#Maria Lionza cult

[torrid-wind]

Maria Lionza religion devotee during ritual. Sorte mountain, Yaracuy State, Venezuela, 2004 - photo by Cristina García Rodero

Devotees of the María Lionza religion, a mix of Catholic, West African and other customs, make a pilgrimage each October to Sorte Mountain in Yaracuy State, Venezuela, home of the high altar to the religion's central figure.

(***Click image or title link to view in higher resolution***)

[divinum-pacis]

A statue of Maria Lionza stands in front of followers of her cult during their annual gathering at Sorte Mountain in Venezuela’s Yaracuy state, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. 

(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

[elhoimleafar]

Maria Lionza, Lady of the spirits and souls.

The cult of the indigenous goddess Yara de la Onza or Maria Lionza in Venezuela, the same spiritualist cult that has spread to other countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, ultimately transcends the comprehension of those occultists and sorcerers who do not reside there.

Maria Lionza is cited in a few books. Most define her as a Venezuelan indigenous legend, a female spirit of native origin, or a "local goddess" of spirits and nature. In Venezuela, Maria Lionza is all of these definitions and more. She is a high magic spiritual entity that assists all those who feel isolated, unappreciated, belittled, marginalized, and mistreated. She and all those who oppose the ideas of the system brought by the colonizers: racism, transphobia, homophobia, religious imposition, patriarchy, etc.

Maria Lionza represents the wild, free, indomitable, and matriarchal aspect of Nature. It is the old story of an indigenous woman who rebelled against the religious institution and freed enslaved people. It is the never-written tale of a powerful woman who discovers in her femininity an intimate connection to divinity and, through it, finds the power to lead the rebellion and claim her role until death and beyond.

Between Animas & Spirits

Maria Lionza acts as a liberator of the Animas and souls from purgatory, just as she was a liberator of the indigenous peoples enslaved by the European colonizers.

She is the central character in the spiritist cult of the animas and spirits in Venezuela. Although the term "Animas" has a massive variety of results according to each Latin American country, in the spiritist aspect, it is the term commonly used to refer to those lost souls, martyred souls, and souls that wander aimlessly in pain, either for having committed suicide or murder, for having seriously harmed others, or (following Catholic tradition) for not having received baptism, although today the latter can be referred to more broadly in the aspect of being an anima that did not follow an established religious current or another spiritual path, and simply has no direction of ascension to follow in the afterlife.

Maria Lionza is the leader of her own spiritual court, and contrary to Santa Barbara, another character of great relevance in the spiritualist cults of the region, who appears as a more modern character and is linked to the Catholic people, Maria Lionza represents the indigenous ancestors and pagan warriors of the past, native sorceresses and their pre-colonization magic, nature's herbal and medicinal secrets, and a connection to all the wild animals of which she has been proclaimed queen.

The animas and spirits serve as messengers of Maria Lionza, a queen in the world of spirits and fairies, the latter being very different characters in Latin America from their European version, darker in character and with a very different origin.

Being a Marialioncero, a priest of Maria Lionza, also implies being a sorcerer who agrees with all these spirits that are present, working at their service and charging them through favors. Conquering the world of spirits is a particular task that requires years of training and constant practice. These are esoteric mysteries not found in books and encyclopedias but hidden in plain sight and in constant and changing practice.

The spirits of low light and the animas act as servants of the queen. They come to the sorcerer or the Chaman to agree in exchange for mutual favors, thus being for them a mission to fulfill beyond life, thus allowing them to somehow way to free themselves from the chains and agony of being souls in pain and serve, beyond death, a purpose superior to them, a spiritual entity of greater power, and work shoulder to shoulder with priests, warriors, and sorcerers of the goddess.

Here Below Classes, Books, and More Content about our Goddess

Save Your Spot for my Upcoming Classes:

Maria Lionza, Goddess of Witches CLICK HERE 

Herbal Traditional Magic for Protection CLICK HERE 

Other Posts Of Mine To Follow The Topic:Maria Lionza: The Queen of Witches & Fairies.Maria Lionza: A  Feminist And Indigenous Cult of Latin American Origin.Marialionceros: The Tradition, Cult, and Spiritism of the Goddess Maria Lionza.A Special Post Made by Me for Tess Whitehurst's Blog:

An Introduction to Queen Maria Lionza, Goddess of Witches, and a Ritual in her Honor.

Pre-Order My Book DREAM WITCHERY:

On Llewellyn Page Click Here 

On AMZN Click Here 

On Barnes & Noble Click Here 

On Bookshop Org Click Here 

[enchanted-moura]

During the 1960's, Venezuela began to receive large influxes of Cuban and Haitian immigration. These immigrants adopted the Maria Lionzan religion, but contributed to the cult adding some Yoruba elements coming from Santeria and Voodoo. In such a fashion, the Maria Lionzan religion adopted a Yoruba profile, which had been absent from Venezuela's religious development until the 1960's -  A Girardian reading of the myth of Maria Lionza

[cricketcat9]

For Women’s Day: Maria Lionza

(abbreviated Maria de la onca, Maria of the tapir) is the central figure in a widespread indigenous religion in Venezuela. The cult of María Lionza is syncretic blend of African, indigenous and Catholic beliefs. She is revered as a goddess of nature, love, peace and harmony, and has followers throughout Venezuelan society, from small villages to Caracas, where in 1951 a monument by Venezuelan sculptor Alejandro Colina was erected in her honour. She rides a tapir, and holds a female pelvis, symbol of fertility. I passed the monument on the highway several times; it has a powerful, primordial presence.

The main place of worship is a cave in Sorte mountain, also known as Cerró Maria Lionza Natural Monument. According to the legend, Maria, daughter of a local indigenous chief, merged with the mountain when attacked by an anaconda. I visited the cave, full of offerings - flowers, candles, incense, cigars, food, alcohol. The glow of candles from the cave is visible from the highway. She’s an unofficial symbol of Venezuela.

[dudewhoabides]

Photo by Kitra Cahana @kitracahana | A devotee of the cult of Maria Lionza jumps through a bonfire during the Baile en Candela, an annual celebration honoring the goddess Maria Lionza, on Venezuela’s Sorte Mountain. The pilgrims claim they do not feel any pain while they are possessed by spirits.

[rivaltimes]

Maria Lionza, the image of the spiritualist cult that the Maduro government seized

Maria Lionza, the image of the spiritualist cult that the Maduro government seized

The replica of the sculpture by Maria Lionza, outside the Central University, in Caracas (Venezuela).apiary At dawn and with the help of cranes, Maria Lionza, a 6.7-meter-tall woman, who goes naked on a tapir with a pelvic bone as an offering, sculpted in 1951 by the Venezuelan Alejandro, was stolen from the Central University of Venezuela. Hill. The work was part of the art inventory of the…

[custom-nomad]

I finished it!

After so many weeks!!! This personal proyect was a bit ambitious for me as I had never made a book jacket before.

I haven't printed it yet, probably I'll do it by the end of the week and test if I made the good decisions on measuring lol.

I measured a sketch of mine for this, so I could actually use it.

If it fits perfectly I'll put it on Gumroad to download, if you like it.

I'll tell you something about this proyect:

When I was little I had like an obsession with my country, I used to dress up in folcloric clothes and dance to the music that was deep in my country traditions, I used to love to play with the toys we made, to sing the songs we wrote and to rejoice in the folclore because I was so proud of being Venezuelan and I felt my country mine indeed.

Today the story is different: I don't feel anymore that that country is mine or that I want to go back to it. But don't get me wrong I don't feel sad for that. I like the land, but I no longer feel connection to it... It's weird for me to explain.

But the stories I used to listen to, those stories I find powerful yet. I still love the magic in them, I find they trascend borders and cultures and I just enjoy them so much.

So I wanted to do someting with them, I have like a collection of my favourites and I chose 5 of them to make a six month proyect to improve in some areas I really need to work and to share with you this part of my childhood.

Here's the line up:

1 - Maria Lionza - Book Jacket DONE

2 - The owner of the Fire - Zine Comic

3 - The 5 White Eagles - ?

4 - The owner of the Light - ?

5 - The owner of the Water - ?

Most of them are origins stories, or stories that explain how things got to be on the first place. I love those, it's something I adore of the colective imagination and the folclore.

The other ones I chose them because I always have found some kind of connection to the characters, maybe because is not so easy to find these characters in an ancient story.

I still don't know what I'll do with the rest of the stories (the ones with the *?* in them), I'll figure it out in the road, but the main theme is to have fun! hehe. I sure know I want to do a silent book with one of them tho! That's really hard!

So who was Maria Lionza?

Here's the translated text:

Please note I'm not a writer and this is an edited text of some version of this legend.

"Yara was a Nivar maiden, daughter of one great Nirgüa's Cacique.

Her eyes were clear as the water and her hair smooth and so long it reached her waist, the village's Chaman predicted when she was born that the God of The Rivers and Waters would fall in love with her and keep her forever. Her father decided then that she would live then enclosed in a cave and so during 16 years she lived like that.

Until one day, a powerful yet misterious enchantment made the 22 guards that kept Yara safe fell into a deep sleep and she could came out of her confinement for the first time, so she looked herself in the river and was delighted with her reflection.

But in doing so she woke up the God of the River who emerged as a giant Anaconda snake and rapted her into the water.

Upon learning this, the Spirits decided to punish the God of the Water by making Him swell, explode and die.

Yara was never again seen in the realm of the living. But the Spirits were sorry for her and named her the Goddes of Love and the Forest.

Today, by the Sorte mountain, on days that are specially warm and when the dew is yet in the air, She can be seen passing by Her reigns mounted on a Jaguar or on a Tapir.

-The cult that surrounds Maria Lionza is very strong in Venezuela, thousands of believers go always to Her to make them offerings during Easter and Columbus day.-"

A Note: when the Spanishs came, they "converted" Yara into the catholic religion and named her: María de La Onza del Prado de Talavera de Nivar* or María Lionza.

*I know

I'll keep you informed on the next part of the proyect: The owner of the Fire and its zine comic. So far I just have a very vague lining of the pages...

It's a very fun story.

I send hugs :D,

Natha.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/root-stories-17779724

[childrenofsemina]

• Rituals

‘The defeat of Evil’, Yaracuy state. Sorte mountain. Maria Lionza cult. Venezuela. 2006 - Cristina Garcia Rodero

“This is religion. Voodoo and spells. I want to believe in it, the creams, the rejuvenating lotions, the transparent unguents in vials that slick on like roll-top glue. “Don’t you know what that junk is made of?” Ben said once. “Ground-up cocks’ combs.” But this doesn’t deter me, I’d use anything if it worked – slug juice, toad spit, eye of newt, anything at all to mummify myself, stop the drip drip of time, stay more or less the way I am....." - Margaret Atwood

[divinum-pacis]

Followers of the Maria Lionza cult perform a ritual at Sorte Mountain in Venezuela’s Yaracuy state, early Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, one year after the annual pilgrimage was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Along with Santeria, Venezuela is home to other folk religions, such as the sect surrounging goddess Maria Lionza, an indigenous woman who according to tradition was born on Sorte Mountain and whose cult has spread to Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Central America.

(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

[elhoimleafar]

Maria Lionza, Lady of the spirits and souls.

The cult of the indigenous goddess Yara de la Onza or Maria Lionza in Venezuela, the same spiritualist cult that has spread to other countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, ultimately transcends the comprehension of those occultists and sorcerers who do not reside there.

Maria Lionza is cited in a few books. Most define her as a Venezuelan indigenous legend, a female spirit of native origin, or a "local goddess" of spirits and nature. In Venezuela, Maria Lionza is all of these definitions and more. She is a high magic spiritual entity that assists all those who feel isolated, unappreciated, belittled, marginalized, and mistreated. She and all those who oppose the ideas of the system brought by the colonizers: racism, transphobia, homophobia, religious imposition, patriarchy, etc.

Maria Lionza represents the wild, free, indomitable, and matriarchal aspect of Nature. It is the old story of an indigenous woman who rebelled against the religious institution and freed enslaved people. It is the never-written tale of a powerful woman who discovers in her femininity an intimate connection to divinity and, through it, finds the power to lead the rebellion and claim her role until death and beyond.

Between Animas & Spirits

Maria Lionza acts as a liberator of the Animas and souls from purgatory, just as she was a liberator of the indigenous peoples enslaved by the European colonizers.

She is the central character in the spiritist cult of the animas and spirits in Venezuela. Although the term "Animas" has a massive variety of results according to each Latin American country, in the spiritist aspect, it is the term commonly used to refer to those lost souls, martyred souls, and souls that wander aimlessly in pain, either for having committed suicide or murder, for having seriously harmed others, or (following Catholic tradition) for not having received baptism, although today the latter can be referred to more broadly in the aspect of being an anima that did not follow an established religious current or another spiritual path, and simply has no direction of ascension to follow in the afterlife.

Maria Lionza is the leader of her own spiritual court, and contrary to Santa Barbara, another character of great relevance in the spiritualist cults of the region, who appears as a more modern character and is linked to the Catholic people, Maria Lionza represents the indigenous ancestors and pagan warriors of the past, native sorceresses and their pre-colonization magic, nature's herbal and medicinal secrets, and a connection to all the wild animals of which she has been proclaimed queen.

The animas and spirits serve as messengers of Maria Lionza, a queen in the world of spirits and fairies, the latter being very different characters in Latin America from their European version, darker in character and with a very different origin.

Being a Marialioncero, a priest of Maria Lionza, also implies being a sorcerer who agrees with all these spirits that are present, working at their service and charging them through favors. Conquering the world of spirits is a particular task that requires years of training and constant practice. These are esoteric mysteries not found in books and encyclopedias but hidden in plain sight and in constant and changing practice.

The spirits of low light and the animas act as servants of the queen. They come to the sorcerer or the Chaman to agree in exchange for mutual favors, thus being for them a mission to fulfill beyond life, thus allowing them to somehow way to free themselves from the chains and agony of being souls in pain and serve, beyond death, a purpose superior to them, a spiritual entity of greater power, and work shoulder to shoulder with priests, warriors, and sorcerers of the goddess.

Here Below Classes, Books, and More Content about our Goddess

Save Your Spot for my Upcoming Classes:

Maria Lionza, Goddess of Witches CLICK HERE 

Herbal Traditional Magic for Protection CLICK HERE 

Other Posts Of Mine To Follow The Topic:Maria Lionza: The Queen of Witches & Fairies.Maria Lionza: A  Feminist And Indigenous Cult of Latin American Origin.Marialionceros: The Tradition, Cult, and Spiritism of the Goddess Maria Lionza.A Special Post Made by Me for Tess Whitehurst's Blog:

An Introduction to Queen Maria Lionza, Goddess of Witches, and a Ritual in her Honor.

Pre-Order My Book DREAM WITCHERY:

On Llewellyn Page Click Here 

On AMZN Click Here 

On Barnes & Noble Click Here 

On Bookshop Org Click Here 

[carolinayourspiritmaster]

The year of the Fire Rooster is beginning - both Fernando and I are Fire Dragons, so we can expect a year of hard work, but of good business - not a problem with that at all!

In Maria Lionza's espiritismo, spirits from Asia are deeply loved and revered, have their own Court, and actually, one of my most loved Spirit Guides is Asian. The cult of Buddha and Goddess Kwan Yinn is huge among the children of Maria Lionza, so it's the norm for us to keep this day as a special one; celebrating it is optional, because not everyone has Spirits of Asia in their Spiritual Frame, and nobody is forced to work with each and every Court (that would be crazy, really!). I am very close to my Guide, so I will be preparing some special offerings, to thank for all the help, guidance and protection Guides lovingly provide.

[mariaaxelsson]

Photographer Kitra Cahana

Kitra Cahana is a freelancing photographer and filmmaker. She has a B.A. in philosophy and a M.A. in Visual and Media anthropology. She continually gets her photos posted in National Geographic Magazine.

On her website she shows a variety of different photographs. She shows some abstract images where you barely understands what is shown, some quite disturbing ones representing the cult of Maria Lionza and some really beautiful pictures of Teen mom graduates with their children. Another serie I really like is the one called “American Teenager”. In this serie she has taken pictures that I feel really represent the youths in a middle class society. She shows cheerleaders, parties, concerts, relationships with parents, love and much much more. I really like how she represents so many different people with different interests. 

There are a lot of contrasts in the pictures, and they are quite dark but in the same time colourful. I like how the persons in the photos look completely unaware that she’s there taking photos, I think that shows what a good photographer she really is, making the models feel comfortable in front of the camera.

//All photographs by Kitra Cahana

[kickmag]

Nick Hakim Premieres Video For Cuffed

Nick Hakim’s video for “Cuffed” references Santeria and captures a freeing ritual in the forest. Director Daniel Kaufman used the work of Venezuelan cult leader Maria Lionza for inspiration. Performance artists Fluct act out the scenes that were filmed in Catskills, New York. Nick Hakim’s Green Twins debut came out earlier this year and he is currently touring the United States.

[quicraint]

L'Oeuvre au Noir : Culte de Maria Lionza et rituels vaudou en Haïti par Cristina García Rodero

[divinum-pacis]

A follower of Maria Lionza’s cult prepares for the flame dance at Sorte Mountain in Venezuela’s Yaracuy state, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021, one year after the annual pilgrimage was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Those immersed in the traditions say it puts them in a trance that allows them to channel spirits and escape injury from otherwise dangerous feats.

(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)