Are You Willing To Dive Into God’s Waters?

Water divination, or hydromancy, is an ancestral practice traced back to West Africa and the Dagara people. Hydromancy is the observation of the motions, reflections, shapes, and qualities found in natural water sources, like streams or rivers. 

Water rituals and deities like Mami Wata, Oshun, and Yemaya can be found across the African Diaspora. Traditional spiritualists understood water as the bridge between the living and the dead. 

Respect for water continued as our enslaved ancestors escaped to freedom. Many depended on rivers and swamps for foraging and hiding their scent from the slave patrols’ bloodhounds. 

We can even imagine that some, unsure of which direction to go, looked for messages in the water. After all, water knows a thing or two about liberation.

Water has been around for billions of years. It holds our ancestors’ sweat, tears, blood, libations, baptisms, tinctures, dreams, blessings, memories, and treks to freedom. 

Toni Morrison once wrote, “All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.”

Our ancestors are preserved within water. Their messaging about liberation can be found in its motions, reflections, shapes, and qualities. 

What knowledge are they trying to reflect back to us? We must be willing to look beneath the surface.