, and what was outside the vernacular of coarseness was astounding. Others and I let things let other languages we spoke reside in our mysterious backgrounds, and developed a coping skill that took time to stop simmering with resentment. We talked about it as a form of self-preservation. We had to go through pity into awareness of the dominating fears of Black America to understand the importance of Blacks to suckle on the ‘tit’ that informs identity.

In Black American culture as long as the idea of self is measured by how ‘we’ look, or come across to the Whites, and as long as our freedom is given to us we cannot own the most important thing: our own images!

I dig the song by Les Nubians. I get it.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

POWER: a Women's discussion

"Lilith refused to be less than who she was created to be. She was created to create herself..." - Gregory E. Woods, (Dawn Wolf) Keeper of Stories feb. 23, 2011

"Yes, this is true, but I think Lilith has something for women, in particular, in this time. We grow numb to this power due to malnourished stories of sleeping princesses and princes who come to awaken with a kiss. We feed this to our girls. Some of us try to break from the hold of Disney, but it lingers. Lilith's story is rarely told among women. We are not given this story of her SACRED NO to everybody else and her SACRED YES to herself. Yes, but one thing that we can learn from her is that she knew of what she was made. There was no doubt about her authentic expression or her strength in not falling into people pleasing. Her story is nourishment when we take the time to eat and read and contemplate why so few know of her strength or only see her as the mother of demons. What makes a woman a demon? Uncaged strength and fire red nerve to say, "Actually, sweetie, this position doesn't work for me. And while we are at, I refuse to give of myself unless I want to." Yes, being aware is the key. Without a vision of who you are, then what is truly being created? As you beautifully pointed out Layla, "Every being creates itself. Only the thing is most are unaware they have this power." Tap into the stories that open up awareness. Then, explore within yourself what feels true and tap that power." - Celeste Morgan

"The feminine - woman - have been stripped to bare skin, bare bones, stolen identities, marred, crowned as princesses, and raped of this ' soul lite ' as keepers of the earth. This image speaks to me of how the feminine life force has never been taken, just forgotten by many. She holds an apple, the kundalini life force surrounds her, she is crowned with branches from the tree of life, her veins carry her story, the many mini eyes of the ' all knowing ', the erection that erupts from her groin, as Woman stays steadfast within the Life of Now. The colour of the skin as she grows from the Earth, stronger, full of life, carrying children of the children of the children on her back, standing on the shoulders of the Grandmothers Grandmothers. A brutally beautiful image!.. Perfect timing for the post Gregory !! Namaste' Liz." -Liz Harris

"Frankly I think woman's power is in not needing power, Lilith was just being her, if she ever was and not just fiction. I do not have to people please but it is my honour to make other humans feel worthwhile and not judge them as they ultimately will do that themselves when it is there time. That is the journey we take after we leave this body. I think that wanting to appear too strong in its self is a weakness. It takes strength to open yourself up to others. I do not have to be Lilith. I do not need the cover. I am just me; like me hate me its all the same to me, but i do not have to push that...

lol sorry just tired of the need to pretend women are this or that, women are men with missing equipment, we all need respect, but you do not have to make a big deal over it. If you do it's because u are afraid of ur weakness. I understand I am weak sometimes and am not afraid to ask for help. Then in my weakness there is a strength too." - Layla Riverside

"Ashe, Layla...I've never seen anyone heal from a debate, but a conversation...yes...that goes down like fine wine. Not in disagreement, just offering something to the table. Be well and stay in love. I am. Peace and in some ways your fire is so very Lilith. I thank you for expressing authentically which is all any of us want to do." - Celeste Morgan


"Just want man and woman to be at peace we are no more different from a man than I am from you. Some are weak some are strong in both. We should work towards unity. No more looking for differences putting on a face to protect our weakness. Embrace all you are and love even the weakest part of you then there is no room for stupid sayings like men are from mars. Men are just as scared as women often and react just as women do. Just an ounce of caring at the right time can make an angry man cry. I have seen it! Fear of weakness is weakness." - Layla Riverside

"These are your words and they wonderfully triggered my earlier thoughts. I thank you for them.... "every being creates itself , only the thing is most are unaware they have this power." A dear friend of mine says, "Truth needs no defense." There is truth here. All is well." - Celeste Morgan

DARK BEAUTY

Kellita Smith smoldering in black gown !!!!

MOTHER OF WATERS

Yemaya - Mother of Waters

"In the Beginning there was the Word, and the Word began in Nu, the Womb, the First Primordial Water" Gateway of Sacred Word.
Queen Afua. ♥






PRAISES TO YEYE YEMAYA + THE GREAT MOTHER OF WATER AND HEAVENS (RIA TAKHARU, 8.27.2004)


Mother Yemaya
I rest upon your waters
Fertile Milk of the Heavens
And Womb of the Universe
I am lifted upon your Grace
And Ever-flowing Divinity
Your Abundance of Life
Pours into my every energy portal
Your powerful and vast currents
Direct my Own Heart, Voice, Ears, Cells
Emotion, Intellect and Vision onward
Spiraling into the Circles
of the Highest Light of Creation

Below your Water the Darkness of Creation
Like the Womb of Every Mother
You hold and nurture your Children
Who are Abundant with your Blessings
who tread the Water of Diversity
And Obstacles of the Physical Realm

You, Oh Great Mother of the Universal Oceans
are the Vessel of Cosmic Matter of the Earth
Your Water is constant and cyclical circling over land,
body and seas
You Consume and Cleanse Everything
Because You are the Mother of All Living Things

You send down your Blessings
in the form of vital rain
and mystical morning dew.
It is because of your tears of joy and sadness
we continue to exist on the lands of this Earth
You sprinkle life unto the Unborn with your
Sweet Full Clouds
Our flowers bear fruits and are bountiful at each
new Harvest
It is because of Your fertile liquid smile
that our land is rich with minerals, gems,
seeds, berries, roots, and Rivers
The true Medicine used to heal our Mind,
Bodies and Eternal Spirits.

Oh, Great Mother of Cosmic Oceans
Diving into the bottom of your Water
I release all my fears
Embracing my Own Face
As you wash away my deepest tumultuous emotions,
all that keeps me enslaved on Earth.
My Highest Reflection in You is revealed
Intuitvely in my own Womb center.
It is your Current of Electric Vibration
signaled throughout the Universe that
Forever connects me to that Global Vision
of LIght, Love and Deepest Peace
In Healing and Joy

Oh Great Mother of the Deep Water
You Cleanse each of my bodies
Beneath the Darkness
Beyond one's Vision
Near the layer of Rock
Deeper where Light and Fire
Burn at the Core of your Great Abode.

I Praise You, Oh Great Mother of Earth
And Thank You for sending me Vibrations
In the Form of Visions
To Embrace You, Feel Your Water
and Surrender to Your Divinity.

I know I hold abundance and unity
in your deep blue waters
You are reflected Universe
Your Womb and every Limb
Outstretched over Earth and Gods
You are the Goddess of All Eternity
Reflected in my own Subconscious
Your Jewels of the Moon and Sea
that await me as I surrender to Your Great Healing Water
of the Universe.

I Abundantly give to You in your Praises
With Your Eyes they see your face
around my Neck
And Share in Your Loving Kindness
and Powerful Vastness of Heaven on Earth

Ase Ye Omo Eja ♥

ria.takharu.8.27.04.(wow,this was another "blue/West/Transforming"
magic day (Blue Overtone Monkey
Lunar 5, Kin: 31

I empower in order to play,
Commanding illusion.
I seal the process of magic
With the overtone tone of radiance.
I am guided by the power of self-generation.
Friday, August 27, 2004) DEEP!!! SYNCHRONICITIES ;-)

 — with Curtis Penn.

Reality Star

Mercedes Javid, reality star of Shahs of Sunset !!!!

symbol of SUCCESS in Black America

Bern Nadette Stanis, actress GOOD TIME, * author of  Situations 101, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly , and her book of poetry: For Men Only

WHAT?

Mereana Taki, the powers of...

"Go to the Heart of communication and the Soul of innerstanding will reply." 

- Mereana Taki

AFRICA UNITE cause we moving right out of Babylon...

Africa for The Africans at Home and Abroad

“I am put into the mind of the profundity of Libya's Khadaffi, and all the work he did in Africa that sprung from the aspirations of Haile Selassie's words, "But through all that has been said and written and done in these years, there runs a common theme. Unity is the accepted goal. We argue about means; We discuss alternative paths to the same objectives; We engage in debates about techniques and tactics. But when semantics are stripped away, there is little argument among us. We are determined to create a union of Africans. In a very real sense, our continent is unmade; it still awaits its creation and its creators. It is our duty and privilege to rouse the slumbering giant of Africa, not to the nationalism of Europe in the Nineteenth Century, not to regional consciousness, but to the vision of a single African brotherhood bending its united efforts toward the achievement of a greater and nobler goal."

In our individual lives how do we propel from the vision in his words, his directive, his dream 7 generations into the future with right action? The answer is fundamental to the future, and communities defined by this, and other higher levels of awareness ushering in more healing energies for anger, hurt, and diatribes.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

African woman wearing a Yanghi Butterfly top & short pleated skirt by Danielle Bella - Sonnie Daze !!!!

BLOOD, LOVE & WISDOM

WISDOM BLOOD

Brother Nightwolf. You said something that just clicked with me.


One of the prophecies predicts that the waters would turn red. The Blood of the mother is within her veins and she is bleeding, oil, liquid blood money. I have watched for the signs of the wisdom keepers and now I know that it is time to go to higher grounds, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Now's the time to lift the veil and use our minds to create change. All things are created first through our thoughts. Thoughts are living things, and when your minds and spirits come together, power becomes divine. I can now see, the next step I need to take.

Thank You! -Donna Weinheimer (June 2, 2010)

"The major point of human existence is to complete love. God as a spiritual vertical being cannot occupy spherical love alone. The appearance of man and woman usher the realm of horizontal love in the physical realm. Vertical and horizontal together create the multidimensional experience to fulfill love.

There are mysteries, yet reality shows that God lost His beloved in the onset of human history. Love was to have God alone as the vertical subject. Angelic and human violation of divine intention bore the fruit of arrogant love that uses others for self-sake.

Marriage can vibrate at the frequency of divine rapture when centered on the divine = natural = your joy is my indulgence, causing the Lord to say where in the hell have you been? My son, my daughter I love you, thank you for honoring my beautiful love.

When man and woman master the blueprint of original love, each couple can quote James Brown,

"so nice, dat dat, so nice, I got you dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat dat....YEAHHHHHHHH"

Adruma Victoria (December 30, 2010)

SPIRITUAL WORK OF Discipline

DISCIPLINE

“One should be mindful of the energy that motivates
disconnection.”- Iyanla Vanzant

“The right words are the things we plant in our mind-talk to unlearn the dysfunction, the things, and habits that don't work, and the beliefs that create dysfunction. This is spiritual work; the roots of spiritual work.” –Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

“You can't control what people may think or say about you, but you control how it affects you. Keep reaffirming the positive to yourself no matter what.” – Rev. Sinclair Grey III

Sanjay Prasad, what a searing cut into in this poem. The emotion in your poem I've seen in the eyes of homeless men dying of AIDS. People are fond of saying you cannot look at someone and see the AIDS virus. If you have eyes you can see it clearly. If someone is dying from complications from it it has a distinct distortion to it I cannot describe. How you captured it with skill is impressive, little brother. - Gregory E. Woods, Dawn Wolf  Keeper of Stories

NO ONE CRIES – A POEM ON AIDS AWARENESS

Deep slumber, laid down below the stones,

Epitaph to remember for a cause unknown,

Crossed questions from near and dear,

No man woman or child left behind,

Birthday marked the doom alone,

No one cries or will ever remember.

Silent words that were pronounced,

Candle lit in the house and sanatorium around,

care and cause had no meaning,

Sought to hatred crime and poverty,

Demanding a normal life to live,

No one cries or will ever remember.

Standing at the cross roads with no future,

Calling the name of God in the hour of distress,

Satisfaction and dreams that were never fulfilled,

Crossed the thin line of relationship for no reason,

Covered in shame the society served,

No one cries or will ever remember.

The four letter words stays distinguished,

Tired and Torn with no place to go,

Cried in mother's lap but to be disowned,

Epidemic turned into Pandemic so soon,

Give us a hand for millions have to live,

Secure our lives is all that we can pray,

No one cries or will ever remember....

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © Sanjay Prasad 2010

fat woman naked in red ...

A fat woman naked has been deemed inappropriate in one lexicon, and more brutally replaced by malnourished body types as the standard of beauty for haute couture contemptuously. Removed from thousands of years of being the conceptual art form of divinity, lusted after, and courted, admired, and held lovingly the meaning of today’s fat woman is reviled in one culture and in another adorable. But this sweeping view of fat women is complex. The assertions made between the illusions of the fashion industry, the flapping gossips in the news business, and the fear tinged attention grabbing alarms the pharmaceutical, and fitness industries blast across the internet and television alter the perception of the Goddess, and in the same breath cripples self-esteem and devalues the sacred aspects of a woman: her vagina, her menstrual cycles, her birthing process, her breasts, and her face, and in the same breath it is accepted by millions as OK.


 ©Gregory E. Woods

SELF-ABSORPTION

beautiful thighs of a brown sista !!!!

“... no such thing as a self-made beauty. Beauty is a thrice given gift; from within, circling us, and from birth.” – Gregory E. Woods

symbolism in faces

Oona Soleil with Killian Elias Leibundgut & Fiona Leibundgut

WISDOM KEEPER

When I first joined the Wisdom Keeper Circle I never thought I'd be struck by so poignant a moment captured in an image that would have troubled me many years ago that feels beautiful today to me as an older man who learned to have new relations with people distant from my heart...

Sight, renewed sight, is one of the benefits of the work I gleaned in  Angaangaq's circles, and utilize in my own circles. I am that circle expanded from  Angaangaq's  circles where I learned how to do ceremony with white people until I could say from my heart, “You are my relative. I love you.” It is a powerful thing to become vulnerable around and with strangers healing themselves and each other in environments unfamiliar, but it is worth the risk to stand on the cusp between life and death and declare intentions, and act upon them, and become better at being who you are! ©Gregory E. Woods

Angaangaq, Oona Soleil & a friend in Scotland © Sven Nieder

Robert Glasper & Lalah Hathaway - Cherish The Day

Beyond Belief ...

ASCENSION

“I think Dr. Martin Luther King ascended from belief to knowing. I don't believe he was content, and nor should any of us in being a believer the duration of our lives. Abraham was not a believer. Jesus, Elijah, Moses, David. None of them were believers. What that means I can draw out in symbols.

I can draw a triangle or a pyramid to symbolize believers. The pyramid is the primal need to have a teacher, a Master to look up to and learn from. The indwelling powers of the triangle are well worth the passage. There is nothing wrong with the need or the pyramid. What becomes wrong is the insistence that that state is the preferred state of being. The circle with its inherent capacity to hold energies, mystery, and revelations simplifies concepts and ideas exceeding the limits of a triangular relationship. The shift from pyramid to the circle initially is terrifying, but the fear is a necessary tool at the end of the initiations that led to this type of liberation. Fear defines, and cripples, but fear is a mirror of our intent, and a teacher of the soul. That leap from the apex of the believer’s pyramid is an indescribable feeling into the Unknown and Knowing. Beyond that I don’t know how to explain it.

But that more than any other speculation makes the actions and boldness of Dr. King easier to understand in my mind.” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (May 25, 2012)

a symbol of entitlement

Stacy Keibler, pro wrestler, mom !!!!

symbols of power

slaves formerly owned by Emma Pope, wife of Confederate General Thomas Drayton at Fish Hall at Hilton Head, SC

symbol of love

symbol of infinity

HEBREW COVENANT ceremony is ancient. It is old and timeless in its importance. There are many stories in the world holding both the world, and worlds together. In this telling I want you, the reader, to be satisfied knowing the people of the Hebrew tribe were as dark as the other nationalities in the Bible with the exception of the only two white nations: the Romans and the Greeks. This settles the controversy of image so important, and fundamental to the spiritual development of anyone professing Judaism, Christianity as their faith.

There is a covenant ceremony, ancient of days, King Saul's son Jonathan, and later to be king David performed together. It isn't understood by Western Christians the depth of the ceremony. All it entailed is not apparent to the average reader, but to initiates the slight references in the story is enough said to connect them to the significance and powers of covenant. Covenants made include all children, born and unborn. The Hebrew tribe believed the children were in the father's loins. Those children remain in the covenant until the age of understanding and choice. They decide, then, whether to keep it or not. God taught man from the beginning to cut blood covenant. (Hebrews 10:15-22)

There are seven (7) steps to the Hebrew covenant ceremony, and four (4) important things to be brought to the sacred space: one's weapons, an animal, bread, and wine. Blood covenant is between two (2) people who bind themselves to the other before God, and witnesses.

Facing each other they take their coats off saying, "This represents me. I am giving you me. We possess each other." The belts come off each saying to the other, "This represents my strength. The belt is where my weapons are worn. Here is my strength." Next an animal is brought into the middle of the sacred space killed and split in two (2), The halves are split amongst the two (2) men and put behind them. The men walk a figure eight (8) through the mounds of blood until they come to the center and stand face to face inside death prepared. Together they say, "We are beginning to enter Blood Covenant prepared to die as this animal. My life is yours. If we break this covenant," pointing to the dead animal, "Let God do this to me!

Now we are ready to cut ourselves. We take knives and slash our wrists (or palms) placing our wrists in the air and locking them together swear to the other that this is a life covenant. Now we are blood brothers. We are flesh and our names change and intermingle like our blood!

God bless You from blood covenant; if it kills me I will bless you."

The fourth (4) step is the scar made from the cut. The scar says, "I have made a covenant for life and it is a responsibility. What talents I do not have I now have through this new relationship."

The fifth (5) step involves the witnesses hearing the terms of the covenant. In asking of the other the two (2) men say, "May God watch between you and me." as they build a memorial to the covenant as they see fit. This is the sixth (6) step. The seventh (7) and final step centers around the meal. A loaf of bread is broken and fed to the friend. The act says, "This is me into you. We are one flesh of each others flesh." A cup of wine is shared. The wine says to one and all: "This is my blood. It has become yours as you drink. We are together. We are blood-relatives for life."