who is the majestic maij?

Maij’s lineages, Background, & Training

The experience, the portal, the majesty of The Majestic Maij spans across a multitude of rich ancestral lineages and diasporas, including the Black & Southeast Asian diasporas.The energetically, flamboyant child of migrants from Vietnam, much of Maij’s upbringing was profoundly shaped by their experiences growing up in Charlotte, NC in a Roman Catholic-Buddhist, Black & Vietnamese migrant household that did its very best to make meaning of the world from its particular vantage point & location in the U.S. South. Making duck music out of blades of grass, playing hand puppets with their siblings, & speaking to the ocean spirits of Myrtle Beach make up some of Maij’s fondest, childhood memories. 

There were many moments where Maij didn’t know if they wanted to stay in this universe and it was in those moments that art, anime, music, reading, & writing saved their life. Art provided a safe space to express the chaos of their feelings. Anime taught them the embodiment of perseverance (Naruto), the manipulation of alchemy (Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood), and relationship to spirits (Bleach). Music helped him reconnect to his body when trauma pulled him out of it. Reading allowed him to explore so many beautifully expansive, alternative worlds when he struggled with this one. Writing invited them to document their own world through their own transformative lens, in ways that spoke to their own formation and imagination. Bonsai trees & koi fish ponds gifted them with a deeply contemplative personality and engaging with them often feels like “an intimate pond experience.” 

Their formal education includes a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies as well as a Masters of Divinity from Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, NC. However, the most impactful education that they received came from the supplemental learning experiences they pursued to fill in the gaps & growth areas of their formal education. With almost a decade’s worth of grassroots, community organizing experience- Maij has guided and invited BREATH, REST, CARE, HEALING, & SPIRITUAL GROUNDING into movement work, which can often trap marginalized bodies in a state of constant agitation, rage, & grief. Their most recent learning explorations & experimentations have occurred in the Cecilia Weston Spiritual Academy community with Jade T. Perry, where they study tarot and other fun divination practices and spiritual art forms.

Now a days, in their EXHAUSTED lil’ chronically ill/ disabled/ neurodivergent body, you can usually find Maij in their private chambers- pacing, organizing, experimenting, contemplating, tasting, alchemizing, researching, writing, creating, communing, & BREATHING to the pace of their own spirit. They are juggling (in the most playful of ways) a million & one creative projects, hobbies, and fantasies all at once, hopping through different time loops & portals to make the impossible possible. They frequently talk to their ancestors, dream of their descendents, & engage in creative play with their present community. They are protecting their PEACE. at all costs- by any means necessary. 

In order to really understand Maij, you’ll probably just have to meet them.