- Erzulie is a Lwa in Haitian Voodoo, embodying love, femininity, and the protection of women (she is often called a love goddess).
- She has many forms across two Lwa families, Rada (benevolent) and Petwo (powerful/harsh).
- Erzulie is also linked to material wealth and desire; she can bestow blessings but can be vengeful if offended.
- She’s symbolized by luxury goods, the colors pink, blue, white, and gold, and a heart-based veve in rituals.
Erzulie (or Ezili) is a Lwa (or Loa) within Haitian Voodoo, considered the goddess of love and femininity.
We say goddess, but Voodoo is a monotheistic religion under the all-powerful creator god Bondye. But he is not concerned with the affairs of men, and he is beyond man’s comprehension. The Lwa are lesser divine entities that intercede in the world. Voodoo practitioners interact with the Lwa.
Erzulie or Ezili is a feminine and maternal goddess who is often called on as a protector of women. But she is also associated with material wealth and unlimited desire. She can teach the secrets of gaining what you want most in the material world. Erzulie is called on in different guises and with different names, for example, Erzulie Dantor, Erzulie Freda, and Erzulie Mansur. She is often portrayed as a Black Madonna.
Haitian society is often described as 80% Catholic, 20% Protestant, and 100% Voodoo. This is largely because Voodoo was the “spiritual engine” of the Haitian Revolution, which allowed people to work together to overcome oppression. For example, a ceremony at Bwa Kayiman in 1791 that enslaved people swore an oath to liberty, was a Voodoo ritual.
Haitian Vodou Pantheon
Within Voodoo, the Lwa are divided into various families, such as the Gede family associated with the dead and led by Baron Samedi.
Erzulie straddles two families, the Rada and the Petwo. The Rada are considered soft and empathetic gods. Associated with water, they are kind and benevolent. They map closely with deities worshipped in West Africa and brought to the New World.
The Petwo are associated with power, war, and destruction. They are considered more powerful but are also harsher and more unforgiving than the Rada. Their character is often credited to their creation under the conditions of slavery in the New World. However, drawing a straight dividing line between the two groups of Lwa on this basis is too simplistic.
The Many Names of Erzulie
Erzulie has many epithets and takes on many different forms. As a Rada deity, she is known as Erzulie Freda or Lady Erzulie and is considered a flirty goddess of love who cries tears of compassion like a suffering mother.
She is also known as Erzulie Mansur, Erzulie the Blessed, as a representation of maternal love and a protector of children. In this aspect, she is sometimes considered an incarnation of the Virgin Mary.
The Loa is also called on as Granne Erzulie, or grandmother Erzulie. In this form, Erzulie takes the role of a female elder who can share female experience and maturity.
As a Petwo deity, she is often called Ezili Dantor, Erzulie of the wrongs, and is called on to deliver vengeance against those who mistreat women and children. This is her incarnation of the fierce protector.
The Voodoo goddess is also Erzulie Balianne, or Erzulie the silenced, who can be called on to keep secrets and help people forget painful lost loves.
As Erzulie Mapiangue, Erzulie the suckler, she supports women through childbirth.
In the guise of Erzulie Yeux Rouge, red-eyed Erzulie, she deals revenge to unfaithful lovers.
When she is Erzulie Toho, she assists those who have been slighted in love.
Forms of Erzulie
In her many guises, Erzulie is consistently associated with romantic love and maternal matters, from childbirth to the protection of women and children. In a way, she embodies all the unique aspects of womanhood and femininity, and both the powers and the challenges that exist within that state.
She is the maternal factor in many elements of the world, combining with the masculine to maintain those important elements. As such, she has three husbands: Damballa, the Lwa of the sky; Agwe, the Lwa of the sea; and Ogou, the Lwa of fire and iron. She wears three wedding rings to reflect this triple marriage.
But Erzulie is not just a mother; she is a lover. She is known to be an insatiable flirt with both genders. The Lwa can be called on to catch love, seek vengeance on an unfaithful lover, or forget a painful past love. She is simultaneously loving and giving, and angry and vengeful.
Rituals that involve Erzulie often involve possession, where the Lwa is invited into the body of a Vodou priestess. To achieve this, practitioners are recommended to embody the Lwa by dressing evocatively and embracing tears of sadness.
Material Success
Erzulie is associated with all things luxurious, including jewelry, dancing, flowers, and more. She is associated with material wealth and success in the material world.
The Loa is also often called on to share the spiritual knowledge required to find success in the physical realm. And, unlike many Lwa, the success that she gives is never “fool’s gold” or short-lived. It is the kind of tangible success that can pass between generations.
But remember that Erzulie is a vengeful Lwa, and if you offend her, she can take away what she gives just as quickly.
Erzulie can be associated with greed, as she is covetous and is sorrowful that she cannot have all the things that she desires. She is often in tears due to her despair at the limitations of life’s abundance. She is a beacon to the ambitious, but also a warning against unrestrained desire.
Symbology of Erzulie
Erzulie is either depicted as a Black Madonna with two scars on her face, or as an upper-class woman, usually light-skinned and mixed-race, in fine and expensive clothing. In contrast to Maman Brigitte, who is vulgar in her dress and behavior, Erzulie, while a flirt, has impeccable manners and a secretive allure. The colors of the goddess are pink, blue, white, and gold.
She always appears with her three rings, and often with a dagger, which may pierce her heart, representing the pain that often accompanies the joy of love.
Due to her association with love, it is no surprise that her veve is based on a heart. Veve are symbols drawn on the floor in cornflour at the start of a Voodoo ritual as part of the summoning of the Lwa. While the Veve of each Lwa must contain important elements, practitioners can create their own individual versions.
When calling Erzulie, she is pleased to receive anything considered decadent. Her favorite things include jewelry, perfume, sweet cakes, and fine liqueurs.
Mama Lola was a famous Voodoo priestess who immigrated to Brooklyn, where she did much to spread awareness of the reality of Voodoo. She most often called on the female Lwa Ezili Danto to help her with the challenge of raising a family alone in a foreign country. Haitian society is constructed around a community living system called Lakou, where extended families live around an altar where the Lwa are engaged. Being stripped from this system proved highly challenging for many Haitian immigrants.
Ezili’s Mirror
In Vodou cosmology, the spirit world is often referred to as Anba Dlo (Under the Water) or the Mirror World. A mirror is often viewed as a portal between these worlds. A Manbo or Oungan (priest/priestess) may use a mirror to “see” into the spirit realm, using the reflection to communicate with Ezili Freda or to diagnose a spiritual problem.
On a Vodou altar (Ochan), Freda’s mirror is never just a plain object. It is ornate, made of gold or silver, and decorated with jewels, pink ribbons, or lace. It serves as the “point” (pwen) of her energy. Practitioners will often spray expensive French perfume or “Florida Water” onto the mirror to please the Lwa. Sometimes the Veve of the Loa is drawn directly onto the glass.
The connection between teh spiritual world and water means that Erzulie is also sometimes represented as a mermaid, known as Lasiren (The Siren).
Erzulie in the Tarot
In the Tarot, Erzulie Freda in her Rada form is associated with the 7 of Swords and is an air sign within the deck. She represents the Venus factor. But while she is splendid, she is also in tears, representing the superficiality of many of the things that we chase in life and the temporary nature of the emotions that we let govern our actions.
Her card is often associated with the heavy feeling of creating a pyramid of unattainable aspirations, and the emptiness that often follows getting what you wish for.
Erzulie Dantor in her Pewto form is the 7 of wands, a fire element card. She represents burning with overwhelming passion and the fine line between passion and rage. She is the creator of forceful energy as she dances to grind corn into something usable, but she is also desperately seeking a satisfactory outlet for that energy. This can manifest into something beautiful when properly challenged, but also something dangerous.
FAQs
Is Erzulie the “Vodou Virgin Mary?”
Because of historical syncretism, Erzulie is often represented in a similar fashion to the Virgin Mary, especially as a Black Madonna. However, Erzulie’s characteristics are very different from the Catholic mother. Erzulie Freda can be vain and demanding, and Erzulie Dantor can be aggressive and vengeful. They are complex human archetypes, not just symbols of “purity.”
What is the difference between Ezili Freda and Dantor?
This is the most important distinction in the Ezili family. They are seen as rivals or “sisters” with opposite energies. Ezilia Freda is a Rada who is cool, sweet, refined, and nurturing. Ezili Dantor is a Pewto and is hot, fierce, protective, and often vengeful.
Why is Erzulie Freda always crying?
If you see someone possessed by Freda, they often end the ceremony in tears. This is because she represents the “Ache of Love.” Freda dreams of a world that is perfectly clean, romantic, and beautiful. When she realizes that the human world is dirty, broken, and full of suffering, she weeps in disappointment. She is the spirit of “the perfect” that can never be reached.
Why does Ezili Dantor have scars on her face?
Traditional images of Dantor show two or three scars on her cheek. Most stories say she received these scars during a fight with her sister, Freda, over a lover (often Ogou). The scars represent her history of struggle and survival. She is the patron of abused women and single mothers; her scars show that she has been through the fire and is still standing to protect her children.
Does Erzulie marry humans?
In Haiti, it is common for practitioners to enter into a spiritual marriage (Maryaj Lwa) with Erzulie. A man might marry Freda to bring him luck in business and love. A woman might marry Dantor for protection and independence. These marriages involve a formal ceremony with a contract, and the human spouse usually sets aside one night a week to be “with” the spirit in their dreams or through meditation.