Iansan

For CGP

Iansã - by Carybé

 

 

 

 

Lady of the Winds,

your sword broke the night in two,

stretching the pagan clouds

over the dissolute sky.

 

Iansan is spinning her red skirt,

Iansan is whipping the universe with her long hair.

 

Tempests sail,

bleeding lightning bolts blossom,

a hurricane creeps across their empty crystal hours,

shattering it in minutes and seconds.

I admire you scattering the stars.

 

Eparre Iansan!

Odara Iabany!

 

I see your strength piercing the horizon

as they turn their heads to contemplate

your tornadoes mocking their doubting hearts.

I see you were in clad in iron

when the rain greeted the Orishas.

 

Queen of everything,

you clear their tumultuous sky

with your fiery liquid eyes.

Queen of the bolts,

They are the sons and daughters of Iansan:

don’t cry for them, don’t cry for me.

 

Eparre My Lady!

Raise your hands and change their unwritten fate

for chaos is never the end:

they are here to obey and serve you.

They are here to understand you are the woman

who walks between worlds.

 

Lady of the Winds,

dance as your fire burns the sun.

Nigeria is calling you.

I am calling you:

 Odoya Matamba!

 

The weather is dreaming.

Your butterflies embellished my disheveled hair.

The weather is fine:

Iansan is here and her path goes where her heart is.

 

Eparre Mother,

ride the fire and guide them

across the Chthonic world

for you are what the Gods conceived

when the rain sang a lullaby.

 

Karla Bardanza 

 

 

Iansã,  Iansan or Oyá is the Goddess of Transformation, The Lady of Storms, Thunder, Lightning, Tornadoes, Winds, Rainstorms and Hurricanes.

 

Eparre is how you greet Iansan.

Odara= beautiful in Yoruba

 Matamba = Iansan

 

Name: Oya, Iansan

  Day: Wednesday

Colors:  Red, Maroon, Black

Objects/energy embodied in: Wind, Tornadoes, Storms, Brooms, Graveyards, The Market Place

Offering: Eggplant

Goddess Energy: Radical Transformation, Death

Herbs: Myrrh

Spiritual Qualities: Release, Surrender, Dying to the old to embrace the new

An Orisha (also spelled Orisa or Orixa) is a spirit or deity that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the Yoruba spiritual or religious system. (Olodumare is also known by various other names including Olorun, Eledumare, Eleda and Olofin-Orun). This religion has found its way throughout the world and is now expressed in practices as varied as Candomblé, Lucumí/Santería, Shango in Trinidad, Anago and Oyotunji, as well as in some aspects of Umbanda, Winti, Obeah, Vodun and a host of others. These varieties or spiritual lineages as they are called are practiced throughout areas of Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, Togo, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay, Argentina and Venezuela among others. As interest in African indigenous religions (spiritual systems) grows, Orisha communities and lineages can be found in parts of Europe and Asia as well. While estimates may vary, some scholars believe that there could be more than 100 million adherents of this spiritual tradition worldwide.(Wikipedia)

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012