HIP HOP blues & attitude

I am an older cat, but as a professional musician watching and at times participating in this art form I believe the core values of Hip Hop are intact. But they are intact in a distorted way. At the popular level it is dying an obvious death. The legacy of hip hop is dark and light. The practitioners at the highest levels who have grown up seem flippant at the scope of the darkness of their legacies in the lives of millions of people who were too young to effectively tread through the obvious contradictions of messages. This is the dark truth sealing the casket.

 The DJ, the Rapper, the Graffiti artist and the Break Dancer were the core of Hip Hop before those elements were rent asunder by the industry of music, and law enforcement. The elements of Hip Hop that globalized the young voices passionate about changing the conditions of poverty, injustice and youth concerns and fears found that their music altered political and social movements, and spoke truth to power.

Most listeners are unaware of the literary and musical legacies this art form comes from. They are unaware  Hip Hop extended a dream amongst literary giants now long dead. Hip Hop, the art form, extended the hopes of Black poets of the 1930's on into a future that saw poetry as a voice for millions upon millions of children and young people. This is the light of Hip Hop. If it is to surge upward with the elemental vibrations of birthing concepts and the techniques of spiritual sciences that is illuminating Harshness, and Judgement in organized religions it will help unleash the promise and potential of Genius buried in each child of this generation. Hope will grow into something in the Beyond, and our grandchildren will have a better shot at a better life with poets who have their voice, and sound in Hip Hop, and the soul of their lives will better ground in truth, and practical freedoms that benefit all concerned! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

sacred geometry

OBAMA'S PRESIDENCY

President Bush poster in 2010

"Pity that Americans didn't keep their promises to work together, and to engage in intelligent discourse during Obama's presidency. Politics and governing is a series of relationships based upon conflict. This fundamental, but important aspect of American culture is reflected in a myriad of ways. Principally it shows itself in marriage: this condition of existence, this paradigm we treasure. Eventually it will do its inevitable job and divorce us from our myths into a self-evident reality we will not be able to live with!" - Gregory E. Woods 

BLACK HEALTH: Black Momba Workouts

Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I am totally honored. A place where we share love, food, workout tips, and encourage each other to strive to be at our best. - Aseer Ali Cordoba
www.cookingmorewithless.com
www.blackmombaworkouts.com

nia: PURPOSE

"Having a vision, living it out and becoming a vision come from one and the same vision one is born with to become in the world. These are my words." - Gregory E. Woods


""Don't look for a wife amongst mistresses," Old Man admonished me once a long time ago when I was at the end of the Game played by all the women I was attracted to. He taught me over the years about pottery of the soul, the inner being which is a light. There is candle light, light from oil, from wood and their is a soul light. One's soul light is feed not by wood, or wax. It is feed by the words you feed it and the images of self envisioned of your place in the world. It is about magic because it is magic. Magic is the mystique the flower uses to copulate with the right winged creature who will spread her seed where she cannot physically go." 


- Gregory E. Woods, 
Keeper of Stories
July 10, 2012

We need each other...

"I don't discount the heart songs of people. The heart knows itself, but in the work of reconciliation there are some rules. There is a transitory phase the predator and the prey pass through. It is very much like a valley between mountains. Quite often whites leap over this part with sweeping words and story that plays on emotions. 


Do we ever hear Indians or Blacks publicly declaring "I have a white heart." The torment on and in the souls of people of color is fresh, and it never helps the way whites step in that pain with the same energy body that conquered into other people's identity and ceremonies. Many of us are so screwed up and hurting we go on automatic and in survival mode do things whites mistake as a passing comment, frivolous gesture. I don't think I have to go into detail, but on behalf of the many who aren't as articulate it has to be said. Reconciliation work between the races does not have full participation because most whites are incapable of a few things we all need if we are to eventually become a family, and sadly step out of the way hoping not to be called upon...


Dorothy Height, at Coretta Scott's funeral summed it the best. "The White man needs the Black man to help him with his guilt. The Black man needs the White man to help him with his fear."


We need each other. This work of reconciliation upon the Medicine Wheels is sacred, but it is hard and challenging. It is far beyond cliches and trying to make whites feel good about themselves in exchange for what we sacrifice by not sacrificing for the sake of our souls and our generations!


These are my words." -Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

BLACK MOMBA WORKOUT series

An intesnse home workout designed to build core strength, and overall body strength. Designed for mommies and daddies that want results without leaving the comforts of home. Enjoy and thanks for the love and support. Celina The Empress Of 10,000 Years -  Aseer Ali Cordoba 
http://youtu.be/GeOdHDK5lRo

  

FOOD: natural remedies...

"Let food be thy medicine." Hippocrates

The Natural Remedy Reference Guide is now available as a refrigerator magnet! It has been UPDATED to include a few more remedies, and to take out a few not so useful ones. See picture for the scan on my FB page or website of the magnet. BUY HERE: 
http://www.greentidings.blogspot.com/p/green-tidings-amazon-store_05.html

PLEASE NOTE: This reference guide is not intended to be medical advice. Many herbs and supplements can interact with each other, and with prescription medication. Likewise, herbs and supplements may have side effects. What works for one person may work very differently for another, due to unique body chemistry. Please consult with your health provider before taking any new herbs or supplements. I am not a medical professional, and the Remedy Guide is intended to be educational only. - Green Tidings

"Eat to live, don't just live to eat! When eating a food (even just a small snack), ask yourself, "how is this going to nourish my body to help it run more efficiently and healthily?"

When I listen to the spirit of these words I cringe instinctively. Food and the discussion of food today has begun to sound like science, and technical advise. It doesn't feel like Life. How seldom do I see people break out into smiles with joy in their eyes when they eat food. No, they are conscious of technical things related to food, and they are counting calories, or feeling guilt, and thinking about a body image, not theirs, they'd like to have. The information is important. It is informative. It is good, but eating and hunting and planting are sacred acts. They begin with gratitude, and eating is a grateful act, hunting and planting are part of gratitude and ceremony. Eating is ceremony! Outside of that cerebral musings separated from the heart is not fulfilling, and part of the sickness; it is a sickness of soul, and body, and spirit. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

STANCES

pregnant Ama Chandra

"Standing up for one's self is one thing. Standing up for a person you don't know is brave, but standing up for mothers is one of the more dangerous things to undertake in cultures contemptuous of women, their wombs, their wounds, and their stance in a man's world!"  - Gregory E. Woods

pregnant at home

Unbelievable the sense of awe, and the way babies jolt us backwards with our own memories of wonder at the world when we were young enough to have memories of where we were before landing in our mother's arms wet with blood and water. There was no divide between worlds until we heard and learned the stories of this world denying the other, and fearful of returning to it. In reflection adulthood for most is taught as a practice of telling and internalizing lies about the truth. Sooner or later a little baby comes in all our lives the way Jesus came to Mary and we remember who we are and what agreements we made to come into this lifetime.  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

CONSTANCE MARIE, actress

pregnant Constance Marie !!!!

MOUNT RUSHMORE & WASHINGTON NIGGERS

"I have been to Mount Rushmore. It was majestic until I looked at the visitor's faces, and saw no reflections of myself anywhere. None of the eyes would look into mine, and I realized there was no grasp of the enormous contradictions, and the bold declarations of dominance over a race of people. To those white faces it was a normal state of affairs, of being. It was not questioned. There were no questions to be raised. It bothered me then and now it festers living in Washington DC. Here in the District of Colombia the same blank, "I don't care about it" attitude is in the eyes of football fans incapable or unwilling to 'see' the contradictions  of the name of their football team, and the acceptance of white dominance over a whole race of people is lost in the souls of Black American citizens. It is the oddest of odd puzzles, and the most successful trick in the Book of Manipulation of Images." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

A MAN TALKS about it. . .

"There is an ease, a comfort within men who know themselves today's youth need to be around. Words can carry stories, eyes see into things, the touch speaks to the spirit, and a presence embodies his truth like no word can convey, no look can mask and one touch can teach a young man how to control his spirit. It is in you, brother, and it is in me." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Heart Song Stone Man

I've been on a short road trip with my wife, and when I travel I don't get on computers, and talking on the phone is rare. I don't own a cell phone. The phones don't live up to their assertions about connecting. It has added another dimension to disconnection I never anticipated as possible to an already disconnected population.  That little side step from the topic at hand has a lot to do with our on going discussion, but it is relevant to the questions you posed.

My work with the process of Rites-of-Passage is a natural offshoot from the upbringing I had with its attendant initiations and the ceremonies that got me here at this stage of life. I have been working as a Rites-of-Passage facilitator for some years now. If someone is looking for a title I could easily be called a ceremonial hunter. I spent many years honing a skill set in the forest tracking, stalking wild dogs, and other animals. I learned a great deal about covenant, death, risk, movement, space, stillness, time, eternity, ceremony, the hunt, etc. in those years applicable to various facets of modern life.

I have children. Four. The youngest child, a boy, is 18 years old. Two are in their early thirties, and my youngest daughter is in her late 20's. I think she is 28. I don't remember things like that easily. It is the moments I immerse myself into that renders the obsessions with clocks outside of my range of interests into shadows... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Gregory E. Woods & Shanelle Gayden at Healing March on Men

MICHELLE BACHMANN: healing work!

Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) made allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood is infiltrating the U.S. government. These people recently sent letters to five federal agencies demanding investigations into infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood.


Robert G. Sugarman and Abraham H. Foxman, the national chair and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement, "These sweeping accusations by members of Congress against American citizens who are Muslim are unfair and misguided. Absent clear evidence of direct ties between these individuals and the Muslim Brotherhood, such allegations foment fear and cast the kind of suspicion that undermines rather than advances American counter terrorism efforts."


The Anti-Defamation League wrote letters to these five members of Congress on Friday (7/20/12), expressing their displeasure with their charges saying, "Members of Congress have an essential role to play in raising legitimate concerns about threats to America’s security from international terrorist groups,” The Anti-Defamation League wrote. "Those efforts should not be tainted by the kind of stereotyping and prejudice that has too frequently accompanied the public debate. ... We strongly urge you to reconsider your allegations and to refrain from promoting or trafficking in anti-Muslim conspiracy theories in the future."


These people were concerned that top State Department official Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the wife of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) had ties through family members to the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Most notably, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took to the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon and strongly criticized his GOP colleagues.

"When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it," he said.

Michelle Bachmann must have had a mental relapse thinking Bush was in office where groundless accusations could sway public opinion like a yo-yo to accept whatever expenditure needed to be passed without debate or thought, or whatever person needed to be blackballed and screwed over with impunity.  That feeling is still in the rage among millions of conservative citizens, most of whom are white and Christian. It is nestled in fear. What is that like? What is it like to be in power as a white person and all the signs around are indicating the end to an era of domination and supremacy? When all the chickens come home to roost? What is it like? What does it feel like to feel one's grip slipping when every standard you hold dear and over people is disseminated, and correctly interpreted, and discarded by the very people your laws were meant to take advantage of, and render, if you so desired, a person, a tribe, a nation of people invisible?

Shooting into the dark terrified by the shadows you cast as the 'enemy' encroaches upon your physical and intellectual property and claims is bound to wound the wrong people who might easily be your own children! For people of color it is hard to be kind to white people lashing out in pain as their reality shifts in favor of the good of all. It is hard for millions of Black Americans to think deeply about the implications of a shift of power. We haven't learned that language, and it mocks us daily as we allow power to be rent from our hands every 15 minutes as our earned dollars go out of the communities back into white, and Asian communities.

The ethnic groups living in the United States need to ponder the shifting sands and determine when and  how to build better futures not only for themselves but for the rest of the country. Since the patterns and structures of business, and social interactions, and government are firmly entrenched in the paradigms of white  thought, and supremacy we have an extra responsibility to unlearn all we know. The shifts within power and the shifts of power require reassessments that defy the laws of complacency, and mediocrity, which fit so well on so many.

Because the relationships between Black and White America is so crucial to the identity and culture of the U.S. the deepest work will have to be undertaken not in the political sector, but in the realm of spiritual work, emotional restoration, parallel journeys into the unknown of remembering for the sake of the ritual of recapitulation. Relationship with food, and water has to be reestablished as a sacred undertaking, and the power over land has to taken by the Holy Women, Womb and Water Caretakers, and the children have to be blessed and honored as Sacred Beings. Warriors will have to be re-directed and assigned to the rigours of becoming Healers.

We are living in a time of prophecy. More and more children are coming through the channels of timelessness and formlessness into the world who were once enormous conduits of healing energies now shaped into a human form that is uncomfortable to wear, but wear it they must. We need to see them. People of the old guard are terrified of them, and religious folks resent them because they (the children) require so much inner work of their parents, guardians, teachers, pastors, and lay people who think they don't need to be involved in child-rearing!

There is so much to unlearn, and as I have said, and insisted upon times before; unlearning is the first lesson of power! Before any of the other steps can be made this one has to be made before we learn how to see who and what is really surrounding us, and before we can build bridges over the chasms built by fear and engineered by hatred. It is a lot of work, but for the Christians Jesus laid down not only his life, but the foundations, the structure, the design of a healing modality rooted and from the mysterious past before his religion was born! When, and if the Jesus Walkers ascend that height, and depth the adherents of other faiths will have to match the ancient practices and our elevation beyond the heavens Enoch wrote about will be reached, but that is high of a dream for the mundane. Jesus spoke of it, and few have grasped it, and those who did have suffered for the revelations if they dared to speak, or teach them. Let me stop here.

© Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

SELF-DEFENSE

"I am a great advocate for women defending themselves against men. On Wednesday past a young woman I know told me Javon was messing with her. He'd choked her and slapped her. They were horsing around. They grew up together, and had been a part of the Unique Learning Center most of their lives. As college students they were supervising a new generation of children in the same Center. So they were friends.

But Denisia wanted me to intervene because her childhood memories of me see me protecting little girls from the boy's. In front of the other children working at their tables in the church I simply said, "Kick him in the nuts." The children were shocked. They could not believe I'd say such a thing. The schools and the churches don't condone violence, but they surely have little skill in defending children at the deepest levels of existence, or empowering children to protect themselves, or have the desire to ignite children's genius. 


Children are magnificent facilitators. They know how to step away from anger into forgiveness and play. All they need is the understanding and the teachings of adults who understand and embody these things. In the meantime while the average person fumbles along playing word games with the realities of violence in a violent culture women keep learning how to not defend themselves with apologies, excuses, and explanations. It is astounding these facts; isn't it?" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

AURORA, COLORADO is such a serene place...

Being American citizens we will continue our tradition of marveling at our collective violence as if we are our children playing in the yard. We will not go to the root of the problems. We will wince at the worst murders, let time 'heal all wounds', and slid back into watching police shows, play video games, and reality games on television like Survivor, for example, built upon the paradigms, and structures of violent competition and violence identical to the make up of killers like James Holmes, and Jared Loughner, and the many of the others in our neighborhoods. 


Am I sad at the loss of life in Aurora, Colorado? Yes, but my grief isn't focused there. It resurfaces in my day to day contact with violent people who drive cars in the Washington DC area whose eyes tell the story of their raging desire to hurt, maim or kill someone with their cars. It, my heart, aches watching young single or older single mothers creating and shaping their young children's spirit from one of play and exploration to shame and retaliation, and fears that quietly turn them into potential killers, or killers at some point before or after 15 years of age. My concern and facilitation skills turn to the young and older men, violent themselves, who mentor young boys into their way of life by example, and direct penetration into the vitality of young energies within tens of thousands of young boys bodies, and perceptions of the world.


Violence is shocking but it is the way of life in America. WE honor, and revere it, and reward the best of killers who run corporations that kill the female principles of land, water and air with the fires of dominance, indifference, and superiority. 16 countries we've invaded since 1980! We bend logic out of shape stretching ourselves far from the truth of our contradictions. Telling convincing lies to each other Americans have mastered the art of traveling thousands of miles away to other countries to 'protect American freedoms' by conquest and killing as we partially educate criminals and killers by the thousands and graduate them each and every year from public high schools!


We are in a world of shit, and relish it. Our fear of change and Life is stronger than Death. These are my words. I am Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

WATER, Weather Camp & the Winnemen Wintu

Winneman Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk (r.)
at Stanford Mother's Day Powwow
of Northern California with other women in 2012

This disturbs me greatly. I was at a presentation at Howard University two days ago on Meteorology. Present were high school students from around the country who had been studying for two weeks an assortment of subjects and ideas at a Weather Camp hosted by NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences. Each child presented their findings to family, friends, and staff. It was extraordinary. At the end of five hours I spoke because the camp director, Mike Mogil, asked for comments from the audience.


I spoke about the women in different tribes who are responsible for the water. When I spoke about them my hand involuntarily held my stomach the way a woman holds her Womb as if I was embodied by any one of the women of those circles I've met. I could see the correlation between the new technologies and the science around air and water and land and the ancient ways and knowledge of indigenous nations around and with water. The two can and should come together. The director was astounded.


"Who are you and who are  you with?" he asked.


I told him, and he said, "We need to talk afterwards."


We did and I learned the people in his field of interests have been unsuccessful connecting with the American Indian communities.


"We have, obviously," he said; "connected with the Black American community, the Hispanic and white communities. But..."


I mentioned Swift Otter's vision of building sustainable environmental community for his people, the Menominee, and I thought of other people to introduce, but the time was short and the space for such things was not there on the Howard University campus. So we exchanged cards.


My cousin Amber Liggett is 16 years old. She was one of the select students in the Weather Camp. In her talk she addressed the large islands of plastic in the oceans. Masterfully, she painted the picture with her words of our trash making a circle and coming back to slap us in the face. It seems to be an irreversible cycle. Answering a question she illustrated how the plastics and trash in the water can be picked up but it would more than likely be buried in land fills! I reason we are in a fix because there are limits to that solution, and if we send the trash to outer space we add to an overflow of trash already circling the Earth's atmosphere. If what can be burned is burned it adds to the pollution in the air joining volcanic ash in the air that is already a threat to air travel!


When I spoke before this small assembly I remember saying what my friend Pam Tinker says often, "A man's religion is revealed in the way he treats water." Ponder that and take this in:


The U.S. government wants to flood more of the land of the Winnemem, and refuses to acknowledge they exist somehow. This occurs in the open. It is easy to suffer this much in the United States with most eyes focused on the glitter of trivia, and inconsistent notions of freedom. The myopic approach to the problem of pollution seems to be merely focused on tobacco smoking to the exclusion of the myriad and complex problems of the near end results of philosophies, ideologies and practices of desecration common to the advancement of European powers, and the perpetual motion of misdirection by the illusions created by the image makers of North Americans who don't know how to own their images, or relate in a sacred manner with the Earth, our Mother!


The time is now. The time is right now to focus the nation away from the idiot and self-servicing reasoning, and justifications for destroying water, land and air. Our children do not yet understand the relationship of the US government to the indigenous people of the land. They don't understand how nefarious and dangerous it is the waters of activism, and how deeply entrenched  notions of dominance and superiority are alive within industries, and large segments of the United States. It is staggering  the belief structures killing us! Life will always prevail, and Peace Makers will always be birthed by women is the hope for tomorrow. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Amber Liggett (l.) & two other Teenpreneurs who competed
for a feature in Black Enterprise magazine. Amber won
and was featured in the June 2012 issue!

Tow Winnemen women sitting on a bench
April 23, 2012

a WOMAN'S WISDOM

"The object of reflection is invariably the discovery of something satisfying to the mind which was not there at the beginning of the search." - Inna Rae  http://www.facebook.com/inna.rae 

ALTER REALITY

http://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/printerfriendly.cgi?articleid=34138

"At risk of sounding like a kill joy, I would like to add, that there is a danger in laying your burden down in front of something bigger than you. I would suggest a more pro-active approach of sovereignty and personal power. An action of facing that burden and becoming bigger than it, in your own eyes, and letting it know, that as your own creation you can minimize its impact and free yourself from the difficult situation this burden tends to present. By doing it that way, I feel we all can be even more powerful and more able to create situations that will support us in the long run. It takes a major paradigm shift to stop dropping the ball in someone else's court thus giving them a burden they did not create. Prayers often have these indicators of take this from me, Lord, rather than, I created what I feel about this therefore I can recreate what I feel about this and move forward. In the 39th Hexagram of the I Ching it speaks of how much of what we see as burdensome, obstacles and difficulties has to do with our perceptions of what we are experiencing along with a host of things that impact on our perceptions, such as stress, diet, lack of sleep, etc. So let's take the bull by the horn and see not a way to give our burdens away, but see a way to lessen or even eliminate them out of our own accord, our own creation." - Nana Baakan Agyiriwah 

celebrity marriage

Kyra Sedgwick, actress, is the wife of actor Kevin Bacon. They have been married a long time. It is  difficult to resist reporting it in Hollywood gossip columns because despite their shallowness gossips have longings found in the bones of  their existence to belong to someone whose heart loves them for who they are, and cares for them as they open to love and care for a mirror of themselves! Recognizing successful marriages and friendships is like recognizing foreign space ships breaking through our atmosphere during severe storms, or during intense wars anywhere on the planet. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

DIANE

I remember sub-contracting to a job at an Embassy Suites hotel in Washington DC. This was years ago. At the company's office was a beautiful, and mystical young white woman. She held me captive before she ever spoke a word. I noticed all the men at her job were held at her arm's length by the silence she drew around her that was neither threatening, or unkind. It was simply a matter of light. How much light could one share with her light was all I saw.

My ex-wife had gotten me this job. She worked for the people I was gonna be working for. I asked her about this woman teasing that she could be the next Mrs. Woods. Renee said all the men wanted this woman, but she just did her job, and paid them no mind. I probed but all I got was, "She don't want your butt, Gregory..."

She told me her name was Diane driving me into the city in her truck to the hotel. She was supervising this landscaping job. I relaxed in her company, and we started talking. Immediately we connected. She was one of those magical people I often attract. Every time she drove me to the work site our conversations were 'light' and airy, and fun to be a part of. It was easy to work with her because she was clear, and with clarity made it easy to comprehend the job's requirements, and she'd leave me alone to do my work.

Riding down Suitland Road in Suitland, Maryland one morning she pointed her mother's house out. "My mother lives there on the corner. She teaches metaphysical science in her house." There was something to ponder. I began to speculate and wonder to myself what it would be like to cross the color lines and have children by a woman like this. It was a difficult conversation I kept to myself, but it was circulating within me in a pot; a melting pot of sorts.

I didn't keep this job long. It was a temporary gig tiding me over during the darkness of separation, and child support enforcement, but working in the dirt tending the outside gardens of the Embassy Suites hotel was such a splendid time. It mended and restored me to the degree it could, and I eventually moved on to other things, and dilemmas. But Diane stayed with me for many years in my thoughts and meditations.

Excited, we were, when we first spoke to each other she unearthed what she'd been keeping to herself. She knew men desired her. She knew her looks befuddled men, and she got that. What she could not grasp was how easy it was not to engage men in conversations along the lines of her existence up and into the realms of her endeavors to be light; to be whole, to be Diane! I had 5 questions held secretly in the Medicine of my Heart that discerned the spirit of women separating the wheat from the chaff. Diane told me she simply asked men to live in the present for a day.

I have never seen Diane, in person, since then as far as I know. If I have I couldn't recognize her because the only thing I saw was her spirit-body. I couldn't tell myself what she looked like physically. Did she exist? She did. Renee introduced me. Renee unknowingly introduced me to a healing spirit that fanned out with a look and words the pain of separating and breaking up my family and establishing hope I could begin anew, and perhaps have another son with a woman I could carry in my spirit and provide for at every level of my being.

Medicine stories never occur where you expect them to and they never become what we want them to be.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

AFRICAN SPIRITUALITY: Jesus was dark?

In an online discussion a nice sensitive white woman expressed incomprehension at the breathe and depth of racism with some naivete. But she also asked for solutions to a complex problem that is constantly expressing itself, and unraveling in our lives on a daily basis. Denial and assertions of mixed race relationships in white families is a mixed bag of contradictions when used as a defense against being called a racist. Marrying a white woman or man in a Black family is not felt the same way in Black families, and  if one pays attention to details each claim of a white person not being a racist is matched by pained reactions from Blacks. Why? Because every action of white Europeans for centuries has produced dark ominous realities for people of color around the globe. This is too much for whites living today to bear. It is unbearable the historical weight of what they have done, and who they have become as a result. My heart has learned to go out to them. The pain is in their actions, their heart  songs, and their words. The spiritual work required to heal these deep wounds is feared because it is so intense, so terrifying because it will rend asunder the fabric of individual's lives.

The healing modalities available are being used by healers in sacred circles and lodges around the globe, but sadly Christians are not great participants in these circles. Immersed in a pitiful state of denial, and a bizarre commitment to mediocrity millions of Christians envelope themselves in asinine dialogues that dismisses facts, and asserts destructive images in to replace fact and knowledge. It's weird, but a subject of great interest in the atheiest and agnostic communities, and in indigenous circles the world over.

Claiming Jesus was not an African, not a married Rabbi, that the 12 tribes of Israel were of all four races is a profoundly soul damaging assertion into the face of fact, and the face of the man, Jesus,to whom so much accord is given as being the Son of God. In his day on Earth there were only two people of the white race in African affairs: the Greeks and the Romans. The racial conflicts we have now are traceable. There is a need to mention how the Church validated conquest, and murderous missionary work. The end result is in the racial claims Christians are fond of making that continue to degrade people of African descent, and the Africans living in the Mother Land suffering deeply from the colonist's legacy and the missionary's bloodied  handiwork. What continues to be done to the tribes within the United States by the churches is a sin before God and Man, but it is condoned and sanctioned by the Fathers and the lay people of those churches who believe, who need to believe in a white Jesus!

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are African religions. The Eastern thought that authored their revered sacred books is disrespected by inserting previously non-existent theology, and socially restraining dogma, and teaching conquered people to assume and believe the Bible comes from Western orientation of thought and spirituality, and that Jesus was a white man!

These are words from my life. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Black Madonna

FANTASIES

Mystery of an older Thai woman is inaccessible to a foreigner unfamiliar to the nuances of the culture. Romantic notions of seduction, or eloping with a wild eyed beauty to the hillside, or the United States, and  all of the 'what ifs' implied within a glance has an irresistible tug and pull away from sound reason. For thousands of years the young and the uninformed have sought answers from within, from Elders, and their mothers to the ageless questions seduction demands answers to from the simpleton to the sage. How fantasy is dealt with in a foreign land can become a decision of life and death for horny undisciplined men or a lonely man filled to capacity with an urge to love and be loved by a woman other than the usual fare of his culture. 

Seduction, desire, and promise are creatures of a world that  can alter or re-construct time. It is magic. It is an introductory sequence of events that lead some astray and others into pensive studies of themselves and still others caught in the endless currents of high sexual energies connect several things within instances and incidents and with clarity enjoy an 'Aha!' moment discovering that energy flows come from divine sources within themselves, and the Wombs of Life, and beyond the grasp of the mundane lives Magic. 

Sex, and its appeal is a promising river flowing in and out of creative impulses showing what is within the other, and knowing what is within its essence. If someone simply 'fucks for fuck's sake' they will barely grasp the significance of merging consciousness, and the meaning of two flesh becoming one because life for them is full within the limbic brain. Pity. It is a pity, but the mundane live where they love and love with the best they got. 

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

dark beauty of a Thai woman 4

WESTERN CHRISTIANITY vs.AFRICAN ISLAM

“The Boko Haram earlier this week said that all Christians need to turn to Islam or ‘they would never know peace again."

I drop my head in horrified silence as Muslims kill hundreds of Christians to make Nigeria a Muslim state under the Sharia Law. The idiocy of fundamentalism jumps from one side to the other. Two religions related to each other with the same patriarchs, and the jest of all those teachings from and about universal truths and the depth of their spirituality is bloodletting in the name of God/Allah? No intelligent person would join such a group.

Over the years I have heard Christians and their pastors and Muslims zealots, and Imans speak of violently overthrowing free thought, and expression with both sound and ridiculous arguments, but each time I hear their points of view and contention I think to myself, "If you say something not founded in logic, or fact enough times an idiot will swear he is hearing the truth." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

a historical lineage within one woman ripples ...

Salma Hayek elegant refined & beautiful

THE BULLY IN THE SCHOOL

"There is a great brutality within the school systems that breaks children down and free spirited children are the most vulnerable because conformity is a cruel master. Free spirited adults are a phenomenon, a curiosity, and an authority on perseverance." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Freespiritsioux Tessa is from South Africa.

BRIA MYLES

black beauty of Bria Myles 

I have used Bria Myles' photos to make points or to be a point of interest in past blogs. It is the dark skin and the keen African features that are the magnet. At any age it is a draw, but every warrior has to ask himself what the draw is because there are moments it is clear what we did not examine, and our lives can end suddenly. Beautiful women are compelling and live across the globe in various hues, shapes, and soul conditions. A warrior can be trained by anything and everyone teaches the best of warriors and informs him or her of their capabilities, weakness, strengths, and gives clear insights into his or her character.

Women are the most mysterious of creatures. A man can stand before a countless number of women and continually be renewed, or questioned about integrity. The thought process of existence does not begin or end. It is. Female principles formed life from its inchoate, its formlessness, its most primitive state into Manhood. It is a mysterious thing living in every woman. It is in prostitutes. It lives within mothers. It is within little girls, and ebbing and flowing in dynamic waves is the sexual energies of the women whose wombs, as my wife says, control and manipulate the four winds, the tempest, the tornado, the whirlwind, the hurricane, and the furious winds of change the Earth, our Mother feels within her.  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Bria Myles speaks Nigerian patois
https://www.facebook.com/bria.myles.7?sk=wall 

seduction

elegant Thai woman poised seductively

GREAT PEACE GATHERING

Emergency “Great Peace Gathering” calls to all Nations:

As you are probably aware, there are many new conflicts arising from the creation of new imposing laws being implemented within North America that will pose a danger to our Mother Earth and her natural resources more so now than ever. In Canada and in the USA, we have the tar sands and pipeline dangers and Plan Nord amongst many other Government and privatised projects, stealing more sovereign traditional lands and waters from our Peoples within North America until there will be nothing left for the seven generations to come.

Through International law, we as the original North American Indigenous Peoples had the right to proper decolonization since 1945.  However, the US and Canadian Governments, the Vatican and the British Crown`s constant interference has denied us our proper decolonization rights to regain all of our North American lands as long as we consider all of its citizens through the United Nations Decolonization Declaration of 1960. We have been denied through false and misleading interpretations and perceptions of international law to decolonization and right to self determination only upon our reserves and immediate territories.

What they have done is deceitful and illegal within their own laws. For proper decolonization to be legal, everyone within all Nations would have had to agree through a “referendum process” to proper decolonization which was obviously never had by our People. Thus, adding insult to injury, their fictitious use of the doctrine of discovery “terra nullius” (lands without owners) has been legally “Nul and Void“ since 1960 given, proper decolonization rights including its determination in relevance to the Western Sahara decolonization process by the international Court judges determination in 1975 in regards to “terra nullius”.

Many worldwide, including the immigrants to these lands are awakening to the truth of the past and of the now, as we are coming into a critical point in history.  If we take a final stand together to make things right for all Nations, the karma of the past can be rectified by the restructuring of Canada and the United States through proper decolonization; which would instill a more direct democracy and a much brighter Nation to Nation future for the Indigenous Peoples of North America and all citizens.

Given the present developments of infringements upon the natural resources and human rights, and especially as of last week, things are drastically escalating and getting out of hand for all Nations upon these North American lands. In Canada, the Province of Quebec has implemented Bill 78, where 50 or more assembled is considered illegal and can mean imprisonment as well as a 1,000.00 – 5,000.00 dollar fine.

Bill 78 was passed to stop protests in Montreal but also from happening anywhere and especially within the vicinity of natural resources of Plan Nord as the Canadian military has been brought in, to enforce the law against Canadian and Indigenous peoples.

Within the next few months, this law will be imposed upon all living within the Canadian borders especially since we now have fallen under the US Homeland Security through the imposition of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agreements between Canada, Mexico and the USA.

As it stands and because it will be simpler in Canada to decolonize, we have a narrow window of opportunity to turn things around not just for the Indigenous Peoples of North America and its citizens but for all life upon Mother Earth if we act quickly and this is why we must all unite at Eagle`s Nest occupied Mohawk territory in Brantford Ontario Canada with as many Nations as possible. We must take a collective stand within the proper decolonization of all of North America while the AFN (Assembly of First Nations Chiefs) of Canada have their annual meeting in Toronto, so that they can remember who they are as they hear our voices, so that we can all set things right before it is too late and everything is lost.

The time has come for us as North American Nations to gather in order to stop the insanity so that we can all create the change upon our Mother Earth as Creator of All intended it to be for all life.

P.S. In order to make this important gathering a huge success given the short notice of time, we welcome all the help, support and sponsorship anyone can provide us with so that many of the elders and peoples from the four directions can assist these crucial meetings and have their voices heard.

Much love, respect, and gratitude for your time.

Barbara Henry – Cayuga Nation

Barb Garlow – Cayuga Nation

Cheryl Squire – Mohawk NationY

Cathy Walker – Anishinabek Nation

ProtectedSun / Nicole Lebrasseur (mtl)

Christelle Jolicoeur (mtl)

Sicilia Dawes De Santis (mtl)

Nicole Mamuza (Brantford)

For more information or to RSVP please go tohttp://www.decolonizenorthamerica.org

Or contact us directly at the numbers and email addresses below.

Barbara Henry

barbarahenry53@yahoo.ca

Tel: 1-519-445-0676

——————————

Nicole Lebrasseur

Tel: 1-519-774-0850

Protectedsun@gmail.com

——————————-

Sicilia Dawes DeSantis

Tel: 1-514-813-1301

sici18@hotmail.com  

www.decolonizenorthamerica.org 

BLACK ACHIEVEMENT: Idris Elba, actor

Understand how hard it is for people in pursuit of the development of high skill who live with a vision that requires a commitment to excellence. That calling leads to roads beyond mediocre, and most people are incapable of holding and sustaining that kind of energy for years upon years in the partnership of marriage and friendship. If Idris Elba has a white woman, or a woman from Argentina instead of a Black woman it doesn't mean his relationship with Black women is severed. It is enhanced constantly because of his relationships with Black women's energies from birth to the present is a potent force of reciprocation.

Many Black women, and men often underestimate the value of developmental work, and the value of owning a spiritual consciousness needing to elevate itself beyond belief into knowing. It ain't easy, but it is needed by men and women at certain levels of development and involvement with Life. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

BLACK ACHIEVEMENT: Tasha Smith

Tasha Smith @ 38th NAACP Image awards luncheon 

Black actress Tasha Smith has mastered the skill of playing women who base their relationships on conflict. It is extraordinary. I hope it leads to roles that expand her obvious training, talent and skill. Not only are her roles tutorials into a consciousness needing to change her roles bring to the screen the complexity of living like that. A  disappointment is always on the horizon for  women and men who live like this. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [July 6, 2012]

Tasha Smith at the Black Movie Awards 

a BLACK WOMAN'S face

Pamela Brown, educator

"The beauty of carriage, antiquity that impresses the deeper sense of what is beautiful is plain and simple expressing itself in your beauty, and how deep it is is dependent upon the depth of a man seeing you, and understanding what arises within him in your presence. It is quite a challenge to be a man in the presence of a woman who looks so much like First Woman." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

healing hands

The recipricoal relationship with the energies of the Universe speaks to the soul of the Healer, the ordinary person, the Child, the Old Ones. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories October 17, 2010 

ELDER'S MEDITATION July 9

Elder's Meditation of the Day July 9

"We have to educate ourselves to know who we are. That's what I mean when I say, 'Teach the children.'"
--Eddie Benton-Banai, OJIBWAY

It is only by knowing ourselves that we can get in touch with our power. It is said, "Tell me what you know about yourself and I'll tell you what you know about God. Tell me what you know about God and I'll tell you what you know about yourself." As we increase knowledge of ourselves, as we choose to grow spiritually, as we clean up our act, then we can teach the children.

My Creator, You have said "Know thyself." Today let me see the wisdom of this Truth. Give me Your insight of myself. I am always walking the talk and most people can see it. Today, help and guide me on the Red Road.

WAR HEROES?

Dawn Wolf & Heather Mandy Levy in West Virginia at Abrams Creek in 2010 after a lodge ceremony I led.

Having proven myself as a warrior I earned the right to be blunt and honest in the assessment of what a hero is and the difference between a soldier of noble character and cannon fodder. The inability to grasp these distinctions is a telling story of denial, and in the end it is disrespectful to send young men to conquer other people's lands without intelligent thought, or redemptive powers from sacred ritual, and consequentially blind to the historical significance of a war. This is the 16th country we have invaded since 1980, as I recollect. It is a small number against the hundreds of other wars the Americans have raged across the globe, and still we insist on pretending the Emperor has no clothes on. What is that, and what will it mean to the mental state of our soldiers when and if they deepen and wake up to the truth of their existence as cannon fodder? - Gregory E.Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Paris Hilton reading SUN TZU !!!!