VOODOO GODS AND GODDESSES

Adjassou-Linguetor

An ill-humored loa with protruberant eyes, controls spring water.

Agwe

Goddess of the sea.

Aida-Wedo

Rainbow snake loa.

Clermeil

A loa who takes the form of a white-man. When he's angry, he makes rivers overflow.

CONGO

A handsome but lazy and stupid loa.

Damballa

Loa who governs snakes and floods and can cure all illness. The arch of the sky and symbolized as a gigantic snake.

Diable Tonnere

A powerful loa.

Diablesse

The spiritss of women who died as virgins. This is considered a sin, so they are condemned to live in the woods for many years before going to heaven.

Diejuste

A benevolant loa.

Erzilie

Goddess of sexual love.

Gangan

An inferior shaman unable to reach hougan.

Ghede

God of love, sex incarnate in early Hatian mythology. In Voodoo he is incorporated with Baron Samedi, God of death. He retains his lust, along with a love of food and drink. He wears a black tail-coat, a top hat and sunglasses, twirls a cane and smokes a cigar or a cigarette in a long holder. He loves dance, and pulls his follwers into an ecstatic dance trance .The dance, originally a phallic ritual of birth, has become a dance of death. Baron Samedi's orgies always end at the crossroads between this world and the Underworld. Guardian of the Crossroads, he knows all the secrets of magic, and had second hearing and second sight. He is also an advisor, particularly about fertility, either of humans, crops or animals. The questioner makes blood-sacrifice and asks the priest questions for Ghede. He responds in patterns of
rum-drops spilled in the dust, dice or Tarot cards. Often frightening and seemingly ridiculous, his advice is nonetheless always true and ignored at the inquirers' risk.

Grand Bois

Loa of the forces of nature.

Guedes

Spirits of the dead.

Ibo

A handsome, friendly loa.

Jean

A stern, nervous loa, ruler of thunder and earthquakes.

L'Inglesou

This ferocious looking loa lives in rocks and ravines and kills those who offend him.

Legba

In Fon mythology, the God of fate. In Voodoo, one of the two gods who open the road to the spirit world. An old man carrying a stick, which he uses to prop up the universe. He wanders the world smoking his pipe and carrying a sun shade and is found wherever the road of life forks.

Limba

A rough loa who lives in the rocks and persecutes people. He has an insatiable appetite and kills and eats his devotees.

Loa

Spirits.

Lutin

The ghost of an unbaptised child.

Maman Brigitte

The loa of death and cemeteries.

Marassa Jumeaux

The ghosts of dead twins.

Mombu

A stammering loa who creates torrential rain storms.

Nago Shango

A powerful, lively loa.

Ogoun

A warrior and blacksmith loa. Fond of rum and tobacco.

Petro Loa

A group of easily annoyed spirits, their symbol is a whip.

Pie

A soldier loa who is found at the bottom of ponds and rivers. He makes floods.

Revenant

A spirit of the dead who plagues living relatives because they feel neglected.

Samedi

God of the cemetery.

Sobo

A loa who looks like a handsome soldier.

Sousson-Pannan

A hideous, sore covered loa who is evil and lives on spirits and blood.

Ti Jean Quinto

An insolent loa who takes policeman form and lives under bridges.

Ville Au Camp

Underwater capital of the loas.

SANTARIAN GODS AND GODDESSES

Agayu

The volcano; protection from violence and chaos. His colors are brown, red and green. Identified with St. Christopher.

Babalu Aye

God of health and healing, the poor. His colors are black, purple, and brown. Identified with St. Lazarus.

Chango, Shango, Xango

God of thunder and fire, passion, power and music. He uses lightening to increase the fertility of the earth and his worshippers. His colors are red and white. Identified with St. Barbara.

Eleggua, Papa, Legba, Exu, Elegba

A trickster, God of travelers and small children. The one who opens the way for seekers, keeper of the crossroads between the natural and supernatural worlds. Pushes or tricks us beyond the limits of mundane existence, teasing and daring us to transcend. His colors are black and red. Identified with St. Anthony.

Obatala, Oxala, Batala

"The Old Man of the Mountains, "Chief of the White Cloth." God of mercy, purity and spirituality, peace, ethical guidance. His color is white. Identified with the crucified Christ.

Ochun, Oshun, Erzulie, Oxum

The River. Goddess of love, marriage, art, joy, beauty, laughter, generosity, abundance, the erotic. Her colors are yellow, amber and coral. Identified with Our Lady of Caridad.

Ogun, Ogou-Feraille, Ogum

God of iron and machines, work, war and death. A blacksmith, soldier, politician, patron of truck drivers, civilizer, he clears the way through the wilderness with his machete. His colors are green, red and black. Identified with St. Anthony and St. Peter.

Olokun

God of the ocean depths, the unconscious. His colors are aqua, coral and crystal. Identified with La Diosa del Mar.

ORULA

Oracle of the Ifa, concerned with human destiny. His colors are green and yellow. Identified with St. Francis.

Oya, Yansa, Maman-Brigette

Goddess of wind, justice and the dead, sudden change, whirlwind, revolution, the huntress. Lightening and rainbows announce her and her symbol is the cemetary. Her colors are brown, wine, purple and black. Identified with St. Catherine and St. Theresa.

Yemaya, Yemonja, La Balianne

"Mother of the Fishes", ruler of the ocean's surface, her love sustains life, her compassion comforts children, her waves wash away all sorrow. Her colors are blue, white, and crystal. Identified with Mary.