Today I would like to complete the information I have to give you on Yemanjá, the sea goddess. As I have mentioned, each orixá is associated with different aspects of the natural world, in the same way as the planets in Ceremonial Magick have correspondences. In the mineral kingdom, Yemanjá is associated with aquamarines, diamonds, pearls, silver, and sapphires. You can always substitute a necklace made of shells.

I gave you some ritual meal offerings last time. Here let me add white corn mixed with virgin olive oil or honey, white hen and duck, she-goat stew, mullet simmered in olive oil and seaweed, sardines, shrimp, white rice, and papaya.

She also governs many botanicals. There are different ways to use her botanicals. For example, you may add some to water for bathing in order to prepare yourself to receive the orixá. You can carry some of them in a talisman bag along with an appropriate mineral. You can also prepare offerings for her using some of the herbs, keep some on your altar—in short, the ways to use them are many.

Here is a list of the “saint’s” botanicals:  lily, white rose, white carnation, jasmine, orange blossom, white orchid, pond lily, white hydrangea, lavender (associated with all the orixás), coco de Iri (fruit of a type of coconut, but regular coconut milk or coconut water substitutes just fine,--and as a bonus, is healthy for you!), seaweed (such as kelp or Irish moss), maidenhair fern, angelica, marjoram, and rosemary. Some traditions list mint and basil as well, but I think they go better with other entities, about whom I will write later—eventually!

Remember that one aspect of Yemanjá is the concept of a mermaid, so her protection was invoked by sailors before they set out to sea. Here is an example of a song they might sing:

 

“If the mermaid had not protected me

The shark would have devoured me

Way out there in the middle of the sea

If the mermaid had not come to my aid

The shark would have eaten me up

Way out there in the middle of the sea.”

 

Here I retell the most renowned legend about Yemanjá:

As the wife of Oxalá (very loosely syncretized with Christ or Osiris), Yemanjá bore three sons:  Ogum (warrior god), Oxóssi (forest god), and the entity Exu. Ogum left home to conquer the world, Oxóssi to pursue a contemplative life in the forest, and Exu—well Exu went away to see what the world had to offer. Only this third son returned home.

At first his mother was delighted to see him. As they visited, her son became increasingly agitated. Finally he blurted out that he had searched the planet in vain to find a woman to equal his mother’s perfection. Because of his failure to discover such a paragon he knew he was destined to possess his own mother and her alone.

At that he grabbed Yemanjá and tried to violate her. In the struggle, he ripped open her breasts. When he saw what he had done, he recoiled in horror and shame. He fled, banished from the kingdom of heaven, never to return.

From the copious tears Yemanjá shed the oceans came into being, and from her torn breasts, the rivers of the world were created.

In future blogs, I will talk about the other principal female orixás, including Iansã, Nanã, and Oxum, and the males as well, practices, etc.

However, in the next few blogs, I will take up the controversial concept of sacrifice in the Afro-Brazilian folk religions.