Pomba Gira is more than just a coquettish spirit with a southern temperament, so much more than a Latin cousin of Lilith – she is the embodiment of all complex possibility we find in mortal woman. It is here in the field of flesh and soul merging with land and motion she finds herself in a constant flash of the spirit and inspires mankind by revealing the kingdoms of passion and blood as map for the route of self.
Her question is always; who are you - and she reads your answers in the ways you judge the world and yourself. She is the precaution in our wishes and desires, the danger of dreams becoming reality…
Like the Holy Spirit she is an intoxication that invites dreams and prophecy, like the legions of Venus under the embrace of Mercury himself she can provoke mastery of life or slavery to the passions that drive you mad and frantic with life.
How you see her is often how she sees you and from this a relationship is build on the premises you come to her temple with. I mean, if you perceive her as a slut made to serve your needs – it is a fair chance she will treat you as a slut for her needs. This is a factor quite important in the dealings with her and a point discussed quite sparingly in the meager literature about her since the early 70s. Perhaps this is caused by us, modern men and women of the triumphant west, approach the world as masters in the making with the god given power to subdue any spirit. We do wise in reflecting on why a spirit that can tear lives apart should respect you and yield to your call and murmur – or even listen to you if you do not feel the devotion burning in your heart, seeking congress.
A rebellious selfish approach towards her, words either said or demonstrated by the language of action revealing that you see her as a servant or a slave is bound to be a road of the sweetest self destruction. Because, she gives what you give – and the desires in your heart is what she moves upon. In this way, she is the essence of female possibility – woman of seven husbands and wife of none.
She carries similarities with strong women through history, such as Jorge Amado did in his books Gabriela, Cloves & Cinnamon and Dona Flor and her Two Husbands that gave voice and legacy to one strand of this remarkable power and potency of the feminine, this theme that is of Pomba Gira. This theme can range from a sensual naiveté in the case of Amados’ Gabriela to dominating and sadistic strands of submission depicted in Mirbau’s Torture Garden.
The sensual and sexual kingdoms and realms also connects her to several deities or goddesses of a Venusian and Lunar inclination, it be Ashtaroth, Ishtar, Diana or any nocturnal and fierce spirit, any noctuluca and vampire that knows little mercy but is said to take an interest in selected men and women. It is on these grounds I hold that she is a spirit that can be a universal teacher for men and women in the mysteries of sensual living and sexual alchemy. The fact that she is Brazilian does not indicate that she is a spirit reserved for Brazilians – but that the Brazilian spirit has something to teach us all - and then I intend ‘Brazilian spirit’ in a double sense as both Pomba Gira herself and the legacy of the land as it ignited by its spirit and its inhabitants. In this I see in the marvelous Lady of Fig and Nightshade a gift to struggling mankind – wherever they are in path, land and worlds…