Beyonce took me to the river and owed to lemonade.

I am grateful to Beyonce for taking me to the water.

No, she did not make me drink from it and no, she did not teach me to swim in its purifying sweetness.

But she took me.

I believe I was in my former partner's room in 2016, cuddled up, probably eating snacks as the MacBook loaded the instant classic we all know as lemonade.

I just remember pausing through each video like, okay, wait a minute babe, let's process this, at some moments terriared, at every moment so happy to be alive at the same time as this art.

A story of black, of love, betrayal, wanting to fuck your nigger up forgiveness and freedom.

An intimate musical synopsis so beautifully captured on film that reassured what we already knew.

Beyonce is a living legend, but there was something so different about this project that hit me.

It was like a loud whisper like, most black folks are good at doing, but I wasn't sure who was talking to me yet.

It was something speaking to me so strong, but so soft telling me to dig deeper.

I heard it when I saw being holed up, that yellow dressed the swing of the bats while cackling in laughter, the water spurting from the fire hydrant and what looked like Louisiana.

I loved the song, but that whisper got loud, and I think other folks heard it too because the thing pieces and the Facebook statuses were going awesome.

Beyonce embodies the goddess Oshun in lemonade. Beyonce believes in the Orisha.

She don't believe in Jesus no more. Beyonce doing witchcraft.

Everybody from the Saints to the Ains has something to say about Beyonce's religion, but at the time I didn't know much about an Oshun or an Orisha.

I heard a little something but never felt pulled one way or the other.

I might have been leaning more towards the agnostic side during that time anyway, but that loud whisper turned into a clear voice telling me to keep looking to keep swimming every time I watched lemonade.

So I did.

I did my research.

Who are the Orisha? Who is Oshun?

Okay, the deity of love, beauty, inner work, fertility, a warrior, a river deity, the Orisha of attraction, her energy so alluring, I was emoji heart eyes, all things Oshun.

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