Bitter Turned Sweet
Photo by William R. Greenblatt
I send peace, love and prayers to every corner of the globe as we navigate the floodgates, infernos, storms, quakes…all movements of Aye (Earth) in light of and in response to the actions of humanity across all levels of our being. We are a microcosm of the macro. Everything is a reflection…there is only connection…the outside and the inside are one.
I hold space as upheaval, exposure, destruction, revolution, and so much more is occurring throughout structures, systems, ideologies…on collective and individual levels.
Moforíbalẹ̀ (I touch my head to ground)…to all patches of Aye, as it simultaneously holds space for and experiences the shifts that are giving us an opportunity to slow down…
STOP
LISTEN
FEEL
SEE IT ALL
If we can’t observe the dis-ease we can’t heal it. We are witnessing, co-creating and contending with everything we’ve created in ways we can no longer escape, scape goat, or go past. To continue ignoring (or feigning ignorance about) it gives it permission to fester. Everything grows. Everything consumes or is consumed—oftentimes both are happening concurrently.
How energy moves, whether positive, neutral, or negative, is 100% completely up to us. This is no value judgement or moral indictment—our fixation on defining things as “good” or “bad” is part of our challenge because we have yet to demonstrate that we can come to agreements that have reverence and regard for all of us collectively. Consider that positive energy expands, constructively adds, integrates and uplifts; negative energy segregates, destructively removes, depresses. Neutrality holds space in the center, ebbing and flowing in all directions depending on our intention.
What are we choosing?
As challenging, painful, and even devastating as much of what is happening is, we have the power (and right) to alchemize and integrate it. That which was once bitter can pave the way for or even become sweet as we experience the illumination and lessons it offers up.
Is enough finally enough?
Or do we need to sit with suffering longer?
Will we surrender to the transformation that continues to call us?
Or will we stubbornly hold on to old/outdated/irrelevant ways of being that are incongruent with the evolution of the masses?
The choice is ours.
Image of ONYI LOVE
Life will keep life-ing no matter what we choose. And if that means we get taken out, again it is the future of the acts we choose.
We get to decide whether we don’t or we do come together as we never have before to support each other and take concrete steps that truly lead to the versions of our selves and this Earth we say we prefer. They already exist. It’s up to us to elevate our frequencies to match and become them. To imagine we have any business on versions of the world(s) that we are not aligned with in thought, word, and deed, is to maintain the various threads of delusion that we have created across our illusions of time and space.
We get to decide whether we follow the examples of Ọṣun and Ọbatala…(deities within the Ifa system of the Yorùbá people) who in their unique ways provide roadmaps for a sweet existence. Ọṣun—through her divine femininity, emotional intelligence, overflowing joy, unconditional love, true sensuality, a deep love for humanity, creativity, ethics, beauty (of body and character), and so much more. Ọbatala—through his divine masculinity, mental intelligence, patience, peace, elderhood, coolness, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, ability to see from the highest perspective, and so much more.
Choose whomever you decide is the most potent reflection for you across any system, belief, methodology, dimension, realm or timeline. The Ọriṣa (selected heads), ascended masters, saints, and others we put on pedestals or look upon as if they are above and beyond us are glaring back at us as if to collectively ask “What are you doing with the permission we reminded you of through how we showed up in this world?” How about we stop using their names if we’re not going to actually do what they did by being the difference they demonstrated, regardless of the price? The vanity of it all is a distraction and continues to maintain the bitterness we so desperately claim we can’t tolerate.
Honey keeps speaking as I channel this writing. As an offering we (Ifa practitioners) commonly give to Ọṣun, Ọbatala, other energies/beings, and even parts of us (i.e., our Ori, etc.), it is a beautiful permission slip. It, like all else, is an entity that came here with a powerful mission and destiny.
The potency and healing energy of this gift lies not only in its sweetness, but also its purity. Look up its medicinal properties to see all of the things it is anti! Honey is ruthless. It does not allow anything that is not vibrationally aligned to reside within or around it. It will take it out in one way or another, even if that entails sticking to/incorporating in. Honey has been through (and exists because of) various levels of transformation. To begin from the nectar and pollen of the high-vibrational beings we call “flowers,” to then go through the extraction, processing, holding, and protection by/of creatures as delicate and as fierce as Bees…Honey is more powerful than some of us often consider!
Honey is showing up right now as a messenger to all of us: asking us to trust that the transmuting energies of these times are giving us the opportunity to step into a level of ruthlessness we’ve never had before. We get to truly and unapologetically be who we are…who we came here to be in our purest form. We must resign from pretending to be who we are not, which we’ve been accustomed to doing in light of ideas of lack of worth, fear of being alone or any other conditioning. This detrimental behavior has caused us to buy into and perpetuate a sugar-laced temporary if not artificial state of placation. The process of our evolution has prepared us for this moment. We get to step into the goldenness of a new era that is already here. The phoenix is rising. The phoenix has risen. The phoenix continues to do the dance of dying to and birthing itself. Turning what is bitter into sweet and starting the process all over again, and again, and again.
May we truly embody this type of sweetness. This is a ripe and open time to make that commitment.
A message about Honey from the archives.
© 2023 by ONYI LOVE ® LLC & Felicia Richards