"There are the waves and there is the wind, seen and unseen forces. Everyone has these same elements in their lives, the seen and unseen: karma and free will. The question is, 'how are you going to handle what you have?' You are riding the karmic wave underneath and the wind can shift. Everyone must take what they see and deal with that which is unseen."
- Kuan Yin

 

 

Unknown Author 

 

 

Darkness spins,
destroying almost
twelve months:
I am.

Blame me for living.
(I tried)
I am.

Something contracts inside
and fractures my ages;
I have no wisdom to share
as the words drip from
this year's mouth.

My red encrusted eyelids
don't regret time's forgetfulness,
my esclerosed heart still beats:
I am.
(still)
I am.

And it's been like sleeping
on a bed of rusty nails enjoying
quietly each suppurating wound.
And it's been like breaking
three hundred and sixty five stained mirrors.

I am
(here)
I am

Kneeling down before You,
as I touch my head to the floor,
I weep, placing my hands by
my head with my palms up.

NAMO KUAN SHIH YIN PU'SA

I am
(grateful, Mother)
I am
(alive, Mother)
I am
(here, Mother)
I am
(prepared for what is yet to come,
Mother)

Karla Bardanza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012

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

Painting by Jane Starr Weils

The Goddess whispers,

embracing flowers and trees.

Birds flow beyond time.

Mother Earth breathes in me.

The unseen dimension of my soul

blooms in light and love.

Karla Bardanza

Haiku (also called nature or seasonal haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three
unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually
written in the present tense and focuses on nature (seasons

A double Haiku has 2 stanzas of 5,7,5 and then 5,7,5 syllables.

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012

Painting by Oleg Nazarenko

May The Goddess forgive us

when the buds begin to cry

because we can't decipher

the grammar of compassion,

the rituals of tolerance.

May The Goddess forgive us

when the oceans bleed

and our furry brothers die

to feed our ignorance and blindness.

May The Goddess forgive us

when our sisters trees are hurt

to serve our cheap whims

and empty egos before the cock

crows.

May The Goddess forgive us

for learning so little about

the mysteries and sacredness

of life.

May The Goddess forgive us

for our attachments, disconnections,

confusion and separateness.

May The Goddess forgive us

for saying the Name of Love

in vain.

Karla Bardanza

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012

Painting by Josephine Wall

I hear The Goddess

when The Full Moon dances in my eyes.

Skyclad I am.

She is here,

whispering my name.

Cast the circle, let the world stay out

my spirit is in ecstasy:

a world within, a world without.

Mother be thou adored.

I hear the Goddess,

drinking my sisters' wine.

Love permeates every pore

of my being, the power is here.

the power is mine.

Mother be thou adored.

I hear the Goddess,

Two perfect words I have:

Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.

I am at one with the divine.

I am stardust.

Mother be thou adored.

My Lady I am in your womb of flower,

connected to your mysteries and sacredness.

Draw a crescent Moon on my forehead again

for I shall eternally be your daughter.

Mother be thou adored.

Karla Bardanza

    Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2012

Somebody whispered incantations,
summoning the shooting stars and the Moon,
inviting the night to sigh together with Yemanja
as the flowers came into bloom to Oshun.

The oceans were still, the syrens were combing
their hair, seducing the spirit of moonlight,
luring sailors, singing the beauty hidden in the sea
when life used to be a sacred rite.

Somebody repeated those words I learnt
when The Goddess showed me her kind face.
She tattooed a crescent on my forehead
and bestowed upon me her love and grace.

I kneel down before every being, every creature
for sacredness lies within where many eyes can't see.
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Akasha link us to the Divine
and all of them are here biding you and me.

Karla Bardanza

Yemanja or Yemaya is the goddess of the Ocean and the Seas, one of the seven orishas. She is worshipped by African Umbanda religions in Brazil.

Oshun is the Yoruban Orisha (deity) of the sweet or fresh waters (as opposed to the salt waters of Yemaya). She is widely loved, as She is known for healing the sick and bringing fertility and prosperity, and She especially watches over the poor and brings them what they need. She is the orisha of love and she is worshipped in Brazil too.

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2011

This soundless moment crumbles away

as we kneel down to receive the Goddess's song

sailing the stars, repeating anonymous words

while the blue Moon gets immortal and strong.

The open skies accept our raised hands,

melting the hours in a dreamy spell,

the trees, the mountains whisper incantations:

Divinity lies in things we can't tell.

As we unzip the night with payers and incense,

Mother Moon embraces us, modelling fate,

embroidering winds, sewing poems,

opening our souls and our hearts gate.

Sacredness is here living with grace.

It is within those who merry meet

for we walk the path with love and trust,

honoring the perfect words so sweet.

Karla Bardanza

Copyright©Karla Bardanza 2011

When she finished weaving the animals and the sea,
she sat down, appreciating her threads of love,
thinking of the delicate delights above
as the waxing moon dissolved her memory.

Her eyes embraced the mountains and the rain
while her heart did laugh at its magical wings,
contemplating the big and small things
her tears conceived when her soul cried again.

For some minutes she understood her power:
the universe expanded before her eyes,
she summoned the clouds and the butterflies,
quietening the thunder, caressing the hour.

Her silk hands created deserts and stars
as she whispered her words of passion,
holding a child full of compassion
when Venus aligned with Pluto and Mars.

I look at her, kneeling down and praying
for she is the beauty my mother taught me to see.
She is my mother too, my answer, my key
to open the door where a little girl is still playing.

She is the mysteries of the waters, the valley green.
The truth I honor with pleasure and dignity,
the path I walk every day with integrity
as I bow to the light seen and unseen.


Karla Bardanza

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. 
~Native American Proverb

We cannot command Nature except by obeying her. 

~Francis Bacon

This moon is entirely for me.
She can see all my splendors
when I gaze at her and wear my wings.
I unroll my feathers  and my everything sings
as Mercury defies Mars
to marry Lilith and the stars.

This lilly is my majesty.
Petals containing the infinite.
Life blossoms and many can't see
where lies truth and beauty.
The simple things hold mysteries
consecrated before man could understand
that my lady will never be under his command.

This water is my sanctuary.
A miracle, a wonder standing
a moment in my memory.
It shall live in me,
cleasing my tomorrow and my today,
prevailing against my small private torment
when oceans and rivers lament
and nothing I can do or say.

These hills, these trees, this planet:
they all belong to me.
I inherited them when my heart yearned
for stones, winds and my soul was free.
An enchanted song fell through the air
and the whole universe was tattooed in a verse.

She was everywhere, healing the world,
breastfeeding her creatures, kissing flowers,
giving birth to paradise and peace again,
speaking of love:
this love I feel and can't explain.

Oh Mother!
Show them your beloved face,
your power and grace.
Oh Mother!
Forgive them
They don't know what they are doing.
They still don't know what they are doing.
They forgot the light and the shadow
and all that lies in between.
Help them to remember and believe in
what they have already seen.

Karla Bardanza