The recent Soul Talk: Legacies of Black Feminist Magic Intensive was the blessing I needed I as navigated hospitals and funerals at a powerful moment of transition for my families chosen and given. In conversation with Akasha Gloria Hull’s Soul Talk and Sonia Sanchez’s 1982 play “I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t” we used words, sound and movement to get at our breakthroughs, our powers, our areas of necessary growth and connection. We were honest about the pain of what we have witnessed and are witnessing at this time and together we transmuted that pain into clarity of vision for what we are part of creating. We worked through the differences between what fear teaches us to say about ourselves and our people and the spells we need for the presence and future we deserve. We exuberantly hailed the emergent revolutions of our lives with a loud black “I SEE YOU!!!!” Most importantly, we witnessed each other without judgement and blessed each other with black generosity and grace. Together, inspired by Sonia Sanchez and Toni Cade Bambara, we created this invocation of Black Blessings. Use it. I am using it to send light to the spirt of our sudden new ancestor Gloria Naylor (join me tomorrow online at Place: A Homegoing Ritual for Gloria Naylor if you want to partake in that blessing process). I recommend speaking these blessings out loud. Use it to reclaim your workspace. Use to reset the energy in your home. Use it call and response style with your comrades at the beginning or end of your next session. Use it some other way and let us know about it!
Black Blessings
by the participants in Soul Talk: Legacies of Black Feminist Magic
“I will rock you in blackness so you will grow to love yourself.”
-Sonia Sanchez (in the play “I’m Black When I’m Singing, I’m Blue When I Ain’t”)
“Black Blessings” (at the end of letters to Octavia Butler, June Jordan and other black feminist writers)
-Toni Cade Bambara
black blessings
ancestral magic
black blessings
resilient spirit
black blessings
queer abundance
black blessings
collective brilliance
black blessings
prismatic expressions
black blessings
heart connection
black blessings
willing hands
black blessings
nurtured pathways
black blessings
infinite journey
black blessings
alchemic expansion
black blessings
observant historians
black blessings
collective victories
black blessings
open faith
black blessings
writing transcending
black blessings
passing down wisdom
black blessings
foundational rhythm
black blessings
community dance
black blessings
breathful joy
black blessings
the telling of our stories
black blessings
piercing insights
black blessings
embodied memory
black blessings
hurt unearthed
black blessings
harmers apologizing
black blessings
lovers holding
black blessings
queer safety
black blessings
possibilities opening
black blessings
flamboyant universe
black blessings
tended love
black blessings
wild babies
black blessings
welcome ancestors
black blessings
emanating energy
black blessings
unstoppable laughter
black blessings
black blessings
black blessings