In a forest, by the ocean, at a crossroad, or in a void - these are but some of the places you’ll find the cozy cottage. You’ll find that it’s the same cozy cottage, no matter where you go. From the herbs hanging along the wrap-around porch to the dark green painted wooden door to the never-ending flame in the lantern hung just beside that door - it’s the exact same cottage. There I sit, a warm tea in hand, at a table on the porch, excitingly wondering where I am and who this time will pass by needing rest, food or directions…
When I think about my path, this is always the vision I would see: me in this cozy cottage that is constantly moving allowing me to go to different places and discover different things about Spirit and life. The guests that visited, along the way, always varied. Sometimes I am welcoming tired souls to take a rest on the wrap-around porch. They have been walking, lost, for days and are just needing a moment of food and rest. A few times I’m providing water and the easiest directions possible to those just passing by. Other times, I see the same souls go by just happily going along their path. For these souls, we usually get to talking about the weather up ahead and how best to dress themselves. The places I would go, the people I would meet are endless.
I once would have said that this cottage felt ungrounded and unsteady. Almost like whiplash the cottage would shift from here to there in a matter of moments, usually leaving me dizzy and confused. And the guests that would visit, once had me feeling drained. When this happened, my way would become muddled and I knew it was time to take the lantern from outside to inside. This begins the journey of where to go and the search for what to do. However, for me, this journey and search always leads me back to the same answer- my name.
In many indigenous and Afro-practices there is an understanding in the power of a name. That a name sometimes is not just a name. It’s an ancestor returned. It’s a key to your path and purpose. It’s a blessing or reminder. It’s the whispered promise between you and the Divine that you made. A name, whether given or chosen is one that can tell you a secret about yourself… A name holds many.
You ask me my name. I tell you, “My name is Quavia”.
You ask me what it means. I used to just shrug, smile sweetly, and say, “I don’t know”.
There are two theories in my family. Some say my great grandmother named me “Quavia”. Why she named me such a name or the meaning of this name has been lost, since she died. It is said that she was adamant in calling me “Quavia” and would not accept any other name. The other theory is that my biological father was rhyming names and when he came to “Quavia”… it just stuck.
It honestly doesn’t matter how this name came about. At the end of the day I am reminded how rarely lazy the Universe is. Unknowingly, I began to see and move into this cozy, infinite and moveable cottage long before I would have run into a person who was a lover of Latin. And it is this individual that would help me understand the meaning of my name. Ultimately, helping me see its connection to my whispered promise, to my key and the purpose of that cottage.
This random conversation started the same way:
Whats your name? “My name is Quavia.”
Wow, that’s beautiful. What does it mean? “I don’t know.”
We continued the conversation but they must have thought about it for a while because they laughed and said, “Well whatever your name meant when it was given, it does have a meaning in Latin.” Of course, curious, I ask about the meaning in Latin. They go on to tell me, “qua via” means “which way” or “by what route”.
Like Neo in The Matrix, I followed the white rabbit. Even up until today, this is a rabbit hole that is still opening so many doors inside this cozy cottage of mine leading me to different paths and telling me different things to do.
“qua via”
“qua via” can be used to ask or describe the route or manner by which something happens. “Qua” is an adverb with meanings like: which, where, or how. “Via” is a feminine noun meaning road, path, way, or through.
I even learned “qua via” appears in classical Latin texts to describe literal routes or journeys such as in Vergil (Aeneid) and Livy (Ab Urbe Condita); or to describe figurative/philosophical paths such as in texts like Cicero (De Oratore), Ovid (Metamorphoses), and Seneca (Epistulae Morales).
So, in moments when even I get a little lost, I take that lantern from the frame on the front door and I go inside to start the descent within this infinite cottage until I find my promise, my key, my “I am”- my name. There I find the song to “She Who Knows the Way”.
She greets me in the meaning of my middle name,
“Welcome back Free Woman (Charlene)”
She then sings me songs of my multitude and of my infinity. She dances to the rhythm of drums with breast free and hair loose. She is grounded and flowing. She is an arrow and a crossroad. She is the journey and the destination. She is dark and light.
I surrender and merge in her aura.
We become one, “She Who Is The Path”.
I find myself back at the cottages front door. I open the door, walk through and place that lantern back on the dark green door frame. The lanterns endless fire burns even brighter. I smile and take my still hot tea from the table on the porch and go back inside to place it in the kitchen.
That cozy cottage of mine begins to move. Spirit and life are calling...
“She Who Knows the Way” is burning and flowing, “We Who Is the Path” is grounded in multitudes. I hear her say my name…
“Which Way? Free Woman.”
juju thyme