ABOUT AZIA
Azia Archer was born in Corona, California in 1986. She is the author of the short poetry collection, ATOMS & EVERS, and has been published in over seventy-five anthologies, journals, and magazines over the last decade.
From 2012 to 2016, Azia was active in the small press literary world, working as a contributing writer for Lady FreeThinker and was the founder and editor-in-chief of Dirty Chai Magazine; publishing ten issues before stepping away from editorial work.
Azia lives on a small acreage in Minnesota with her partner, Adam, 5 children, and 3 cats. She raises chickens, tends vegetable and herb gardens, and is interested in permaculture practices and food preservation. She enjoys painting, crafting, making, and experimenting with herbs, salts, oils, and other natural remedies. She runs a small Etsy shop that she updates on occasion.
Her spiritual life is ripe, loving Jesus while also honoring and reclaiming the lost Feminine rites. With a heart for the journey of feminine-identifying folks and a family-focused spirituality, Azia is a trained birth doula who is studying Biblical Theology and is an initiated Shakti Queen. Her writing and work center on rooting, moving through the maiden-to-mother passage, narrative reclamation, boundary integration, sexual healing, and embracing one's intuition as their connection to God.
Current In-Progress Writing Projects:
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Novel: Small Birds
A multidimensional love story about a woman named Rose and the infinite weight of the heart.
"She falls asleep and she finally understands that she's destined for both. They are waiting for her. And she will return."
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Poetry: Lighter Languages
A mixed-media journey through love, creation, ritual, touch, heart-sound and fate.
Creation Story
I am no starseed—
a woman of the mud, I emerged
fingertips gripping
The Mother— matted hair to my ankles,
dirt under nail
and in every crack and crevice.
The rains came and washed
the mud away and I saw
the fragility of this body, the utter
perfection in the curves
of this body.
I saw my body—I was there,
standing in my body,
could feel it trembling,
shivering, soft, slightly
exhausted. I laid
my body down
against the grasses,
nipples saying Yes to
each kiss from the sun,
legs open as I let the light in.
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Spirituality: Jesus with Skin On
A critical think-piece on the nature of modern-American Christianity and the perception of the church regarding nonbelievers. A call to action, a dive into scripture and a glimpse at the painful reality of the reception and behavior of the modern church.
"The Barna Group explains that nonbelievers view the Church as organizations that add little, if any, value to their communities, as the church isn’t doing enough to serve the needy. Nonbelievers also feel that the Church is often the opponent of human rights, perpetuating war, the prevention of gay marriage and a woman’s freedom to control her body. When one becomes skeptical about the Church, it is not so farfetched to consider why they would view the sacred text of that very church with skepticism as well.
As the role of both the Church and the bible in the mind of a nonbeliever has been mapped out, what conclusions can we draw from the “cultural reinforcement” that is referenced? Many would argue that the perpetrators are other nonbelievers, those living in sin who do not know God. But I am here to argue that while it is not unlikely that nonbelievers fuel each other fires, the group most responsible for this cultural reinforcement of unbelief lies at the feet of present-day Christians themselves.
You may be asking yourself, “How can this be?” or maybe you’re even thinking of closing this study right here and now because the devil himself has manifested onto these very pages. Maybe you’re even thinking of a few choice names you’d like to call me. I understand where you are coming from. Placing blame on oneself, especially when you feel blameless, can be quite the difficult pill to swallow. But, I ask you to move forward through this study with an open mind and to remember the words of Jesus,
“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)"
mother, writer, maker, lover, believer
Education Information:
Creative Writing and Political Science- Minnesota State University, Mankato
Fiction Writing- University of Colorado, Denver
Birth Doula- Liz Lull of Enlightened Mama Doulas
A Woman's Way to Lead: Shakti Queen- Amara Charles & Sheyna Venice
The History of Cacao Ceremony- Moses Draper of Heartblood Cacao
Herbal Farming- Nancy Graden at the Women's Environmental Institute
Biblical Theology- Free Grace Bible College
