What is Orisha in Umbanda?
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What is Orisha in Umbanda?
The planet we live on and all the worlds on the material planes are kept alive through the balance between the energies of nature. Planetary harmony is only possible due to an intricate and immense energetic game between the chemical elements that constitute these worlds and between each of the living beings that inhabit these planets.
A characteristic feature of the exercise of the Umbanda religion is the use, as a source of work, of these energies. Living on planet Earth, man lives with Laws since its origin and evolution, Laws that maintain vitality, creation and transformation, essential data to life as we see it develop every second. Without this energetic harmony the planet would fall into chaos.
Fire, air, earth and water are the primary elements that, combined, give rise to everything that our physical bodies feel, as well as being constituents of these bodies.
Orixá is not a deity, because in Umbanda we believe in a single God. Orixá is power of light emanating from God, The Creator.
Ordinarily we understand the manifestation of the Orixá, through the forces of nature, it is the most we can achieve, because in its true essence it is pure light. And how to understand this? It's like wanting to understand and explain God, a task impossible for any of us.
In reality, what Umbanda did was to “organize” the divine manifestations, in a language that we could understand.
Let's think at first about the Seven Basic Orixás that manifest themselves at the terreiro level, that is, of incorporation: Oxosse, Ogum, Xangô, Omulu, Oxum, Iemanjá and Iansã.
The manifestation, at the terreiro level, of each one takes place through spirits sent from each of these forces. It is important to emphasize that in Umbanda we do not incorporate the Orixá, but its envoys or representatives, who are spirits that have already incarnated and each has its own karma, history, missionary, evolutionary, personality, etc. characteristics.
We tend to believe or think that each Orixá is the realm to which it is associated, however Orixá is much more than that, it is the love of God spread and at the same time condensed in 7 basic rays, destined to planet Earth, which aim , upon arriving here, translated by the various sub-planes that have passed, help us in our karma, and that manifest through the forces and kingdoms of nature. The Orixá is in nature, but it is not just nature. Anyway… It's another blessing from God.
Each Orixá has a specific function and even those that are antagonistic harmonize with our needs, thanks to the Grace of the Creator.
For a better understanding of what is looking like a trip to the world of the Orixás, let's talk about the functions and specialties of each one at earth level.
The Orixá Oxossi corresponds to our need for health, nutrition, expansion, vital energy, physiological balance.
The Orixá Ogum corresponds to our need for energy, defense, readiness for action, determination, tenacity.
The Orixá Xangô responds to our need for discernment, justice, study, concrete and methodical reasoning.
The Orixá Obaluaê/Omulu corresponds to our need to understand karma, regeneration, evolution, karmic transformations and transmutations.
Orixá Oxum responds to our need for emotional balance, harmony, love, complacency and reproduction.
The Orixá Iemanjá responds to our family, structural need for fraternal and filial love and material goods.
Orixá Iansã responds to our need for change, displacements, material transformations, technological and intellectual advances.
All of this being balanced makes us better people and facilitates our passage on Earth, that's why I spoke about God's blessing, and also basic and harmonic manifestations of the Orixás, despite some manifestations being antagonistic, but basically complementary.
The 7 basic Orixás, when combined, form other Orixás which we call Orixá unfoldings or Orixás that were combined, but even so, these are not yet manifested at the terreiro level, but their envoys.
The only Orixá in Umbanda that has no unfolding is the Orixá Iansã, as their combinations are so fast that they do not create kingdoms, but only rapid manifestations of this conjugation, not coming to form or settle for a long time to the point of forming a new Orisha. Furthermore, another reason for this is the very element she represents: Air. Air does not unfold, does not fix itself, but mixes with the others, however without changing its essence. Moving Air is the wind that causes rapid changes and these changes are the Orixá itself.
When the Orixás combine, unite and conjugate, we have different developments that are manifested through the encounter of one kingdom with another, or manifestations of the force of nature, which in terreiros also receive different names.
Harmony, Balance, Energy… This is Orixá in Umbanda!