The World of Eshú and Pomba Gira - страница 15

The magic of Quimbanda is not to do evil. The use we make of it is our fault and not the entities’ fault.

In the beginning there was only Nzambi, the owner of all secrets.

Nzambi was a great mass of energy that could explode, and it did: millions of pieces of matter became a star, a planet, etc. And from there all the elements of the universe began to separate and the universe became bigger and bigger. Then, Nzambi decided to create a being that could go through all the different spaces. Thus, focusing on a point he created Eshu. Eshu was made both man and woman at the same time and was given 7 powers (hence the origin of number 7 in him for everything):

– To have the key that opens the boundaries between one space and another, between light and dark, between hot and cold.

– To be free to choose between the good and the bad.

– To have knowledge of everything and memory of all things from birth, as well as the ability to enrich his wisdom following his own experiences.

– To be able to create beings by precipitating his own energy on the matter without life.

– To travel in time.

– To understand all creatures.

– To divide and create beings similar to him but inferior in powers and faculties, if required.

This would be the origin of our Eshu in Quimbanda.

Eshu had the mission of going through all the different spaces where Nzambi could not go, especially in the areas where nothingness and darkness reigned. Eshu was made a dark red colour, with a lot of moving particles, bright as torches, thus allowing him to be in all spaces of light or darkness: his colour is his life.

According to a legend of his origin, when Eshu saw his own power, he decided to crown himself king of the dark areas and get by without Nzambi.

Since he had the power to create, he created 7 beings of himself. These beings had his same powers and faculties but to a lesser degree. These are the 7 kingdoms:

– Rei Das 7 Encruzilhadas

– Rei Das 7 Cruzeiros

– Rei Das 7 Liras

– Rei Da Kalunga

– Rei Das Almas

– Rei Das Matas

– Rei Da Praia

Each of these kingdoms was divided into 7 territories and each of the kings into 7 parts so they could be everywhere.

The power of Eshu to divide himself resulted in that each new part had a new personality. Each time one of them was born, it was divided into 7.