"In My Name"

If I were to title this blog, In My Name, is the first title that comes to mind. It exemplifies my thirst for self re-discovery that's what this space is all about anyway, rediscovering myself through prose, poetry, and short stories. How much of our names are ours, and how much of our names make up who we are? So if you're here I welcome you on this ride of self re-discovery and I hope we can share some lessons together along the journey!

What is your name? So if you're new here, I'm Le'ianna (lay~ah~nuh) I'm a weaver of stories, a hopeless romantic for words, a chicken wing connoisseur, nature and art hoe, a conjurer of worlds, and lastly a proud complicated radical southern black woman.

So where do I start? My name and I'm not just talking about what's written on our birth certificates but I'm speaking metaphorically, astrologically, etc. This past week I've had Jamila Wood's 'In my name' on heavy rotation it's actually playing now as I write this. At first listen, you could get lost in Jamila's attempt to get people to pronounce her name correctly, a struggle I know many of us to know, but as I continued to listen it spoke to me on a spiritual level. Jamila is reclaiming her power the power that is in her chosen name and honoring all that her name encompasses about her.

Ok, so what that got to do with you? This past week I decided to go over my natal chart (shoutout to the CHANI app for the free) as I dove into each part of my chart they echoed my innate love of words my ability and purpose to write, to create, to teach, to meld my innate creativity with my "deep empathetic and healing nature". As I continued on I was in constant awe of how much it resonated I thought back to all the moments I've shared my words on IG or with friends. How my friend Shainah always reminds me the world needs to hear my words, shoutout to Shainah btw! And now, here was this chart echoing those exact sentiments. I then went on to pull some cards for myself that just summed it all up. As Jamila sang out about the power in her name and how it encompasses the power within her, I began to think about the power in my name. The power in all of our names, wondering do our mothers already know the power humming within them? How much of our name encompasses who we will discover ourselves to be? My mama often jokes about how she gave me the perfect stage name, Le'ianna Nicole it rolls off the tongue, eloquent, complicated, and powerful. Nicole literally means "victory of the people".

I know Jamila's words were divinely guided to me for this exact moment, this moment of uncertainty, confusion, rejection, wondering if this is the right path?! In this moment of my life, Jamila's words align perfectly with the internal work I'm seeking to do. In this season, I've been working to embody my power to walk into all that I am and know my own name. Over the past few years, I've been undergoing a multitude of transformations and shedding often confused about where I'm headed next or if I'm on the right path. Jamila's words are the healing balm that I, along with many of you, have been in dire need of. A reminder that the answers we seek are already within us, the power we seek is already within us, and that we can decide for ourselves what our names are and be lead by the knowing within our name.

So going into this week I encourage us all to walk in the power of our names, all of our names given or chosen, literal, metaphorical, astrological, and so on.

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You made it this far you a real one! Thanks for reading, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and join me on this self-re-discovery journey!

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In Rotation:

Jamila Wood's "In My Name"