Yemaya, Orisha of the Waters

Yemaya is an orisha, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American religions. Africans, from what is now Nigeria, Benin and Togo, brought Yemaya/Yemoja and a host of other deities/energy forces in nature with them when they were brought to the shores of the Americas as captives. Her name is a contraction of Yoruba words: "Yeye omo eja" that mean "Mother whose children are like fish." This represents the vastness of her motherhood, her fecundity and her reign over all living things.

Yemaya is the mother of all the children in the Earth, as for 9 months we swam like fish in the placenta of our mother.She is the Queen of the Ocean, the patron deity of the fishermen and the survivors of shipwrecks, the feminine principle of creation and the spirit of moonlight. She is motherly and strongly protective, and cares deeply for all Her children, comforting them and cleansing them of sorrow. She is said to be able to cure infertility in women, and cowrie shells represent Her wealth. She does not easily lose Her temper, but when angered She can be quite destructive and violent, as the sea in a storm.


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