I come full circle mother
Ever wild and ever peaceful
City upon city puled high upon my back
Ten thousand years before Christ
I tilled this earth
And from me sprang poetry, astrology,
music, sensuality, symmetry and industrialization.

Since Day One I ruled supreme
I reigned my lands nobly and justly
Loving my sons and daughters equally well
I possess outer beauty coupled with inner strength
I have always been woman
And I have always been a backbone

I have been called many named by many peoples
Athene, Dianna, Minerva, Hectate,
Hera, Rhamnusia, Quan Yin, Amaterasu
“But the Egyptians which are excellent in all kinds of
ancient things do call me by my true name:
Queen Isis”

From out of Africa I came
I gave my angels charge over thee to keep thee
safe in the fruit of my womb, Jesus.
I am Mary, the mother of Grace
and my smile will light your primordial dawn

I am Queen of the Nile
The lion and every living beast submit tenderly
to me, for I am the last word Momma
and the true first wonder of the world

I am a direct descendant
of the royal house of David and the tribe of Judah
My blood is blue and my lineage is long
They can destroy my records
but I keep coming back
for I am a symbol of what will survive

For my mother and yours, Lady T
Teena Marie (1990)
____________________
I remember reading that poem when I was just a youngin’ and knowing that my life had been changed. Teena Marie was far more than an incredible singer/songwriter: she was a seer, a mystic and yes, a healer.

My spiritual journey has been shaped by 5 women. The first fifteen years, I studied that works of Reba Rambo and Leslie “Sam” Phillips. Then Teena Marie’s art entered my life and forever changed me. I studied her endlessly (and continue to). That studying prepared me for the other two that would come to mold me: Laura Nyro and Elizabeth Cunningham.

I hope that beyond the hit songs and memories that people have affiliated with them, that she will be remembered for the amazing spiritual force that she was…and for being a pioneering woman…a true “lover of the world” (that Elizabeth would write about) who brought many worlds together.

I am so incredibly sad today…but overjoyed that she has gone beyond the 9th wave and is now fully in spirit form. I see her dancing, reunited (as my godsister so beautifully saw last night) with Rick and her father. I see her kick dancing and twirling…meeting the Spirits who had already left, but so inspired her here on earth.

She has transfigured. She is….SHE.