The Real Meaning of Words — Reclaiming the Sacred Language of Our Lives

Words are not just tools.

They are not simply sounds strung together to convey meaning.

They are spells.

They shape how we see, how we relate, how we belong.

And when their true meaning is lost or twisted, we lose parts of ourselves with them.

Language is one of the most powerful technologies humanity has ever wielded—and also one of the most manipulated. The moment we inherited a word, we also inherited the worldview behind it.

The Truth Buried in the Name

Let’s begin with something as foundational as the name of a continent: Africa.

Most of us use the word without thinking. But where did it come from?

Some scholars trace “Africa” to the Roman general Scipio Africanus, who colonized North Africa. Imagine that: a land mass named not by its people, but by its conqueror.

Before this, many ancient civilizations referred to the continent as Alkebulan.

“Alkebulan” — an ancient name meaning Mother of Mankind, Garden of Eden, or Land of the Blacks.

Can you feel the difference?

“Africa” feels geopolitical.

“Alkebulan” feels alive—rooted in ancestry, reverence, origin.

This is not semantics.

This is soulwork.

Words as Weapons of Distortion

Over time, colonial systems didn’t just take land and lives—they took language, too.

They replaced Indigenous names with ones that reinforced dominance.

They took sacred words and flipped them.

• “Witch” — from healer and wisdom-keeper to a symbol of evil and death.

• “Tribe” — used to diminish complex societies while calling European groups “nations.”

• “Black” — from a symbol of sacredness, mystery, and depth to something feared and vilified.

• “Third World” — a Cold War term that now implies inferiority, despite many of these nations being the cradles of civilization.

• “God” — turned into a male authority figure in the sky, separate from Earth, feminine energy, and the self.

These distortions are not accidents. They are part of a language of control.

Words have been used to categorize, dehumanize, diminish, and divide.

The Language of Empire vs. The Language of Life

Language from empire serves hierarchy.

It defines worth through status, productivity, and proximity to whiteness, wealth, and power.

But original languages, before conquest—Indigenous languages, ancient tongues, oral traditions—carry entirely different maps of reality.

They are relational, not transactional.

They encode kinship, not competition.

They don’t just describe the world.

They belong to it.

In many African, Pacific, and First Nations languages:

• Trees are people.

• Animals are ancestors.

• Land is not “land”—it is story, spirit, source.

When those languages are lost or dismissed, so are the relationships they held.

What We’re Not Asking

We’ve been taught to use words, but not to question them.

But now is the time to ask:

• Who gave this word meaning?

• What language did it replace?

• What story does this word carry?

• How does it make me feel in my body?

• Would I speak it in front of my ancestors?

• What word would I use if I were naming from reverence?

Reclaiming the Living Word

This blog isn’t about political correctness.

It’s about remembering your power.

When you say “I am,” what follows becomes your creation code.

When you call someone “immigrant,” “poor,” “refugee,” “witch,” or “third world,” you’re not just describing—you’re casting.

But we can choose to speak again in a different voice.

We can remember “Alkebulan.”

We can remember that a “witch” is a woman who hears the Earth.

We can remember that “God” might not be a man at all—but a vibration of love in everything.

An Invitation to Speak Anew

You don’t have to abandon the English language.

But you can begin to inhabit it more consciously.

You can trace words back to their roots.

You can replace the dead with the living.

You can choose names that honor.

You can teach your children the old names.

And most importantly, you can remember:

✨ You are not just a speaker of words. You are a keeper of memory. You are a weaver of meaning. You are the tongue of your lineage rising again to speak what was once unspeakable. ✨

Questions for Reflection:

• What words do I use that carry unconscious assumptions?

• What ancestral or Indigenous words have I forgotten?

• What language am I fluent in that my body doesn’t feel at home with?

• Where do I need to rename parts of my life—from control to connection?