Stories - PushBlack Spirit (Page 12)

Stories

A collection of 671 posts

Tips And Routines To Help Us ‘Stay Whole’ In Our Bodies

Tips And Routines To Help Us ‘Stay Whole’ In Our Bodies

Author and founder of Black Liturgies, Cole Arthur Riley writes, “There are systems in this world that have everything to gain from your disembodiment. Because emptied bodies are easier to use. Stay whole.” Here are tips and routines to help us “stay whole” in our bodies and aligned with Spirit.

What The Good Samaritan Teaches Us About Black Liberation

What The Good Samaritan Teaches Us About Black Liberation

Love is all around you. From self-love to God’s love, we all deserve love in abundance. God wants us to love our people and our Blackness in spite of how we might be portrayed by others. This scripture is the perfect reminder.

How To Embrace Stillness To Get Closer To God

How To Embrace Stillness To Get Closer To God

The world is noisy. Stillness is a sacred practice that can benefit us spiritually when we embrace it, and here’s how. You deserve peace.

How Wearing Black Can Enhance Your Spiritual Strength and Beauty

How Wearing Black Can Enhance Your Spiritual Strength and Beauty

The power of Blackness lives in our very skin. Our melanin oozes with the power of our divinity and it’s only enhanced when we wear black. Here’s how you step into your own beautiful light by donning black.

The Ways Our Grief Has Always Been All About Love

The Ways Our Grief Has Always Been All About Love

Grief will knock on all of our doors at some point, and although it may feel like it, grieving doesn’t have to knock us down. Remember these important lessons the next time grief washes over you.

This Valentine’s Day Alternative Is Rooted In Sacred African Traditions

This Valentine’s Day Alternative Is Rooted In Sacred African Traditions

Today many people celebrate Valentine’s Day, but did you know there is an alternative that celebrates our history and unity across the globe? It’s called Akoma Day and it invites us to return to loving each other.

Let Our Devotion To God Get Us Into Good Trouble

Let Our Devotion To God Get Us Into Good Trouble

“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.” — Hebrews 6:10. Our ancestors were powerful, but they were also persistent. Their resistance efforts took months of planning. But they were ready to get into good trouble. Are we?

How Negro Spirituals Helped Our People Talk To God

How Negro Spirituals Helped Our People Talk To God

When times get hard, we can always lean on God’s word. Our ancestors knew this well, and these spirituals remind us of the understanding of God’s love for our people.

The Untold Spiritual Battles of MLK That Apply To Us All

The Untold Spiritual Battles of MLK That Apply To Us All

In moments when we doubt ourselves, it’s easy to lose hope. But only God knows what we were sent here to do. The moments of the strongest self-doubt are the moments we most need to surrender to Spirit. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. surely learned this lesson.

The Most Sacred Thing We Can Experience Is Being Witnessed In Love

The Most Sacred Thing We Can Experience Is Being Witnessed In Love

It is said the eyes are the windows of the soul. But what are windows? Many African societies believed windows are sacred, and with good reason.

Turn Your Everyday Actions Into Offerings

Turn Your Everyday Actions Into Offerings

We all deserve to feel cared for. Offerings are usually made at the foot of altars or on church collection plates, but what if we considered every action an offering?

Devoting Ourselves To Spirit Is How We Defeat Darkness

Devoting Ourselves To Spirit Is How We Defeat Darkness

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” – Luke 4. The Devil will always try tempting us, but when we devote ourselves to God we’ll always find paths of liberation amidst the anti-Black wilderness.

Our Power Lies In Our Protest. Our Protest Is Rooted In Faith

Our Power Lies In Our Protest. Our Protest Is Rooted In Faith

“By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?” – Isaiah 53:7. Often we wait for leaders to guide us in our protest efforts, but we are all capable leaders. Our power lies in our protest. Our protest is rooted in faith.

We Honor Our Ancestors When We Remember Them Laughing

We Honor Our Ancestors When We Remember Them Laughing

Black laughter is more than medicine. It’s an important weapon in our spiritual warfare toolkit. Our ancestors laughed in the face of anti-Blackness, whooping and hollering as a form of resistance. And so should we.

These Dolls Aren’t Just Child’s Play, They’re Spiritual Tools

These Dolls Aren’t Just Child’s Play, They’re Spiritual Tools

Not all of our spiritual gestures have to be grand. Within many Afro-Diasporic traditions something as simple as gifting someone a doll can be seen as the utmost sign of respect. Just look at Xhosa women and their powerful Ndebele dolls.

This Small, Simple Act of Joy Can Transform Pain Into Power

This Small, Simple Act of Joy Can Transform Pain Into Power

The indomitable spirit of our ancestors found solace and strength in the art of joyful resistance. And with this one simple act, we can manifest the promise of a brighter future for generations to come.

How Transformation and Reimagining Black Identity Can Unlock Spiritual Liberation

How Transformation and Reimagining Black Identity Can Unlock Spiritual Liberation

“In Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17. To achieve liberation we must not be afraid of change. We must resist anti-Black limitations. God is limitless. Liberation will take radical TRANSformation. What must you transform to get free?

Tupac Made Music For The Oppressed Seeking God

Tupac Made Music For The Oppressed Seeking God

“We all lost souls trying to find our way to heaven.” Tupac Shakur was just as much a gangsta rapper as a spiritual prophet. Here’s how he sought to bring the Lord and liberation to his people.

How Prayer And Manifestation Can Go Hand-In-Hand

How Prayer And Manifestation Can Go Hand-In-Hand

Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” God has given us assurance that he hears our prayers. All we have to do is manifest.

The Ancestral Herbalism That Helped Her Save Her People

The Ancestral Herbalism That Helped Her Save Her People

There is something powerful in our Blackness, even if those around us don’t see it. This woman’s story reminds us that our roots can lead us toward healing and liberation today and into the future. We are infinite.

These Special Dolls Are Vessels of Ancestral Wisdom and Fertility Magic

These Special Dolls Are Vessels of Ancestral Wisdom and Fertility Magic

We’re descended from generations of powerful women, like the Namji. Namji women possessed great beauty and wisdom, especially when it came to their sacred understandings of fertility and birth. But their magic didn’t live in a potion. It lived in a doll.

The Multifaceted Meanings of Fluidity and Its Connection to Freedom

The Multifaceted Meanings of Fluidity and Its Connection to Freedom

“God is change.” – Octavia Butler. The ability to change lives in all of us. The practice of change lies in a sacred, Afro-diasporic wisdom. In our fight for freedom, we must be like God: fluid. To embrace fluidity is to embrace our inherent divinity.

How Vodou Dolls Connect Us to Our Spiritual Guardians

How Vodou Dolls Connect Us to Our Spiritual Guardians

We come from a long line of powerful ancestors. The preservation of their spiritual practices throughout the African diaspora allowed this power to marinate in each of us. Our ancestral practices were rooted in love, but racial hatred worked to weaponize them. Take Vodou dolls, for example.

The Beautiful Blessing Of Black Laughter

The Beautiful Blessing Of Black Laughter

You deserve a good laugh. Throughout history, during times when many assumed our people should be weeping, we chose laughter instead.

The Practical Magic of Energetic Alchemy in Nurturing Resilience and Change

The Practical Magic of Energetic Alchemy in Nurturing Resilience and Change

We’re all made up of powerful energy, which is why the concept of “protecting your energy” is so important. But have you ever tried “alchemizing” your energy? The energy you pour into the universe plays a huge role in Black liberation efforts.