Pomba Gira & Exu

Occult World: Pomba Gira

Pomba Gira is the scarlet woman, the sacred harlot, and the lady of crossroads and street lights. An Afro-Brazilian spirit, Pomba Gira derives from the intersection of Iberian, Gitano, and Central African roots. Pomba Gira is the crossroad where these traditions meet. She is a goddess of power, eroticism, death, and vengeance. She has dominion over sex for pleasure and power, not procreation. (That said, she can bestow fertility when and if she desires.) Pomba Gira is an oracular spirit who can reveal the past and future, but she can be a brutally plain-spoken truth-teller. Don’t ask her for information unless you are ready to hear unvarnished truths.

Pomba Gira’s origins are mysterious. She is not worshipped in African traditions, only in Brazil. (It is possible that devotees did not survive elsewhere.

Sometimes when people refer to Pomba Gira they really mean Maria Padilha (or vice versa). The names are frequently used interchangeably but there are many Pomba Giras. These may be multiple paths of one goddess or Pomba Gira may name an entire category of spirits.

Maria Padilha may be the Queen Pomba Gira. It’s possible that at least some of the other Pomba Giras are vestiges of the Fairy court of beautiful female spirits who serve as the entourage for Spain’s Maria de Padilla. They may have accompanied their queen on her sea voyage to Brazil. As she transformed into Maria Padilha, so they too transformed into Pomba Giras.