The Earth Center Opens in Baltimore

Baltimore Earth Center initiate displays publications during a lecture.

Yes, you read it correctly! And it has been a long time coming... The Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia region has been blessed and honored to become the sixth location within the continent of Maanu (Americas) in which the sacred and prestigious education of traditional Kemetic initiation will commence. This is no small thing, and the timing of it’s opening could not have found us in a more desperate condition.

We can attest to the need for a paradigm shift in the modern society in general and Maanu in particular. It has been in need of a movement that will reset and revitalize the decaying edifice of humanity’s climb toward enlightenment. The answer came two decades ago in the form of Prophet Neb Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig. With the permission of traditional elders and keepers of humanity’s original culture, he has ignited a renaissance. It is a movement sparked by the knowledge he has brought out to the world, and it has since been building in a steady upsurge.

This child stands in front of a police blockade during the Baltimore riots in response to murder by the police.

Individuals and devotees, who have been swept up by the headwinds of this movement in the Baltimore and DMV area, are poised to become a part of a movement that is spreading like a wave. It represents an opportunity for the disenfranchised and dis-empowered, as well as for inhabitants from all walks of life suffering under the yoke of colonialism, to take responsibility and ownership over their destinies. In light of the recent, highly publicized, unrest here in Baltimore City, many political and social activists have come forward to rally support for various solutions.

Different camps formed in accordance with whichever agenda was most convincing. Still debates continue as to the appropriate response; some promoting marches, boycotts and vigils, others endorsing all out violence and rebellion. This appears to be the case not only here, but in other cities around the country. People of the colonized territory, nationally and around the globe, have witnessed the uptick of injustices and affronts to the very sovereignty of people of color within these borders.

This is nothing new; however, it is the visibility of these barbaric acts that has exposed the seedy underbelly of a system that has positioned itself as the moral and ethical standard bearer of the world. The glaring economic and social disparity, contributing to the overwhelming rates of incarceration in the school to prison educational system of the inner cities, is becoming increasingly obvious to the rest of the world.

This, among many of the other inequities suffered in all areas of human activity, has left people of color, especially African descendants, in a position of victim hood. But what is worse, according to the Prophet of the traditions Neb Naba, is for us to accept this position and continue to perpetuate it by contributing our energies toward making our victim hood a lifestyle.

For the people of Baltimore etc., however, a chance has presented itself and is now a reality. It is an opportunity to move away from the dizzying array of opinions coming from every direction and venue across the political spectrum, an opportunity which gives us the tools enabling us to look to ourselves for solutions. After several years of work, dedication, and patience, in efforts to bring the Earth Center to the area, Baltimore and the DMV can now be counted among the cities that are set to be home to another beacon of redemption and dignity within a territory that is dangerously perched near the edge of complete unraveling. Prophet Neb Naba has suggested to us a thought worth repeating here, ‘We have tried everyone  else’s ideas, approaches and agendas and they haven’t worked; maybe it’s time we try something brought to us by our very own, coming from our roots.

The Prophet Neb Naba represents, for us, the gateway connecting us to those roots we so desperately need for our revitalization; for as tradition says, ‘A people disconnected from their origins is like a tree without roots or a river without a source.’ To that end, it was the Prophet himself who specifically extended his hand to be a bridge here in Baltimore a decade ago.

In fact, he was inter viewed by the owner of one of the cultural oases in the city that incidentally sits a block away from the intersection that is now nationally and perhaps internationally known for the recent social upheaval around the brutal death of one Freddy Grey. It is here at this epicenter of social unrest, where the now disquieting rumbles of the margin alized and systematically disadvantaged, are managing an uneasy peace between the rock that is everyday life and the fate of a hard place in the wake of outright anarchy.

Ironically, it is also here that we’ve found the sprouting of those seeds planted by our Prophet. It came in the form of the Baltimore Earth Center Study Group’s re-emergence for the third time, after a lengthy hiatus. Its members were determined to see our goal achieved in finally bringing the initiatic school into our midst.

So, it is with complete satisfaction and honor, together with the humbling knowledge of the challenging work ahead, that we announce the opening of the doors of initiation into the hallowed “mystery” schools of Kemet and humanity’s original civilization. May we have the support, courage, and strength to take the path of our becoming into our hands, and build the world we wish to see.