Tag: Deborah

October Fall Foliage Walk in Central Park

On By dancingpalmtreesIn 86th Street Central Park West, Baby Boomer: New York, USA, Black Fran Drescher, Central Park, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Fall Foliage Tour, Fran Drescher, New York, New York City, New York Skyline, Oddball New York, Quirky New York, Uncategorized26 Comments

 

 

Here I am the Black Fran Drescher with my nasally New York voice narrating today’s walk through Central Park.  Did not know I sounded like Fran Drescher because well, how often do we listen to the sound of our own voice?  Anyway as you listen to me narrate the joys of NYC’s Central Park know that I will never be asked to do Voice-Overs unless it’s for some type of cartoon or dorky video game!! LOL!!  🙂   😀

 

 

Libation

On By dancingpalmtreesIn "I Dreamed of Rain"-Jan Garrett & JD Martin, Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers To Cross, Psalm 137:1-4, rain, Rain Showers, Rivers of Babylon-The Melodians, Uncategorized, Underwater Sculpture in Honor of Africans Thrown Overboard, Weather6 Comments

 

https://weather.com/weather/today/l/Brooklyn+NY+11233:4:US

It’s a rainy Sunday here in New York.  Chillier than yesterday. Neither good nor bad. Just is. Sunday a day of reflection and worship for many Christians. I’m not a regular church goer. My attendance in a brick and mortar building is a rare occurrence. Gradually the Baptist Faith of my youth has morphed into an appreciation and Liberation from the confines, dogma and doctrine of the traditional church.  All faiths both traditional and indigenous for me have become one. All are pieces of the original stone. Yet I feel the call of my Ancient Ancestral beliefs calling me home.  I Long for the Zion of Africa.

Psalm 137:1-4

New King James Version (NKJV)

Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land

137 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?

Rivers of Babylon-The Melodians

For me I imbibe the magnificence of Creation more and more through Mother Nature herself. Even if I can’t be near a park or beach because of my heavy work schedule I see myself walking the beach early in the morning when there are only the seagulls flying overhead, the ebb and flow of waves lapping at sand.  Or I’m at the park. Perhaps Central Park or Prospect Park. Touching the trees, heavy protruding boulders, taking off my shoes making that connection to land.

I crave Oneness with Gaia, The Goddess, Mother Nature. African and Native American prior to the Colonizer. Praises to Oshun!!

Any Green-space where Gaia has left her mark in millennium stones, rocks and boulders pushed surface up that speak of eons past.

One hand touches rocks and stones. Voices of Tribal past speak Wisdom into my Life. Feet Grounded within Earth, Sand and Seas.

All geological evolutionary eras merge as one.

I was there at the Jordan baptizing Jesus. My flowing locs once jet black now white with mystical waves. I shook my bountiful mane and the earth trembled. Oshun welcomes back her prodigal son.

Oshun pushed aside Neptune and gathered up her children drowned lost in Middle Passage.  Watery graveyard. We search for each other. Shackled together. Far from the Motherland of our birth.

Brought on deck. Bound. Iron to Iron. Men. Women. Some pregnant. Children. Tossed like so much excess baggage from the good ship Amistad.

We cried out to the Goddess for Salvation. Swept away into the Abyss. Poseiden stepped on our necks and took our breath away. Only the Goddess of Our Royal Bloodline can redeem us. Our Orisha came and gathered our spirits into Her Bosom.

Meditate on Her. Meditate on Her.

I am She who was from the Beginning. I Birthed the Earth into Existence. All others who came after are just minor manifestations of true Grace. Manifestations of the Original Reigning Goddess.

She poured fragrant Libation upon our weary souls. She oiled the depths of our spirits. Deliverance was nigh. The New Sojourner Truth criss-crosses the Land gathering. Gathering. Sowing. Reaping. Transformation.

 

https://youtu.be/SF3IktTk_pQ

Psalm 137:1-4

New King James Version (NKJV)

Longing for Zion in a Foreign Land

137 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?

JIMMY CLIFF – rivers of babylon

https://youtu.be/YdDCu-x8ew8

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118607/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_(film)

http://www.ninasimone.com/2013/01/underwater-sculpture-in-honor-of-africans-thrown-overboard/

https://youtu.be/FnWjucpq948

 

Jimmy Cliff / Many Rivers To Cross

https://youtu.be/VLb5LJMFLCs

 

https://dancingpalmtrees.com/2014/09/03/seed/

Ibeyi – River

 

“I Dreamed of Rain”-Jan Garrett & JD Martin

 

 

 

 

 

Nickel and Dimed

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, Uncategorized14 Comments

Please read this book.  Either buy it or borrow it from your local public library. What the working class women in the book go through is currently what I am experiencing. Having a college degree. Doesn’t matter. Serving in the military. Does not matter.

When I first read the book I was a prosperous member of Middle Class America. When I was laid off from my good paying job Dec. 2006, had a stroke Nov. 2008 and retina surgery Jan. 2010 I became and am mired in the lower working class. I am no longer human but a cog in the robotic machinery ala the film Metropolis where my only purpose and function is to make money for the Big Machine. Once you fall from grace through lay-offs, firings, sickness, disability, illness or family problems you become mired in a lifestyle you once felt pity for but now find yourself in a quicksand from which there is no escape.

Our economy in America is based on modern day slavery and truly the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Choose. Your job or your family. Your health or your job. Which one would you choose?

Image result for nickeled and dimed
Nickel and Dimed
Book by Barbara Ehrenreich
Nickel and Dimed: On Getting By in America is a book written by Barbara Ehrenreich. Written from her perspective as an undercover journalist, it sets out to investigate the impact of the 1996 welfare …Wikipedia
Originally published: January 1, 2001
Author: Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Country: United States of America
Characters: B.J., Ted, Marge, George, Holly
Genres: Economics, Sociology, Biography, Autobiography, Business

 

 

 

Say Your Name ~~ The Daily Post

On By dancingpalmtreesIn 23andMe, Africa, African American Queen, African Goddess, African King, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Say Your Name, Uncategorized5 Comments

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/say-your-name/

 

DAILY PROMPT

Say Your Name

Write about your first name: Are you named after someone or something? Are there any stories or associations attached to it? If you had the choice, would you rename yourself?

The name Deborah is a Hebrew baby name. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Deborah is: Bee. Deborah was the Biblical prophetess who summoned Barak to battle against an army of invaders. After the battle she wrote a victory song which is part of the Book of Judges.

http://www.behindthename.com/name/deborah

You may read about the heroic exploits of DeBorah (Judges) in my previous post.  The Song of Deborah is Judges Chapter 5.

The Lioness of Judah Reigns

I’m not really sure who or what my Dad had in mind when he named me. Perhaps he was a fan of Deborah Kerr who was a popular actress during the 1950s. Once he told me that he wanted to avoid the traditional Palmer female family names and name me something different, a name he thought would be unique. However when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade there were about five (5) Deborahs, Debras, Debbies in my class!! So much for unique.  Like most African-Americans born during the 40s, 50s, and 60s pretty much you either had a passed down family name or a Bible name. Later in the 1970s and thereafter African and Muslim names became popular I believe in an attempt for African-Americans to reconnect to the Mother Land.

About six or seven years ago I did a Free DNA screening given by 23andMe.  Here are the results copied from an old document.

Through my maternal line my ancestors were from Mozambique. I belong to the maternal haplogroup I also probably have some Nigerian ancestors. My maternal genetic

makeup is 85% Africa, 12% Europe and 3% Asia.

Our ancestry and genealogy are traced through mitochondrial DNA which

is only passed down from mother to child. This is fascinating information.

By the way the study affiliated with Dr. Henry Louis Gates was free and they

were targeting African Americans mainly to ascertain my African Americans have such high levels of high blood pressure and diabetes. I wanted to have my DNA traced for

several years and when I saw the ad in Ebony or was it Essence along with

the word Free, I immediately signed up. I was so thrilled to find out this

news. Now along with my African co-workers feel a more direct connection

to the Motherland.

Naturally, I’ll never be connected to Mother Africa the way in which my co-

workers from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali are

since they were born there and have a direction connection with the

culture, language and respective tribes, I feel now more of a blood tie. Now

I can plan for my pilgrimage to this country of my ancestors in the next 20  years.

 

 In a way I envy my fellow bloggers who were born and raised in Africa and who had the opportunity to retain their traditional African names, perhaps some indigenous belief system, culture and language. Sadly when my ancestors were kidnapped and brought here on slave ships all of that was stolen from them. Even when I do visit Mozambique or Nigeria I will never know my tribe and cannot speak any of the tribal languages. However I do feel a very strong spiritual connection to my African ancestors especially those who came here during the Middle Passage. This may sound strange to some people but from time to time they speak to me as do some of my family members long deceased some as long ago as from the Civil War. My paternal Great, Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead served in the Civil War. Their voices rise up from ages past beckoning to me as a 21st Century Scribe to write about them so that they are not forgotten.
William H. Halstead name as inscribed on the Colored Soldiers Monument in Washington, DC
William Henry Halstead Headstone ~ Sleepy Hollow
In December of 1863 my Great Great Grandfather, William Henry Halstead, who

lived in Tarrytown, New York, traveled to New Haven, Connecticut to join the

29th Connecticut Colored Infantry.  On his Volunteer Enlistment papers it notes

his occupation as a farmer.  He enlisted for three years and was discharged on the

24th day of October 1865.  He married and had five children.  William Henry

Halstead passed away in 1888 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in

Tarrytown, New York.  His wife moved to New York City with her five children. 

Her children grew up in Harlem and belonged to various organizations such as Odd

Fellows, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Daughters of New

York.

The same goes for my Native American ancestry.
Several years I wrote a blog post about that dilemma also called “The Cruelty of Christianity” basically when the Europeans first invaded America in 1492 or thereabouts the Native Americans had the land and the Europeans had the Bible. Now the Europeans have the Land and the Native Americans have the Bible. Perhaps their revenge are the casinos and tax-free cigarettes.
https://dancingpalmtrees.com/2012/05/05/the-cruelty-of-christianity/
Canopic Jar
Canopic Jar possibly Queen Tiye

Sometimes I get the feeling that she is me and I am she.

The Lioness of Judah Reigns

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Amina, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Hattie Banks, Hattie Finney Banks, Judges 4: 4-5, Makeda, Shawnee Sioux War Dance, The Lioness of Judah Reigns, Uncategorized12 Comments

The Lioness of Judah Reigns. The Lioness does not concern Herself with the opinions of a sheep for She is the Alpha Female of the Tribe!!  Victory is within her grasp!!  Time to Rise and Grind!!  For I come from Great Peoples of both African and Native American Ancestors who built a Great Nation!!  A Warrior Queen may rest but only to regroup and come back even stronger than before!!  The bloods of Nzingha, Queen of Ndongo, Yaa Asantewaa was the queen mother of the Edweso tribe of the Asante (Ashanti) in what is modern Ghana, Candace, Makeda ~ The Queen of Sheba, and Amina flow through me!!  I am a Nubian/Native American Queen!!

http://afroetic.com/2011/11/19/who-was-queen-ann-nzingha-of-ndongo/

http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/yaa-asantewaa.html

5 Most Powerful African Queens From History

Judges 4 New King James Version (NKJV)

Deborah

4 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of theLord. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”

8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”

9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command,[a] and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.

12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.

17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.

19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’”

21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Shawnee Sioux War Dance

https://youtu.be/IoSz-9JkavI

Grandmother Hattie Banks 12251974_Dayton Ohio
Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks

You May have Stolen My Land but not my Spirit!!  I have been anointed and called by My Eternal Ancestors for a time such as this!!

Ancestor_Dad_Side
Name know only to God. Paternal Woman Ancestor

Philippians 3:13-14 King James Version (KJV)

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.