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Yemaya is the orisha of the surface of the ocean. She is the other half of Olokun, sometimes a sister and sometimes a wife (sometimes, both deities are androgynous). While Olokun is the Keeper of Secrets and rules over the depths of the ocean, Yemaya presides over the surface waters.

The History of Yemaya, Santeria’s Queenly Ocean Goddess Mermaid. From the Yoruba religion, Yemaya was brought over to the New World by enslaved Africans as early as the 16th century.

Santeria combines elements of Catholicism with the Yoruba religion and many Cubans identify with both traditions and their ceremonies. “Although the Santeria religion uses Christian symbols, they’re empty of Christian content.”

Mami Wata (Mammy Water) is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa, and in the African diaspora in the Americas. Mami Wata spirits are usually female, but are sometimes male….Names.

He has three wives, Oya, Oshun, and Oba. He is said to be able to transform ordinary items into something pure and coveted.

He is syncretized with Saint Michael, Saint Anthony of Padua, or the Holy Child of Atocha….Elegua.

Ooni Osangangan Obamakin

Ọba (orisha)

The position of Iyalawo is found in both West Africa and in the Americas. Every town, country and lineage has different customs, although most towns in Yorubaland initiate women at present. The priesthood of women is denied by many in the Lucumí tradition in Cuba.

Babaaláwo or Babalawo (Babalao or Babalaô in West Africa; literally meaning ‘father of the mysteries’ in the Yoruba language) is a spiritual title that denotes a priest of the Ifá oracle.

Ifa is one of an interrelated network of religions with African roots, including Vodou, Santeria and Sango Baptism, that appear to be gaining popularity in the United States, including in Maryland, as some African-Americans seek a spiritual experience firmly grounded in their own cultural heritage.

The word Ifa refers to the mystical figure Ifa or Orunmila, regarded by the Yoruba as the deity of wisdom and intellectual development.

Ifá is a Yoruba religion and system of divination. Its literary corpus is the Odu Ifá. Babalawos or Iyanifas use either the divining chain known as Opele, or the sacred palm or kola nuts called Ikin, on the wooden divination tray called Opon Ifá.