Chapter 1
The Divine Feminine: Unlocking the Power of Orishas and Voodoo Queens
In a world where the divine feminine has often been suppressed, Lilith Dorsey's "Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens" arrives like a revelation. This groundbreaking work has become a cornerstone text for practitioners of African traditional religions and those seeking to connect with feminine spiritual power. Beyonce has incorporated elements of these traditions into her performances, bringing deities like Oshun into mainstream consciousness. The book's popularity has surged alongside growing interest in traditional spiritual practices, with practitioners from New Orleans to New York creating altars based on Dorsey's guidance. Drawing from thirty years of initiated practice and academic study, Dorsey unveils the mysteries of powerful feminine forces that have empowered women since ancient times, creating a work that's both scholarly and deeply practical.
Chapter 2
The Sacred Space: Altars, Cleansing, and Spiritual Foundations
Creating sacred space forms the foundation of connecting with divine feminine energies. Unlike Western religions that often separate the sacred from everyday life, African traditional religions integrate spiritual practice into daily existence through altars and shrines. An altar serves as a temporary workspace for manifesting change, while a shrine provides a permanent home for honoring a specific divinity. Both function as portals for worship, offerings, and ritual work.
Proper spiritual cleansing requires engaging all five elements. Earth energy comes through herbs burned on charcoal, crystals like black tourmaline, or protective plants such as basil. In Haitian Vodou, palm fronds placed in corners and ceilings cleanse and protect the home. Air purification happens through incense, smudge sticks, or palo santo, with special attention to corners and thresholds where energy accumulates. Water manifests in ritual floor washes and baths combining sacred waters with essential oils and herbs-always disposed of outdoors under a tree without looking back. Fire appears through dressed candles, from small tapers to seven-day devotional lights, while spirit energy comes through personal intention and focused prayer.
Prayer itself carries magical power through its spiritual frequency. While traditional prayers appear throughout the traditions, your own heartfelt words carry equal validity. Even your breath serves as a sincere offering-it comes from deep within and represents your essence. This personal blessing allows you to consecrate items even without traditional ingredients, as anything becomes sacred when offered with proper intent.
After establishing your foundational ancestor altar, you can create specific ritual spaces for orishas, goddesses, and Voodoo queens. While certain feast days provide traditional times for connection-like January 10 (Voodoo holiday in Benin) or June 23 (St. John's Eve in New Orleans)-don't wait for special occasions when spiritual work is needed.
Divination tools deepen your understanding of how these divine feminine forces operate in your life. Oracle and tarot decks like The Divine Feminine Oracle or The New Orleans Voodoo Tarot offer direct communication channels. When acquiring a new deck, consecrate it by leaving it overnight on your altar or sharing a meal with it. Cards can function as meditation tools, altar focal points, or dream inspirers when placed under your pillow. Similarly, pendulums and dowsing rods charged with goddess energy help establish direct communication with these powerful feminine forces.
Chapter 3
Oshun: The River of Sweet Power and Sensual Strength
Oshun's sacred stories reveal her unique power. In one famous pataki (sacred tale), she defeated powerful witches when other orishas failed-using sensual dances and sweet energy to mesmerize them and become their queen. Another story tells how countless suitors disrupted her mother Yemaya's household, leading to a contest: whoever learned Oshun's secret name could marry her. After many failed attempts, the orisha Eleggua overheard her name during an argument and shared it with his friend Orunmila, who then married Oshun.
Oshun's sacred energy resides in rivers-liminal spaces where earth meets water, creating divine crossroads of spiritual power. Her sweet waters represent healing vehicles that make life possible. As a vital force of creation across traditions from Ifa to Lucumi to Candomble, Oshun's rivers symbolize the amniotic fluid of the entire world. Some traditions say Yemaya (sometimes seen as her mother or sister) gave Oshun this water power.
Within Santeria, Oshun manifests through numerous paths or incarnations. These include manifestations as an old woman knitting at the river bottom, a constantly crying woman, and one who laughs while seeing life's truths. Some paths align her with Chango (lord of fire), Ogun (orisha of smiths and war), or Ochosi (who wears his ceremonial arrow on her crown). Through proper initiation and divination, practitioners discover which particular path guides them.
Traditionally, Oshun is represented by the Catholic image of Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre (Virgin Mary), which allowed practitioners to worship secretly during times of persecution. This association may stem from the image showing her surrounded by water and a boat, or from Oshun's great charity and compassion. The boat contains three men named Juan who reportedly found the statue during a storm in the 1600s. In Cuba, where 13% of the population practices La Regla Lucumi, Oshun helps devotees navigate stormy times in both visible and invisible worlds.
Beyond governing love, beauty, fertility, and sensuality, Oshun is the orisha of dance. Her ritual dances are coquettish and seductive, performed in special costumes made in her ritual colors of yellow and gold. Various sacred animals connect to her-in Nigeria, she's seen as the crocodile, hippo, and vulture, while in La Regla Lucumi tradition, she's represented by the peacock whose plumes adorn her ritual fans.
One sacred story tells how Oshun transformed into a vulture to help humanity during a famine. When Olofi (the creator) stopped providing for ungrateful humans, Oshun flew to him as a vulture, bringing him food. Moved by her compassion, Olofi directed her to the farmer orisha Oko, who gave her food to feed the starving people. For this act, they crowned her queen.
Oshun's herbs and offerings serve as vessels for her Ashe (spiritual power). These include allspice, anise, basil, cinnamon, cloves, elderflower, ginger, honeysuckle, jasmine, lavender, lotus, marigolds, orange blossoms, orchids, roses, sunflowers, and vanilla. In Nigeria, her sacred shrines exist directly in nature, with the most famous being the UNESCO-protected Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove.
To connect with Oshun's energy, create a ritual table incorporating the four elements: water (river water enhanced with rose water), fire (yellow candles, preferably five to honor her sacred number), air (incense made from her ritual herbs), and earth (amber or riverside sand). Include her favorite foods (pumpkins, squash, mangoes, oranges), yellow flowers (sunflowers, yellow roses, marigolds), and personal items like mirrors, jewelry, fishhooks, fans, and honey. This space becomes a place for meditation and tribute to the orisha who represents love in all its forms.
Chapter 4
Yemaya: The Ocean Mother's Embrace
Yemaya embodies the ocean's power-both nurturing and potentially destructive. Her name means "mother whose children are the fish of the sea," reflecting her role as divine mother of all living things. While newcomers to African traditional religions often see similarities between Yemaya and the Mother Goddess or Virgin Mary, she encompasses these elements and much more.
In artistic expressions, Yemaya has inspired countless creations. In Cuba, she was honored with a commemorative stamp for the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba. The legendary Cuban singer Celia Cruz, winner of multiple Grammy Awards, famously performed "Canto a Yemaya." In visual arts, she appears prominently in the five-story MaestraPeace Mural in San Francisco's Mission District, where artist Juana Alicia depicts her powerful female majesty. Contemporary artist Yasmin Hernandez's 2003 "Yemaya y Ochun" shows the divine sisters holding hands across waters and worlds, celebrating their eternal connection.
Yemaya's botanical offerings include allspice, amaranth, aniseed, avocados, bananas, camphor, white carnations, cilantro, coconuts, corn, eucalyptus, gardenia, purple grapes, guinea pepper, hyacinths, indigo, jasmine, lemon, lemon balm, lettuce, lotus, magnolias, mugwort, myrrh, passion flower, peonies, poppy seed, purple basil, sandalwood, seaweed, spearmint, vetiver, violet, watercress, and watermelons.
When preparing offerings for Yemaya, both the space and the individual must be physically and ritually clean. This purification can be achieved using salt, Florida Water, or other cleansing methods. Florida Water itself has become a staple in spiritual practices across traditions, combining citrus oils with lavender and spices to create a purifying cologne that cleanses spaces and refreshes the spirit.
To create a ritual space for Yemaya, use her sacred number (7) and colors (blue and white). Begin with a clean, separate space covered in natural blue fabric. Arrange a blue candle, white flowers, food offerings, ocean water, an image or statue of Yemaya, seashells, and a silver mirror or fish. When working with her energy, remember that Yemaya brings both the ocean's bounty and its powerful waves-approach her with respect and sincere devotion to receive her motherly blessings.
Chapter 5
Oya: The Whirlwind of Change and Transformation
Oya embodies the wind itself-a classic warrior goddess with electric sparks shooting from her spiky hair and a scream in her heart. She fights alongside her husband Chango against all challengers, representing the very air of life and serving as queen of the ancestors. Her ritual place is found in the cemetery, where she governs transitions between worlds.
Oya's shape-shifting abilities are legendary. In sacred stories, she transforms into animals like buffalo or gazelle and masters disguise. One pataki tells how she would become a deer in the forest but remove her deerskin to appear as a striking woman at the marketplace. Chango, the fire king, became enamored with her, eventually stealing her deerskin and forcing her to marry him. Though their relationship was tumultuous-once she surrounded their home with skeletons to keep him from straying-they remained powerful allies in battle.
In one famous tale, they exchanged clothes and even hair to deceive enemies, with Oya wearing Chango's beard, earning her the praise name "she who grows a beard on account of war." In Nigeria, she's uniquely connected to Egungun masquerades as the only woman permitted in these ancestor societies. Another pataki shows her devastating power when she helped Orunmila eliminate his enemies with a precise tornado, demonstrating her uncompromising nature.
Oya manifests in many artistic forms. Musical duo Ibeyi's song "Take Me Oya" captures her elusive, formidable nature. DJ Sabine Blaizin's OyaSound Productions blends traditional African diaspora rhythms with electronic music. Visual depictions often show Oya twirling her nine-colored rainbow skirts and wielding her horsetail whip, sometimes with a beaded veil covering her face. Sacred Cuban dances honor Oya through graceful movements with her horsetail whip, featuring dancers who spin and contort at high speeds like the whirlwind itself.
As ruler of both cemeteries and gardens, Oya enjoys many plants and botanicals, particularly dark-colored fruits and vegetables. Her sacred plants include aniseed, camphor, purple or red carnations, cinnamon, dill, dragon's blood, eggplants, geraniums, red or purple grapes, hibiscus, limes, marigolds, myrrh, oakmoss, papayas, plantains, black plums, pomegranates, raspberries, sandalwood, star apple, strawberries, and yams.
To work with Oya's transformative energy, create a cleansing floor wash combining rainwater, spring water, cypress oil, sandalwood oil, and marigolds. Windows must remain open during use to allow energy to flow freely. After combining ingredients and stirring counterclockwise nine times, the strained mixture is added to regular wash water and used on floors, windowsills, and thresholds. This ritual removes negativity and invites beneficial change, harnessing Oya's power to transform situations through her wind energy.
Chapter 6
Nana Buruku: Ancient Wisdom Beyond Time
Nana Buruku exists almost beyond time itself as one of the oldest energies in the orisha pantheon. According to an Ifa priest, she exists beyond time's constraints, full of sacred inspiration spanning ages, cloaked in mystery and silence. Even her weapons are entirely wooden, predating Bronze Age technology. Nana Buruku teaches survival through deep wisdom-the knowledge of our great-grandmothers and all ancestral women.
While all herbs and plants technically belong to Nana Buruku, certain botanicals are specifically used in formulas and offerings to her: cypress, garlic, juniper, marshmallow, mint, mullein, popcorn, sage, Spanish moss, and tobacco. Workings involving Nana Buruku are serious undertakings. In her immense wisdom, she rarely concerns herself with mortal matters, though a few rituals can be performed when truly needed.
One unusual ritual bath uses dried black-eyed peas, a Nana Buruku candle, spring water, and 17 cups of popcorn. After setting up the candle on black-eyed peas moistened with spring water, you immerse yourself in a bathtub filled with popcorn, focusing on releasing negativity and illness. Afterward, the popcorn must be collected and disposed of in nature, walking away without looking back. The candle burns completely to seal the working.
To create an altar for Nana Buruku, you must work without using any metal objects. On a purple or white cloth, place an image or statue representing her, a dedicated candle, a naturally molted raven or crow feather, living bamboo in water, and food and drink offerings. After lighting the candle, play or sing Nana Buruku's chant. The feather and bamboo are presented in a straw basket alongside the offerings to activate the table.
Working with Nana Buruku requires patience and deep respect. She represents the oldest feminine wisdom-knowledge that has sustained communities through countless generations. Her energy helps us connect with ancestral knowledge that might otherwise be lost to time, offering guidance that transcends modern limitations.
Chapter 7
Mami Wata: The Seductive Power of Water's Depths
Mami Wata embodies deep watery knowledge and bounty as an ancient creator deity found throughout central and coastal Africa since at least the fifteenth century. Typically depicted as a beautiful woman with a fish's tail, she offers primal wisdom and gifts while remaining seductive and sometimes dangerous.
Mami Wata encompasses many energies referred to as Mami Watas or Papi Watas with multiple manifestations. Her fluidity allows her to exist with varying elements, sometimes even incorporating Hindu practices and offerings. Her serpent association has led to representation by the Catholic image of Santa Marta in certain cultures, sometimes equating her energy with negativity and sin. In Nigeria, Mami Wata shrines often include multiple images, including the crucified Christ and Madonna and child.
The double-tailed mermaid image has become strongly associated with Mami Wata, though its origins are debated among historians. These images frequently feature long, flowing hair representing great wealth and power. Mami Wata has appeared in commercial contexts, from early 1900s German perfume labels to modern water bottle companies. Recently, she has surfaced in international pop music, with artists like N'Deye, Skip & Die, and Sa-Roc creating songs dedicated to her.
Mami Wata accepts offerings of coffee, kola nut, milk, palms, rice, and yams, as well as small boats, mirrors, and alcohol. Many offerings are specific to the regions where she is honored, including local fruits and vegetables. Her manifestations are deep and powerful like the waters she resides in.
To connect with Mami Wata's power, create a ritual bath on the eve of the new moon. Combine one cup each of sea water and river water, three cowrie shells, a teaspoon each of seaweed and sea salt, and three drops each of lemon and gardenia oils. Place all items in a glass jar on your altar, shake well, toss and catch the jar to charge it with spirit energy, then leave it overnight in moonlight. Add a small amount to your bath as needed to still the mind and receive guidance.
For a shrine to Mami Wata, use a blue cloth sprinkled with Florida Water. Place a statue or image of her in the center with a blue candle holder containing a small amount of water and a blue votive candle. Arrange bottles of ocean, river, spring, and lake water around the shrine along with seashells, starfish, and other water offerings. Light the candle to activate the space, creating a portal to her watery realm of abundance and mystery.
Chapter 8
Erzulie: The Many Faces of Divine Love
The myriad loas called Erzulie in Haitian Vodou evolved as deities traveled on enslaved people's backs from Africa, particularly Dahomey. Erzulie manifests in infinite forms representing every aspect of love and feminine power. Erzulie Freda Dahomey cries for humanity's sadness, perfumed and compassionate. Erzulie Danto protects children and abused women as a commanding warrior. Erzulie Taureau, associated with bulls, mounts her followers, while Erzulie Mapyang appears as a fierce ancient grandmother. In all forms, Erzulie embodies the waterfall's spirit.
Haitian Vodou art is deeply connected to spiritual practice, beginning with veves-ritual ground drawings typically made with cornmeal, flour or coffee. These sacred designs are drawn around the poteau mitan (center pole), blessed with rum and Florida Water, then danced upon during ceremonies. The veves for Erzulie often contain hearts, with Erzulie Freda's featuring latticework symbolizing boundless love, while Erzulie Danto's incorporate daggers. These designs have evolved into permanent metal artwork created from recycled materials, and into drapo Vodou (Haitian Vodou flags) and boutey (decorated spirit bottles).
Offerings for Erzulie Freda Dahomey include baby's breath, bananas, basil, cardamom, cinnamon, gold jewelry, lace, makeup, perfume, pineapple, pink roses, sweet plantains, and white grapes. When working with her, cleanliness is paramount-your space, tools, and body must be immaculate and preferably perfumed. Begin by cleansing your space with Florida Water while playing music or chanting for her. Cover your altar area with pink lace cloth, possibly creating her veve in flour or cornmeal beneath. Dance on the veve to activate it, then place her statue or image at the center surrounded by pink roses and baby's breath.
Offerings for Erzulie Danto include clairin (Haitian rum), creme de cacao, daggers, dolls, Florida Water, griot (fried pork), perfume, red grapes, red wine, rice and peas, silver chains and necklaces, sweet potatoes, tangerines, unfiltered cigarettes, and yams. Create her altar by cleaning your space with Florida Water while playing music for her. Cover the area with red and/or blue cloth, placing her veve, image or statue at center. Add a red or blue candle, unfiltered cigarettes, a small dagger, food offerings, and clairin or Haitian rum. Traditionally, spray the rum from your mouth over the entire area, or simply pour some into a glass as an offering before lighting the candle.
Working with the Erzulie loas teaches us about the complex nature of love-from the sweet, perfumed devotion of Freda to the fierce, protective nature of Danto. These manifestations remind us that feminine power encompasses the full spectrum of emotions and responses, offering different aspects of divine love depending on what situations require.
Chapter 9
Aida Wedo: The Rainbow Bridge of Hope
Aida Wedo, Haiti's sacred rainbow serpent, represents divine creation as wife, bride, mother, and progenitor. Her warrior strength springs from hope-believing things can improve like a rainbow after a storm. She embodies the ancestral dance of those who persevered against all odds, urging us toward a better tomorrow.
As a divine creatrix responsible for birthing humanity, Aida Wedo is frequently honored in Haitian art, music, and sacred flags (drapo Vodou). Her veves often feature two serpents rising up the poteau mitan (center pole) or a cross. The Yanvalou, a popular traditional dance performed for her, mimics snake movements through full-body undulations. This dance of resistance and reclaiming transcends time and place, honoring the loa with every muscle of the body.
Aida Wedo is honored with white items representing peace, purity, and clarity, often decorated with rainbow colors. Her offerings include cotton, cream, flour, milk, rice, snake vertebrae, tamarind, rainbow-painted white eggs, white flowers, white snake sheds, and wormwood.
To create a sacred space for Aida Wedo, clean your space with spring water and Florida Water while singing for her or playing Yanvalou rhythms. Layer a rainbow cloth over a white one, place a white bowl with flour at center containing a rainbow-painted egg, and position white and rainbow candles on either side. Decorate with white flower petals, then light the candles and meditate on your dreams becoming reality.
For a portable charm honoring Aida Wedo, create a gris-gris bag combining cotton balls, baby's breath, white rose petals, flour, and tamarind powder in a white cloth bag. This charm is charged by placing it before a white candle until it burns out. Women often carry it near their heart chakra, in a left pocket, or around their neck to invoke Aida Wedo's slow, precise, and powerful assistance during difficult times.
Connecting with Aida Wedo teaches us that hope itself is a form of spiritual resistance-the ability to envision better possibilities even in the darkest times. Like the rainbow that appears after storms, she reminds us that beauty can emerge from chaos, offering a bridge between our current reality and our highest aspirations.
Chapter 10
Voodoo Queens and Powerful Women: Marie Laveau's Legacy
Marie Laveau, born around 1794-1801, remains America's most famous Voodoo queen, with her grave being the second most visited in the country. A woman of beauty, entrepreneurship and spiritual power, she was born to a biracial mother and married Jacques Paris, though later partnered with Christophe Glapion, bearing several children including another Marie who continued her spiritual work. Laveau performed public ceremonies at Congo Square and other locations, drawing people from all social classes. As a hairdresser, she gained access to influential people, using these connections strategically.
Though Marie's daughter claimed she never sat for portraits, several famous images exist, including paintings at the Cabildo museum and New Orleans Voodoo Museum. Her spiritual essence persists in New Orleans like the scent of jasmine. Ritual veves depicting her often incorporate hearts, her initials, or snakes-representing her connection to Erzulie and her own snake Simbi. Beyond visual art, Marie features prominently in songs by Shel Silverstein and Dr. John, books, and television, including Angela Bassett's portrayal in American Horror Story.
Offerings for Marie Laveau can be left at her tomb or at crossroads to connect with her energy. These include apples, blue candles, combs, holy water, jambalaya, jasmine, mirrors, oranges, red peppers, rice and beans, saltwater, white candles, and white carnations.
To create a personal shrine to Marie Laveau, inspired by the International Shrine at the New Orleans Healing Center, place her image centered with a comb to the right and mirror to the left on a blue or purple cloth sprinkled with holy water. Position candles before each item, anointed with jasmine, lavender, and magnolia oils. Once lit, the shrine becomes energized and can remain permanently established, covered with white cloth when not in use. It serves as a place to charge divination tools and magical jewelry.
Another powerful figure was Queen Nanny of Jamaica, a Maroon leader who practiced Obeah (African magic). Born in Ghana around 1865, she led the Windward Maroons from 1728-1740, freeing nearly a thousand slaves. Legendary for her military prowess and spiritual powers, she reportedly could catch bullets fired at her and owned a mysterious "boiling" cauldron that lured enemy soldiers to their deaths. Despite attempts to discredit her, Queen Nanny remains a Jamaican national hero, symbolizing ancestral strength and resistance against oppression.
These powerful women represent the practical application of spiritual knowledge in service of justice and community protection. Their legacies remind us that divine feminine power isn't abstract-it manifests through courageous individuals who channel spiritual forces to create tangible change in the world.
Chapter 11
Crossroads Queens: Pomba Gira and Santa Muerte
African traditional religions place great importance on the sacred energy of time and space, with devotees seeking their "proper path." This explains why crossroads deities like Pomba Gira and Exu hold such significance. These powerful feminine spiritual forces have demonstrated their power throughout history and continue to grow in popularity.
Pomba Gira, honored in Umbanda and Candomble, embodies unabashed sexuality, power, and control. Known as the wife of Exu, she is the wild woman who spins the world, often depicted with bare breasts and a necklace of skulls. She represents sexual freedom without shame, revealing secrets in ritual and sheltering those with broken hearts. She doesn't judge but understands deeply, having "been there, seen all, and done everything."
Many manifestations of Pomba Gira exist, including Pomba Gira Mundo (world spinner), Sete Encruzadas (seven crossroads), das Almas (souls), das Cobras (serpents), and Maria da Praia (seashore). Some, like Pomba Gira Maria Padilha, are based on actual people and are particularly honored by sex workers for bringing wealth and success.
Offerings for Pomba Gira are typically left at crossroads or outside busy bars and nightclubs. Common offerings include abre camino, aniseed, basil, carnations, cigarillos, dark rum, gin, honey, manioc flour, peony, red roses, red wine, sage, and tobacco. Unlike other altars, Pomba Gira's ritual items are traditionally set on the floor or directly on pavement.
Santa Muerte, the "lovely face of death worship," has grown exponentially popular with an estimated twelve million devotees worldwide. Known as Mother of Impossibility, the Bony Lady, or Santisima Muerte, she's fundamentally Mexican but has connections to African-derived practices, appearing in many La Regla Lucumi botanicas.
As a folk saint outside Catholic Church boundaries (which denounces her as evil), she's embraced by marginalized communities including the LGBTQ community and the incarcerated. Despite the FBI labeling her an icon for criminals in the narcotics trade, her appeal transcends these associations. Santa Muerte has become a marketing and media phenomenon, appearing in shows like Breaking Bad and American Horror Story. Her statues come in various colors (white, black, red, gold, blue, green, purple) representing different aspects of her power.
Traditional shrines for Santa Muerte should face west. The shrine requires an altar cloth, a candle, and an image of Santa Muerte placed at the center. A glass of water should be positioned to the right of the candle, and a glass of liquor to the left. When working with her, light the candle and explain your situation to Santa Muerte. Then light a cigarette and place it in an ashtray before her image. Additional offerings are then arranged on the cloth to complete the shrine.
These crossroads queens represent liminal spaces where transformation becomes possible. They remind us that boundaries between worlds are not fixed but permeable, offering opportunities to remake ourselves and our circumstances through spiritual connection and ritual practice.
