Women of Spirit Share Rituals Divine

About the Book:

  Women of Spirit share Rituals Divine provides first-hand access to the personal spiritual space of 40 awesome and diverse storytellers who share evolution-empowering reflections of their connection to the Divine. Women of Spirit share Rituals Divine presents many approaches to ritual and spiritual development, as this project demonstrates the universality of spiritual practice across traditions, ethnicities and place, and diminishes perceptions of difference at a time when the world desperately needs healing. This book supports unity by negating the concepts of right/wrong, good/bad and ageless wisdom/new age within practiced spiritual traditions. Contributors to this collective volume include renowned authors, scholars, recording artists, sound healers, community and global leaders, ministers, traditional healers, spiritual activists and teachers – all visionaries. The women featured were chosen because of their connection to ritual and their acknowledgement of the profound difference that lived spiritual practice has made in their personal lives and work of service in the world. Among the roster of women who contributed essays are: Rickie Byars, singer, composer, multidimensional artist, and founding director of Agape International Choir; Riane Eisler, eminent social scientist, attorney, social activist and international best-selling author; Dr. Laura I. Rendon, author, scholar, practitioner and social justice activist; Christine Stevens, music therapist, author and founder of UpBeat Drum Circles; LouisahTeish, writer, performer, spiritual priestess, and Olori of lle Orunmila Oshun; Lynne Twist, global activist, fundraiser, speaker, consultant and author; Iyanla Vanzant, renowned author, spiritual Life Coach, ordained minister and Yoruba priestess; and Alice Walker, revered author and activist.

About the Panelists:

Baiyina Abadey, contributor to WOMEN OF SPIRIT SHARE RITUALS DIVINE, is an activist, nurturer, sister-friend, daughter, lover, and mother great and grand, and a seasoned management consultant with more than 20 years experience in arts production, promotion, and events planning. She grew up in New York State but has made the DMV her home for the past 40+ years. Abadey retired after serving for 25 years as the Deputy Director of the Howard University Center for Urban Progress shere she managed research projects and urban development initiatives. She has a MS in organizational communications from Howard University. Abadey is a jazz lover and promoter, and the founder of ARTSdpc® www.artsdpc.net which organizes people and events, from small community gatherings, to major live productions; and she currently represents Jazz musicians, filmmakers, vocalists, and visual artists specializing in Wearable Art designs. In that capacity, and her everyday living, she supports and manifests passion for progressive music, fine art, vegetarian gourmet cuisine, optimum health, and higher levels of spiritual consciousness.

Penny Gamble-Williams aka Chappaquiddick Woman is a tribal member of the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Nation of Massachusetts, who honors her African Blood. Penny is currently the Spiritual Leader and President of the tribe’s non-profit corporation. She served as the Sonqsqua, or Chief, of her tribe from 1995 until 2002. She is also an environmental and Indigenous land rights activist. In addition, Chief Penny Gamble-Williams is a visual artist, art instructor, poet, writer, storyteller, recording artist and musician. Her radio show, The Talking Feather, aired on WOL 1450 AM in DC, XM Satellite Radio, and BlogTalk Internet Radio from 2000 until 2013. In 2005, Penny and her husband, Thunder Williams, authored a research report on the historical connections and relationships between African and Native American people and presented it to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. Penny and Thunder Williams subsequently curated a traveling exhibit for the museum called “IndiVisible-African-Native American Lives in the Americas” to document the contributions and representation of the Afro-Indigenous community.

Dr. Michelle C. Chatman (Iya Omo Olufina), contributor to WOMEN OF SPIRIT SHARE RITUALS DIVINE, is a cultural anthropologist, community ritualist, vocalist, and educator, and an initiated devotee in the Orisha/Yoruba spiritual tradition. Michelle performed for a decade with the beloved DC based spoken work and jazz ensemble, BlackNotes. She is an Associate Professor at The University of the District of Columbia where her research focuses on healing-centered social change, youth justice, liberatory education, and Black family well-being. She recently returned from a pilgrimage to her maternal ancestral home of Sierra Leone with African Ancestry. She is the founder of the Black Mindfulness Summit and has been named one of the 10 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement 2022 by Mindful.org.

Dr. Ur Aua (Paramount King) Hehimetu Ra Enkamit, has since 1975 been a member of the Washington D.C Traditional Area of Ausar Auset Society International (AASI). Ur Aua is responsible for overseeing the programs, projects and activities of AASI’s members in DC, Maryland, Virginia, Bermuda, and Toronto Canada. Under Ur Aua’s leadership, two schools have been established in Washington DC, spanning over 27 years. He has also provided leadership to launch services and businesses such as: Senbeb Cafe and Natural Foods, serving vegan food for over 25 years; Suwale African Boutique operating over 20 years; and The Oracle of Tehuti, providing classes and spiritual training over 35 years in the Kamitic way of life. He has led multiple excursions to countries in the African Diaspora, including Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea, Benin, and Brazil; and coordinated contributions and activities to enhance infrastructure development in Ghana, including donations of over $300,000 in medical and educational equipment and supplies, 200,000 saplings for a Reforestation project in Agogo, and over $10,000 to Otumfou’s Education Fund. Dr. Enkamit has a BA in African American Studies and Masters in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Howard University, and a Ph.D. in African Art and Culture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi Ghana. He is the author of two books, Yes We CANcer: If I Had To Do It All Over Again. My Personal Journey. Things I Knew, Didn't Know, In Hindsight Like to Have Known (July 4, 2022) and A Virgin Meadow's Winter's Prayer: A Story About Love ( September 11, 2022)

Ivy Hylton, contributor to WOMEN OF SPIRIT SHARE RITUALS DIVINE, is a Holistic Integrative Health Practitioner, specializing in contemplative interventions for wholeness and well-being. She is a Global Sound Healer, National Certified Restorative Justice Trainer, Mindfulness Psychotherapist, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Recording Artist, and Concert Soprano Vocalist. Ivy traces her lineage to the great contralto Marian Anderson, whose music helped raise the consciousness of this nation. Ivy has created the Sound VibronicsTM Sonic Stress Reduction Meditation System, and the Sonic MIND StreamingR Emotional Wellness Listening App, which she calls Sonic Medicine for the 21st Century, using the sound frequencies, positive thought forms, and intention for meditation and personal transformation with Crystal Alchemy Singing Bowls and voice. Ivy is CEO/President for Youth and Families in Crisis LLC, and the MA’AT Institute for Restorative Justice, which has trained over 2,500 Restorative Justice Circle Facilitators, and 100 Trainers within various DC Government agencies, DCPS, Public Charter Schools, and community based organizations. She is also a Lead Contractor for the Balanced and Restorative Justice Practices Institute in the District of Columbia. She is a producer and artist on 6 CD’s, one Documentary film, is the author of three Books, Soul Therapist for the BRAIN TRUTH Podcast, and host of a LIVE Facebook Sound Spa for meditation and healing during the COVID-19 Pandemic. She is committed to personal wellness, family healing, reconciliation and resilience.

Sandra (Sandy) Rattley, contributor to WOMEN OF SPIRIT SHARE RITUALS DIVINE, is a media and community engagement leader, oral historian and organizer. She most recently served as Executive Producer, Director and Writer for Unladylike2020, an innovative multimedia series including a one-hour TV special, 26 ten-to-twelve minute documentary shorts, a suite of supporting educational curriculum, and a comprehensive engagement campaign sharing little known or lost history about diverse women history makers, which premiered on PBS attracting over 5 million viewers to date. For the past decade, Rattley has been Creative Consultant for Black Public Media’s 360 Incubator and PitchBlack, a mentorship program for African American media makers. She is a Peabody award-winning producer of the Wade in the Water series on African American sacred music produced with the Smithsonian Institution, and Making the Music, hosted by Wynton Marsalis. She was a press spokesperson and a member of the communications team for Nelson Mandela on his first U.S. tour. Rattley founded the African Learning Channel, a 24-hour information channel broadcast in Africa via WorldSpace Satellite Radio. Rattley is a member the Quander family, designated one of the oldest documented African families in the United States, which traces their roots to Ghana, West Africa.