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Natural Awakenings Atlanta

Celebrating Atlanta’s Black Holistic Healers and the 10th Wonderful Wizards of Raw

Jun 01, 2023 06:00AM ● By Paul Chen

Stephen Tates, Mark Armstrong and Dr. Serena Satcher (Photos: Jason Dennard)

Welcome to our second annual Juneteenth issue and our fourth annual issue that focuses on a holistic health concern within the African American community. 

As we prepared this edition, the biggest question had to do with selecting the healers to highlight, for Atlanta has no shortage of Black holistic healers. The process started with us sending out an email to some 70 Black holistic business owners asking for their nominations. But truth be told, the first person we chose had been selected in September 2019 when we held a focus group of our Black customers at the time. One of the questions I asked was, “Who are the Black holistic healers in Atlanta that Natural Awakenings should know about?” We had nine or 10 customers that night, and the large majority—six or seven of them—immediately brought up Mark Armstrong, an energy healer who established his business nearly a quarter of a century earlier. Not surprisingly, he garnered the highest number of nominations from the responses we received from Black business owners. 

The process of selecting Stephen Tates and Dr. Serena Satcher was not quite as straightforward as Mark Armstrong’s nomination was; the process entailed many phone calls to consult about the background and reputation of the 20 or so nominees we received. In the end, I feel we arrived at an excellent collection of healers!

One thing that is particularly striking about this group and the group of nominees as a whole is the diversity in their areas of expertise. I expected most nominees would be functional/integrative medicine practitioners, acupuncturists, chiropractors or naturopaths. I kind of missed herbalists—and Stephen Tates is an herbalist—Ayurvedic practitioners and medical doctors who also lean heavily toward the holistic. We even received nominations for a cardiologist and heart surgeon!

In any case, I hope y’all enjoy this fourth offering of focused editorial on Black holistic health in Atlanta. We introduce this with only one small regret, which is that we are not able to offer the traditional full-cover photo treatment. Damn Mercury retrograde! The storage card in photographer Jason Dennard’s camera got corrupted and all of the large, high-resolution photo files were lost. ❧
Somewhat coincidentally, we offer an additional article appropriate to Juneteenth: coverage of the 10th anniversary of The Wonderful Wizards of Raw. This celebration of raw food is produced by Tassili’s Raw Reality Café in the West End and is always held during the first weekend of June. It’s “somewhat” coincidentally only because this is the 10th year, not because Tassili Ma’at, founder and owner of the cafe and the festival, chose the month of June because of Juneteenth—well before Juneteenth celebrations became as popular as they are now. 

But that’s not too surprising because Ma’at has repeatedly demonstrated her respect for her ancestors through the inclusion of the Libation ceremony that now kicks off The Wonderful Wizards of Raw weekend. What is less well known is her direct family link to the event that started it all. 

One of Ma’at’s female ancestors seven generations ago was a slave on a plantation outside of Houston in what is now Dayton, Texas. When she learned of the Emancipation Proclamation, the woman was overjoyed, packed up her belongings, and prepared to depart with her four half-white sons whose father was the plantation master. When the day came to leave, the master asked her not to leave, but she declined his request. Enraged, he grabbed a tree branch and killed her with a blow to the head.  

I cringed when Tassili told me this story. To think of this woman being set free and yet not able to enjoy even a moment of freedom—I find myself without words. And for the attitude and mentality behind that murder to persist to this day—even encouraged and promoted by prominent politicians—it’s easy to be full of despair, hopelessness and rage. 

That people like Tassili exist—people who preach love, promote informed independence and embody positivity and hope in the face of hate—is a miracle and a blessing. So let us all celebrate 10 years of The Wonderful Wizards of Raw, a festival that not only builds community but speaks to MLK’s beloved community, where there is justice for all people. May that day come soon. 

Disclosure: Natural Awakenings is and has been a sponsor of The Wonderful Wizards of Raw since 2019. ❧
Publisher of Natural Awakenings Atlanta since 2017, Paul Chen’s professional background includes strategic planning, marketing management and qualitative research. He practices Mahayana Buddhism and kriya yoga. Contact him at [email protected].
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