The World of Eshú and Pomba Gira

Every Eshu works for a specific Orisha and every Eshu has its own assistants, thus forming a perfect hierarchical organisation.

Eshu is spiritual with an individual mission and with his own work (see Eshu law chart).

We all follow God's commands and we always try to do good. The bad guy is not Eshu, but each one of us with our attitudes and behaviour, grudges, hatreds and resentments gathered in our hearts that make us act in one way or another.

No Orisha will listen to you unless you have entrusted your request to an Eshu first.

Eshu does neither good nor evil: he fulfils the orders we give him. He is seen as a playful and irresponsible child who enjoys creating confusion between us and the Orishas. What he does is our own responsibility because he does not distinguish between good and evil.

There are no religions or negative entities, but people with bad intentions who will do evil and people with good intentions who try to solve evil. The existence of both is necessary to balance the functioning of the universe.

Eshu is the universal magical agent, the envoy, the Orishas’ messenger: hence, he is the first to receive all offerings.

Before giving an offering to an Orisha you must first pay tribute and sacrifice to Eshu. If Eshu is relaxed and eating, he will be happy and then, he will allow you to perform the ceremony for the Orisha peacefully.

Eshu is the lord of the roads, the owner of the land production and everything related to fertilisation and productivity. Eshu spoke to the Orishas and told them that he would continue being their messenger but that he would treat humans differently: he would make them live with their fears and would scare them. He would become the devil for white people so that his own people would stop suffering slavery. He would strive with their emotions, suspicions, apprehensions, mistrust, turbulence and doubts so that his people could have a better existence. The Orishas reflected on those words and sent their Eshus to the Earth. According to the legend, Eshus became the devil for white people’s dark souls from then on.

Eshu is identified as the devil for Christians because the missionary priests found many difficulties, conflicts and problems when trying to impose their religion by force on slaves: too many gods and divinities for a people they were trying to subjugate.

Missionaries were forced to adapt to the whole Menina Pantheon. However, we must not forget that at the time Christians lacked a demon and thus, who better than Eshu to become their devil? Christians did not know Eshu and their own ignorance made them fear him; they did not even bother to find out that Eshu was the one who had more similarities with people and that all the requests made by slaves were related to their own life issues.

Humans fear what they do not know, and the dominant white feared the submissive black who worshiped the devil, since he protected them from injustice, infamy, and the absolutism of white people.

Fear along with ignorance works miracles: panic took over the whites at crossroads, near their houses, etc. Offerings made by ebos to Eshu for whatever request, where just seen as the demon thrown against them.

Another asset of identifying Eshu with a demon was his representation in red and black, the symbolism of masculinity that he represented and his physical appearance with a large phallus in his hand. Such image could only represent a demon.

Offerings must always be given to Eshu first: this is the basis that everybody knows, but what is the origin of this tradition?

There are several legends:

–Eshu was the owner of divination which was given to him by Orunmila. However, Eshu was tired because humans used to bother him day and night, so he made a pact with Ifа. Eshu wanted prominence and primacy in every ceremony and Ifа promised this to him if he gave him the gift of divination that he had. Eshu agreed and so he became the first to receive offerings.

-Eshu found out that Obbatalа was sick and that no one could solve his problem. He went to see him with some herbs and he cured him. As a reward for this, Obbatalа said that Eshu would have to be served first in every ceremony.

–The king of Congo had three children: Shango, Ogun and Eshu, who was a troubled and problem child. One day, the king died and thereafter every time they made a sacrifice to the spirits or made a religious party nothing went right, the prayers to the gods were not heard, flocks died of epidemics, crops were lost, men, women and children became ill. People then asked a babalawo who talked to the obis. The obis said that Eshu was jealous and wanted part of the sacrifices. No one remembered Eshu, the small black boy who was always annoying everyone. Therefore, from then on, nothing could be done without Eshu being served in the first place so as not to upset him.

Ifа is Eshu’s companion and messenger. Ifа carries the destiny of the universe dictated by the Orishas: he is their spokesman and messenger.

Eshu opens and closes the roads, he has the key to all the doors, he is the son of Oya, the messenger of Obbatalа, the brother of Ogun and the comrade of Shango.

He only pays homage to the greater Orisha. One of its symbols is a snake because he is always sleeping on the roads and Eshu is the owner of roads.

Eshu is a Menina word that means sphere, the cosmic energy in movement, the enterprising agent, the ferment and the manufacturer of reactions.

He likes doing good by healing, removing personal black magic works, undoing works or stopping spells. When a negative entity is removed from someone, quiumbas are in charge of taking it to the right place in the astral.

He is a vigilant light entity for all emaciated souls to evolve.

Everyone calls him the astral watchman, a policeman who controls every soul in its right location according to its purification or spiritual elevation.

He controls the Earth’s incarnations, he keeps the incarnations of the spirits of low evolution at bay so that they do not contact us.

As well as attending our calls and requests, he takes the souls of dead people to the place where they belong, he must maintain the order that God has created.

He puts all the temptations within your reach for you to decide what to do with them: you can choose the path for your spiritual ascent. He does not make you be bad, but if you decide to be bad, he can help you. Be careful, he claims for everything and the price for things that are not fair is very high.

We make offerings and we give him light with the candles we use when we ask him for help to solve the problems that bother us. If a person sends us something with bad intentions, he will undo it provided he is well cared for.

He has all the power over doors, crossroads, roads, etc., and with anything that is related with an advance or a step.

Chapter 3 – pomba gira

To talk about Pomba Gira is to continue talking about Eshu, she is a female Eshu. The origin of her name is Bantu de bombogiro. The current name in Quimbanda is Pomba, which means pigeon, and Gira, something that spins. This is a very accurate definition since she is never in the same place, but always returns to the same places, she is restless as a dove and moves very fast. She is Eshu?s perfect companion, she is always represented as a very sensual, attractive woman who gives and provides pleasure. Pomba Gira knows all the secrets of love and enjoys using this knowledge.

She is the protector of free women. Women have the full right to choose and seduce the male they choose and Pomba Giras show this by choosing the Eshu they prefer: they have full freedom to move through all fields.

Pomba Gira is another energy that works to provide happiness for those who ask for it, but from a feminine point of view. She will listen to you sooner than Eshu will, but she will also take revenge sooner if you make her angry, since she will behave like a true woman.

Her favourite drink is champagne, but she will accept any sweet drink you find, especially, strawberry-flavoured drinks since it is an aroma Pomba Gira loves.

Cigarettes must be fine and better if they are blond and menthol flavoured tobacco.

Her favourite foods are always expensive foods. She is very capricious but she can afford it, because what people ask her well deserves this sacrifice in offerings.

You can also offer her the same food as Eshu, but she will never drink in china like him but in glass.

She is usually found at crossroads.

She eats raw eggs without breaking them with some dendе over them.

Dendе and honey flour is what she likes the most.

Pomba Gira?s purpose is love, pleasure and sexual freedom. She will make possible impossible connections.

She is mainly invoked for night business and this is where she is most worshipped. With just one red rose and a glass of the best champagne your business will prosper and you will earn much more money.

Men who want to have a good lover who pleases them do not hesitate to ask her for help. She knows all the secrets of sex and how to attract men to women like flies to manure.

You only have to ask her for help and she will help you. Do not forget, she always asks for something more in return. Not only you should take care of her and thank her with offerings, but you should also be eternally grateful.

Pomba Gira is part of Eshu's organisation chart. She is in one of the two kingdoms of Eshu, in Eshu Kalunga, but she also has her own organisation chart which I will describe next.

The main head is Her Highness Rainha Pomba Gira. You may ask her anything, her power is infinite and she gives everything, but she is too capricious to always give you what you want: if she feels like it, she will listen to you, if not, you will go completely unnoticed.

Rainha Das Encruzilhadas, Rainha Da Lomba, Rainha Da Praia and Rainha Das Ciganos depend on her. Each of these queens is in charge of different phalanxes that obey and follow their orders.

Rainha Das Encruzilhadas is the owner of roads and crossings, of everything that moves and advances. Everything that is born and grows is part of her. She will make you go forward or will paralyse you forever: you will be a puppet in her hands. Her different phalanxes act in the same way, i.e. opening and closing roads. Her phalanxes are: