Damballah

The Serpent God of Creation

Vodun African Spirituality

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Meet the Serpent Father

Source: https://discover.hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/dambala-wedo-for-witches

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Wise, benevolent, loving. Dambala is all these things. Father of the human race in tradtitional Vodoun, he carries the World Egg in his massive jaws. Described in countless ways, a pure white boa, a dark brown boa, even a rainbow colored serpent. His perfect mate is Aida Wedo. Many say these two lovers are the halves of a complete whole, that the wise and loving Dambala has always been both male and female.

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As you approach the great tree with your offerings, movement comes from somewhere above. Seeing nothing you set a single white egg in a mound of flour. Bowing your head, you silently ask Dambala to accept your gifts. Warm air caresses your face and you look up. The great serpent has heard your prayer and come down to accept your gift. His massive white head is inches from yours. He is the most beautiful of all serpents, and his crystal blue eyes radiate only love. His perfumed breath passes over you. Without words he lets you know you have his blessings.

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Suddenly sleepy, you relax back into the tree and he is instantly around you. Protective, warm. His loving embrace is not that of a predatory boa, but that of a loving father greeting and nurturing his child. Just as you are being lulled to sleep you see Aida Wedo, beautiful female, lovely rainbow lwa come to complete the encircling warmth.

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Dambala Wedo comes from Africa, where in the oldest legends, he is both father and mother of the human race. He carries the earth in his massive coils, protecting it as a snake protects her precious clutch. The warmth from his body heats the earth itself, and his sheltering benevolence brings the rains to fertilize the earth. There his form may be a massive regular boa, brown boa, or very rarely the rainbow serpent. Some say that his scales are clear or like crystal, or such dazzling white that he reflects rainbows back.

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He is seen as absolute purity, but still has healthy sexuality so he may fertilize the earth. There is no trace of a mate in any African stories of him. Though some link him there to Erzulie Freda (Mami Wata) in her African form, as, you guessed it, a serpent goddess. There is also one legend of the snake who fell in love with a woman. He seemed to be a god or divine sort of being...but that is for later.

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It isn't until his arrival in Haiti that we seen the lovely Aida come into her own. There she is seen as the lovely rainbow serpent, arching above the earth. When Dambala arrived in Haiti, he saw her and fell in love. As he was shy and mild in his approach she fell in love with him as well. To see the double rainbow is to see both our our parents stretched above the earth. To see a rainbow above a waterfall is to witness the sacred sexual dance that ensures fertility for the earth and all her inhabitants.

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Aida Wedo

She is not, so far as anyone knows, ever served alone. For one thing she is extremely shy. Despite her wondrous beauty and enchanting manners, she simply won't be approached without her beloved Dambala nearby. She likes sweet things, also in white like her husband. Some say she eats what he brings or leaves for her, or you can make a double offering of his foods. You will most often have to leave these on your altar or in nature as she is very shy until she knows you.

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Some see her as a beautiful serpent, either pure white, or rainbow, as she is the rainbow. Mine most often appears as a fiery red serpent, perhaps to assure herself she is brave enough to approach. She's isn't a coward, she just does not trust people for whatever reason. But her scales glitter like her rainbow, and she brings kindness and prosperity in her wake. Please remember her on your Dambala altar. Even if you feel she is Dambala's female half, she will reward you in time with her precious love.

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I'm including her here to honor the tradition of never approaching her without her loving husband nearby. She can appear as an elderly woman of any race, a serpent, or anything else she chooses. I've noticed she likes music any Egyptian Goddess would adore. Rattles, sistrums, anything sweet and gentle as befits her nature. Some cool water as in possession she likes to take to water or the trees. You could scent the water, but as she is so pure I don't. Yes, a plain bottle of water can do in a pinch. PS Some people feel she is the female half of the perfectly balanced Dambalah, so serving either way is fine by me.

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Myth

Source: https://occult-world.com/damballah/

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Once upon a time, there was only Damballah. He lay beneath Earth, a great snake, cushioning and protecting it from falling into the watery abyss below. Although he lay still for a long time, eventually he had to move. His movements raised mountains and created valleys. Stars were shaken up into the sky. Sacred waters were released, forming oceans, rivers, springs, and streams.

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The first rain began to fall, and Aïdo-Hwedo, in the guise of the first rainbow, appeared. Damballah and Aïdo-Hwedo fell in love. They remain in love today. The intensive all-pervasive power of that love infiltrated the entire universe. That power is manifest in human beings in the form of white liquids: milk and semen.

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Damballah, the primordial snake lwa of life, wealth, and wisdom, is venerated in Dahomey as well as in Haitian Vodou. He may also survive in the New Orleans folk saint Blanc Dani.

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Damballah is among the most beloved and important lwa. He bestows wealth, prosperity, good health, and fertility to devotees and can expose the location of missing treasure. He regulates moisture and rain.

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Damballah and his true love, the rainbow serpent, maintain the balance of forces, which sustains all life on Earth (the equivalent of what East Asian cosmology would describe as yin-yang forces). He is incredibly old and powerful and is usually not bothered for trivial matters.

Exuma - Dambala

Lyrics

Oh Dambala, come Dambala

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Sing of the wings, of a three toed frog

Eat weeds from the deepest part of the sea

Bring the trumpets from heaven

And the fire from hell

Then nobody can break the spell

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Oh Dambala, come Dambala

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On the seventh day, God will appear

On the seventh night, Satan will be there

On the seventh day, God will appear

On the seventh night, Satan will be there

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Oh Dambala, come Dambala

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You slavers will know

What it's like to be a slave

A slave to your hearts

A slave to your heads

A slave to your souls

A slave to your graves

You won't go to heaven

You won't go to hell

You'll remain in your graves

With the stench and the smell

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Oh Dambala, come Dambala

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I'll melt down your walls

I'll melt your steel guns

I'll make you dumb

I'll make you blind

Dambala send demons

Dambala send angels

Dambala send fire

Dambala send water

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Oh Dambala, come Dambala

Exuma - You Don't Know What's Going On

Lyrics:

You don't know what's going on

You can't make the world go round

You don't know what's going on

You're here today and tomorrow you're gone

When the holy cow is milking

And the greenbacks are rolling

You are the king and queen pin

But when the greenbacks turn brown

And you fall down

Whatcha gonna do, baby?

Come go with me

Come take my hand

I'm going home

Come go with me

Come take my hand

I'm going home

When the holy cow is milking

And the greenbacks are rolling

You are the king and queen pin

But when the greenbacks turn brown

And you fall down

Whatcha gonna do now, baby?

Picures Videos Music and Adiitional Reading

Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations (Haitian Creole: Danbala), is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in Haitian Voodoo and other African diaspora religious traditions such as Obeah. He is traditionally portrayed as a great white or black serpent, originating in the city of Wedo (Whydah or Ouidah) in modern-day Benin. Damballa is said to be the Sky Father and the primordial creator of all life, or the first thing created by Gran Met.

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In those Vodou societies that view Damballa as the primordial creator, he created the cosmos by using his 7,000 coils to form the stars and the planets in the heavens and to shape the hills and valleys on earth. In others, being the first thing created by God, creation was undertaken through him. By shedding the serpent skin, Damballa created all the waters on the earth. As a serpent, he moves between land and water, generating life, and through the earth, uniting the land with the waters below. Damballa is usually syncretized with either Saint Patrick or Moses. He is counted among the Rada loa.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damballa

PAPA DAMBALLAH By Raoul Guillaume and adapted by Malou Beauvoir

Traditional Music

Mami Wata (Read More Mother Goddess of the Water click), Water Mother, La Sirene is a water spirit venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa and in the Afro-American diaspora. Mami Wata spirits are usually female but are sometimes male.

Veve for Damballa and Ayida-Weddo.Venerated inHaitian Vodou, Folk Catholicism

Source: https://voodoomuseum.com

Kundalini, in yoga: latent feminine energy believed to lie coiled at the base of the spine; as a system of meditation: practices directed towards the release of kundalini energy Kundalini is a Sanskrit term.

Source: https://niafaraway.com/kundalini-energy/

In Indian legends, there are seven subterranean regions which are collectively called Patala or Naga-loka. These are the realms of the divine serpent beings called Nagas - and other spirit beings called Daityas, Danavas, and Yakshas - all of whom are progenies of the Seven Sages of Vedic tradition.

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The Nagas are generally depicted in a part human - part serpent form, sometimes with a seven-hooded serpent canopy over their head, guarding the entrances to Hindu temples. They are believed to be wise and powerful and act as the guardians of treasures and sacred teachings. The Nagas are still worshiped in villages across India on a specific day of the year (Naga Panchami) for fertility, virility, and protection against snakebites.

Nagaraja is the title given to the king of the nagas. Narratives of these beings hold cultural significance in the mythological traditions of many South Asian and Southeast Asian cultures, and within Hinduism and Buddhism. Communities such as the Nagavanshi Kshatriyas and Eelamese claim descent from this race.

Source:https://www.bibhudevmisra.com/2020/07/mystery-of-seven-sages.html

“If the account given in Genesis is really true, ought we not, after all, to thank this serpent? He was the first schoolmaster, the first advocate of learning, the first enemy of ignorance, the first to whisper in human ears the sacred word liberty, the creator of ambition, the author of modesty, of inquiry, of doubt, of investigation, of progress and of civilization.”
~ Robert Green Ingersoll

“Do you have any idea,” Crowley said. “How much trouble I’d get into down there if anybody read this?”

Source: https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/171544194656/laveyinthehouse-if-the-account-given-in

Indigenous Australian arts. Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Tiwi Islands The exposure of Aboriginal art to the West had its inception at the aboriginal community of Papunya in the Western Desert of Central Australia. Just like the vivid wildflowers that fill the local ochre terrain in the middle of winter, their art was a rare juxtaposition adapted from the Australian landscape.

Source: https://www.veniceclayartists.com/indigenous-australian-arts-compilation/

Music

Quetzalcoatl The Feathered (Read More click) is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus (click), Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning.

Qlippoth, Hebrew, «shells, husks,» is a term in the Kabbalah tradition means «Lords of Unbalanced Powers» referring to demonic entities from a former universe who survived in the present one.