On My Etsy Shop: Yemaya

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Yemaya Art Prints $20. Yemaya is an Orisha, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American and Latin religions. Africans brought Yemaya and a host of other deities, and energy forces in nature with them when they were brought to the shores of the Americas as captives. Yemaya is the mother of all living things, as well as the owner of all waters. She is the vast ocean, the essence of motherhood, a protector of children, and a goddess of magic and witches. In Cuban Santeria, she has been syncretized with Our Lady of Regla.

On My Etsy Shop: Oya

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Oya Art Prints $20. In Yoruba Mythology, Oya is the Undergoddess of the Niger River. She is a female warrior and the Orisha of fire, fertility, lightning, wind and magic. She creates hurricanes and tornadoes, and guards the passage to the Underworld. She is the spirit of tornadoes (which are said to be her whirling skirts as she dances), of lightning (the power of which she acquired from her husband, Chango), of earthquakes, and of any form of natural destruction. In essence, Oya is the spirit of change, of transition, and of the chaos that often brings it about. Her association with the marketplace, and more specifically with the gates of cemeteries (as opposed to the entire Underworld), emphasizes her aspect as a facilitator of transition.

Oya has been syncretized in Santeria with the Virgin of Candelaria.

YouTube Treasures: Orisha Oshun Dance from Cuba

On My Etsy Shop: Oshun

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Oshun Art Prints $20. Obatala is an Orisha. Oshun is an Orisha, originally of the Yoruba religion, who has become prominent in many Afro-American and Latin religions. Africans brought Oshun and a host of other deities, and energy forces in nature with them when they were brought to the shores of the Americas as captives. Oshun is the force of harmony. Harmony we see as beauty, feel as love, and experience as ecstasy. She reigns over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy. In Cuban Santeria, Oshun is an Orisha of love, maternity and marriage. She has been syncretized with La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, (Our Lady of Charity), Cuba's patron saint. She is associated with the color yellow, metals gold and copper, peacock feathers, mirrors, and anything of beauty.

YouTube Treasures: Obatalá Dance - Marta Ruiz

On My Etsy Shop: Obatala

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Obatala Art Prints $20. Obatala is an Orisha. He is the Sky Father and the creator of human bodies, which were brought to life by the smooth breath of Olodumare. Obatala is the father of all Orishas and the owner of all ori.

On My Etsy Shop: Lilith

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Lilith Art Prints $20. Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, and is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons. In Jewish folklore, Lilith was Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as he was. Lilith abandoned both her husband and marriage after refusing to become subservient to Adam. She was subsequently cursed by God for her disobedience when she would not return to the Garden of Eden after an affair with the archangel, Samael.

The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and horror. It is also often cited as evidence that she might have originally been a goddess, or at the very least an aspect of the great goddess and was demonized for being an independent female.

On My Etsy Shop: Kali

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Kali Art Prints $20. Kali is the Hindu goddess of time, creation, destruction and power. She is also seen as the divine mother and a fierce protector who can liberate the oppressed.

On My Etsy Shop: Nut

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Nut Art Prints $15. Nut was the Egyptian goddess of the nighttime sky and all heavenly bodies, and a symbol of protection for the dead when they enter the afterlife. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies, such as the sun and moon, would make their way across her body. They would be swallowed at dusk, pass through her digestive system during the night, and be reborn at dawn. She was usually pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky.

On My Etsy Shop: La Santa Muerte

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 La Santa Muerte Art Prints $20. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death) or, colloquially, Santa Muerte (Holy Death), is a female deity (or folk saint depending on school of thought) in Mexican folk religion, particularly Folk Catholicism, venerated primarily in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees.

On My Etsy Shop: The Morrigan

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 The Morrigan $20. The Morrigan (also known as the Morrigu) was the shape-shifting Celtic Goddess of War, Fate and Death. She presided over rivers, lakes and fresh water, in addition to being the patroness of revenge, night, magic, prophecy, priestesses and witches. Her name is interpreted in various forms..."Great Queen," "Phantom Queen" or "Queen of Demons." She was said to hover over battlefields in the form of a raven or hooded crow and frequently foretold or influenced the outcome of the fray.

On My Etsy Shop: Isis

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Isis Art Prints $20. Isis was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship would later be adopted by many other ancient cultures. She was worshiped as the ideal mother and wife, as a patron of nature and magic, as well as a compassionate friend to all who call upon her, be they slaves, sinners, artisans or wealthy aristocrats. Isis is also known as the goddess of simplicity, from whom all beginnings arose, and was the Lady of bread, of beer, and of green fields. In later myths, Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. This occurrence of his death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals.

On My Etsy Shop: Hera

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Hera Art Prints $20. Hera is the goddess of women and marriage in Greek mythology and religion. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. One of her characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's other lovers and offspring, as well as against the mortals who cross her.

On My Etsy Shop: Hecate

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Hecate Art Prints $15. Queen of Witches... Queen of Ghosts... Mother of the Dark Moon... Goddess of Magick, the Underworld, and Guardian of the Triple Crossroads—the pre-Olympian moon goddess, Hecate, has carried many titles and worn many masks through the ages, but her power and influence still remain unbowed.

On My Etsy Shop: Gaea

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Chango Art Prints $20. Gaea (Gaia) or Mother Earth, was the great goddess of the early Greeks. She represented the fertile Earth and was worshiped as the omnipotent Universal Mother. In Greek mythology, she created the universe and gave birth to both the first race of gods, known as the Titans, and the first humans.

On My Etsy Shop: Eve

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Eve Art Prints $15. Eve is an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as she was the first woman created by God. She was created from Adam's rib to be both his wife and companion. Unfortunately, however, she would eventually unwittingly succumb to the Serpent's temptation and eat the forbidden fruit from off the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve shares the fruit with her husband, and as a result, the first humans are cursed and expelled from the Garden of Eden by God forever for their disobedience.

YouTube Treasures: Eleggua - Daymé Arocena - Cubafonía

On My Etsy Shop: Eleggua

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Eleggua Art Prints $20. In Yoruba mythology, Eleggua is the Orisha associated with the crossroads or "opening the ways". Often depicted as a child or a small man, he is a playful trickster and a brilliant strategist amongst the divinities. Worshipers often have a cement head with a metal spike in its top, and cowrie shells for eyes and a mouth, as a representation of Eleggua which receives offerings and bestows protection in return. He is the appropriator of ceremonies. No ceremony should be started without paying tribute to him first. Without Eleggua being acknowledged first, chances are the outcome desired in a ceremony will not come to full fruition.

On My Etsy Shop: The Divas of Egypt

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 The Divas of Egypt Art Prints $20. Bast, Isis, and Sekhmet stand united as they watch over and nourish their beloved Egypt.

On My Etsy Shop: Dionysus

On My Etsy Shop: Signed & Matted 5x7 Dionysus Art Prints $20. Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth.