The Importance of Self-Preservation

you have to make that time. And so for me, dear friends here on woke a F, I am going to be taking a much needed vacation so that I can rest and recharge as we head into what I believe is going to be one of the craziest falls

we've ever seen. I have left you with eight amazing episodes that we have recorded back in twenty twenty one with some of the most thoughtful, engaging and insightful commentary that looks at our politics, our spiritual nature, our emotional well being, and a look inside frankly with some of the guests that we are bringing to all of you. These conversations have been heard by our amazing Patreon supporters

who get video episodes every single day. Because of their belief and financial support of woke F throughout the years, and so I'm really excited to bring all of you across all the platforms that you listen to woke F daily on these episodes and these interviews that I think

will be enticing to all of you. They hit on all of the major topics that we consistently discuss here on woke F, from racism to gender inequality, to police misconduct to wealth inequality, which my God, and the need and the need and the need upmost for spiritual connection and wellness practices that allow us to successfully maneuver all of the things that have been thrown at us over

the past couple of years. And so, friends, while I will be out from the show, I will not be out of sight for the next several days, and so you can continue to follow me on Instagram and on Twitter at D two Cents, D E two c E

n TF. Of course, I will be dropping in with my two cents and you can check me out on TikTok, where I'm sure certain that I will drop a few videos in the next couple of days, and there you can find me at Danielle Moody Underscore I hope that you all enjoy these next fantastic episodes that we have. Do drop your thoughts in the comments section, do hit me up in the socials. Just don't draw my attention to anything that is terrible because I'm taking a break

from the news. But dear friends, I really do hope that you enjoy these next eight episodes and I will see you with brand new episodes after Labor Day. Hey, I'm David Plots of Slates Political Gabfest. As another election season accelerates, it can be tricky to sort through all the noise and the news. Each week, on the Gapfest, John Dickerson, Emily Bathlon and I decipher the headlines, break down the races, and tell you what issues really matter.

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lighter take on the heavy stuff. Each week, The Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists to break down the issues in a way that won't just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get the Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on YouTube and Twitch. Folks, I am just always so tickled and honored when I get to have my friend, my big sisth Rissy kat

okay day and join woke app daily. She is the cone, co owner of Black Magic Sisters and the co founder of strobe Apothecary. Rissy. Yes, my dear love, how are you? How have you been? It has been sometime, We've been living in a time and there has been a lot going on. So how how are you doing? So I am and so let me say preface this by saying, and I think because of the nature of this conversation and the way I'm showing up today, transparency is absolutely important.

A very dear friend, the sister friend of mine, died earlier in January January fifth, to the exact Simon Briziando, and I'm in a grief fog. I am fighting very hard to be present because my life has got a lot going on, and so I have to be um and at the same time, Yeah, it's been rough. Um. And the last time we physically saw each other, it just hit me was Valentine's Day twenty ninety nineteen. Yeah, no,

twenty twenty. It was twenty twenty. It was twenty twenty. Yep, it'll be a year right this month that we saw each other. We had the most amazing Valentine's Day. It was like, so we did, we did? I said, well, I'll tell everybody so so I so I know. Uh, just just so folks are aware, m RISCy and I have been friends for god, uh, well, well over a decade. Yeah, it's definitely well over a decade. And when I was living in UH in Washington, d c. Uh is where

we solidified our our relationship, our friendship, our sisterhood. Uh. And then since leaving RICI had so come to New York uh last year. And this is like right before COVID hit. Who knew at that time that that was going to be that we wouldn't see each other again in the flesh for for quite some time. Um. And so it's just an unexpected It was one of those days that you know is unexpected. Everything gets like canceled or thrown off and then you're like, wait, what's happened?

And then you realize that the universe has made space for terally literally make time, check in coffee fee you and it turned into a whole magical friend date. It was fantastic. Yeah, it was a good time. It was fantastic. We did tarot, we eat lake candles. We we did we we did that. But we drank. We drank wine. I had the best lam ever. I think Lamb Shank get that little confidence too. I was like, oh my god, I like that. I like the way I'm living right now.

It was fantastic, it was It was a fantastic day. Just a sense to say, you need to make room for the unexpected, and sometimes your plans get thrown off kilter, and that is actually for the best because it is being thrown off one path and a line in a new way. Um. I'm so sorry to hear about the

loss of your friend. And I know that so many of us have been dealing with so many different forms of grief and have experienced a lot of loss uh in in the past year and in the past um several months, And that is something that I think a lot of us are sharing and so UM, I appreciate you so much making the time, UM, and the and the space and the space to join us, because I think that what you are doing with Black Magic Sisters and with Strobe is something that is so intensely needed

at this moment. So, I mean, I want to start with just what have you noticed over the past year, Receive as we are moving through this multiple pandemics, right, we're moving through and kind of trying to figure out how to manifest ourselves but in this new normal space, and so what have you found in terms of the way that people are trying to connect and trying to

ground with themselves. So the big thing is that a lot of people haven't been doing it, don't know how to do it because our life, you know, pre COVID was go go go, go, go go go. And so while yeah, I make tea blends and you know, I like candles, and you know, I'm do full Moon and New Moon rituals, that was there was there was a part of my life that was that was a very small group of people that UM kind of operated in

that space naturally. And when the pandemic hit and folks were forced to sort of sit still, you start to actually have you start asking questions like well, what the hell am I doing here? And why is this happening? And in order to address like, you know, a lot I had a lot of friends that I you know, had to talk off the tree, I call it to prefer a real tree where I'm literally at the basis tree like all right, come on, you can come down now, Like no, and it's like no, but you can really

come down. It's okay. Um. What happens is that when you were forced to sit with yourself, you were forced to face things. And what you find is that a lot of us, myself included, had not been doing our due diligence when it came to our self preservation. And I don't I don't like the term self care because it can, you know, for a lot of people, visions of spa days and getting your nails done and backrubs come in. And that's not really what self care is about.

It really is asking you to preserve the self. And that looks like you know, meditation for others. That looks like you know, turning off Twitter for some. And we initially are so wedded to our technology because that's the only way for us to stay in touch that I

think a lot of people just went into overdrive. And then at some point when you realize this was not going to end quietly and quickly, and as more things started to get canceled, you start to see people really start delving in too, like you have to find some balance, you have to figure out how your life is going to look because you can't go outside and you can't you know, socialize, and people start finding ways to manage.

But they also start to realize that in the sense of constant motion, that their lives, if they allow it, are actually more enriched in the staying still and sort of not having there because part of the going going on is the expectation that somebody's looking for you, or the idea that you that's a that's proof of your hustle, or proof that you're making moves because you're going, going, going.

For some it's a way to fill the void. And so when all of that goes away and you're kind of forced to sit, you start to really think deep and ask questions, and there's only so much netflix benching that you can do. There's only so much, you know, you know, pandemic eating that you can do before you're like, okay, well, what exactly what does my life look like now? And I think a lot of us are finding that previous, pre pandemic, we were doing a ship job of taking

care of ourselves. And now that you have no choice because it's just you and your kids, or you and your family or whoever's in your household, if you want to be here when it's all said and done, then self care, self preservation becomes a natural part of this. And folks are finding that they actually like it. Like a lot of folks that I'm talking to, they're not trying to go back to whatever was normal before. They really want They like getting up and working from you know,

working from a place that is not the office. They like, you know, taking their time, you know, they like the idea of setting boundaries because COVID has taught us a set boundary. So I'm not taking meetings after six pm, or I'm not you know, taking meetings at eight o'clock of the morning, or whatever it is that you're doing.

And people are like, yo, this way of living is not ideal because we didn't expect it, but it's teaching us all some things and one of the big lessons is that the life, the way we were living before was just it was insane. It was absolutely insane, and that was considered normal. You know, I think, you know, I think about myself. I mean when you know you have always been a teacher and a guide for me,

like through various struggle points of my life. And one of my things that I have noticed over the past year, I mean what I was doing was just not sustainable, right like that that that the pace of running, the pace of the work, um, the consistency in always finding a flaw and and never feeling like enough, so needing to produce more because just you're I'm trying to fill a hole that the work is not going to fill um.

And I think that for a lot of people like myself who are incredibly ambitious, it was it's like, well, what happens when all of those things are stripped away? Right,

like what are you? What are you left with? And you know, pre pandemic, I was thirty pounds overweight, I was not sleeping, I you know, was drinking like a fish, um and doing a lot of things that were set up to make me feel better, but we're actually making me feel worse right, and it's just there's also the assigning value to those behaviors as some form of success or some form of prosperity, an abundance. Because I can drink and because I can eat, and because I can

be out in here, I'm actually doing things. But it's really not. It's not sustaining, it's not fulfilling. We found out because once those things get stripped away, you start to find there are other things that are far more important to you than whether or not you you got this particular thing done. The other thing I'll say, as you know, someone who has been part of your life, I'm incredibly proud of you, the shift and energy, the

shift and focus like what gayf is. I love what you do because we need that kind of righteous anger and indignation and we need it in the way that you do it because you know other places are trying to be nice about it, and I love the way you just shoot straight. But in order to sustain that kind that give you know, I see that as part of your soul contract and what you're supposed So you're supposed to beat the drum and wake everybody up, and

that's what you're doing. But as we have become more and more been forced more and more to sort of slow down and sort of think. I feel like the show has become even hotter, like the Blade is just like you are out here like joking people, and then I love to see it. But I also see someone who has found her rhythm, someone who like you, got

the energy. You know, Yeah, you be like holler and holler and holler and hollerand and like call God Dan, you'll need to drink water, but be like did k And now you're like juicy and holleran and it's a whole different kind of holler. When you know, when you have the energy for your righteous indignation, it just hits a bit differently. And I see how much work you've been doing, and I see, honestly how much you're enjoying this, and so I'm proud of you as your basics a

fantastic job. And I think that your transparency in all of this is really what we need. We need people to be transparent that this is not easy and that you know you've been doing you're producing this every day, and I'm just like, yo, I'm proud of you, but you don't look the worst for wear it does. It's not it's like there's something about it now that's changed.

It's there's an exchange happening, and I'm just incredibly excited to see what comes next, because like, if this is where you are now, once we're able to kind of be back out, yeah, I appreciate that so very much. And I think that, you know, I finally it's like all of the lessons, all of the advice, all of the things that people have given to me, from you, my mother, and my sister, you know, the yogis, the

people that are deeply grounded and meditative. I feel like I have finally woken up and listened to that that like, in order to do this work, you need to preserve energy, you need to be in flow and aligned with what the calling is. And I think that pre COVID, for me, it was more so about like the drive and the push, but I wasn't pulling anything back in and so that

left me depleted. And so I want to talk about Strobe the apothecary and like why now, like why in this moment are you are you doing this work of bringing that type of energies, healing crystals, tease, all of these things to people. So Strobe is a five person collective. All of us have a couple of things in common. We all worked at the same earth Shop over time, and in the middle of the pandemic, as the pandemic was sort of getting up, I happen to stop by,

and you know, we had some conversations. I've always wanted to have my own sort of apothecary space. Black Magic Sisters is really about ritual tools. So it's me taking the knowledge that I learned actually over time working at the Earth Shop and just experimenting and trying to figure out ways to make ritual easy and to make ritual something that you can do intentionally every day. I believe

in ritual. I mean everything from the colors that I wore today to the stuff I chose to bathe with is all part of my daily understanding of how I get ready for the world and so what wait but for you, but tell us about ritual and why that's why that's important for how we develop and show up in the world. So for me, ritual is something you do with intention. There are a lot of things we do out of habit, and you know, the issue with

habit is that there's no thought to it. It's just something that you do, so it becomes easy over time to not realize that you're doing it, or to not realize that you might be harming people and doing it because it's just like if you have people say, well, that's just the way we've always done it. For me, ritual is really about being intentional. And I think anything can be ritualized if you take a minute to think about what it is that you're doing. So, for example, transparency,

because it's going to be transparent. I sat with an astrologer I'm yesterday to go through my chart because of just everything that's happened. And planets don't lie where they are and how they sit. They you know, they kind of give you so truth and he kind of he gave me some amazing insights. And you know, I know that I'm in a grief spiral, but I also know that there's some things that I've been neglecting because I'm

in a grief spiral. So when I got up this morning, I made and I was very intentional about you know what. I looked at myself as I washed my face, I thought about the oils that I was going to use Afterwards, I decided that because I, you know, because of where I am, there were certain herbs that I was going to you know, pull together. Today I haven't I have a personal apothecary at home. My kitchen in my living room looked crazy, and so that I needed to sustain myself.

And so when I think of ritual, I think of this is self preservation at its sort of basic form. It is literally, before I step out of my before I get out of bed, what am I doing with my day, and what are the things that I'm going to use to align So even before I got in the shower, I did this. You know, I'd been doing this thing where I forgot what the poses where you put your feet up against the wall and your legs are straight up, and I've read up about that, and

I was like, okay. And at the same time, I was listening to this really great podcast on Newer Diversity. I'm not a meditator by nature. I'm just my mind is all over the place and it's just too hard for me to sit. But when I get in that position, I'm make a decision on what I'm going to listen to. So that for at least twenty minutes I'm in this pose, and I took in that information. It was around this one was around metabolism and insulin resistance. It's fascinating topic.

I felt it, you know, I just happened on it. I was like, let me listen, and so listen to that, and then it went about my day. And when you do this, what it does is it tells the universe in a lot of ways that you're ready to go about your day. But you've also set this intention of how you're going to receive in exchange. I think a lot of our way of being there's not enough exchanging. There's a lot of putting out information, putting out energy,

but there's not a lot of getting it back. And sometimes when you get it back, it's really just you know, low level you know, low level demon energy that's not really helpful to anybody. So when you get into a space where ritual is sort of how you leave your day, what ends up happening is you prepare yourself. And some of us, let's be honest, we live in spaces. We operate in spaces. Our soul contracts require us to be

to be in service. You are in service, and so those of us who are born to be in service and to lead as servant leaders. Oftentimes we don't have caretakers. It's it's just it's this weird thing. But what happens is that you have been given certain amount of knowledge and you are surrounded by people who can show you how to care for yourself. And when you remove the sort of the the sort of human aspect of oh, well, what I want to want to take care of me? Yes,

we would all love that. But in order for you to do your job, in order for you to do what you came to do, you have to be fully charged. That means that you have to be intentional about what

you put in your body. You have to be intentional about the colors that you might wear that day, or intentional about you know, who you talk to that day, just because if your goal is to get this information out and you know that there's going to be very little reciprocity, then that means you charge up and you go out into the world protected and you can sustain yourself.

So for me, anything can be a ritual making that tea because the moment that I decided what I was going to do, everything else stopped and I was very present about how much tea for each of the thing the herbs I was using was going to go in there. I waited for the water to boil. It was this really great thing. And what it did was I had an appointment in the morning. It come to be down so I could go to that appointment fully present. Things

for me that I like about ritual. When I'm intentional in what I'm doing, it lets me be more present in whatever I'm supposed to be, you know, focusing on and so that is that is a way that I operate. And when I get off track, when I get when I allow myself to get too busy, when I don't do those rituals, when I'm just zipping in, zooming and zooming, I see it. I see how more irritated, ridable I can be. I can feel it, you know, in my

just my body feels funny. I may feel rush. I forget things, I leave things on that should be off, you know, I forget to send this, or it just becomes really really really um just disharmonious. So for me, ritual is a way the center, and for me it's everything. It's the bathing, it's the the you know, even the oil pulling with the coconut oil. Well, I purposely walk around swishing for like a minute or two, like that

is all part of it. And I have this thing where I have an ancestral altar and I can't I can't go talk to my people without brushing my teeth. Like that's kind of a thing, like I just don't for whatever reason. So I don't go upstairs to talk to my people until I brush my teeth. And so these things are very much part of how I am able to manage and stay present. And then Strobe was really something where like one of the things I loved about working at the herb shop was being able to

be a messenger for people that came in. You're working with herbs and herbs. For me, it's an intuitive practice. I'm a root woman. I learned from other women. I learned through experimentation. I learned by reading. And people would come in and they would just you know, they would have that energy about them, and I would and I would know that this person is coming. They don't know it,

but they're coming to see me. And I would be able to sit and talk with them and we could take our time, and you know, what's the issue, what's happening, and whatever was coming up for me. I could communicate with them and people would leave with things that we're going to help them get back to themselves. And a lot of what we do now in the Western world outsources so much of our sense of being to other people. Yeah,

and there's not enough collaborate. So, yeah, I may be feeling something, but you, as my sister who knows me at my best, you may be seeing something that I'm missing. So it should be a collaborative effort as opposed to me sitting here on a Google machine trying to find

out what my symptoms are. I should be able to come and talk to you and say this is how I'm feeling, and you can remind me, well, you know when you were doing this, when you were on this, you know particular practice you know, or have a drink water today. You know. There's just ways that we need to be more collaborative. And Strobe comes from that desire. We all we all have different ways that we operate,

so like and strokes. Then the name comes from the initial of each of our name, so Sean, Tiffany, ristic, at Olivia and Bonnie and everyone has a different sort of art or practice, and so bring it all together just made sense. I don't know that we thought we would still be here. We just when we decided to do it, I knew that I couldn't. I knew that I couldn't do it by myself, like I don't have

the attention span. So I was like, you know, if you guys are interested, I'd love to be part of something. And that just kind of how it turned into this amazing thing that has blossomed in a very short period of time. And so right now. Initially, you know, it was crystal elixirs and we had custom t blends that we had created, we all formulated, and now we have moved into a straight autopathecary, so we're carrying loose herbs.

Now we have the ability to powder things, you know, for formulations, are working with herbalists who are now using us to formulate things, and it's coming. It's a beautiful expression I think of all of our intentions, and the beauty of the pandemic is that it is given those like we all have different time constraints, so five people it's so much better than one. The collaboration and how people are allowed to sort of operate and collaborate works

really well. And so Strobe right now is on a mission. And you know, if you go to the site, you'll see we have all sorts of offerings and so if you're looking for crystals, if you look at for crystal elixus, which I didn't know about until I started working with these, with this crew of amazing people, where you can take the essence of a crystal and use it in sort

of a liquid form for internal use. Like I've learned so much just hanging out with these folks, and the exchange of energy and the ability, like the way that we all support each other in the way you know that people are able to say you go rest, will take care of it and then you come back. That that give and take on the back end is what I think has made this a really it's such a phenomenal experience to be having in the midst of all

of the other things. So it's been a bit of a joy, you know, a little light in and the the end of the tunnel. And the goal is to help as many people as possible and to make sure that people learn how to trust their instincts because it's the outsourcing for me. That has been that has been the biggest concern that I've had, just watching people give in to sort of these outside these outside forces that say, this is what your problem is, this is the way you had when you can only handle it this way,

So don't go look at anything else. Just you know, take this medicine or just do this or do that, or just the stress that we create when we forget that we are enough, you know, it's it's so um. I think that the beauty I call the now that we're living in a beautiful disaster right like it's it's

it is beautifully tragic. There are ways in which you can look at the collective experiences that we've been having and you can see obviously there is deep tragedy, but there's also deep beauty in the ability to slow down, to do a deep dive, to connect to a line and figure out, you know, what what is happening with me? Like what is coming up for me? How am I feeling.

I was able to do a crystal consultation with Bonnie the Bee in Strobe, and I was so excited to do this because as folk snow, you know, I have been on a meditation journey for I think now I'm close to one hundred and seventy days consecutively. I tell thank you. I tell folks all the time that you know, it took me years to get here. My mother and my sister were just like, so you should start meditating, like they're concerned, they're concerned about my level of rage.

And I was like, yeah, now whatever. But over the past several months, that's exactly what I've done. And then I when I connected with Bonnie, it was like, how

do I enhance this experience? How do I connect? And I feel like there is this pull back to an ancestral place, right like all of the things that have been wiped away that we were told were barbaric, or we were told were voodoo, or we were told and I mean specifically as black people I see at least on my Instagram, And I don't know if you see this recie with people like, you know, going into plant care in the way that I am going into crystals,

going going back to what I can recall my grandparents doing, right, And I didn't understand, like, you know, Grandpa's out in the garden tending to the mints and you know, the Scotch bonnets and the and the kohlilu and all of these things and realizing that that was his ritual, right, that was how he was reconnecting and realigning um and my grandmother intending to her, intending to her plants, and

like what you gain from that? And I think that there's so much beauty that, to me is the beauty of this moment is like is the pause and the recognizing that there is so much that is out there that isn't about consumption, right, And that's that's where I think that we all got kind of um trapped in was the consumption of it, all right. And the other piece of this is like everything that you just said, I echo it three thousand percent, but you have to

want to do it. Yeah, you know. I think that you are going to find that there are some people who are absolutely resistant to what the pandemic is trying to teach us. This is a time to sit and think and talk to your people. And when I say your people, I mean your ancestors and how you connect with them as a variety of ways. But I think that the consumption pieces is a big part of what we of what sort of technology has sort of kind

of pushed us into and also that balance. You know, technology isn't a bad thing, it's just not used well. And so finding ways to take in what you need and then go sit out by the trees or go for a walk or whatever, being able to do a little bit of everything. I think the pandemic is trying to teach us that. I do think that rest was a big thing. I remember I was in Nigeria not this path to Scember, December before, and I remember hearing reports of you know this viru. I said, uhan da

da da da dad. And I remember specifically then saying that it started in November, and there was this sense that now it probably started in October. And then there was this moment where I felt this message coming through what you need to get ready, enjoy yourself now, but you're gonna need to rest. And so when everybody, you know, when you know, LLC Twitter was telling everybody doing this pandemic, you need to learn a new language, you need to start a business, you need to do all these things,

I was sleeping, you know. And then the civil unrest kicked off with the murder of George Floyd, and before you knew it, we were you have the backdrop of the pandemic. But then you have this massive push of people saying these systems, we're not taking it anymore. And so we if we do this pandemic the way I think it's meant to be taken, for those of us that that make it through, we are hopefully there's enough of us that have changed, but we won't allow the

before to creep back in. To me, that's going to be the challenge. It's once you get the rhythm of this, and you your remote class learning and you've learned to get up and take a bath regardless of whether or not you're going out, and you've found a way to manage, you know, your anxiety. The idea is you fight to keep that because once this vaccine comes through the way it's supposed to, and once we start to see these numbers drop, there is going to be a desire I think,

to normal stems to come back. And if enough of us have been through this and understand the importance of our peace and how it's how we need it for our self preservation, what I'm hoping we will find is that enough of us will push back and say no, we're not doing that. We were able to survive just five without having to do two our commutes every day. So how about we keep those things the way they are.

I'll come in maybe once a week, you know, where we can start negotiating what our quality of life looks like because our productivity has been affected, yes, because of what we've had to go through, but we've also I think now I've gotten to, like, you know, this is my third semester now teaching in the midst of a pandemic. So I've now figured out my highs and my lows, and I've figured out how to you know, support my students and you know, take care of myself and all

of these things. So if we if we if we have to sustain a remote situation, great, If we have to go back to a hybrid, that's fine too. But do we have to go back to these things where you know, students are, you know, having to commute from two hours away to get to school on time, and

all of these things by public transportation. Maybe not. And if enough of us push back, because enough of us want to preserve that that sense of peace, I think we will see that this pandemic you know, will have changed systems as well, which I think is the point I think our ancestors were like you people, I don't know what you all are doing? Why are you living like this? This is crazy? And that this is an opportunity for us to really do a read. This is

a control of delete. Yeah, yeah, I think that you are a thousand percent right. I You know, I found myself earlier this week. Uh you know, I go through my times of spinning where I just start to spin the fuck out and and I and I had gotten up in my head and all of a sudden, my my calendar was out of control and I had all of these meetings and I'm exhausted, and yesterday I was like, what the hell is happening here? Like why? Why is the pace kicking up again? Like what are you know?

And realizing that I needed to calm myself down that like, I work for myself. I'm in control right like and so it's like you need to take a step back. And my mother was just like, so, do not fall back into your old patterns. Did you work out today? Did you meditate today? Did you do these things? Do

you know what I'm saying? And I recognize now because I'm more in tune than i've ever been that When I fall out of step with one of my rituals, with one of my things that I do to keep my self level, I realize how quickly I will fall off the cliff. It's so easy to fall off the cliff. Like that's the thing about ritual and it's about and about you know, you know, sort of self preservation. It is amazing. It is much harder to get back off the cliff than it is to get you know what

I'm saying. When you fall off that cliff, if you don't catch it and you and recalibrate immediately, it is so much harder to get back up there. Like for all of that momentum that you build the minute you fall off, it's such it's such a hard place to get back from. So that's the part, you know, I remember. I would have clients who would you know, I would

work with them. We would put blends together, and I would say, if this works, don't let it run out, because once it runs out and you've gone two or three weeks without it, it's gonna We're gonna have to go through a whole process to get you back and sink. And those that listened fared well. And that didn't you know here we are. So it is important that you recognize them as rituals and you recognize them as intentions, and that you know you have people around you be like, hey,

did you did you do? Did you drinkers movie? Today? You seem a little on edge because it's easy, right all right, back off? Yeah, Accountability partners is also a big part of how we take care of each other. Everybody can't maybe everyone can't take care of you, but people can ask did you drink water? Did you eat today? You know? Have you you know, have you gone outside?

You know you taken a stop for a minute and done some deep breathing, And that is just as that is just as critical I think we we're not we can't do it by ourselves, like we definitely need our village to help us. I definitely realize, you know, more so than ever, how important community is, because we have to restructure community now, right like in the ways in

which you know. I was actually having this conversation with my sister and we were talking about missing the casualness of interaction that would just happen day to day, whether it's on the subway, at the coffee shop, running into somebody at a restaurant or what have you. And so the intention of like what it means to create and sustain community, right and deepen those relationships with people, because

I also think that the frivolousness, right is gone. Yeah, nobody has the time or the energy for bullshit, right, Like, so if I'm going, if I am spending time to connect with you, it is because I genuinely want to know, how are you, how are you faring? You know these things, And I think that it is important for us to realize that while the ways in which we have interacted maybe on pause, we can consciously create community that fills

us up. Right. That isn't about obligation, but is about intention. But it also about transparency. I have learned to be more transparent in this pandemic. I'm not usually wanted to be like, oh so by the way, all of these things happened, You ask me how I'm doing, Like I'm okay,

you know, and that'll be it. And so transparency. It's also I think a really big component of this, like we there no one should be pretending that they're okay if they're not, and sort of giving people space to have those conversations like the like I've noticed even in the way that I communicate with my friends, there used to be like I try to, I often try, and it's probably because you know, it's very Nigerian thing. You ask after everybody, how's everybody doing, how's the family? Dada

da da? You do all these things, and you know you're taking longer, longer to get to what it is that you need. And so what I am appreciating right now is that folks are being very clear, like I'm having a hard day, I need to talk. We're starting to see more like this is what I need and if I can give it to you, great and if I can't, let me put you in touch with someone that can. And so there is this this transparency that

I don't think we had before. People would literally how you do it, don't find out or not and on the inside be really really messed up. You wouldn't find out about it until you know, you happen to talk to somebody else, maybe who talk with them. So now I think we are realizing and because of the way COVID has been taken out, the gen xers, which I'm a part of, like we like we don't really have the luxury to sit around here and pretend that everything's

okay when it stopped. We really do need to let people know. And so I do think that that conscious community building, it's very much a part of this. And what I'm hoping also is that there's a lot more grace. Like I tell me, you know, grace is something that I am leading with. So I'm not here to test you to see whether or not you're telling me the truth. If you tell me you have COVID, then I'm going to believe you, and whatever we can do will do.

But grace and that balance of grace and accountability, you know, that that type rope walk that is all part of this now because we still have to continue as much as as hard as it can be. Some we can't. We don't have the luxury of just giving in to the whole thing. So we do have to and that, to me is where the rituals come in. That's where the crystals and the elixers and the teas, all that comes in, because those things can help sustain us even

when we don't necessarily feel like we can go on. Chirstycat, I mean, I could spend literally days talking to you. I feel like I feel like whenever whenever we do talk, for me, it feels like a mini retreat. I think I need, like I need the grounding, the and the connection. And so before before I let you go, um, please tell people where they can find more information about Black black Magic Sisters and strobe, how they can connect, how they can get consultation, all of those wonderful things so

that they can truly find themselves aligned. Absolutely so with Black Magic Sisters, m we do ritual tools right now. Our biggest seller are these or expays that kind of helped shift the energy around you. You can go to b ok MGK Sisters dot com. So it's Black Magic Sisters without the without the viols. I'm actually teaching a

herb class. I'm calling you, you know, herbal alchemy. I got five on it tongue in cheek and so there'll be five herbs that we commune with and I have this way that I'm using intentions to kind of help you understand the herbs and figure out how the rbs work with you and for you. And so that'll be February twenty seven. You can just register and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. People have been asking me to teach for a while, and so I finally found a way that I think will communicate how

I want people to think about herbs. And then would Strove strove as tr ob Apothecary dot com. It is a playland of amazingness. And so you can buy t blends, you can buy both herbs, you can buy crystals, you can buy Crystal lixers. We got ritual boxes. It's like a whole like it's it's just this, just go and hang out there. We got stories, we have everything. It's just so much fun. Um and we offer all sorts

of UM consultations. So if you need an herb consult, if you need UM, you know Crystal consult, I do spiritual like you know, readings on both in both platforms. So however you want to engage us, we are here for you. And in both cases there are contact information like contact portals that you can go through and you can also follow us at black Magic Sisters and it's m A G I S c K on Instagram and we are Strove. We we w E A R E

S t r O B on Instagram as well. So just wherever you find Stroke you'll find black Magic Sisters on the other way around. Ric kat Okay Day, I love you so much and I and Hey appreciate you joining woka a daily to give us. I just want to rank with you. I love it, I love it, I love it so thank you for having me. It's been an honor to sit with you, and like I said, super Priet, you a little sense just I love what's happening and can't wait to see more. As always, dear friends,

Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck. See after Labor Day.