Unlike Yemoja and Oshun who command our attention through their grace,
beauty, and majesty; Orisa Oya is the invisible Orisha.
In fact, Her face is said to be so terrible that none dare behold it.
Oya’s presence and action is reflected in the flight of birds,
the swaying of trees, the whistling of the atmosphere, the blowing
of
dust, the hurling of dirt, the movement of the waves, the sound of
music, the spoken word, the cry of a baby, the roar of the lion, the
movement
of clouds, and the life of fire. It is Orisha Oya who
gives us our passport to life [breath] at birth, and requires its return
at death. Oya is therefore, the watcher of the doorway between life
and death. She is not death but the awareness of its existence. Orisha
Obatala, Yemoja, Ogun, and Oshun are all connected with the blood,
but
if Oya does not embue the blood with her Ase, the life process can
not proceed. Not only is Oya’s Ase essential to the life process of
the ‘godseekers’ and other creatures that inhabit this region
of the Ase, but she is also the one who carries the pollen of the plants
and trees from place to place, either directly in her invisible hands,
or in the body of birds that fly in her ever present embrace.
Orisa Oya is symbolic of things that are, felt more often than
seen. In this sense she is associated with ‘covert’ activities
and ‘secret’ operations.
Orisa Oya also represents the destruction of old society
making way for the new; and the power to completely destroy cities and
fields, reverting them back to their original state. She accomplishes
this by sending cyclones, tornadoes, and hurricanes which destroy everything
in their paths, forcing mankind to rebuild new cities and towns. It
is agreed among the scholars of Ifa that Oya was Shango’s
favorite wife, and it is said that, when Sango wants to fight he
sends Oya ahead of him to fight with the wind. ...further...without
Oya there is nothing Sango can accomplish. When Shango sends his voice
of thunder ahead of his approaching lightning, it is the Ase of Oya
that gives expression to his voice as thunder which is caused by the
sudden expansion of air in the path of an electrical charge. Many santeros
[priest of Santeria] believe that Oya is the one who gave [C]hango power
over thunder and lightning. In actuality, Oya is central and essential
to the collective workings of the Siete Potencias (7 Principle
Orisa). It is Orisa Oya’s domain and responsibility
to clean the atmosphere around the planet and the provide the proper
balance of gases to sustain all forms of life. No Orisha should be DISrespected
or DISregarded, least of all Oya; “...her wrath is so devastating
that it must be absolutely avoided. Not only does Orisa Oya carry
pollen and dust, but she also carried disease and other agents of death.
It is interesting that scientists today are saying that ‘second-hand
cigarette smoke’ can be as deadly as cigarette smoking. The depleting
ozone layer, nuclear fallout, greenhouse gases, and the like, are all
operating in the domain of Orisha Oya.
