Monday, September 16, 2013

ESU - KEEPER OF THE CROSSROADS

This is the most extensive book on Esu, also known in different locations as Eleda, Exu, Cxu Eleggua, Cxu Elegbara, Legba, Elegba, Elegbera, or Odara. He is the ''divine messenger,'' central to the understanding of Yoruba religion and worldview, as well as their various manifestations and related orisa traditions in the African diaspora — such as Candomble, Vodou, and Santeria/Lukumi.



Esu and Ifa (divination with all its sacred texts) or Orunmila (the god of divination) rank as the most widespread and the most worshipped of all the deities. Both Esu and Ifa/Orunmila hold the Yoruba cosmic system together. Esu is now part of what some may label as the Black Atlantic religion; part of the attempt to recover African religions in other lands; as well as part of the use of religion for survival. As the book points out, in Esu's ability to migrate to other lands, he becomes part of transatlantic history, but more so of the tension between relocation and history, between the violence that led to the forced migrations of people and the long healing process of reconciliation with living in strange lands that later became new homelands.
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Elegba at the Crossroads
Elegba (Eleggua, Eleggua) controls the roads and doors of this world. He is the depositary of Ashe. The colors schemes of red and black, as well as black and white, are his. They reflect his contradictory natures. Elegba stands at the crossroads of the human and divine. He brings good fortune to children because children are messengers between the two worlds. Not surprisingly, Elegba has a close relationship with the Orisha of divination, Orunmila. No spell or ritual can be done in either world without the permission of Elegba. It is to Elegba whom you make atoning sacrifices and it is Elegba who is called before any other Orisha to “open the doors” and begin the magical rituals. His numbers are 3 and 21.

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