Calling all women...

There's only three spaces left in the 2017-18 Kamaria Circle...  Is one of those seats yours?  Here's three easy ways to tell: #1:  You're ready for your next level  Life is pretty good, but it's time for an upgrade.  Maybe you want to get your financial or relationship house in order.   Maybe you need to step your parenting game up.  Or maybe that promotion or career change is calling you louder and louder.  We'll support you every step of the way until your vision becomes your reality. #2  The world is waiting for your gift With all of the madness going on in the world, more than ever, we need women of purpose and substance to stand fully in their power.  You are a women of influence- your mental, spiritual, and emotional wholeness matters.  Your life matters.  And what you plan to birth into the world through the Kamaria Circle will not only impact you, but also your family, community, or even the world.   Let us be the midwives for your vision. #3  You believe in magic Not rabbit-out-of-the-hat magic, but the real magic that happens when your intentions, desires and actions all line up.  In the Kamaria Circle, we work with the subtle body, chakras, astrology and the elements to activate that 90% of our brain that we don't use every day.  We'll learn practical tools and how to work the magic that is our birthright.   So if you believe in magic, you'll be in good company! In this 6-month course, you will learn concrete tools to awaken your creative genius, manifest your intentions, tap into your inner resources, and actualize your purpose. You'll learn how to understand the subtle messages of your body and dreams,  align yourself with abundance,  and lead from the Sacred Feminine. You'll gain deeper self-awareness as you work with flower essences and learn practical tools to upgrade your life.  We are a community of women who support one another as we live on purpose and stand in power.  We are committed to making ripples in the current world tide.  JOIN US! www.OceansandRivers.Com/kamaria-circle

Why this Black History Month was the best EVER....

This was, without a doubt, the best Black History Month I've had in a long, long time.   Usually, my Februarys are filled with generalized snarkiness about it being the shortest month of the year, redundant black history trivia, and competing Valentine's Day grumpiness..  but February 2016?  oh 2016...   you got us ready for some REAL conversations about race.  Here's what rocked my world this month in Black History:

#1. Birth of a Nation at Sundance
Birth of a Nation, a new film produced by Nate Parker, broke the internet this month when it was awarded a record setting $17.5 million distribution deal after sweeping the awards at Sundance.  The folks that I know who are connected to the film have been in the trenches, supporting real change as it relates to institutional racism, so this is a big win for ALL of us.  Why else am I so excited about this film??  Because it is about Nat Turner, a freedom fighter who led a rebellion of slaves and free blacks.  So many of Hollywood's dipictions of slavery and the aftermath (aka the present) are demoralizing.  I'm looking forward to a movie that shows us fighting back for once- for our lives, for our families, and for our future.  Rumor has it that Birth of a Nation will be released theatrically this October, and I can't wait.

# 2.  Beyonce's Formation

My girlfriend and I joked that forever more, February 7th shall be known as Beyonce Day.  Let's face it- her execution was perfect:  BAM! new video, which is a straight-up celebration of southern Black culture. BAM! Superbowl Black Panther-inspired 'badassiness' (yes, it's a word).  BAM! Tour announcement, including her and hubby's donation of a gazillion dollars to #blacklivesmatter and Flint.  And then a few weeks later... BAM! Beyonce drops a mini doc on racial injustice.

I've been a fan since way back when, but Formation took it to the next level for me.  For one, I can't stop singing "I dream hard, I work hard, I grind till i own it" while doing the dance from the video.  All day.    For two, I also 'like my baby hair with baby hair in afros'.  In this foreign land of weaves and extensions,  and it feels really GOOD to have a 'black and proud ' song that beats with the pulse of this generation.    But most importantly, I love the controversy- and dialogue-  Formation has stirred.   The video and its varied reactions has opened the door for me to have conversations about race with colleagues and girlfriends that I didn't even know were waiting to happen.  Well played, Queen Bey.
  

#3. Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

After watching Formation with my daughter, she had LOTS of questions.  Given the current political climate,  she understood the messaging of the boy dancing in front of the police line, and the "stop shooting us" plea.   But the police car in the flood?  The sinking buildings?  That required a longer conversation about Hurricane Katrina and the racial, socio-economic, and political injustices that surrounded it.   Insert Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes.  This historical fiction breathes life into Lanesha, a 12- year old ninth ward resident that must call on her faith, courage and spirituality to help her family survive the storm. Spoiler alert:  there's a chilling scene towards the end of the book when Lanesha, on her roof after the storm, sees a helicopter passing her overhead.  Followed by her slow realization that no one is coming to help. She, like so many families, is left to help herself.

#4. Kendrick Lamar on the Grammys
This month, Kendrick SMASHED the Grammys with his performance of "the Blacker the Berry" and "Alright".  Now, Kendrick is my celebrity crush, so i'm predisposed to like what ever comes out of his mouth.  But that performance? From the lyrics, the set design, costumes, and choreography, my mind was blown.  Yuuuup, 'we gonna be alright!!! ' If you missed it, you can check out the performance here.

#5.  Eclipsed on Broadway

I have been blessed to see quite a few amazing shows on Broadway.   But I have never seen ANYTHING like Eclipsed, which opened for previews on Broadway last week.   I was holding my heart and crying audibly within the first ten minutes.   I also laughed.  I related.  I was was enraptured with- for two whole hours- the melodic song of African dialect.  Eclipsed tells the story of five women during the Liberian Civil War, was about about so much more than this oft neglected part of history.  It was about patriarchy, about loving fiercely, about protecting ourselves, about taking a stand, about finding our way, about fear, about acceptance, and about survival.  Lupita was phenomenal, and the entire five women cast was equally mind-blowing.  I am forever changed, and look forward to seeing more from playwright Danai Gurira.

A Word on Trauma

Over the past few weeks, my conversations with my girlfriends have gone something like this: "There we so many cops in the room- I started shaking, I couldn't breathe, and I had to leave the room"  "That could have easily been me- I'm a smart, educated woman and I know my rights''  'I'm not sure how I can be at work and pretend like this doesn't affect me, and go on like 'business as usual',  as if I'm not hurting." Now, I am lucky to travel many spiritual circles, where love is love.  In fact, when the Sandra Bland story broke, I was in a yoga training in Costa Rica with 30 goddesses of every hue under the sun. But I don't live in a colorless world.  Yes, all lives matter. But the fact that we live in a climate where we have to specify that "black lives matter"... well, that also matters. In activist communities, we've known the assault on young black girls to be psycho-spiritual (insert Nikki Minaj, the politics of image, and the doll test).  The question of survival has often been focused on black men, from Emitt Till, to Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown.  Such much so that when I go running in my neighborhood, I always raise my hands into plain site when I pass cops so I won't be mistaken for a black man running in the streets.  These are strange times, indeed.   But the Sandra Bland murder raises a new fear for mamas of girls- especially sassy, fearless puffy haired brown girls.  As Lois Frankel points out in her book Nice Girls Still Don't Get the Corner Office, "When women of color, particularly African American women, are assertive, they are wrongly accused of being 'angry'...   and they are categorized in a way that disinclines them from speaking their mind in the future- which just might be the purpose of the accusation to begin with."  I wonder how many of us have pursed our lips and narrowed our eyes instead of speaking up over the last few weeks.   In our offices.  In check-out lines.  In our homes. Yesterday, my daughter ran to see where the sirens were coming from- out of innocent, child-like curiosity. I screamed so loudly that that it jolted her, followed by a not-so-age appropriate rant about how dangerous that was.   In that moment, I saw how trauma is intergenerational . And how our fear will always limit our freedom. Like many of my friends and colleagues, I have watched the videos over and over again.   They are everywhere on social media, and in true Fire Element fashion, bringing consciousness and awareness to that which has previously been hidden and secret.   The world is watching, and it keeps us from forgetting.  But the flip side is that the constant borage of images and news stories also contributes to a form of secondary trauma- which is the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about or witnesses the firsthand trauma experiences of another. My film students and I experienced this back in 2006, when we traveled to New Orleans 6 months after Hurricane Katrina and witnessed the devastation and political neglect of the ninth ward.  The symptoms of secondary trauma mimic those of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including symptoms such as: intrusive thoughts or images chronic fatigue disturbed sleep unexplained sadness or weepiness poor concentration second guessing or indecisiveness  hypervigilance shame  fear

Mountain Pride Flower Essence: The Spiritual Warrior

Mountain Pride Flower Essence: 
Archetype of the Spiritual Warrior

Positive qualities: Forthright masculine energy; warrior-like spirituality which confronts and transforms
 
Patterns of imbalance: Vacillation and withdrawal in the face of challenge; lack of assertiveness, inability to take a stand for one's convictions

(from The Flower Essence Repertory by Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz)

Planetary Influences:  Mars, Sun

Elemental Alchemy:  Wood, Fire




Mountain Pride flower essence is the archetype of the spiritual warrior, the one who fights for justice, speaks truth, and is able to take a stand in and for the world.


I could be writing about Mountain Pride now, in the aftermath of the so-called Trayvon Martin trial (which begs the question, why was Trayvon Martin the one on trial? but I digress...), or I could be writing this at any random point in time.  Why?  Because injustices against humanity are happening everyday, in every corner of the world.