(ThyBlackMan.com) “You must learn a new way to think, before you can learn a new way to be.” –Marianne Williamson
As I sit here listening to Lauryn Hill’s “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind” which she performed on MTV Unplugged in 2002 and reflecting on the state of black women in 2016, my soul began craving a reminder of our greatness. Our identity has been defined by everyone except us and society has painted us as everything except divine. In church we’re told that Eve, the first woman, was evil because she enticed Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. Interestingly, no one calls Adam or men in general to account for their actions and behaviors.
In the black community women are blamed for everything! It’s our fault our sons are gay, its our fault our daughters are being molested, its our fault men can’t be good fathers, its our fault that few women have a healthy respect for men, its our fault that our men are incarcerated, its our fault our health is ailing. Everything falls on the shoulders of black women and we’ve been expected to be strong for so long that we’ve disconnected from many of the divine aspects we possess. All we see is our strength, our ability to “do what has to be done” and because of the imbalance in male/female relationships, we’re rarely have the opportunity to be the divine wombmen we were created to be.
It’s time to get free my sisters! It’s time to define and accept ourselves as the bringers of life by reconnecting to our divine abilities.
1. Healing – Women possess the ability to heal not only herself and her family but her community as well. Women can make use of herbs, food, our hands, our hearts, our prayers, our thoughts and even our sacred womb to provide healing to ourselves and those around us. In this Western society we have lost touch with our ability to heal ourselves. We become patients of doctors who have no intentions to “heal” us but rather give us “treatment” to ensure our return in business.
2. Intuition/Wisdom – All women are psychic although most of us are disconnected from our inner voice. I can recall growing up and seeing family and friends coming over to sit with my grandmother for dream interpretation and her overall insight. In ancient societies women were the teachers of the community, the divine seers and medicine women. We weren’t in the kitchen cooking because “that’s what women do“, we were cooking because we knew how to make use of herbs, foods and drinks to heal our families.
3. Unconditional Love – Women possess the ability to love multiple people at once, the mother of the nation certainly fits. We can love our partner, children, family, friends and still have love to give to those within the community. Our love is unconditional! Everyone knows that one woman who they can go to if they are in need of food and/or shelter. When we are in balance, we are forgiving enough to release what is no longer necessary without removing our love in the process, in other words, we can love you from a distrance.
4. Rejuvenation – When we are in balance, we bring new life to everything around us. We can light up the room with mere presence alone. We have the ability to listen to the needs of others and give insight that inspires them to move forward in life. In the words of Tupac Amaru Shakur in Dear Mama “You say the words that can get me back in focus“. This is why men come to us when they feel down and out, often we take them in as lovers when a dose of verbal healing was all they needed.
5. Warrior – Many women fear the great warrior goddess spirit present in them. We’ve been programmed to be gentle, sensitive, soft-spoken and sweet. We are warriors like Mother Nature who doesn’t always give us sunny days and clear skies. Storms are a necessary part of the process. Destruction is a necesary part of the process! Somethings do not need repairing, they need to be destroyed. Women possess the ability to destroy the illusions that keep us, our offsprings and our community binded to the struggle.
