Dr. LaJuan Simpson-Wilkey is interim department chair for the department of social work and human services at Kennesaw State University.Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Holy Names University. Eric Bridges is professor of psychology at Clayton State University.

“A refreshingly timely collection of essays that immediately reminds readers of the elastic resilience of the African spiritual heritage that sustained and continues to nourish not only the African descendants, but also others in the Americas. The spiritual tradition of Yemoja (Yemanja, Iemanya), does not only demonstrate the survival and pertinence of African spiritual values to the benefit of countless numbers of people in their daily lives for purposes of restoration to wholeness, but it also finds expression in literature and the arts to enhance the quality of human life. Indeed, time and distance have not been able to shrink this mighty African feminine divine!“

• Table of ContentsIntroduction - Ifakayode Faniyi, Eric Bridges, Sheila Smith McKoy, and LaJuan Simpson-WilkeyYemonja: Definitions and PracticeChapter 1 The Opulent Mother: A Brief Discussion of Yemonja and her Worship in Yorùbáland -Eric M. BridgesChapter 2 Yemonja and The Dark Waters of the Subconscious: Reflections on an Africana Archetype - Tarell KylesChapter 3 Iyemonja, Omi Jori: Our Mother, Leader of the Waters - Iya Osundamisi FafunkeChapter 4 Yemonja Braidings in Obeah Practices in the Anglophone Caribbean - Sandra Gonsalves-DomondChapter 5 What does it mean to be a traditional priestess? Interrogating Women’s Engagement with the Divine - Grace Sintim AdasiYemonja: Literature, Media, FilmChapter 6 Yemonja/Yemoja/Yemaya Rising: The Feminine Divine in Music, Fiction, and Media - Sheila Smith McKoyChapter 7 The Water of the Womb: The Unseen Power of Yemonja in James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk - Michael LindsayChapter 8 Spirit, Passion and Sufferance: Articulations of Yemoja through Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Velma Henry in The Salt Eaters - Khalilah AliChapter 9 A Small Piece of Blue Fabric: Manifestations of Yemonja as a Site of Generational Healing in Phyllis Alesia Perry’s Stigmata - Griselda ThomasChapter 10 Glimpses of Yemaya from Literary and Cultural Foremothers - Leah Creque

Dr. LaJuan Simpson-Wilkey is interim department chair for the department of social work and human services at Kennesaw State University.Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Holy Names University. Eric Bridges is professor of psychology at Clayton State University.

“A refreshingly timely collection of essays that immediately reminds readers of the elastic resilience of the African spiritual heritage that sustained and continues to nourish not only the African descendants, but also others in the Americas. The spiritual tradition of Yemoja (Yemanja, Iemanya), does not only demonstrate the survival and pertinence of African spiritual values to the benefit of countless numbers of people in their daily lives for purposes of restoration to wholeness, but it also finds expression in literature and the arts to enhance the quality of human life. Indeed, time and distance have not been able to shrink this mighty African feminine divine!“

• Table of ContentsIntroduction - Ifakayode Faniyi, Eric Bridges, Sheila Smith McKoy, and LaJuan Simpson-WilkeyYemonja: Definitions and PracticeChapter 1 The Opulent Mother: A Brief Discussion of Yemonja and her Worship in Yorùbáland -Eric M. BridgesChapter 2 Yemonja and The Dark Waters of the Subconscious: Reflections on an Africana Archetype - Tarell KylesChapter 3 Iyemonja, Omi Jori: Our Mother, Leader of the Waters - Iya Osundamisi FafunkeChapter 4 Yemonja Braidings in Obeah Practices in the Anglophone Caribbean - Sandra Gonsalves-DomondChapter 5 What does it mean to be a traditional priestess? Interrogating Women’s Engagement with the Divine - Grace Sintim AdasiYemonja: Literature, Media, FilmChapter 6 Yemonja/Yemoja/Yemaya Rising: The Feminine Divine in Music, Fiction, and Media - Sheila Smith McKoyChapter 7 The Water of the Womb: The Unseen Power of Yemonja in James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk - Michael LindsayChapter 8 Spirit, Passion and Sufferance: Articulations of Yemoja through Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Velma Henry in The Salt Eaters - Khalilah AliChapter 9 A Small Piece of Blue Fabric: Manifestations of Yemonja as a Site of Generational Healing in Phyllis Alesia Perry’s Stigmata - Griselda ThomasChapter 10 Glimpses of Yemaya from Literary and Cultural Foremothers - Leah Creque

Dr. LaJuan Simpson-Wilkey is interim department chair for the department of social work and human services at Kennesaw State University.Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Holy Names University. Eric Bridges is professor of psychology at Clayton State University.

“A refreshingly timely collection of essays that immediately reminds readers of the elastic resilience of the African spiritual heritage that sustained and continues to nourish not only the African descendants, but also others in the Americas. The spiritual tradition of Yemoja (Yemanja, Iemanya), does not only demonstrate the survival and pertinence of African spiritual values to the benefit of countless numbers of people in their daily lives for purposes of restoration to wholeness, but it also finds expression in literature and the arts to enhance the quality of human life. Indeed, time and distance have not been able to shrink this mighty African feminine divine!“

• Table of ContentsIntroduction - Ifakayode Faniyi, Eric Bridges, Sheila Smith McKoy, and LaJuan Simpson-WilkeyYemonja: Definitions and PracticeChapter 1 The Opulent Mother: A Brief Discussion of Yemonja and her Worship in Yorùbáland -Eric M. BridgesChapter 2 Yemonja and The Dark Waters of the Subconscious: Reflections on an Africana Archetype - Tarell KylesChapter 3 Iyemonja, Omi Jori: Our Mother, Leader of the Waters - Iya Osundamisi FafunkeChapter 4 Yemonja Braidings in Obeah Practices in the Anglophone Caribbean - Sandra Gonsalves-DomondChapter 5 What does it mean to be a traditional priestess? Interrogating Women’s Engagement with the Divine - Grace Sintim AdasiYemonja: Literature, Media, FilmChapter 6 Yemonja/Yemoja/Yemaya Rising: The Feminine Divine in Music, Fiction, and Media - Sheila Smith McKoyChapter 7 The Water of the Womb: The Unseen Power of Yemonja in James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk - Michael LindsayChapter 8 Spirit, Passion and Sufferance: Articulations of Yemoja through Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God and Velma Henry in The Salt Eaters - Khalilah AliChapter 9 A Small Piece of Blue Fabric: Manifestations of Yemonja as a Site of Generational Healing in Phyllis Alesia Perry’s Stigmata - Griselda ThomasChapter 10 Glimpses of Yemaya from Literary and Cultural Foremothers - Leah Creque