#BlackMysticHistory: Jertha Love 🧚🏾🌟🔭

He Told Us That Niggas Were Ruled By The Moon.

Before we get into some thangggssss…

Don’t forget to follow me on all platforms!

TikTok, Instagram, & Threads 🧚🏾

I also have another blog, so make sure y’all are tuned in there and reading my latest piece, ‘Are You Truly Present?’

---

Being in the midst of a spiritual awakening myself where I’m beginning to question a lot that was pushed on us a culture while simultaneously diving into Black mysticism, I started thinking about the experiences of Black mystics from back in the day. If you don’t know, Black people are inherently very mystical, ethereal, otherworldly, and magical. However, post-slavery, many Black people converted to Christianity, abandoning our cosmic and ancestral knowledge. We took on the colonizer’s viewpoint of our ancient intelligence and God-given talents/spiritual gifts. Hoodoo, Voodoo, cosmology, African spirituality, astrology, etc., were most definitely looked down upon by the collective because our minds were infiltrated with this idea of constant logic, instead of embracing our dreamy auras, imagination, and our connection to the moon, the stars, the trees, and the dirt.

I can only imagine the backlash Black mystics received back in the day, I thought to myself. Niggas were probably calling them all types of crazy and delusional.

Being the spiritual, philosophical bad bitch that I am, of course I went down this rabbit hole of researching some of the Black mystics that reigned supreme back in the day. I came across many (which we’ll highlight one every month), but the one who stuck out to me was the legendary Jertha Love.

Now, who was Jertha Love? Baby, he was a renowned astrologer (and Capricorn man— my favorite zodiac when it comes to men 😛) in the Black community. He was frequently highlighted in Ebony and Jet magazine for his astrological insight regarding politics and the Black community, and he also made some appearances on Tony Brown’s The Black Journal broadcast show, which aired on PBS, where problems within the Black community were frequently highlighted by a range of Black intellectuals, leaders, and activists. Many of his predictions actually reigned true.

Jertha Love was first introduced to astrology through his father. His father, who was a farmer, traveled around the world, working for cattle raisers who would only milk their cows according to particular moon phases. Love’s father questioned their milking times, to which they introduced his father to astrology and cosmology. Around that time, many people were dying from the germs present in milk. However, these cattle raisers were the only ones who were not getting sick from the milk their cows were producing. They were also boiling their milk before pasteurization became widely accepted in the world.

Love was in and out of prison for half of his life. However, his interest in astrology intensified while behind bars. In an interview on City Line, Jertha stated that he believed many Black people had what he called ‘spiritual amnesia.’ To sum it up, Black people are naturally connected to the stars and nature, however, we’ve lost this sense of home once we decided to label cosmic guidance, dream interpretation, and connection to spirit as an invalid form of intelligence. Before colonization, that was us. Yet, as I frequently talk about on all my platforms: hyperanalyis, avoidance, logic, and detachment were forced on us by colonizers. So, we became homesick. Love states: “We are unaware of the source from which we came… we’re in a refining process, but we need to know who we are. All the ancient wise men and prophets and patriarchs admonished us to know thyself.”

Love believed that by utilizing ancient tools, it helped Black people in getting to know themselves better, so that we could follow our destiny and purpose accordingly. While many credit the Greeks for creating astrology, history shows that astrology was actually created by Ancient Egyptians, but rebranded by the Greek. Astrology is very much so BLACK.

For me, it has been incredibly insightful in learning who I am. It has helped me in discovering my life purpose, my gifts, my destiny, and more! So many Black people are resistant to explore astrology in it’s entirety, because it is deemed ‘pseudoscience’, however, quick research shows you that astrology is a study of patterns, behavior, and math. Analyzing your birth chart is quite literally the cheat code to life… OKAY?

In an interview on Tony Brown’s broadcast show, The Black Journal, Love stated that Black people were ruled by the moon, which is ruled by Cancer. Cancers are known for being very maternal, warm, protective, and nurturing. “He [Black people] comes under the sign of Cancer, therefore, the moon is his star to follow. It is the only star in the heavens that has no light of its own. It shines with the reflective light of the sun. The moon is known as being rather mystical, sensitive, changeable, mutable… it is known to have rather psychic powers. This sensitivity to things that are happening or things that are to come… This is the sign that rules the Black people.”

Jertha steadily and firmly believed that Black people could use astrology and ancient concepts to further ourselves as a people. By sticking to what is ours, we could experience profound change and deep introspection instead of shying away from it. What I admired about Jertha was the fact that he was a reverend who owned his own church as well, with his wife. His practice of Christianity didn’t make him reluctant to astrology— in fact, it deepened his relationship with it. He maintained a legion of admirers and fans, spanning from all over the world, while still being a reverend.

Business men would go to Love before making business decisions. Love also consistently appeared in Ebony, Jet, and Washington Post, where he would make predictions regarding politics, media, entertainment, etc. He also gave new years predictions. He claimed to be right, “87% of the time.”

Jet Magazine, 1977.

He actually accurately predicted the Age of Aquarius (1994-Current) that we are currently in: A generation full of scientific, innovative, progressive people with technological advances. He predicted that this would be the age of humanitarianism, activism, and equality.

In his interview with Tony Brown, he urged Black people to separate ourselves from White people. There was this consistent theme in all of his messages where he urged Black people to embrace our natural gifts and talents in order to achieve freedom. There’s also another consistent theme of interconnectedness in his words and his philosophies. Love believed in divine timing and believed that nothing was a coincidence. Every element of the world was interconnected: air, fire, water, and earth— so why aren’t humans interconnected?

Jertha ended up passing in 1994, but he managed to leave a legacy for himself, sparking the minds of many Black people and providing perspective to the Black community regarding interpersonal relationships, politics, race, class, love, and life through his profound astrological insights.

Have you ever heard of Jertha Love? Let me know in the comments, fairies! 🧚🏿