Journey Along Life’s Way

As I was driving into New York, I couldn’t quite remember how long it had been... somewhere in between too long and awhile ago. Either way, I was happy that I had the opportunity to make the trip because circumstances have been pressuring me lately. I started attending meetings at the Twelve Tribes of Israel back in 2003, and I think my official date of membership at the NY HQ is January 2004. Those were some tumultuous times in my life, but I was trying to find some peace of mind. I was in my young twenties and had gone through my fair share of trials and tribulations of the heart and soul. I had also started my trod with Rastafari about two years prior to that and I was on a quest to mature more in my overstanding of things to find a community that I could take part in and belong to... especially when it sometimes seemed like I was a lonely sheep. The same reason I was driving now, was the same reason I was driving then... for fellowship and renewal.

I remember when I was still living in the neighborhood in Newark as a young man and my good bredren and mentor had often used the language and ideas espoused by the Twelve Tribes in the advice he had given me. It had always resonated with me when we would reason about life and everything within it. The Rastafari trod has many different facets to it, and by that time I had already been exposed to different levels and philosophies within the movement, but the Twelve Tribes vibes always came back to plant a seed within me. Eventually it led me to learn more about the actual Rastafari organization called the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and about Prophet Gad, Dr. Vernon Carrington, TTOI’s founder. I had found and read interviews with Gadman, read books like Bro. Karl Philpotts Naphtali’s “Testimony of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I”, and listened to reggae artists who followed the Twelve Tribes philosophy. I started following Gadman’s teachings, like reading the Bible a chapter a day, along with the utterances of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I and Marcus Garvey. As an educated and tolerant person I embraced the Twelve Tribes teaching on self-reliance, literacy, nondiscrimination and unity, as well as refocusing through a new lens on the Christian faith... a faith that I had nearly abandoned in anger, but found rejuvenation in as a Twelve Tribes Rastafari. After taking it upon myself to follow the guidance of Prophet Gad, and having acquired a strong knowledge of the Scriptures, Ethiopia and His Majesty in the process, the last thing for me to do was sign up, seal up and be a member of the organization that I had studied so fervently. Fortunately Twelve Tribes had a house in New York and I lived close enough to the New York area, so I joined and I attended meetings and functions when I could. Eventually between going to graduate school, and working as a teacher I could not go as often as I liked and time passed. So did Prophet Gad in 2005. I remember attending a special meeting in his remembrance. I never got to meet him, but he changed my life.

Forward back to 2010. It was one of the colder evenings of the year so far, jacket weather. Out of the four quarterly meetings each year, October and April were the easiest for me to attend. I figured if I missed this one, it might be another year of absence for me. I walked to the gates of the HQ, and stepped through. The first time I had been to the NYC House of Twelve Tribes in maybe two years. Since then I had actually been to the “organ”, the original Twelve Tribes HQ in Kingston, Jamaica, on Hope Road just up from Bob Marley’s old home (who was also a TTOI member in his day). There I met with Sangie Davis, a reggae artist and producer for Orthodox Muzik of Twelve Tribes, and amongst other bredrens and sistrens I met Sis. Dinah 1st, Gad’s widow... but the visit there to Hope Road is a story of its own. Now I was here again on Farmers Boulevard in Queens. I walked into the doorway and greeted bredrens and sistrens wearing the “banner”, the red, gold, and green tam that all members wear during official functions. I had mine with me as well, but I passed through proudly with my locks swinging free, as it was the first time I had been there since growing them nearly 2 years ago. I took a look around. The same signs with the tribe names and their colors were across the top hallway wall, pictures of His Majesty and the Royal Family were in their spots, the latest news and communication from other houses was posted. I chatted with a few people and learned that one of the executives, the original overseer of the New York house, repatriated to Shashamane Land, Ethiopia along with his family. I saw some other familiar faces, but they would be missed, especially since I rarely made visits. Yet repatriation is one of the missions of the organization..

A sistren greeted me and I chatted how it had been such a long while since I had come, but how circumstances allowed me to come again tonight. She remarked on how nice it was that I was able to make the journey there and how it was destiny to come back in this time. “Yes Simeon”, she said, “strong of faith!” (I am of the Tribe of Simeon, and faith is one of our tendencies). She also made mention of how it was the anniversary of H.I.M. Haile Selassie I’s 1963 visit to the United States tomorrow (which is today, Oct. 4th) and that in the same way it revealed a natural mystic in my visit. I thought about that. Soon after, the meeting began in the familiar way, Ezekiel 37, and continued with reasonings, financial oversight, and messages to the massive. After a few hours of some empowering words in the company of bredrens and sistrens, the meeting ended with the Ethiopian Anthem. I wish that I could have stayed longer to reason with ones and spend some time at the HQ but I had a 2 hour drive back home and still had to work tomorrow (although not at my usual very early time). On my way out, I chatted with a few more bredrens who urged me to come more often again. I said I would try... and that is my intention. Not just to make the occasional meeting, but to come and just cool out on an occasional Friday evening.

I realized that even just a short time there in the New York house gave me a renewed energy, a renewed sense of self and resistance to the Babylon folly flooding all around me in my daily life. Whatever it is that caused me to set out to the meeting that night, whether it was the shift in my schedule, the mere determination, or the Hand of JAH... I was able to come and complete that journey. Just like His Majesty made his visit to New York and the USA on this date, I also set out to my destination on the eve of that anniversary, and maybe it is that sign for me to strengthen up and find that fervor I did when I had first sighted up Rastafari, along with Gadman and his message to Israel. My good bredren often says to me, “two mountains don’t meet” because I sometimes don’t get to visit with him as much as I like either. Yet, as Rastamen we also both know that everything is in its due time and season. When we journey along life’s way we move in a progressive manner... seeking to advance and improve. A simple journey of 100 miles one October evening has given me some more mileage for the spiritual trod ahead. A little more prayer, a little more study, a little more livication to help me along Life’s Way and give me strength every day! Give thank to JAH! Give thanks to all the bredrens and sistrens who trod together toward One God, One Aim and One Destiny!

More Life,
JAHsh