The Dynamic Cosmos & Black Trans Liberation with Ni'Ja Whitson

Ni'Ja Whitson is a multi award-winning Queer Trans NB artist and futurist, a wound and medicine worker, noted by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. They are a United States Artist Fellow, Creative Capital and two-time "Bessie" Awardee who engages transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Transembodiedness. Episode Highlights Ni'Ja shares about their artistic and spiritual origins, as well as their emergence from a lineage of dreamers. They discuss their current project, The Illumination Catalogue, a ceremony project honoring Black, trans, and gender nonconforming lives and communities across Turtle Island (U.S.). We learn about their transformative experience in Tanzania and the meaning of their name. Ni'Ja talks about what they call a Black Trans Cosmic Map, an aspect of the Illumination Catalogue that is a compilation of life stories, cosmology, and ancestral connection of Black trans people across the country. We explore the astrological connections between the movement of laws in the United States and how they affect the lives of the queer community. Nick & Ni'Ja discuss the importance of creating sacred, intimate space in which to share stories and the journeys of people in the Black trans and gender nonconforming community. Web links Find them online at NijaWhitson.com And follow them on Instagram @illuminationcatalogue & @thenwaproject,  and on Twitter   Join the private Queer Spirit Community to continue the conversation and connect with other listeners.  Grab your FREE Mini-Course: The Self-Confident Queer - start here.  And follow us on Instagram!  Join our mailing list  to get news and podcast updates sent directly to you.