#orishas

Playing with colors

Ọbà, Ọya & Ọ̀ṣun

Oba is the Orisha of marriage, domestic life, loyalty, and sacrifice.

Oya is the Orisha of Winds, storms, transformation, death/rebirth.

Oshun is the Orisha of Love, Beauty, Prosperity, and Fresh Waters

𝐺𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡.

𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠, 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒-𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑐𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝐸𝑢𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑓𝑟𝑜-𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎.

Notes from the book Jambalaya by Luisah Teish.

Harmonia Rosales @honeiee

Mama Onile, 60” x 48” (2024)

She is the soil from which all life began. She is memory. She is breath. This is Mama Onilé, “owner of the house,” our shared home… Earth, held by the Orishas who guard her.