{"id":2648,"date":"2019-09-17T21:20:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T01:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/2019\/09\/17\/women-of-the-waters\/"},"modified":"2020-05-09T16:06:20","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T16:06:20","slug":"women-of-the-waters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/women-of-the-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"Women of the Waters"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

Slowly remembering the depth of my roots. As an Afro-Caribbean healer, I often think about the various ethnic groups that came together to create the culture I know and love.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Caribbean is greatly influenced by Nigeria and Yorubaland’s spirituality.<\/p>\n

Yey Omo Eja (Yemaja), Yoruban Orisha of fertility, the waters \u2014 The Mother of Mothers. Yorubaland encompasses southwestern Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. These beautiful, resilient African countries saw the largest number of its population unwillingly transported to the Americas beginning in the 15th century.<\/p>\n

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There were several groups of indigenous people who inhabited what is today known as the Virgin Islands. The Ta\u00ednos, Ciboneys, Arawaks, and Caribs are the original natives of my homeland.<\/p>\n

Atabey, Ta\u00edno Earth goddess of fertility and the waters. Ta\u00ednos are the native peoples of modern day Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Hispaniola. Within 40 years of Spanish colonialism, they lost 85% of their population.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Yemaja and Atabey are the nurturing guides who have brought so many souls in the region relief. They are the collective Mothers. Bridges built between the lands and the seas, bearing the weight of connection that most women do. Two spirits with the same essence borne from the hearts of people from two different continents.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve dreamed of women bathed in robes of glowing waters since I was a child. They always beckoned me to plunge into their depths. To trust myself and to move forward without fear. I now know that they aren\u2019t just dreams.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

They were prophecies.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I see myself as a bridge between two worlds: a daughter of Ta\u00edno and Yoruba, my very existence a beautiful unification of two people forced to endure lives they had not chosen. A testament to the resilience of both groups. A woman of the waters, who fears not the depths or the waves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yorubaland encompasses southwestern Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. Ta\u00ednos are the native peoples of modern day Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Hispaniola. I see myself as a bridge between two worlds: a daughter of Ta\u00edno and Yoruba, my very existence a beautiful unification of two peoples forced to endure lives they had not chosen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,408],"tags":[54,73,87,134,174,185,200,205,218],"class_list":["post-2648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-spirituality","tag-caribbean","tag-divinity","tag-feminine","tag-nigeria","tag-spirituality","tag-taino","tag-virgin-islands","tag-water-goddesses","tag-yoruba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2648"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4543,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2648\/revisions\/4543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejachaniah.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}