Reclaiming Spirit: The Power of Spiritual Tools Brought into Being by a Gullah Geechee Descendant

Over the last few years, a subtle yet significant movement has been occurring in Black communities across the United States, particularly among Black women and other oppressed groups. It is not necessarily a spiritual reawakening, but rather a turning toward ancient wisdom, cultural revitalization, and sacred self-healing. At its center are spiritual tools handmade by a Gullah Geechee descendant and implements crafted by the hand of a Gullah Geechee descendant, filled with meaning, history, and healing.

This cultural revival is symptomatic of a wider awakening: an awakening in which spiritual rituals rooted in African tradition are no longer relegated to the periphery, but valued and promoted as key components of individual and collective health.

The Ancestral Return: Why Ritual Matters

Holy practices have been a part of Black existence, albeit in hiding. African spiritual practices were violently repressed, demonized, and substituted for Western religious systems during slavery and after. And yet, these sacred practices never actually went away—they existed in the covert corners of kitchens, in whispered prayers, in inherited folk healings and kitchen shrines.

Today, Black women in particular are going back to these spiritual roots. Practices such as ancestor veneration, herbal bathing, and candle rituals are freely reclaimed today. Rituals formerly decried as taboo or condemned are now recognized for their psychological, spiritual, and emotional strength.

The rise of homemade spiritual candles, cleansing herbs, oils, and altar pieces is a reflection of something more elementary: a desire to spiritually shield oneself, to emotionally ground oneself, and to culturally belong.

Spiritual Self-Care as a Radical Act

For Black women, self-care goes deeper than bubble baths or skin care. It’s a sacred and self-surviving practice. In a world that seems to ignore their pain and forget their histories, spiritual self-care is a means of taking power back, sanctifying the self, and accessing the ancestral resilience.

This spiritual renaissance permits women to design rituals according to their own requirements—lighting a candle for light, purifying a room with herbs for tranquility, or sitting in quietude to listen to the wisdom of their inner self. These acts, though seemingly small, are titanic in effect.

The implements of these traditions are important. The energy, intention, and heritage put into each one transforms the ritual significant and powerful. That is why increasingly more individuals are purposely seeking ritual tools made by a Gullah Geechee descendant—because it is not the implement; it is about the history, craftsmanship, and ancestral lineage that goes behind. 

The Gullah Geechee Legacy: A Culture of Spirit and Survival

The Gullah Geechee are descendants of West African slaves, who were brought to settle along the coastal areas of the southeastern United States and retained more of their African traditions than any other African American people. Their language, cuisine, crafts, and religious life give direct access to ancestral African tradition.

When a person creates spiritual items from this tradition, they’re not merely creating something—they are perpetuating something. Whether it’s a candle poured by hand, a mojo bag made by hand, or an altar decoration, every single thing holds within it the essence of survival, resilience, and strongly embedded tradition.

These individually crafted pieces are typically created in extremely small batches, with a spiritual purpose and sacred intent. That’s what distinguishes them from the mass-produced trinkets that clutter commercial shelves—they’re not created to be fashionable; they’re created to be transformative.

Handmade vs. Mass-Produced: Why It Matters

In the age of instant consumption, there’s a desire to purchase instant spiritual tools from giants of online stores. There’s an increasing realization, however, that energy is important. Tools created without sanctified intent are often poor in spiritual tone rituals need.

When someone takes the effort to handmade spiritual supplies—choosing herbs, oils, and symbols with intention—there’s an energy exchange that takes place. The ritual starts not at use, but at creation. Especially with handmade spiritual candles, which sometimes are poured during certain moon phases or with ancestor prayers.

These are subtle but deep differences. When you light a candle that has been crafted with tradition and care, it does not only light up your room—it lights up your soul.

The Role of Candles in Spiritual Practice

Candles have been an important part of religious practice for as long as anyone can remember. Fire itself, as a material, is symbolic of change, light, and becoming one with the divine. Within African traditional religions and diasporic spiritual systems, candles are implements that are utilized for the purposes of invocation, manifestation, and protection.

The more individuals seek out these traditions, protection candles for the house are among the most popular aids. They are not flash and dash—they typically arrive bundled with herbs, oils, and intentions that dispel negativities and bring balance.

Whether employed in meditation, prayer, or offerings to the ancestors, candles offer a physical means of concentrating energy and creating sacred space. Their increased popularity is a response to a shared desire for security, simplicity, and spiritual anchorage in times of uncertainty.

The Cultural Healing in Craftsmanship

There is also healing, not only in employing these tools, but in their making. For Gullah Geechee artists and other cultural craft artists, the process of making is sacred work. Each piece becomes a conduit for ancestral power and an instrument of cultural narrative.

Sponsoring these artists is not an option for a purchaser; it’s a joining of a living chain. It’s a gesture of respect for the origins of religious rituals that have endured centuries of commodification and erasure.

You can also seek out more embedded gifts, like ritual items that are personally crafted by a Gullah Geechee heir, to engage most immediately with these ancestral rivers through hand-made items produced in line with cultural protocol.

A Quiet Revolution in Spirit

This turn back to our native ways is not a trend, it’s a quiet revolution in Black communities’ definitions of healing, self-care, and spirituality. It’s a move away from validation by others and back to healing ourselves. It’s a realization that wellness may not necessarily appear as it does in mass media. It may feel like lighting a candle in the memory of your elders, reciting prayers that were passed down through generations, or purifying your home using herbs that your ancestors used.

With this spiritual transformation, increasing numbers of individuals are adopting handmade, culture-driven tools as an integral part of their ritual. Home protection candles or individual objects used during meditation, the energy imparted to these tools establishes a connection between past, present, and future.

To that degree, the return of handmade religious objects is more than about appearance. It is an act of remembrance, resistance, and redemption—one candle, one prayer, and one ritual at a time.

Conclusion

We are experiencing a return to the spirit. Black women, in the majority of cases, are at the forefront—returning to the sacred, reclaiming space for healing, and doing so equipped with resources that are in touch with the voices of their ancestors. The use of hand-made spiritual candles is not individualistic; it is intentional and cultural.