A Lineage of Wisdom
About This Work:
Dr Minerva Arias De Jesus
Ìyá Oyaladé
Scholar. Priestess. Mother. Griot.
All my life, I have been an empathic revolutionary spirit.
Born and raised in "the Heights" in New York City to a Puerto Rican mother and a Dominican father, the crack era politicized me long before I understood the word politics. I learned early that healing is never only personal—it is shaped by family, community, history, and the forces that move through generations.
My life has carried me through many seasons: public service, motherhood, spiritual initiation, scholarship, grief, devotion, and profound transformation. Each chapter has returned me to the same questions: What sustains us through change? What remains when everything we know is transformed? How do we stay connected to ourselves, our ancestors, and one another through life's most difficult thresholds?
Those questions eventually led me to the traditions that now guide my life and work. As a Priestess of Ọya, scholar-practitioner, and founder of Sagrad@, I work at the intersection of ancestral wisdom, embodiment, continuity, and transformation. Drawing from Ifá-informed cosmology, grief psychology, end-of-life care, somatic practice, and the lived wisdom of the African diaspora, I help people cultivate a different relationship with endings.
Through Sagrada, I create spaces for grief, remembrance, ancestral connection, and personal transformation. Whether through one-on-one guidance, community gatherings, teaching, or research, my work is rooted in the belief that endings are not simply losses to endure, but thresholds that invite us into deeper relationship with ourselves, our lineage, and the lives we are becoming.
When you enter this work, you are not entering my story alone. You are stepping into a much longer conversation—one carried by ancestors, community, memory, and the enduring wisdom that reminds us we do not walk alone.
A Different Way of Understanding Endings.
Modern culture often teaches us to move through endings quickly, to resolve grief, overcome loss, and return to who we were before. Yet many Indigenous and ancestral traditions understand death, grief, initiation, and major life transitions differently: not as interruptions to life, but as part of a larger continuum of relationship, remembrance, and becoming.
My work draws from this understanding. Through ancestral wisdom, grief studies, embodiment, ritual, and contemplative practice, I help people cultivate a different relationship with change; one that honors both what is ending and what continues.
Whether navigating loss, motherhood, spiritual transformation, identity shifts, or life's unexpected thresholds, this work invites us into deeper relationship with ourselves, our ancestors, and the stories we carry. Together, we explore what is ending, what remains, and what is asking to emerge.
At the heart of my work is a simple question:
What remains when everything changes?
Let’s Begin the Conversation.
Whether you are moving through an ending, grief, standing at a threshold, seeking ancestral connection, or navigating a season of profound change, I invite you to reach out.
Education
PhD, East-West Psychology,
California Institute for Integral Studies, 2026Traumatic Stress Studies,
Trauma Research Foundation, 2025Death Doula
INELDA, 2022Ayurveda Wellness Counselor,
Kerala Institute, 2017Masters Public Administration,
New York University, 2010Bachelors in Sociology,
St. Lawrence University, 2003
Certifications
Laughing Lotus 550+ hours:
200-hour YTT
100-hour Ayurveda
50-hour Bhakti Yoga
50-hour Advanced Teacher
50-hour Hands-on & Healing
50-hour Super Sequencing
25-hour Restorative Yoga
25-hour Alignment & AnatomyPre & Postnatal Yoga Training
Bliss Baby Yoga, 2022
Published Work & Research
(2023) Ancestor and Òrìṣà Shrines as Places of Deep Research. In C. Chalquist & G. Barnwell (Eds.), Terrapsychology: Further Inquiry into Self, Place and Planet. Routlege
(2026) Modupe Egun: Honoring Our Ancestors in the Bereavement Process, Doctoral Research
This study explored how the cyclical worldview of Ifá and Lucumí practitioners and their continued connection to ancestors impact their grief and bereavement journeys. By placing African diasporic spiritual traditions in dialogue with dominant bereavement theories, the research examined how ongoing relationships with the dead reshape the meaning and experience of loss.
Grounded in an Indigenous paradigm and utilizing a Cyclical Postcolonial Indigenous Methodology (CPIM), the study centered the voices and lived experiences of practitioners across the African diaspora.
Findings indicated that participants experienced grief within a cosmological framework in which death was understood as a transition rather than an endpoint, and ancestral relationships continued beyond physical death. Grief was tended through ritual practice, embodied ways of knowing, communal life, and responsibilities carried through lineage.
By highlighting African diasporic epistemologies, this study reveals the limitations of dominant psychological models and underscores the importance of including cosmology, ancestral relationships, and spiritual perspectives in grief and bereavement research.
This work is a living conversation with Spirit, ancestors, and all who walk this path.
If you feel called, I invite you to step in—let’s begin this journey together.
Schedule a Free Discovery Call
Not sure where to begin? Let’s start with a conversation. Book a free 15-minute discovery call where we’ll explore your needs, discuss my approach, and see if working together feels aligned. Whether you’re navigating grief, seeking spiritual support, or exploring deeper healing, this is an opportunity to connect and create a healing path that feels both supportive and expansive.