This episode is personal. It's sacred. It's a threshold.

I recently visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and it completely shifted something in me. As I descended into the depths of their “From Slavery to Freedom” exhibition—three basement levels below ground—I felt like I was traveling through time. And when I reached the bottom, what I saw broke something open inside me: brittle receipts documenting the sale of human lives. Names reduced to numbers, stories reduced to stock.

And I realized... those receipts didn’t die with slavery. They became a blueprint we’re still using today. Now we call them promotions, productivity, and praise. We trade our souls for safety, our joy for just one more credential. But we weren’t born to be receipts. We were meant to be rivers.

What you’ve been experiencing this season hasn’t just been a podcast—it’s been a rite of passage. A liminal space. A sacred threshold between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming. And now? Now you're standing right at the edge.

What we explore in this episode:

• My powerful experience at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
• How receipts from slavery mirror the way we’re still measured today
• Why overachievement is a colonial legacy and what we need to unlearn
• The phases of a rite of passage: separation, liminality, return
• The sacred invitation of the threshold—and what you must be willing to leave behind
• Stories of two women who stepped into sovereignty and freedom
• A reminder that your rest is not a reward, your liberation is not a trophy—it is your birthright
• A powerful closing invocation from our ancestors and an invitation to name the one you are becoming

If you're standing at the threshold, I have a question for you:

What shall we call your sovereign self—the one waiting on the other side?

DM me the word “invitation” on Instagram @blackgoddesswithin and let me know what you’re ready to name her.

Final words to carry with you:

You are not a receipt. You are not a machine.

You are the altar. You are the offering.

You are the dream, unfolding.

There comes a moment in every sacred journey where you feel it in your bones—you can’t go back. You might not know what’s ahead, but you know something is shifting. This episode is for that moment. The one where you’re standing at the edge of your old life, hearing the whisper of what’s next, and wondering what it means to truly prepare for transformation.

Inside this episode, I take you through the deeper meaning of the altar—not just as a place of ritual, but as a sacred space we carry within us. We begin with the altar and end at the threshold, exploring how these spiritual anchors can hold us through seasons of change, especially when the world offers no ceremony for our becoming.

What I cover in this episode:

• What it means to stand at the edge of your own becoming
• Why everything might feel tender or unfamiliar lately
• The deeper meaning of altars beyond objects and aesthetics
• How we've been building altars our whole lives—sometimes without knowing it
• Why your body is your first altar and how it’s asking to be honored
• The sacred rhythm of commissioning, decommissioning, and returning to the altar
• The role of the altar in liminal space—between what was and what’s not yet
• Why transformation needs ceremony (not just checklists)
• A loving reminder that you don’t have to cross this threshold alone

In this moment of transition...

Whether you’re grieving, visioning, unraveling, or rebuilding—this is your invitation to slow down, to listen deeply, and to remember that sacred change deserves to be witnessed. You are not alone in this becoming.

A gentle next step:

Choose one space in your home—a corner, a windowsill, a shelf—and place something there that symbolizes who you’re becoming. Let it be honest. Let it be yours. This is not about perfection. This is about presence. Let it mark the beginning of this sacred transition.

Feeling called?

If this stirred something in your spirit—if you felt a yes rise up—I want to hear from you. DM me the word altar or come find me on Instagram @blackgoddesswithin. We’re not meant to walk these thresholds alone. Let's do this work together—in rhythm, in ceremony, in community.

Forty years after they died, I found my two baby brothers—unnamed and buried in an unmarked grave. I didn’t know why I needed to find them, only that I had to. What I discovered wasn’t just their resting place…it was a missing piece of myself.

In this episode, I’m inviting you into a deeply personal story about ancestral directives, intuitive knowing, and what happens when we follow a call that makes no sense—but changes everything. This isn’t just about grief or loss. It’s about healing, remembering, and reconnecting to the pieces of ourselves empire tried to slice away.

What We Cover in This Episode:

• What it means to receive an ancestral directive—and how it shows up
• Why our liberation journey includes (and requires) our ancestors
• The different types of ancestral connections: bloodline, milk line, and spirit/soul line
• How overachievement became the armor many of us used to survive
• The unexpected, unexplainable call that led me to find my brothers
• What happened when I listened, followed, and remembered
• How ancestral reconnection heals more than just the individual
• A guided moment to check in with your own quiet callings

You might not have a story like mine—but I believe you do have a thread to follow. A whisper you’ve ignored. A name you haven’t spoken. A pull that doesn’t come with a reason. I invite you to listen. Breathe. And trust the call.