Aquarius: Claim Your Freedom!

Though it is the beginning of the calendar year, astrologically we are moving quickly towards the end of the year. Today, January 20th, marks the beginning of the Aquarian solar month, the 11th month of the year.

Culture Spotlight: Aaliyah

This month for the River of Honey Culture Spotlight I am featuring the late great Aaliyah Dana Haughton. Anyone even remotely familiar with 90s R&B will have heard Aaliyah’s smooth, gentle voice that glided on tracks like “One In A Million,” one of her greatest hits from her album by the same name, “At Your Best (You Are Love”), her remake of the Isley Brothers classic, and “If Your Girl Only Knew,” one of my personal favorites.

Learning Yoruba

Many of our great Afrikan scholars like Dr. Marimba Ani and Dr. Amos Wilson have taught us that language has the ability to both limit and shift our consciousness. This is why it so important for Afrikan people to learn Afrikan languages. I am currently learning Yoruba and will begin to feature Yoruba language lessons. Below is a beginners video that was very helpful for me. Enjoy!

Health and Wellness: 12 Detox Foods

Even if you don’t plan on doing a detox program, your health will benefit from adding more detox superfoods to your daily diet. There are many great superfoods with detoxifying properties, but here are my top 12 picks. And, they’re delicious too.

Ori: Your Personal Orisa

This morning, before I left the house, I was reflecting on some recent life lessons. I have realized how much I don’t rely on my ori. The ori, in Yoruba cosmology, is one’s own personal orisa. Some people have likened the ori to the conscience, that small voice in your head that tells you right from wrong. And while that is true, the ori is much more than that. The ori is your guiding consciousness. In Yoruba cosmology, before we incarnate, we make an agreement before Olodumare (God) about our destiny, about what we will accomplish on this earth. Though we do not hold the information regarding this agreement in our conscious mind it is the ori that houses this information and it is through ritual that this information is unlocked and accessed.

Yes, I Know…It’s Been Quite Awhile!

From the many lessons I have been learning from egun (ancestors), the orisas, and the knowledgeable teachers in my life, I see that NOTHING is random; everything has a cause and an effect and I have to be wise and thoughtful when making a decision. Even the smallest, minutest, and seemingly insignificant decision can alter the rest of my life, either positively or negatively. And I am so thankful for that lesson/reminder! Ase!

Beauty: PeaceImages Jewelry

I’m always on the hunt for new jewelry and accessories and I recently got turned on to Camille Peace’s PeaceImages. Her jewelry is hawt! I love her sense of color as well as the African-inspired symbols and images she uses in her designs.  Here are a few of her pieces that I’m adding too my [...]

Halloween is the Devil’s Birthday?

It’s Halloween!  Halloween has many different meanings for different people.  For some, it’s just a holiday for children (and sometimes adults) to dress up and and have fun.  For others, namely many Christians, it’s the devil’s birthday.  Who in the world made this up?  Oh, I know…people who desire to cut off all forms of [...]

Culture: Terri Lyne Carrington

Check out the work of this very talented sistah!  Terri Lyne Carrington is jazz musician and released her latest album, The Mosaic Project, this past summer.  Below is a video of her performing in Tokyo at the Tokyo Jazz Festival.  Check out who’s performing with her.    

Religious Conditioning

Up until a few days ago, my ancestral shrine had been sorely neglected. No candles, no flowers, no rum, no new water for them…just no attention at all! Changes in my schedule and a lack of time management was the cause, added to the apprehension I had to every day that went by without intentionally acknowledging my egun…how disappointed and angry they must be! Even though I knew I needed to at least go and say thanks, I kept putting it off because I felt like they’d be pissed which, of course, just makes things worse.