Mommy: Birthing the Goddess Within for Our Children's Sake

By Dr. Michelle Gamble DN

On countless occasions, she has dealt with the pain, confusion, and frustration of a medical system that only wanted to increase prescriptions and recommend invasive procedures. Born with a diseased colon that had to be partially removed when she was only a baby, Dr. Gamble lived the first year of her life w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sankofa Healing and Enrichment, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640857483

Book preview

MOMMY

Birthing the Goddess Within – For Our Children’s Sake

Dr. Michelle Gamble, DN

© Copyright 2019 by Dr. Michelle Gamble, DN All Rights Reserved

This book is dedicated to:

ALL the Children of the World in general, and specifically to Ankhala, Menkara, Kamenra, Merisauh, and Javeda.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART-1: Children of Belize

Chapter One: My Little Bunny

Chapter Two: Hail Mary Full of Grace

Chapter Three: We Care

PART-2: Children of New York

Chapter Four: Here We Go Again

Chapter Five: Summer, Summer, Summer Time

PART 3: Children of Andover

Chapter Six: Diversity? – That is The Question.

Chapter Seven: I Return Mama Africa!

Chapter Eight: Ancestral Memory Mama Yemaya [5]

Chapter Nine: Capitol Hill- The Slave Plantation

PART 4: Children of Africa

Chapter Ten: Where Can I Buy a Doll?

Chapter Eleven: Mama Africa: We Long for Your Return

Chapter Twelve: Where Do I Go From Here?

Chapter Thirteen: Ancestral Memory

Chapter Fourteen: My African King

PART 5: Children of Japan

Chapter Fifteen: One Love

Chapter Sixteen: Children of War

Chapter Seventeen: Ankhala Sara Gamble

PART 6: Children of Transition

Chapter Eighteen: Menkara Hetep Gamble

Chapter Nineteen: Sisters

Chapter Twenty: Military Wife

PART 7: Children of the South East

Chapter Twenty One: Kamenra-Ptah Gamble

Chapter Twenty Two: Merisauh En Aungkh Gamble

Chapter Twenty Three: The Birth of Sankofa

PART 8: Children of South Georgia

Chapter Twenty Four: The Confederacy Lives On

Chapter Twenty-Five: Where have you gone?

Chapter Twenty-Six: A Dream Deferred

PART 9: Children of The Pan Handle

Chapter Twenty Seven: Hanging In and Dropping Out

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Victims of Systems

Chapter Twenty Nine: Javeda Andrea Lewis

PART 10: I Am……..MOMMY

Chapter Thirty: Javeda Andrea Gamble

Epilogue

Call to Action

Acknowledgments

A Special Word of Thanks to Fathers

About the Author

It Takes a Village

All proceeds generated from the sale of this book will be donated to It Takes a Village Ministry, Inc., a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization. The mission of ITAV is to create and nourish communities that educate and empower individuals to heal: body, minds, heart, and soul.

ITAV fulfills this mission through three primary outreach initiatives: Community Empowerment workshops, Teen IDOL (a teen leadership program), and SASSUA (a women’s support group).

We invite you to learn more by visiting the website: www.itavministry.org .

Introduction

I’m looking at the (woman) in the mirror.

I’m asking (her) to change (her) ways.

No message could have been any clearer.

If you want to make the world a better place,

Take a look at yourself and make a change.

Michael Jackson

Ever since I was a teenager, people have been telling me that I needed to write a book. Lord knows, anyone who has been around me for any amount of time can atstest to the fact that I always have a lot to say. And yet, when it comes to writing, I tend to be a lot less prolific. I guess, in some way, I look at literature as being a sacred art form. I consider writers to be artists who have a gift and therefore a responsibility to use their craft to serve a deeper purpose. In the words of Paul Robeson, Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. That is why when I think about writing, I always ask myself, Why am I doing this?. What is the deeper truth that needs to be shared?

Writing has always been a very intentional process for me. For years, I have not written anything other than technical manuals and guides. It was not that I did not think that I could create something of interest. I am sure I could have written a book that would have sold at least ten copies – Afterall, I do have at least that many family and friends who I could have guilted into buying a copy or two. No. I did not want my work to be yet another book filled with the stories of my life, or my insights on how to improve one’s self in some way, shape or form. Many writers before me have filled the world with such texts. Subsequently, I waited and waited for the call to action to make me aware that the time was right and to give me direction as to my purpose.

That call came to me during the Spring Equinox of 2019. I was sitting amid a sea of over 500 powerful women at a conference. The details of that story I will share with you later date in this book. Suffice to say, that was the moment in time that will forever be etched in my body, mind, heart, and soul. In that moment of Divine Intervention, The Voice came to me and said It is not about you. It is about the children. Over and over I heard that voice echoing in my mind shaking to the very core of my being. It is not about you. It is about the children. I understood then what I needed to do. I needed to share my story, not because of me but because of them. You see, when I write this story to you, I'm telling you the tale of how the children of the world in general, and the children in my life specifically, have propelled me to a deeper understanding of who I am as a person, a woman, and most importantly a mother. In the context of what I'm sharing with you, being a mommy is not a job description. Being Mom is not a title, but a state of being. Identifying one's self as a mother is a decision to become in alignment with the foundational energy of humility, nurturance, and servitude.

For those of you who are reading this book who are caregivers, teachers, ministers, etc. you know what I mean when I say that what we do is not a job. What we do is not a business. What we do is not even a Ministry. The reality is that being a mother is as synonymous to who I am as the air that I breathe. Motherhood is the totality of my essence, my only reason for being. The calling that day in the conference was a directive for me to let go of my ego. To release myself from the constraints of false identities and limiting belief patterns of who and what I am in light of the things that I do.

That day, I heard the sweet call of Yemaya welcoming me into her primordial Waters. I felt the warm embrace of the holy mother Mary, Our Lady. I was enveloped within the loving devotion of Auset. This moment was the epiphany, the pivotal point at which I realized that my entire life had been an incubator which nurtured me through the evolutionary process of becoming and giving birth to the mommy from my womb. With this book, I'm reaching out to every woman in the world. I'm inviting you to reach within and to give birth to your mommy. Being a mother has little to do with the physical act of birthing a child. Being a mother has everything to do with allowing oneself to become in alignment with the maternal energy of the universe, of life in action and submitting oneself to the call to become the foundation that nurtures and sacrifices on behalf of all.

As I sat in the conference on the beautiful spring equinox of 2019, I heard the cries of our children, Mommy, they wailed in anguish. They were gifted to us as innocent beings of love and light. In that state of vulnerability, their very presence was a request from the Divine for us to serve as mothers by providing nourishment for their bodies, minds, hearts, and souls. They beg us to let go of our pain, our past, our false identification with trauma, our need to lick the wounds of events that have occurred in our history and to step out of that pervasive aura of victimhood. It is not about us. Oh no my sisters, it is about the children. Our children need mothers, women who will finally step forward in their strength to heal themselves and subsequently become vessels for the healing power that this world is in such dire need of.

In this book, I invite you to share in the journey discovering the many ways in which my children have taught me the invaluable lesson of what it truly means to be Mommy. As you hear my many stories, you will bear witness to my struggles in learning to let go of who I thought I was, and what I felt I needed to be and do. You will also witness the pain of me realizing how my thoughts, words, and actions have unintentionally inflicted violence against children.

Keep in mind, when I speak of violence, I'm not talking about the obvious ways in which violence manifest itself in our world. When I speak of violence, I am referring to any energetic expression that does not promote the health and well-being of all people and the environment. In our society, the most prominent example of violence is being egocentric and self-absorbed. Each day we go through our lives with an almost addictive obsession with ourselves, the pursuit of possessions and other means of validating our self-worth, the preservation and revitalization of our past wounds, and our need to blame others and circumstances for our choices and the present realities of our lives. Unfortunately, in doing so, we inadvertently starve our children of the love, peace, joy, happiness, strength, and faith that they need for their personal development.

Through my stories, I hope that you will be able to see perhaps parts of yourself reflected in my pain, my sorrow, my triumphs, my joys, and most importantly in my deepest desire to lovingly serve the needs of the children of the world with devotion, passion, and vitality. There may be times when you feel a stirring within you, a resistance, a revealing of a pain that you thought had been buried or healed. In those moments, I encourage you to move through with a loving acceptance that your story can be the catalyst for you to go deep within and birth your Goddess. I am excited that you will become familiar with the many beautiful spirits that have been my most excellent mentors. You will see how they taught me ways in which I could finally release my false identities and step into my divine right and responsibility of being Mommy

PART-1:

Children of Belize

Chapter One: My Little Bunny

I was born in the early hours of the morning, one Sunday in September of 1971. At my current stage of awareness, I do not recall the details of my entry into this world. I am amazed at the degree to which my Mommy remembers the specifics of that day. I relate to you my interpretation of her memories.

As in all relationships, my mother and father were experiencing a period of difficulty. I seem to have a knack for showing up in times of turmoil. Subsequently, when my mommy went through labor with me in Caledonia Hospital, she was alone, without the presence of family and friends. Indeed, she gave me the name, Michelle, in honor of a nurse who stayed by her side and provided her with the warmth of sisterly love and support. Mommy tells me, however, that her labor was fast and easy. I guess, true to my hot nature; I was ready to Get this party started. My transition from her womb into, this incarnation was only a couple of hours. My own experiences with giving birth to my biological children would prove to be very similar.

Twenty-four hours after my birth, the alarm bells sounded. I had not had a bowel movement. The doctors rushed me to Kings County Hospital for testing to determine the root of this potentially life-threatening situation. After many tests, they diagnosed me with Hirsch Spring disease. (Later in life, as a natural health care provider, I would learn that some disturbances of the bowel have a genetic component and are hereditary in my family). At a later date, I underwent surgery to remove the more significant portion of my large intestine which was defunct, dead. I can only imagine the sense of despair and helplessness that my mother experienced in those first days as she was overwhelmed with knowing that her child could die at any moment. This was the time when she gave me the greatest gifts of all, second only to the gift of life. She gave me the gifts of HOPE and FAITH.

During my first days of life, she and my grandmother performed a novena [1] on my behalf. I am sure she would say that I, the fact that I am living today, taught her the power of prayer. Through this experience, my mommy taught me the most crucial lesson in life, trust in the Spirit and innate healing power of nature. This awareness and connection with the Divine are what has sustained me throughout my life, through all the mountains and valleys. Although I do not consider my mommy to be a religious person; she is deeply spiritual. As a family, we have been blessed to be able to participate in many different spiritual traditions.

My grandmother provided the base with her devotion to Catholicism. I grew up in the company of Saints, the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and much more. Some of my earliest memories from childhood, are of being locked in my room to memorize prayers. While I do not condone my grandmother’s methods, I am eternally grateful for the outcome. In my moments of need, I have confidence in knowing that I can communicate with Spirit. To this day, I love the feel of prayer beads flowing through my fingers as I talk and commune with God through prayer.

Through the meditative and contemplative services of the Catholic Church, I learned how to access the peace of being able to be still and know that I am.. [2] I am empowered with the awareness of being able to listen and hear the ever-present wisdom of God. Through the stories of the Bible, in particular, the stories of Easter, the crucifixion and the resurrection, I am guided and given comfort through the times of darkness in my life by the light of truth, an inner knowing, that death is but a precursory transitional phase of living, and life is everlasting. My mother prayed not only for the nine days of the novena, but she also has never stopped praying. Now, I continue the tradition by praying not only for the children of my womb but for all children.

Thus, armed with the grace of God working through the hands of phenomenal surgeons and doctors, I lived the first year of my life with a colostomy bay attached to my abdomen. When I was one year old, I went through the follow-up surgery to reconnect the remainder of my bowel with my rectum. What my parents did not realize was that although the disease had been cured through the removal of the infected intestine, the underlying imbalances of my dis-ease had not been healed. Unfortunately, this band-aid approach of merely cutting out the disease has not changed over the almost five decades of my lifetime. In 2011, a dear colleague of mine received the tragic news that his little ten-year-old girl was diagnosed with cancer. I would cover some of his classes for him as he took leave to drive her all over Florida to receive care from some of the best oncologists he could find. After many consultations, he and his wife decided to permit their daughter’s leg to be amputated and for her to proceed with the customary treatments of radiation and chemotherapy. Interestingly enough, the treatment protocol for cancer has not changed since the 1940s.

Children being the resilient creatures they are designed to be, the daughter rebounded from the ordeal like a champ. She obtained a prosthetic leg and resumed her participation in school and many extracurricular activities including sports. Her father and I fell out of communication with each other after both of us changed schools and he moved to another county to teach. A couple of years later, we were reunited at a training program for teachers of mathematics. When I rushed up to hug him, I sensed a heaviness in his aura. He then told me that his daughter had died a year before when cancer had returned in a more aggressive form that had metastasized throughout her little body. I cried inside as he shared with me one of his main regrets. He said he wished he had listened to me when I had talked about the need to address the root causes, triggers, and mediators of any disease, especially cancer. According to him, the doctors had dismissed the importance of diet and lifestyle. Subsequently, he and his wife had continued to feed their daughter the typical SAD, Standard American Diet.

Now after her death, he had become more aware of the significant effect that such foods rich in refined sugar and rancid fats, depleted of essential nutrients have in terms of promoting the growth and proliferation of cancerous cells. Like my colleague and indeed most people in our world, my parents were also unaware of the tremendous impact of diet and lifestyle on the development and exacerbation of chronic illness. As a result, I lived a pretty normal childhood, complete with the SAD and the resulting various gastrointestinal disturbances, and hormonal imbalances.

When I was about four years old, my parents relocated to Belize, Central America. We landed at the airport, and I disembarked excitedly, holding the arm of my little bunny, anxious to see our new home. My father had a business, Gemini Distributors, which included a music store where he sold records and musical equipment. He also was a DJ and designed and installed phenomenal sound systems for clubs and hotels. His talents were renowned, and we even traveled a far as Mexico to deliver to establishments seeking his services and products. One of the gifts that my dad gave me was the love of music and later mathematics. I remember a childhood filled with music. All types of music colored the air, Jazz, Big Band, R&B, Calypso, Country, Salsa, Afro-Cuban Jazz, Blues, and the list goes on. As the music played, we would dance. Oh, how I loved to dance alone and with my father. Oh, how I loved to see my father dance with my mommy. Those moments were filled with the healing power of love, joy, and laughter.

Music is an integral part of my soul. Indeed, even as I write this passage, I am listening to the melodies of healing harmonics [3] that have been used by many from the Universe – one verse. Aung Dhung. Through music, I can more easily access the Fruit of the Spirit in my times of need. In my darkest moments of despair, I have been able to climb out of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual hells, lifted by God’s grace, and inspired by the songs of angels, on the staircase of melodies. Music is the key foundation of the system of HeartSong which I later created to support people in their journey of breaking free from emotional trauma. My dear sisters, as a child I learned that music can help us to heal the deeper levels of illness that evade the understanding of modern science.

I remember the melody of the winds of nature blowing through the trees. Belize lies in the Hurricane Belt of the world. Each year we would experience the raging storms of Mother Nature. Ironically, these times of storms and turmoil are some of my fondest memories. We lived in Sand Hill District, which was about an hour away from Belize City. During the