COSMIC (RE)MEMORY, DIASPORA, AND OTHER AFRICAN TECHNOLOGIES
Dossé-Via Trenou and Ethel Tawe in Conversation
Read this in the FEMINIST ZINE
Ethel Tawe. Mother, 2022, Collage.
What does it mean to reclaim and chart ancestral cosmic guidance across the African diaspora? Any attempt to trace origins must come with much nuance. The quest alone can often uncover precious fragments, embodied memories and prompt a chain reaction. For many African people today, this process of introspection and unlearning has become a foundational coming-of-age. While most origin stories honor the creative force of the feminine, they do not always trickle down into lived realities. A renewed generation of African women across the diaspora are activating the digital realm and harnessing the power of diaspora. Among them is author, astrologer, and artist Dossé-Via Trenou, who is on a mission to help humans live their best lives by sharing astrological insights, creating musical meditations, and offering spiritually-awakening trips to the Motherland. The zodiac has offered us planetary enlightenment although often framed from a Western gaze in popular culture. Several global cultures have equally sophisticated systems that parallel but also often deconstruct linear and gendered understandings of mainstreamed astrologies. Heavily embedded in all aspects of African cosmologies are celestial bodies and spiritual devices that work cyclically with nature to conjure collective healing and wisdom. For me, astrological and cosmic rememory is the mining and recalling of these origins that continue to suffer erasure. Here’s how Dossé-Via and I have been musing on these primordial lineages in our creative practices as sites of preservation as well as critical fabulation:
Ethel Tawe. Element, 2017, Collage.
Ethel: Across the globe, we see manifestations of nature in several culturally-specific pantheons. In many ways, they are metaphorically the same deities simply on an endless voyage. In Yorùbá cosmology, the water deity Yemoja/Yemaya exists in a multiplicity as Mami Wata or La Sirène (mermaid) in Haiti for example, while Oshun may be likened to Venus or Aphrodite in Greco-Roman culture. However, African counterparts are often lost in translation. In what ways can astrology be a device to reconnect with these African cosmic histories and their origins?
Dossé-Via: In my experience, as one deepens their exploration of Yorùbá cosmology, with the awareness that it’s a diverse, diasporic and nuanced form of spirituality, one will naturally start to connect with African cosmic histories through the knowledge of their Ori, or ‘divine head’. Yorùbá spirituality honors the orishas as influences that accompany us on our voyage throughout Earth and the astral plane. While Oshun and Yemoja are more popularly known, Oya, the orisha of thunder, rain, wind, fire, and transformation, also deserves her flowers. She can be viewed as an embodiment of the planets Uranus and Pluto, who symbolize radical change and the transmutation of death into new forms of life. Everytime it rains, and everytime we see lightning strike in the skies, we can honor Oya for her presence and protection.
In many ways our natal chart can be viewed as our inner compass, or our Ori, but just like our connection with our Ori, we can only be guided by our charts if we take the time to decipher its signs and divine messages. Our thoughts, words, and digital imprints are magnetic, and as we remember that the codes exist within us, we no longer fear being controlled by an algorithm or defined by artificial intelligence – we tap into our own ancestral intelligence.
Ethel: You recently took a pilgrimage to Egypt and then to Brazil to trace some of these ancestral ties. Much like practices syncretised by enslaved Africans in the Americas, Egyptian civilization was a cradle of knowledge that dispersed globally. Could you share some lessons on ‘diaspora’ you learnt from these two trips?
Dossé-Via: One of the most striking moments of my trip to Egypt was visiting the Nubian village in Aswan. As soon as I arrived there on a boat traversing the Nile River, I was struck by the people’s dark skin which mirrored my own. Throughout most of my youth, when I thought of Egypt, I thought of the images widely dispersed in the media, of fair or lighter-skinned beings. And though they are present, this Nubian village revealed the origins of Ancient Egypt, or Kemet, whose civilization and rapid growth was largely due to the physical, intellectual, and spiritual labor of those who came from the region now known as Sudan.
The same sensation of returning to one’s roots was felt during my pilgrimage to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, the largest hub of Afro-descendants outside of Africa. Seeing the orishas being honored and revered in the streets, smelling the familiar scent of gumbo in the market, and being greeted by artistic representations of my family in artisanal shops made me feel like I was part of a diasporic infinity-loop of sorts; there were many times I even forgot I wasn’t on the African continent. The magic of such ancestral remembrance and diasporic connection is truly meant to be experienced. My main take-away from both of these trips is that it is our mission as descendants to keep this connection between the Motherland and the diaspora going, as a way to honor our ancestry and co-create our legacies.
Ethel: I remember learning about the Dogon people of Mali who have long possessed ancient knowledge on planetary systems. They are said to have acquired esoteric knowledge from androgynous amphibious beings known as Nommos, about a companion star Sirius B (or Po Tolo in Dogon) which takes a 50-year elliptical orbit around the main star Sirius A (Sigui Tolo). This was something that didn’t enter the canon of modern science until it was documented in 1930 and photographed in 1970. How does it feel to be a Pan-African woman and part of this prehistoric astrological lineage? In what ways do you honor that?
Dossé-Via: The beginning pages of my book, Signs & Skymates, honors the Dogon’s ancient astronomical knowledge. As a Pan-African woman astrologer, I honor my roots when I remind my readers that mainstream astrology is simply a fragment of the truth. The real beauty of astrology is one’s connection to nature – one’s remembrance that we are nature. And one’s awareness that we also can be supernatural beings. That’s what the Dogon were able to explore time and time again. Much of what they discovered about the Universe most likely won’t even make it to scientific journals, because they’re beyond most modern scientists’ comprehension. The Dogon have known that science and spirituality are interconnected, and respect that profusely. My mission as a Pan-African astrologer is to continue to do the same, while enlightening my fellow skymates to this truth.
Ethel: In the same region and across Africa, geomancy, or divination through the earth, is an ancient practice that traveled into Europe. Sand divination, often using a 4-bit binary code similar to what we could find in our computer today, illustrates the complex algorithms at our disposal and what I call ‘African Ancient Futures’. What are some parallels between African divination practices and modern astrology?
Dossé-Via: The elements – Water, Earth, Fire, and Air – are at the core of both African divination practices and modern astrology. In African cosmologies, there are more than four elements that influence us cosmically, and all of these elements live within and around us. For many Africans, there are meanings behind rainfall, thunder, drought, and typhoons. Nature is a reflection of our own spiritual emanations as humans. Modern astrology benefits from learning from its ancient past by remembering that we are all the elements, and more, and we mustn’t limit, define, or categorize ourselves based on preconceived labels or generalizations (such as, “I’m a Scorpio! You’re a Sag! We’ll never get along”). As we embrace a more holistic exploration of ourselves and the Universe, we tap into the infinite portal of awareness that’s at the root of being connected to one’s Ori.
Ethel: One of my favorite quotes by the Octavia’s Brood duo which has deeply resonated between us is: “All social justice work is science fiction. We are imagining a world free of injustice, a world that doesn't yet exist.” In what ways has digital space enabled this worldbuilding and dreaming ourselves into new realities? How does applying a feminist lens allow for a more liberatory practice rooted in love?
Dossé-Via: I’m a strong believer in visualizing our dreams into existence, but that can be easier said than done; especially for those of us who may have experienced systemic inequity consistently, making certain dreams appear less feasible than others. I view it as my responsibility to use my digital platforms, written and musical texts, as portals to remembrance. Not everyone can physically fly to the Motherland for a healing pilgrimage, but perhaps through reading indigenous wisdom in my work, or hearing the ancestrally-awakening sounds of drums in my homegoing agency Magic & Melanin’s reels, a part of their spirit can be transported there, which then makes it easier for them to believe it’s possible to one day fully return.
One of the most feminist approaches all humans can take to allow a more liberatory practice rooted in love, is honoring and respecting Mother Nature, as well as the ancestors who came before us and who live through us. In doing so, we liberate ourselves from illusions of being alone. And the world heals.
