Oceanic Roots
Was watching a show the other night where Ugandan natives engaged in a ritual and gave offerings of coffee beans to the ancestors of their tribe. At that very moment I started nodding in agreement as if I instinctively felt some kind of spiritual camraderie with the idea of using coffee beans as an offering. I have no idea of the significance of offerings of coffee beans in Ugandan culture. However have roots in Caribbean culture, of which I know equally as much unfortunately. Regardless, I still feel some degree of resonance with the inclusion of drumming and offerings of coffee beans. Coffee for me is a very sacred drink - probably because I'm deeply addicted to its flavor.
Lately I have been thinking on a trip I made a few yrs back to Key West, and about how that journey caused me to think differently about the influence of my heritage on my spiritual path. The first twelve years of my life were spent in Miami, whence I moved to Central Florida, or crackertown as many so lovingly pen it. Incidentally, crackertown is also overlapped by an invisible barrier known as the bible belt. My husband rarely lets me forget that I come from 'thuh Saa-oath', but never really felt at home living on land surrounded by land that has no ocean access. Granted I learned to make due with the gulf waters for many years, but living in the Midwest, cut off from access to the energy of the ocean - well suffice it to say that rivers just aren't the same. Not to mention cold weather. Its never 28 F in Miami. These are physical issues that connect to an environmental circumstance. The heart of the matter was the discovery of elements in the environment that feel so natural and essential, as basic as the air we breathe. And in a spiritual context some of those things - air currents and closeness to the ocean, are very important in many different cultures, especially those in close proximity to equatorial lines.
Lately I have been thinking on a trip I made a few yrs back to Key West, and about how that journey caused me to think differently about the influence of my heritage on my spiritual path. The first twelve years of my life were spent in Miami, whence I moved to Central Florida, or crackertown as many so lovingly pen it. Incidentally, crackertown is also overlapped by an invisible barrier known as the bible belt. My husband rarely lets me forget that I come from 'thuh Saa-oath', but never really felt at home living on land surrounded by land that has no ocean access. Granted I learned to make due with the gulf waters for many years, but living in the Midwest, cut off from access to the energy of the ocean - well suffice it to say that rivers just aren't the same. Not to mention cold weather. Its never 28 F in Miami. These are physical issues that connect to an environmental circumstance. The heart of the matter was the discovery of elements in the environment that feel so natural and essential, as basic as the air we breathe. And in a spiritual context some of those things - air currents and closeness to the ocean, are very important in many different cultures, especially those in close proximity to equatorial lines.