Hello Friends. Welcome to the Orixá Song Circle! I am honored to share this intimate journey with you as I translate a song cycle for the Orixás, the great pantheon of Afro-Brazilian deities that embody the forces of nature. 

 

Born in Brazil from the meeting of African archetypes, indigenous cosmologies and Judeo-Christian beliefs, these songs are invocations and portals that unfold into beautiful pools of devotion and celebration. They call on the healing forces of the wind, water, forest, fire, mineral and animal kingdoms; the angels and the Holy Mother; the White Moon, the Golden Sun, and all the guardians of sacred knowledge. 

 

In this Patreon Song Circle portal, you are joining me on my own journey of learning & research. I have been studying this music and spiritual matrix for about 15 years, but I am still very much a beginner in my understanding and knowledge of this vast spiritual science. I will regularly be sending song downloads, new translations, videos, journals, and links to original versions of these magic songs for you to enjoy. There will also be a regular zoom practice and sharing sessions starting soon so we can sing and learn together.

 

These songs to the Orixás and the forces of nature have been powerful teachers for me. They are keys to a pathway of understanding, part of a river of song that connects me back to a deep relationship with the elements and all the spirits. There is so much joy and freedom in singing these songs to creation – to the rivers, mountains, forests and oceans. We feed life so it can feed us. That is the beautiful, reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world. They are songs of devotion that are connected to an original source of pure love and vitality and have the power to correct, dissolve prejudice, and remind us of our shared responsibility to protect the sacred and this beautiful Earth that we all call home.

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It is a joy to sing these songs and move through their transporting architecture with you. In creating singable translations that preserve the lilt and precise symbolism of the original Portuguese, I hope to be a small bridge of understanding in my own reverence for these forces of nature and the extraordinary cultures that birthed them.

 

I am excited to be on this journey with you. Thank you for your faith, support and patience along the way.
With love, Bethany

 

BETHANY YARROW Bethany Yarrow is a song keeper, earth activist, and student of the spiritual traditions of the Americas. She lives at the top of a 100' waterfall in the Schoharie Valley of Central New York and is the Co-Executive Director of the Waterfall Unity Alliance.