The Starry Cave

Pomba Gira is the death mask of Venus, she is sensuality, transformation and challenge manifesting in beauty, truth and ordeal. She is every woman and knows the heart of every man. She is the bitterness of scorn and she is the ecstasy of obsession. She is legion. We come to her with broken and confused hearts; she is the spirit of solace and of solution. She is the fire of transformation that all Exu seek to preserve and take nourishment from. As such she is the serpentine heart of the cult of Quimbanda. Any attempt to define her as this or that is something she simultaneously affirms and escapes. She is the embodiment of the sensual and finds her mystery spoken off in woman, both mortal and stellar. Quimbada itself can be seen as a cousin of the cult of Ghede who also walks on the points of death with erotic and sexual steps. Death and sex, the alpha and omega of human life, our journey’s beginning and end, so often diabolized, is what lies at the centre of Quimbanda and because of

Michaelmas have been subject for shifting dates, varying from the fast in honour of the Cross in the Orthodox Church spanning from the 14th to 27th of September and until 11th of October as was the day of the Old Michaelmas. Legend tells that on this day Satan was thrown out from heaven and landed in brambles, hence the blackberries should not be collected after this date as Satan defecated upon the berries on this day and made them poisonous. Other stories of probably East European origin informs us that the bramble and blackberry was formed by the Devil as his response to grapes, hence its praise name as The Devil’s Grapes. Henry Corbin in his brilliant presentation of Ishmaelite Sufism comments that the Balance represents the four pillars of the Temple of the Ka'bah supported by the four archangels Seraphiel, Michael, Gabriel and Azrael, each one of them being conceived as the heart of the four main prophets, Adam, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad. The four pillars guard the throne

“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a   devil ? ” -                     The Gospel of John 6: 70 The drama around the Last Supper details a Great Mystery, because here we see the cosmic necessity for the Devil, as the one who affirms the design. The role of Devil can be one given according to Fate’s dictate or being caused by one being appointed to uphold this dignity. In all instances, the Devil is the one who marks the outer limits of possibility, the contraction of the worlds in pain or delight as it affirms beauty and bliss. In its more profane activities, the appointed Devil is merely perceived as a troublemaker, a nuance, a slanderer, a liar – a wayward son of Mercury by all measure. Still, by being appointed as the Devil a tension is established that affirms the agenda of him or her who has appointed their accuser – the accuser will then affirm the truth and the lie by mere existence. Commonly ‘devil’ and ‘demon’ are used interchangeable, but

“Those who cannot walk the path alone will be throd upon by those who can” -            - Andrew D. Chumbley The witch is constantly presented as something from the outside that affects the natural order – itself being a part of the natural order – but who possess knowledge forbidden. This is a true arising from Jules Michelet and his poetic renderings of the perennial themes making up the icon of the witch as from ethnographies and confessions collected both in the pre-modern and modern world. Perhaps the more ill fate has become the people from the outside in modern time where another element has been added to the icon of the witch, namely superstition. George Ewart Evans comments upon this in his exposition of rural folk magic in Britain that this word, from superstant , in the meaning of ‘standing over’ or being guiding principles for cult and culture today invites provocation and violent reactions because it is conceived of as an assault on common sense and reason.  The Russian