Pombagira are human spirits that are in a degree next to Exu and act mainly in the heart and in the mind of those who are in a way to allow it to be imprisoned in their own torments.
Pombagira isn’t consort of Exu, she is another group of human spirit that suffered its fall, redeemed and works in the darkness of light in the pursuit of its evolution in the aid of the human beings incarnate.
While Exu represents male sexuality, fertility and strength, Pombajira personifies female sexuality, beauty and desire.[4] She is depicted as a beautiful woman who is insatiable. Pombajira is venerated with great respect and care because of her reputation for possessing great wrath. She is often invoked by those who seek aid in matters of the heart and love.[5]
Pombajira is noted for her connection with both transgender women and effeminate male worshippers and is reputed to possess both.[6][7] Some representations of Pombajira display the characteristics of being promiscuous, talkative and vulgar. However she has many avatars, and will be more or less inclined towards that behavior depending on how she manifests herself.
Avatars
Pombajira manifests in the following forms:
Dama da Noite (Lady of the Night)
Maria Mulambo da Lixeira (Filthy Mary of the Trash Can)
Maria Mulambo das Sete Catacumbas (Filthy Mary of the Seven Tombs)
Maria Mulambo das Cavaleiras de Vassoura da Meia-Noixe (Filthy Mary of the Midnight Broom-Riders)
Maria Padilha (Mary Padilla)
Maria Quitéria (Warrior Mary), unrelated to Maria Quitéria
Pirata Peituda Pombajira, Perdição & Noж Sete Abelhas Adoentadas (Big-booger Pirate Pombajira, Lost & Dissolved into Seven Sick Bees)
Pombajira das Rosas (Pombajira of the roses)
Pombajira das Sete Rosas (Pombajira of the Seven Roses)
References
^Nunes, Attila (1970). Umbanda: religião-desafio (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Editora Espiritualista. p. 221.
^Ashcraft-Eason, Lillian; Martin, Darnise C.; Olademo, Oyeronke (2010). Women and new and Africana religions. Women and religion in the world. ABC-CLIO. p. 116. ISBN978-0-275-99156-2. pomba gira spirits represent the freedom and power of the feminine energy in the human beings.
^Hayes, Kelly E. (2009). "The Dark Side of the Feminine: Pomba Gira Spirits in Brazil". In Chima Korieh (ed.). Gendering global transformations: gender, culture, race, and identity. Routledge Research in Gender and Society. Vol. 16. Taylor & Francis US. pp. 119–132. ISBN978-0-415-96325-1. Indeed, her profile is familiar to any inhabitant of the Western world, for Pomba Gira is the archetypal femme fatale, that seductive yet perilous siren depicted in pulp fiction and film noir. Possibly evil, definitely dangerous, she is the embodiment of a transgressive femininity that is at once beguiling and deadly: the dark side of the feminine.
^Chestnut, Andrew (2007). "Latin America's Free Market of Faith". In Steigenga, Timothy J.; Cleary, Edward L. (eds.). Conversion of a continent: contemporary religious change in Latin America. Rutgers University Press. p. 87. ISBN978-0-8135-4202-7. A married woman, for example, who suspects an acquaintance of having an affair with her husband might ask Pomba Gira to harm the other woman so that she is no longer the object of her husband's affection.
^Hayes, Kelly E. 2008. Wicked Women and Femmes Fatales: Gender, Power, and Pomba Gira in Brazil. History of Religions. 48 (1): 1-21.
