The House of Maryam Creative Center

I just erected a publication on Medium called “La Luz.” This is a publication that is deeply tied to my life purpose of creating an empowered spiritual ecology for themselves and their families. My spirituality, empathy and intuition has provided for my safety, allowed me to be an advocate for the voiceless, and healed parts of me that have been hurt, unidentifiable through therapy, and restored many repressed memories. Although I am a practicing Catholic, I am a daughter of La Madrina, and a student of the saints — all of which who aide me and my family throughout life. As I go further in my studies, I have concluded that I am interreligious as an educator and healer.

I remember when I began to lean into this call. I was reading about the Hispanic and Indigenous communities’ malaise about adapting to American life. I wondered why they were considered the only ones having issues adapting because of this. The truth is, we all have a disconnection to boldly leaning into our roots. It’s not simply for the nuclear family–and it’s not just white and black. Those are colors, not cultures. Culture is key to unlocking and building your spiritual foundations.

I have these two cultures on both sides of my family, although I was not raised with a native American sentiment, it calls to me the most when I am operating in my spiritual gifts. I am very close to the land and nature. I believe most of us are, we have just disconnected ourselves from it. How many of you as African Americans feel this way? You feel somehow told to reach back to a spiritual practice so far removed that it makes no sense, or, you close off to something you’ve experienced culturally through grandma, or in your bloodline due to what you have been told. You feel a discomfort as well, but you may have issues reconciling it. The problem is that you are denying the truth of who you are spiritually, and it is time to not do so — it is time to lean in to who you are. There is no work that is greater than building your spiritual foundation.  Admittedly, many people are not quite ready. However, I like to consider starting small with your children. Try bringing small pieces of nature from the outdoors, indoors (sticks, creek water, polished stones) into your home and watch your mood and theirs improve. You don’t need to march in the streets for these changes. That is the beauty of creation, it is always calling us to engage it and it will engage with us.

My son was studying the American Revolution in school, and we were discussing the power of faith, and how it moved the founders to come to this land. They left the comfort of the land they knew in order to have either liberty, or even suffer death. What happened once they got here is a different discussion, however, the inertia of that action should evoke the power of spiritual sovereignty. I like to use the founding fathers as an example, but of course, there are many others.

A sound spiritual foundation that is ritualistic to some degree, and imbued with the core of who you, can be life changing — I know this to be true. I may have a lot of things in my life that need fine tuning, however, my peace and compassion is not one of them. I know the power of what having a reconciled and submitted heart to spirit means. It has the power to reshape you from the inside out and also inspire you to change the environments around you. I am not speaking on religion. Religion is a personal choice and one that you must make. However, I do believe that the throughline of all faiths is a desire for connection, acceptance, and to communicate truthfully without retaliation. 

My new publication which launches this month will call on all of our experiences. I plan to weave our stories together in a way that mirrors my own life experience. Mine is one of a woman who has spent long swaths time in many homes and families, across all ethnicities, and in various parts of the world. I feel uniquely qualified to handle various perspectives with care. I hope you will submit to it when we put out the call. 

Some of you may know, I also attended graduated school at SCAD, The Savannah College of Art and Design, it is a beloved and special place that shares alot of the sentiment that I do for “La Luz.” During this election cycle, there were moderately feminist, radically intelligent and deeply spiritual divine feminines’ like me who were inadvertently left out of the conversation. But not only are we important, we contribute to the smiles, warmth and comfort of the world. Our love and light “hits different” and we must be protected in that space. 

A book that I love is Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. While I may not be as wild as her archetype, there is so much that resonates with me. Her work was influential to my evolving into my spiritual work, and I decided to take that spiritual experiment into a lived one. It is very important that you not only find your tribe but lean into the truth of who you are. Your truth in love, has the power to shape and shift your marriages, jobs, your manifestations and love life. I work with several healing modalities, all of which are designed to connect you to truth. 

I would love to hear where you are on your spiritual journey and how you are being true to it every day. Drop me a comment and let me know.