The Great Mother

“I don’t believe in the religion. I believe in the Orixas.”

-Rosangela Silvestre

Serra Grande, Bahia, Brazil

There are spirits everywhere, in the land, in the water, in the forest, in the wind. In the darkness of the sky, The light of the moon. In the rumble of thunder, the power of lightening, the soil, the sand, the clay. In the sweet nectar of a flower, in the wings of a hummingbird. In every sunrise and every sunset. The Spirit, the Source energy, the Gods, Goddesses. The force of nature is here, present. In you, in me.

Many different spiritual paths call this force by different names.

In Brazil, they name this source energy, the Spirit of the Orixas, manifested in nature, represented by deities.

There are numerous books, articles, research papers published in peer-reviewed journals. There are classes, workshops, retreats. There is embodiment, somatics, transmission, new words for ancient experience. I have respect for them all. There is a place for academia.

And then there is the felt sense. The experience. The vibration in the body. The stories, the songs, the dance. The ancestors awakened. There have been many moments in my life I’ve felt it, only recently could I name it.

And now, here I am….attempting to write about it.

I have great respect, great reverence, great caution, and great trust all at once for the ocean. Some call her Iemanja. Yemoja. Yemanja. She is an Afro-Brazilian, Afro Indigenous Orixa, or Goddess. She is the mother Goddess of all other Orixas. She is everywhere. She is every ocean, that holds every land, of every continent. She is the Great Mother.

She gives life. She can easily take it away.

I always ask for permission. Before I enter the waves, I ask for permission.

I have always said that when I’m in the ocean waves, I feel like I’m being cradled in my mother’s arms. Held. Rocked. Safe. Nurtured.

We all come from water. From the womb. The umbilical cord connects us, sustains us, gives us life. Roughly 71% of earth is covered in water, a reflection of the composition of the human body. At birth, our body composition is approximately 74% water.

This is not a coincidence. We are the children of the earth, a reflection of her.

The umbilical cord of the earth Mother, connected to the ocean, connected to all of us.

Most recently, in March, I danced in her waves and she spoke to me. It was a mantra, a song, an ancient whisper.

“The Root Mother connects me to every being”

And there I was dancing with my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother.

The great mother of everything that has come before, and everything that will follow.

Held, Rocked, Safe, Nurtured.

When everything falls away. This is what is left. This is real. The spirit of the ocean, land, forest, wind. Divinity is all around us.

In you.

In me.

In Us.