Gryphon Blackswan Speaks Rosie Delicious

Gryphon Blackswan Speaks

Trannelled by Rosie Delicious

Recorded 5 pm, 5/15/20, Liberty State Park in which I felt fear for being the scribe to wit Gryphon replied:

“please excuse the white scribe Yet Rosie Delicious gets to do this cuz of our Relationship wrought thru the years”

We black folk know Community as the necessary Foundation to staying alive That community extends thru Time thru the ages and Encompasses an epic journey Of peoples’ enslavement and Their ultimate endurance

We know our struggles We KNOW our endurance As no one else still endures More than we in white man’s America For as we know No other race has suffered like we And we know that in our bones made from The same DNA as the bones of our ancestors Thus to know ourselves down to our bones We must know our Ancestors & in so knowing Know ourselves We look to our ancestors For the wisdom in their stories As those intertwined in ours Like one giant tapestry Weaving us together So that so connected We feed the ancestors as they feed us The link is unbroken - it is interwoven It is in our bones children

Connect to your bones Know yourself deep within You are divine - Xtra divine Dwell in it & thru it! Bless the world with your Fierce presence & NEVER Look back—except to See your ancestors blessing You on your journey PEACE! OUT! GB

Gryphon Blackswan, ibae, is a beloved ancestor to many in our extended communities. S/he was a fierce queen, an amazing designer of fabrics and fashions, an avowed temple whore, a Loving Companion, and, most importantly, an empowered black man who blessed many by their gifts and acts throughout a life cut short by AIDS.

Gryphon has been very active as an ancestor, interacting with many folk sharing stories, ideas, visions, songs and dances from beyond the veil. In fact, this article exists due to Gryphon prodding me to get on with showing how being in relationship with ancestors is a core tenet and practice within African religions. I know this from my time within a Santeria Ile in Brooklyn.

Gryphon came into my knowing whilst I was at my first Sex Magick workshop at Wolf Creek in July 1996. Gryphon had died that April and we held a memorial ritual for them, allowing me to witness the effect Gryphon had had on those who offered their tributes. Five years later I was to meet Gryphon unexpectedly within an ancestor aspecting ritual held by Donald Engstrom at the first Faerie Shaman gathering at Zuni Mountain Sanctuary in September 2001.

We entered the labyrinth with the instruction to “meet an ancestor who loves us beyond all reason.” I

thought I’d run into one of the ancestors who’d show up at the Missa Blancas we’d have at the Ile twice a month. Instead, a voice inside said: “OK Girl—do your thing and I’ll come to you.” I knew exactly what this meant, so at the easternmost stone in the labyrinth’s outer circle, I dropped my skirt, bent over, and opened my butt lips to kiss the sun—the Rosie Delicious salutation! From then on, I have had Gryphon Blackswan in my life as a guide, a teacher, and a friend.

Gryphon taught me how to call out to her, which I did that afternoon in May and wrote down the words she spoke in my inner ears. Gryphon means to share this with you as a teaching and an exhortation, especially to you Legendary Children of Color reading this: your relationship with your ancestors can literally keep you alive—in spirit AND in body. These are troubling times and the ancestors are ever-present and ready to help! KNOW them + their stories = CALL out to them + then sit to listen + BE!

BLESSED BE OUR ANCESTORS!!! MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE ETERNAL!!!

Here’s an interview with Gryphon on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rolKYhDyJNo.