DeeplyRooted: Honoring our Ancestors and the Earth with LEAH PENNIMAN /188
Photo courtesy of Leah Penniman and Soul Fire Farm
Deeply Rooted is an offering devoted to inviting relief, balance and abundance into our lives during uncertain times. We've brought together some amazing folks who we feel are wise stewards of Earth, spirit, community and bodily wisdom who will share a variety of grounding practices and coping tools to lend support during this unprecedented time where it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.
Leah Penniman guides us through an adaptation of a Haitian prayer from her maternal lineage that honors the forces of nature and our ancestors. Leah’s gracious offering invites us to open ourselves to the elements of the Earth that shape our lives. Together we practice reverence and gratitude for the gifts that surround us and give us our strength, health and nourishment.
After months of quarantine anxiety and separation from each other and from Earth, let Leah’s uplifting words reconnect you with the ever-present and unstoppable flow of life in which we dance. In celebration of the summer solstice, Leah’s prayer is one to raise your arms wide, to touch your bare feet to the Earth, to give thanks, and to rejoice in this life!
“We give honor and respect to the Ancestors whose names are lost in the seas of time. Those who are lost to the middle passage, to police violence, to poverty, to mass incarceration, mental illness, those who are lost to transphobia, addiction, slavery in all its forms. We honor you.”
Photo of Leah Penniman by Abby Rose Photography
Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer/peyizan, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs - including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system.
Leah has been farming since 1996, holds an MA in Science Education and a BA in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University, and is a Manye (Queen Mother) in Vodun. The work of Leah and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Grist 50, and James Beard Leadership Award, among others. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land is a love song for the land and her people.
♫ Music by Pura Fe and Taina Asili.
Deeply Rooted: Grounding Practices to Weather the Winds of Uncertainty
Follow our Deeply Rooted series to find solace and awaken inspiration through guided meditations, poetry and prose readings, questions for deep inquiry, story-telling, musical performances and more. May these offerings nourish your inner sanctuary and foster resilience, empowerment and liberation.
