This painting is not mine, I only wanted to show the way that Oggum is traditionally portrayed.
Though in the traditional Santeria pantheon Oggum (also called Ogun, or Ogoum) is usually called as a warrior – he is without a doubt the fiercest and most feared, as the legends about him speak about him being often blinded by his own rage, my Oggum is very much the archetype of the Green Man’s Artisan. Oggum is also the patron of forgers, blacksmiths and by extension, of all artisans. It is said that, consumed by guilt after committing a terrible crime (once again about losing his temper and regretting it later), left the city to live in the forest and swore that he would work on his forge for justice and good until the last day of the world. It is a very solitary and hard working Orisha, but is friends with Eleggua (who isn’t?), whom brings him news from the “outside” world and sends the prayers of those who have asked for his help.
Our Oggum is a very calm spirit who loves being in the wild – though he has never had an altar inside the house (we take the offerings for him to the woods) he asked me to paint him two days ago on one of the walls of the roof garden – so I did of course. He likes to have the sky above him, and he is much pleased with our increasing number of plants and the time we have spent building the greenhouse, wildharvesting and planting new seeds.
Yesterday I made him a Palo Mayombe – inspired cauldron, all with items we had around. I used a forged iron (his metal) plant stand, and a very old pot that is used here in the islands to milk goats. The bottom of the cauldron was filled with herbs and the Otan, or sacred stone where the Orisha inhabits, was placed over the bed of leaves. This particular Otan was brought by Fernando in his last wildharvesting trip from a natural water source in Anaga, and fitted perfectly inside the pot. Above it, a whole lot of forged iron antique tools that my husband and I have been rescuing and collecting. We actually use them and Fernando plans to carve new handles for those tools that have not resisted the passing of time through them. Nine (his number) sticks of medicinal woods were tied together with a green (his colour) ribbon. A libation of alcohol was offered, bathing the tools, a bit of Sarah’s Dragon’s Blood incense was also sprinkled, and then I lighted a handmade cigar (one of the island’s specialities). You know I don’t like to show pics of myself working, but I had to show this one. In Santeria, when you offer the smoke of a cigar to an Orisha to bless an altar or a ritual, you light the cigar, put the lighted part INSIDE your mouth and then blow hard to make the smoke come out of the other side. I have done this hundreds of times and I have never burnt my mouth – actually it is refreshing and stimulating for me.
Since Oggum’s cauldron was placed on the floor, we had to put his candle underneath it, so it’s not clearly visible in the pics. To celebrate with him, we started a good herbal fire on the barbeque, I started painting a Pomba Gira image on the wall right in front of him, and then we grilled chicken and vegetables and had dinner under the candles’ lights.
Believe in magick or not – the truth is that this morning I woke up to the call of a customer that took 100 Euros of jewelry with her. Mareferun Oggum, you are going to get really spoiled I’m afraid!
Hi!
Just stopping in to say hello! Great blog and etsy shop! xo Lavona
Thanks M’Lady Lavona!