Welcoming Four New Generations of M’TAM Graduates Turning Back Time

Imagine that you are able to take a step back in time to the moment when the stability of your bloodline took its downward turn. Maybe it would mean that you could be present at the moment invaders forced your people from the land that had harmoniously sustained them for thousands of years. Perhaps it would mean that you were standing upon the sandy beach to greet your great great great great great great grandmother or grandfather as they emerged sick, beaten and cruelly chained to another from the belly of a ship. What if, in that moment, you were to ask that Ancestor of yours what you could do for them, what they wanted more than anything, what it would take to ease the excruciating pain and torment they were certain to be experiencing. Their answer would likely be.... home. 

While the Earth Center does not have a time machine, through the initiatic education offered by the M'TAM schools any individual can have the opportunity to go "home". Through this education the human being can reclaim her culture and all of the tools therein necessary for survival - her language, history, traditions, spirituality. The information conveyed in M'TAM is the same ancient knowledge that was taught to our Ancestors for thousands and thousands of years. It is the knowledge that the human being is required to have if she wishes to live a life in harmony with her Ancestors, the Earth and all of existence. 

The classwork of M'TAM is extraordinarily challenging - even the student who has known nothing but success in a colonial classroom will find herself struggling with the expectations of a traditional education. The first level of M'TAM will undoubtedly have the new initiate questioning every aspect of her existence. African scholar Cheikh Anta Diop said the real destruction with colonialism has not been from slavery, torture, Jim Crow or racism. It has been due to the disruption of our methods of education, leaving us no way in which to pass our education down to our descendants, while simultaneously having our education replaced with what our captors deemed suitable for the fulfillment of their own agendas. M'TAM is for many initiates the first time ever experiencing education that is truly for the upliftment of the self. And while the classwork is rigorous, it is actually outside of the classroom where initiation occurs. Taking the lessons taught in the classroom and working to apply them to one's life and perspective can be an uncomfortable process, but the one who emerges from the other side of that challenge will be stronger and wiser and will have reclaimed a bit of dignity for not only her people, but for all of humanity. 

All of the graduations consist of the same ancient ceremony involving spiritual ablutions. To someone unfamiliar with M'TAM it might appear repetitive, watching each accomplished initiate take his/her turn meticulously cleansing various parts of the body with water while chanting names of Neteru. But what is happening in those moments of M'TAM graduation is actually so powerful and dynamic that to understand it may very well be to be overwhelmed by it. The graduating students have spent months (often times years) stepping into the M'TAM classroom week after week rigorously learning how to exist in harmony with the Earth, while at the same time courageously identifying the obstacles that have been placed in their hearts and minds on the path toward survival. They have purified themselves so that they can be in harmony with the energies of the existence and approachable by Ancestors and Neteru at this moment as they stands before all with great humility ready to reclaim their destiny and dignity for their bloodline.

Since the last published Rising Firefly, The Earth Center of Maanu has experienced many changes at a very quick pace. The work of our Ancestors is reaching more and more people through speaking engagements by our leadership, our publications and many events throughout the diaspora. But there is no place where the work we are doing is more dynamic than in the M'TAM Initiation. Since our last published issue, there have been over 70 graduating initiates within more than fourteen generations within the U.S. The Earth Center congratulates the MAKTITAOUI, IPTIOORA, ZEHAIKHU, NEHE- SU, ZUJATAH, FYETEQ, SHEMZURA, SAKUHAII, MEZNKHE- PRA, ZIAWEET, KHEFNHERU, ZIPEWTU, ZESHERA and KEMMA'ATAH generations for taking this significant step toward reorienting themselves on their destinies' paths and reclaiming their time in the colonised areas, a purely traditional, purely Tamertic (African) school has been built on Kemetic soil. We are proud to say that we have graduated the first Earth Center generation of Kem back home! And at this moment, four more generations are following in their footsteps of these first initiates/graduates. Time and patience have served The Earth Center well.  May the ancestors continue to allow the blessings of the Neteru to reach the Shenmira, Zari’imou, Bakou and Nemapatou generations… forever.