Spiritual Technologies: Art Exhibit Curated by Cali Cowrie
Oakland Voices Alumna’s Hannah Moore's Curation at EastSide Arts - Oakland Voices
“Guess one can’t ask for more than health, strength and sanity- with all the things that can happen to a person in such a short length of time, it’s indeed a blessing just not to go out of one’s mind……” (Letters from Home Donnell Moore July 18th, 1977)
The 9th Core Value of Ifa states, “Spiritual technologies such as therapeutic ritual, oracles, innate spiritual gifts, initiation and indigenous medicines can be used to heal, empower, receive guidance, support and insight in and for our life’s”. Such spiritual technologies can be understood as maps, maps to guide and support us in our health, strength, and sanity.
In a letter written from my father to his mother, my grandmother he reminds her that, “when the chips are down, you’re the person everyone turns to”, as my father clearly shows through his words to his mother, the matriarchs in our families are the holders of our maps, pointing the direction to the keys and codes we need to access our greatest gifts- ourselves.
In Root Maps Helen Salomao, creative artist from Salvador Bahia shows the importance of knowing where we come from to understand the possibilities of all the roads we are provided in our lifetime. Root Maps is a demonstration of the potential and force of matriarchs in the Black community worldwide as “map keepers”, the importance of the valorization of being the protagonists of our own stories guided by our roots through care and affection.
Through artist creative Shani Ealey’s production of Ani-Kweens we are offered visual reflections of the female architypes of our “map keepers”. Both through a channeling of Orisha archetypes as well as Tarot archetypes Ani -Kweens are brought forth into this plane to offer us the keys, maps and reminders of our abundance, greatness our Divinity. The colors, symbology, and energies that each Ani-Kween carries activates a call to go deeper into oneself.
Artist Creative Ave Ameenah also known as “Keep it Diasporic” centers Black Femmes through her photography not only because it brings joy but to celebrate our beauty. For, beyond the vast and diverse physical beauty that is the Black Woman, there is deep beauty in the mysteries of this ancient practice of “map keeping”. In essence it is through Black femmes’ Divine responsibility to hold, protect and offer us maps that we can be alive, well and connected to the greater Divine purpose, our Destiny. Where we can thrive in swim in deep oceans of joy and beauty.
Through deepening our understanding of the maps our Matriarchs so graciously allow us we return to ourselves, to our heads, to our Ori’s. The Ori in Ifa practice can be understood as the ultimate map or guide for all destinies. “The Ori determines and helps us fulfill our Souls purpose and soul lessons in our lives. It’s the part that when we choose to incarnate on Earth, the Ori is what determines the blueprint or curriculum that will be in effect.” (Isese pg 430). The Ori Ode or the outer head/physical head houses 3 portals that filter our perceptions and connect us to the spiritual world. “The three portals of consciousness are Atari, Iwaju and Ipako. These portals connect us to our Ori Inu, the Ori of our Destiny. Ori Atari is at the crown of the head and connects us to our Self in the invisible world. This is the soft spot on an infant’s head that is open. Ori Iwaju our 3rd eye located on the forehead helps us to see spiritually. Ori Ipako the occiput or hook in the back of the head between head and neck connects us to our primal memories and ancestral guardian soul.
It is vital that we acknowledge, honor, care for and protect our heads for the maps they are, working from the deep wisdom of our Matriarchs, the weavers of existence.
Through a silk screen process Rafa Black creative Artist from Sao Paulo Brazil, honors the profile of the Black head, honors the Ori Ode. Rafa’s silk screen production of profiles of Black men and women’s heads and hair styles celebrates the dynamic and expansive nature of Black hair while honoring the Ori Ode, the physical head. As a home to the portals that allow us to access other worlds and understandings of who we are and what we are here to do, we honor and celebrate the power of our heads.
This exposition is simply a reflection of my own spiritual expansion and journey back to myself. Through my own spiritual studies and practices, I am privledge and honored to continue to be offered signs, symbols, and maps necessary to remember and return to the greater purpose of my being, to my own Divinity. The work to stay clear and in continued conversation with our Ori takes intentional time and energy and is not always easy. Here I offer up an opening of this conversation so that we may all be aware of and in relationship to the “map keepers” that are showing up in our lives to show us our way home.