Between Roots and Revelation: Discerning Generational Practices

There is something powerful about being part of the Black diaspora. It carries history, resilience, culture, and a deep ancestral memory that cannot be erased. Across continents and generations, there is a thread that connects us, something spiritual, something lived, something remembered even when we do not have the language for it. But within that inheritance, there are also layers that require discernment. Not everything passed down is meant to be carried forward. Some beliefs, patterns, and cultural misconceptions have functioned like spiritual strongholds. Ideas about limitation, identity, worth, and even spirituality itself have been shaped by history, trauma, survival, and outside influence.

Over time, these can become internalized, accepted as truth without question. This is where awareness begins. To honor our ancestors does not mean to repeat everything. It means to recognize both their strength and their burdens. It means understanding that many lived through systems that shaped their thinking in ways that were necessary for survival, but not always meant for freedom. There is a difference between legacy and limitation. In many ways, the real work is spiritual discernment.

Learning to ask: what is truly aligned with truth, and what is something that has been inherited without examination?

This is not about rejecting culture. It is about refining it. There are narratives that say who we are, what we can become, what we should believe, and how we should see ourselves. Some empower. Others confine. The challenge is learning to recognize the difference. Spiritual growth requires breaking internal strongholds, not through force, but through awareness, prayer, and truth.

It requires reconnecting to God directly, not just through inherited frameworks, but through personal relationship, clarity, and discernment. When we begin to do this, something shifts. We move from carrying everything to choosing intentionally. We move from reacting to awakening. We move from limitation into expansion. The truth is, no external narrative should define the soul. Identity is not something imposed, it is something revealed. And when that revelation comes from God, it cannot be contained by history, labels, or expectation.

Hearing Beyond the Drum

Let’s look at one example of this, seen through certain forms of music, like palo. Palo is a percussive, rhythmic music that many people in the Caribbean appreciate because they feel it connects them to their African roots. It is deeply cultural, powerful, and mesmerizing. I admit I enjoyed it a lot and like the way the drums sounds, but I also feel tingly in my crown chakra when it is playing. The music obviously is doing something.

What many do not fully understand is that palo is not just music. It is a frequency. It is a form of percussion that has historically been used to invoke specific spiritual entities, often referred to as “saints,” but understood by some as lower astral forces.

When you listen to it, you can feel how entrancing and addictive it is. The rhythms pull you in. But if you pay attention, there is also a noticeable shift in energy, especially after prolonged exposure. If you then switch suddenly to a lighter, more uplifting frequency of music, the contrast becomes very noticeable.

There have also been many situations where, just by playing this kind of music, people begin to fall into altered states, collapsing, shaking, or appearing to be overtaken, what some describe as being “ridden” by spiritual entities. Keep in mind that the names of the saints are called explicitly when the drums are played.

Again the issue is not the drumming as self expression o admiration. The question is what is the intention behind the drumming. Whom and what is it invoking. Palo, Paleras, Paleros call and invoke the dead and lower astral entitites, this is even understood within the hierachy of these spiritual practices.

My opinion is although you can and may enjoy the rhythms be wary of being around this type of music and ceremony too frequently if at all because music is frequency and energy. The same way we might play worship music to uplift a house’s vibration, by consuming certain music we may unknowingly be lowering it.

This is where deeper discernment is needed.

Many of our ancestors, through certain belief systems and spiritual practices, formed ties with specific entities and forces. Over generations, these affiliations can become spiritual strongholds, creating patterns that are not always easy to break. Some of these are connected to marine and serpentine spirits, and in some cases, to higher-ranking demonic hierarchies.

The challenge is that these traditions are so normalized and widely practiced that people rarely question them. They are seen as culture, as heritage, as identity.

In places like the Dominican Republic ( where my maternal family originates from), it is not uncommon to hear practitioners openly say they work with the 21 divisions. Remember 21 represents Saturn. But many people do not understand what that represents on a deeper spiritual level in this Matrix.

Many times, when this argument is brought to individuals, they tend to criticize the person explaining it and claim that they have been brainwashed by Western society or a “Western white washed Jesus.”

But in reality, when we study deeply, the story of Yeshua and the Bible is rooted in ancient cultures that trace back to Africa and the Middle East (still attached to both the continent of Africa and Asia). This is not something that originally came from Europe, even if it was later used, manipulated, and weaponized during periods of colonization to control and make people of the Black diaspora more subservient.

Notwithstanding that history, we are now in an age where information is accessible. We can research for ourselves who Yeshua was, what he taught, and what his message truly represented. He was a real individual who spoke about truth, discernment, and the nature of this world.

At the same time, the desire to pray to deities and ancestors often comes from a very real place. It comes from the longing to reconnect with roots that were disrupted through slavery, colonization, and the suppression of cultural traditions.

And it must be acknowledged that this spiritual system exists. Many people are devoted to these deities, and in many cases these entities respond, when they form covenants providing protection, wealth, or spiritual gifts.

But not everything that responds is from the highest source.

The Downfall

When people become focused on feeding these entities, often through forms of sacrifice, whether animals, from anything between birds, chickens, goats or dogs; to, in extreme cases, other human beings, it reveals that this is operating in a different spiritual realm. It may involve forces that appear powerful, even more powerful than humans in the physical, but that does not mean they are aligned with the Most High.

These systems can also create ongoing obligations, where individuals feel required to continue rituals and pass them down through generations in order to maintain favor, protection, or blessing. Traditions such as Santería, Voodoo, brujería, and similar practices can become structured around these ongoing exchanges. Within this system there is a lot of selling and buying of souls and destinies.

In this way, it becomes less about freedom and more about enslavement, once again.

And this is where the deeper question must be asked: is this truly alignment with the Most High source, or is it a distraction that keeps the focus on something lesser?

Because at its core, the strategy is subtle. It does not always look like opposition. Sometimes it looks like power, tradition, or even protection.

But if it keeps us from seeking the highest source directly, then it is still a diversion.