ASTROMNEME: the memory that lives in the stars

A few days ago, over lunch, someone asked me about the name ASTROMNEME. I started explaining where it came from and, before I knew it, I was talking about Greek mythology, astronomy, the moons of Jupiter and even my struggles with memorising things.

Someone at the table looked at me and said I should tell this story.

It stayed with me. Because, in truth, I had never explained how I came to the name ASTROMNEME, or everything it means to me.

And now that ASTROMNEME is celebrating its first anniversary, it feels like the right moment.

A name born from memory

I have always had a curious relationship with memory.

I can recall names, dates, events and small details with an ease that sometimes surprises even me. But when it comes to studying and memorising, it is a completely different story.

Perhaps that is why mnemonics have always fascinated me. The idea of creating associations, images or little stories to help us remember what we learn seems extraordinary to me. The word comes from the Greek mnēmonikós, relating to memory.

In Greek mythology we find Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, daughter of Uranus and Gaia and mother of the nine Muses.

Memory mattered so much to the ancient Greeks that they gave it a goddess. Long before books, digital archives or photographs, it was the stories told and retold that preserved a community's knowledge and identity.

And there is another, lesser-known figure: Mneme.

In some traditions, Mneme was one of the three original Muses, alongside Aoede, linked to song, and Melete, linked to practice or meditation. Mneme stood for memory itself.

But the story does not end with mythology.

A moon with memory in its name

I have always been fascinated by the moons of Jupiter.

When we think of Jupiter, we usually remember the four great moons Galileo discovered in 1610: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

But Jupiter has many other moons, some so small and distant that we know very little about them.

I often find myself thinking: if we, here on Earth, with a single Moon, have so much to say about its effects on our lives, imagine the Jovians, the hypothetical inhabitants of Jupiter, trying to find their way with nearly a hundred moons!

Among all those moons, there is a tiny one, about two kilometres across, whose name caught my attention: Mneme.

A moon of Jupiter with memory in its very name.

For someone who loves astrology, astronomy, mythology and the stories hidden behind names, this connection was irresistible.

And it was from this meeting between the stars and memory that ASTROMNEME was born.

Astro, from the stars. Mneme, from memory.

A name that brings together the sky and what we keep, remember and pass on.

But there was another reason why memory holds such an important place in this project. My own story.

A story that began long before

ASTROMNEME is now one year old, but the path that led me here began long before.

I spent more than thirty years working in finance. I lived and worked in different countries, came to know other cultures and witnessed very different human realities.

For many years, my working life revolved around numbers, budgets, reports and responsibilities.

But life rarely follows a straight line. Along the way, I discovered other interests, began asking different questions and tried to understand my own story more deeply.

The cycles that repeat

There is something about astrology that has always fascinated me: cycles.

The planets follow movements we can observe and calculate. In astrology, these movements are read symbolically in relation to the different chapters of our lives.

This year, while studying Venus retrograde, I found myself looking back.

Venus turns retrograde roughly every eighteen months. But there is a particularly interesting cycle: every eight years, it returns to almost the same region of the zodiac.

That is what happened in 2002, in 2010, in 2018 and now, in 2026.

And I noticed a coincidence that made me stop and think. Each of these times, I was at a turning point, reinventing my life.

In 2002, I got divorced. Venus, the planet of relationships, could not have been more literal.

In 2010, after many years in banking, I felt it was time to find another path.

In 2018, leaving Luanda opened a new chapter.

And now, in 2026, I am once again in a time of change.

There is one more astrological detail that makes this repetition especially meaningful to me.

In my natal chart, the Midheaven, linked to career and our place in the world, sits at 16° Libra, a sign ruled by Venus.

And this year, Venus retrograde moves through my 11th House, where I have natal Jupiter at 0° Scorpio.

The 11th House is associated with projects, friendships, communities and the dreams we want to bring to life. Jupiter, in turn, symbolises expansion, knowledge and opportunity.

And it is precisely at this point in my life that ASTROMNEME is no longer just a passion, but becoming my profession.

I do not yet know where this path will lead.

But when I look at 2002, 2010, 2018 and 2026, I see one important difference. The other times, I was looking for a place to fit in. This time, I am building my own.

Perhaps that is the real difference between repeating a cycle and living it in a new way.

And this possibility of recognising patterns, understanding what repeats and seeing our story from a new perspective is what draws me to astrology.

Over time, I realised that what fascinated me most was not simply interpreting a birth chart. It was understanding the stories we carry with us.

The memory of the family

That is how I came to ancestral astrology. If cycles repeat in a single life, they also repeat across generations: in the choices, the fears, the losses and the gifts passed down from parents to children, often without anyone noticing.

At ASTROMNEME, I bring together astrology, astrogenealogy and systemic family constellations to read that family memory in the birth chart. Not to find someone to blame, but to recognise what has been handed down, honour what still makes sense and release what we no longer need to carry.

One year on, the name still says it all. Astro, from the stars. Mneme, from memory.

Because the chart does not predict destiny. It holds memory.