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At UNLV we get to see a wider demographic of people as we are one of the most diverse campuses nationwide. Because of this, it seems important that we talk about the many practices that affect huge parts of our lives. I speak with Jayda Germain, a college student and crystal seller, about religion and spirituality.
The Minority Serving Institution Student Council (MSISC) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas along with KUNV Radio are proud to present 'You Gon Listen', a twelve part podcast that aims to shine light on the issues and experiences that minority students and staff face at UNLV. The purpose of this series is to hear and learn directly from one another. We hope to create a dialogue about social issues and current events that shape our daily lives in order to make UNLV a better and more inclusive place.
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Welcome to You Gone Listen at 91.5 KUNV. I'm your host, Karen Jean-Charles, and I'm here
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with Jada Jermaine, and we're talking about religion and spirituality.
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Hi guys! So some context about that. College is a place where we meet people from all walks of life. We learn about the world around us and others takes and how we see the world. A survey was conducted about college graduates religious affiliations and found that 66% of college graduates were Christian, Catholic, Mormon, or had some other Christian religion. 3% were Jewish, 1% was Buddhist, 1% was Muslim, 2% unaffiliated or atheist, and 14% said nothing in particular. There wasn't any mention of indigenous or religious practices that are outside of organized religion. So let's use this as an opportunity to learn more about one another. And because of the diversity at UNLV, it seems important that we talk about the many practices that affect huge parts of our lives. So once again I'd like to remind you that you're listening to You Gone Listen at 91.5 KUNV. I'm your host Karen King-Charles and we're talking about religion and spirituality today. So first thank you so much for coming. I'm so glad to be here. This is my first time filming a podcast to so you know we're all newbies over here it's cool we all learning and we all you know Roman as individuals I just love to see it okay and you going to I see you had a crystal business you want to shout that out before we start absolutely so as you said my name is Jada's remain I have a crystal business on Instagram at the Zenergy Lounge T-h-e-z-e-n-e-r-g-y Lounge L-o-u-n-g-e And yeah, I sell crystals through Instagram We don't have a website yet, but we're gonna get there real soon. So you can follow me on Instagram So First, can we like learn a little bit more about you? Like, where do you go to school? What's your major? What do you do besides all that you know. Yes of course. So once again my name is Jada I am a student at Savannah State University in Savannah Georgia the first okay public HBCU in Georgia period I gotta shout my university by the sea. Okay gotta shout my school out. I major in marketing and honestly like outside of just school and Corona and stuff I used to work at Burlington, but I quit because they wasn't taking Corona serious So and now when I have free time, I do door dash and stuff to get my little extra pocket change and stuff And I sell my crystals for Instagram when I get the chance and when people you know come in Try to buy some crystals, but I got you. I saw that you wanted You know, I have to make sure. I had to read up before you know this airs and then everyone goes to sell you out and I don't get a crystal. Nuh uh, I'm gonna get you one. It's cool, I got you. I'm gonna make sure I, you gonna get some crystals girl whether we sell it out or not. I'm just here. I'm graduating in May. Thank the Lord.
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Okay, congrats.
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Thank you. I'm here. So what religion do you practice, or how do you define yourself spiritually? definition in a way to describe the way that I practice my beliefs. I'm not religious at all. I grew up in a Christian household and I started off with Christian beliefs, but once I started to get older and honestly, we stopped going to church as much, so I do kind of think that kind of let the highest power speak to me on its own instead of putting a name on it so I don't have a name for my spirituality I'm just here. Okay, I see I'm pretty much the same except like just a little a little bit Christian still. Yeah. So how did you start your spiritual journey and how would you describe it for those who don't know. Okay, so it's funny because I started off going to a Christian school when I was in high school. I started at a public school and then I transferred to a private Christian school and once I got back to the public school my senior year and I graduated and I went to college I just didn't, I don't know, my beliefs in Christianity, it just kind of swayed a little bit. It wasn't as strong as it used to be once I started to, I guess, figure things out, you could say. I kind of dove into the more spirituality through like crystals and things like that around my sophomore year of college. I honestly think that J'Nai Aiko had a big birthday so shout out to Janae I go she hears this come on the show please okay we found some things we need to talk about you show it on the show it's on the radio okay gotta get her shut us out mm-hmm um but once I started seeing that she was doing things like sound healing and using crystals and stuff like that in her practices, it made me want to do my own research and see like what that would be like for myself. So I kind of started going to like crystal shops in Atlanta, and I would just like look around and stuff and see what they would have, like the books they would have and all the crystals and the little small like really small pebble-like crystals and I would look up the meanings and the different properties that they had for individuals you know spiritually. So once I started getting into that I bought a numerology book and that blew my mind okay how numbers can really just tell you like what you'll be going through in life. That's just so weird to me, but it's so intriguing. The synchronicities. Yeah, like that just really blew my mind. So I started off doing little stuff like that and then it just started to progress after that. I'm pretty much the same.
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My spiritual journey kind of started when I was just looking at numbers on a clock and I kept seeing you know 1111 to look up the meaning yeah all that stuff but yeah that's that's really interesting but how would you describe a spiritual journey like the the process of it and where would you like say you are now on your spiritual journey I'm
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still I would definitely say I'm still in the beginning phases because even though it's been like a couple years since I've like, I guess, discovered my spirituality, I just feel like spirituality is just so much more in depth and so much more, it's just so much more to expand on. Like even with the crystals and stuff, like yeah, you could buy crystals and put them in your room and put them, but there's so much more like meditating with them, you know, placing them on your body in certain ways and doing, you know, grids and stuff like that. Like, there's just so much to everything spiritually that just takes a lot of time to learn and, you know, get comfortable with doing and incorporating it in your daily life. I would definitely say getting into the spiritual journey is a process. Like, you just have to learn, you know, you just have to really be open to learning a lot, honestly. You can't be close-minded going into learning about spirituality at all. A lot of people see crystals and think that since you burn sage that, you know, it is just not of godly things or that it's satanic or just, you know, some people have a lot of negative connotations when it comes to that but you know you just have to be open-minded to learning about the different practices and basically like what those things mean and how they can be incorporated in the daily life and stuff like that. There is a problem I think within the spiritual community about colonization, things like that, because you're just speaking about how it seems like not godly to like, you know, have crystals and burn sage, but like many indigenous religions and many traditional African religions, those like have been doing it for centuries and because we were colonized it's now seen as like demonic or things like that Also, I feel like um, I we all know and understand that you know, we're not perfect, you know, we make mistakes and we um You know sometimes say the wrong things and you know But it's also a learning experience where you have to understand like okay This next person isn't like me when it comes to religious or spirituality beliefs. So you know and that's okay with me or whatever like I just feel like Christians can be very much more accepting when it comes to things that they're not familiar with and they could be more understanding as to the practices. Like you don't have to see my crystals and be like oh I want to try this but you also don't have to be like what's that? Is that like, do you burn crystals? Or like, what is that? Is that like voodoo or something? Like, girl, please. You can always inquire in like a really respectful way, just how people who aren't Christian are like, you know, just tell me about like your experiences being a Christian and stuff like that. I feel like it can definitely go both ways. It is, right now, I'm not really seeing that. But I know that, you know, they have the potential to do that you know potential to change we have to be like um sensitive to everyone's religious practices and like where they come from their heritage and things like this and it's no different when it comes to what people practice as well that's what I definitely was thinking. I agree heavily. But there are a lot of similarities between Christianity and all, basically all religions are very similar. Do you find where you stand very similar to other religions or what you're doing, stuff
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like that?
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Honestly, I think yes. I personally have not done a lot of research when it comes to other religions, and honestly, to, you know, slap my hips, myself on the hand for that because I honestly feel like with those spiritual practices that I do like burning sage, I do believe those come from other heritages and religions as well. And I feel like I can educate myself so that when somebody does ask me, you know, do you know where this comes from? I can be like, oh yeah, of course, you know, why would I do something and not know? Um, you know, I definitely would like to educate myself more. Um, but I definitely feel like there are similarities when it comes to religions as well, like essentially praying to the same ish God, it might not be Christian God and say Muslim God are the same, but essentially we're all praying to the highest power to get some type of whatever you're asking for in prayer and stuff like that. And I do think that's another reason why folks can be more accepting when it comes to those practices. But yeah, I am a little ignorant I can say about when it comes to the practices that I partake in that I could be more educated about where those practices come from. And I think that's a really important admission. I can say the same because like I've noticed a lot of Buddhist and Hindu people are just like you guys basically stole our whole, our whole thing. Like we have to be accountable. Like when we're talking about like meditation, chakras, burning sage, a lot of that stuff comes from different cultures. And like, I'm just very grateful that we got to be on the planet at the same time. We can learn from each other and stuff like that. But we do have to realize that, you know,
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it is a different culture that we have to respect as well.
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Right. Definitely. Anyway, how did your family receive you going deeper into your spiritual journey? And was it weird for them or did they accept you wholeheartedly? I'm going to be very honest and I hope you don't mind if I tell a couple of stories. Go ahead. I'm going to tell a couple of stories. From an immediate family standpoint, my mom was very accepting and open. She identifies as Christian. When I started to explain to her that my beliefs were swaying away from Christianity and just more so a spiritual standpoint, I still explain to her, I still believe in God, I still pray, still say grace over my food, but I just didn't believe in Christianity as a whole. She was very understanding and, you know, she didn't criticize or anything like that and I was grateful for that. She didn't ask me in depth, like, she kind of asked me like why was it that I was kind of swaying away and I swayed her. I just felt like since we weren't going to church, I feel like if we would have went to church every Sunday, my entire life growing up, I wouldn't have had a choice. I mean, yeah, you have a choice. But in my mind, I would have been so ingrained in Christianity that I wouldn't have thought of anything else. But since we started to sway away after a couple years, honestly, it just became my own spiritual journey. And I explained that to her and she was understanding But she didn't really say like in-depth like oh, you know What is it that you? Really do in terms of your practices and stuff like that. Of course, she knows about my crystal business And she knows that I meditate from time to time and I burn stage from time to time of time haven't really gotten in depth with her about choppers and stuff like that but she was very understanding um I have an aunt which is my mom's she's my grandmother's sister so she's my mom's aunt so she's my great aunt her name is Um, she actually was very understanding as well because we actually had like this heart-to-heart Moment during the like quarantine time of Basically talking about spirituality and stuff she personally identifies as Christian But then she started to tell me about like her out-of-body Experiences that she you know went through. Yeah! And it just made me feel so at home with her and I felt like I was really connecting with her, you know? So that was really great. And we talked about stuff like that. Her, I believe it was my grandmother, she used to collect crystals as well. And when I found out, I never met my grandmother, she died before I was born. And when I found that out, I didn't know much about my grandmother. But when I found that out, it made me feel so like, connected in like my family and stuff. And like my ancestors, because it's like, okay, where did this come from? And then hearing that it just like, solidified for me like, Oh, my gosh, it's a whole different feeling. Yeah, like, it just makes you feel so connected with like your family and stuff and that's like an amazing feeling honestly. So experiencing that with them was great but I have had a fair share of feeling like unwelcome if you could say but it wasn't like family, direct family. Like I I hope you don't mind if I tell this story. No, go ahead.
0:17:38
Go ahead.
0:17:39
We have time. So I had a best friend. She was a woman best friend, a girl best friend. And this was around the time that I was first diving into my spirituality. I went on spring break for school and I wanted to spend my spring break with her. So we went to, we were in Atlanta and we went to the crystal shop and stuff and we went to go get stuff and the whole time that we were there There were cats in the spirit shop or whatever and I guess she was like Kind of scared of the cats per se. I don't know why they were just chilling, but it was just kind of like, okay so she She wanted to like sit in the car the whole time So I was like, okay, so I was in there with my other friend, Maya, and we were just kind of like, okay. So she was trying to rush me, like she was texting me like, can you hurry up? I'm in the car and stuff. I'm about to take your car to go do this. And I'm like, what? Why take the car? Why?
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Like, I don't really like that.
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So I felt the type of way. So I got my little crystals and stuff and I went back to her house and she stayed with her parents who are very very Christian very Christian so When I got back to the house, this was after I bought my numerology book and a couple of crystals And I was reading it while I was at the table and her mom came downstairs and she was like, you know What are you doing? And I told her I was like, I'm reading, you know, this numerology book and she was like is it for school I was like no. I'm just reading it for my free time. You know on my own and she was like Why oh and I was like? I was just like Because I want to like you know it's just something that I want to you know yeah, just learn more about And she's like oh, okay, and I thought I was like yeah we went to the shop and stuff and I got this book and I bought some crystals and stuff and she was like so what are the crystals for like what do you do with the crystals and I explained to her you know you have your chakras and stuff and each crystal can align with certain chakras to help you with certain aspects in your life and you know very basic terminology like nothing to in-depth and she was like I'm just gonna tell you now God can help you with all of that stuff That's one thing I love about Christians, it's they will never Stop for an opportunity to tell you You could be burning sage on the timeline, it's like, you know, God cleanses everything Thank you for that. Right, like don't preach the gospel any and anywhere.
0:20:33
I think it's the cutest thing.
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So that was like my first experience of feeling unaccepted when it came to that. And then after that, I honestly think that when I left and I went back home and stuff, her mom probably talked to her and told her like, I don't want you around her anymore. I don't want you to don't bring her around my house anymore. Because after that, we did not speak ever again.
0:21:01
Not ever again. Are you serious?
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Like, right. Like she texted me and made sure I got home safe, but we have, and that was like. Two years ago. We have not spoken since then. We've been best friends since like sophomore of high school for so like four years Just for that That's for that. Let's see. This is why we need to have conversations like this because This these things are like super Stigmatized in Several communities and just like it's a whole religion of these this whole people It's not something that it's like something to discriminate against at all Right. That is crazy to me it's it's giving close-minded and You know, I just feel like I can understand if you don't want to Be involved with those practices and things like that, but you don't have to Judge me because of the choices that I make when it comes to my spirituality, you know?
0:22:04
Right.
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So that definitely hurts that I lost a best friend over, you know, my spirituality choices. But I digress. Maybe she'll come around eventually, but, you know, maybe you're on a different path. This wasn't meant to be. Yeah, definitely. And I'm not going to get mad at it. It's, you know, just an opportunity for me to grow as a person. And I just feel like God, the universe, highest being, spirit, whatever you want to call your highest power, they will put out the things in people in your life that they feel are not best fit for you. So I honestly think that was one of those moments.
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That's a word.
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I'm having one of those moments. I'm having one of those moments. I know that it's dark. My introduction, I mean, when I was going deeper into my spirituality was completely the opposite. As I mentioned before, like my mom is a pastor. It was just like the churchiest churchy woman, you know, even though I love her to death, you know. She was very confused about it. But the thing is a lot of what we do spiritually is very connected to Christianity, praying, manifestation, just sitting in silence and just, you know, being and all that. It's just it's very similar. But the thing that surprised her the most is that my grandma used to do it and I didn't know. She didn't tell me anything about it. She didn't tell me anything about like, making an altar for your ancestors, honoring the dead all that stuff and like she didn't tell me anything about that and then I just suddenly started doing it and she was like who told you how to do this and I was just like I don't know I'm just like you know experience experimenting with you know my my heritage and stuff like that and she was like your grandma used to do that and then she said my grandma
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came to her in a dream after that I'm just like you know hey granny
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Wow.
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Hey, Granny.
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Hey, Granny. I haven't met my Granny either. Good to see you. So I'm just like, with going back to colonization and everything, it's very different to not like, we're just like so close to our elders, but we're so far away because of this whole span of like, just destroying your heritage, destroying the books, destroying like the history and just like colonizing it and stuff like that. It's just like we have to dig like super deep to try to connect to our ancestors and it's like this whole process to just find out who you are. It's just like a whole yeah I feel like I'm sounding like a Disney movie right now but like it's a whole process and it's just like I don't know I'm just you know this journey is difficult. It is, it's not easy. It's not for the week honey. It's not for the week. For real. Like doing shadow work? Y'all don't want to know about shadow work. Oh yes ma'am, yes ma'am. Okay and it's not for everybody either. Like don't be just, okay folks at home, don't just be looking at one little spell to do at home and then be wondering why your life messed up after you messed it up. Do some research. You need protection, you need all that before you even start. Yes, absolutely. But I mean just to make sure everyone's you know in on the joke, shadow work is basically just going deep into like who you are and just like analyzing your behaviors, what you don't like about yourself, like how did it get there, and just like going through your traumas and just trying to like, I don't know, become a better person. It's a really hard struggle, especially if you're doing it on your own, you know. It's why it's important to have friends like Miss Jada here. Definitely. Because it's definitely a journey to find yourself and having those people around you that you can go to for comfort and reassuring that, okay, I'm not crazy, I'm not going through this stuff on my own. It's definitely important to have the right people around you for those experiences, because they can get intense really fast. So it's definitely important to, like I said, be open-minded and have the right people around you. So people who are interested about a spiritual journey, where would you recommend they start? YouTube, honestly. I definitely would like to shout out West Indie Ray on Instagram and on YouTube. When I was kind of getting into my lock journey and into my spiritual journey and just process, seeing her videos and seeing like just tips, like honestly doing your own research on Google and stuff like that on the terminology and like how you can start is important, but seeing the YouTube videos, especially as a young black woman and seeing other young black women talk about that and basically signify that in their work as well. It's very important in my opinion to have what's the word? Like having that model? Yeah something like that it's like a verb or something to say like having that um person that looks like you to be Representation Yes, thank you Having that representation Is important as well. Um, but yes, I would definitely say start with google searches youtube and and make it your own journey. You don't have to go watch a video and then do exactly what they do and try to, you know, tailor it to yourself, you know, think about or watch stuff and see basically what these people are doing and think about like, is this something that, you know, I could see myself practicing or like, is this something I'm comfortable with practicing because it's all about comfortability as well. Don't do something that's out of your comfort zone, especially in the beginning, because it'll get very overwhelming very quickly. So definitely Google YouTube, other people in your life who may be heavily spiritual. I had a mom that was very spiritual and she practiced a lot of altar work and you know talking to the ancestors you know pouring milk for your ancestors and stuff before you go to bed and having a white altar like just the everything under the Sun and you know having that person that can help you with stuff like that personally I think is important too. But if you don't, I definitely recommend Google and YouTube for sure. So speaking of which, do you want to shout out your stream before we wrap it up?
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Yeah!
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So just to shout myself out a little bit y'all, my Instagram is jsoblunt on Instagram, J-A-Y-S-O-B-L-U-N-T. And I have a YouTube channel where I stream video games. It is Jsoblunt, and that's one word, face gaming. I stream a whole lot of stuff, like gaming-wise. So Fortnite, Brawlhalla, Call of Duty sometimes. Yeah, that's my YouTube. And then y'all have my Crystal Business as well. Okay, thank you for coming, Jada. And I'd like to thank the audience for listening to You Gone Listen. I'm your host, Karen Jean Charles, and I'll see you on the next episode.
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Peace.
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♪ In that floater water, on my brain ♪ ♪ In that floater water, on my brain ♪ ♪ Spill, spill, spill, spill, spill, spill, spill ♪
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