W O R D S

from Mereana Taki
August 26, 2013

A few short years ago a social worker asked me to work with the men who'd been ordered by the court to her office to find jobs. All the men were under the sinister threat of imprisonment if they could not pay their child support. She knew the things these men wrestled with were deeper than finding a job. I will always respect her for that. 

"I've come to the limit of what I can do." Gloria said to me.

I readily agreed because I knew at least one man was on the verge of killing his woman, and within two weeks turned out I was right.

A few days later Gloria and I met and embraced. I felt an inner connection with her sense of self, and I admired the Male Shield she wore gracefully. After a time feeling, and exploring the energies between us we mapped a semblance of a plan. Gloria and a colleague of hers assembled at least 35 to 45 men in a room and introduced me. We figured a brief introduction, a few words from me, an invitation to my workshops the next Monday and we'd be out of there shortly.

After Gloria introduced me I remember glancing down at my black attire, and the Medicine I carried to gather spirits around me I needed before I spoke. I arose feeling the rush of wind from those spirits around me rustling against the varied and jagged emotions from the men guarding themselves, and angry by way of a system full of spit, shit and venom. 

An hour and a half later surrounded by these Black men I was deep into listening to their words, and embracing their concerns because, as I told them, our stories are the same. 

"I've been there. I am a grandfather and still in the grip of this damnable system. I am going to share with you what I have you don't have, and I will teach you nothing..."

Those were some of the words that bound us together.

For three months I did ceremony and shared, and learned as they did to be vulnerable to men, to each other. Traditionally and by training and inclination I share very little details about my ceremonial work, and never do I say the names of the participants unless given permission. And that is rare.

Spirit gave me words of power, and instructed me how to give these words to men. These words and the body movements cannot be felt on paper, or any other medium. Their bodies reacted to these words. Their emotions were startled, and changed in their bodies hearing these words. Spirits within each man saying and receiving these words reacted by transforming at the deeper levels. I saw it. I felt it in me. Saying the words to each man as I was instructed changed the structure of my body, and my own spirits leaped, spun around and danced. To say these words in four breaths as I was told to share them with men rippled through the group into our lives. The effect of this part of the ceremony became ritual with life. 

I am a Man

in the deepest sense of the word

and the Word 

is Power.

Gregory E. Woods 8.30.13