What is the role of ritual?
Join us in an honest conversation with Sadee Brathwaite (she/her) exploring the role of ritual in our lives and work.
Sadee is an Artist and Minister/High Priestess of Maåt. She makes drawings and paintings, figurative and abstract, about archetypes, symbols, ancient cosmologies, beliefs and myths. As an ordained Minister/High Priestess, Sadee advises people in life, in creativity, and in spirituality. Her calling, either through art or advising, is to help people heal and grow as spiritual, enlightened beings.
Sadee combines her 20 years of artistic exploration and 12 years as a Priestess of Maåt, to create 30 Days of Affirmation. An affirmation deck focused on facilitating growth and healing.
BWB met Sadee in 2021, and the collaboration sparks flew. In addition to having Sadee lead group ritual and affirmation sessions for our community, we also partnered to create The Affirmation Coloring Book, with many more creative collaborations planned for the future.
In this episode you’ll hear:
Connect with Sadee:
Connect with BWB
Be sure to subscribe on Apple or Spotify, and leave us a 5-star rating + review!
Podcast Song: Holding you by Prigida
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/prigida/holding-you
License code: CELWR55ONTDIFRSS
What is the role of ritual?
Join us in an honest conversation with Sadee Brathwaite (she/her) exploring the role of ritual in our lives and work.
Sadee is an Artist and Minister/High Priestess of Maåt. She makes drawings and paintings, figurative and abstract, about archetypes, symbols, ancient cosmologies, beliefs and myths. As an ordained Minister/High Priestess, Sadee advises people in life, in creativity, and in spirituality. Her calling, either through art or advising, is to help people heal and grow as spiritual, enlightened beings.
Sadee combines her 20 years of artistic exploration and 12 years as a Priestess of Maåt, to create 30 Days of Affirmation. An affirmation deck focused on facilitating growth and healing.
BWB met Sadee in 2021, and the collaboration sparks flew. In addition to having Sadee lead group ritual and affirmation sessions for our community, we also partnered to create The Affirmation Coloring Book, with many more creative collaborations planned for the future.
In this episode you’ll hear:
Connect with Sadee:
Connect with BWB
Be sure to subscribe on Apple or Spotify, and leave us a 5-star rating + review!
Podcast Song: Holding you by Prigida
Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/prigida/holding-you
License code: CELWR55ONTDIFRSS
CASEY: Welcome to the Questions to Hold podcast. I'm your host and BWB founder, Casey Carroll. In a world that often praises answers over questions, the act of holding a question is an act of resistance, presence, and devotion. In this podcast, I hold space for discussion at the intersection of life's biggest questions and our personal and professional worlds.
These are honest conversations with progressive leaders dedicated to questioning our institutions, igniting change, and provoking new possibilities.
Join me for my next discussion.
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CASEY: Hello everyone and welcome to the Questions To Hold podcast. Today is a very special day because we have a very special guest, the one and only Sadee. Um, I'm gonna let Sadee introduce herself and then I have 1,000,001 other amazing things I wanna speak about this person. But before I get into all that, Sadee, do you want to introduce yourself to the people with any, any context in any way that feels kind of true and relevant for the listener to know about you today?
SADEE: Sure. Um, hi everybody. Hi Casey. Thank you so much for having me. I am very, very honored to be here today. My name is Sadee and I am an artist and advisor, and you can find me at sadeebraithwaite.com. That's S A D E E and last name is Brathwaite. B as in boy, R A T H W A I T E.com. And then you can find me on, uh, socials. I'm usually on Instagram and uh, Facebook at Sadee Brathwaite.
CASEY: And shout out to the show notes. Uh, make sure you check it out there cuz all that will be linked along with a couple of other special links, which hopefully we'll get to later on in the podcast. Anything else you wanna share before we dive into some of the juicy questions that I know we talk about in our work?
SADEE: Yeah, so I've been a visual artist for over 20 years. Um, might be closer to 25. Oh my goodness. But I make, uh, drawings and paintings about archetypes, ancient cosmology symbols. Beliefs, myths. I'm also a minister, priestess of Maat, and Maat is an ancient Egyptian principle, goddess, cosmic principle about harmony and truth and balance. And um, I've been a high priestess, actually. I'm a high priestess, but I've been a priestess for 13 years, almost 14. And, um, that fits right in with my love of ancient, um, civilization. So that goes back to ancient, uh, Egypt. Yeah, I love to do rituals, ceremonies, I help people with one on one, uh, sessions. I use a lot of tools.Um, I use affirmations. We do prayer, we do, um, some candle magic. We do all of that really good stuff and either through my art or advising, my calling is to help people heal and grow. That's what I love to do, and that's my jam. Among other thing.
CASEY: And a full disclaimer, so Sadee and I know each other through a mutual beloved friend, um, and we're introduced to each other and I think once we learned about each other's ideas and personalities and everything, it was like an instant click, especially in the realm of rituals. So when Questions to Hold was a baby idea waiting to be born over here, in my mind, I actually worked one on one with Sadee through a couple of different advising, creative advising sessions prior to going out on my art residency and really downloading the whole deck and kind of creating it. But working on concept development with, uh, with Sadee was just so, like, we had so much fun and it was just like, felt so magically held the whole time. And, um, we knew something else far beyond us was also cooking our relationship up in a good way. So that was really exciting and fun. And then we also got to partner during the pandemic to do an amazing affirmation coloring book, which for folks that are familiar with bold woman brands or have worked with us, likely have an affirmation coloring book. And we can talk more about that process. But it's just been such an honor to get to do creative process and ritual with you and blend these sides, um, together in our collaboration that are so meaningful. To both of us, but that we come at from two different ways. So again, more of that will get peppered in, but I'm wondering just with that, all of that in mind, if we can kind of kick off into the question around like the role of ritual in our lives, which is that something, I mean, that's a huge question, obviously, and. This is really just about planting seeds here and starting to unpack these questions, but through your work and really everything you've done personally and your art that's gotten you to where you are, I'm curious where that question starts to take you when you hear asked back.
SADEE: Wow. So that's huge, right? Because ritual plays, um, a major role in my life from my own personal art practice, which has developed into its own ritual and has helped me a lot with my own creative ideas and, and birthing those, um, in the world, especially around affirmations. Um, but I also use ritual as a way to communicate with my benevolent ancestors to communicate. You know, spirit and, um, using it in that way in terms of ceremony and, um, honoring, um, nature and life ritual is really, it's a, a process, but it's also the way through. And it's also, you know, shows up in ways of, of communicating. I think that ritual is a part of our everyday life and that people may not recognize how important it is and that they do it every day. There's a ritual around waking up. There's a ritual around starting our day, a ritual around how we eat food, you know, and I'm using ritual in the broad sense, not in connection with any specific spiritual belief or, or anything like that, but just the act of doing something with intention. And sometimes not not doing it with intention, and we can look at where that happens, but, um, ritual is a beautiful thing. You know, I actively promote it as, as a, as a way of wellness and health.
CASEY: Yeah. And when you look back at, you know, your own kind of personal upbringing and childhood and experience, like, do you see, again, we all have the ritual in the broad sense of the word of like waking up and what our brushing teeth ritual or routine might be, et cetera. In kind of that more intentional base that you're talking about, differentiating it that way, do you see that coming and you're, you having an awareness of that even as a young person, or is that something really that evolved for you? You know, as you started to grow up a little bit more.
SADEE: It was actually something that was set for me. I, growing up, I grew up in a very religious household, so going to church every week, every Sunday was part of that ritual. And actually that's how I fell in love with ritual to begin with, because, all of the things I love most about going to church is what I incorporated in my magical practice. Um, the use of incense, um, the use of candles, the use of procession and ceremony. Um, the use of an altar, all of these things, you know, came to play a major part of who I became part of my identity, um, as a priestess and, and as a, as a minister. So that kind of informed me. I loved it all. I didn't love so much the dogma and, um, all of the negative things about religion, but I loved the act of participating in something bigger and broader and more magical, um, and beautiful than myself.
CASEY: And when did you start to realize, or maybe you always did, but that your art and your art process was itself ritual, or was there a moment that that changed and had an impact on, you know, the art or the art process?
SADEE: Yeah. Um, when I started realizing I always separated myself out into two separate parts. I was always an artist and I've been an artist. I went to school. I, I got a degree in painting and drawing and art history, so I've always been an artist. And then I always had this spiritual side. I was going to, um, retreats and developing this community with the Ministry of Maat, and I'm developing all of my intuitive talents and, and all of those things. So I thought of them as very–when I realized that I was actually channeling with my art and that the information that flowed through me and out to the canvas, how I thought about my ideas, um, even when I like lost myself in the painting and just let come whatever wanted to come through. When, because I was developing this spiritual side, I realized, oh, this is happening over here and it's a much, it's much more part of my life than I thought. And these things aren't separate. They're actually intrinsically tied. So that's when I started to really feel a cohesion in myself and in my life. And then using the tools and things I was learning, growing as a spiritual person, using it in my artwork and my artwork blossomed. They got bigger, they got my paintings in particular, got more colorful. I started like carving into the gesso as I was building my canvas and sort of like mimicking this, this inherent feeling and, and wanting to like mark, make, and, you know, so it really became very intentional. And then I started looking at ancient myths and stories typically from a female perspective. And then all of that also funneled, it just opened up this whole world for me, um, because when I started to realize my paintings became archetypes, they were archetypes and the more I studied all of these different ancient civilizations and cosmologies and how they thought maybe the world was created or looking at their different stories, I realized that were all connected. We're all connected through our cultures and these different archetypes that we have. And we're not that we're not that different. And for me, that felt healing, that felt like, like something really, so beautiful.
CASEY: And having seen your artwork, it's so beautiful and I highly encourage anybody, um, listening to go and look at a piece either online or if you're so lucky in person and get to experience the magnitude. Cuz I love just what you're saying in terms of like putting those two pieces of yourself back in conversation with another and realizing that they're all springing from that same well in a sense. And I always feel, also, just like about when I get to see art in person, that there's something that happens and hits that's different, um, than, than can happen online sometimes.And I'm not saying that's true for everybody, but just for myself of that like, feeling that conversation in a different way in my body, which is a beautiful feeling.
SADEE: Yeah. I also became more purposeful. So I, I wanted to say too, with, with the ritual, I turned my studio into a sacred. So I started posting affirmations. I've always loved affirmations, so I started posting affirmations all over my studio, which later developed in this whole other amazing offshoot project. But I post the affirmations around my studio. I would approach the canvas in a different way. I would pray a lot more. I just, yeah, became really clear about opening up to creativity in a really awesome way.
CASEY: Well, let's talk about affirmations because they're all up in this conversation, and yet we haven't directly talked about them yet. So I wanna make some room to do that. And also just see if there's a bridge and if there isn't a bridge for that as well. But I know, you know, you named it a little bit earlier in this conversation how a lot of this is in service to or these inquiries you're in, in your life and work are really in service to the idea of growth and healing, both personally and you know, collectively. And I'm curious like how the affirmations are coming in as one of those main ways in which can support healing and growth, both as you're naming, like they were around your own sacred space and your art space, but also as a teacher of them and as like a facilitator of that work. Take that any direction you want, but I'm just curious to kind of start diving into affirmation and, and making some of the links to that larger healing and growth, um, we're talking about.
SADEE: So I'm gonna start by saying affirmations are not new. They've been around a very, very long time. I'm just super excited that they've become really, um, kind of mainstream. That's like things that we used to do, you know, um, are now coming forth in this beautiful way as the world is shifting and changing. And so I've always loved affirmations. Like I said, I posted them all over my, my studio, I collect them. Um, I read books on affirmations. Anyone who wants to get started on a deep dive, Louise Hay. Oh my gosh, I love her. She's amazing. I recommend her. And also Florence Shinn before Louise Hay. Um, she, she was a master of using affirmations and speaking the word, um, as she would say. All, a lot of our different cultures have affirmations and, and mantras and things that we say out loud to shift energy and to change our frequency and, and the ancient Egyptians, they knew that words were powerful and so much so that sometimes the vowels of words were hidden only for the initiated were certain words available because they knew the power of of words. When I was discovering that through my studies as a priestess, it just hit home for me because I was like, I love these, I love affirmations. I love saying them out loud. I love bringing things into being, and then the more magical I became, I understood, you know, the power of words and using them in spell work and, and, and calling things into, um, our lives. And so, affirmation's huge .
CASEY: Yeah. Conversations. We're just dropping some seeds here. But I love how you're also naming the lineage of it, and I, I would just, I'm so interested in this too, and in naming. As you said, or I guess just like re-presenting and amplifying what you said, which is that anybody listening, it would be so interesting to track in your own lineage, in your own, whatever that may be, where affirmations have been a part of that work or in your life. And again, it could be something like some of these people like Louise Hay that you're naming or it's like more specific in your specific spiritual or, uh, religious traditions or even just in your family and how your, your aunt did this in this certain way or your, your mother, your grandmother, or any, anybody.
And I just think that's what you're saying is so important to really notice, like how you may not have noticed it, but it's been a part of your life or lineage in, in some way.
SADEE: And just to bring it down to the practical, um, what we say matters. And it also like, you know, affects our mindfulness and, and we, there are negative affirmations too. Things that you say repeatedly that, that bring you into a negative space or create problems in your life. I think how we speak reflects how we think in, in the broad, in a broad sense. And affirmations have always been important to me, so I, I used to put them around my, my studio space. I collected them. I worked with them in my magical practice, and then I discovered through my sessions with my clients that they were gravitating towards the affirmations a lot more. They wanted more, and believe me, I have thousands and so… Um, they wanted them, they wanted them as part of, um, their healing. They wanted them as, as something that they can say on their own and work with intuitively and then go even deeper. Um, moving on from our, our conversations in our sessions and so that was the, the aha! I was like, wow, like, here's something I thought, you know, that was more for a personal thing and then I'd share as a, as a teaching tool, really taking off and becoming, um, a major part of my, um, advising practice.
CASEY: How did that then lead into the deck? Because Sadee has an amazing 30 Days of Affirmation deck, which is also linked in the show notes. One of those mysterious links I was talking about the earlier, that was also included. So I'm just curious how that led or, or if it led then to the development of the deck.
SADEE: Yeah, so when the pandemic hit, so let me back up a little bit. So I always share every Monday on my, um, socials, on my Instagram. Every Monday in my stories, I share a different affirmation. I call them Sadeeisms. And sometimes they're not quite affirmations, they're just things that I'm thinking of or that have come up that I've felt compelled to share that I've channeled. It's a message. And so I've been doing that for many. Um, I think you, you've seen that too on, on my stories, right? Every Monday I share something new.
CASEY: Yes, ma'am.
SADEE: And so, yeah, when the pandemic happened and there was all this fear, I just wanted to create something that would help ease that and to shed light in a time of darkness. And so, I created this 30 days of affirmation and I was sharing, um, an affirmation every day and putting in, you know, like some music and doing all these different things on, um, my social channels. And then from that, when I had such a huge response, I was like, wow, okay. So one, I've been seeing the affirmation shift clients and my one on one, and then two, this like huge outpouring of like love and appreciation and wanting more of those affirmations. Because at that time I was only sharing 'em once a week, and then I went to sharing them every day for a significant amount of time. And so I was like, wow, there really is a need for this. And so I worked with Manifested Collective, shout out to Alex Jensen. Um, she helped me bring this idea to life. She helped me select the best ones. I worked with my own mentor who, um, she's a spiritual counselor and a psycho spiritual therapist. She helped me to select the ones she felt would have the broader and more powerful impact. So these are all messages that I channeled, um, affirmations that I feel are the most powerful and have been fine tuned. And, um, and then I created the deck and put them out into the world as this 30 Days of Affirmation, a way to empower yourself, a way to use words, a way to think about what you're saying and to happen to your power. To really shift your energy and vibration and frequency.
CASEY: Yeah. And I'm, I'm struck by what you said and which was in context of the pandemic in terms of like bringing light into what was a dark time, but which stretches far beyond the pandemic, which is, um, what it is to kind of heal and grow and bring light into the many different dark times that are out there for different reasons right now, you know, in society, in, in our global economy, in so many different pieces. And so I'm curious how you've seen this deck, or even just the practice itself having impact on people in terms of bringing this light and kind of strengthening this ability to, to heal and grow even in unlikely conditions or however you'd wanna say that.
SADEE: I think it's cuz it’s empowering in a really accessible way. And that's the beauty of affirmations. And, and by the way, that's what I love about magic. I practice a practical magic . It's not hidden, it's not behind closed doors. There are things that you can do in your everyday life. That can really empower you and bring magic to your life. And affirmations is a very easy, accessible way to do that. And so the deck has really helped people tap into their own power. And, um, you pull a deck a day, you could do it for the full 30 days. It's like this transformative journey. Um, you could pull a, uh, a card a day. Or you can, um, shuffle the deck at any given time and pull a card that that really connects with you right now. And I have been told from numerous sources that they are eerily accurate, um, I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm like, okay, I'm hearing the feedback, I'm hearing the feedback . So yeah. And each deck is blessed by me, you know, for your. Good in your highest frequency. So there is a ritual behind birthing the deck, and there's a ritual behind putting it out into the world. And then you have it, and then you create and develop your own rituals around it. There, there are like, I think, five key ways to use the deck, but when you first open it, the first card just says, you know, these cards are yours to do with as you intuition allows, um, use them with love. So it's really up to you and throwing it back to you because what happens in these times of darkness and this really quick, quickly shifting landscape, is that we lose ourselves. We, we lose our power. We feel like the things that are happening are happening to us, happening around us, and we have no control. And, and while there is a greater energy that is, um, surrounding through us and all of us, we do play an important part in how things shape up. And I think the magic of this deck and the magic of affirmations and using them in this way is that it empowers us again. It reminds us again. And these cards do that. They remind you of who you are, your sovereign being, your power. your badass awesomeness.
CASEY: Yeah. And I love a, that there's something, as you said, like words have power and that they facilitate, like you empowering yourself in this way of like, you can pull a card, you can also speak that card aloud, which like, shifts energy in a different way, in a different frequency. So kind of like format of delivery in a sense of the affirmation being something that, you know, and even when we did the coloring book of being able to color it, being able to post it, engaging with the affirmation in a different way, even framing it, putting it somewhere special so you can see it. And then having have had the privilege of being. In a session where you've led and guided an affirmation practice, you know that having a whole nother kind of like impact. So just encouraging anybody that's curious, that's listening here or maybe has some experience with affirmations to like go deeper into all these formats and ways in which that we can be en engaging with the affirmation, cuz I've found that just a really rich landscape of like, sometimes I need to be quiet and just hold it personally. Sometimes I need to speak it out and let that energy do something else. Some, sometimes I need to have Sadee guide it and receive it in that way. Sometimes I need to color and there's a million other ways to do it. Those are just a few to name, but I really like how you kind of offer so many different forms for folks to engage and, and start to kind of work with affirmations more intentionally.
SADEE: Thank you. And, and I, I got the opportunity to infuse the deck with my art. So a lot of the colors, you know, are from colors that are in my paintings, and so they surround the words. So it's a combination of my art and design, um, with my channeled words and messages, which is like, for me, the most amazing thing. It combines my art and advising in this really unique and amazing way, which I, I love very much.
CASEY: And as we start to kind of come to a close, although we could talk about this forever, and hopefully we will talk about it again sometime on this podcast, but I'm curious: what you are sitting with in terms of a question or an inquiry kind of leading you into these quieter, darker times of the year that are happening over here on the East coast with winter coming in, or just as you're really looking into kind of this next era of your work that's on the horizon and coming into a new year, what are some questions or what's a question or inquiry that you're following into this time?
SADEE: Just how to remain authentic. How do we, how do we remain authentic? How do we remain ourselves as we continue to evolve and grow? Um, I love that the wellness industry has expanded and like grown and it's like this really huge popular thing, but I just also, you know, that that stays top of mind. Like, how do we remain true to ourselves? How do we remain authentic and not morph into what, I don't know, what society thinks healing is or, you know, all of that kind of superficial stuff. The superficial can be a gateway to deeper understanding and, and, and learning. I invite that, you know, there's a welcoming there, but for me, healing is not always love and light and peace and joy, which I, I would love it to be, but for me, healing, you know, can be real dark and deep, and, um, it's about facing our, our deepest, darkest selves and sometimes our wounds. And so as we're heading into winter and we're heading into this time of introspection, um, just be real. Just be real about what's happening, what's showing up, and then use that as a way to find the tools that are helpful for you. So affirmations have been helpful for me. They may not be for you, so, but what is?
CASEY: Yeah, and I'll just say that's where I find questions to be so helpful too, in the same way that affirmations are, which is like you even bringing that line of inquiry in, it's like, what is real? What is authentic? Like how do I know when I've gotten there? What is in the way of that? Like there's so many more questions that inspires for me, but in a way that's so beautiful. And to me, you know, it's around like the more living into that questioning of it, I might get closer to that authenticity or I might get closer to that realness and then the affirmations being another tool as you're naming that, that of course do that. But I just love that line of inquiry, not just for this upcoming year, but forever, . And I love how you frame that. I love it because that's, it all starts with a question. That's what the beauty is. We got lots of, we got lots of affirmations, we got lots of questions. What happens when we create the affirmations to help answer the questions? Sadee, thinking about, you know, just to say, oftentimes in client work or even just personally when I've held kind of a circle or a ritual moment for myself, and I've had both of our decks, whenever I do pull a card from each, they are in conversation. A hundred percent. Absolutely. You know, so I've been playing with that too. So maybe, um, we're just foreshadowing a collaboration that's up and coming that we didn't know about. You're hearing about it first, cuz we're just talking about you.
SADEE: Right. Um, yeah. But being I second that Yeah. But how are those tools really just different sides of a, of a same inquiry and of a same line of stepping into kind of personal power and truth.
CASEY: So, So beautiful. We'll say to you named right up front. I was like, wow, she's got this covered. You were spelling your website already and everything, but how do you want folks to engage with you and, and support your work?
SADEE: They can visit my website, uh, sadeebraithwaite.com. They can follow me on Instagram or on Facebook, and um, they can go to 30daysofaffirmations.com to check out the affirmation deck. We're gonna be having a huge sale to celebrate the one year anniversary of the deck in March.
CASEY: Yay. Yay.
SADEE: It launched, uh, last year, uh, on the solstice. And so marking those ritual times of the year, are important for me. And so we're gonna be having a huge sale. So stay tuned for that. And I wanna offer to your listeners a code. If they wanna get $10 off of the,the deck they can put in TAPIN10. So T A P I N ten one zero.
CASEY: Awesome. And all of that will be in the notes as well. But they're a perfect holiday gift. They're a perfect friend gift. They're a perfect personal gift. They're a perfect anything gift, so I highly recommend it.
SADEE: And um, again, I think we just formed, oh, I forgot to say, I forgot. This is the most important thing. It's unlike a, a typical deck in that you can break the deck up and give them away as gifts. I can't believe I didn't.
CASEY: Oh, ok. Let's take a moment here. Let's take a moment. Ok. You can say that you can do that.
SADEE: You can break the deck up. You can select a card that feels good, that you're thinking about someone, or, um, a family member, a friend, uh, a stranger, maybe like you can give them as gifts, just the individual cards. And so they're meant to be broken up. They're not so sacred that they have to stay together. And again, the feedback I've been getting is that people buy multiple decks. They're like, well, I don't, you know, break up my deck and I'm, you know, so they get another one specifically so they can gift the individual cards to people. And so yeah, that's a really important distinguishing factor between this deck and um, other deck.
CASEY: So you, that's beautiful. The gift of affirmations. Oh, that's so cool. That's so beautiful. I didn't know that part either. So yes, they are the gift that keeps giving, obviously. Okay. Well, Sadee, thank you so much for, again, talking about some big, huge life questions and topics in 30 minutes and many more conversations where this come from.
SADEE: Thank you so much, Casey. It's an honor and a pleasure. Thank you.
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CASEY: Thank you for listening to the Questions to Hold podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and are leaving the conversation with way more questions than answers.
I invite you to build a more meaningful relationship with yourself and the world around you through the simple yet profound act of holding questions. Visit questionstohold.com and wearebwb.com to learn more about this practice, our Questions to Hold card deck, and explore more conversations. See you there.