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Ep 56: Saturday Magic with Nyasha Williams and Kenda Bell-Spruill
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In this episode we talk with co-authors Nyasha and Ms. Kenda about their picture book Saturday Magic: A Hoodoo Story. We discuss intentional and conscious ancestor veneration, overlooked Hoodoo rituals in contemporary Black culture as well as allowing Black kids to see themselves in stories. Nyasha shared her process when creating her tarot and oracle decks while Ms. Kenda talked about our ancestors using astrology and dreams for healing and guidance.
Nyasha Williams is a creator dedicated to healing, indigenizing, and liberation through creativity. With fifteen pieces of work published or in the publishing process, Nyasha advocates for diverse works of art, media, and literature that amplify unheard voices. Her tarot and oracle deck, "Black Tarot: An Ancestral Awakening" and "Elemental Alchemist," are testaments to her transformative artistry. Nyasha is the founder and creative director of Fire + Honey Press, a digital publishing honeycomb created toward collective liberation. You can find her on her website https://www.nyashawilliams.online/, Instagram at @writingtochangethenarrative and on The Creative Playground with Nyasha Williams on Substack. She lives on the stolen land of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes in Colorado with her husband.
Kenda Bell, a beacon of wisdom, graces the world not only with transformative coaching but also literary brilliance. An Essence bestselling author, she penned For Every Love There Is A Reason and recently ventured into children's literature with Saturday Magic, a delightful collaboration with her daughter in love. In The Ethical Selfishness Journal: 12 Pathways Back To Joy, Kenda invites women to embrace grace and self-understanding. Urging self-accountability, mirror work, boundary setting, and self-forgiveness, she crafts a roadmap for profound self discovery. Her coaching blends disciplines like Feminine Power, Bagua™ Astrology, and GROW™ & SMART™ methods, woven into her unique Joy Factor Method.™ Email her at thejoyfactormama@gmail.com for regular astrological downloads.
RESOURCES
- Saturday Magic: A Hoodoo Story by Nyasha Williams and Kenda Bell-Spruill
- Root Magic by Eden Royce
- "Ep 47: Dreaming a New Dream with Austen Smith" Hoodoo Plant Mamas
- "Ep 37: Dreaming in Color with Nancey B. Price" Hoodoo Plant Mamas
- 8 Bill Mystery Pack/Ancestor Money
- Shop Our Tarot Collection on Bookshop
- The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry by Chichi Agorom
- "Kendrick Lamar plays 'Not Like Us' six times at Juneteenth 'The Pop Out' concert" by Daysia Tolentino. NBC News.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.
Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hoodoo and Ancestral Influence
00:00:01
Speaker
Hoodoo plants, mamas. Get your soul fed and your spirit ridden. This here in the trend, I possessed the power from way back when.
00:00:15
Speaker
Back when folk was stripped from all of their kin, so they had to find the magic within. Ancestors, they gather my urge. I conjure at my ulcers.
00:00:33
Speaker
We just out here trying to water our plants and mind our business, you know? Everybody from the deep south, man, everybody can't have a culture like us.
Meet the Hosts and Guests
00:00:45
Speaker
Hey y'all and welcome back to another episode of Who Do You Plant Mamas? I'm your co-host Leah Nicole. And I'm Dani B. And today we are joined by our guests Nyasha and Kenda. Would you like to introduce yourselves?
00:00:57
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you for having us in this space. I'm Nyasha. I identify as an author, creator, activist, dreamer, portal creator, you know, so many things, right?
Nyasha's Vision of a Just World
00:01:08
Speaker
I say that I am creating, building, imagining, dreaming towards the world that my ancestors deserved and future children need. When I am out here, i am trying to get people to imagine beyond what currently exists.
00:01:23
Speaker
And that's really where a lot of my art and my movements and the way that i breathe and build community is centered in. And hello, everyone.
Kenda's Cultural Exploration
00:01:33
Speaker
My name is Kendah Bell.
00:01:35
Speaker
also known as Kendra Bell Sproul and the Joy Factor Mama. I am an author and I'd like to call myself a cultural sociologist.
00:01:47
Speaker
I love to study trends and pop culture and literature and everything that makes us us through the lens of art, spirituality, and my latest and greatest love, astrology.
00:02:02
Speaker
So thank you for having us. Thank you for being here. Well, let's do a quick check-in.
Navigating Seasons and World Changes
00:02:08
Speaker
We'll start with Niasha. How are you today? When people ask me how I am right now, I'm like, I am in my body well.
00:02:17
Speaker
Doing a lot of integrating right now because Eclipse, there's been so much going on. I feel like have a wintering this season. We were finally in spring, new year, right? We finally opened to the new year and I am navigating that, but there's been so many shifts.
00:02:31
Speaker
um And so integrating all of that, but also our world's on fire, right? There's a lot happening in the world. So while I am able to find my pockets of peace and find my rhythm, I'm also trying to do what I can in community because yeah, there's a lot happening in our world.
00:02:47
Speaker
Oh, how do I feel? i feel expansive. I feel like the evolving elder. i am loving taking the wisdom that I have learned and the wisdom that I have studied and embracing it in a new way for this new era. So I feel like expansive and hopeful and optimistic.
00:03:10
Speaker
What about you, Leah? Well, I am here. i am making it right now. I don't really have any complaints like Niasa said with the The transits, and that's really been um the big thing. I'm happy that we're finally over.
00:03:28
Speaker
Well, kind of the eclipse season and we still have these retrogrades. But I'm here. I'm making it. I'm keeping my head above water. How about you, Dani? I am also doing the best i can and just trying to stay hopeful and remember my just being reminded of how I got here.
00:03:49
Speaker
and everything that my ancestors had to live through for me to get here. And so going to try my best to live through what's happening here for my descendants as well.
00:03:59
Speaker
So. Okay, let's get into some gratitude. Would you like to start us off, Dani? thankful
Gratitude and Community Recognition
00:04:07
Speaker
for my friends, for my community, and just for, you know, keeping me, keeping me really grounded.
00:04:16
Speaker
when I need it. I am grateful for the opportunity to still to be here, to be able to continually evolve myself, even through the challenges or sacred opportunities.
00:04:30
Speaker
I'm grateful that I'm still here to correct and evolve. I I have to say, like, Nanny, I like think of, I have a poster up in my house or like a plaque thing. And it talks about how, you know, sitting in gratitude for the things you prayed for that you have now. Right.
00:04:48
Speaker
And so I'm like, I often try and remind myself of that, of just like the things that you manifested, prayed, dreamed over, imagined, and then that you have them now, like sitting in that gratitude. And then,
00:04:59
Speaker
and then I am always grateful for my ancestors, my team, deities that work with me that are like right by my side, guiding me, leading me, reminding me of who I am, right? Like a lot of that is coming back home to ourselves and remembering who we are and our magic.
00:05:15
Speaker
so Always grateful for that. And i am grateful for the reminders that I've been getting that a lot of the work that I'm doing is working.
00:05:27
Speaker
Because I think it's so easy. Like, I think in my mind, if it's not big, it's not enough. But like, I'm seeing the progress that I'm making. And I'm seeing that like eventually I will get to my goals. So I am grateful for the reminder that like the things I'm doing, it is enough. It is working slowly, but surely I'm getting there.
Inspiration Behind 'Saturday Magic'
00:05:47
Speaker
We invited you both here today because we read your picture book, Saturday Magic, A Hoodoo Story. And it is a picture book that is about family, ancestors, and hoodoo. And so in the dedication, you both wrote about how important it was to honor and memorialize our ancestors.
00:06:05
Speaker
So I'm wondering if the two of you can talk about what inspired this story and why it was important to create a hoodoo story centering ancestors. Yeah. I will say that, you know, i think a lot of us are stepping back into ourselves, the' stepping back into our practices.
00:06:22
Speaker
um You know, we know it's been here, but I think people are doing it in the open, being louder about moving in these practices and being open in the ways that they are hearing to move with the ancestors, move with their spirituality.
00:06:39
Speaker
I felt like I wanted something that showcased this normalized new movement of practice. What does this everyday look like for us? and And so that's really what Saturday Magic is, was my mother-in-law and i sitting down and writing down different things that we do in our practices and seeing how we can have those different activities and different rituals and different um movements that are part of our everyday life, a part of our everyday hootie.
00:07:08
Speaker
that live out in us, how does that live out for day-o? And so what does that look like? And so that really is where Saturday Magic formulated from was creating something that is showcasing our everyday spiritual and Black mysticism practices, because it really isn't there, especially in picture books and books for young kids.
00:07:29
Speaker
You have a couple middle grades that are absolutely gorgeous. We have to like give a shout out for Root Magic, always here for that series. But ah you know for picture books, it really isn't there yet.
00:07:39
Speaker
And so I really wanted to create something that is allowing young kids who are seeing their parents in these practices, who are seeing their parents move in these ways to have something that is visually showcasing their experience?
Importance of Ancestor Work in Culture
00:07:53
Speaker
So I am a published author in the area of fiction and as well as non. So when she came to me to do a children's book or a picture book, at first I was very intimidated because I'm like, even though it's a children's book, you have to really convey a lot in a small frame and you have to be very visual, which helped me to be even more creative.
00:08:20
Speaker
Ancestry, ancestor work is something that is that has always been a part of African American culture on this land.
00:08:31
Speaker
And over, I think over maybe the past 40 to 50 years or so, we've kind of slowly faded away from it. But we still have lots of habits that we still do that have been passed on from great grandmama grandmama and them don't buy your partner no shoes, you know, things like that they'll walk right out your life, and so being able to put it in a picture book with family
00:09:03
Speaker
incorporated in this was like a dream come true. And I'm looking forward to us having a series of these things. So
Dreaming as a Liberatory Practice
00:09:10
Speaker
it was fun. So the book follows Deo, who is a young Black girl, as she moves through her Saturday trying to figure out what her dream meant with the yellow bird.
00:09:19
Speaker
And I really love this because Dani and I are really bad about texting each other every time we have a dream andd that confuses us and we'll work through it together. And so we've talked before on this podcast with previous guests like Austin Smith and Nancy B. Price about dreaming being a Black liberatory practice.
00:09:37
Speaker
So I'm curious about the importance of dreaming in your lineage. Just a little background on me, if you're not aware, I'm a transracial adoptee. So my parents are white and I am black and my siblings and I are black. So we, like a lot of but transracial black adoptees talk about being twice displaced, you know, um you know, being here in America, being stripped of the motherland and coming here um and then being adopted, you kind of are navigating two layers of coming back to yourself and coming back home and figuring out your roots and who you are and reconnecting.
00:10:08
Speaker
I definitely didn't grow up in the traditions, in the culture. um I did grow up in the church, but it was very white churches. And so my experience, my flow, everything was looking a little different.
00:10:20
Speaker
As I got older, I definitely found connections, especially when I became a teacher. I had a really good friend at that time when I was teaching kindergarten. That was about 2016. And she was very strict to the church, wasn't comfortable with things outside of the gaze of the church and things, but was very powerful in relation to dreaming.
00:10:43
Speaker
And ah she had a lot of gifts around this way and she definitely would call upon it in how she was moving in the world and practice. And so it was really interesting because even my husband,
00:10:53
Speaker
her son, my mother-in-law's son. I remember being in a period when we first started dating, like we had been dating for a little bit. And I was like, you know, is this correct? Is this on path? So I asked my friend, can you please ask for a dream to see if this is correct and if this is aligned? And so, you know, I think of those kinds of things and the magic in in those interactions and how powerful dreams can be in relation to our guidance and our ways of moving.
00:11:19
Speaker
And the way more research I've done around dreamings and dreaming in the Black community, when you read research papers and you read and you talk to community members, you hear about how People are very guided by dreams and definitely relay their dreams to others in relation to their safety, right? In terms of, you know, if a new baby's on the way, you know, oftentimes grandma will have that dream.
00:11:41
Speaker
I will voice for myself. Dreaming is not my specific strong suit yet. I definitely have a lot of visions in between the wake and sleeping state.
00:11:51
Speaker
But dreaming itself, I definitely put different herbs under my pillow and different things to enhance and strengthen my dreaming practice and to strengthen that. But it is not my strong suit. When I have dreams, I have two people that I go to. One of them is my mother-in-law.
00:12:04
Speaker
And then I have another friend that I call up who I feel like is really good at like
Symbolism in Dreams
00:12:09
Speaker
you know understanding and breaking down dreams. Because there are people who are very gifted in these areas. you know So that's kind of my moving practice with dreaming. For me, dreaming...
00:12:18
Speaker
Like I've always dreamed and I've always seen things and felt things from a child. My mother, even though she is African-American and we were raised African-American culture, and my mother is not too much comfortable with hoodoo and spirituality, but she's very aware of it.
00:12:35
Speaker
When I think of dreaming and our people, I think that's the one area where we can, we have felt to be free. And we can also with training,
00:12:48
Speaker
to remap our mind and to change outcomes. Dreams can be sometimes literal, but oftentimes they are symbolic.
00:13:03
Speaker
Like um the other day, I had this interesting dream that I was someplace, I was riding in an A car. I'm just going to try to make it as short as possible. I was in some a car that was shaped like a white egg, and I ended up at this big building. And I walk in, and I see Maya Angelou there.
00:13:22
Speaker
And then to the left, I saw Felicia Rashad, and then Monique Rashad. And I'm like, why am I dreaming about all these different diverse Black people, two of which that are still here? And I handed Maya some ancestor money, Niasa, and I asked her to sign it.
00:13:43
Speaker
So I got multiple type of meanings from it. So of course I'm like, oh, you dream of thing. But the idea is that those women were different aspects of who I am. You know, so when you have dreams, you're like, oh, this makes no sense. I'm driving an aid car. What does that even mean?
00:14:00
Speaker
yeah Allow yourself to be more open to what they mean, because the subconscious mind may give you something really out there to get your attention.
00:14:12
Speaker
So dreams to me are very important. And I would add. I always think of like Harriet too. It's like when you do the readings and you look in the histories, like a lot of our ancestors, how we were able to get to freedom, like, and these paths of resistance and our activism was leaned into dreams through our ancestors providing freedom.
00:14:32
Speaker
so much wisdom, guidance through our dreams. I know my mother-in-law will like dream of baths, dream of recipes, right? Like we talk about things being lost and not being able to access things, but it's like the reality is we tap in. If we're like in with our ancestors, we're building those connections, we're re-strengthening those weavings and bonds.
00:14:53
Speaker
It's like none of that is lost because we'd have access. And a lot of times our dream space is where a lot of that comes back and comes through. I'm glad I'm not the only one who dreams about random celebrities.
00:15:04
Speaker
I was that a few weeks ago. i dreamed about Hakeem from Oisha, who is the the person who played Hakeem is no longer living. And in the dream, he didn't know that he was dead, but I did.
00:15:17
Speaker
And I couldn't tell him. I still don't know what that was about. but um But yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Understanding Hoodoo Practices
00:15:25
Speaker
So throughout this book, there were quite a few references to different rituals. For example, Deo sleeps with a cup of water by her bed and she drinks it in the morning to remember her dream.
00:15:36
Speaker
They have Saturday morning cleaning, which a lot of us experienced growing up in order to clear the old energy of the week. And then Deo has a right palm itching, ah which I was told meant money was coming in.
00:15:52
Speaker
um so how many of these occurrences were things that happened in your real life versus things that you may have researched about common hoodoo practices i think when we were writing the book we kind of wrote a list of like different things and rituals that we do and then we were like which ones we want to pull in what are like really important obviously as my mother-in-law brought up ancestor money is big for us right and so you know i think a lot of people like us started with the bills that imitate like money that exists. Like you've got like the American bills, you know, and the American dollar bills, the pounds, you've got that like Asian hell notes bills. You know what I'm talking about?
00:16:30
Speaker
Those are cool. Like that's where I began, yeah, you know, I definitely felt my body like wanting to use and put our own people on ancestors. I think my frustration originally began with Harriet still not being on our $20 bill yet, right? Like we had this being spoken into existence a while ago and the fact that it hasn't happened and Again, it's one of those things where I have a lot of feelings about the fact that it hasn't happened yet because I do think that there's a lot of power in it happening, right? Like you can't change who Harriet was. Like her legacy cannot be washed down. It can't be whitewashed. Like Harriet is Harriet.
00:17:07
Speaker
There's a lot of depth to putting her on a 20. And so I think that that's why this like there's been this big slowdown. This is where conscious veneration comes in. It's like there's a reason why people's like there's been such a shift and a call to like tear down certain monuments and tear down certain things because like it really does matter who we are venerating and what we put on our things and what we put on our bodies. Like we are consciously venerating consciously and unconsciously.
00:17:32
Speaker
And so we need to be more awake in those movements, right? And so um this is where I started making Ancestor Money, started designing. My mother-in-law came in and joined me in that process.
00:17:45
Speaker
And we have 11 bills that we have created and and they are all black ancestors. And it's such a beautiful offering to give and to share with people. um I know there's so much power in the money and what we've created and, um you know,
00:18:00
Speaker
I feel like it will be expansive to just continue to add more ancestors to this money, but it's beautiful. I'm able to do ancestor money readings with it, like out here in Colorado. I do it virtual as well, but I love to do in person. I can read people with the money because it literally is this healing aspect of healing the person who's in front of me, who I am working with.
00:18:21
Speaker
It's the healing of the lineage of the ancestors themselves, like what healing work they need. And then we're healing for the whole Black community in that way, right? Like in doing that work, we're healing for everybody. So, so many levels and layers in that.
00:18:33
Speaker
You know, the water by the bed was my, mom like my mother-in-law was really ah reminder. Like that was something that she had brought forth of like how you can help remember your dreams. And which is why we added that piece in.
00:18:45
Speaker
Definitely in terms of cleaning, we have spiritual cleaning. That is a deep part of our practice, part of our house, part of movement, part of regular everyday ritual that we are doing in our houses. Like, I have different routines than Kendra does. So, you know, we found a middle ground. Like I had never done the coins in the bucket, but Kendra does. So that's where they are. So, you know, we we have our own things, but we both are lovers of camphor, right? Like camphor is our...
00:19:10
Speaker
is are one of our plants that is like very much works with us. And so mother-in-law introduced me to camphor and I am a hardcore camphor fanatic in the house. Like that is one of my cleansing allies for sure.
00:19:22
Speaker
And so it was kind of this back and forth balance of like what we both do in practice. um So a lot of them are not just, you know, what we've heard or what we know about hoodoo. It's really things that we have experienced or we have done.
00:19:36
Speaker
And it was this blend of our, everyday practices and rituals and what we are doing in our homes? I mean, I think she pretty much covered it. For me, especially the Saturday, the cleaning part, that was something I think, again, a lot of times we think, oh, hoodoo is a certain thing, but it was a lifestyle for a lot of people of color in this country. And it's just progressed.
00:20:01
Speaker
My mother get up Saturday morning, cut on either some gospel or some 60s and some 70s music, get to work. you know There's so many videos and reels and memes joking about it, but that's a form of hoodoo. So I added in a couple of things that I knew, but there's a plethora of things that we do just in general.
00:20:26
Speaker
that I'm sure we don't recognize as hoodoo, if you will. Yes, I'm glad you said that. I was going to echo that my grandma doesn't mess with ah that voodoo stuff, but she grew up with it, things she tells me about her mother.
00:20:44
Speaker
Her sisters seem to be a little, well, they're no longer with us, but am my late aunts, they seem to be seems to have been a little more... in it than my grandma because she's the baby girl and they're a lot older than her.
00:20:59
Speaker
And I noticed that, but i also knew that my grandma did certain things where she won't talk about what it means, but she'll just say, well, this is what my mama did. So it's so true about it being like a way of life where so many black people You touched on this, Nyasha, when you were doing your intro, but in addition to Saturday Magic that you both co-wrote together, you've also written other books affirming, like especially Black children and their dreams, their spirituality, their right to advocate for a better world.
00:21:33
Speaker
And me and Leah, we've talked about several times since this podcast existed about this sort of culture of silencing and invalidating the thoughts and feelings and dreams of children.
00:21:47
Speaker
We know it's a culture because we were victims of that, that we now are able to talk about. And it's a kind of like unhealthy intergenerational cycle in a lot of families, especially Black families, this sort of silencing children, but usually a means to protect them.
Empowering Black Children through Literature
00:22:07
Speaker
I'm interested to know if this was something that both of you were thinking about in this work. And, Nyasha, if that's something you thought about as you've embarked up upon these children's books and then the cards that you have for children, was this something that you were thinking about as you were curating these stories and these, um, items for children specifically?
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah, I feel a lot of things because, uh, I did work in the classroom for four years. I was a kindergarten teacher. So i think about that. And then I think about, just all the different aspects that come with you know affirming kids.
00:22:47
Speaker
A lot of times when we create, when we write, when we do things, most people end up creating what they need, what they needed or what they need. right um And so for me, i was like, I think I saw that there was this big gap. I was seeing a gap for my children in my classroom. I was like, these are the books they're asking me to use in the classroom.
00:23:06
Speaker
they're not reflecting my children are here. Like that something needs to shift. Right. And then the same breath, not necessarily in my like forefront, but like the reality is there still weren't enough books affirming me as a black child when I was a kid that were in existence.
00:23:22
Speaker
So, you know, it comes full circle. It all comes around. i didn't really walk into self-love until probably like 25, 26, you know, like it takes time because There's so many messages and anti-Blackness that's like telling you you are not worthy, that you are not loved, that you are not enough.
00:23:38
Speaker
And so I really wanted something. i was like, we need, like, we all need to do this work in general, like as a community, because we end up even policing ourselves if we don't do this work, right? We end up oppressing our own communities. This is why white supremacy does not require a white majority. We have to do this work.
00:23:54
Speaker
But I was like, I wanted something that was starting with the babies. That is this reminder of like, walk in your power, know your magic, know you are always worthy, know you are loved, know that you have always been worthy and you are deserving.
00:24:07
Speaker
And so I started creating for the young babies because I just wanted them to walk in their power and their magic and not forget that. Like, and I just wanted to be that. I always hope my work is this, just this, these stepping stones, right? This door that more and more work floods in.
00:24:23
Speaker
I never like, I think there's enough for all of us. I believe in abundance for all. I do not want to like hold back anyone. Like, please write an affirmation book if you hear the call, like there's room for all of us.
00:24:34
Speaker
I want as much out there for our babies to have these loving, loving messages that they need and deserved as we all were deserving of. And so, yes, when you talk about, you know, silencing children, when I hear from friends, it's, uh, it's also a trust in yourself, right?
00:24:54
Speaker
Trust in, in, in, in your internal hearing and your intuition and your discernment, right? Like that also gets like skewed up when you are being told to be silenced and you're told like, oh, that's not real or that's not true or to like, uh,
00:25:11
Speaker
just kind of telling you to hush about what you what you're feeling what's in your body um so it plays into so many levels it plays into our social emotional learning and how we're allowing kids to move social emotionally but it also plays into our spiritual gifts right of like honoring a child's spiritual gifts they are more tapped in than at that age because they're less uh combobulated by the world there's less um suppression of their magic at that time because they've just crossed over, right? Their souls crossed over. They're more awake in that way.
00:25:43
Speaker
And so, you know, i think, again, it stems from the aspect of like, you know, in enslavement, it's like we were trying to keep our kids safe. So you you want your kids got to behave. They can't do anything wrong. They can't make a mess because, you know, you don't have space for that, ah like with everything going on. And so there was a lot of parenting that just,
00:26:04
Speaker
through enslavement and because this is not how BIPOC like families and practices, we did not do this. We were not this way with our babies and, you know, enslavement and white supremacy and colonization and all these things really pushed on some really nasty habits that we are working to shed. We are working to shift from, we are working to repair it in ways that are healthy.
00:26:26
Speaker
Because even silencing kids when they tell you this person's not safe for me, that was a huge issue in our community. And like, where it's not only us, but it it goes beyond our community. But this is something that we thankfully are seeing healing work around, right?
00:26:40
Speaker
And seeing people break these generational curses and seeing people step into like listening to their babies, honoring their baby's powers, keeping their baby safe, like just wanting their babies to have joy and not like living in trauma and like Literally, i you know we talk about how like trauma can be passed down in families. We talk about all these like hard and heavy things that can passed down.
00:27:03
Speaker
But if those things can be passed down, so can you know abundance, so can healing, so can love, so can all the magic. And so i have so much hope for where we're headed because these babies that are coming out right now are insane. like The way that their gifts are being nurtured, the way that they are being loved, the way that they are moving is just so healing and it's so heartwarming.
00:27:23
Speaker
And I'm just so excited to see where all the world's headed with these new babies who are just walking in with a new level of care and nurturing and grace and compassion that wasn't there before because we need this and our world needs this.
00:27:36
Speaker
So we have so much healing to come back into ourselves and our babies don't have to leave themselves. Right. And they don't have to shift the way we shifted or put on masks. Like they're able to truly walk in themselves and stay in themselves.
00:27:49
Speaker
Right. Can I just add a little bit? She covered everything, right? She was like, she, bam. I love it. But I just wanted to add, to echo everything that she said. And as a Gen Xer that was raised by a very stern baby boomer, please have...
00:28:11
Speaker
patience with your elders that are rediscovering who they are outside of what they have been told for 40 and 50 and 60 years. There's a lot of us in that age bracket that are reaching backward to go forward.
00:28:27
Speaker
And I know a lot of times, as we shared, to be quiet, to be safe, to be clean and socially and acceptable.
00:28:38
Speaker
It meant safety. it meant access. It meant money and abundance based upon the framework that we found ourselves in and in in our own circles.
00:28:51
Speaker
And what I really encourage the people that are younger than me is to keep searching, keep evolving because the elders, the new elders, such as myself, I'm 54, the new elders, we're ready to evolve because we don't want to keep repeating the same cycle.
00:29:13
Speaker
There's cycles they repeat over and over again. And usually when they show up, it's a call for us to evolve. so And the books that my daughter-in-law and people like you that are putting out and speaking it for, the books and the works that you all are doing are creating this new energy. We're in a new era.
00:29:33
Speaker
I love that. I was raised by my grandmother. so baby boomer. Yeah, she's 79. I see the way that sort of as I've grown into myself, how sometimes I'll say something in disagreement.
00:29:50
Speaker
And sometimes she'll be like, yeah, you know, that's, that's true. And I empathize so much with her learning about her childhood.
00:30:04
Speaker
One story, I feel like I'm always talking about it, but it's a story that hunts me. She talked about, she um saw the picture of Emmett Teal in I think Jet jet Magazine.
00:30:15
Speaker
And she said she was like six or seven and she had nightmares. And it made her scared for her father and her brothers. And so when I think about when I was in college and I was like very wanting to speak out, she was nervous
Overcoming Generational Trauma
00:30:33
Speaker
about that. She was always like, you have to just be careful. Like you don't, you know, like it's okay to feel that way, but you have to just like, watch what you say. Like these people,
00:30:45
Speaker
You know, these people will, they'll hurt you. They'll try to figure out a way to take stuff from you. And i used to get annoyed by that when I was younger because I'm like, you just, we can't live in fear, you know, da-da-da-da-da. But it's like, girl, you didn't live under the kind of fear that she had to live under with her parents.
00:31:05
Speaker
And it took me, now I'm in my 30s, to like really start seeing my grandma beyond just being my grandma. And And sometimes i just see that little girl in her and it's a reminder of like where she's coming from, but also us growing together and healing our inner child together in a lot of ways.
00:31:26
Speaker
That's marvelous work. And I appreciate you sharing that because at the end of the day, they are so terrified. Our grandparents, our parents, well, for me, parents have seen atrocities that we haven't even thought about and their parents have parents before them saw even worse. And so for me being a 70s child, I'm the first real group of kids that lived in quote unquote, less fear, you know like stores and schools and jobs.
00:31:57
Speaker
And you guys, my children, they're like, whatever, I don't know, what? what why why Why would they even tell me I have to go to the back? What? That's just crazy.
00:32:08
Speaker
You know, and Gen Z underneath y'all, they don't even, they're not even trying to comprehend. So thank you for your work. And I was going to add, my mother-in-law and I, and even with my husband, have talked about with my adoption, how that actually has played a role in like, again, i don't move in the same fear. And whether that's, you know, it's it's interesting because it's like, we can say it's my favor in some ways and complexity in other ways, right?
00:32:41
Speaker
So my parents, when they adopted me, There's a black woman that they're a good family friend that they reached out to when they were adopting me and said, should we tell the kids that they are going to experience life differently with their skin because of who they are in that way.
00:32:56
Speaker
And the um good family friend said, no, do not tell them that. So I was raised just very like being my whole self. My parents were very loving and, you know,
00:33:09
Speaker
really raised me in just so much care, so much nurturing. But I think there were dynamics in my role that I wasn't understanding. Like I just moved like a little white girl. Like I was really just not understanding that there were things and ways people were viewing me that like may make them act or move differently. But I just moved with full confidence.
00:33:29
Speaker
I didn't think I had any blockages. My parents didn't imply that there would be any limitations on any dreams I had. And so I was just literally moving with just no boundaries or restrictions. And it's interesting because I think there's power in that. Like I definitely, have I'm like, if I put my mind to something, it's coming forth, like it's happening, right? Like um I'm bringing this to life.
00:33:52
Speaker
um And in the same breath, I was like, there's times I'm like, I'm so glad I'm alive and okay right now, like college years. Cause I'm like, Oh, goodness. Like, when I look back and like, my husband's like, ah you should not have done that.
00:34:04
Speaker
That was like very unsafe. And so just sitting in those things and sitting in those reflections. And again, like having friends who didn't understand those layers either, like with me in those stages and those in those timeframes, like not understanding or conscious in you know, the ways that what could happen of me as a black body doing some of the things that I was doing and taking some of those risks.
00:34:26
Speaker
But we are here. Ancestors were protecting, you know, keeping me safe, letting me do my thing and flow. But I think that, like, I definitely feel like I try and inspire both my mother-in-law and my husband just to come back into that dream and come back into that. I'm just like, you know, I've definitely had to, like, check myself in relation to, like, having a little bit more, like,
00:34:47
Speaker
um understanding with our systems and how they work and coming into like when I stepped into my blackness, because that was much later as well through my husband. But it's also one of those things where I'm like, we are deserving of dreaming. We are deserving of the magic. We are deserving of the soft life. We are deserving of all of this. And I need you to not put any limitations.
00:35:05
Speaker
even my mother-in-law when we were writing when we write sometimes she's like well is that even a realistic thing to write because you know like this or that and i'm like it's a book it's our imagining like it can be whatever we want it to be there's no limitations you know and so that in itself was really really beautiful two um create with her and allow her to have like blow up in her own expansiveness in that way so yes that's definitely something that came back and forth for us and i think even with us being different generations like the dynamic of our deo our the young sweet baby in the story it's like my mother-in-law would be like should the like parents react this way and i'm like well what what if it was more this way and so we're like even
00:35:48
Speaker
figuring out what parenting would look like in the story and how we want that to move. And she's like, Oh, that's a little free. And but she, in some ways she honors that. Cause she knows that's going to be Keegan and I, when we're with our ready for our babies and that happens. So it's like, you know, navigating these new dynamics, new dimensions, but also like challenging in your body. Like, um,
00:36:10
Speaker
things that feel like these blockages that are there that have been created that need to be shifted now right um i'm not saying don't keep yourself safe and armor is there for certain reasons like we did there's definitely times and place for armor but at the same time know when to take the armor off and allow that freedom to flow and allow yourself to be as expansive as can be you want to take a break but yeah let's take a break
00:36:39
Speaker
Let's get into some ways you can support the Hoodoo Plant
Supporting the Podcast
00:36:42
Speaker
Mamas. One is through our bookshop where you can buy the books that we previously discussed with our Writing the Spirit guests. We also have a Hoodoo Beginners Guide as well as our top reading picks.
00:36:52
Speaker
We also have our top tarot cards and oracle card deck section. So check that out too. You can also buy Leah's books. On Bookshop, every purchase you make helps support our show. Check us out at bookshop.org slash shop slash Hulu Plant Mamas or hit the link in our show notes.
00:37:11
Speaker
Other ways you can support us include rating and reviewing the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Instagram at Hulu Plant Mamas. check out our patreon where we share exclusive video plant and spiritual content for only three dollars a month we have a new patron thank you desert glow for subscribing if you prefer a one-time donation you can donate via cash app cash tag who do plant mamas or our paypal who do plant mamas at gmail.com let's get back to the show
00:37:47
Speaker
First we wanted to, well, wanted to, but we both want to, um, discuss the Black Tarot, which is a deck that I
Creating Ancestral Tarot and Alchemist Decks
00:37:56
Speaker
use a lot. It's the best deck I've used to do readings for people that everybody really loves.
00:38:02
Speaker
And I also have your Oracle deck, um, that I use for myself. Um, I love to hear about the process of curating these decks and what led you to do so. I'm so glad the decks resonate and are feeling aligned.
00:38:22
Speaker
So there's a couple reasons for the existence of Black Tarot and then Elemental Alchemist. So I felt very called divination and it feels like a very easy way for me to just commune with my ancestors, build the relationships, especially because, you know, with being twice disconnected, i wanted very direct lines of being able to like start building those relationships and strengthening those relationships.
00:38:49
Speaker
My altar is very diverse. I have in loves on there. I have adopted family on there. I have bio family on there. So we're all up there. which is really beautiful. And, you know, I know I work with people far beyond that as well in relation to ancestors that I am unaware of who are aligned. And i I just feel like anyone who is aligned with my soul mission, as long as, you know, you want my higher, my highest good, and it's all going to move with ease, step in we ready for this.
00:39:14
Speaker
And so when I started creating Black Tarot, there was also the element of like, I was really struggling with the tarot visuals, just like them being aligned for me.
00:39:27
Speaker
And I was kind of like, I'm struggling with this a little bit. I know the Rider-Waite Smith, we have to add Smith on there. Pamela Smith would give acknowledgement to Pamela Smith and her artwork that is part of this.
00:39:40
Speaker
I mean, it's the most well-known deck and the most well-used deck out there. But I think that the illustrations just weren't within the line to me. And I wanted something different that felt like when I pull those cards, what do I see in my visual, in my mind's eye?
00:39:56
Speaker
And I worked with the ancestors on that of like what these visuals should be. And so definitely inspired by Hulu Tarot, Inspired Grandma's Baby is one of my favorites. I use that deck all the time.
00:40:09
Speaker
um You know, there's decks that definitely I felt seen in. And when I pull them, I know what's happening. And so that's what I wanted to be come through with Black Tarot. And so the illustrator is my friend Kamishka Naidu.
00:40:23
Speaker
um We went to high school together in South Africa, Victoria High School for Girls. And I just saw her artwork popping up on Instagram. We hadn't talked in a while, but I just see her artwork is gorgeous. And I'm like, this may be very aligned. So I reached out and said, hey, are interested in new project? Like, would you be down?
00:40:40
Speaker
And she was super on board. And so I started creating an illustration document. So I like wrote out all the card names and started creating visuals, you know, and it's interesting because again, i don't know if you guys have experienced this when doing creative projects and stuff, but when you try and like Google images, right.
00:41:00
Speaker
Of certain things, especially for a black body in some of those ways, you won't, they won't come up. Right. I look up a lot of vintage images for the new deck that I'm working on. I'm looking at vintage images and it's like, man, I have to like be digging in there to try and find certain vintage images. And I was like, I know there are black people who are doing this, but it's like, it hurts your heart that there wasn't the care of documenting us in those ways. Right.
00:41:23
Speaker
And so that's sometimes hard to process and move through, but it was a lot of like, so when i created this illustration doc for her, like when I thought of the fool, I was like, I see this fool.
00:41:35
Speaker
Black man, I see wings, like he is literally about to fly, you know, and had to take like multiple different images to showcase what I was trying to get her to visually create. So I was writing what I wanted, but also giving these visuals for that imagining as well.
00:41:51
Speaker
And so that's what a lot of times when people are illustrating for me is it's a lot of art notes. It's a lot of me giving visual inspiration and imaginings of what I'm looking for in terms of the visuals. And I wanted ancestral connection because for me, being so disconnected from my roots and everything, I was like this deck, I want it centered in connecting people with their ancestors, reinvigorating that bond and that connection.
00:42:14
Speaker
And so I really wanted people to hear their ancestors through it and have that bond. I also, with Black Tarot, the moon is really important to me. Water is really important to me. I'm a reflector. I don't know if anyone's into human design. I'm super into human design.
00:42:26
Speaker
And so i um if you know anything about reflectors, we're supposed to be 1% of the population. We reflect the world back to itself and we reflect people back to themselves and water and the moon are big parts of that moving in that being for myself.
00:42:43
Speaker
um And so Black tarot was also just the visuals. I needed visuals in our Black magic, us seeing ourselves in our fullness.
00:42:55
Speaker
I don't have a lot of queer imagery in there, even though I am not straight myself. I really wanted healing for the Black man and the Black woman in that deck. And so for me, I wanted to show Black males and females in love and in that magic.
00:43:09
Speaker
That was important to me for that healing work because i know how much harm intentionally through systems, through so many different layers have been done for the separation of the Black man and the Black woman. And so I wanted to have those visuals in that deck for that healing for our community, for ourselves, for myself. And so, so much intentional thought in relation to every single image in that deck.
00:43:33
Speaker
If I redid it now, would I make some changes? Sure. Like I definitely would probably make some edits and some of the illustrations, but I feel like I'm very proud of what has come out and what has been created and just the impact that people are having and experiencing through working with the deck and that relationship.
00:43:49
Speaker
um In regards to my oracle, so that I co-authored with my second younger sister, Grace Banda. So we co-authored that deck together. um And then, um and we co-wrote Spirit.
00:44:04
Speaker
And then we had different elements that we were more aligned to. So Grace is Earth and Fire, and I am Air and Water. So I wrote Air and Water. She wrote Earth and Fire. And then, yeah, that's kind of how we worked with worked it together. And then obviously once everything was written, we went back over everything together.
00:44:20
Speaker
it felt very aligned to bring Kamishka back in on that project to illustrate for us. So she illustrated my big thing was like every single card needs to have African print on it. Like make it work.
00:44:31
Speaker
I was like every single element is going to be a specific color. And I want African print. I'm so obsessed with African print. Bring it forth in every card. So that is very evident. That is like a style choice that was very important to me for that deck.
00:44:43
Speaker
I'm trying to find the balance with that in relation to the visuals of males and females and like just, you know, inclusivity in that way, because I do think a lot of us right now creating are black women.
00:44:55
Speaker
And a lot of times we create for ourselves. So there's not enough coming out for black males and for others who are trying to see themselves. And so I try and tell people, make sure that when you are creating You're being conscious in that creation in terms of representation and who's there visually. Because, yeah, there's definitely not enough. And so trying to make sure that balance is there and in those creations. But yeah, the Oracle deck's pretty simple.
00:45:19
Speaker
um I wanted it really easy to read. I definitely know my decks are straight shooters. I do not... ah You know, beat around the bush, we're gonna get straight to the point and get like right to the root of what's going on. That's me. That's my personality.
00:45:31
Speaker
That's why any deck is gonna have like, the embodiment of both the ah authors and the illustrator in the deck. So wherever they are in their spiritual journey at that time, wherever what's going on with them.
00:45:44
Speaker
um you know, their energy is in that deck. So that's why, you know, I think we get called upon different decks at different times in our lives. We get called upon different decks for different kinds of readings, for different kinds of moments in our lives, because there's different energies to every single one of those divinational tools.
00:46:01
Speaker
And so listening to your body in relation to the art, listening to your body in relation to the energy, because I just remember my sister Grace being like, can you look at this deck? Why do I feel like it keeps lying to me? And I'm like,
00:46:13
Speaker
I don't know if it's lying to you, but it's possible that the person who created it may not be as truthful to themselves as they need to be. Like some people aren't ready for that self-reflection and like sitting in that work. Right.
00:46:24
Speaker
And so I was like, that might be what's going on. And so, you know, you have to like really take those things into consideration when you are working with them and needed, even national tools that it's very much a snapshot of where the creators were at that time and what they were going through spiritually.
00:46:41
Speaker
I don't have your deck, but Dani has done readings for me with the Black Tarot. And the imagery of it is like, I don't know the word. It's like seared into my mind. There's this one card that she pulled for me.
00:46:52
Speaker
And she was like, this looks like you. And it was like a girl on the beach in the bikini. I was like, that does look like me. That was my first thought when I saw it too. was like, that looks like something would do. think that's a seven of coins. Yeah.
00:47:03
Speaker
Okay. You literally have a picture that you took like that. I remember it. I think I do. Yeah. So, Kenda, in your intro, you talked about being an astrologer, and I'm wondering if you can talk about how astrology can support ancestral healing work, specifically with
Astrology and Personal Transformation
00:47:21
Speaker
Pluto.
00:47:21
Speaker
Oh, yes, most definitely. So I am an astrology enthusiast. And I'm learning to not get caught up in the old paradigm of Pluto and Capricorn, which is like about status and structure and who knows who and who has what.
00:47:41
Speaker
A lot of our ancestors used the stars and not just in Africa, but they also used it here. A lot of ancestors were able to know where the North Star was so they can get north.
00:47:59
Speaker
They also knew about the moon cycles and the sun cycle so that they could eat. and they could plant and they could harvest.
00:48:11
Speaker
So we've got to really give honor to our ancestral types of knowledge that are in our DNA. So yes, I've taken classes. Yes, I have studied underneath people, but my approach is uniquely a new paradigm like approach.
00:48:32
Speaker
like in my opinion, because ah Pluto is like the teeny small planet. And some people consider it not even like a planet, but it sits in any sign for at least 15 to 20 years.
00:48:47
Speaker
And it's very slow moving. It's very much of the elder and it just watches you and it keeps a record and it basically creates challenges for growth.
00:49:02
Speaker
Not to be confused with Saturn, which is probably a little more of the hands-on type of elders going to snatch you up and be like, it's hot over there. Get out of here.
00:49:13
Speaker
You know, Pluto is kind of like the elder planet that's watching you going, mm-hmm. Now, Saturn told you that the stove is hot, but okay, I'm put a pot on there and I'm going to see if you got the good sense not to touch it.
00:49:31
Speaker
And in some cases we touch it and other times we don't, but we're never harmed. And so Pluto sat in Capricorn from 2008 to And if you can recall what your life was like in between 2008 up until 2024, a lot of us went through a lot of upheaval and transformation dealing with systems and structures in the way that we saw the world as organized, as we saw our function in it.
00:50:05
Speaker
For me, I got laid off at least three or four times. I had breast cancer. I was diagnosed with it. I didn't have it. I was diagnosed with it. That's a whole nother story for another podcast.
00:50:18
Speaker
And transformation with the death of my stepdad, who was like a father to me, I had to move back home with my mother. It was transformation. And all of these things really challenged what I considered as the status quo.
00:50:35
Speaker
And so me being the self-scientist that I am, I'm like, I don't want to go through this another time. What is this cycle? Because everyone was talking about Pluto is moving into Aquarius. It's going to be the new age of Aquarius. Transformation.
00:50:49
Speaker
Transformation. so the thatda all this stuff. And so i started tracking it and I created a prompt through AI and my daughter in love is not really a fan of AI, but I use it to support my studies and create not only my forecast, but also really beautiful, captivating images to convey what I'm reading in the stars.
00:51:18
Speaker
And basically right now, for the next 20 years, we are in transformation mode. Everything that we thought about is out. We are about innovation and technology. And when we talk about technology, it's not necessarily AI per se, but it can be the tech.
00:51:37
Speaker
tech Tech is really important. the way that you go about doing things. it It can hearken back to also the rituals that you do, meaning how you get up in the morning, how you operate, how you teach, how you learn, how you cook, the technology. We're innovating the way that we do things.
00:51:58
Speaker
And everyone is dealing with a specific area where their growth is going to be prominent. And it's based on the lessons that you've learned and the new lessons that are set forth.
00:52:17
Speaker
And so basically that's part of it. Now, As of recent times, we just went through a solar eclipse. First, we went through the lunar one in Virgo, which really deals with releasing and letting go of the practices and habits that no longer serve us.
00:52:36
Speaker
And because we're in a new generational energy, it's like really those things that have bound us to our homeland or family. neith they's Not necessarily saying to let go of tradition, but It's more so the energy is giving us permission to elevate the practices and bring them forward, not to discard them as old.
00:53:03
Speaker
And Neptune is moving into... Aries. And what that is going to symbolize is spirituality on steroids. People is basically whatever you have been studying for the past 10, 15 years, or maybe five years, maybe last year, people are going to be more 10 toes down, feet firmly grounded steroids.
00:53:25
Speaker
This is what I've learned and I'm going to officially test it fearlessly. So whatever you've been starting on, whatever you've been working on, whatever you've studied, it's time to evolve it to be a workable tool.
00:53:38
Speaker
Not just for yourself, but for humanity. This energy was prominent in the eighteen hundreds the last time that this country dealt with Neptune and Aries.
00:53:51
Speaker
was the 1800s at the beginning of the Civil War whatever. of course, everyone's like, oh God, it's going to be war. it's gonna but It doesn't have to be that. It's really the energy of people coming into themselves about this is not right, or I'm very passionate about the way I want to experience my life. And that can translate into a lot of things and not just necessarily war.
00:54:17
Speaker
And with them Pluto and Aquarius, and it's going to be there, it's slowly... taking shape and we're seeing lightning fast twists and turns. And that energy is coming back to us from when the country was first established as they tell us, as they tell us in 1776.
00:54:36
Speaker
What they don't tell you, and this is what I'm encouraging my clients and people, is that while we're worried, especially as melanated people about, oh God, they're going to put us back in the picker cot. Okay. I know I'm not.
00:54:48
Speaker
So why are we even putting that out into the universe? That's just, okay. So what I am encouraging my folks is to, is what the ancestors have been telling me as my work.
00:55:00
Speaker
Tell my children that when they consider what the ancestors think and what the ancestors would do, do what we would have done if we would have known. That's like our charge in this new era. So there were free black people.
00:55:16
Speaker
in eighteen sixty s there were free Black people in 1760. What were they doing? What type of laws, if we want to be tangible, put our hands hands on things, what type of laws, what type of businesses, what type of community structures were they doing and what should they have done?
00:55:37
Speaker
And then when we get off into our spirituality, we don't necessarily have to say, well, if you're not a Christian, you're going to hell. If you're not like a Buddhist, you are too.
00:55:49
Speaker
Everyone has their path. to genius and to God. We have to respect people that are taking an honorable route to see God and respect.
00:56:00
Speaker
When you brought up the 2008 to just did my second big job. so i just did my second big job um I had locks. They were like way down to my back. And I like did different things with them this year, but it was time.
00:56:13
Speaker
So the last time I did it was 12 years ago when I was in Paris was when I did my big chop the last time. So it was time. I also am like, there's so many life lessons in having short hair and coming back to that because it's like, I was focusing on length rather than health.
00:56:28
Speaker
You also like, there's this power in loving yourself in your short hair. Right. And like, just coming back to that. And so I am so grateful. I also have been told by people that like, oh, you feel so much lighter because it's like, we know how hair holds our memories, holds so much.
00:56:43
Speaker
And I was like, oh, I'm ready to release those relationships that were a part of those locks, like the ends of my locks. I think about like the relationships that were part of those tips of my locks. And I'm like, oh, thankfully, ready to release, ready to come into this new state of being.
00:56:56
Speaker
I want to share my favorites right now. Like that feels good. So like, I want to hear yours too, but like my favorite things right now. So one, I'm going to say that Black Moon Lilith deck.
00:57:07
Speaker
I don't know if anyone else has that deck. There is an Oracle called like Black Moon Lilith. That deck is insane. I'm like, like, it's not necessarily the art style I would go for.
00:57:18
Speaker
I'm not super about glossy cards, but the power in that deck, highly recommend. um I was blown away. um I'm also really obsessed sound baths right now. Like sound baths are so healing to my soul. I do like at least generally one a month, at least.
00:57:33
Speaker
Love sound baths. So healing. um If you get a chance, highly recommend. Step into it. um Beautiful. And then the last thing I'm going to recommend is, which kind of goes into astrology game, right?
00:57:46
Speaker
Human design, astrology. I, like, the Enneagram is another one that was up there. And I didn't love Enneagram. Not my favorite thing. It was, like i like, I couldn't remember my number. It wasn't, like, that aligned to me.
00:57:59
Speaker
But this book changed the game for me. The Enneagram for Black Liberation is insane. I was like, everybody needs to read this book. So good. Even if you're doing an audiobook, do it. I have the audiobook and I have the book and I'm underlining the whole time.
00:58:14
Speaker
So good. Highly recommend. It's game changer It's like jambalaya level, right? Like, that's what I'm saying. This book is is is phenomenal. I'm getting that Black Moon Lilith deck.
00:58:27
Speaker
I just saw it. I'm getting
00:58:32
Speaker
it. there was something I really wanted to respond to, to what you were saying as well, Kenda, because everything that you were saying are things that have been coming up in readings for the past couple of months.
00:58:48
Speaker
This idea of learning from the old ways and sort of elevating them to be more relevant to what where we are. This sort of transformation, one of the words that has been coming up for me, and you probably know this, Leah, since the beginning of the year, is like this sort of rebuilding or creating.
00:59:09
Speaker
And I've been feeling like we're in, though don't really follow astrology, I'm an enthusiast as well. And i so I try to like read astrologists work and what they're saying. But I really have been feeling like we're moving into this energy where it's where it's time to move like what you were saying and create.
00:59:29
Speaker
And one thing that came up for me as I was pulling cards today was sort from the elemental alchemist was this sort of urge to destruction and violence. And thinking about how, yes, some things need to be destroyed, but like, are you moving from a place of like, just destroying window with no sort of like plan or destroying and with intent to build with community?
00:59:57
Speaker
Another thing that kept coming up is sort of this idea of like, letting anger just completely disconnect you from community. Nobody wants to work with you. you being You're mad all the time. It seems like, I wish I knew who said it, but I saw it on Instagram and I'm going to share it every time.
01:00:16
Speaker
Do you hate the system more than you love community? And a lot of people just not really contending with that because if you so if you more angry with the powers that be, that you are in your investment in community, we can't do nothing.
01:00:34
Speaker
We not going to get anything accomplished. So I just wanted to say that resonated so much. And thank you for sharing that. I just wanted to speak to that is that, yes, so it is Aquarius is also about community, right?
01:00:52
Speaker
But there are diverse communities. Everyone that is Black does not think the same way. So we've got to release the ideology that everyone has to follow the same path.
01:01:06
Speaker
As long as it is honorable, as long as there is the quote unquote code of ethics, then that's all that you need to know. If there are people that like like astrology and ancestral type of innovation, that's who you go with.
01:01:21
Speaker
Anyone else that's like, I'm really down with astrology, then that's cool. But are they being honorable? Because at the end of the day, there's billions of people on this planet.
01:01:32
Speaker
Everyone is not going to resonate with what everyone is saying. like My approach is a very eclectic like approach. To astrology, I bye incorporate hoodoo, sciences, music, culture, news, pop culture.
01:01:50
Speaker
Because for me, those things are tangible where people can start seeing the science in real time so they can make tangible.
01:02:01
Speaker
palpable and tangible. There's other people that all they want to listen to is 528 hertz. They don't want to listen to hip hop music that has a message. Like I'm Kendrick Lamar.
01:02:15
Speaker
Kendrick's album, GNX, is a manifestation album from beginning to end. Just so you know, I can map his spiritual work that he that he did.
01:02:27
Speaker
For instance, I know it's sidebarring, but I just want to share a little bit. When he made the song, Not Like Us, of course, everyone's like, oh, he's talking about Drake, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then the sound elevated when people started listening.
01:02:41
Speaker
When he did his concert on Juneteenth on a full moon in L.A. with all those melanated warriors coming on stage,
01:02:51
Speaker
with him was an energy frequency elevator of the DNA of people, mainly the melanated people. That was a ritual. See, we we were like, everyone's like, oh, Beyonce doing ritual with all this stuff. who Maybe she is.
01:03:09
Speaker
But that type of ritual is what you need to be looking at because it's motivating and getting a group of people on the same frequency that at a pivotal time raising the energy.
01:03:22
Speaker
And that's why he's been just slapping the industry around. And then of course, the Super Bowl, that was another pivotal moon cycle where he went again and he gave us the symbolism in that.
01:03:39
Speaker
So rather than us like, oh, hip hop is this, or I'm watching that, God is everywhere. God is not limited by man's understanding. In the Bible, God used a donkey to share like a prophecy.
01:03:55
Speaker
So the arrogance of the Capricorn era is gone if you want to thrive. Not to live, but thrive. And I want to add like more to community because I feel like we all brought up community and I think We're in a really interesting place of like understanding what community looks
Community and Resource Sharing
01:04:16
Speaker
like.
01:04:16
Speaker
And that's going to be a necessary figuring out for us to be in success because we need community to be able to make it. We're heading into really rough waters and community is the way out.
01:04:27
Speaker
I think our hyper individualism in this country And, you know, i think we got into this very strong period because a lot of us grew up with like parents and elders who didn't know what boundaries were and crossed all these lines with us and all these things. So people went really extreme into like,
01:04:46
Speaker
I'm doing me only, like it doesn't feel good. It's out, right. But that also throws out the water accountability that throws out, you know, being in community that throws out, like, I don't need to show up if it doesn't feel good. Right.
01:04:58
Speaker
And there's balance in all of this because it's really, really, really important. for us to know and understand how to move in community. I was like, our structure, like, you know, my husband and I, we live out here in the suburbs and it's like, what does that look like? That's like, you know, that's that visual of the white picket fence. We all have our own stuff.
01:05:16
Speaker
I think it's so stupid that all of us on the street have our own lawnmower. Why? Why do we have that? Like, why are we not sharing tool sharing? Why are we not, you know, utilizing and sharing resources? And this is the kind of stuff that people have to understand.
01:05:30
Speaker
That is the work we're going to have to like step into and like really work with together because there is ah struggle in our world of people understanding what community is and what community looks like. And so people going to have to be doing that work and really stepping into what does me truly moving and being community look like?
01:05:53
Speaker
Because i really do think that, you know, we talked about climate change even know before we got into this podcast. And, you know, the ancestors have been saying, prepare, prepare, prepare. don't know if anyone else is listening and hearing, but they're telling us to prepare.
01:06:08
Speaker
They are. so In that way, it's like, we are going to be, there's going to be times where resources are going to be tight. There's going to be times when things are going to be tougher and community is going to be how we are going to progress. And honestly, if we can build this community now and be prepared together and be moving in ways, because it can feel like so much individually, it can feel like a lot to prepare.
01:06:33
Speaker
and to be ready by yourself. But if we have our community space and it's like, i'm maybe I'm really good at preserving and like, I'm really good at that. I can teach my community that and everyone feels good in that prep, right?
01:06:46
Speaker
And you know i what I like to say to everyone is like, think about if there was no power, no electricity, like you don't have any access those ways, what would be the most stressful thing for you? Okay, like obviously you wanna make sure you're warm, and food isn't important, but what would be stressful? For me, i like to be clean.
01:07:02
Speaker
So how am I going to figure out how that happens? So for me right now in this time, it's like, how am I going to prepare myself so I can be clean? And then how can I teach other people to do that in a really accessible way? How are people being able to go to the bookstore? How are they being able to go to everyday shops and prepare themselves in those ways so they that that stress is off people, right? So people can start preparing and we can be in community and we can move in community and support each other through our gifts in community right now.
01:07:29
Speaker
Just to wrap up this whole conversation, I do really love Kenda's rethinking of what spirituality and Black culture looks like, especially with the Kendrick
Spirituality in Liberation Movements
01:07:40
Speaker
Lamar Juneteenth. I remember seeing that and he like performed not like us. It was like 11 times in a row or something like that. I remember seeing that. And so I saw this video earlier today about the importance of spirituality and liberation movements and And how oftentimes today people try to be more academic and things like that and try to separate themselves from spirituality. But a lot of how us as descendants of enslaved people have survived here is through spirituality, is through believing in something bigger than ourselves.
01:08:12
Speaker
And hearing you talk about the shift in rethinking the current systems with Pluto and Capricorn, I believe you said, and then going into technology and kind of viewing it as creating new systems as we move forward, knowing our role, sticking to it.
01:08:29
Speaker
Like I really loved all of this. And I think it's a really good wrapping up point. I want to thank you both for coming and being with us today. This has been a very like fruitful conversation.
01:08:41
Speaker
It has, it has. And So much like I, you know, repetition spirit like is big on repetition. It's going to keep, keep, keep you coming up in different ways. And so definitely taking our conversation as a confirmation for a lot of things.
01:09:04
Speaker
So thank you all so much for sharing your wisdom, for those spiritual tools and knowledge that you have gifted. to us. It's really appreciated. Thank you so much for having us in this space.
01:09:16
Speaker
Yeah. We're all on this journey right now of shifting out our reliance on these systems, right? Reliance on, you you know, the government, like we're all trying to like make these shifts into what does this look like in this assurance and this like security, but in community, right?
01:09:35
Speaker
And so how do we figure that out? Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much for having me. And if you're interested in getting a Pluto transformation free report or get a cosmic alchemy every month with my own spin to it, make sure you send an email to thejoyfactormama at gmail.com. I'm in the process of revamping my website, but I'm doing it in a very, I want a certain type of person in my group.
01:10:04
Speaker
Because i want to grow. I don't want to fight. and just want to grow. So if you're interested, I'll send you some more information. Thank you for having us. and Also, we'll put all y'all's information in the description box as well.
01:10:17
Speaker
If you like this episode, you can like, rate, review Food and Plant Mamas on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. If anything from the show resonated with you, make sure to share it with us on social media.
01:10:28
Speaker
You can find us on Instagram only at Food and Plant Mamas. Thank you for listening and we'll see you in the next episode. Bye.