Orishas of Graveyard

Orishas of Graveyard

Human culture is replete with all kinds of deities and spirits that complement our existence, but not only in life but also in death. Though most of them are adored in life, it is wise to know that many others are venerated after Life, and that is where they are.

Greco-Roman mythology is replete with archetypal gods like Hades and Pluto. The Norse mythology is exceptional, as is the Egyptian culture, full of deities that inhabit the other world (the world of the immortals), and therefore, it is not surprising that devout believers spent their whole lives preparing to die, with a philosophy of life incredibly opposed to modern culture. We now try to force us to see life day by day as the only approach, a philosophy leading us to live a life full of useless superficialities, masks, and trends of the moment that do really contribute nothing, but on the contrary, subtracts a lot from us human beings. The societies before us lived focused on preparing intellectually, morally and spiritually for the beyond, that is, to live life after life.

Such is the case of the Egyptian pharaohs who asked to be buried along with their most faithful slaves and their most important treasures, the Viking chieftains who buried their treasures in secret places to dig them up in the hereafter, or the Greeks who were burned with their best Clothes and coins over their eyes to pay for their journey in the afterlife to the ferryman who would take them to their final destination, just to name the best-known and representative examples of this noble art of "honoring death." Although not far away, we also have the case of Mexican culture with its popular adoration of "Santa Muerte", a cult that has begun to expand in the rest of the world thanks to its colorful festivals and commemorative celebrations.

In the popular culture of Voodoo, the magic Voodoo and the Hoodoo, we also have a large number of deities (orishas, egguns and great spirits, etc...) who are honored in life seeking their favor after death. This is a key practice in modern witchcraft, since the books of magic and Wicca mostly inspire us to prepare ourselves to improve life, without thinking or reminding ourselves that the period of life is only a minimal phase of our complex existence, and the quantity of Time we will spend in this world is so short that after several periods of existence it will only become a fleeting memory among hundreds of new memories.

At home Mom taught us to serve unsweetened coffee by the door and glasses with water under the bed to wake up and calm (respectively) the deceased, and thus gain their favor and consideration when we meet in the other world, honor them every day and gain their trust is in the world of Santeria and umbanda such mandatory practice as a priority, as would any good godfather say, better to win their favor in life that their punishment at death.

Lighting white candles near the window in the moonless nights to give them light and thus illuminate their ascension to another plane, often pray to those who have gone much longer to support the recently deceased to find their way, and once in the meantime, fulfill their pending tasks to enable them to move on without any obstacle.

In this post we will focus on studying in brief three "working with the dead" deities not only very popular, but also very effective at the time of our allies in magic and sorcery, some of them very feared (with very good reasons) and the Other two maybe not so well known but always good to know /

Oya, Obba, and Yewa

Oya, Obba, and Yewa are the three orishas of African culture that work with the dead, joint patrons of cemeteries, Queens of the world of the dead and powerful sorcerers who take great care of their children and devotees without any distinction between them.

They can be honored separately or together, but it is always noticed that the most appropriate method is to honor them at three o'clock to ask for any necessary favors, for if only one is honored, the other two often become jealous and cause all kinds of difficulties.

Oyá Yansá

Oya or Yansa, is the largest Orisha working with the dead, the great magician par excellence, highly venerated in the Yoruba religion, Umbanda, Candomble, Santeria, and Vodou in various ways. In fact, she is one of the main goddesses of Nigeria, Benin, and Brazil. In Cuba and Venezuela is venerated in the form of the Virgin of the Candelaria.

Oya (who is the crown mother of my godfather) is intimately bound up with the divinity of death. It propitiates storms, strong winds or hurricanes and sparks, its element is the air itself, he gives the first breath to the baby and the last to the deceased, in the African religion it is believed that when a woman denies the power of Oya (Whether devout or not) is cursing her children with breathing problems and may even lead them to an early death to raise them under her breast in the hereafter.

Oya is the patron of the Eggun (the dead), the Egungun, which is the name that receives all the collective of diviners spirits of the other world under her command, and queen of the spirits in general, in fact, all spirits, mayor or minors, give respect to Oya as one of the queens of the other world. With her favor, Oya can turn ordinary men into great diviners and spiritualists, both in this and in the next world.

Oya is known for her violent and impetuous character, even sadistic when the time to revenge and protect her children, is in the magical culture one of the most feared deities, lives on the gates of cemeteries. She represents the intensity of the lugubrious feelings, the world of the dead, and is symbolized by the spark.

Along with Eleguá, Orunla and Obatalá dominate the four winds. In addition, it is considered the warrior between the orixás besides Eleguá, Ogún, and Oshosi. Oya in the older culture represents the reincarnation of the ancestors, the lack of memory, and the feeling of sorrow in the woman.

At the family level, Oya is the daughter of Obatala and wife of Ogun and Shango, was the first to kiss (according to folklore) Babalu Aye, another Orisha for death and patron of all venereal diseases, plague, smallpox, leprosy, and all worldly miseries, as well as all his medicines.

Oya is offered all the copper objects, also fans, masks, real feathers of colors, and fruits of dark colors like grapes and aubergines, also offered black hens, flowers, and leaves of plantain, sagebrush, geraniums, pomegranates, and all the flowers that grow in cemeteries, especially those that grow in the vicinity of the tombs.

To get Oya to give favors to her devotees (not Santeria practitioners), she is offered chicken dishes with white rice and eggplants, she also loves pomegranate seeds and dark liquors. She shows no respect for vain or arrogant sorcerers or witches, for she is considered in both worlds as "the greatest sorceress" and for this reason, she does not tolerate those who call themselves the greatest sorcerers in front of her, in fact punishing them by twisting all her spells or flip them against them.

Obba

Obba is the second Orisha in command of death, highly venerated in the world of the dead and highly respected by necromancers by profession. Obba is known to appear wandering in cemeteries in broad daylight dancing with a mask of bright stones, a pale pink dress, and many gold ornaments, when she dances usually covers with her hands her cut ear.

Obba symbolizes repressed love and sacrifice for the beloved, suffering, and conjugal fidelity. She is very feminine, strong, regal, feared, energetic, and considered stronger than many male Orishas. They tell the old men that the only one who has managed to defeat her in battle was Oggun on one occasion. Obba is related to the lakes and lagoons, especially those in the vicinity of the cemeteries, together with Oyá and Yewá dwells in the cemeteries and represent the reckless warriors. She is the custodian of the tombs and punishes the robbers of corpses.

Obba is also the daughter of Obatala and Yemaya, sister of Oyá and Yewa, was the lover of Shango, by whom (deceived by his sister Oya) cut off her own ear and was therefore banished, then went to the mountain and later lived in Loneliness in the cemetery. She also had love affairs with Oggun, to whom she gave the anvil and this one taught her to fight.

She is most popular among mediums, especially the fortunetellers who get her favor and the gift of clairvoyance, leaving to her as a tribute, meat stew and roasted duck in the cemetery. In certain parts of Nigeria and Brazil, it is customary to leave stews on pink plates on the tombs of the recently deceased, so that Obba will take care of them in the hereafter until their moment of departure to another deeper world.

Obba is not given much to witchcraft and divination as her sister Oya, but she is well known for helping psychics and mediums to penetrate into the future without the help of other instruments of divination. According to local worship, she does not get along well with the necromancers and makes them die of disease for their opening of the graves and stealing of the bones.

She is venerated in Cuba and Venezuela, and in the surroundings of the Caribbean in the form of the 'Santa Catalina de Siena'.

Yewá

Yewá is the third deity of this group of dead Orishas, daughter of Obbatala with Yemaya (in Nigeria) and of Obatala with Oduduwa (in the cult of Brazil), sister of Oyá and Obba, companion and wife of Babalu Aye, although never lost her virginity.

Yewá is an orisha of a quite dominant character, very severe and demanding. She is always seen as very moralistic and abhors carnal relationships, which she considers to be beyond her practical possibilities. In modern Santeria, it is syncretically linked with 'Mare de Déu dels Desamparats', The Virgin of the Innocents, Martyrs, and Helpless, while in the Caribbean she is venerated in the form of Santa Clara de Asís.

She symbolizes loneliness, containment of feelings, female chastity, virginity, and sterility. She usually dresses (and portrays herself) in a pink dress with a wide copper belt and a crown decorated with many snails. Yewa forms the main part of the Iyamis (the witches) as patroness and owner of them, is venerated as a queen of witches, noble apprentice of her sister Oya, the greater sorceress, but much more practical and perfectionist. It has a character as sweet as severe and strict at the same time. She is venerated as a patroness of witches and takes great care of them, in practice, does not allow improvisation in any kind of spells and charms, demands perfection in every aspect and practice, does not admire or respect the use of "magic by Intuition " like Oya, she likes rituals to be thought out and planned in every detail. She likes her devotees and sons to preach austerity, but in turn, she makes them respectable fortune tellers.

Yewá is the owner of the tomb, it is among the tombs and the dead and lives inside the coffin that is in the tomb. Yewá is the Orisha who owns the cemetery together with Oya, and like this one, it is extensively linked to death. Her cult came from Dahomey and lived in Egwadó. She inhabits the cemetery, is in charge of taking the souls of the dead to Oyá so that it decides where each one will go, she is the one that dances on its tombs.

To obtain the favor of Yewá, young animals are sacrificed to her, females and virgins, and they are offered to him in great banquets with fish, tomatoes, and mani. When she is venerated, divination objects and magic tools are placed next to the table so that she consecrates them and carries her energy and power. In fact, in Cuba, the crowned sons of Yewa enjoy enormous prestige as diviners.

Egunes and Kiumbas

In Santería, Umbanda, Quimbanda, and Vudú, it is known as Egunes or Egguns, the souls of the already disembodied, the deceased, and the deceased. While the Orishas (deities) are incarnations of the different aspects of the universe and nature (the sea, love, good luck, night), the egunes are the souls of beings who have lived and perished.

In the different forms of witchcraft found in the Afro-Brazilian cult, it is customary to use the term "egguns" to refer more clearly to souls who live in pain, or who are under some kind of hex or spell that forces them To remain on earth, whether for good or evil, thus differentiating themselves from common souls.

On the other hand, there are Kiumbas, forms of egguns very backward in spiritual evolution, are negative, very dangerous, also somewhat "dumb" and are often made to pass for other egguns, in fact, can take the form of anyone who has perished, And is accustomed to appear before the mourners in the form of a loved one who has just left to stay anchored on the earth for a longer time.

The kiumbas are intuitively treacherous and cheating, watch over their own good, and therefore are able to easily deceive poorly indoctrinated mediums and people who plunge into the magical world without sufficient training.

According to Brazilian folklore, the kiumbas possess shamans and spiritualists very young and lacking in practice, leading them to suffer from mental illness, hallucinations, madness, and arriving in the majority of cases to commit suicide.

Note: Egguns often help witches and practitioners, although they often do not at the expense of the happiness of other humans, so they must be "handled" (invoked, conjured, and worked) with great care.

Final notes

As you may have noticed, African culture is also endowed with a lot of folklore, these three deities of the dead are widely venerated as patrons of witches and diviners, grant all kinds of favors, especially if they are linked to the spiritual plane and are incredible And powerful allies in the other world.

In "modern" folklore it is considered that winning the favor of these deities not only grants great power, it also allows witches to spend more time in the world of the dead to care for their loved ones before moving to another plane.

We read in the next days in another post, do not forget to subscribe to the Blog and follow me on my social networks.

Blessings.

The best books on English about this:

• The Yoruba religious concepts manual. by Baba Ifa Karade.
• Orishas, Goddesses and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in African Religious Traditions. by Lilith Dorsey.
• Voodoo and traditional African religion. by Lilith Dorsey.
• Yemaya: Orisha, Goddess, and Queen of the Sea. By Raven Morgaine.

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How much do we know about it? Very little, because the dictionaries and encyclopedias lack the necessary information, and how good that is, because in the same tradition of the Candomble, this is considered a magical tradition that must be transmitted orally and whose certain details must remain secret, that is why in this workshop we will make an intensive and fast class trying to approach from its roots and origins, the form of its transformation and that which strikes many of us, the magical practice that performs within it.

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