Openness and Honesty: Chief Fama's Path to Spiritual Fullfillment

With great pleasure I welcome, Chief Fama, one of the leading voices of Yoruba spirituality and culture, to the Sacred Journey podcast series. Chief Fama is an Iyanifa, an initiated diviner in the Ifa tradition; she's also a colleged-educated business woman.

In this podcast, we talk about the sting of colonialism and the fullfillment that comes from honoring and following the ways of the ancestors. We also discuss the misconceptions people have of Yoruba spiritual practice.

Please join me in welcoming this important voice to the Sacred Journey Worldwide forum.

James
email: James@sacredjourneyworldwide.com
www.sacredjourneyworldwide.com

James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

Sacred Journey: January Journal Entry

In this episode of the Sacred Journey podcast series, I journey home to St. Croix, Virgin Islands to talk to my life-long friend, kindred-spirit, Randall Macedon.

Physically, at least for the moment, I live in Oakland, California. Emotionally and spiritually, however, I live in the Caribbean and Africa. When Randall saw the 2008 Sacred Journey Calendar for the first time earlier this year, he said he could easily offer an entire workshop on every image and every journal entry in the calendar, and that comment intrigued me. I wondered what I might learn from his insights into my work.

We discuss some of the symbolism in the 2008 Sacred Journey Calendar cover, and then we discuss part of the January entry which says: "A sincere attempt to understand the world around us requires us to stretch and stretch and stretch. Embrace new languages, friends and ideas. Slow down. Allow time to ferry us in to the deepest regions of culture and soul."

Stretching refers to emotional, spiritual and intellectual growth. Embrace new languages is a reference to the global language crisis. Embrace new friends -- sounds easy. It's not. Many people have difficulty forming lasting friendships/relationships, and this has an adverse impact on our health, sociologists say.

Embrace new ideas -- we're not nearly as open to new ideas as we think we are. Even more tragic...we're not open to new ideas about ourselves and our potential.

Slow down. Allow time to ferry us into the deepest regions of culture and soul -- there's no quick way to understand the worldview of another culture. Patience is the key that enables us to glimpse not only the divine, but the visions that emanate from another cultures.

Join me as I welcome Randall Macedon to the Sacred Journey forum.




James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)

Surrendering to the Divine: a Conversation with Yeye Olomitutu

So far in the Sacred Journey podcast series, we've heard from men. That's not by intent; I want to hear balanced viewpoints from both women and men, and I hope to achieve this going forward.

My guest is Yeye Olomitutu, an Orisa priestess, social worker and grandmother who now resides in Atlanta. I don't have a photo of her yet, so momentarily, I'm using one of the images that appeared in my 2008 Sacred Journey calendar.

Yeye and I discuss respect for the elderly, her childhood in Nigeria, colonialism and her spiritual journey and transformation.
She says she's learning to trust Ifa, the orisa, or divine spirit of wisdom. I can relate to that; I think we all can. Do we trust our fears....or do we trust our inner voice and/or the light that's being cast by Spirit?

Growth -- that's the challenge before us.

Join me as I welcome Yeye to the Sacred Journey forum.


James

email (James@Sacredjourneyworldwide.com)
www.sacredjourneyworldwide.com