Luisah Teish (/tiːʃ/TEESH;[1] also known as Iyanifa Fajembola Fatunmise)[2] is a
teacher[3] and an
author, most notably of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals.[4] She is an
Iyanifa and
Oshun chief in the
YorubaLucumi tradition.[4][5]
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.[6] Her original ancestry also includes
Yoruba West African.[7]
In the late 1960s, Teish was a dancer in
Katherine Dunham's group, where she learned and performed traditional African and Caribbean dances.[8] 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".[8][9] 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.
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."[8]
One author said she was the "perhaps the most well known..
Yoruba priestess.. of the [San Francisco] Bay Area" (2010).[12] Another author characterized her as "..well known internationally in Goddess circles as a writer and ritual-maker."[7]
Bibliography
What Don't Kill is Fattening: Poems by Luisah Teish (1980) Fan Tree Press ASIN: B0007BJRRE
Soul Between the Lines: Freeing Your Creative Spirit Through Writing (with Dorothy Randall Gray) (1998) Avon Books
ISBN0-380-79142-0,
ISBN978-0-380-79142-2
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)
ISBN0-89281-129-3,
ISBN978-0-89281-129-8
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abKathryn 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"