Oya is truly a mysterious force of nature, manifested in the bolts of lightning and in the wind. The moments when the wind takes hold announcing thunder and lightning is the dance of Oya in the world. Her praise names are amongst many Oya Orire, she who’s beauty is so great we cannot look away, Oya Oriri, ‘the charming one’, Aféfé lèlè, ‘great wind’, Afèfé ikú, ‘winds of death’. She is also Aféfé légé-legé tí í dá’gi l’okè-l’okè, ‘the wind that severs the treetops’ and Ìyáàmí arina bora bí aso, ‘My mother who dresses in fire’. Her name is probably an elision of O Iya Mesan, meaning ‘Mother of Nine’. This epitaph refers to the nine children she begot with Sango. The first eight were mute, but the night spoke with an outlandish high pitched voice. The ninth child was Egúngún.
Quimbanda is
a cult centred on the direct and head on interaction with spirit, hence
developing mediumistic skills and capability in spirit trafficking is integral
and vital to working Quimbanda. Possession is a phenomenon that intrigues and
also scares. After all we have all seen movies like The Exorcist and other horror
thrillers giving visual spectacles to how hostile spirits can take over the
human body, mind and soul in intrusive and fatal ways. But possessions do find
a counterpart in the shamanic rapture as much as in the prophet whose soul is
filled with angelic light that makes him or her prophetic. Possession is not
only about the full given over of your material vessel to a spirit that in turn
uses the faculties of the medium to engage various forms of work. Inspiration, dream
and to be ‘under the influence’ are potentially valid and worthy avenues for
connecting with spirit. Yet another avenue for good spirit trafficking is the
communion, or what Jake Stratton-Kent calls ‘…