Saturday, May 7, 2016

Mama Harriet on a Deucey

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced Wednesday, April 20th that Harriet Tubman will replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.  Alexander Hamilton will remain on the front of the $10, but leaders of the women’s suffrage movement will be on the back.
Lew’s decision comes after he announced last summer that he was considering replacing Hamilton on the $10 bill with a woman. The announcement drew swift rebukes from fans of Hamilton, who helped create the Treasury Department and the modern American financial system. Critics immediately suggested Hamilton take Jackson off the $20 bill given the former president’s role in moving native Americans off their land. Jackson may remain on the $20 bill in some capacity.
Lew told POLITICO last July that Treasury was exploring ways to respond to critics. “There are a number of options of how we can resolve this,” Lew said. “We’re not taking Alexander Hamilton off our currency.”
There will also be changes to the $5 bill to depict civil rights era leaders.
The new $10 bills are set to enter circulation in 2020, while we won’t see the $20 until 2030.

Who was Harriet Tubman?


Harriet Tubman c. 1885
BornAraminta Ross
c. March , 1822[1]
Dorchester County, Maryland, United States
DiedMarch 10, 1913 (aged 90–91)
Auburn, New York, United States
Cause of deathPneumonia
Resting placeFort Hill Cemetery, Auburn, New York, United States
ResidenceAuburn, New York, United States
Other namesMinty, Moses
OccupationCivil War Nurse, Suffragist, Civil Rights activist


Spouse(s)
  • John Tubman (m. 1844–51)
  • Nelson Davis (m. 1869; his death 1888)
ChildrenGertie (adopted)
Parent(s)
  • Harriet Greene Ross
  • Ben Ross
Relatives
  • Modesty (grandmother)
  • Linah (sister)
  • Mariah Ritty (sister)
  • Soph (sister)
  • Robert (brother)
  • Ben (brother)
  • Rachel (sister)
  • Henry (brother)
  • Moses (brother)
Signature
Signature general affidavit of Harriet Tubman (1898), front.jpg
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Rossc. 1822[1] – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionisthumanitarian, and an armed scout and spy for the United States Army during the American Civil WarTubman escaped Capture and Enslavement to subsequently make some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved families and friends,[2] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era was an active participant in the struggle for women's suffrage.












Mama Harriet on a Deucey

By: QueenMa Nuta Adenike AmenRa El (C) 2016


Mama Harriet Tubman on a Deucey?
I have some issues with this...
Queen Mother Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist.

To place Mama Tubman's face on this Cotton and Linen debt note,
remembering that she had a cash bounty on her head
alive or dead!

To place her face among the faces of plantation owners,
who held Indigo people captive
To expand an empire of destruction and genocide is laughable.

Queen Mother was an Underground Railroad Engineer and Conductor
She stole herself from treacherous human traffickers
She risked her life for my Indigo Melanin Ancestors.
She was a general against the Global War on Afrikans

By the tri-lateral commission
of the Vatican, the US, and Great Britain,

She said that she "could have freed 1000 more
if they had only known that they were slaves..."

To think that we are at war with invading colonizers
Who were once put to sleep for thousands of years by the spells of Bes,
Bes taught them the flat earth that sent them into the trance of dark ages.
Yet, the Moors under-minded Bes, and reversed the spell of Tawroette.

For 1000 years they brought soap to cleanse these men 
from their Caucus caves style
Trapped in their nets of ultimate death, 
by plagues from their own unhealthy habits.

For 1000 years the Moors brought civilization
They built trade ships and navigated 
the Aryans to new trade route destinations

Yet After the Caucus mountain men
saw heaven on the other side of the world 
They brought their defecations
To make idolatry their GOD- of Gold, Oil and Diamonds/Drugs

They corrupted our Ma-Sun Sciences- 
to perverted Masonic rites then human sacrifice
to enslaved the Moors and all Indigo Children

Mama Harriet fought the military-industrial complex
she worked to undermine and destroy
The US Illuminati Race supremacy system.

She worked in punishing Aryan men for the sins
of enslaving people of Melanin
and pirating GOD's land and resources 
to extinction in the end.

Even she knew that peaceful resistance was ineffective.
In those days, the value of the Dollar was passing away
Now one US Dollar only buys a dime's worth.
Twenty Dollars can barely benefit an hour of livible wage
still, our reparations have never been paid
For our Melanin people, who were hung like strange fruit on their own farmland

Even now our youth hang their pants to their knees.
To be strung-up on the Coca Leaf trees,
and Poppy fields like scarecrows.

The "War on Drugs” is a cold war 
of mass genocide on Indigo People
Yes, Cointellpro dropped a Bomb on Indigo people 
“to prevent the rise of the black messiah”

They destroyed the UNIA Black Star Leader Marcus Garvey
And subverted the Plack Panther self-help movements.
Now our Indigo children pick pieces of ol’ king cotton and Linen
With pictures of plantation owners.

Drugs and guns are clandestinely placed 
into the hands of our boyz-in-da-hoods,
They are Child Soldiers marching,

they wear their uniforms- Hoodies, 
White tee-shirts, Saggin Dickies, and Jordans
All outsource slave manufactured clothing

While POTUS and political reps of the Kkorpratakrazy 
call them Thugs and Super Predators

How does heroin come from Afghanistan
then end up in a US city drug dealers' hands?


Even though we know that the biggest dope dealers on the corner
are Walgreens and CVS with their medi-sins


Melanin men are set up for def in da hood 
by Neo-Natzi-Kopper Klansmen,
who fear for their lives and inevitable extinction,

To think the US just committed mass Genocide on Africa with Ebola
returning to the west coast of Afrika as Africom
to exhaust her natural resources

Dred Scott's decision still stalks us- "whether owned or free,
we cannot be US citizens and therefore have no standing
to sue in federal court of Maritime law."

Integration only opened the gateway for Global mass incarceration,
With Outsourcing and Wage Slavery, our Melanin peoples
Are still designated as 3/5ths human in the constitution,
US Political leaders STILL ratify the rights for Melanin people to vote.

Our tax dollars are not used to benefit our own neighborhoods,
Our water is poisoned, Our air is filled with Chemtrails,
Our foods are made from Henrietta Lacks' Cervical Cancer Stem Cells
and Frankenstein GMO virus Clones

Plessy vs Ferguson- Supported Separate and not equal

while in Ferguson Missouri, Mike Brown was shot down
and left to die on the ground.

His own mother had no rights to touch, resuscitate or hold
her innocent son's body one last time.

Corporate prisons dollars pay Corrupt KKKiller Kopps
(Originally slave catching bounty hunters)-
Kkorporations found a way to reverse affirmative actions
and hide their kopps behind their badges 
of good o'l boys in blue -
Masonic systems and fraternal orders, 
for the benefits of No indictment-
and paid leave for the rest of their lives-
or to move from state to state- station to station
on a psychopathic rampage of paid domestic terrorism,
brutality, murder, and molestations.

Our families have been broken by the un-just-US medi-sin system.
Our Children are miss-educated and sedated from the womb to the tomb-
by the Daycare- to School to Prison Pipeline of kkorporatokrazy


Indigo Men have been imprisoned, effeminated,
used to artificially inseminate, decaffeinated, and decapitated.
Their only outlets are to chase balls, sing, rap, or front in Jiggaboo movies.

Our youth are corralled to minimum
wage dollars, enslaved by college loans,
like payday debt- garnished from paycheck to paycheck
only to be hired to be the concierge, maids, and child pets

Black Athletes flash
as commercial Corporate T.V. ads
living in their big house and flying in their private Jets
Their dollars have not trickled down to Urban-hoods yet ...

Will Tubman’s Duce produce the Reparations dollars
for Trans-Atlantic US Maafa, ignored?
With a history of Enslavement, Reconstruction
Jim Crow and desegregation
To teach our children corporate Holiday lies,
they are hard-pressed to even apologize
for the Civil war to Willie Lynch to Jim Crow aftermath
with no Reparations- you do the Math

Integrated institutions teach our children corporate Holiday lies,
they are hard-pressed to even apologize
for the Willie Lynch to Jim Crow aftermath of Civil war

Our Black Wall-streets dollars were cremated
Our Black Panther Party was decimated
Yet the duplicity and complicity for the Tea Party
and the Confederate flag revivals were perpetrated.

The NFL makes dough on US-funded patriotic displays
And the cosmetic industry on KKKoch and Lever brothers

So... Put Harriet Tubman's head on a $20 bill?....
I'm no longer chasing the plantation- race supremacy
Like Mama Harriet, I'm moving to higher ground




Amen Par Ankh (sacred temple of life) and Amen Ankh Academy; is a local home school network, and Urban Farm nestled around a First People's Spiritual Outreach Ministry and an Education Center in the heart of midtown Kansas City, Missouri. Contact our Minister and Director: Queenma Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike Amen-Ra and become a member of our Gnome Maafia- as We Celebrate the Cycles of Life! Email: amen.parankh@gmail.com , or amen.ankh@live.com ,and Call: 816-281-7704 to sign-up for counseling, courses and spiritual cleansing: http://amen-ankh.blogspot.com , also Look for us on Twitter, and LinkedIn. We acknowledge our Great Ancient Ancestral history and heritage of Afrikan and Native American Spiritual Ways. We provide an Online Homeschool network and Afterschool STEAM (Science Engineering Technology, vocational Arts mathematics and Natural Medicine) careers with hands-on Agriculture Experiences. –You GROWW Girls (Gaining Reseliance Opportunities Wellness and Wealth) and Economic Literacy study groups With Amen Ankh Akademy. We Respect Mother Earth and acknowledge the natural sciences and ecology with recycling. We provide Ancestor Libation Ceremonies, Business and Home Blessings, and spiritual Outreach to observe the Equinox and Solstice events, where we celebrate and show our respect for the wonder of nature with Cultural Ceremonies, Song, music, dance, Workshops, and special events. We make Org-Ankh Electric foods, Gift Boxes, and Accessories We provide an Online Radio Call-in show for Outreach ministry: Amen Communications http://www.blogtalkradio.com/amencommunications , We provide whole Life Coaching For Destiny, Health, Career and Relationship, Ancient Cultural Wedding Ceremonies- Destiny Naming Ceremony and Newborn Blessings, Ancient Funeral rites and Ascension ceremonies, Par Ankh Research and Reading Room, Herbal Teas and Juice bar, Nature walks and Outdoor camping Experiences, classes such as Spiritual Jewelry making, Sewing and other handcrafts, Henna Healing designs, Head wrapping arts, Making Natural Hair oils, beading and Lox twisting, Cosmetics, and Herbal products. Also Envisioning, Dream Catchers, Vision Boards, Art Healing Mandalas Sip-And-Paint events,  Gentle Yoga, Canning and preserving food, We assist in Wellness for Body Mind and Spirit for Spiritual Attunement - to realize the fullest capacities of life, health, prosperity and strength. We provide active space for expressions of our original wisdom ways of life. Ceremony, Counseling, Coaching, Cleansings and Classes...   Amen Ankh Urban Farm is an urban agricultural enterprise with the goal of achieving environmental justice and sustainability by Healthy local food production and improving local neighborhood access to healthy Foods. We are growing orchards and constructing Aquaponic Systems of farm-raised fish, Herbs and microgreens. We also provide Farm-a-See tours of successful Local Farmers with the “Green Griot” We grow selected local “Org-Ankh” electric indigenous Herbs, Fruits, Vegetable and plant life of the Three Sisters: (Corn, Beans, and Squash/Melons) and cruciferous vegetables: Cabbage, and Kale, With Wheat Grass and other Sprouts, Herbs: Basil, Sage, Chives, Rosemary, Parsley, Peppers, with Moringa nutritional drink supplements, -From our Fresh produce we create canned and Baked Goods, teas, cosmetics, and liniments to provide Healing through the inspiration of Kujichagulia (Self-determination) for everyone. Feel free or Contact the Director: Queenma Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike Amen-Ra Please like our facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH , https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities/ Dua (Th-ankh you!) ♥.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

KHEPERA NEFERA! Celebration Of The East Star

HAPI KHEPERA NEFERA! A celebration of the Vernal Equinox and East Star

Our way of life has passed down throughout the ages of time, from generation to generation. 
This Sciences and metaphysics were taught through parables, and analogies...



There are hundreds of Stories of the Mother and Sun icon, that has been told and retold through the ages to venerate the exceptional relationship of mother and child (Sun), to the highest honor and virtue of the crown of life.









The Sun (Heru) is swallowed by Nut at sunset, as it flashes a bright red, first strike to his uncle set. Heru fights the battle for the rising sun throughout the night, assisted by his mother Auset, as she directs the moon reflections... Nut gives birth to Ausar, again in the rising of the morning. 










The Khepera Beetle is a solar/stellar symbol of The Sun. The Amen Ankh Akademy uses the Khepera Beetle as It's emblem to exemplify diligence, Ingenuity, Industry, in connection with the cosmos. 

The Khepra beetle is renown by the ancients for laying her eggs in dung and rolling it underground. The hatchlings feed on the nutrients of the warm cow dung and arise from the earth- "reborn!" or resurrected. The scarab beetle (KhepeRa) rolls balls of dung across the ground. An act that the KMT (Egyptians) saw as a symbol of the forces that move the sun across the sky. The dung is heated inside due to the composting process of the microbes in the dung- Khepri was thus a solar Icon. Young dung beetles, having been laid as eggs within the dung ball, eat the nutrients and transform as larvae, then to emerge from the ground, fully formed. Therefore, Khepri also represented Creation-Life, Death, Burial, and rebirth, and she was specifically connected with the rising sun and the mythical creation of the world. The Egyptians connected her name with the Egyptian language verb kheper, meaning "develop" or "come into being". Kheper, or (Xeper) is a transcription of an ancient Egyptian word meaning to come into being, to change, to occur, to happen, to exist, to bring about, to create, etc. 

















All purchases are donations to Amen Ankh Akademy. Amen Ankh means "sacred life" We venerate all living things from creation. We spell Akademy with a "k" to acknowledge our sacred life force of "Ka" from our ancient Ancestry. We are an ACE (Afrikan Conscious Education) Home-school Network, bridging the gap against the School to Prison Pipeline. We teach STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Industrial Arts Mathematics) through a virtual home school network and Afrikan Conscious Education Curriculum that will ready our children Pre-K-8 Accelerated course of study; and Adult Communiversity. We are a Maafia a "Healthy Place To Live" Amen Ankh Urban Farms Mission is to produce, promote, and perpetuate food, resources and comfort and to grow local healthy Indigenous Foods in environmentally, respected, earth gentle ways. Call Us-816-2817704 https://adenike-amenra.pixels.com/



Amen Par Ankh (sacred temple of life) and Amen Ankh Academy; is a local homeschool network, and Urban Farm nestled around a Spiritual Outreach Ministry and an Education Center in the heart of midtown Kansas City, Missouri. Contact our Minister and Director: Kandaki Ma Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike AmenRa El and become a member of our Gnome Maafia- as We Celebrate the Cycles of Life! Email: amen.ankh@live.com, and Call: 816-281-7704 to sign-up for courses and support: PAYPAL: amen.parankh@gmail.com , information: http://emwot.ws/Amen_ParAnkh , http://amen-parankh.blogspot.com ,also Look for us on Twitter and LinkedIn. https://www.gofundme.com/Amen-Urban-Farm We acknowledge our Great Ancient Ancestral history and heritage of First People Spiritual Ways. We provide an Online Homeschool Curriculum network and Afterschool STEMM (science technology, mathematics, and medicine) careers with hands-on Agriculture Experiences. –You GROWW Girls and Youth Going Green Economic Literacy study group. We Respect Mother Earth and acknowledge the natural sciences and ecology with recycling. We provide Ancestor Libation Ceremonies, KMT Readings for Destiny, Health, Career and Relationship Consultations using the Ausar Auset Method, We perform Home Blessings, African Naming, KMT Ordained Weddings, and Wedding planning, We celebrate and observe the Equinox and Solstice events, where we celebrate and show our respect for the wonder of nature with Cultural Ceremonies, Song, music, dance, Workshops, and special events. We Grow and make Org-Ankh Electric foods, Gifts, and Accessories. We provide an Online Radio Call-in show for Outreach ministry: Amen Communications http://www.blogtalkradio.com/amencommunications Newborn Blessings, Home and Business Spiritual Cleansing and Blessings, Ancient Funeral rites and Ascension ceremonies, Par Ankh Reading Room, Herbal Teas and Juice bar, Nature walks and Outdoor camping Experiences, classes such as Spiritual Jewelry making, Sewing and other handcrafts, Henna Healing designs, of Head wrapping arts, Making Natural Hair oils, beading and Lox twisting, Cosmetics, and Herbal products. Also Envisioning, Dream Catchers, Vision Boards, Art Healing Mandalas, Spiritual Jewelry Making, Gentle Yoga, Canning and preserving food, We assist in Wellness for Body Mind and Spirit for Spiritual Attunement - to realize the fullest capacities of life, health, prosperity, and strength. We provide an active space for expressions of our original wisdom ways of life. Ceremony, Counseling, Coaching, Cleansings, and Classes The information on this Blog site has been put together for general information, education, reference, Spirituality Current Events and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any specific condition. Ask your doctor for his professional advice before making radical changes in your diet and lifestyle. Amen Ankh Urban Farm is an urban agricultural enterprise with the goal of achieving environmental justice and sustainability by Healthy local food production and improving local neighborhood access to healthy Foods. We are growing orchards and constructing Aquaponic Systems of farm-raised fish, Herbs and microgreens. We also provide Farm-a-See tours of successful Local Farmers with the “Green Griot”. We grow selected local “Org-Ankh” electric indigenous Herbs, Fruits, Vegetable and plant life of the Three Sisters: (Corn, Beans, and Squash/Melons) and cruciferous vegetables: Cabbage, and Kale, With Wheat Grass and other Sprouts, Herbs: Basil, Sage, Chives, Rosemary, Parsley, Peppers, with Moringa nutritional drink supplements, -From our Fresh produce we create canned and Baked Goods, teas, cosmetics, and liniments to provide Healing through the inspiration of Kujichagulia (Self-determination) for everyone. Feel free or Contact the Director: Queenma Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike Amen-Ra Please like our facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH , https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities 

Dua (Th-ankh you!) ♥.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Baobab Tree of Life

The Baobab Tree of Life!

There’s something sacred about trees.


For quite a while, I have been fascinated with the image of the baobab tree. Trees and plant life has always been uppermost in my mind.


The Baobab Tree reminds me of the Story of Ausar.

Goddess Nut, the mother of the Stars, created 4 days at the end of the year by giving birth to 4 children, Ausar (December 21st), Auset his wife (December 22nd), Sistar Het Heru (December 23rd) and his Brother Set (December 24th). Ausar became a benevolent ruler of the planet, who brought great abundance and prosperity. He created Heaven on Earth. Set, the baby brother was very spoiled and selfish. He grew jealous of Ausar's popularity and thought he could steal his brother's kingdom and fame. 
One day, Ausar and Auset had a grand wedding feast. Set had a gold-lined Chest carved for Ausar's wedding gift. He convinced Ausar to collaborate in a magic trick, and had Ausar lay inside the heavy Golden Chest. Set immediately locked Ausar alive in the Chest, and dump him into the Nile river! Distraught, in grief and horror, Auset was never able to consummate her marriage! She ran away and went to the Nile river, looking for her husband until days turned into weeks and weeks into months. 

Even in death, Ausar made his presence known in abundance and prosperity! Auset finally learned that Ausar's wooden chest had grown into a great Baobab tree of Life right off a bank of the Nile river. All of the land around the tree grew prosperous and abundant. A farmer built his compound and community around the Baobab tree. The tree was so large, part of the trunk was carved into the farmer's bedchambers, where his newborn sun was born. So, Auset humbled herself and was hired as a nursemaid for the Farmer's wife. She finally convinced the farmer's family to dig down to the roots of the tree to remove her husband's body.


Ausar symbolizes all things green and growing. 
Ausar represents the morning sunrise. 
Ausar represents the 1st day of the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21st)
Ausar also represents the greatest version of ourselves- to endure and overcome all obstacles.
Ausar is anything in nature that lives, then dies, then is reborn.
Ausar also represents Every discipline and thriving achievement manifesting from humanity, found all over the globe! 


This is a deeply spiritual principle caught in Our-Story of Ancient African Intelligent design and the foundation of all civilizations. The principle is this:
In life you can go through some difficult times. In order to change the circumstances a “new you” (Heru) has to be reborn. The “old you” (Set) has to die and it might even break you up. But even in the death of the “old you”  life contains the seed germ (Ausar) of the “new you(Heru).” You may not see the germination stage while underground but then you are resurrected and reborn into a new and stronger self.

In other words, Life/Shift Happens- the rotten things (fertilizer) you go through in life helps you grow.





The Religious have written about trees.

The Bible is a story about the tree of life. It begins with two trees in a garden: the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the  Knowledge of Good and Evil. The pivotal event in the book comes when men were hanged and later lynched on trees.
The last chapter of the last  book features a remade Jerusalem: “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
If you understand the trees, you understand the story of life. 

“Think of a tree, how it grows around its wounds,” says one character in The New World to Pocahontas. “If a branch breaks off, it doesn’t stop but keeps reaching towards the light.” The New World is about resiliency—about pushing on amidst hardship, pain, suffering, and striving to make the best of one’s circumstance. 

Trees are like that—always growing, pulled toward the sky, even when winds and rain and hardship come. They weather all seasons, even if they lose some pieces along the way and this is the journey of life. We’re all familiar with the story."

I was introduced to the baobab tree in the story of the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery.

The symbolism and allegory of the tree is rich with meaning and helps me to think of metaphysical axes. 

It is hard not to marvel at the awesome possibilities of growth that these trees show yet paradoxically they are the upside-down tree.
Image Credit: Daniel Montesino [flicker]


Knowledge and wisdom are like the trunk of the baobab tree.

No one person's arm span is great enough to encompass them.

Saying from Ghana 

There are many myths and legend about the Baobab tree:


One African legend of the Baobab tree describes what happens if you are never satisfied with what you have:

"The baobab was among the first trees to appear on the land. Next came the slender, graceful palm tree. When the baobab saw the palm tree,  it cried out that it wanted to be taller. 
Then the beautiful flame tree appeared with its red flower and the baobab was envious for flower blossoms. 
When the baobab saw the magnificent fig tree, it prayed for  fruit as well. God became tired of the complaints and so yanked it up by its roots, and placed it upside down to keep it quiet."
All the animals were alarmed, and so was the huge tree. For after that, the magnificent tree only grew leaves once a year.
The other months the roots seemed to bend and grow towards the sky.


“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky; we fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness.” Khalil Gibran



The baobab is one of nature's remarkable creations and has evolved to make maximum use of the scarce resources around it, just like I imagine the early church to have been.

It is among the largest and longest-lived trees on earth capable of growing to 98 feet tall and 36  - 60 feet wide.

It can survive long periods of drought with its massive sponge-like trunk that
which can be hollowed out to provide shelter. 


When in leaf, its fruit provides Vitamin C and the leaves Vitamin A and it has more calcium than cow's milk. 

It provides shade for all living things in the sub-Saharan heat. 


Baobab near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Image credit: ironmanix [flickr])


For millennia the baobab tree has provided a Market Place and a meeting place for dialogue,
sharing stories and debate of important issues and ideas.




It can undergo a huge amount of mutilation, and still continue to thrive and heal. 

 For some cultures, it is the tree under which man was born.

It is a symbol of endurance, conservation, creativity, ingenuity, and 
dialogue.

The great baobab tree —  the tree of rest and resolution.



The five leaves of the Baobab Tree resemble an outstretched hand, hence its Latin name Adansonia Digitata, as if reaching out in friendship. 

Baobabs create their own ecosystem with hollowed-out trunks, leaves, foliage,  nectar, fruit, and bark providing habitats for many different creatures. This tree thrives in diversity.

The baobab's bark, leaves, fruit, and trunk are all used. The bark of the baobab is used for cloth and rope, the leaves for condiments and medicines, while the fruit, called "monkey bread", is eaten. Sometimes people live inside of the huge trunks, and bush-babies live in the crown.



It is not very often that you see a Baobab tree picture with leaves on the tree, usually only seen in a short rainy season for a couple of months.
Some baobabs can store up to 120,000 gallons of water from the rainy season to sustain themselves through the dry times.

When the long dry season returns the trees drop their leaves.



Image of baobab in leaf from Brian Gatwicke 







 A tree of life...redeeming, restoring...making all things new. 

 A tree raises It's arms to heaven.....


 they provide so much for so many


 their outstretched roots long for their relationship to the soil and the water.



"Amid its descriptions of the New Jerusalem, Revelation includes “the tree of life, bearing 12  crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2). 

The tree holds out  hope that whole cultures will be healed and mended, becoming places  where people can flourish and it sets an agenda for faith as a way of  life that contributes to that flourishing, in anticipation, here and now."


*Image Source Baobab tree at sunrise. © Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Link to still images and music here from the Japanese film "Baobab no Kioku" ("A Thousand Year Song of Baobab") by Seiichi Motohash. 

At the heart of the film is the baobab tree— the source of sustenance,  spirituality, medicine, fuel, and identity for the villagers.



Rest of this wonderful review of it is here
Another extract from a film review from The Japan times says :


"For his new film, he went to the village of Touba Toul, 30 km west of  Dakar, where he recorded the changing of the seasons and the planting of millet and peanuts, the two main crops. His focus, though, is the still abundant baobab. 
The villagers feed the leaves to their animals, or dry and pound them into a nutritious powder called lalo; they pick up its fallen twigs for firewood, while using its bark to make rope, its pulp to make juice and its roots to make medicine, and they commune with the spirits of the dead that are said to inhabit it. 

More and more Senegalese see the baobab not as a source of natural  riches and spirituality, but as an impediment to the latest strip mine  or real-estate scheme."


Silent sentinel of time
Spread across the plains
Worshipped, revered, remembered
This legend does remain.

Shelter us mighty Baobab
As we rest on common ground
Reveal your inner beauty
And God's mercy, thus profound.

Phyllis C. Murray '88



Let's sit down under the baobab tree
Man-Woman and Child Family
To discourse in harmony
To build a Nome Society