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In Yoruba spirituality, ORI which literally translates as “your head," is the center of of your asé (the divine power) of God that lives within you. In our belief system, it is ORI that controls your personality and personal destiny. In Part Deux of our conversation, we will discuss your ORI as your spiritual headquarters. In your HQ, sits your EGUN or your personal Board of Directors. ORI is your first altar. And Egun is the foundation. Black women in Africa were the world's first “hairdressers.” Why is that? Why don't we let people play in our hair? To protect our CROWN. Our head. Our first shrine. Our ORI.
This course will be presented in a conversational format. Attendees will walk away with:
- Essential readings: Two articles
- 15 ORI affirmations
- Syllabus that includes prompts for further investigation and additional suggested readings
Presented by BEAUCOUP HOODOO in collaboration with IN OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS.
ABOUT Dr. KOKO:
Dr. Kokahvah Zauditu-Selassie is a retired Professor of English at Coppin State University in the Humanities Department. She earned her Doctorate in the Humanities from Clark Atlanta University. She is the author of “I Got a Home in Dat Rock: Memory, Orisa, and Yoruba Spiritual Identity in African American Literature” in Orisa: Yoruba Gods and Spiritual Identity in Africa and the Diaspora, as well as several journal articles including, “Women Who Know Things: African Epistemologies, Ecocriticism, and Female Spiritual Authority in the Novels of Toni Morrison, Dancing Between Two Realms: Sacred Resistance and Remembrance in African American Culture. She is also the author of an award-winning book of critical essays titled, African Spiritual Traditions in the Novels of Toni Morrison a 2009 publication of the University Press of Florida. Her research focuses on highlighting ritual acts of memory and resistance. A priest of Obàtálá in the Lukumi Yoruba tradition, she is a descendant of a matrilineal group of Vodun believers from New Orleans, Louisiana. Currently she is studying the traditions of Osain in the Lukumi system and in other global African cultures, as well as indigenous systems in the Americas. Her current publication is a novel titled, The Second Line. She can be found on social media at @comptonauthor.
ABOUT SHANTRELLE:
New Orleans native and Howard University alumnus, Shantrelle P. Lewis, a United Nations Programme for People of African Descent Fellow, is a multi-hyphen creative and scholar who accesses multiple disciplines to help elucidate African Diasporic history, aesthetics, culture and spirituality. Her directorial debut, premiered at the BlackStar Film Festival in 2020 and won the Shine Award for Best Film from a Philadelphia based filmmaker. Dandy Lion: The Black Dandy and Street Style, her first book, was published by Aperture in 2017. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Filmmaker Magazine, NPR, BBC, MSNBC, Washington Post, Slate, The New Yorker and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She co-founded SHOPPE BLACK with her husband and fellow Howard alum, Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson. Shantrelle is an initiated Lukumi Sango Priest. Also, a self-identifying Hoodooist, she can be found waxing poetics about all things African spirituality online at Beaucoup Hoodoo. Follow her on social media at @apshantology.
ABOUT BEAUCOUP HOODOO:
Founded by Shantrelle P. Lewis, initiated Lukumi Sango Priest and Hoodooist from New Orleans, BEAUCOUP HOODOO is a safe gathering space for practitioners, scholars and curious of African Traditional Religions (ATRs). We host an ATRs Book Club where we discuss various critical text that explore ATRs across the African Diaspora. Follow us on IG at @beaucouphoodoo.
