ALL OF YOU BELONGS HERE • Let Your Layers Speak

Gemini season is upon us! It's a time of intellectual brilliance, flowing communication, and the courage to embrace all your creative layers authentically. Under the cosmological influence of Èṣù/ Eshu and the planet Mercury, the messengers of transformation and truth, we are reminded that communication is more than words—it’s about vibration, movement, and multiplicity.

This week at Abstractly African, we honor the beauty of being many things at once.

For a long time, I didn’t know how to hold the fullness of who I am. I remember being a curious child who talked a lot, was always singing and dancing, full of questions and bursting with color. Teachers often told me I talked too much. I felt insecure, and often thought I was too loud or took up too much presence. I also felt deeply and constantly observed my surroundings. As a dark-skinned girl, I longed to be what the world deemed “acceptable”—lighter, quieter, more desirable. Like many Black creatives, I internalized the lie that being different (or simply being myself) meant being "wrong."

An African girl and her many selves

As I’ve grown through grief, art, ancestral connection, and deep reflection, I’ve come to understand that my differences are the beginning of the shared nuance, plurality, and complexity of my experience. My differences are cause for cosmic celebration—my loquaciousness, high sensitivity, and introspective mindset are unique qualities that bring new ideas, projects, pathways, worlds, and ecosystems to life.

Yorùbá cosmology teaches us that divinity is plural. There are many ways to embody, practice, and express the authentic layers of who you are. As forces of Nature, the Òrìṣà themselves embody multiplicity. We have Ọ̀ṣun/ Oshun radiant in beauty, softness, and strength. We have Ṣàngó/ Shango fierce in passion and fire. We have Ọ̀rúnmìlà, keeper of deep wisdom. And we have Èṣù/ Eshu trickster, boundary-crosser, and divine communicator, who moves between worlds, carrying stories between the Òrìṣà and humanity. Our existence as Black queer creative beings is also divine storytelling. We are layered. We are dynamic. We are meant to evolve!

4 Ways to Let Your Layers Shyne

1. Speak in Your Many Tongues.

Whether it's Creole, Patois, your mother’s Yoruba lullaby, or your own poetry—speak the languages that raised you. Let your voice reflect the worlds that live inside you.

2. Make Art from the In-Between.

Write, paint, dance, or film the stories you once hid. There is power in documenting your journey—not just the polished parts, but the messy ebbs and flows too.

3. Dress for Your Spirit.

Wear colors, fabrics, and accessories that mirror how you feel, not just how you’re perceived. Style is ceremony. Your body is your canvas.

4. Build Rituals for Self-Return.

Create weekly or daily practices that allow you to check in with your many selves. Journal. Meditate. Light a candle to Ọ̀ṣun and ask her to show you where your joy still flows.

Let's reflect:

What part of yourself are you still hiding, and what would it feel like to let that part speak?

This week I invite you to celebrate the plural, non-linear parts of yourself that defy the boxes. You are not too much. You are divinely complex and all of you belongs here!

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Together, let’s make room for every layer of who you are!