Queen Gogo Yemah Takhakhan (b. Jillian Walker), is a multidimensional Artist, Diviner, Thought & Culture Leader, and a queen of Dreams breaking the brutal boundaries of the colonial imagination.
She comes from a lineage of teachers, healers and community builders and chose to study Liberation work formally and informally in order to get free. She is rooted in a midwestern US upbringing, with red-dirt southern great-great and 3rd great grandparents, and has answered the Call of her ancient ancestors of Southern Africa who dreamt her into Ubungoma initiation and still beckon her to reclaim + resound the medicines and Songs of her people.
QGYT gives gratitude to the teachers of MA temple, who stood at the gate holding her Ancestors, as she rebirthed herself through the Spirits of the Water, the Earth, the Stars and the Void: Makhosi Himi Gogo Thule Ngane, Queen Baba Ekhaya Esima, her Warrior Spirits and Royal Ones thank them endlessly.
She gives gratitude to many teachers, mentors, and artistic collaborators, who have shaped and sculpted her practice into what it is Now. And what it will become as they continue dreaming into the new Earth, together.
Queen Gogo has undone and outdone Herself many times over and continues unmaking Herself everyday, to return to indigenous perspectives & practices that heal at a cellular level. She knows enough to know how much she doesn't know, and enough to humbly share what she does.
Thank you for joining her in the pouring. Let's begin, again.
*Inyosi Sebenzekhaya (Nia O. Witherspoon) is the daughter of Marcia Ostrow and Anton Witherspoon. Her medicine flows through her as a writer, song channel, womb-tender and bodyworker, dreamer, creative doula, and Kundalini Yoga teacher–a conjuror, a weaver, a shaper, a nurturer, and a creator supporting mental, physical, and spiritual health by way of deep transformation. Ancestrally guided through the Afro-Indigenous teachings of the Ubungoma lineage, and called to be of service since childhood, Inyosi is a deep listener, an empath, and a natural care-giver. A living testimony and devotee of the body, of Mother Earth, and of the Divine Feminine, she continues to heal through the activated remembrance of the inherent perfection and divine cyclical nature in all things in the continued alignment with the frequency of LOVE. She is inspired by her ancestors like “Big Joan” (Hattie Moses) who rowed boats through the swamps of South Carolina in the middle of the night to tend the births in her community, and “Aunt Micey” Oree Witherspoon, who healed the body and spirit with prayer and rain water. In the White Phase, she is stepping into a new level of spiritual responsibility; a deeper level of listening, a higher level of trust, and the graceful flow of submersion into the Sacred Waters to rise up as the Queen Bee that Brings the People Home to the Hive.*
*Out in the world, she is a published author, professional theatre artist, composer, and writing instructor. She is currently building the foundation to Oshun’s Palace, a full-spectrum menu of ceremonial services for holistic health, birthkeeping, womb-tending, and Ayurvedic + Afro-feminine beauty. Her first book, The Dark Girl Chronicles: A Trilogy will be released in Fall 2025.
