March 9, 2026
Sankofa Shadow Work: Diaries of a Diasporic Diviner by Sara Makeba Daise
Today's piece of writing is an excerpt from Sankofa Shadow Work, by the author, energy worker and public historian, Sara Makeba Daise of South Carolina. Sara invites us to return to what came before, to gather the pieces of ourselves and our histories that have been scattered, silenced, or forgotten. Circles of Courageous Commons believes that courageous citizens are everywhere and Americans Who Tell the Truth, are often our neighbors, friends, and greatest supporters.
Sankofa Shadow Work: Diaries of a Diasporic Diviner
Sankofa Shadow Work speaks to the new and old rituals needed to integrate all the parts of ourselves, and all the pieces of our past. It refers to the depth and expansiveness of this journey, and my need to be divinely protected, embodied, and grounded in the present.
It deconstructs the white supremacist capitalist patriarchal lies that say the only valuable work is work that you can show and prove and sell to others. That power is about fear and domination. That I am fungible. Unworthy.
Sankofa Shadow Work is about getting to the root. It’s unlearning and forgiving myself for all the ways I’ve internalized my oppression, the harmful actions of others, and myths of scarcity, in turn causing harm to myself and the people around me.
It is accountability, changing my behavior, and getting in right-relationship.
It’s seeing my Ancestors and elders as human, nuanced, complex, worthy. Capable of crafting the futures we currently inhabit.
It means it is as important for me to spend time loving on and learning from my younger selves as it is loving, listening to and learning from my elders.
It means young people are Divine Teachers. Ancestors returned. Deserving of reverence, protection, patience, and care.
Sankofa Shadow Work means reframing the collective and personal past, re-membering, reviewing, refining, and releasing narratives, beliefs, and survival methods that no longer serve us.
Invitation: “What does your shadow want you to know?”
Photograph by Jupe Gaveta
Sara Makeba Daise (she/her) is a friend and supporter of the Circles of Courageous Commons community. She is a Black, queer, 5th-generation Gullah Geechee Writer, Public Historian, Griot, Gatekeeper & Dikenga Energy Worker from the South Carolina Lowcountry. Sara is the author of Sankofa Shadow Work: Diaries of a Diasporic Diviner (2025), We Are Afrofutures: Ancestral Roots Work Toolkit (2024), and the widely acclaimed “Be Here Now: The South is a Portal” (2020).
At the center of Sara’s work are the lives, histories, safety, and liberation of Black, Africana, and Indigenous peoples. She pays particular attention to the experiences of Black women and others pushed to the margins by gender, sexuality, disability, and class. Their knowledge and wellbeing are honored as vital guides for what a more just world can become.
To purchase your own autographed copy of Sankofa Shadow Work, please click HERE.
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I appreciate Sara's new book about Sankofa shadow work and how she invites us to consider our elders and our younger selves with perspective, love and grace -- as Sara writes -- "It means it is as important for me to spend time loving on and learning from my younger selves as it is loving, listening to and learning from my elders."
“It means it is as important for me to spend time loving on and learning from my younger selves as it is loving, listening to and learning from my elders.”