Lwa- Page 3

Legba (also Elegguá) Not the oldest, but perhaps the most important, orisha (god) in the African spirit pantheon is called Legba in Vodun and Elegguá in Santería. He is the god of

La Sirène is a beautiful, classical mermaid with long flowing hair. Her name literally means “the mermaid.” She holds a mirror, which serves as a threshold or portal between realms. La Sirène

You don’t have to be human to be a magician. Simbi, among the greatest of all magicians, is a water snake spirit who rules all aspects of magic. He protects magical practitioners

Silibo In his book, Ecstatic Voyage, seventeenth-century German scholar Athanasius Kircher describes the sun as populated “with angels of fire swimming in seas of light around a volcano.” He may have been

Sili Kenwa is a Dominican manifestation of the lwa known in Haiti as Ezili Coeur Noir, or “Black Hearted Ezili”. Sili Kenwa is syncretized to Saint Martha. In accordance with Iberian customs,

Rada Spirits The Rada lwa are among the two primary Haitian Vodou pantheons. (The other is the Petro lwa.) Most Rada spirits hail directly from Africa, mostly from Dahomey, now called Benin.

The Haitian Revolution was initiated at a Vodou ceremony at Bois Caiman when a priestess (Mambo) sacrificed a black pig, invoking the lwa, Ezili Dantor, and Ogun. Marinette may be that priestess,

The Marassa, Vodou’s sacred twins, are spirits of paradox: They are two distinct bodies who share one soul (or they are one soul with two bodies). They are opposites who are simultaneously

Papa Lisa is a lwa who travels in Ezili’s entourage. His dwelling place is within trees. Ceremonies invoking and honouring Papa Lisa are held in December and January near water. An offering

Gran Bois is the Father of the Forest, a divine healer who presides over botanical secrets and the sacred power of the forest. He is a primordial and exceptionally powerful lwa. He