Member Zine Issue No. 6

This past weekend, many countries around the world celebrated Valentines day. A day dedicated to celebrating love itself. While in our modern time, much commercial marketing gets involved with portraying this holiday as being all about romantic love, there are other connotations to the long history of the Holiday many of which include themes around selflessly and compassionately joining forces with other human beings to engage in service for the benefit of all. In other words, Agape love. One definition of this form of love describes it as being “a love that is a love of choice, not out of attraction or obligation.”

To introduce our Community Highlights, we want to share a beautiful reflection on the power of community (and the strength of love!) from Naima Penniman – multi-dimensional artist, activist, healer, grower and educator committed to planetary health and community resilience.

“When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast, almost everything lost it’s footing. Houses were detached from their foundations, trees and shrubbery were uprooted, signposts and vehicles floated down the rivers that became of the streets. But amidst the whipping winds and surging water, the oak tree held its ground.

How? Instead of digging its roots deep and solitary in the earth, the oak tree grows its roots wide and interlocks with other oak trees in the area. And you can’t bring down a hundred oak trees bound beneath the soil! How do we survive the unnatural disasters of climate change, environmental injustice, over-policing, mass imprisonment, militarization, economic equality, corporate globalization, and displacement? We must connect in the underground, my people, in this way we shall survive.”

This quote reminded our team that being intertwined in such a way – in the underground of the soil, reaching outward, interlocking our hands, choosing to love – this is where we can draw real strength that will support us in withstanding the storms and challenges of our lives. We are in the midst of uncertain times, seeking after justice and truth which are the actions of true love, standing at cause for the healing of our global family. We need each other now, more than ever. We need to access that profound agape love. The author and philosopher, Paolo Coelho spoke of it beautifully when he said, ‘Agape is total love. It is the love that consumes the person who experiences it. Whoever knows and experiences Agape learns that nothing else in the world is as important as love.’

Together, we are learning what such a love looks like, and how communities of care and healing take root and grow strong through that powerful choice to love!  At Musea, we have a saying – an ethos, really – may  love be at the center of all our choices. We believe that love really is at the root of this rootedness; a capacity of hearts that are softened and opened to one another, ready for a more expansive kind of revolutionary love that, in the words of activist Valerie Kaur ‘sees no stranger’. This is partly accessed through our Intentional Creativity practice, as we seek to be opened up to new awareness of self, other, and all our relations.

We are so grateful to be nested inside of a creative community that holds this agape love as a value. With that said, we will share some beautiful images of LOVE from our Members this week, in honor of the recent celebration in many countries of Valentine’s Day. Let’s continue to spread out our roots, interlocking, choosing one another, choosing love.

Dear Musea Members and guest readers,

Community consists of a commune (community) and unity (community)… 

The definition of “commune” is: “a group of people who live together and share responsibilities, possessions, etc.”1. And “unity” is defined as: “the state of being in agreement and working together; the state of being joined together to form one unit.”2 Our global world is one gigantic community. Our country is one community. Our state is one community. Our neighborhood is one community. You get the picture… A community can be defined and depicted as many things – both large and small. 

Most of us probably don’t think about community past our neighborhood, spiritual institution, or school. But we really are all in this together… What we do here in America eventually affects the greater global community in Africa. Global warming is named as such because we all are affecting the natural properties and weather patterns of Mother Earth. And the global community becomes even farther reaching when we take into consideration our non-human community members: animals, plants, trees, insects, etc. 

If I consider the inquiry: What does community mean to me? immediately I briefly envision the greater global community. But then, I go right to the community of Red Thread sisters that I am fortunate enough to be part of, and that community is a smaller representation of the global community. I am afforded the opportunity to commune in unity with women from all around the world. This Intentional Creativity community is a true representation of the cultures present in the world at large and allows me to easily realize my part in the greater global community in which we all live. 

To drill down even further, community means to me a group of people – related and unrelated – that are working together for the betterment of their individual and collective lives. This is what Intentional Creativity brings to me. We, through image + word and symbol, are working together to better our world and the world around us. The Intentional Creativity community is working to leave its mark on humanity for at least 100 years, but we hope that it will far surpass that goal. This community wants the world to know about the healing power of creating with intention – now and forever. This group has communed together in unity to individually and collectively become “healed enough” to make their world and the world around them a better place to co-exist. 

This is what community is to me. This is my community. I have found my people! 

For over 10 years now, I have relished in the sustained and meaningful connection with the other sisters in the Red Thread Community. It has allowed me to clearly define my Self as an artist, author, and educator. I have made many great connections in my local community through my sharing of Intentional Creativity – both from my home studio and my external studio (DIVA Empowerment Studio located in Baltimore Maryland, a Musea Global Center). My students and the friends made at the DIVA Empowerment Studio are an extension of the greater Red Thread community of sisters, which is an extension and image of the greater global community.   

My community is representative of the world community. We are each striving to heal through and share Intentional Creativity. Our intention is to ensure that this healing modality out lives us all and carries on through eternity. And we are doing it for the betterment of ourselves, the world around us, and the world at large. This, for me, is community. This is the definition of commune + unity. The Intentional Creativity community is a group of people sharing the responsibility of spreading the goodness of Intentional Creativity and sharing in the possession of the artwork that is created through our efforts, all while being in agreement that Intentional Creativity heals us and can heal others. 

Community… What does it mean to you? 

Sumaiyah Wysdom Yates is an Artist, Author, and Educator. She is also a Musea Board Member, Co-Curator, Intentional Creativity Teacher, Coach, and Guide, and an active Guild Member. Sumaiyah has used Intentional Creativity in her personal life to heal from the old stories so that she could become healed enough to create new stories for her own life while being a Creative Catalyst in the lives of others who are seeking to heal through art + words and symbol. 

Sumaiyah’s path has led her to launch D.O.T.S. of Dopeness – Domestic violence Outreach for Transformation and Support – an Intentional Creativity community for victims and survivors of intimate partner abuse, helping them to thrive and not just survive by using Intentional Creativity as the vehicle to help them become healed enough in order to do so. She has plans to open Cosmic Creativity Camp at her DIVA Empowerment Studio in the Summer of 2022. A camp for girls aged 10 to 16 with the intention to teach them how to use Intentional Creativity as sacred self-care in order that they will be strong enough to avoid the pitfalls of domestic violence and/or be wise enough to see the signs and course correct their steps so they don’t fall victim to this heinous crime. Sumaiyah is a survivor of intimate partner abuse who healed her Self with the tools of Intentional Creativity and is now thriving. Find out more about Sumaiyah and her work at www.divaempowermentstudio.com.