What's in a Name?

Peace.

This comes up from time to time, usually in a physical conversation… How did I come about my name?

In Allah’s 5% Nation of Gods and Earths we take on names that this significant to us. For the most part we take names that match our curriculum. Not Muslim/Arabic names. Some people do. But it has been said that Allah asked his student to not take Muslim names because we’d be confused with adherents form the Nation of Islam. That may be a myth or an urban legend. But I do think it is an appropriate practice. I have a hard enough time convincing folks that I’m not a Mooz-lim or an A-Rab.

My name, in its current incarnation, is Serenity Love Sincere Peace Earth.

On March 15, 2008 I was granted my name. Many choose there own names. I was given my name. My original educator wanted to name me Fatima. Fatima means one who abstains. Ummm….. Why? But the meaning on the name wasn’t my issue. It was the fact that I knew a chick named Fatima. And we don’t speak. We have bad blood. I had no intention of answering to that name. My educator became insistent and we started arguing. And he said, much more loud voice than I’m used to being spoken to, “Earth, what you need is some Serenity, and so you will remember….”

Fast forward to 2009. I am now under the loving care and instruction of my God. The name thing comes up. The God remarks that I am anything but serene. He does remark that I am sincere with my determination to live out this Culture. BOOM! Sincere is part of my attribute. Peace is the Family name I share with Precise.

Now the Love…. Precise says all the time, that Love is not an appropriate attribute for me. He say’s I love who I love (him, me, Trinity) but for those I don’t, I don’t. He’s right. But I still say it is appropriate. My original educator had Love in his name and added that attribute to all his students names. I’m guessing that Precise doesn’t care for that. But I don’t push it because I want to keep it. Not because I have unresolved affection for my original educator. I only ever saw him in the physical a few times, and he was NEVER my man. But because Love Hell or Right is probably the most accurate description of whom I am. I love. But love is often hell, but always right. Love is complex, involved, required constant work. Love evolves changes, grows and wanes. Love is most sought after yet most elusive. Love is good. And that’s me.

So…. Here I’m is!

I’d love to here how other folks draw up their names. Leave it here in the comments or email me if it’s too personal and you only want me to know SLSPEarth@gmail.com.



Peace

Zig Zag Zig

Peace Family.

I have favorites in our curriculum. I suppose I shouldn’t. I should love them all the same. B.U.T. I do like some degrees more than others. In the Supreme Alphabet I like Love, Hell or Right, of course Queen, Universe and Zig Zag Zig. Since Zig Zag Zig is also today’s coordinate let me build on it

I asked for clarification on Zig Zag Zig when I was going through 120. I mean, who would just off the top of their heads look at the attribute and say, “Yeah I cee that”? The clarification did nothing really to define it for me. But I was at the end of the Alphabet and was itching to get my 1-10 so I bullshitted my way through. It wasn’t until I got to the Knowledge degree of the 1-40 that this attribute made any sense to me. So here is my understanding on Zig Zag Zig… (btw, my spell check hates said degree!)

I see Zig Zag Zig as coming full circle. You start and end with Zig. And you can see it in most situations. You start with something and you generally tend to end with the same thing only changed. You came full circle. Example… There was a time when an individual doesn’t exist prior to conception. There will be a time when same said individual again doesn’t exist after death. Full circle. When you sew or cook something, you start with ingredients or notions and you end with a garment or a meal composed of what you started with. We come full circle. From start to finish. Zig Zag Zig is a circle/cipher/circumference.

Following the same logic, the important part of the particular cipher is the Zag. Not saying that the Zig means nothing, it does… but the Zag is the part where you make your mark. Where you do something (Wisdom) in or with or on the cipher. We are all born and we all will die (birth=death; the definition of Equality, i.e. balance), but the important thing is what we do with the time we are allotted. We start out with a collection of ingredients (food) or notions (crafts), and we get a finished product. But how did we make this happen? We may have had instructions, we may have not; but in the end was the food tasty or nasty? Was the garment flattering and appropriate or unflattering and inappropriate? Did we Build or Destroy? Our actions have consequences (actions = consequences, i.e. [again] Equality) can be eternal. So we have to make the conscious decision to either Build or Destroy.

And that’s me for today.



Peace!

PS: I had a hard time with Equality too. And that appears in Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabet and 8:14!

Dreams Deferred

My life sucks. No, this is not the rant of a depressed female on the crux of a hormone imbalance. It really does. Everyone’s does, sort of……

Between the ages of 18-30, I had ideas of how I wanted my life to flow. Things that I wanted. Goals I had hoped to achieve. I got behind said goals and put everything else on the back burner. Now as a 40 year old, I see that that type of singular dedication is really not all it’s cracked up to be. I have missed out on a lot that I can’t go back and experience.

Folks will tell you to go after your goals with everything you have. I won’t tell you to do that. I will tell you to consider every thing in your life and really decide if those goals are compatible with the long term. Mine weren’t.

I look at people like my mother who went into careers that they really didn’t want. Life interfered with their determined ideas. But when you look at it in retrospect she had successful career (even though it wasn’t the career she wanted) that has allowed her to luxuriate in her retirement (and has allowed me to not have to take care of her. Win Win for me!). But she sees her life differently. She only focuses on what she didn’t accomplish and she is miserable. And me, I accomplished all of my initial goals and am not any more satisfied than she is.

So how can this be remedied? Because clearly no one is always 100% happy. EXACTLY! First, recognize that you CANNOT have it all. People who tell you it is possible are kidding you and possibly themselves. Move away from them. They are unstable. Don’t listen to people over your own mind. Your decisions need to be your own. You can live with the results better if you made the decision rather than taking someone else’s advice. And consider everything thing. The short and long term. People who will be affected by your choices. Every-damn-thing. It’s not fair for innocents to be trapped by your choices. That is the true definition of generational curses.

Why did I feel like I needed to post this? I have no clue. It was before me and I went with it.



Peace

Not Completely Bad

Peace....

I want to say something nice about my hood grocery store experience. I wasn't all bad. I guess.

For example... The store has the most extensive supply of canning products I have ever seen in one place. I have done a little canning in my Koran. I don't know why they call it canning when you put stuff in glass jars but who am I to complain. I would have to run around to find all the things needed to put up the bit of canning I did. And it was hella expensive. Well at Big Bear, their canning supplies are reasonable.

Also, they have an extensive amount of do it yourself shoe polishing products. I don't know how I feel about that. Are they saying that Black folks like to have shiny shoes or that we are still in the shoe shining business? But last week when I ended up in Publix, I checked to see if they had saddle soap and they didn't.

Another thing I found interesting was that the produce they did have was nice and fresh. Or maybe sort of nice and fresh. There was a gentleman ( I say gentleman because he was the only employee of the store to speak politely with nothing to gain) who was pulling out the not so fresh produce and repackaging it cheaper. Hey, maybe some people would rather have spoiling produce at a decreased price. I ain't mad at that. I remember when I used to be a Christian and the church would get produce that was old. It didn't suck. I would have bough that at a store if it was discounted. I buy the discounted YDFM's produce. And I know it's discounted because it's about to be tossed.

See? I'm taking the best part.



Peace

Applying Degrees

Peace

I remember when I was a newborn in this Nation, and my educator used to tell me to make the degrees applicable to myself. I had no idea what he was talking about. I mean it was already a difficult realization that I would have to memorize all the degrees as well as my assigned reading and keep my job. Now I had to make them mean something too? Well yeah! Isn’t that the point? Duh???? I was a baby and didn’t have any Understanding to the what and how.

When 85ers view our Nation, they see, but they don’t know. There is a lot that goes into being God or Earth that folks don’t grasp from window shopping. It’s not about getting a cool name or wearing your head covered and shunning swine. Folks get caught up in the magnetic of the Culture and want to be down. In order to have magnetic of your own, you must put degrees on cap and make them applicable to your own self. If you can’t do that, then you might as well stay at your level.

Another thing that I used to hear a lot, especially when I was younger, was that this Nation is not for women. That we have no place here. I beg to differ. If we have no place in this Nation, why is it called Nation of Gods and Earths? I recognize that this philosophy is not unlike trickle down economics. You get the men to do what is right and exact and it will affect the entire family unit. But that works only if the women are receptive. Fertile soil. Why not teach both man and woman, so that you have an equally receptive woman to partner with and Build a Universe upon.

I heard a seasoned Earth make a comment that she didn’t see herself in 120. Really? I might be a little off, but I counted 31 instances of the term “Earth” being used in my 120. And each time, it’s capitalized. Compared to the 27 instances of God/Sun/Allah combined. How can one say that Earths are excluded from 120?

So let me bring this full circle… Zig Zag Zig it if you will…… This is me making 1:10 applicable to me… an Earth….. (Not going to quote the degree. You should know it if you have just a teeny bit of 120)

Knowledge starts with Self. Knowing who YOU are. With that information, you can move on (a gradual progression like Supreme Mathematics) into relationships with others… My Father/Mother (Primary relationships). My God/consort (secondary, but necessary relationship that keeps the wheel turning). My child (Again, another Primary relationship[Zig ZagZig]) And the cycle/cipher/circumference continues because the easiest way to renew your history (ala 1:40) is to take a single step.

See how it works?

We shouldn’t be teaching our fruit to be parrots but encouraging them to manifest in their own way.



Peace!!!!!

Working My Last Nerve

Peace.

Alright I KNOW I said I was going to support a grocery store in my own neighborhood.... And I'm trying. But they aren't working with me. See what had happened was....

Sunday morning (1/9/11) I went to BB. I wasn't paying attention to the snow that was predicted. I was just in there to pick up 4 items. That's it. I went early too. You know our people love their Jesus. I assumed that folks would either be in church or hung over from the previous evening. I know that is a broad generalization.

That store was MOBBED. People in there pushing and shoving acting like the store was giving away for free shit. People here in metro Atlanta loose their minds when snow is predicted. It's unbelievable to a Jersey Earth. We got about 4 inches that turned into ice. I missed a week of work. SMH. Anywho...

Out of the 4 things I needed, they had 2. One of the items I was shopping for that they didn't have was chickpeas. Chickpeas? Come on son... I was going to need to go to another store. And the 2 things they did have (garlic powder- $1.45 and margarine- $0.89) were mad overpriced. But I said I was going to work this challenge. ***sigh***

I got bumped around and pinned with carts. I had to suffer through people blocking whole isles while they got their foreplay on. The register line was crazy long. But that is to be expected with the amount of people in the store. And All the registers were open. One of the things I found interesting was that this grocery store does not sell magazines. So me standing at the register was painful with no chaser.

So I'm standing at the register, with an armload of groceries, there are 4 people ahead of me, one with a shitty baby, and my patience is running super thin. The cashier makes the very ghetto announcement (you know, the kind with no PA, just her raising her voice) that she will be taking her break and that we would have to get on another line. WTF????? I have a job as do millions of people. I know that employees are entitles to breaks. But I also realize that when business is busy, you either (a) Make sure you have someone to cover people when they break and/or (b) you take said break at another, less busy, time. That is common sense. That heifer walked off and so did I. I left the few groceries I had on a shelf and bounced to the nearest Publix.

Inside the Publix the store was clean, not over run, the employee were friendly and they had everything I needed in one store. A big selection too. No need to run around. I sighed, but this time in relief. I had my own bag to put groceries in and the cashier didn't say anything to the effect that I was holding the line up... like the cashier said the last time I was in Big Bear. And a young man offered to carry my bag to the car when it was clear that I didn't need him too. I was a courtesy to the shoppers.

When is January over?

I suppose I will have to work penance for bailing on the challenge. Maybe shop at BB until mid February. But I don't know why folks give our people the shitty side of the stick and we happily accept it?

I called the store for their manager twice to lobby my complaints and have been told that no manager was there and to call back. Really? You have a store open and no one is in charge? Really?

I was hoping for these updated posts to give some insight on the beauties of shopping in one's own community. I suppose I would have to move to a better community.




Peace

January's Challenge!

Peace Family!

The God and I did a Kwanzaa observance. We wanted to know if it was something that we wanted to incorporate in the cipher. I can't speak for him, butt I didn't find it too unpleasant. I'm thinking that we will have to change it a bit every year so that it doesn't get stale. It has high staleness potential....

Anywho... One of the recurrent themes within the spirit of the observance was to interact and or do business within our own people's community. I have decided to support a "hood" grocery store for 1 month.

There is a Big Bear in my neighborhood. It used to be a Winn Dixie, then a Save-A-Lot, then closed, now a Big Bear. BB reminds me of all the previous incarnations. Not that I really shopped there. Only if I was in the area anyway and needed something small. I do walk around the mall it's in, so sometimes I would go in there for some water. also my mother likes her ethnic swine products; pickled pigs feet, pickled eggs, and ribs. they sell all that there. I can be boojie. If I go into a store and the product isn't up to par, or the customer service is shitty, or the clientele is ghetto, I will not shop there. I have a job, a car and high self esteem. I don't take shit from folks if I don't have to. Any folks. That doesn't just apply to my own people. I'm not one of those people who will buy something to prove I can afford it. This supermarket is GHETTO! But I have been intrigued with the concept every since a former Facebook friend asked if folks could stay healthy purely shopping in the hood.

Now, I don't think Big Bear is a "Black owned" establishment. There is one in South Dekalb Mall and the West End. I don't EVER remember a "Black owned" supermarket. EVER. Maybe a corner store, but that was back in NJ. Here in the Garden, Not so much. Also, I don't live in the city of Atlanta. Those historic shopping venues aren't really an option for me. For many reasons. (1)I need to support business in MY neighborhood, (2)I don't want to be forced to drive more than 25 miles to grocery shop (because I do it everyday), and (3)Fulton county has a higher sales tax than my county. Big bear it is.

So here are the parameters of the challenge....
I will shop there for most of my household groceries and such.
I will still shop at specialty shops, like the Asian market and health food store.
If Big bear doesn't have something, I will look for it in an equally hood store.

I'm not sure the outcome for this challenge. But I do know that every employee I've ever seen working there is Original. So supporting said store, keeps them employed. And... I would like a little for insight in "hood" relations. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not really all that gully.

Here goes nothing....



Peace