SACRED COHERENCE WORKS™ P R E S E N T S

Discern · Divine · Decide · Do™

An Embodied Practice of Spiritual Epistemology

A daily journey of spiritual reflection, somatic awareness, ancestral wisdom, and ethical action—guided by questions from Augustine's Confessions and public anthropology.

✦ OPEN PILOT · FULL NINE-DAY EXPERIENCE · NO PURCHASE NECESSARY ✦

DAILY NOURISHMENT

💧 Hydration Challenge

Care for your body at a comfortable pace.

0 glasses today
NATURE & WONDER

🌿 Nature Walk Challenge

A walk, a window view, or a moment with a plant.

Ready for a nature pause
Add a photo ↗
Your Sacred Rhythm0 of 18 guided sessions complete
0Nature points

Nature photos stay private in this browser; sharing for collective contemplative rituals would require a separate, affirmative submission and license. View photo permissions

Where ancestral wisdom, embodied knowing, and intentional living converge.
Created by Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́)

PROJECT FRAMEWORKCreated by Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́) · Sacred Coherence Works™

Why this practice exists

This educational project asks how people recognize spiritual knowledge, evaluate who is authorized to interpret it, register that process in bodily experience, and translate discernment into ethical action. It places Confessions I–IX in critical conversation with questions raised by Afro-Diasporic religious practice and public anthropology. Its purpose is comparison without conflation—not to claim equivalence among distinct traditions or disclose restricted sacred knowledge.

1 Discern Notice2 Divine Interpret3 Decide Choose4 Do Embody

Participants may use “interpret” in place of “divine.” The opening and closing self-assessments below support reflective learning; they are not a validated research instrument and are not submitted to the creator.

Formation and the voice of authority

Public anthropology lens
Morning anchoring
05:00
Settle into a comfortable posture.

Arriving in the body

Start with what is available to you now.

Somatic invitation

1
OrientNotice the support of chair, floor, or bed. Eyes may stay open.
2
BreatheInhale 4; exhale 5. No holds or forced deep breaths.
3
ReflectWrite what you discern, how you interpret it, and one compassionate response.
Your breath should feel easy, never strained. Keep your eyes open if preferred. If you feel dizzy, distressed, or short of breath, stop pacing and return to natural breathing. Breathing exercises are optional; reflection can be done without them.

Four movements: from reflection to action

Auto-saved locally

Take your time: notice, interpret, decide, and identify one attainable step. Certainty is not required.

You may also mark a session complete without writing.

DAILY NOURISHMENTOptional · Private by default

Water, earth & everyday wonder

A gentle invitation to care for your body and spend time with the living world. Points acknowledge participation—not health, holiness, or spiritual worth.

✦ Your nature points: 0

💧 Water & nourishment

Notice your thirst and choose a comfortable hydration intention. There is no prescribed amount.

0 glasses today

2 points per glass, up to 6 glasses per day. Listen to your body and follow individual medical advice where relevant; more water is not always better.

🌿 Nature walk & noticing

Take an accessible nature pause: a walk, a roll, a garden visit, a window view, or time with a plant. No distance target required.

10 points for a daily nature pause.

Collective ritual gallery — optional permission

This prototype keeps photos in this browser and does not upload them to Sacred Coherence Works™. A future shared gallery would require a separate submission and review process.

If a gallery launches, an additional affirmative submission will ask you to grant Sacred Coherence Works™ a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, adapt for layout, and reproduce the selected image in app-based collective contemplative experiences, with credit where practical. You retain ownership and can decline without losing challenge points. Details about removal, duration, and any broader commercial use must be presented before submission.

Upload a photo only if it does not reveal private locations, people without consent, or confidential or restricted ceremonies. The app strips image metadata when preparing the local preview. Photo participation adds 5 points once a day, regardless of gallery permission.

REFLECTIVE LEARNINGPrivate · Optional

Beginning & concluding reflections

Before Book I, consider what you currently notice about spiritual authority, bodily awareness, and ethical agency. After Book IX, revisit the same questions. Ratings are self-observations, not scores of spiritual maturity or evidence that the app caused change.

This is an educational self-reflection, not formal human-subjects research. Do not enter identifiable or sacredly restricted information. If you later seek to collect participant responses for research, obtain the applicable institutional guidance and informed consent first.

Read with care: correspondence is not equivalence

About this practice: three distinct sources of insight

1 · Augustine’s theology

Books I–IX offer an ancient North African Christian account of memory, sin, grace, conversion, Monica, and church authority. Read Augustine on his own terms.

2 · Comparative public anthropology

The interpretive questions about Afro-Diasporic spiritual knowledge, cultural authority, power, and resistance are a contemporary scholarly lens—not Augustine’s position. The comparison preserves historical and theological differences.

3 · Contemporary embodied practice

Body awareness and optional paced breathing are modern design additions, not instructions drawn from Augustine or an Ifá, Hoodoo, or other lineage practice. They are not treatment or sacred rites.

This interpretive application places Augustine’s Christian autobiography alongside questions arising from the public anthropology of Afro-Diasporic spiritual knowing. Augustine did not thereby endorse contemporary divination practices, and this project does not imply that distinct traditions share a theology. “Divining” here is a comparative invitation to examine how signs and guidance are interpreted; “interpreting” is an equally valid choice.

Privacy and data stewardship. This app does not create an account or transmit journal answers or reflection ratings to the author. Entries are stored, when permitted, in this browser’s local storage on the device where you write them. They do not automatically synchronize to other devices or browsers. Local storage is not encrypted and may be accessible to another person using the same device/browser profile; private-browsing data may disappear when the session ends. Clearing site data may erase your journal. Exported TXT/JSON files are also unencrypted; keep them secure. Restore replaces the entries and progress already stored on that browser. Nature photographs, water logs, nature points, and photo-sharing preferences are also stored locally; no images are uploaded or shared from this prototype. The “Erase” button removes this app’s locally saved data in this browser only—not previously exported files. External reading links and the hosting provider may have their own access logs and privacy practices. Do not enter confidential, identifiable, or sacredly restricted details.

Sources & methodological notes

Primary texts: Augustine, Confessions, VI.2 (Monica and Ambrose); VIII.8–12 (divided will and conversion); IX.10–13 (Ostia and Monica’s death). Comparative narrative: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, chap. XV (Sandy Jenkins and the root, in a distinct history of enslavement and resistance). Breathing-informed design: Balban et al. (2023), randomized study of five-minute breathing techniques; NCCIH, relaxation techniques and cautions. The 4:5 and 4:6 pacing values are design defaults, not scientifically proven personal optima. This is an educational and spiritual reflection tool, not medical treatment.
SACRED COHERENCE WORKS™ · PILOT COMMUNITY

Let your practice grow roots.

Explore the entire contemplative journey during this free pilot. Share the experience if you wish, and help shape what comes next. All offerings below are previews; there are no active subscriptions or referral rewards.

Your Sacred Rhythm

A quiet record of returning to reflection. Rest is welcome; you never lose your cumulative progress.

0practice day(s) recorded

Your rhythm begins with a single moment.

A private daily check-in on this device. No competitive leaderboard.

Pass the Compass · Pilot Invitation

Invite a friend to explore the full nine-day pilot free of charge. This invitation has no referral code, commission, or membership reward.

Publish the site first to create a public link.

A First Look at Full Compass

Sacred Pause: a meaningful free core, always. Full Compass: planned expanded pathways, optional founder audio, and immersive seasonal landscapes.

Proposed monthly $9.99Proposed annual $84Founding first year $49

Tell us what you'd value →

Future concept only. No checkout, membership registration, or payment collection is active.

Looking ahead: gifts, companion circles & institutional access

We're exploring gift memberships, shared nine-day learning circles, and group licenses. The proposed one-level paid referral program would reward only qualified direct customer subscriptions; no pyramid or multi-tier recruiting.

PRIVATE REFLECTION · PILOT FEEDBACK

Help shape the sanctuary.

What delighted you? What felt difficult? Your responses stay in this browser until you choose to download or copy them and send them to the founder. This page does not submit feedback to a server.

Nothing is sent automatically. Please share your downloaded feedback with the founder using the contact method in your invitation. No feedback is sent automatically.

Portrait of Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́) in a white lace headwrap and garment, wearing a delicate necklace of small alternating red and green beads, photographed in warm natural light against a leafy garden background.

Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq.(Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́) Founder, Sacred Coherence Works™

About the founder

Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq.(Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́)

Christian minister · Interfaith spiritual practitioner · Attorney · Scholar

Rev. Tonya Butler-Truesdale, Esq. (Mama Adéjọ́kẹ́) is a Christian minister, interfaith spiritual practitioner, attorney, and scholar whose work engages Yorùbá Ifá, African American Hoodoo, contemplative theology, and African ancestral wisdom.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Affairs with a concentration in African Affairs, including African literature and religion, and a law degree. Her more than three decades in municipal governance and law inform her approach to institutional authority, ethical judgment, and human agency.

She is pursuing a master’s degree in Spirituality and certification in Spiritual Direction, both anticipated in May 2027. She has undertaken pastoral-counseling training with Aaron Pawelek, LICSW, through the New England Pastoral Institute in Salem, New Hampshire, and is pursuing an anticipated Pax Christi certification. She plans to begin doctoral studies in Organizational Development in January 2027, with anticipated completion in May 2029. These future credentials are not represented as already conferred, and doctoral candidacy is not claimed.

Spiritual formation, service & community

Her formation includes Characuna training and a Ritual Assistant designation. She also serves as a prayer warrior with the Adura Circle and as a Pink Robe Chronicle Village Keeper. These roles are acknowledged in gratitude and without disclosing practices held in confidence.

In reverent remembrance

Sacred Coherence Works™ honors her guardian ancestor, Rev. Dr. Sandra E. C. Butler-Truesdale, in gratitude for ancestral presence, spiritual inheritance, and the wisdom carried between generations.

Through Sacred Coherence Works™, she brings scholarship, contemplative practice, embodied awareness, and ancestral ways of knowing into conversation, inviting individuals to cultivate discernment and translate spiritual wisdom into intentional living.

“Where ancestral wisdom, embodied knowing, and intentional living converge.”

SACRED COHERENCE WORKS™ · RETURNING GOOD

A commitment to reciprocal giving

Spiritual formation is also an invitation to serve. As the enterprise becomes profitable, Sacred Coherence Works™ commits to direct 5% of its annual net profits, in total, to support the communities and educational institutions listed below.

Ilé ImoleIfa University · scholarship supportIWADelta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF)Howard University School of LawFoxcroft SchoolPAWEEN

The 5% is one combined annual allocation across these intended recipients, not 5% for each. Distribution amounts and recipient-specific designations will be documented in an annual giving report. The pilot is free and has generated no subscription donations; no gift or institutional partnership is implied by this statement. Exact recipient identities, scholarship channels, and the net-profit accounting policy will be confirmed before the first distribution.