There can be no freedom without love.  Blame the lateness of this episode on Mx Merc and her extra-tight microbraids!  This week’s episode is a little different. In part 1 of Surrendering to Love, we begin with an interlude where Brendane shares about her experience recently discovering an ex’s betrayal and how that moment signaled some spiritual growth. TLDR: Being ghosted was a blessing, not a curse. (If you are not interested in the tea, skip to 26:32.) Then we listen to Brendane...

There is no freedom without power. We are back with a special guest/cousin/kin, Tenisha, to discuss surrendering to spirit. We talk about our exploring our spiritual power & purpose, our spiritual paths & gifts, loving ourselves, realigning to the truth that we are already free, and more! Through their spiritual practice and vulnerability, Tenisha poignantly teaches us that the pursuit of liberation is not the pursuit of a new thing, but rather a realignment to the truth. Listen now...

This week Brendane is byke to talk about death. In this long-awaited episode, we wade through European and non-European schools of thought to create a Black feminist spiritual-political definition of Death/death and Life/life. (Death ain’t the end, y’all. It’s a new beginning.) We explore the testimony of Sharon P. Holland's Raising the Dead: Readings of Death and (Black) Subjectivity and Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals. In our Living in Alignment segment, we have our first listener reading...

We must be deliberate and unafraid. Brendane is back this week to talk about the Black feminist practice of surrendering fear. We start by offering a colonial definition of fear as a colonial practice rooted in oppression that lives in our bodies. Then, we listen to the testimony of Audre Lorde, aka Gamba Adisa, to learn how to transform fear--and the silence produced by fear--into language and action. In the last segment, Brendane discusses internalized white supremacy in our movements...

There is no freedom without healing and truth. In our first episode of the season, we learn about this season’s theme of surrender. We start by offering a spiritual-political definition of Black feminist surrender, a move of power that allows us to choose what we surrender to. We apply the wisdom of bell hooks's sisters of the yam: black women and self-recovery to unpack what we must surrender to—the truth. Brendane shares the truth of what brought her to this podcast. In the last...

"Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re well.” - Toni Cade Bambara, The Salt Eaters Welcome to black. loved. free., a podcast dedicated to Black spirituality, healing, and Black liberation! Join the host Brendane biweekly as we affirm ourselves and our ancestral traditions. Together we will explore what it means to be black, loved, and free through Black...