Jaiya John book signing
The noted author launched “Wildflowers Praying at Midnight” in Ocala.
Rose Jenkins, Sultan Ali Jenkins, Kya Washington, Jaiya John and Whitfield Jenkins, left to right, pose together during the Jaiya John A Conversation and Book Signing event at the Mary Sue Rich Community Center at Reed Place in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.
Editor’s note: This article has been revised as of Dec. 29.
Jaiya John, Ph.D., a globally recognized author, poet, professor, freedom worker and speaker, and the son of local civil rights activist and former Marion County NAACP Branch president Whitfield Jenkins, visited Ocala recently to join family members for Christmas and to debut his latest work.
John received a warm welcome on Dec. 23 during a “Wildflowers Praying at Midnight” book signing and community conversation at the Mary Sue Rich Community Center at Reed Place, during which the guests were eager to get copies of his latest offering as well as some of his many earlier works.
Whitfield and Loretta Pompey Jenkins have been married for more than 50 years. Loretta also has served as past president of the local NAACP branch. Whitfield is a 2024 recipient of the branch’s Freedom Fighter of the Century award and a portion of Northwest 24th Street recently was renamed in his honor.
“My father Whitfield and mother Loretta’s lifelong service and leadership with the NAACP and many other Marion County, state and national initiatives are simply an aspect of a larger, centuries-old struggle of humanity for sovereignty, agency, dignity and self-determination,” John stated in a Dec. 26 email.
“(Their) calling is rooted in love and faith, not in manipulative propaganda that divides and sows hostility, violence and cold-heartedness. My calling is rooted in the same. I am proud and forever grateful to be seed, sprout, stalk, flower and fruit of my parent’s and ancestor’s soil of soulfulness,” he wrote. “Their mission and mine are of course interwoven threads.”
Loretta said even though their introduction came somewhat later in life, she is “proud to call Jaiya her son.” She called him “a beautiful person; warm and touching and humanistic,” who draws people to him with his personality.
According to his website, John is the founder of Soul Water Rising, produces a podcast and is the founder of The Gathering, a global initiative. He has studied Tibetan holistic medicine, holds doctorate and master’s degrees and is a former professor of social psychology. He has “spoken to over a million people worldwide and audiences as large as several thousand.”
Soul Waters Rising is a “global rehumanizing mission to eradicate oppression. The mission has donated thousands of Jaiya’s books in support of social healing and offers grants to displaced and vulnerable youth,” according to his website.
“My kinship with indigenous cultures worldwide are a significant influence and guiding light in my mission,” John wrote in a text.
“My lifelong calling and work is freedom from the sickness of supremacy and inferiority. Freedom from oppression. Freedom to live a beautiful life. Food, water and shelter are nothing if the one being fed, watered and sheltered is immersed in the profound suffering that is poverty of the soul,” he wrote on the website.
“Wildflowers Praying at Midnight” is a collection of poetic verses rich in stories, prayers, devotions, affirmations, incantations, soul summoning and mystic dreaming, according to promotional materials.
“My people are for me the very land and sky and water and sun of Ocala. They are my soulful wealth and joy,” John said about his family members in Ocala in the materials. “To launch this new book in Ocala before anywhere else in the world is a great honor for me. A divine gift and blessing.”
To learn more, go to jaiyajohn.com
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