M’Kali - hashiki

I was given the name Mkali Hashiki by a Priest of Oshun in the Ifa tradition (I added the hyphen & apostrophe to help with pronounciation). It means “fierce passion” in Swahili. I believe that we are all entitled to have passion in our lives, and to understand how being connected to our passion & creativity enhances our lives & the lives of those around us. It is my fierce passion for a happy, healthy, world that motivates everything I do.  

I’m a Certified Sexological Bodyworker; a Certified Sound, Voice, & Music Healer; and a Certified Tantric Sacred Intimate. I’m also a Gynecological Teaching Associate (teaching medical students how to perform painless, patient-centered pelvic & breast exams using my body as the demo model), a published essayist; a former professional social justice organizer; and an Ifa devoteé. I’m a fat, Black, queer, womanist, polyamorous, kinky, first generation Northern-born, middle-aged dyke Burn Survivor with moderate to severe PTSD. My cultural upbringing & lived experiences of struggling to love myself in a world that hates all of my identities (some more than others) informs every aspect of my work.

I have a complex sexuality & sexual history. I have personal experience with polyamory, nonmonogamy, BDSM, and achieving mystical states during sex. I am—and have always been—a “sexual outlaw”, as well as being a “triple minority” (Black, female, and queer); this has allowed me to view society's standards on sexuality with a critical eye. As a Scorpio, I have always been curious and intrigued by sexuality, and feel that my erotic sense is the most calibrated of all my senses, and is the filter through which I experience the world.

I am currently addressing 30 plus years of undiagnosed & untreated PTSD. I understand the ways in which our triggers hide from us, popping up when we least expect it; the ways trauma can influence even the most mundane actions in our day-to-day lives; the ways minor triggers substitute for the major ones. Even though my traumatic incident was not sexual trauma, it still had an impact on my erotic growth & sexual development.

I have been deeply influenced personally, professionally, and politically by Audre Lorde’s essay “The Uses Of The Erotic: The Erotic As Power” (if you haven’t read it, you need to!). I believe her point that in order to maintain itself, oppression requires the repression of the erotic. Because of my politics, spirituality, and lived experiences; because of the lies we are constantly told about what sex should be, about what is normal and acceptable; and because of the sexual truths that are vilified; I view my work in FiercePassions as a form of political rebellion.

An excerpt from my FiercePassions101 video (2017), giving you a little bit more info about me.

Entire video can be seen here.