Words of Advice for the Seeking Dawtas

Hail all Dawtas of His and Her Imperial Majesties JAH RasTafari!

Give thanks and Ises for life health and strength to carry on each and every day no matter the trial or tribulation!

I wanted to give an Iditation for the Dawtas who are new to RasTafari, who are coming into this Livity because they are in love with a man who says he is a RasTa man, who want to know how to please him, what he expects and how they should act and dress as a RasTa Wombman. This post is ideally a review of reasonings I made a while back about Marriage and Livity…

If there is one truth that I think InI can all agree upon, it is that “every man do his thing a little but different,” if you know the reggae. And even though InI may all call ourselves RasTafari, and may know the same principles and guidelines and share similar ideals, InI are never the same. Though InI all can access the same information on the Order whether it is from elders or in books or on sites such as RasTa Wifeline – when it comes to Livity and marriage between one and one, raising the youths and so on, every man do his thing a little bit different. And from that, a Dawta must know that what she is really seeking to know is how to balance the cultural ideals of RasTafari with what works for her and her kingman in their own personal space. This is realistic, because no one as much as they would like to believe, follows the Tenets and Livity perfectly. A Dawta must see that she can take a word sound from books like the Bible and Feta Nagast, she can observe the Livity of others, she can take a reasoning from another sistren; but at the end of the day, a Dawta must pay attention to her own man and how he does his thing. How she must please him, is based on what he likes and what his personality responds to. 

How does he do his thing? Is he an honest man, does he live up to his word, does he only do things to get a reward from you? Is he a hard worker, and does he deal fairly with people and money? How does he keep his space and his possessions? What does he like to do in his free time? What are his friends like? What are the kinds of things that he would say, and truly mean? How does he do his thing? Is it a positive energy or negative most of the time? What makes him angry? What makes him happy? How does he respond to stress or ignorance? 

And to a Dawta I would say have a serious heart to heart with yourself: Do you really feel in your gut that you can trust him with your life and heart? Oftentimes, at heart we feel that certain moves another makes doesn’t rest well with us, and we ignore that feeling that something wasn’t right with them, until “the shit hits the fan.” Then when everything is a mess you decide to be real with yourself that you should have known better. Too many Dawtas experience this feeling of not listening to themselves or listening to the pattern or history of the man they wish to be with. Don’t overlook the warning signs just because a bredren can deliver knowledge or is charismatic. Men in general have a tendency to always get what they want by any means necessary in this day and age, and women need to be more mature about who they allow to take possession of their mind and heart and body. SERIOUSLY> InI are the ones left with the babies to raise alone and the cycle must stop! 

There are so many things to consider about the person you think you are spending your life with, and it is important overall, to know and consider these things about yourself, ask yourself these questions, think about what you put out there, and how you are treated by others> What are their opinions of you? What are your weaknesses or flaws? What or who do you need to leave behind in your old life as you enter in RasTafari Royalty? Are you moving on and making a new kingdom and is he? Do you think that you can represent this man as his queen, and do you think he represents you well as your king? How well can and will you serve him and the princes and princesses of your womb? Have you talked about this, and what kind of parent will he make for your children? How do you think you both will manage the stresses of parenthood?

Knowing how to serve your kingman and be good wife is ideally all wrapped up in the two of you and how hard you love one another, care for one another and truly raspect one another, edify one another. So to please a man or to be a wife, a wombman needs to really figure out how he operates and how she responds, how she operates and how he responds. Is there a true companionship, a true gelling of souls? 

It is important to really be with someone who you know would give his life to protect you and his children. You should feel confident and secure that he is a true man of honour like Emperor Haile Sellassie I. If you want to really see a Man of Morality, take in the book called The Mission and the many many photographs of the King and see how He carried His family with Him always and was very close with them, how they were His life as much as Ethiopia. In exile He relied on family to keep HIM going because They faced racism and poverty in Britain and from Italy and other countries. He never left them behind in any way and did His best to ensure that they were well taken care of and stayed on the moral path. A kingman therefore at his lowest point, can rest assured that when he has been treating his family with love all along, he knows that he can rely on them for anything in his time of need. The yutes and a beautiful kind wife will be his treasure and joy.

Empress Menen also teaches through Her lifetime that a wife must be the confidante and best friend of her King. She must be the one who is his deputy, his MVP. She will never reveal his secrets. Who remembers what he might forget, who boosts his confidence and treats him kindly and raspects his wishes. The Empress shared Her King’s vision and She worked hard alongside Him and saw them come to fruition, as One. A Dawta likewise should embrace the motherly attention that her kingman needs from her even though she is his woman and not his mother or maid, by ensuring the homespace is clean, sacred and well stocked and prepared for her king. It is His sanctuary, where he does his resting, deep thinking, relaxing, planning, and love-making. It must be the place he longs to be when he isn’t there, to see the people who make him the happiest in life. and it his duty to ensure that his castle is being kept well, that what needs repairing gets fixed. A Dawta will clean but when things get broken she wants her king to take charge of the home. Keep your sanctuary in running order. Dawtas, choose a king who takes pride in his appearance and his environment.

I find it also helps to be realistic and accept that how your kingman “does his thing” may not always be perfect, and in the cleanest or most organized or successful or efficient way. No one is perfect at all, so it is good to know whether you can live with someone as they are, and be willing to pick up the slack for them and not be judgmental about it for the rest of your life – or not. No one can live up to all your expectations and it is good to recognize and love them for what they do give you and what they try to fulfil. It is good to separate harmless flaws from dangerous or wicked intentions. 

It is also good to be with someone who is willing to give you everything they can and whom you feel to give your all as well. It isn't everyday all the time that we can do this, because InI all have highs and lows, but truly our general acts of partnership should be willing and abundant. Often I find it better to learn to pick our battles and to allow others the same freedoms we want for ourselves – mainly to be who we are and to be free to be imperfect with overstanding from others. People can mature and change over time but it has to be genuinely their own evolution, it cannot be forced upon them. Being with Someone who inspires you to grow and who also grows strong and wise in this way is a marriage that will be firm forever! 

Now I know that aside from these things, when most Dawtas are seeking Fari Livity they just generally want to know the tradition of the RasTafari Wife, or the “Orthodoxy of RasTafari,” meaning the tenets and way of life that is specific to InI. They want to know so they can be authentic, and can be especially on the physical level, a true empress for their king. They also want to know what he will expect from them, and more importantly, why he expects all these changes and restrictions on their part. And Most Of All-All they want to know how to fit in when they go to a Yard for Binghi or Gathering or Groundation. The need to blend and be accepted by a kingman's people is a very intense and urgent need that often rushes the process of rising into RasTafari. InI end up doing things, and letting go of things because InI don't want to be judged or outcast.

Some Dawtas are smart enough to know they their king doesn’t know enough about Dawta Livity, so they must find out through others. This generally leads ones to Mansion Livity, to the more religious traditions that have shaped the way RasTafari man and woman interact in the home and at groundings.

On this website I have provided reasoning on what I have been taught to be the foundation principles of RasTafari through elder Bobo priests and their wives. I have included however, a more detailed look at these principles with I have learned through diligent study of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures the Holy Bible – KJV, Aprocrypha – Good News Translation, the Gnostic Book of the Holy Twelve, Book of Peace, the Ethiopian Book of Jubilees, the Book of Jasher, the Kebra Nagast and Feta Nagast and so on. 

My scope is therefore not limited to the Bible but generally is aimed to prove the “Ethiopian-Hebrew” or Judeo-Christian roots of both Ethiopia and RasTafari in the Caribbean, to show how much RasTafari has aligned theologically and culturally to the Biblical and Ethiopian Israelites or Jews or Christians, and how much Emperor Haile Sellassie I fulfills all prophecies of the King of Judah or Messianic Redeemer. All in All RasTafari have seen a true and clear connection and thus adopted the “Joseph” or “Ephraim” or “scattered” “exiled” Ten Tribe of Israel tradition which appoints the Head of Judah to lead the way back home. Or it could be as it is in my opinion that there was only ever truly a historical House of Yehuda or Judah in the olden days, which is said to have moved to Palestine from India, or that the names of Indian places were used to write the Bible. 

In this tradition InI see ourselves as the lost sheep who have been found (fulfilled April 1966) and reclaimed to New Jerusalem the “New Flower” (repatriation to the landgrant of Shashemene and the EWF,by seat of the throne Addis Abeba), by the Root of David King Selah. In acknowledging I-Majesty’s strong Judeo-Christian background and livity, as detailed in the Feta Nagast and Bible,  means that the identity of this religion has a huge part to play in how RasTafari Dawtas act and dress and how they are treated by their husbands. Empress Menen has always served, alongside of Ethiopian and Afrikan wombman as the Ideal in which InI Dawtas of captivity reclaim the Afrikan Identity. 

So if one is looking to know how to be RasTafari Wife in the Judeo-Christian sense that it would serve to read the Old Testament, namely Genesis to Deuteronomy, and the Pauline Books namely 1 Corinthians, also 3 Colossians, 1 Timothy. I have listed a number of other Biblical verses that I have condensed at the top of the Blog in various posts.

So in terms of what a Dawta can learn about being a RasTafari Empress or Queen or Princess or Dawta or Wombman or Sistren, or whatever you want to say, I can offer a lot of the patriarchal Judeo-Christian traditional outlooks and views that I have been exposed to over the past eight years. I believe that these principles detailed by the books of Moses and Paul can help a man and woman to live a cleaner and more grounded life in terms of morals and values. I believe ones can get a good overstanding of ungodly versus godliness from the Scriptures,- that means one can build up a conscience, a moral foundation by learning to refrain from a lot of "lusts of the flesh" which cause problems in our relations, because I and I all have them! 

But no matter how much law you follow -  it is up to every Dawta and Bredren to really be accountable for self, and deal with a good heartical vibes over all - cause even the righteous can fall into sin - the only way not to sin is to have an abundance of love and right thoughts. InI must be aware that knowing the rules of the Bible does not really equate to being righteous or good or happy; and the Bible because of the example of JAH RasTafari, cannot be allowed as a platform to oppress a wombman in the home or in the marriage.

Following all the rules of wearing long skirts, headwraps, or no makeup and jewelry and nailpolish and no pants and so on, will on the outside make any I look like a royal beautiful queen of Afrika, it will present an Identity for the Rastafari Queen that she deserves as Afrikan Royalty. But InI must "render the heart not the garments" as Rastas are known to say in this debate. InI have to have nboth Identity and a Humble Attitude of peace and love and raspect and truth.  And I have learned from my own growth that it is the countenance of a Dawta that will truly shine forth this way as the Light of the Emperor and Empress of Ethiopia and all other Ankhcestars.

As it says in Proverbs 31, a Virtuous Wife is known by her good works and words. It is the good words and works of a Dawta at home and in her community that will truly set her upon a throne of Life. The rules and tenets are there as guidelines to separate InI from the follies of Babylon, they are there to guide us out of indiscretion, but they must be used with WiseMind, they must be overstood heartically and not forced upon anyone. This I have learned because I feel like all the laws a Dawta is forced to keep, and then InI don't take the time to focus on the morality side, healing the habits, making better decisions in what we say and not just what InI wear. Then if the kingman doesnt match up in his own character, dawtas becomes disillusioned.  InI also create problems with one another because of rules and practices.

I myself keep many of the laws, but I am no longer bothered when a Dawta chooses not to do something - like wearing skirts only or not covering the head, these kinds of things. I raspect many Rastafari Queens and it's not because of what they wear and don't wear - although I feel more love and Inity or common interest when I see them in the traditional dress. Everyone has a right to be themself - I too want that right for ISelf and I take it - if it suits one to be "BIble Holy" it doesnt have to suit another in the same exact way. Freedom and Overstanding - and the Golden Rule. These are lessons I was free to learn, and it was in the interest of sisterhood - too often Dawtas lose the Sistarhood because of petty arguments and "Judgey attitudes". I did not like myself becoming that person!  While it looks good when InI are Inified in dress as Rastafari, having good attitudes and getting the works done are more important, aren't they? MATURITY comes with living by Mosaic Law. 

Every Dawta should know that she can be beautiful and adorned and yet modestly express herself in her own way, without feeling like she is being “sinful” and Kings must support their Queens and encourage them to feel beautiful and love themselves. He mustn't let anyone discredit her character because she may not conform to everything. When a queen feels beautiful and protected and comfortable she is then prepared to do her works with a positive and friendly attitude, she feels confident in her works and her rewards. and truth is, that no one should deny a Dawta her right to express her natural beauty in her own way. and I say this quite sincerely but I also think it so beautiful when all Dawtas can show forth RasTafari traditional wear.

So my advice is to really find a balance between your Afrikan I Self and RasTafari Livity. Any Dawta who wants to be a good wife mother and sistren must first tend to her own mind and heart and body. When she is Right and Balanced within, Maat, dealing with Good vibes, good thoughts, Ital food and hailing the Powers of Iration in Man and Wombman…all other things will be added unto her. To every Dawta seeking herself in RasTafari, her number one job is to cultivate her Lioness Strength and feed her mind with knowledge and love of self. And of course a Kingman must likewise work on his own self, and see the balance that must be achieved between laws and actual hueman nature and character.

I chant a song for all RasTafari Queens at this time struggling with marriage, motherhood and the pressures of stretching yourselves thin over everything for everyone. I know how you feel. Some days I could just run away just to get a moment to just breathe and be at peace in nature - to not have to answer to anyone but be consumed by self-expression and rest. Nature is my safe space, my place of recharge and rejuvenation. But this is our role as Wombman, to be the heart and backbone of everything, this cannot be escaped, so each of us have to learn how to be Queen of our situations and to find that Imega Strength within to do what we have to do without giving up, without complaint, like Empress Menen who survived war and the loss of her children all while co-running a country. The only way to make it through and be happy in your role and your Livity is to truly be Kristos-Conscious, to have the peace and love of JAH within, being inspired daily by the Wonders of JAH RasTafari working through you!

Blessed Be the Iternal Mother Goddess that lives in all of us. Menen Ites!

Selah! JAH RasTafari!

Sis Ila