There’s something to be said about shooting your shot. I came across Jade T. Perry and her work via her episode on the podcast Inner Hoe Uprising. Since then, I’ve had a reading done by her and won a ticket to her one of her Wednesday Night Study sessions where we prepped for the last quarter of 2019. In the months passed, I’ve interacted with her on her social pages and even cited her work (with permission) in my first sex & pleasure workshop. Connecting with someone online can be hit or miss; the persona doesn’t always match the person. Jade, however, is her truest self on and off these digital streets. With every inch of her humanity, she schools, edifies and teaches. I’m so honored to have been able to interview her for the 7 Questions series.
1. What is a Churchy Mystic and how does one adopt the moniker?
In 2016, I started getting really intrigued by the word, “churchy”. That’s how things usually start with me - I’m a nerd and I think language & having language for things is so important. So, it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in a certain word or phrase. In 2016, I was also emerging from some spiritually transformative experiences and I was learning a lot about my own family & history and trying to map my family’s religious history within the context of Black religion in America. What were the layers of their belief and where did it all come from?
I’d learned tarot, started establishing a regular meditation practice and was just having these beautiful interfaith conversations with friends in Chicago. Prior to that point, I’d been reading a lot of the Christian mystics and friends started sending me information on mysticism from their faith traditions. And while I resonated with these things, I found that there was a really specific and particular form of mysticism that showed up in Black charismatic church spaces. It was different than the mainstream Christian mystics. It was ephemeral and it felt like that was kind of by design and I realized that a part of what I’d been looking for was already on my front door.
A mystic, simply put, is someone who prioritizes and lives in light of a personal encounter with the Divine - however, they might understand it. Being a mystic is about appreciating the mystery & the spiritual unknown… and still trying to connect with it anyway. I started thinking about this word “churchy”, looking for patterns in the way people were using it and sitting with Yvonne Chireau’s work in “Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition”, Stephanie Mitchem’s work on Black folk healing, Ashon Crawley’s work on Black pentecostalism & the aesthetics of possibility, and Barbara Holmes’ work on the Black contemplative tradition.
The ways that we include spiritual practices from the diaspora that also encourage direct union with the Divine kept coming up. So, I felt comfortable thinking about the two terms together: “Churchy mystic.”
In the book, I define a churchy mystic as:
1. Someone who is both aware of and can utilize syncretic healing & spiritual technologies available within the Black church culture.
2. The intertwining of Black church cultural norms and the Black Diaspora's mysticism, such that one is indistinguishable from the other
It’s broad because, through biomyth, I’m still sussing out what that means for me. The Churchy Mystic is less of a moniker and more of an invitation, I think. I’m hoping that the forthcoming Churchy Mystic book can invite folks to think about where they see these dynamics showing up in their own lives. We’re still dreaming up all that it can be and can hold.
2. How important is touch and self-pleasure to individual healing?
I was raised with an emphasis on touch. My Gramma used to volunteer to rock babies at the NICU and everyone always wanted one of her infamous hugs or back-rubs. It was something that she would do so nonchalantly that I didn’t really get the importance of it until much later on when I was being attuned to reiki.
One of the places that I’ve noticed the importance of touch & self-pleasure most is in my work with the Embodied Sensual Rituals project. Embodied Sensual Rituals center Black women & femmes* (across the spectrum of sexuality, gender expression, & diaspora) – who are unlearning toxic religious repressions of our sexuality and sensuality. More concretely, Embodied Rituals help us to move toward the notion that honoring our erotic, sensual, sexual selves is crucial to the well-being of Black women & Queer & Trans People of Color (QTPOC) and is supported by the Divine – however we understand and interpret it.
In the early days, I realized quickly that starting off by talking about sex, sexual acts, and / or sexual behaviors could get overwhelming for folks early on in the process of sensual liberation. Plus, when we’re talking about sexuality & sensuality, it’s important to remember that these are spectrums. So, a much easier entry point for folks is through the act of mindful touch. Learning what pleasure feels like in your body helps you to notice it when & wherever it comes to you in the future. Pleasurable self-touch allows you to learn about yourself in intimate ways and what has felt healing for me is experiencing and seeing folks come into their own sense of joy and reclaiming loving agency over the sensations in their bodies.
3. Build your ultimate playlist with songs ranging from 1993 to 2010. All genres included.
That’s really hard! I was raised by musicians so genre really helps me focus. This is by no means an ultimate playlist but here are a few really cute, throwback hip-hop vibes in the earlier part of that time frame that stay in rotation:Queen Penn - Party Ain’t a Party, 1997Outkast - Rosa Parks, 1998Bone Thugs & Harmony - Tha Crossroads, 1995
A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour, 1993Digable Planets - Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat), 1993
Philadelphia Freeway - What We Do, 2003 (because... from Philly LOL)
4. Define access.
“Access” is a starting point. In a disability justice context, access can be a word that’s used whether we’re talking about making a space cater to a variety of bodies or whether we’re talking about legislation that improves or hinders access (to medical assistance without the exorbitant cost, to spaces, to the creation of communities and societal norms that don’t reinforce a priority on being non-disabled).
Then there are the helpful ways that the disability justice community has expanded this word.
“Access needs” can speak to what folks need to fully inhabit a space, event, program, or gathering.
“Access intimacy”, a term coined by Mia Mingus, speaks to the ways that we are creating accessibility together as a form of love & community & sharing. It reframes accessibility as something that we can feel honored to do, to build together, and that it’s important to remain flexible and to “do access” from a place of deep respect. It moves “access” from a mind-centered place to a heart-centered place and I think that’s really important in organizing.
5. Which Tarot card best describes your essence?
The Hermit card! I’ve been wanting to get it as a tattoo for a while. I have a relationship with this card because I always seem to pull it when I need to be reminded to tend to my inner world or to my thought life. I see a bit of my introspective energy in the card & the need to go slowly, think something completely through, reference guides along the way. And I see myself in the Shadow side of this card too. It reminds me not to isolate myself and to share my thoughts, even when it feels really vulnerable.
6. Intersectionality is vital to discourse concerning black women/femmes/non-binary/trans. How do you work through the lanes of your life so each one is fed?
Intersectionality, as a concept, has been so helpful in organizing work. And I’m also intrigued by the context of this word, the possibilities it creates, and the limits that it holds. The term came from Kimberle Crenshaw’s work in 1989 and was meant to help legal entities understand that there are these various “intersections” of folks’ identities that come to bear in practicing discrimination law. It was a way of saying that it isn’t just enough to practice discrimination law by sussing out whether something happened because a person was Black OR a woman. It’s invited folks into a both / and.
This word has taken on a life of its own and I think so many of us are still sorting out how to use the concept. For me, it reminds me that all of these things are a constellation: the ways our sociocultural identities are formed, the ways we see ourselves, the ways we are “read” by society. It reminds me that there are moments where certain identities may feel more salient than others (for example, being the only Black person in a class at a PWI or navigating disability in spaces where able-bodiedness is normalized). But I think what’s most important about this word & the discourse around it is that it started as a legal challenge to really think about the dynamics of power & privilege in an American context in a nuanced way. So, I try to honor that and get excited about that because it means that we aren’t finished creating language around what it means to hold a multiplicity of social identities!
7. What do you have in the works that the world should know about?
Aside from the book project (forthcoming summer 2020), I’ve been really excited about the Wednesday Night Study dialogue series that’s happening on my Patreon page. Essentially it’s a Zoom video call with engagement from the audience & a few special guests to help us discuss a range of topics: mysticism, sexuality, healing, etc. Soon, we’ll be talking about healing from purity culture, reparenting the inner child as a method of emotional regulation, and I’m really excited about the guests we’ll have. Folks can learn more about that at jadetperry.com/events or if you KNOW you want to be a part, sign-ups are at patreon.com/jadetperry.
Bonus question: Your name is Jade. If you were a Crystal Gem from the Steven Universe canon, who would your character be and why?
I’m so excited about this question because Steven Universe is one of my FAVORITE shows! It’s such heart-centered work. I really appreciated the Rhodonite character. Rhodonite is a fusion between a pearl & a ruby and was featured in some of the “off-colors” episodes. I really appreciate the resolve that Rhodonite has to do big things in spite of feeling nervous or skeptical. I most appreciated the way that Rhodonite showed up for their friends - other gems that were seen as misfits from the Diamond authority. I felt like that was relatable content haha! But if they ever wanted to work in a Jade character, I would probably get hives from excited!
Bio: Jade T. Perry, M. Ed (she/her) is a writer, speaker, educator, artist, and mystic.
She is a BlackQueerDisabledFemme, a co-Founder of the Mystic Soul Project (501c3, Non-Profit Organization), and a multi-faithed, sex-positive, womanist spiritual advisor. You can find her reading tarot, talking to her black cat (Kevin), and buying more books than she has space for. The mission of her work, as a whole, is to contribute resources, art, narratives, and experiential learning opportunities that aid in the holistic healing processes of Blackfolk, queer people of color (QPOC), and disabled/ chronically ill POC.