What is Yemaya the orisha of?
Yemaya is maternal, dignified and nurturing, the spiritual mother of all. She is also an orisha of mystery, reflected in the depths of her waters. She is also often understood to be the older sister of Oshun, who oversees the rivers.
Can Oya and Yemaya be in the same room?
There is actually a ceremonial reason why Oya and Yemaya (Chango, and Inle too, for that matter) cannot be in the same room when Oya is being consecrated. This story is captured in the diloggún odu Ogbe’sa (8-9). Oya was betrayed by the ram.
Who is the orisha Oya Oyá?
Oya Oyá is the orisha of the marketplace, the winds, and change. She is the owner of the gates of the cemetery and a ferocious female warrior. An eleke for Oyá is typically distinguished by the use of a special brown bead with thin white and black stripes. This eleke utilizes coral and burgundy crystals.
What color is Yemaya?
Aggressive, violent aspects of Yemaya also claim the color red. The following are but a few of her many aspects: Yemaya Asesun, an ancient path of Yemaya, is Queen of Water Birds including ducks, geese, and swans.
What day is Yemaya?
Yemanjá (Yoruba: Yemọja) is a major water spirit from the Yoruba religion. She is the mother of all Orishas....YemọjaDay2 February 31 December 8 December 7 SeptemberColorBlue and White/Crystal beadsRegionYorubaland, Brazil, CubaEthnic groupYoruba people,7 more rows
Is Yemaya My orisha?
Yemayá, Mother Orisha of the Sea, Eres Mi Reina. Yemayá is the Yoruba orisha of motherhood and the sea. She is often represented as a mermaid, but is not just a mermaid. She is the great mother of us all and represents Mother Earth, the life giver.
What is a daughter of Yemaya?
Lisa, she's the daughter of Yemaya, who is the sea, and I'm daughter of Shango, who is thunder. And it's really us. Our characters are really like that. Lisa-Kaindé: In the Yoruba religion, you are chosen by an orisha, which is a divinity. And Naomi was chosen by Shango, who is the orisha of the thunder.
What are the orisha numbers?
Number. Yoruba tradition often says that there are 400 + 1 orishas, which is associated with a sacred number. Other sources suggest that the number is "as many as you can think of, plus one more – an innumerable number". Different oral traditions refer to 400, 700, or 1,440 orishas.
Who is Yemoja husband?
In Yorùbá mythology, Yemoja is a mother goddess; patron deity of women, especially pregnant women; and the Ogun river. Her parents are Oduduwa and Obatala. There are many stories as to how she became the mother of all saints. She was married to Aganju and had one son, Orungan, and fifteen Orishas came forth from her.
What is Oshun number?
associated with the number five. Oshun often carries a mirror so that she can admire her beauty. She loves honey, sunflowers, oranges, cinnamon, and pumpkin, and her favorite birds are peacocks and vultures.
Who is Yemaya to Chango?
Yemaya is the only one who can keep Chango in check. He has to obey her because she is one of his two mothers. He is said to have two or three wives, his favorite being Ochun. This beautiful goddess is identifed with the Catholic La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, Cuba's patron saint.
What orisha day is Wednesday?
Calendar terminologiesỌSẸ̀ in Yoruba calendarDay in Gregorian calendarỌjọ́-Ìṣégun (Day of Victory)TuesdayỌjọ́rú (Day of Confusion & Disruption)WednesdayỌjọ́bọ̀ (Day of Arrival)ThursdayỌjọ́-Ẹtì (Day of Postponement & Delay)Friday3 more rows
How do you know if you are a child of Oshun?
She is one of the most popular and venerated orishas. If you see the number 5 a lot (my two most recent apartments were on the 5th floor), are attracted to the color yellow or gold and enjoy sweets, specifically honey, then you too may be a child of Oshun.
Which orisha number is 11?
Number 11 is considered to be the number of the Ibeji. This is because the twins are complimenting as well as opposing forces. One Ibeji holds the human personality and the other holds the spiritual personality.
What are the 7 African powers?
Another common initiation is the intitiation into the Seven African Powers (Elegua, Obatala, Oggun, Chango, Yemaya, Oshun, and Orunmilla).
Can you have 2 Orishas?
It is commonly understood by both scholars and practitioners of Yoruba religion in the Americas that initiates in Africa worship only one or two Orisha, whereas in the New World each individual worships multiple Orisha.
Myths and Stories of Yemayá
Yemayá was born to Oludumare, the Supreme Being in the Yoruba religion. Oludumare tasked Yemayá with assisting the Orisha Obatala with the creation of humans. Leaving the dwelling place of Oludumare, Yemayá slid down a rope with sixteen other Orisha and engaged in the creation of mankind.
Yemayá: Characteristics
Yemayá serves as the patron of the Ogun river (in Nigeria), although she is not limited to that particular body of water. Her followers may worship Yemayá at any feature of running water. She is depicted as a mermaid, capable of venturing into any body of water freely.
Yemayá and Olokun
Yemayá has another deity associated with her. Olokun is another Orisha associated with water and androgyny. While Yemayá has dominion over the surface of the ocean and the life thereupon, Olokun is the Orisha of the depths. They complement one another. While Yemayá is the goddess of life, none may return from Olokun’s depths alive.
Worship of Yemayá
After slavers brought slaves to the New World via the Middle Passage, Yemayá’s presence increased in the Americas and the Caribbean. Again, Yemayá was originally known as Yemọja, with Yemayá being one of her names she came to be known by in the New World.
The Mother of the Fish
In the Yoruba language, Yemayá’s name means “mother of the fish.” The association with the sea is incredibly astute. Amniotic fluid, which we are all born in, is basically sea water. One of the stories is that Yemayá’s own water broke over the primordial Earth. From this, the rivers and seas, and life itself began.
Celebrating Yemayá
The orishas are part of a rich oral tradition, so traditions vary by region, community and even by family. In the Spanish-speaking world, we know her through the Cuban traditions, but Haiti, Brazil and many other places in the Americas have their own celebrations. They are all unique, but share common roots.
Symbols of Yemayá
She is associated with the number 7. Her colors are blue and white. Saturday is her day.
Un Encuentro
Soy Keith, el editor. Yemayá is in my life. The creative part of a man is his anima, his female aspect. I encountered her on the beach in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 2020 on September 7. I was doing my morning walk (1 mile door to door) and felt the need to keep walking off the sea wall onto the beach which I don’t usually do.
How to communicate with Yemaya?
Communicate with her constantly when in the water or beside it. Remind her that you are human and must live on land.
How to pray to Yemaya?
Invoke, petition, or pray to Yemaya. • Sprinkle the water over your naked body from head to toe using your fingers or a roseMary branch. • Let the water remain on your body for a little while, and then gently pat yourself dry with a brand-new clean white towel or cloth. • Put on clean clothes.
What is Yemaya Okoto's crown?
Yemaya Okoto, the Pirate Queen, causes shipwrecks and drags ships and treasure down to the ocean floor. Her name means “the one who lives amongst the seashells.”. Her crown is a shark’s jawbone. She clenches a dagger between her teeth.
How beautiful is Yemaya?
Whether manifesting as woman or mermaid, Yemaya is always spectacularly beautiful. She can be sexually provocative with a rolling, hip-swaying walk that evokes the sea. Her traditional costume includes seven skirts. Her hair, clothes, and body may be ornamented with crystals, pearls, coral, or tiny bells.
What color is Yemaya's path?
Yemaya’s different paths are symbolized by different shades of blue (and sometimes by unique attributes). The particular hue represents each path’s specific natureand home. Thus the aspects of Yemaya who live closest to land or the water’s surface are represented by paler shades than those dwelling in the depths.
How to decorate Yemaya's shrine?
Yemaya’s shrine should evoke the sea. Decorate it with nets, seashells, sea stars, and sea horses. Add salted water to a crystal glass containing small seashells.
What does Yemaya eat?
Yemaya’s favorite food offerings include wet seedy fruits like pomegranates and watermelon plus fish, duck, and lamb dishes. She likes to snack on pork cracklings, plantain or banana chips and pound or coconut cake.
How many Orishas are there in Yemaya?
The daughter of Oddudua and Obatala, Yemaya is mother to 14 Orishas, as well as Obafulom and Lyaa, the first human male and female and the ancestors of all humans.
How to make yemaya offerings?
It is traditional to make Yemaya offerings and set them afloat on the water in a small boat. Write a note with your desires and thoughts on a small piece of paper. Anoint the paper with Yemaya perfume and place it on the boat. Focus on your intentions as you send your boat out to sea for Yemaya to find.
What is the difference between Olokun and Yemaya?
Olokun guards the tumultuous depths of the ocean, while Yemaya protects the upper surfaces of the ocean where the light reflects and living things thrive. She oversees the waves and the myriad of life forms that call the ocean their home. Together, these two Orishas create a balance that ebbs and flows as naturally as the tides.
What does Yemaya do?
Yemaya gives life and offers support to all who inhabit the Earth. Her generous and protective nature endears her to those who worship her. Yemaya works with the Orisha Olokun to rule the sea and all of the oceans. Olokun guards the tumultuous depths of the ocean, while Yemaya protects the upper surfaces of the ocean where ...
What is the meaning of the Yemaya necklace?
Present a Yemaya statue with offerings of watermelon and yams. Wear a Yemaya Camino necklace to invoke her strength and protection or present one to a loved one who is preparing to have a baby.
Does Yemaya cure infertility?
It is said that Yemaya can cure women of their infertility. As she creates life, she also protects it during all of its happiness and despair. She reminds women to nurture their needs and celebrate their many gifts and strengths.
What was Yemaya associated with?
Yemaya was strongly associated with the sea, in which she lived. Like the sea, she was beautiful and filled with generosity but if anyone crossed the goddess by disrespecting her terrain or hurting one of her children, her anger knew no bounds.
What was the name of the river that Yemaya was a part of?
Her benevolence and generosity gave her many devotees, equivalent to the fish in the sea (also innumerable). Originally, Yemaya was a Yoruba river Orisha and had nothing to do with the ocean. However, when her people boarded the slave ships, she didn’t want to leave them so she went along with them.
What is the Yoruba story called?
The Yoruba people often created stories to help them make sense of the world around them and these stories were known as the patakis. According to the patakis, Yemaya’s father was Olodumare, the supreme god. Olodumare was known as the Creator of the Universe, and Yemaya was said to be his eldest child.
Why was Yemaya angry at Olokun?
Olokun was angry because he thought he wasn’t being appreciated by humans and decided to punish all of mankind for it.
How did Yemaya bring life to the world?
Some legends tell of how Yemaya brought life to the world by creating the first mortals. The story goes that her waters broke, causing a great deluge, creating all the streams and rivers on earth and then, from her womb, the first humans were created. Yemaya’s first gift to her children was a sea shell which contained her voice so that it could always be heard. Even today, when we hold a sea shell to our ear and hear the ocean, what we hear is Yemaya’s calm voice, the voice of the sea.
How many gods came out of Yemaya's body?
She jumped to her death from the top of a high mountain and as she hit the ground, fourteen gods or Orishas came out of her body.
What is the name of the river orisha?
Yemaya, also known as Yemoja, Yemanja, Yemalla and others, was the river or sea orisha of the Yoruba people, one of the largest ethnic groups of southwestern Nigeria. In Yoruba religion, she was considered as the mother of all living things and was among the most powerful and loved deities of all, and was also known as the Queen of the Sea.
Who is Yemaya Oshun's sister?
Yemaya is maternal, dignified and nurturing, the spiritual mother of all. She is also an orisha of mystery, reflected in the depths of her waters. She is also often understood to be the older sister of Oshun, who oversees the rivers. She is also associated with tuberculosis and intestinal disorders. Cite this Article.
What are the orishas?
Updated January 23, 2018. The orishas are the gods of Santeria, the beings that believers interact with on a regular basis. The number of orishas varies among believers. In the original African belief system from which Santeria originates, there are hundreds of orishas.
Who is Orunla associated with?
Orunla is most commonly associated with St. Francis of Assisi, although the reasons are not obvious. It may have to do with Francis's common depiction of holding rosary beads, which resembles Orunla's divination chain. St. Philip and St. Joseph are also sometimes equated with Orunla.
What does Yemaya like?
Yemaya likes sea shells, fish, net, sea horses, anchors and everything related to the sea. She is generally kept in a blue flowered porcelain soup tureen full of water. She is also associated with stars and the full moon, ducks and peacocks. Yemaya controls the parts of the sea that a human knows.
What is the meaning of Yemaya?
Yemaya is a mother Goddess. The Goddess of home, fertility, love and family. She also represents change and consistency - bringing forth life, protecting it, and changing it as is necessary. Yemaya is the daughter of a mortal god-human, Obatala, and his wife. Yemaya and her brother, Aganyu had a son together.
What is the difference between Olukun and Yemaya?
Yemaya statue www.amazon.com. Yemaya stays in the uppermost part of the ocean while Olukun is the orisha who resides in the dark depths. Olukun is respected for his ominous power that has no perceived limits or boundaries while Ye maya is associated with life, fertility and creation. Therefore, they balance each other.
How did Yemaya learn divination?
She's also associated with the creative and nurturing forces of the sea. She learned how to do divination by watching her husband, Orula, do consults. Women weren't supposed to do consults but Yemaya was so good at it, her husband made a pact with her that she could use cowry shells to divine.
What does the tide represent in the story of Yemaya?
By rocking the world as a cradle, the tides represent Yemaya's desires to protect and nurture all her children. With Yemaya considered to be the greatest mother there is no surprise that she is very sexual. Since nothing can resist water, she is respected for her strength. Those who hurt her children, Yemaya drowns.
What do the seven seas represent in Yemaya?
Those who worship her wear necklaces of clear and blue beads as well as a blue dress complete with seven layers to represent the seven seas. In a ceremony for Yemaya, everyone dances in a circle and the altar is in the form of a circle. The circle represents the eternal cycle of life.
Who is the mother of Ochun?
Generally regarded as the older sister of Ochun. She's the mother, or foster mother, of almost all the major Orichas, low level gods. Yemaya is the patron of pregnant women. She is the spiritual mother to all those who feel lost and lonely. She'll always listen and offer maternal love to anyone who needs a mother.
Why can't Yemaya and Oya be in the same room?
There is actually a ceremonial reason why Oya and Yemaya ( Chango, and Inle too, for that matter) cannot be in the same room when Oya is being consecrated. This story is captured in the diloggún odu Ogbe’sa (8-9). Oya was betrayed by the ram.
Who is the orisha in Santeria?
Oya. Oyá is the orisha of the marketplace, the winds, and change. She is the owner of the gates of the cemetery and a ferocious female warrior. Oyá (also Ollá, Yansa or Yansán) is a fierce and powerful female warrior orisha in Santeria. She is the owner of the marketplace, and keeps the gates of the cemetery.
What is the food of Chango and Yemaya?
Ram is the favorite food of Chango and Yemaya (and Inle too). These orishas bear the scent of ram. So when Chango or Yemaya (or Inle) are being consecrated, Oya’s items must be out of the sacred room (Igbodú). Similarly if Oya is being consecrated, Chango and Yemaya (or Inle) cannot be anywhere near her items.
How many eggplants does Oya have?
Oya loves eggplants. You’ll need a basket large enough to hold 9 eggplants for this. Line the basket with a lovely wine-colored cloth (it can be decorated with multi-color flowers) and place all 9 eggplants inside of it. Set this before Oya’s shrine and pray for your desired needs.
What is Oya's favorite lover?
She wields lightning and rides the winds into battle, often fighting with her machetes side-by-side with her favorite lover, Changó. Oyá raises the armies of the dead as her soldiers and is said to use the tornado as her weapon.
Who tricked Oya into exchanging the sea for the cemetery?
These two orishas do not have enmity between them. This is a misunderstanding perpetuated by author Migene Gonzalez-Whippler that Yemaya supposedly tricked Oya into exchanging the sea for the cemetery.
Who was Oya married to?
Oyá was once married to Ogun, and it was he who forged her favorite weapon – the machete. Oyá left Ogun and became one of Chango’s lovers. It was only Oyá who could truly keep Chango in his place. She stole Chango’s secret of throwing lightning, and knew how to use Chango’s fear of the dead to keep him under control.
The Mother of The Fish
- In the Yoruba language, Yemayá’s name means “mother of the fish.” The association with the sea is incredibly astute. Amniotic fluid, which we are all born in, is basically sea water. One of the stories is that Yemayá’s own water broke over the primordial Earth. From this, the rivers and seas, and life itself began. European context is irrelevant, but if it helps you understand, Yemayá is the …
Celebrating Yemayá
- The orishas are part of a rich oral tradition, so traditions vary by region, community and even by family. In the Spanish-speaking world, we know her through the Cuban traditions, but Haiti, Brazil and many other places in the Americas have their own celebrations. They are all unique, but share common roots. For example, in Nigeria, Yemayá is often associated with fresh water. In the Ame…
Symbols of Yemayá
- She is associated with the number 7. Her colors are blue and white. Saturday is her day. She adorns herself with things from the sea like seashells, sea stones, nets and so on. We offer her watermelon, molasses, coconut. If you see white roses or flowers floating in the sea, that’s an offering to Yemayá.
Un Encuentro
- Soy Keith, el editor. Yemayá is in my life. The creative part of a man is his anima, his female aspect. I encountered her on the beach in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 2020 on September 7. I was doing my morning walk (1 mile door to door) and felt the need to keep walking off the sea wall onto the beach which I don’t usually do. When I got to the end of the beach, I found some doves …