Luisah Teish ( ; also known as Iyanifa Fajembola Fatunmise) is a teacherMalka Drucker. White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America. SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2003 and an author, most notably of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals.Casey, Laura. "There's magic between plants, food and beauty". Oakland Tribune [Oakland, Calif] 28 Oct 2006: 1. She is an Iyanifa and Oshun chief in the Yoruba Lucumi tradition.
Life Luisah Teish is an African-American, born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father, Wilson Allen, Sr. was an African Methodist Episcopal whose parents had been two-generation servants and only one generation away from slavery. Her mother, Serena "Rene" Allen, was a Catholic, of Haitian, French, and Choctaw heritage. Her original ancestry also includes Yoruba West African.Kathryn Rountree. Embracing the Witch and the Goddess: Feminist Ritual-Makers in New Zealand. Routledge 2003. Quote: "In 1992 Luisah Teish, who is well known internationally in Goddess circles as a writer and ritual-maker, visited New Zealand. Teish is of Yoruba (West African) ancestry, although she was born and raised in New Orleans. She was the guest facilitator at residential weekend workshops in Auckland and Hamilton dedicated to exploring sensuality and creativity in ritual contexts. Her book Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals (1985) is well known among feminist witches in New Zealand"
In the late 1960s, Teish was a dancer in Katherine Dunham's group, where she learned and performed traditional African and Caribbean dances. After leaving the dance company, she became a choreographer in St. Louis. In 1969 she joined the Fahami Temple of Amun-Ra, and it was here that she took the name "Luisah Teish", which means "adventuresome spirit".Directory, Institute of Noetic Sciences: Luisah Teish, wuote: "In 1969 she received initiation into the Fahamme Temple of Amun-Ra in St. Louis, Missouri." She led the dance troupe of the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis after the departure of BAG's first dance leader, Georgia Collins.
In the late 1970s she became an initiate and priestess of the Lucumi religion, and began teaching students in 1977.Greta S. Gaard. Ecological Politics: Ecofeminists and the Greens. Temple University Press, 1998 She currently resides in Oakland, California.Aikens, Charles. "Teish Says Oakland Deserves To Be Saved". California Voice [Oakland, Calif] 08 Dec 1991: 4.
Teish has said, "My tradition is very celebratory - there's always music, dance, song, and food in our services - as well as a sense of reverence for the children. It's joyful as well as meditative."
One author said she was the "perhaps the most well known.. Yoruba priestess.. of the [San Francisco] Bay Area" (2010).Lillian Ashcraft-Eason. Women and New and Africana Religions, ABC-CLIO, 2010, pg. 129 Another author characterized her as "..well known internationally in Goddess circles as a writer and ritual-maker."
Bibliography
What Don't Kill is Fattening: Poems by Luisah Teish (1980) Fan Tree Press ASIN: B0007BJRRE Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals (1988) HarperOne , Carnival of the Spirit: Seasonal Celebrations and Rites of Passage (1994) Harpercollins , "NEW IN PAPERBACK", Washington Post,[Washington, D.C] 15 Jan 1995: x.12. Soul Between the Lines: Freeing Your Creative Spirit Through Writing (with Dorothy Randall Gray) (1998) Avon Books , Eye of the Storm (1998) E P Dutton , Jump Up: Good Times Throughout the Season with Celebrations from Around the World (2000) Conari Press , What Don’t Kill Is Fattening Revisited: Twenty Years of Poetry, Prose, and Myth (2002) Orikire Publications Zulu Shaman: Dreams, Prophecies, and Mysteries (with Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa and Stephen Larsen) (2003) Destiny Books (New Edition of Song of the Stars) ,
References
External links Personal Website