hoodoogardens:

Photography by Mara Sanchez Renero

From the series “The Cimmarón and the Fandango.”  “The title refers to the escaped slaves and a dance –the series is Ms. Sanchez Renero’s interpretation of her conversations and encounters with the Afro-Mexicans in various communities in the Costa Chica region of Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico.”-David Gonzales of the New York Times

“As you go on the roads you see women doing something we had identified with Africa, and I wanted to make that link. The woman surrounded by fire, the symbolism, it has elements of spirituality. I also blindfolded her eyes, because women are the great carriers of culture and educate their children. But there is also a lack of interest in maintaining it.” -Renero

Afro-Mexicans date back to the colonial era when the Spanish brought over enslaved workers from Portugal, a trade that continued until the mid-18th century. A step toward lifting that invisibility came in 2015 when the government recognized Afro-Mexican as a census category, estimating that a little under 1.4 million people identified themselves as such.

Deborah…Judge,Prophetess,Warrior&Wife.

“And Deborah, a nebiyah (prophetess) the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Yisra’el at that time. And she was dwelling under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beyth El in the mountains of Ephrayim. And the children of Yisra’el came up to her for right-ruling.” Judges 4 v4-5 

Representation matters…

More of my work here.

-M-

10 things to know about African spirituality before watching black panther.

1.  African spirituality is a term used for the hundreds of spiritual of cultural believe systems of the 1000’s of different African people’s and their diasporic descendants. For example you have the Yoruba traditional belief system in which Orisha’s are different incarnations of the energy of the supreme being and nature are venerated (Oludamare.)  Orisha veneration is practiced in what was once known as Yorubaland which is parts of Nigeria, togo and Benin. It is also practiced in Brazil as Candomble and Lucumi in Cuba where it has been syncrenised with other systems. These varieties or spiritual lineages are practiced in the Republic of Benin, Togo, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela among others.
2. They all come from the same root and have synergy as all African people are descendants of the same progenitor
3.  All African spiritual systems are nature based.
   
4. They all believe in one supreme being all other gods are but different manifestations of this supreme being.
   
5. African spiritual systems were to core/backbone of all these societies
   
6. Most Africans became non practicing through foreign invasions and occupations. All foreign occupations in Africa were about access to trade and resources. For example the punitive expedition that burnt the kingdom of Benin to a cinder and destroyed the great walls of Benin the largest earth works in the world was motivated by great Britain wanting unequal access to the rubber reserves in the region and removing the tax they would pay to the king of Benin. The word of particular importance in this context is Epistemicide. 
7. Ancestral veneration is central to all African spiritual systems. Shrines are put up in memory of deceased loved ones. The belief that the love, bond and connection you shared with a (Ancestor) parent transcends death. Complete veneration and respect of those who came before. In reality T’ challa would have a Shrine dedicated to his father
8. Black panther is the summation of all the black panthers that came before him. E.g. In the 8th Century BC Kemet was in tatters cities of Upper Egypt (that is the south as historically and geographically they were the top of the world) was in danger of social and political collapse. The power of the Pharaoh’s had been dead in the two lands for many years now. temples and shrines were coming to ruin, In the north a host of Libyan Warlords had turned the Delta into a jigsaw of city states, and the south was not much better, held together by princes and priests. At least four Prince’s had claimed the name of Pharaoh, but had done nothing to earn it.This is when king Piye of kush A son of Amun stepped in, subjugated and begun the reunification of kemet. The kushites felt that the moral code their ancestors gave them was being corrupted. So they had to realign things back to the original spiritual order. This reunification by Piye was the last great period of classical Egyptian civilisation
9. African spirituality affected all facets of culture and life. In many cases it affected language, culture and overall world view. E.g. many traditional African names are given to individuals through naming ceremonies.We got a tiny glimpse of this in black panther.
10.  Sacred plant mixtures exist and are used as a right of passage. EG.Ibogaine-containing preparations are used for medicinal and ritual purposes within African spiritual traditions of the Bwiti people of Gabon and Cameroon, who claim to have learned it from the Pygmy peoples. One of the most poignant things about the black panther is him consuming a sacred plant mixture communing with the ancestors gaining their knowledge, getting enhanced Kinesthesis and superhuman abilities.

For more information about African spirituality please check out a documentary I assisted in producing ‘Ancestral voices the spirit is eternal’. This work took us world wide and has much needed information from highly respected shamans and spiritual leaders two of who have transcended into ancestorhood.

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