{"id":1554,"date":"2024-05-09T13:41:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2024-05-09T17:40:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T17:40:11","slug":"beyonce-and-jay-zs-orisha-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/beyonce-and-jay-zs-orisha-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYONC\u00c9 AND JAY-Z\u2019S ORISHA GODS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout the slave trade, African religions rooted in the If\u00e1 faith of the Yoruba people spread across the world. If\u00e1 is a divination system practiced by the Yoruba people of West Africa for thousands of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundation of the Yoruba belief system includes the worship of deities called orishas with a supreme god called Olorun or Olodumare, orishas representing the elements, and ancestral spirits. Religions that worship the Yoruba If\u00e1 pantheon involve spirit possession through trances induced by drumming, chanting, and dancing rituals. The energy believed to come from these spirits is called \u00c0\u0219e<\/em>\u2014pronounced \u201cah-shay\u201d\u2014and is described as \u201cthe power that makes things happen, the existence of all things depends on it,\u201d according to the Yoruba faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Brazil, my birthplace, I became a spiritist medium in the Umbanda sect at the age of fourteen. This Afro-Brazilian religion mixes the worship of the Yoruba If\u00e1 orisha deities, Catholicism, and Kardecism\u2014also known as spiritism and developed by Allan Kardec, a French educator in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to Umbanda, Candombl\u00e9, and Quimbanda in Brazil are religious practices that worship the same orisha deities of the Yoruba If\u00e1 faith with different origins and rituals. Likewise, voodoo in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba, are among many other religions that worship the same orisha gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These spiritual practices may seem foreign to American culture, but they are openly embraced and proselytized by the entertainers today as well as in years past. During the 2017 Grammy Awards, Beyonc\u00e9, raised in the Christian faith, paid homage to the Yoruba goddess Oshun. Wearing a golden gown\u2014Oshun’s sacred color\u2014pregnant with twins, Beyonc\u00e9 channeled the goddess of love, money, and waterways\u2014or the goddess of water and fertility, as some headlines claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the Daily Mail,<\/em> Dr. Jacob Olupona, a Nigerian professor of African Religious Traditions at Harvard Divinity School, stated, \u201cShe [Beyonc\u00e9] is speaking to the world, she is speaking to America. Beyonc\u00e9 is educating the masses on Oshun. She is showing how indigenous spirituality can be a powerful tool for changing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-4221100\/Was-Oshun-Beyonce-s-Grammy-Award-inspiration.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a BuzzFeed <\/em>community post, <\/em>Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s album Lemonade <\/em>not only references Oshun but also other African deities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/monicamark\/beyonce-jay-z-on-the-run-ii-tour-touki-bouki<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor Crumpton\u2019s article on The Ringer<\/em> website, \u201cGlory B: Beyonc\u00e9, the African Diaspora, and the Baptism of \u2018Black is King,\u2019 \u201cdescribes Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s visual album released on Disney+. <\/em>She explains how this music reinforces the ancestral lineage of black people as divine beings born from natural and spiritual forces. Beyonc\u00e9 pays tribute to Yemay\u00e1 [Yemanj\u00e1]\u2014an orisha known as the mother of water and all living things in If\u00e1 and other Yoruba-derived faiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, Beyonc\u00e9’s husband, Jay-Z, references another Yoruba deity (or orisha)\u2014Chang\u00f3 (also spelled Xang\u00f4 or Shango)\u2014in his rap lyrics, as noted in the same article. The feast day for Chang\u00f3 is December 4th<\/sup>,one of the most important Santeria festivals in Cuba. It also happens to be Jay-Z\u2019s birthday\u2014a connection often mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theringer.com\/movies\/2020\/8\/4\/21353713\/beyonce-black-is-king-african-diaspora-orisa-oshun<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ama McKinley, in her HuffPost <\/em>article, titled \u201cBeyonc\u00e9 Serves African Spirituality in Lemonade,\u201d was \u201cawestruck\u201d by the visual album. As a practitioner of If\u00e1, McKinley loves to point out pop culture references to this ancient tradition and its pantheon, the orisha, in Western contexts. Other examples listed in the article include Ricky Ricardo\u2019s [Desi Arnaz] 1940s hit \u201cBabal\u00fa\u201d (a detailed ritual to the orisha Babaluaye), Gloria from Orange is the New Black <\/em>(a Santeria practitioner who worked in a bodega), and Jay-Z\u2019s rap referencing his orisha Chang\u00f3 [Xang\u00f4 or Shango], the god of thunder, lighting and justice (considered the most powerful orisha in the Yoruba pantheon).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/beyonce-serves-african-spirituality-in-lemonade_b_9774668<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyonc\u00e9’s poem \u201cDenial,\u201d in Lemonade,<\/em> evoked an emotional experience for McKinley. The poem describes the initiation process of an If\u00e1 practitioner into the priesthood that she experienced in 2012. McKinley wrote that she spent 365 consecutive days wearing all white, three months of no sex, no looking in mirrors, and taking all meals on a mat on the floor. \u201cAnd for one year, I could not cut my hair.\u201d This is how she became an Iyawo, a Nigerian Yoruba word for bride or slave of the orisha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for the lyrics to the poem \u201cDenial\u201d (warning: sexually explicit and sacrilegious content): https:\/\/lyricstranslate.com\/en\/beyonce-denial-lyrics.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Vox <\/em>article, titled \u201cMeet the African goddess at the Center of Beyonc\u00e9’s Black is King,\u201d Constance Grady explains Beyonc\u00e9’s identification with the Yoruba deity Osun [Oshun]. Beyonce uses the likeness of Oshun in many photos and videos. \u201cOshun is a goddess of love and beauty. Beyonce\u2019s been identifying with her for years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/culture\/2020\/7\/31\/21349403\/beyonce-black-is-king-oshun-osun-yoruba-goddess<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valerie Mesa, a follower of Oshun, wrote in Vice,<\/em> \u201cHow to Invoke Oshun, the Yoruba Goddess of Sensuality and Prosperity:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOshun exudes sensuality and all the qualities associated with fresh, flowing river water. Her sparkling charisma can light up a room, and her lush womanly figure suggests fertility and eroticism. Oshun\u2019s favorite thing to eat is honey, and her contagious laugh can either put you under her spell or send shivers down your spine. Despite her generosity and irresistible charm, this Orisha is also the most dangerous when crossed\u2014Oshun is as sweet as honey, but her honey can also turn sour.\u201d Beyonce\u2019s nickname is \u201cQueen Bey\u201d and her fans identify as the \u201cBey Hive\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/3kjepv\/how-to-invoke-oshun-yoruba-goddess-orisha<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyonce was raised as a Methodist in Texas where she was a member of the choir. Does this mean that she is a Christian? Should Christians pay attention to popular music lyrics children are exposed to regularly? How much cultural and, most importantly, spiritual influence, do entertainers have in the lives of those they impact through their art?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God warns us in His Word repeatedly to not be deceived or ensnared by \u201cother gods\u201d and to not practice the occult. Does listening to music that honors deities and ancestral spirits belong in a believer\u2019s life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Joshua 24:15, it is stated, “But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMAGE: https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org<\/a> Oshun 01.png <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the slave trade, African religions rooted in the If\u00e1 faith of the Yoruba people spread across the world. If\u00e1 is a divination system practiced by the Yoruba people of West Africa for thousands of years. The foundation of the Yoruba belief system includes the worship of deities called orishas with a supreme god called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[285],"tags":[281,280,279,283,37,284,43,51,282],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ivanigreppi.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}