Water. It is both gentle and powerful, receptive and unyielding, warmly compassionate, yet coldly realistic, sensual, yet highly moralistic.

As with dualitic qualities of water, so it is with water people, who understand all aspects of the human condition. Water people are commissioned to be the peacemakers, bridging the gaps between people, ideas, belief systems, cultural differences.

In addition to being an ordained Interfaith/Metaphysical minister, I am a priestess initiated into the Shona/Ndebele water tradition of Zimbawe. I am also blessed to be a Queen Mother and Elder High Priestess of the Afrakan Kemetic tradition. The shrine I govern is the Sacred Shrine of Mwt Ast (Mother Isis). Ast understands the human condition. She is a spiritual warrior who is a bridge builder to peace. Her element is water. Even though it may be assumed that being a water priest or priestess is a warm, fuzzy role, trust that it is not for the faint-hearted.

Standing on your conviction to bring peace, understanding, and hopefully fellowship to diverse folks with diverse viewpoints takes character, commitment, and self-confidence. We face people who are embroiled in doctrines of hate, who espouse liberal views but refuse to live in a space of diversity, who are ready to interpret your kindness for weakness, who label you as a spy for whoever the "enemy" might be, who assume you must be confused or brainwashed into the position of peacemaking.

Peacemaking without proselytizing takes patience and a great deal of love. To look beyond the hate means to peer into the heart. Being reviled extends a chance for further spiritual growth. And of course, when a person allows the walls of prejudice to melt down by yielding to the God-Spirit within, it is not only a triumph, it is also an act of bravery.

With joy and purpose, I stand on the power of Love. May all of us who are water people -- Pisceans, Cancerian, Scorpion, Priest/esses of Ast, Het Hru, Yemaya, Oshun, Oya, Mami Wata, Olokun, Mambokadze, Simbi, Cymbee, Njuzu, Water Sprite, Sirenitas... all sacred water energies and traditions -- answer the call of being healing forces for the greater good.

My "Water Woman Peace & Power" Tour is dedicated to our healing through bridge building, not only across cultures, but also within. The artistic gifts I have been blessed with are tools for creating harmony within and without. As I drum, sing, dance, share stories, and lecture, I feel a oneness with everyone and everything, and invite all to partake of Divinity's introspective flow. For this opportunity, I humbly give thanks.

--Imakhu Mwt Shekemet

www.mwtshekemet.org

www.sacredshrineofmwtast.org

www.akeruradio.com
BTW, this is not an invitation to "liberal" or "new age" folks outside of the culture to pat me on the back and invite me into their inner sanctum as "One of the Good, Non-Threatening Ones Who Doesn't Buy Into Black Vitimization and Believes All Is Beautiful, Let's Forget the Past & Get On With It." If you begin to send me that type of response (as I've gotten in the past), check yourself. Realize you are not as enlightened on compassion and healing as you'd like to think.

While there is much suffering in the world, and every group has gone through or currently facing some type of pain, the fact remains that Blacks in America endured a 400 year holocaust, filled with abuse, rape, atrocities, murder,and stripping of identity. A bandaid cannot be placed on a gaping wound. As with post traumatic stress syndrome, there should be no expectation of an overnight healing, especially when we are still experiencing insititutional racism. Many of us are still consciously and subconsciously carrying the unresolved pain of our abused Ancestors with us. Add this to the multi-faceted insults many of us bear day-to-day. Grief is a multi-layered process. Not understanding someone's right to justified anger or depression is a form of denial for those who are uncomfortable because of it. Somehow, I haven't come across any Liberals or New Agers who have insisted that Auschwitz/Birkenau should be swept under the carpet.

And I've met folks who were afraid of, even try to escape the karma of their abusive ancestors. Hence, the insistence that all be quickly forgotten and forgiven. I've witnessed denial take the form of exclusive immersion into outside indigenous cultures & beliefs as a method of escape. I've known of folks who submitted themselves to "ancestral karmic cleansing," and are then told that the atrocities commited by their ancestors were erased from history and time.

No kidding. As a result, I've seen nice folks become arrogant egoists with a carte blanche attitude because of their believed absolution. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it either.

Accept that karma is unavoidable for everyone, including the United States. It is often a harsh part of the process of living. But karma, both good and bad, is necessary to live in a place of balance and justice (Maat), and healing. I understand that there is a fear of how this karma will be played out. Who can say?

I share this information with Love, without malice, and strictly for the purpose of enlightenment.

For all who are striving for and living in a place of greater understanding, and who are working toward universal healing, I encourage you to stay on the path. Peacemaking is a difficult road, but ultimately worthwhile.