Hoodoo Plant Mamas

Mississippi farmer KD joins us for the season finale to talk about inheriting family land, how land stewardship informs their faith, and the challenges that come with farm life. Dani and Leah also share where we've been these past few months, winning a podcasting award, and working as an environmental educator.KD Randle (they/them) is a Black, southern, queer, genderfluid person  currently living in central Mississippi. They’re a lifelong learner,  visionary, creator, their mother’s youngest seed, a friend, partner, dog  parent, and former farm apprentice at Sipp Culture.RESOURCES Country Queers KD Randle Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah PennimanCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBetween Us (pre-order) by Leah Nicole WhitcombSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Artist Amber Bishop joins us in this episode to talk about their latest installation, A Portal Somewhere Good: Who's All Over There? We discuss Midwestern versus Southern Black regional attitudes towards nature, architectural racism, and Black folks' yard styles. Amber  is a memory worker, artist, and filmmaker based in Ohio, dedicated to  uplifting and protecting Black stories. Her work translates her Black  experience, revisits the past, and reimagines the future, focusing on  alternative sites of memory and the Black fantastical life. As a 2022  Filmmaker's First Fund recipient, Amber is working on her first feature  documentary film. She recently completed her MFA in Documentary Studies  and Production. Currently,  she helps run a youth garden program in her neighborhood and is  expanding her art practice into video installations and sculpture.RESOURCES Amber Bishop: A Portal Somewhere Good: Who's All Over There? Pod Save the People "Can buildings be racist? A CU Boulder architect explores." by Yvaine Ye. CU Boulder Today. "Sweeping the Yard - African American Swept gardens of Southern USA." Pith + Vigor. "A lawsuit blooms in Plymouth as homeowner battles HOA over her naturally planted yard." by Chloe Johnson. The Minnesota Star Tribune. Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah PennimanCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBetween Us (pre-order) by Leah Nicole WhitcombSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode we're joined by poet Ashia Ajani as they talk about their poetry collection, their family's migration story, as well as how Black folk's liberation is tied to the liberation of the land. Ashia S. Ajani is a sunshower, a glass bead, a carnivorous plant, an overripe nectarine. Hailing from Denver, CO, Queen City of the Plains and the unceded territories of the Cheyenne, Ute & Arapahoe peoples, Ashia is the author of one collection of poetry, Heirloom (Write Bloody Publishing, 2023) and a forthcoming nonfiction collection,Tending the Vines (Timber Press, 2026).RESOURCES Heirloom by Ashia Ajani Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman Black on Earth: African American Ecoliterary Traditions by Kimberly N Ruffin "BBQ Becky: The 'Woman on the Phone Meme,' Explained" by Catie Keck. Inverse. "Oakland Residents Fear Suspicious Death May Have Been a Lynching, Calling for Transparency" by Leanne Maxwell. SFist. "Family awaits results of independent autopsy on Delta State student Trey Reed" by Leonardo Bevilacqua. Mississippi Today. "Genealogy of a Vacant Lot" by Ashia AjaniCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBetween Us (pre-order) by Leah Nicole WhitcombSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Welcome back to part 2 of our conversation with this season's guiding text: Black Earth Wisdom. In this episode, we talk about how racism has cut us off from natural spaces and our indigenous knowledge. We elevate our environmental justice ancestors and discuss how liberation of Black people is tied to the liberation of the Earth.RESOURCES Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman  "Gmail’s smart replies will use AI to pull context from your inbox and Drive" by Jay Peters. The Verge. "Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries" by Nina Lakhani. The Guardian. "When You Die, You’ll Probably Be Embalmed. Thank Abraham Lincoln For That" by Brian Walsh. Smithsonian Magazine. Cob Hill Natural Building School "Mississippi's bear population is growing. What are they good for and why do we want more?" by Brian Broom. Clarion Ledger.Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBetween Us by Leah Nicole WhitcombSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Hey y'all and welcome back to season 10 of Hoodoo Plant Mamas. It's our 5 year anniversary! We talk about our journey with the podcast as well as our future plans. We break down the book Black Earth Wisdom by Leah Penniman, discuss the work of Black environmentalists, and talk about Black folk's history with the land in the United States. RESOURCES Black Earth Wisdom by Leah Penniman Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman "Residents heartbroken after city rips out shared garden" by Kristen Lawrence. TheCoolDown. "Peoria community garden destroyed by city" by Shabnam Danesh. Central Illinois Proud.  Tea with Queen and JCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBetween Us (pre-order) by Leah Nicole WhitcombSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In our season finale, we review Ryan Coogler's Sinners (2025). As Mississippi Hoodoos, we have to talk about the Mississippi and Hoodoo rep in this film. We get into Mississippi racial politics as well as whiteness and assimilation as vampirism. We discuss the need to let go of representational politics and learn to appreciate art for what is is rather than what we want it to be.RESOURCES "if you loved Sinners, read these books" Leah Nicole. YouTube. Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "SINNERS BREAKDOWN! Easter Eggs & Details You Missed!" New Rockstars. YouTube. Hess Love Instagram Post "The Story of Chinese Laborers and the Reconstruction South." May 2, 2022. Tennessee State Museum. "Inventing the 'Model Minority': A Critical Timeline and Reading List" Densho.  Passing by Nella LarsenCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode we talk with co-authors Nyasha and Ms. Kenda about their picture book Saturday Magic: A Hoodoo Story. We discuss intentional and conscious ancestor veneration, overlooked Hoodoo rituals in contemporary Black culture as well as allowing Black kids to see themselves in stories. Nyasha shared her process when creating her tarot and oracle decks while Ms. Kenda talked about our ancestors using astrology and dreams for healing and guidance.Nyasha Williams is a creator dedicated to healing, indigenizing, and liberation through creativity. With fifteen pieces of work published or in the publishing process, Nyasha advocates for diverse works of art, media, and literature that amplify unheard voices. Her tarot and oracle deck, "Black Tarot: An Ancestral Awakening" and "Elemental Alchemist," are testaments to her transformative artistry. Nyasha is the founder and creative director of Fire + Honey Press, a digital publishing honeycomb created toward collective liberation. You can find her on her website https://www.nyashawilliams.online/, Instagram at @writingtochangethenarrative and on The Creative Playground with Nyasha Williams on Substack. She lives on the stolen land of the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes in Colorado with her husband.Kenda Bell, a beacon of wisdom, graces the world not only with transformative coaching but also literary brilliance. An Essence bestselling author, she penned For Every Love There Is A Reason and recently ventured into children's literature with Saturday Magic, a delightful collaboration with her daughter in love. In The Ethical Selfishness Journal: 12 Pathways Back To Joy, Kenda invites women to embrace grace and self-understanding. Urging self-accountability, mirror work, boundary setting, and self-forgiveness, she crafts a roadmap for profound self discovery. Her coaching blends disciplines like Feminine Power, Bagua™ Astrology, and GROW™ & SMART™ methods, woven into her unique Joy Factor Method.™ Email her at [email protected] for regular astrological downloads.RESOURCES Saturday Magic: A Hoodoo Story by Nyasha Williams and Kenda Bell-Spruill Root Magic by Eden Royce "Ep 47: Dreaming a New Dream with Austen Smith" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Ep 37: Dreaming in Color with Nancey B. Price" Hoodoo Plant Mamas 8 Bill Mystery Pack/Ancestor Money Shop Our Tarot Collection on Bookshop The Enneagram for Black Liberation: Return to Who You Are Beneath the Armor You Carry by Chichi Agorom  "Kendrick Lamar plays 'Not Like Us' six times at Juneteenth 'The Pop Out' concert" by Daysia Tolentino. NBC News.Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

The honorary third member of Hoodoo Plant Mamas, Ghrey Mbenza is back to talk about the 1994 Ariel School UFO Incident in Ruwa, Zimbabwe. We delve into conspiracy, truth, and paranoia and the need for curiosity when exploring the unexplainable. Tasha "Ghrey" Mbenza (they/she/he), more recently known simply as Ghrey,  is a black, queer, and autistic occupational therapist who is passionate about helping people of all ages reach their highest potential by identifying and building on their strengths. Ghrey is especially passionate about self-advocacy work with individuals from queer, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and/or physically disabled communities. Ghrey’s special interests include holistic cooking with a focus on  creative plating, making music, attempting to DIY everything, and their newfound love for conspiracy theory deep dives. Ghrey’s career related special interests include mental health, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and self-advocacy skills specifically with children.RESOURCES "Ep 43: Understanding Neurodiversity with Ghrey Mbenza" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Ep 9: Stories From Our Mothers" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Documentary explores the UFO sighting that changed the course of 62 children's lives" by Liz Tung. PBS. "A 1994 UFO Sighting by Children Changed Lives. What If This Guy Made it Up?" by Nathaniel Janowitz. VICE. "Children talk about witnessing the 1994 UFO landing at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe" YouTube. The Telepathy Tapes UFO TikTok "Orcas Sink Another Yacht: Why Killer Whales are Attacking Boats" by isabel Cameron. Newsweek. Paradise. Hulu. Our Oceans. Netflix. "Something strange is happening underwater, scientists stunned by mysterious marine events" The Economic Times.Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode, guest Julia Mallory returns to talk about how she's turned her life into art. We discuss believing in yourself, circumventing gatekeepers, and putting your work in the world on your own terms. Julia talks about how her creativity expands to other formats like reiki, and we discuss the necessity of creativity in surviving today's world.Julia Mallory is committed to being a good steward of, and vessel for her ancestors' stories. As a storyteller, her foundational creative love language is poetry. She is the founder of the creative container, Black Mermaids, and a poetry editor for The Loveliest Review. Julia is also a visual artist and emerging filmmaker whose work has screened from Toronto to Iceland. Her latest loves include creating stop-motion animated collages and building TEN OH! SIX, a multi-generational community space for collective learning, connection, and creativity. Julia is the mother of three children and is from the Southside of Harrisburg, which she affectionately refers to as “the lil chocolate city that tries.” For more information, visit www.thejuliamallory.com. RESOURCES Survivor's Guilt by Julia Mallory Breathe by Julia Mallory "Belle's Boy" by Julia Mallory "You are the Second Person" by Kiese Laymon The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade BambaraCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Hey y'all! Hoodoo Plant Mamas is back! For our season 9 premiere, we tackle the clairs---what they are and our experiences with them. We get into what Toni Morrison called the "discredited way of knowing" as well as the ethics and burden of ancestral knowing.Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastrRESOURCES Leah Nicole YouTube About the Boy. Leah Nicole Whitcomb. The Book of Juju. Juju Bae Sensual Faith. Lyvonne Briggs Apocalypse Still. Leah Nicole Whitcomb The Telepathy Tapes. Ky Dickens. "Unmasking the Meaning and Marital Disputes Behind Mumbo Jumbo." By Lakshmi Gandi. NPR.BOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

Our mini season has come to a close. In this episode, we recognize Black Speculative Fiction Month and the contributions Black creatives have made to the speculative fiction genre. We get into how Black horror reflects our deepest fears and how sci-fi is both pessimistic and optimistic about Black futures.Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastrRESOURCES "The Argument of 'Afropessimism': Frank B. Wilderson III sketches a map of the world in which Black people are everywhere integral but always excluded" by Vinson Cunningham. July 13, 2020.Books Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb The Wishing Pool and Other Stories by Tananarive Due Let the Dead Bury Their Dead: And Other Stories by Randall Kenan Let's Play White by Chesya Burke The Black Girl Survives in this One: Horror Stories Edited by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennel The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow The Kindred by Alechia Dow Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow "You Will Know Your Tribe by Their Joy" by Julia MalloryMovies/TV Are You Afraid of the Dark? Amazon Prime Candyman [1992] Peacock Bones [2001] Tubi The Skeleton Key Tubi Sugar Hill [1974] Tubi Abby Plex Scream, Blacula, Scream Tubi Mr. Crocket Hulu Bite Sized Halloween Hulu The Blackening Starz Cuties Netflix They Cloned Tyrone Netflix "Space Traders" - Derrick Bell (1994) YouTubeThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

What happens when divination leads you astray? In this episode, we discuss our relationship to divination tools, how Tarot is an ever changing forecast and how the Bible is not law. We also get into the life and work of Fannie Lou Hamer and how the discourse surrounding this year's election disrespects her legacy.RESOURCES "Does Everyone Have a Soulmate? No." A Little Juju Podcast.  Tarot by Bronx YouTube The Songs My Mother Taught Me by Fannie Lou Hamer "On this day in 1963" by Jerry Mitchell. Mississippi Today. 9 June 2024. "Tell It On the Mountain: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Pastoral and Prophetic Styles of Leadership as Acts of Public Prayer" by Breanna K. Barber.  "Fannie Lou Hamer" Biography Edited by Debra Michals. National Women's History Musuem. "Martyrs and Matriarchs: Women in Early Christian Apocrypha" by Robert WilfCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcombbloom by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

CONTENT WARNING // STORIES OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULTIn this episode, Dani and Leah discuss their journey of coming into their sensual selves. We talk about how traumatic puberty was for us as Black girls living in the Bible Belt, separating compulsory heterosexuality from desire, and having to stitch together our sexuality in our twenties. We highlight the life of Mather Catherine Seals, the Temple of Innocent Blood, and the inspiring work she accomplished in her short life.RESOURCES African Goddess Rising Oracle: A 44-Card Deck and Guidebook by Abiola Abrams "A Night at Fontaine's: A Spicy Romance Short" by Leah Nicole Whitcomb Conjuring the Calabash: Empowering Women with Hoodoo Spells & Magick by  Mawiyah Kai El-Jamah Bomani  "Mother Catherine Seals And The Temple Of The Innocent Blood" by TriPod : New Orleans at 300 "Mother Catherine" Short Story by Zora Neale HurstonCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcombbloom by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Hey y'all. We're back with our season 8 premiere. This season we're planning on dropping a new episode every week of Hoodoo Heritage Month discussing a theme and a historical Hoodoo that you may not know about. In this episode, we discuss the violent effects of colonialism on our bodies, imagination, and relationships. We touch on the current political climate before getting into the  life and work of Father Divine and the need to use Black mysticism to navigate through the destruction of colonialism. RESOURCES "Nikki Giovanni on the importance of self love | Generational Anxiety" ALLARTSTV. YouTube. "Ep 47: Dreaming a New Dream with Austen Smith" Hoodoo Plant Mamas. Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown September Patreon Minisode: Loving Corrections Father's Kingdom documentaryCreate your podcast today! #madeonzencastrBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasApocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcombbloom by Leah Nicole WhitcombAbout the Boy by Leah Nicole WhitcombBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

For this very special season finale, Dani interviews Leah about her latest book, Apocalypse Still. We discuss themes, inspiration, and her writing process. We also get into the myth of the Black superhero, the difficult decisions we make to survive, and how Black folks deserve alternate endings. Leah Nicole Whitcomb is a community storyteller from Mississippi who writes about Black folks, love, and magic. She co-hosts the Hoodoo Plant Mamas podcast. Her writing has been featured in Sistories, Samjoko Magazine, and the young adult anthology, All the Ways a Heart Burns. A Courage to Write Grant recipient, Leah’s work has been supported by The deGroot Foundation, Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation, The Bereket Writing Community, Women of Color Writers Podcast, and the Women’s National Book Association. She is the author of Apocalypse Still.RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb bloom by Leah Nicole Whitcomb The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror Stories Ed by Desiree S. Evans and Saraciea J. Fennell "New Analysis Reveals Many Excess Deaths Attributed to Natural Causes are Actually Uncounted COVID-19 Deaths" by Jillian McKoy. Boston University School of Health.  "Black People Hysterically Await Superhuman Abilities During 'Negro Solstice'" by Jon Greig. Blavity.  "A Jamaican Love Story: Lover's Leap in St. Elizabeth" by Bailey Huebner. TheHub.News. Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women by Akasha Gloria Hull Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narration Collection Ed by Norman R. Yetman The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit by Julian Randall "SAD FACE" by Dani Bee. Home & Other Obsessions. "Ep 14: Writing the Spirit" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Ep 36: Writing as Conjure Work" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Ep 47: Dreaming a New Dream with Austen Smith" Hoodoo Plant MamasBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode we're joined by Austen Smith of ImaginationDoulas. We discuss the imagination as a colonial construct as well as the need to integrate dreaming into our spiritual and liberation practices. We go over the principles of their project, ImaginationDoulas, and talk about how to work with the Spirit of Creativity. This is a must-listen for all creatives!Austen Smith is a spirit-forward visionary artist, writer, social researcher, and founder of Our Lunar Intelligence (OLi), a black-centered organization focusing on spatial justice and spiritual creativity. The ImaginationDoulas, an OLi project, uses ancestral reverence and dreaming as a methodology to restore the imaginations of systemically disempowered peoples. Learn more about Austen's work at www.ourlunarintelligence.org.RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "The God in Me" Hoodoo Plant Mamas Podcast "The Chinese doctor who tried to warn others about coronavirus" by Stephanie Hegarty. BBC.  "Austen Smith on the role of daydreaming in your creative practice." by Danielle Buckingham. Black Joy x Reckon ImaginationDoulas InstagramBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Is your spirituality rooted in a genuine desire to connect with the Divine or is it rooted in a sense of superiority over other spiritual traditions? In this episode we answer this as well as discuss spiritual insecurity, performing spirituality for others, and seeing ourselves as divine beings. RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb Jeida K. Storey's Threads Post (storeytellingtarot) "Astrology Influencer MysticxLipstick Dead in Alleged Murder-Suicide After Troubling Social Media Posts" by DeMicia Inman. Yahoo!News. "Ep 45: When Your Soul Gets Weary" Hoodoo Plant Mamas Podcast "Finding Healing in Gospel Music" by Leah Nicole Whitcomb. The Rumpus.BOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode, we discuss what happens when your spiritual practice changes. We get into struggling with your purpose when the world has gone to shit, integrating Hoodoo in all aspects of our lives, and the need to tap into local plant medicine. RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "Get your spirit right with podcast host and Osun Priestess Juju Bae" by Danielle Buckingham. BlackJoy x Reckon Banning Black Gods: Law and Religions of the African Diaspora by Danielle N. Boaz. "The magical science of Hoodoo with Hess Love" by Danielle Buckingham. BlackJoy x Reckon. Tatianna Tarot YouTube. "Magical Transitions" by Leah Nicole Whitcomb. Little Sunday Sermons. "'African American Herbalism' is both history and healing" by Danielle Buckingham. BlackJoy x Reckon.  African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions by Lucretia VandykeBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca

In this episode, we tackle US propaganda and how it's causing spiritual warfare. We get into the illusion of choice, media censorship, increased militarism, and how all of our oppression is interconnected.RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "Meta is limiting how much political content users see. Here's how to opt out of that" by Rachel Treisman. npr. "Obama Administration Defends Israeli Airstrikes but Cautions Against Ground War." by Michael R. Gordon. The New York Times. "Countries bombed by the U.S. under the Obama administration." by Kevin Liptak. CNN. "We're In a Major COVID-19 surge. It's Our New Normal." by Jamie Ducharme. TIME.  "Biden Says the Pandemic is Over. Is It?" by Doug Most. BU today. "CDC Drops Five Day Covid-19 Isolation Despite Controversy." by Judy Stone. Forbes.  "The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel." by Matthew Lee. APNews.  "Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Action in Gaza." by Jeffrey M. Jones. Gallup.  Dayna Lynn Nuckolls (@PeoplesOracle) Tweet. March 18 2024.  Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV. 2024 Ninja Grill Social Media Exploitation TikTok (@naturally_nakeyta) "Ep 10: Celebrity Activism: Liberation or Profit?" Hoodoo Plant Mamas. April 2021 "Democracy in animals: the evolution of shared group decisions." L. Condradt and T.J. Roper. 2007 Sep 22 "House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her Israel-Hamas rhetoric in a stunning rebuke." by Farnoush Amiri. APBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode, we're joined by Ghrey Mbenza, a neurodivergent occupational therapist who works with marginalized communities. Ghrey talks with us about neurodiversity, what it means to be Black and neurodivergent, as well as the trauma and necessary healing work from growing up as undiagnosed Black neurodivergent kids.Tasha “Ghrey” Mbenza (they/she/he), more recently known simply as Ghrey, is a black, queer, and autistic occupational therapist who is passionate about helping people of all ages reach their highest potential by identifying and building on their strengths. Ghrey is especially passionate about self-advocacy work with individuals from queer, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and/or physically disabled communities. His special interests include cooking with a focus on creative plating, recreating their favorite songs, and calculating service tips in their head. Her career related special interests include mental health, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and self-advocacy.RESOURCES Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "Country Black" Hoodoo Plant Mamas Patreon "Ep 12: Children are Divine" Hoodoo Plant Mamas Podcast "It's all fun and games for Seattle occupational therapist liberating Black clients through Play" by Jonece Starr Dunigan. Black Joy ReckonBOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

After an extended hiatus, we're back. While Dani moved away from Mississippi, Leah moved back so we talk about loving, leaving, and returning to Mississippi. Dani visited Senegal, and Leah is publishing a book. RESOURCES SeaSalted Honey Residency "A Night at Fontaine's" by Leah Nicole Whitcomb Pre-order Apocalypse Still by Leah Nicole Whitcomb "Episode 202: Reclaiming my Dream" Dreaming in Color with Nancey B. Price.BOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

//SPOILERS FOR LONG DIVISION//Mississippi author Kiese Laymon joins us for our season finale. We discuss the revised version of his novel Long Division, explore themes of freedom, language, and timelessness, and talk about creating art separate from the white imagination.Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon is the Libby Shearn Moody Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rice University. Laymon is the author of Long Division, which won the 2022 NAACP Image Award for fiction, and the essay collection, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, named a notable book of 2021 by the New York Times critics. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Barnes and Noble Discovery Award, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. The audiobook, read by the author, was named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year. Laymon is the recipient of 2020-2021 Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard. Laymon is at work on the books, Good God, and City Summer, Country Summer, and a number of other film and television projects. He is the founder of “The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative,” a program based out of the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University, aimed at aiding young people in Jackson get more comfortable reading, writing, revising and sharing on their on their own terms, in their own communities. Kiese Laymon was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2022.RESOURCES Long Division by Kiese Laymon "We Need to Reckon with the Rot at the Core of Publishing" by Elaine Castillo. LitHub.BOOKSHOPhttps://bookshop.org/shop/hoodooplantmamasBE A PATRON!https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

We're joined by Starr, founder of Reckon's Black Joy. In this episode, we discuss the highs and lows of healing, leading when you feel unqualified, and Black joy as our birthright.Jonece Starr Dunigan (She/her/hers) is a journalist who gives the microphone to communities that are often ignored by mainstream media. Guided by empathy, her reporting centers the stories, movement work and voices of Black, brown and queer people. Her writing strives to amplify and empower readers instead of exploiting them of their traumas. Starr is also the founder of Reckon’s Black Joy (formerly Black Magic Project), a media brand under Reckon that’s highlighting the multiple ways we as Black people cultivate liberating joy in our lives.RESOURCES "Blessings six years of Black joy have taught me." Jonece Starr Dunigan. Black Joy. Nolaskinsentials Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good edited by adrienne marie brown Diving with a PurposeBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode, we're joined by Veronica Agard as she discusses her educational project, Ancestors in Training. We think about what how to honor our ancestors, what we want to leave our future descendants, and how to best utilize our time here on Earth.Veronica Agard (Ifáṣadùn Fásanmí) (she/her) is a poet, writer, community educator, and connector at the intersections of Black identity, wellness, representation, and culture. She experiments with creative healing modalities and puts theories learned into practice. She curated the Who Heals the Healer series and the conference of the same name and facilitates the Ancestors in Training educational project. Her initiatives are housed in her freelance platform, Vera Icon LLC. Described as living in the future, Veronica is guided by the past and carries out her dreams in the present.RESOURCES Ancestors in Training Syllabus Ancestors in Training Bookshop Legendborn by Tracy Deonn Dani's Writing Residency in Senegal GoFundMe "The Science Behind Smudging." Uplift. "Are you ready to become your descendants wildest dreams? Ancestors in Training shows you how." Black Joy x ReckonBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Are you ready to feel more energized, focused, and supported? Go to zen.ai/hoodoo and add nourishing, plant-based foods to fuel you from sunrise to sunset.In this episode, Leah needs a literary agent, and Dani needs help finding affordable housing in DC. We discuss our experiences with Black excellence and how it's overrated, steeped in capitalism, and ultimately ruins art.RESOURCES "Where the Parents" Medium. Leah Nicole Whitcomb. "Black youth face rising rates of depression, anxiety, suicide." Ed Source. Carolyn Jones. “It’s not about the children,” Black writers on the truth behind banned books. Black Joy. Danielle Buckingham. Write for Life: Creative Tools for Every Writer. Julia Cameron Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. Netflix. "We're not good enough to not practice." Kiese Laymon.BE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode we're joined by Nancey B. Price of the Dreaming in Color Podcast. We discuss her work, Black people's relationships to dreams, our childhood nightmares, and how daydreaming influences our creative process.Nancey B. Price is a self-taught collage artist, writer and storyteller with an appreciation for all things Black, Southern and imaginative. In all of her creative pursuits, she seeks to build worlds in which Black people can exist freely in all their beauty and complexity. Her visual works have been featured in various publications, including O, the Oprah Magazine, Garden & Gun Magazine, BlackJoy x Reckon, and The Bitter Southerner. She uses words and performance to take her audience on a journey of selfhood, spirituality, and ancestry. Her stories have been featured on You Had Me At Black, and as the executive producer and host of the podcast, Dreaming In Color with Nancey B. Price, she highlights the importance of dreamtelling in the Black community by creating space for each of her guests to share a dream story and deconstruct its meaning in their waking lives.Follow Nancey B. Price on Instagram (@nanceybprice) and Dreaming in Color (@dreamingincolorpod). If you'd like to support her work, you can donate to her GoFundMe.AD: Are you ready to feel more energized, focused, and supported? Go to zen.ai/hoodoo and add nourishing, plant-based foods to fuel you from sunrise to sunset.RESOURCES Dreaming In Color with Nancey B. Price "Black people and their plants: It's more than a lifestyle." by Danielle Buckingham. BlackJoy x Reckon Dream Singers: The African American Way with Dreams by Anthony Shafton "God Visits Me in a Dream" by Danielle Buckingham. Black Femme Collective. "What the Earth Carries" by Danielle Buckingham. Raising Mothers. "Episode 202: Reclaiming My Dream" Leah Nicole Whitcomb. Dreaming in Color with Nancy B. Price. BE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

We're back y'all! For our Season 6 premiere, we're talking about how we conjure alternate realities in our writing. We discuss the documented gaps in the historical lives of Black people, our resistance to writing about the past, as well as how to honor our ancestor's stories. We think about the timelessness of the South, the optimism in current afroftuturist work, and the purpose of dystopian stories. RESOURCES Long Division (revised) by Kiese Laymon I am - Daily Affirmations App Love, Lizzo (documentary) "The Limitations of the Slave Narrative Collection"  Kindred by Octavia Butler Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler "Reclaiming Our Time" by Julia Mallory  "You Will Know Your Tribe by Their Joy" by Julia Mallory Pet by Akwaeke Emezi Earthseed: The Complete Series by Octavia ButlerBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Ghrey, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this episode, we go over our Spotify Wrapped, recap our personal highs and lows of 2022, and discuss our hopes for 2023.RESOURCES Levar Burton Reads podcast WNBA Authentic Voices Fellowship Courage to Write Grant "Sometimes It Works Out but Sometimes It Don't" Leah's newsletter. "These Black Witches Are More Magical Than Halloween Myths Would Have You Believe." MadameNoire. Leah Nicole Whitcomb "Won't You Celebrate Yourself" Leah's NewsletterBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

Let's get real about therapy! Dr. Money joins us to discuss "Ep 27 When Therapy is Not Enough." We get into Black Femininst Narrative Therapy, what it is, and how Dr. Money uses it in her practice. We discuss systemic suffering masquerading as mental illness, the ethics of involuntary hospitalization, and how everyone thinks they're sicker than they actually are. Dr. Money also answers your listener questions!Dr. Montinique "Money" McEachern (her/she) is a Black lesbian healer with her own practice, Combahee Therapy, based in what is now called Philadelphia, but is the original home of the Lenape people. She is the oldest child of her momma, and grew up surrounded with the stories of Black women, so it is no surprise that her therapeutic approach merges Black feminism and Narrative Therapy. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has a PhD in MFT as well. When she's not therapizing, she is hosting QueerWOC: The Podcast, a podcast for the social and mental wellbeing of sapphics of color.RESOURCES "EP 27 When Therapy Is Not Enough" "The Combahee River Collective Statement" PDF Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome. Dr. Joy DeGruy The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara "Session 271: Being Mindful About How We Use Mental Health Terminology." Therapy for Black Girls "Ep 107: Twenty Twenty DONE." QueerWOC What's Your Grief Podcast Mad in America: Rethinking Mental Health "Ep 112: Take a Mental Health Day." QueerWOC "Ep 108: Do it for the Dopamine." QueerWOC My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery by bell hooks Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria AnzalduaBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

It's the end of the world...as we know it. We talk with Cherise Morris about her work, our anxieties and frustrations around the end of the world, and the hope we need to build a better future.Cherise Morris is an award-winning writer, interdisciplinary performance artist, ritualist, spirit worker and healer born and raised in rural Virginia and living in Detroit, MI.RESOURCES "MEMO: It's Almost the End of the World" Substack. Cherise Morris. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler "The End of the World" Substack. Leah Nicole Whitcomb "MEMO: We are Living" Substack. Cherise Morris. Cherise Morris PatreonBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode we're joined by the lovely Sirene Wata. We discuss African water spirits and deities, water as a tool of enslavement and liberation, and the many ways water has showed up in our lives, writing and work.CONTENT WARNING: Mention of Suicidal Ideation 19:25-21:22Sirene Martin is a multimedia artist hailing from south central Kentucky. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Pan-African Studies from the University of Louisville with an emphasis in Gender and Sexuality studies. In her art, Sirene seeks to be in conversation with the ancestral spirits that hold her. These conversations act as a portal as she travels into the creative space to conjure worlds and realities that are often refused to her in the material world as a Black Transgender Woman. As a Hoodoosaint, she is a historian and archivist. Recording and caring for the stories of her ancestors, her art elevates the rich Root culture and religions of the Black folks that made Kentucky their home.RESOURCES American Horror Stories Installment 2, Episode 5 "Ep. 52 Black is King!" A Little Juju Podcast Bite Size Halloween Perfect Black by Crystal Wilkinson "Ep 16: We Perfect Black with Crystal Wilkinson" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "Water" by Joy PostellBE A PATRON!  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

In this epsiode, we discuss non-traditional, community, and personal altars. We get into how our relationships with our altars have changed over time as well as the offerings we can give to our ancestors and to our community.RESOURCES Hess Love's Altar Tweet "Divinity in Disability with Jade T. Perry" A Little Juju Podcast "Ancestor Demons?" Hoodoo Plant Mamas "HOW TO SET UP AN ANCESTRAL ALTAR" Ehime OraBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

CONTENT WARNNING // SEXUAL ASSAULTHey y'all! For our Season 5 premiere, we tackle sex, relationships, and romance under capitalism. We get into how capitalism ruins everything, how romance should be fulfilled by communities instead of individuals., and how our friends are our lovers.References "Nine Ways That Capitalism Is Ruining Sex" by Breanne Fahs. Boston Review The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk Ismatu  Gwendolyn "Friends are Lovers" TikTokBE A PATRON!Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @hoodooplantsInstagram: @hoodooplantmamasDONATEPaypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamasCashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

It's our season finale and we wanted to end it by talking about our inner child/teen healing. We get into what initiated  our healing, what our inner child/teen needs from us, and the fact that this work is lifelong. Visions of the Evolution: The Revolution Will Be Magical is a film and a ritual! It’s a prayer, a spell and an invocation that opens us all to the transformations we need to make to bring forth the revolution that will birth a more just, loving and equitable future. Find more information on Cherise's Kickstarter: http://kck.st/3O7XuVO Resources Ep 18 Misafropedia and Inner Child Work with Hari Ziyad Inner Teen TikTok video BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode, we discuss call-out culture on social media and whether it's effective in holding people accountable for their words and actions. We also tackle Black leaders, elitism among Black academics, tussling with Gen Z, and how to hold space for young people who are still learning. SPONSOR: Let's Make Art Let’s Make Art is a crafting company that aims to help everyone channel their inner artist–whether 3 or 63! Let’s make art simple- together! Check out Let’s Make Art today by going to our special link,  zen.ai/hoodooplantmamas to get 20% off. Coupon code is activated at checkout! Resources Raquel Willis tweet "Fred Hampton - On The Importance of Education Prior to Action" YouTube video Tea with Queen and J Podcast BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

TRIGGER WARNING // SUICIDE & SELF-HARM What do we do when therapy is not enough? We discuss our therapy journeys, which types of therapy we've done,  as well as the success and limitations of therapy. We also get into some alternative forms of healing because help should be accessible to all of us. SPONSOR: Let's Make Art Let’s Make Art is a crafting company that aims to help everyone channel their inner artist–whether 3 or 63! Let’s make art simple- together! Check out Let’s Make Art today by going to our special link,  zen.ai/hoodooplantmamas to get 20% off. Coupon code is activated at checkout! Resources HappyLight Therapy Lamps & Boxes The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel Van der Kolk Black Walnut Bath Recipe "You're Healing , Now Are You Living?" A Little Juju Podcast BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca

Life is full of suffering. Why would we take on more suffering when we don't have to? Today, we discuss, religious propaganda, capitalist mentality, and relationship norms around suffering. We also get into obnoxious confidence, what it is, and how we can use it to live our best lives. Resources "Letting Go of Unnecessary Suffering" Leah's Newsletter Ismatu's "Consider Yourself Worth The Expense" TikTok Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis "Kim Kardashian’s Business Advice: ‘Get Your F**king Ass Up and Work’” by Variety "Mimi Faust on Sex Tape: 'We Didn't Do Anything Wrong'" by Evelyn Diaz. BET Obnoxiously Confident Twitter thread Nicole Byer's Why Won't You Date Me? "How to Use Toys in Sex Magic Pt 1" Instagram Reel by Hess Love Dipsea App BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

Let's talk about plants, baby! We discuss our houseplant journey, the lessons we've learned from taking care of houseplants, and the mental health benefits of green spaces. BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode, we discuss the act of dreaming and how it showed up in our childhood. Using Toni Morrison's 1988 Sarah Lawrence College's commencement speech, we discuss dreaming as an act of liberation, the role dreaming plays in abolition work, and how we've dreamed our lives into existence. Resources Divining Poets: Clifton: A Quotable Deck from Turtle Point Press "Sarah Lawrence College Commencement Speech" in the Source of Self Regard by Toni Morrison Ep 22: Nothing But Pleasure with Junauda Petrus-Nasah The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

We're starting season four talking all about love. This episode is dedicated to the late bell hooks. We discuss her book: All About Love: New Visions as well as exploring the very normal need for romantic love. This episode is sponsored by Bitcaftbotanica.com. Bitcraftbotanica.com is a female, Black-owned online botanica for all your spiritual needs. The owner, Kisha K, is a psychic, medium, and intuitive tarot card reader. Get $25 off your first Ancestral reading with code hoodoomama. Get to know Kisha K and Follow Bitcraftworks on Instagram and TikTok. Resources Subscribe to Leah's newsletter bell hooks All About Love: New Visions, Appalachian Elegy, Art on My Mind: Visual Politics Cherise Morris Instagram and Patreon TikTok about basic needs  BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

It's our season finale, and we're joined by writer and performance artist, Junauda Petrus-Nasah. We discuss the spiritual elements, pleasure politics, queerness, and family dynamics of her young adult novel, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. We also get into our love of Whitney Houston, abolition work, and the need to deprogram our internalized restrictions on pleasure. Junauda Petrus-Nasah is a writer, a soul sweetener, runaway witch, and performance artist of Black-Caribbean descent, born and working on Dakota land aka Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work centers around wildness, queerness, Black-diasporic-futurism, ancestral healing, sweetness, shimmer, and liberation. Her first YA novel, The Stars and The Blackness Between Them received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award. She is currently working on several projects including her second novel Black Circus, a puppet show, and writing for film. Resources The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good edited by Adrienne Maree Brown Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming by Antonio Michael Downing BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

In this episode, we're talking about spirit writing with JujuBae! We discuss showing up as our full selves, writing as a healing tool and releasing ritual, and the role media plays in African Traditional and Diasporic Religions. This episode is sponsored by Biddie's Baby Cakes. Biddie's Baby Cakes is a family-owned business that creates an assortment of Southern pound cakes for the central Mississippi area. Each treat is made to order and their buttery sweet roasted pecans can ship anywhere in the continental US. To order yours today, check out Biddie's Baby Cakes on Facebook and Instagram. JuJuBae is a proud Black girl millennial from Baltimore, Maryland with ancestral roots in West Virginia, Virginia, South Carolina, and Alabama. JujuBae has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Spelman College. She believes liberation is attainable and our ancestors will lead us there. When she's not divining for her clients or facilitating healing workshops, you can find her snuggled up in her bed or hula hooping to Afro Beats!    JujuBae is a proud healer, educator, influencer, and host of iHeart Radio Nominated Best Spirituality Podcast, A Little Juju Podcast. She inspires Black women and all those of African Diaspora, to reconnect to their heritage and personal power through spirituality and communal healing. JujuBae believes liberation is attainable and that our ancestors will lead us there through natural healing practices of working with herbs, consulting with Spirit, and communing with each other. A leader and student, JujuBae shares her journey and opinions genuinely, raw, and in joy! She is recognized as one of the most real and caring traditional Afro- Spirituality teachers of modern times by her community and large social following. JujuBae is remembering our roots in these modern times.   Resources A Little Juju Podcast Juju Bae Website, Instagram, TikTok and Patreon "Beyonce took me to the river (an ode to lemonade)" by JujuBae "she who sees" by JujuBae Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Patrice Somé The Spirit of Intimacy: Ancient African Teachings in the Ways by Sobonfu Somé African Spiritual Traditions in the Novels of Toni Morrison by K. Zauditu-Selassie "the light that came to lucille clifton" by Lucille Clifton BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork w

In this episode, we're joined by poet and photographer Nadia Alexis. We discuss how writing and photography can fight erasure, the need to reclaim natural spaces for ourselves, and the impact Lucille Clifton's writing has on Black women. Nadia Alexis is a poet and photographer born in Harlem, NYC to Haitian immigrants and she is currently based in Oxford, Mississippi. Her poetry has been published in Indiana Review, MQR: Mixtape, Shenandoah, and others. Her poetry has also been anthologized in Wild Imperfections: An Anthology of Womanist Poems and Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary American Poetry and Prose. Her photography publications include Forgotten Lands, MQR: Mixtape, TORCH Journal, MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, and others. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, 2019 honorable mention poetry prize winner of Hurston/Wright College Writers Award, 2020 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters photography award nominee, and 2020 semifinalist of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest. She is also a fellow of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and The Watering Hole. Her photographs have been shown in several exhibitions in the U.S. and Cuba, and she was mentored by Carrie Mae Weems in an independent scholars fellowship program for early-career artists and art historians of color. She is currently an English - Creative Writing Concentration Ph.D. student at the University of Mississippi where she studies and teaches Black literature. Resources Nadia Alexis website Instagram: @nadialovestocreate Pre-order Wild Imperfections: An Anthology of Womanist Poems  “Language", “Knees,” “Thunder,” “Lament,” and “Aubade After the Storm” Mud Season Review “Watershed,” “Nocturne,” and “A Horse’s Arrival,” Michigan Quarterly Review: Mixtape "Suppose You Failed to Cover Your Mouth & So Evil Spirits Flew Out of Your Body,” in Indiana Review “Cantaloupe” and “Letter to My Friend Robert,” Shenandoah Ezili Dantor "What Endures" photography series by Nadia Alexis "The Spirit that Resides" Carrie Mae Weems CCADI "On Protest and Mourning" BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

For the one-year anniversary episode of Hoodoo Plant Mamas, we talk with fellow Aquarius, Shayla Lawz about her upcoming poetry collection "speculation, n." We dive into the difficulty of witnessing state-sanctioned violence against Black people as well as the music that helps us process it all. Shayla Lawz is a writer and interdisciplinary artist from Jersey City, NJ. She works at the intersection of text, sound, and performance and has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Jack Jones Literary Arts, The Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP), and The Digital Studies Center at Rutgers-Camden (DiSC). She holds a BA in English from Rutgers University and an MFA in Literary Arts from Brown University. Her writing and hybrid/sound work appear in McSweeney’s Quarterly, Catapult, and The Poetry Project, among others. Her debut poetry collection “speculation, n.” was chosen by Ilya Kaminsky for the 2020 Autumn House Poetry Prize. She lives in Brooklyn, NY where she teaches in the Department of Humanities and Media Studies at Pratt Institute. Resources: "speculation, n" Pre-Order Shayla's Website Twitter & Instagram: @shaylalawz "& when the spaceship comes for ____________, i want to go with them: ON HARMONY HOLIDAY, DOUGLAS KEARNEY & JONAH MIXON-WEBSTER" by Shayla Lawz Erykah Badu, Missy Elliott, Sade The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill Long Live the Angels and Real Life by Emeli Sande PHO EP and Shea Butter Baby by Ari Lennox A Seat at the Table and When I Get Home by Solange Songs in A Minor by Alicia Keys My Life by Mary J. Bliges lately i feel EVERYTHING and ARDIPITHECUS by Willow Smith HEAVN by Jamila Woods CTRL by SZA Saturn by NAO BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplant

In this episode, we're joined by Hari Ziyad to discuss finding ourselves in Hoodoo, dismantling misafropedia, and using inner child work for our liberation. Hari Ziyad is a screenwriter, the editor-in-chief of RaceBaitr, and the bestselling author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A). Previously, they were the managing editor of Black Youth Project and a script consultant on David Makes Man (OWN), and they are currently a writer at CBS. Resources Black Boy Out of Time by Hari Ziyad "My gender is Black" by Hari Ziyad BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

We're joined by Hoodoo and writer Hess Love to discuss writing, spiritual bypassing, unpacking religious beliefs, and finding a spiritual teacher. Hess is a family advocate, co-found of the Chesapeake Conjure Society, and community-appointed Hoodoo Historian/Griot. They write about intimate politics, you can find their work on RaceBaitr, Black Youth Project, Wear Your Voice Mag, Brown Girls Out Loud, AfroPunk, Romper, and Medium. You can find them online “politicking” about Blackness, Hoodoo, History, Feminism, Motherhood, Queerness, Food, Books, Sex and Humor. Resources Chesapeake Conjure Society Writing in the Hoodoo Tradition Workshop Series "raised to break" by Hess Love "crab cakes" by Hess Love Fatphobia Twitter thread Tina McElroy Ansa, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Langston Hughes, Angela Davis, and Ishmael Reed The Haunting of Hip Hop by Bertice Berry Conjuring Culture: Biblical Formations of Black America by Theophus H. Smith Big Mama Stories by Shay Youngblood The Book of Night Women by Marlon James Black Women Are Scary podcast The Moonlit Road podcast WRITING PROMPT Go to the cemetery. (Cover your head with a light or white fabric.) Find a gravestone you feel called to. Research the person's life and write a paragraph, story, or poem. BE A PATRON Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.   

Today we're talking with Crystal Wilkinson to discuss her latest book, Perfect Black. We discuss Black girlhood, being country, food, the rural South, and our ancestors. Crystal Wilkinson, Kentucky’s Poet Laureate, is the award-winning author of Perfect Black, The Birds of Opulence , Water Street and Blackberries, Blackberries. She is the recipient of a 2021 O. Henry Prize, a 2020 USA Artists Fellowship, and a 2016 Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. Nominated for the John Dos Passos Award, the Orange Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, she has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundation, Hedgebrook, The Vermont Studio Center for the Arts, Hedgebrook, and others. Her short stories, poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including most recently in The Kenyon Review, STORY, Agni Literary Journal, Emergence, Oxford American and Southern Cultures.  Her fourth book Perfect Black was released from University Press of Kentucky in August 2021. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky where she is Associate Professor of English in the MFA in Creative Writing Program. This episode is sponsored by Moyo Mysteries. Moyo Mysteries offers spiritual consultations, pelvic steam plans, and full-spectrum birthwork services, from fertility and birth & labor to loss & bereavement and abortion work. Moyo Mysteries also offers a variety of educational projects and upcoming trainings. To learn more, you can visit www.moyomysteries.org.  Also, follow on Facebook and Instagram under the name, Moyo Mysteries BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas  SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas  EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected]  DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.

We cannot avoid our grief and be free. We talk with Julia Mallory about her latest book Survivor's Guilt and how to work through our generational grief. Julia Mallory is the author of six books, including two children’s books. Her latest book Survivor's Guilt is an archive of survivorship that chronicles generational grief through photographs, poetry, and prose. In addition, she is the founder of the creative brand, Black Mermaids, serves as the Senior Poetry Editor for Raising Mothers, and hosts the Stop Shrinking Socialcast. Find her on Twitter and Instagram @thejuliamallory. RESOURCES www.thejuliamallory.com www.blackmermaids.com Survivor's Guilt by Julia Mallory "The Concise Catalog of Deep Grief Objects" by Julia Mallory "Juneteenth Reflections: Grief Work is Freedom Work" Black Youth Project Contributors The Burial of Kojo This episode is sponsored by Guided Cycles. Guided Cycles offers Death Transitioning services, End of Life Planning, Grief Facilitation work, and Bedside & Community Vigils. Guided Cycles also offers a variety of educational projects and upcoming trainings. To learn more, you can visit www.guidedcycles.org. Also, follow on Facebook and Instagram under the name, Guided Cycles. BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.   

Welcome back to Season 3 of Hoodoo Plant Mamas! This season we're doing things a little differently and are focusing on writing in the Hoodoo tradition. Each episode will feature a different Black writer who utilizes or discusses Spirit in their work. In this episode, we discuss Lucille Clifton's spiritual writing and get into some other Black women writers who also have work inspired by Spirit.  Resources "The Spirit Writing of Lucille Clifton" by Marina Magloire How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton by Lucille Clifton, Aracelis Girmay (Editor) Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 by Lucille Clifton Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African American Women by Akasha Gloria Hull  Black Writers to Explore: Lucille Clifton, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Gayle Jones, Sonia Sanchez, Zora Neale Hurston, June Jordan, Gloria Naylor, Octavia Butler, Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Dolores Kendrick, Sherley Anne Williams, Ntozake Shane, SDiane Bogus, Tina McElroy Ansa, Shirley Jackson-Opoku, Jewelle Gomez, A.J. Verdelle, Devora Major, Phyllis Alesia Perry BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamas SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamas EMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] DONATE Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamas This podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah. Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca. 

It's our season finale, and we're joined by Kentucky writer and dating columnist Minda Honey. We answer all your dating questions so you can start your hot girl summer right. Minda Honey Website Newsletter "A Farewell to Fuckboys in the Age of Consent Culture"  "Politics as a Defense Against Heartbreak"BE A PATRON! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hoodooplantmamasSOCIAL MEDIA Twitter: @hoodooplants Instagram: @hoodooplantmamasEMAIL & SPONSOR INQUIRIES [email protected] Paypal: paypal.me/hoodooplantmamas Cashapp: cash.me/$hoodooplantmamasThis podcast was created, hosted, and produced by Dani & Leah.Our music was created by Tasha, and our artwork was designed by Bianca.