Sweet Herbal Honey Apothecary
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Bees of the Indigo Ancestral Sanctuary
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The Legacy Bearers
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Ase' O community Arts & Wellness Education Program
Welcome to Bees of the Indigo
Sacred Event Space & Cultural Homeschool
Bees of the Indigo is a southern-rooted sacred house in Bakersfield, CA, honoring the power of cultural practices, community exchange, and creative expression that bridges gaps and builds solutions. The Indigo House provides a physical and virtual that highlights our voices and develops purposeful opportunities for folks of the African Diaspora and other kin communities who have been silenced and marginalized.
Our mission is to embody a watering-well environment where “each one, teach one mindset” can thrive naturally and where youth and adults can feel liberated in exchanging wisdom that celebrates their beauty, resilience, diversity, and power. We believe that there is sacred power within each of us, and with magic, we can enact effective change that honors our cultural and spiritual exchange, intersectionality, and the liberation of our histories. We uplift the traditions and authenticity of each person and their story as we integrate the past, present, and future.
Bees of the Indigo is a healing community space held by a community member, nonbinary daughter of the Diaspora, spiritual practitioner, educator, and artist who reveres the power of our ancestors throughout history and the magic of us all as
descendants. We believe in the importance of mutual aid and collaboration, so we strive to plug in where needed, build together and with what we can offer that moves equitably. We use the approaches of education as activism, cultural arts as healing, community empowerment, and creative thinking that leads to better lives.
We utilize these approaches to exchange and promote community self-reliance against white supremacy, prejudice teachings, scarcity mindset, and other forms of oppression.
We believe communities thrive when their basic needs are met, including their sense of safety, belonging, creativity, purpose, exploration, social awareness, mental health and spiritual connection. In addition, resources are not always readily available to our communities, so we use creative fundraising to support gathering those resources. As each of us exchange and pour into ourselves and our communities, we collectively provide for our communities, giving each of us the autonomy and wisdom to sustain the needs of our communities.
We offer and partner with the other community members through fundraiser workshops, retreats, dinner parties, events, sacred circles, community service opportunities, and exchange resources through skill development or volunteering for folks with constraints. No one will be turned away due to monetary purposes. Though we offer programming, we also call on the community to use the space to pour into the community, themselves, and the sacred space with their tenderness and direction toward freedom.
Community folks can hold virtual or physical initiatives, events, classes, and ceremonies that center on the traditional and versatile asé of the Diaspora that can reach our communities, locally and internationally. The Indigo House is also a space for practitioners and artists to connect one-on-one with the community through their workings and support the community and their financial needs.At the Indigo House, we offer a community library, prayer room, small apothecary, community garden, self-care station, deck, a grass area for classes and gatherings, and a meditation room. This space is for living and non-living folk; we thank our ancestors throughout periods and their wisdom that guides us toward freedom.
Bees of the Indigo Opening: Community Love Fundraiser October 2023
The powerful history of bottle trees originated in the Congo in the 9th century. It has deep roots in the Caribbean, the deep South of the U.S., and Egypt and Mesopotamia in 1600 BC. By tying them or hanging the bottles upside down, this ancient practice was used as talismans or juju to protect the home by warding off or catching evil spirits to allow the sun to rid them. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, this wealthy wisdom was carried with our ancestors during their enslavement and brought to the United States, especially South Carolina and Appalachia.
Later, the Europeans assumed our sacred tradition of Southern Plantains. Glass Bottle Trees or "Haint Trees" are still heavily practiced in Southern culture and found in the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Traditionally, our ancestors used Crepe Myrtle and brass metal trees, which we can mostly see now.
Bottle colors are optional, but cobalt blue is often seen and associated with water and spirit. Inside the bottles, our ancestors filled them with special elixirs, oil spices, and blends with intentions placed at crossroad locations, in front of homes, backyards, and any meeting places.