The World of Eshú and Pomba Gira. Maribel Pedrera Pérez – Maga Beth

colour, with a lot of moving particles, bright as torches, thus allowing him to be in all spaces of light or darkness: his colour is his life.

      According to a legend of his origin, when Eshu saw his own power, he decided to crown himself king of the dark areas and get by without Nzambi.

      Since he had the power to create, he created 7 beings of himself. These beings had his same powers and faculties but to a lesser degree. These are the 7 kingdoms:

      – Rei Das 7 Encruzilhadas

      – Rei Das 7 Cruzeiros

      – Rei Das 7 Liras

      – Rei Da Kalunga

      – Rei Das Almas

      – Rei Das Matas

      – Rei Da Praia

      Each of these kingdoms was divided into 7 territories and each of the kings into 7 parts so they could be everywhere.

      The power of Eshu to divide himself resulted in that each new part had a new personality. Each time one of them was born, it was divided into 7.

      The first 57 were the most powerful and became the leaders of the others. Everyone who had enough energy to carry the name of Eshu was given a name as well as a mission within the territory.

      Those who had no power and stayed on the lowest scale were not given any mission or power. They formed a group and went to speak with the first of all, told him their problems and the king gave them some energy. He took their spirits and moved them to material bodies: the first men.

      These men were androgynous and could not have offspring. When they died, the king had to use his energy again to put the spirits back into a body. All this took a lot of time and too much energy and weakened him. Then, the king thought how he could solve such problem: he had the key that opened and closed the limits.

      Therefore, he thought about separating them by sex, but they got angry. He answered them that, from then on, their spirits would have no body because he would only make bodies with definite sexes. However, they rebelled against him and thus they could never be neither man nor woman, and their space became the darkness.

      This group was called quiumbas, spirits without light who harmed people.

      This would be a brief history of the origin of Eshu in this religion.

      Eshu is its main god and the energy that is in nature. He is the messenger of men to the Orishas. From this force emerge the others, spirits that were once in transit in this planet and that wrapped in energy evolve to reach higher levels, trying that this stage they have to live is of great spiritual light so they can achieve the evolution they are looking for. That is why there is an organisation chart in Quimbanda, in which we can see their task and the place where they are.

      Quimbanda emerged at the beginning of the 20th Century. Ancient Macumba was transformed into sorcery and this into Quimbanda. Eshu is its basis and an element of nature that is part of a whole. It is the cult of Eshu as the owner of the Earth, the communicator with the Orishas and also the one closest to humans.

      At first, to speak of Quimbanda was to speak of the astral police that removed everything that could disturb humans.

      In order to belong to Quimbanda, a spirit had to choose you first. This spirit would manifest itself by making someone sick and there would be no medication to cure that person.

      The clairvoyant would then discover that one of the person´s ancestors was a Quimbandero and that the spirit of the dead was responsible for everything. He would leave the person alone if he served as a professional medium, healer, sorcerer or macumbero. The medium would be instructed by the interested spirit.

      Quimbandas were usually clairvoyants. They absorbed the blood of the animal sacrificed during the initiation ceremony. A divination test then followed, in which buried objects had to be found.

      Talismans and amulets with snails, wild boar teeth, deer horns and burned portions of hearts of different felines, nails and crushed snake skin had to be made.

      When imposed, the amulet had to insert the same substances of the amulet within the person’s body. Hence, a small incision was made in the left forearm and the medicinal powder was placed at the tip of the client's tongue.

      When Quimbanda arrived to Brazil it changed, evolved and mixed with black magic.

      Quimbanda also works with entities other than Eshu and Pomba Gira. I will not talk about them now but I will name them for your knowledge. These entities are:

      – Ciganos

      – Ciganas

      – Bahianos

      –Affricans

      –Quiumbas

      –Eguns

      Each entity has its own evolutionary degree of light.

      There are also 7 lines (linhas) of spirits of known Quimbanderos who worship Eshu. These groups are:

      Linha das Almas is led by Eshu Tranca Rúa das Almas and is commanded by Omulu and Eshu Caveira. The spirits are those of sorcerers.

      Linha Nagô is led by Eshu Ganga. African spirits of yerberos and religious of Eshu.

      Linha Mista is led by Eshu das Campinas. Different peoples, races and countries, especially gypsies and their spirits.

      Linha dos Cemitérios is led by Omulu. They are the prisoner spirits of the laws of karma.

      Linha Mossurubi is led by Eshu Kaminaloa and they are African sorcerers.

      Linha Malei is led by Ogun Megue and they take care of the cemetery doors.

      Linha Caboclos Quimbandeiros is led by Eshu Pantera Preta. They are chiefs and sorcerers of the Guarani Indians.

      They come from the Bantu, from the peoples of Angola-Congo. It is a combination between the Menina culture, Nganga and Tatâs 8 Spirits of the Quimbandist chiefs of the Bantu nations.

      They are spirits of the night and the cult is done at night.

      They are messengers who work with spirits during the night. In life they were important characters.

      Baptism is done with blood and ceremonies with sacrifices, dances and banquets.