What is the secret of African joy? From Bahia to New Orleans to London, Black people are the very embodiment of happiness! Our songs, our dances and our vibrant cultures light up the African diaspora with joy. The Yoruba say, mbari-mbayo! It means, "You see me and rejoice!" According to Yoruba tradition, Obatala is the Orisa closely associated with happiness. He is praised as "the father of laughter." Through his example, we discover happiness as a path of inner peace. In Obatala: Four Paths to Equanimity, you will learn four ways that Obatala shows the way to inner peace. The book includes a series of sacred text, self-exploration exercises, and activities designed to increase your personal connection to the magnificent energy of Obatala, the Great Orisa.
Obafemi Origunwa, founder of the Orisa Lifestyle Academy and creator of the Orisa Lifestyle Agreements, articulates an in-depth, yet simple blueprint of the world's fastest growing spiritual movement. In his insightful study, Origunwa surveys a full range of traditional and modern African thought expressed through religion, sacred poetry, philosophy, mythology, psychology and business. He demonstrates that Yoruba sacred culture is far from being doomed to destruction or irrelevance at the hands of Islamic and Christian incursion. Instead, Orisa Lifestyle is evolving into a world wide cultural empire that is capable of actually using foreign tools to propogate its basic values. The Fundamentals of Orisa Lifestyle presents an invaluable insight into the foundations of the unique and vital tapestry of Yoruba indigenous knowledge systems practiced by over seventy million Africans all over the world.
In this book, Suzanne Preston Blier examines the intersection of art, risk and creativity in early African arts from the Yoruba center of Ife and the striking ways that ancient Ife artworks inform society, politics, history and religion. Yoruba art offers a unique lens into one of Africa's most important and least understood early civilizations, one whose historic arts have long been of interest to local residents and Westerners alike because of their tour-de-force visual power and technical complexity. Among the complementary subjects explored are questions of art making, art viewing and aesthetics in the famed ancient Nigerian city-state, as well as the attendant risks and danger assumed by artists, patrons and viewers alike in certain forms of subject matter and modes of portrayal, including unique genres of body marking, portraiture, animal symbolism and regalia. This volume celebrates art, history and the shared passion and skill with which the remarkable artists of early Ife sought to define their past for generations of viewers.
In this 4-in-1 omnibus edition, explore four Native American cultures, examining their lives, lore, and legends. Learn how they worshiped, lived in harmony with nature, and constructed unique social orders. Before Europeans invaded their homeland, these richly varied cultures thrived with a level of harmony with the land and dignity of spirit unmatched by modern Western civilization. Contained herein are The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees; Blackfoot Lodge Tales; Truth of a Hopi; and Navaho Myths, Prayers, and Songs. Now you can explore these four cultures and their mystic traditions.
Oriki Awon Òrìsà is a book and companion audio series by Fayemi Abidemi and Obafemi Origunwa. Visit www.ObafemiO.com to download the audio files. It is part of a larger multimedia curriculum that teaches the art and the practice of òrìsà lifestyle. Oríkì Awon Òrìsà is A LEARNING TOOL FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN PROPER WORSHIP. With materials in print, audio, video and online, Oríkì Awon Òrìsà is perfect for your personal shrine or as a temple worship and study guide. Visit www.ObafemiO.com for more resources.
Drawing on extensive research and his own wide travels, Ford vividly retells ancient African myths and tales and brings to light their universal meanings.
" . . . a landmark in research of African oral traditions." —African Arts " . . . a significant contribution to the understanding of Yoruba religious belief, magic, and art." —Journal of Religion in Africa Yoruba texts and English translations of a divination system that originated in Nigeria and is widely practiced today by male and female diviners in the diaspora. A landmark edition.
In the tradition of Octavia Butler, here is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help to shape the futures we want. Change is constant. The world, our bodies, and our minds are in a constant state of flux. They are a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, Emergent Strategy teaches us to map and assess the swirling structures and to read them as they happen, all the better to shape that which ultimately shapes us, personally and politically. A resolutely materialist spirituality based equally on science and science fiction: a wild feminist and afro-futurist ride! adrienne maree brown, co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements, is a social justice facilitator, healer, and doula living in Detroit.
"Revolutionary love, revolutionary memory and revolutionary analysis are at work in every page written by Mumia Abu-Jamal … His writings are a wake-up call. He is a voice from our prophetic tradition, speaking to us here, now, lovingly, urgently. Black man, old-school jazz man, freedom fighter, revolutionary—his presence, his voice, his words are the writing on the wall."—Cornel West, from the foreword From the first slave writings to contemporary hip hop, the canon of African American literature offers a powerful counter-narrative to dominant notions of American culture, history and politics. Resonant with voices of prophecy and resistance, the African American literary tradition runs deep with emancipatory currents that have had an indelible impact on the United States and the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of our most important contributors to this canon for decades, writing from the confines of the U.S. prison system to give voice to those most silenced by chronic racism, impoverishment and injustice. Writing on the Wall is a selection of more than 100 previously unpublished essays that deliver Mumia Abu-Jamal's essential perspectives on community, politics, power, and the possibilities of social change in the United States. From Rosa Parks to Edward Snowden, from the Trail of Tears to Ferguson, Missouri, Abu-Jamal addresses a sweeping range of contemporary and historical issues. Written mostly during his years of solitary confinement on Death Row, these essays are a testament to Abu-Jamal's often prescient insight, and his revolutionary perspective brims with hope, encouragement and profound faith in the possibility of redemption. "Greatness meets us in this book, and not just in Mumia's personal courage and character. It's in the writing. This is art with political power, challenging institutional injustice in the U.S. while catalyzing our understanding, memory and solidarities for liberation and love. Writing on the Wall can set the nation aflame—yes, for creating new possible worlds."—Mark Lewis Taylor, Professor of Theology and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of two best-selling books, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms. Johanna Fernández is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of History at Baruch College in New York City. Cornel West is a scholar, philosopher, activist and author of over a dozen books including his bestseller, Race Matters. He appears frequently in the media, and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as Tavis Smiley.
Carried to the Americas by slaves, the 8,000-year-old philosophy of Ifa originated with the Yoruba peoples of West Africa. Ifa's enduring message of strength and inner peace, one that offers a way to harmonize our spiritual and worldly aims, is enjoying a resurgence of popularity in the West. Written by an avid student and accomplished practitioner, The Way of the Orisa provides an exhilarating introduction to the orisa, the powerful messenger spirits who act as our personal guardians. Through fables, rituals, prayers and simple guidelines, Philip Neimark shows how we can further our personal and professional goals by cultivating the loving support of orisa energy. Joyous, wise and eminently practical, The Way of the Orisa brings a vibrant ancient tradition to contemporary life.
