Stories by Magda

www.storiesbymagda.com

[storiesbymagda]

look at yourself like you're a proud mother & you're your own offspring. you've created something worthy of praise & adoration, even though you are different & other & foreign. • Q: in what ways do you feel foreign? • A: i feel foreign, because i am often the only black woman in the spaces i frequent. i feel foreign, because my life choices are different from those of my peers back home. i feel foreign, because i am still searching for home. • Model: @dinafairycake Photographer: @phobymo (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

i don't know where i'm going anymore. i want the sky to break open & rain maple seeds of truth, because, in my quest to find clarity, it always remains clear to me that life can be so sweet. & that is what my mouth is expecting. so that is what my tongue will perceive. so it is. • thank you for checking up on me & for sending me DMs. i'm on a little vacation, but all is well. thank you for putting up with my inconsistency. i will do better ❤️. • Q: what do you expect from life? • A: i don't think anything is owned to me. i just know what life can be. consistent, focused effort brings forth fruit. • Model: @_poemoney Photographer: @jeanthehueman (at Seoul, Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

why do i feel guilty for joy? it's what's keeping me alive when everything around me is wilting. i should shout "glory." is it not a miracle that i'm still blooming in this space? • Q: considering what's going on in the world right now & what's been going on for ages, what keeps you happy? • Model: @lunaverse Photographer: @cloudnaiii Makeup Artist: @brittneytaylorbeauty (at Seoul, South Korea)

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in front of you, i unravelled & threaded my way to healing. shed the veneer of perfection & accepted that my truth is not always easy to digest. but you swallowed me without spitting out the bones. how grateful am i!? some people will see all of you & run scared because you are a reflection of something they know lies within them too. sadly, they are too afraid to expose themselves to stares & criticism. your chips and cracks make you you. & being all of you unabashedly is wholeness. • today, i am thankful to my family for being the first to show me unconditional love. • Q: what is your relationship to your flaws? • A: i no longer beat myself down when i fall short of my own standards. my "do betters" are gentle. & my love for self is free-flowing. • Photographer: @omgitsdes (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

i spent years journeying across hot stones just to realize how sweet my incense burns. the smoke led me back to myself. & after it all cleared, i saw god. • Q: how do you cultivate confidence? • Model & Photographer: @thisfashionfiend_ (at New York, New York)

[storiesbymagda]

when you find people who mirror the love you have for yourself, don't suffocate the world you create. history has taught us that trying to own another human being always ends in blood. when you find your kin(s), let her, let him, let them remain wild. don't scare away the butterflies. don't stick a straw in their sap and drink until your belly is taut just so you can get a high. get drunk on your own nectar. connect. melt. explore the unknown yet familiar. but always remain rooted. • Q: celebrate the connections you've made this year. what have they taught you thus far? tag them if they're on the gram! • Model: @amiraavee Mua/Paint/Creative Director: @moshoodat Photographer: @islandboiphotography (at Los Angeles, California)

[storiesbymagda]

embrace the beauty of the now. the present is your creation. the relationships in your life are too. grow. encourage growth in others. & treat the past as fertilizer. • Q: i am creating the relationships in my life. there's power & magic in that. we are in control of what we put in. of course, what the people with whom we create these relationships put in matters just as much. so, remember that you always have the option to create boundaries and distance yourself from toxicity. what type of relationships are you creating with others and yourself? what are they founded on? • Photo credit: @cosmicinsanity (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

i fill my mouth with flowers and suck on nectar when i need to remember who i am + why i'm here. i'm here to share the psalms that have made a home between my ribs. to mend fractured bones with sweet oil. to bring withered fig trees back to life. i'm here for daily resurrection. • Q: why are you here? • Model: @mirah_mufasa Photographer: @jasonprescodphotography Lighting assistant: @jamelgittens of @regalimageryphotography Second assistant: @jae_mrc (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

would you love me if all my leaves lost their green? would you think less of me if they fell to the ground and made crunch under feet? if the best parts of me died with no guarantee of resurrection, would you build an altar for me and light incense each night, praying for a second coming? could you do all that while remaining self-full? could you do all that while remaining full of joy? may the space you give me to fail never rob you of fertile ground. may love plant seeds and make your garden more fragrant. may what we give each other always come from a place of abundance. may our belief in each other create magic. such love exists. such love could never die. • my mother's father passed away two weeks ago. it got me thinking a lot about regret & forgiveness. people show love in different ways. & it hurts when we don't understand their love language. as you journey through life, prioritize keeping your heart happy. the people you love will fail you. you'll fail them too. think about the intention behind every action. always focus on the bigger picture. • Q: is there anyone with whom you need to make peace? what's stopping you from reaching out to them? • Photo credit: @cosmicinsanity (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

i can recognize love. it has a unique taste. it's not always sweet, as its vessels are journeying and falling and scraping knees as they rub elbows with other travelers. love is its own language with its own melody. but what use is singing the notes if your hands and feet cannot move to its beat? • tell yourself 10 nice things before you leave the house. love. eat nourishing food. love. anoint your body with sweet oils, take off your shoes and feel earth between your toes. love. see God in everyone you encounter. treat them like holy ground. • Q: what's been on your mind lately? • Model: @melmikel Photographer: @throwkon (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

do they oil your wings? do they believe in your power and magic and light? does an aftertaste of your honey still linger in their mouth, even after 20 swallows? do they give you a boost when you feel too heavy to get your feet off the ground? • a friend recognizes your strengths and pushes you to surpass yourself, because they already see what you're walking towards, sometimes way before you can. i strive to be the type of friend who feels like a safe space, who serves the truth, forgives and who accepts flaws as parts of the whole but not the whole itself. • Q: what is a friend to you? what type of friend are you? • Model: @queenof_freckles Photographer: @fountoukidis (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

the women in my family climb mountains to greet the moon. they have tea with the sun as she rises. and take advice from the wind, listening to every whip and whisper. i have goddess blood. • Q: what keeps you motivated? • i have so many dreams. and what keeps me working is my family. i've spent most of the last three years away from them. by achieving true location independence, i'll be able to see my family more of often. home, to me, is freedom. • Model: @miriannjoh (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

home is where your heart grows wings. home is where you can crack yourself open without fear of exposure. home is where you can start afresh, shedding old skins and taking on new colors without judgment. home is where happiness meets you at the door. • Q: what does home feel like to you? • i've been searching for home ever since i left canada, almost three years ago. i have no clue where i'll be a year from now. I just want to buy huge plants and allow them to grow without thinking that i'll have to give them away in a year's time. visualization keeps me in the right state of mind to create. i know how i want to feel. i know what i want to encounter along my journey. • Model: @melaniin.goddess Agency: @thecgirlinc MUA/Creative director: @moshoodat Photographer: @islandboiphotography (at New York, New York)

[storiesbymagda]

there is a magic in surrendering. so many of us have callused hands from refusing to let go. there is beauty in trusting yourself enough to dance to another human's heartbeat. you have to trust that this person you've chosen speaks of you with the sweetest part of their tongue. you have to trust yourself enough to remember your own flow, to slip right back into it as if you'd never stopped. • Q: how easy is it for you to trust and surrender? • i'm in bali, y'all! i'm here until friday. at the start of 2017, i declared this year to be a year of partnership and relationships. i'm learning so much from my interactions with others. my desire is to be more open to trust, to be flooded with understanding and to do a better job showing love. i'll be going to a workshop on sacred sexuality at the end of may, and it's exactly what i had been looking for. • Model: @jazsalyn Photographer: @itsquazzy (at Ubud，Bali)

[storiesbymagda]

your partner is your mirror. may love show you your roses and your thorns—without judgement. • Q: what does being in love mean to you? • to me, love is a creative force. it is a mother. it births beauty. it reflects the sun. honor your body as a vessel of love, the most powerful force there is. touch with the intention of healing and speak words that plant seeds that'll turn into flowers. being in love means tangled roots. separate trunks and branches that may grow away from each other but are nourished by the same source. • Model & Photographer: @thisfashionfiend_ (at New York, New York)

[storiesbymagda]

what a wonder you are. you rolled your lemons onto a canvas. and made the sweetest art. • oftentimes, the bitterest of circumstances result in the sweetest art. squeeze the mess out of your lemons. add water. add sugar. heal. • Q: when life gives you lemons, what do you do? • Model: @lasnoot Photographer: @uninnocentbystander (at Seoul, South Korea)

[storiesbymagda]

there is beauty in intimacy. there is beauty in detachment. connect. experience different souls without having to own them. • Q: do you love openly without expecting love in return? how would you describe your love? what do you think it feels like to be loved by you? • Model: @joyjah Photographer: @kendalljenner (at Belize City, Belize)