“Peace Nana” by Luisah Teish
Luisah Teish:
Alafia good people:
This greeting asks that we have good health and be at peace with our neighbors.
We are blessed to be on this beautiful planet, together at this most important time. It is our blended energies that keep the rhythm of Life playing as we dance to the music of the spheres.
Imagine now the Joy of the Creatrix, Our Mother, as she shaped us, colored us, named us, and provided the inspiration in us to create a variety of cultures.
At this time, when our Existence is threatened, let each examine the gift of our respective cultures, the wisdom of our minds, and the power of our spirits, and join hands around the globe.
Please accept this poem as a prayer.
Peace Nana
Iba’che NaNa Womb of Creation
She Who Gave Birth to All Things.
From your dark depths the first spark came into Being.
Your luminous Egg exploded in the midst of Eternal Night.
Its joyous dance formed the great lights.
You Who Gave Us Sun and Moon, Earth and Sky, Body and Spirit.
Awaken from your sleep Deep Night.
Lift your eyelids and see our plight.
The children of Earth are in need of your guidance.
They await the feel of your hand.
They roll their eyes in great suspicion,
in anger and fear they strike out.
Their hearts are hard, their hands are trembling.
Amidst the rubble of war, they cry out.
Hear me Great Mother, hear your daughter.
Open your starlight thighs. Draw us back into your vulva.
mold our heads,
pat our behinds.
Change us, every cell and spirit ’til Peace possess our minds.
Blow your perfumed breath upon us,
wash us in the deep blue sea.
Suckle us on milk and honey,
oil us with the balm of love.
Return us then to this green garden,
Oh Beautiful, Generous Mother,
but this time
give us also the wisdom to see your reflection in each other.
~ Luisah Teish
Peace Prayers: Meditations, Affirmations, Invocations, Poems, and Prayers for Peace.
edited by the staff of HarperSan Francisco: Carrie Leadingham, Joann E. Moschella, and Hilary M. Vartanian. 1992.
ISBN 0-06-250464-9
Pgs 50-51
In order to manifest Alafia (good health and peace) I am asking every person to say a prayer in their own tradition asking for the end of human cruelty. Let the tendency to be cruel grow weaker in us, pray it dissipates, melts, rolls down and out of our Consciousness. Let us clean ourselves of the great diseases-Fear and Hatred. Then call upon the power to change ourselves on a cellular level and let us evolve into Beings who are naturally Compassionate.
My presentations, performances, and classes can be found here:
https://www.yeyeluisahteish.com/
https://www.facebook.com/yeyeluisahteish/
https://www.patreon.com/yeyeluisahteish?fan_landing=true
Luisah Teish is a storyteller-writer, an artist-activist, and spiritual guidance counselor. She is an initiated elder (Iyanifa) in the Ifa/Orisha tradition of the West African Diaspora.
She is the author of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, and she co-authored “On Holy Ground: Commitment and Devotion to Sacred Land” with Kahuna Leilani Birely. Her most recent work is “Spirit Revealing, Color Healing”, a book of Zen Doodles.
