Embracing Healing: Kweli Vuur's Journey to Self-Motherhood
Photos by Cydney Stephens
Kweli Vuur, a poet of healing and spiritual development, recently joined host Trae Holiday on "The Day with Trae" to talk about her Mother’s Day event “A Mother is Healing.” The event is a space for healing, a space to contemplate how each person has been mothered and how they may mother themselves in turn.
“At some point, we have to release Mom of that and just let her be a person who is developing herself,” Vuur said. “You sit and find a way to nurture and love yourself and be loved and nurtured by life itself.”
The healing exercise is meant to create a safe space for women to share within a healing circle. There are two “Queen Mothers” who join the circle to offer advice. Each person shares, and then together the circle joins for a healing mantra.
“I then go around after each person shares and I take whatever they wrote down on their paper and I hand them their gift and I hand them their flowers,” Vuur said. “If you think about it, throughout the entire day, we are giving and receiving information and gifts and wisdom and inspiration.”
Vuur had a difficult relationship with her mother growing up.
“I want people to understand that America has blown up Mother's Day moreso than Father's Day,” Vuur said. “People need to understand that not every mother is enjoying Mother's Day, sometimes it's a very hurtful day for people who have a fractured relationship, for whatever reason.”
She first met her mother when she was nine; their relationship was fractured, one they were never able to fully repair. As a result, she was in a program called Tumbleweed for at-risk, abused, or homeless youth. At Tumbleweed, Vuur met a friend who also had a difficult relationship with her mother.
“She would talk about this anger she had for her mom,” Vuur said. “One day she left, and her mom passed. She came back and she was just bawling — she said that when this happens, you only think about the good.”
Vuur kept those words with her over the years. She recalled a time when she never got a response after calling her mom on Mother’s Day.
“I made a conscious effort because I wanted to also have a memory that I cherish with my mom,” Vuur said. “The next time I saw my mom I said, ‘Mom, I miss you, I love you. You know, I called you on Mother's Day, and I wanted to just give you all this love, it's nice to see you.’ And I gave her a hug.”
For Vuur, this was a time of healing and spiritual development that helped her come to peace with her mother and hold on to that memory. Her work as a healing and spiritual development poet is what led her to create her Mother’s Day event in May.
“I believe that one of my purposes is to tap into the collective consciousness and bring it down into form,” Vuur said. “The way that I've chosen to do that was through poetry, and through giving that out to people, it's just allowed me to release it unto others.”
For those interested in attending the “A Mother is Healing” gathering on May 5, reserve a spot here.
For the latest updates on community celebrations, join us live with Trae every weekday at 11 am on Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae YouTube Channel.
