SpiritMaa

i asked for dream guidance about whether it was spiritually safe for me to travel to new orleans, and here's what happened in the dreamtime... i find myself in a room with a large group of people. sitting on the floor... darkish walls, dusky lighting... it seems we are getting ready for some sort of ritual. i start to go into trance, start to 'draw down' the spirit. i qualify 'only beings of greatest love...' and the one who shows up is mary erzulie - who i am very comfortable with - and my body starts to vibrate and undulate with her energy... i realize however, that the ritual hasn't started yet, so in order to be respectful, or to be 'in sync' with the others, i pull back on 'channeling' her... the facilitator, a black woman, comes over to me and i explain what happened. she wants to know the details, lies next to me, and we start to do breathing exercises...

when i wake up after the dream, i am surprised, because i know that erzulie is from the santeria or voodun tradition, but i don't have any experience with her, in fact have avoided her and this tradition up to now... however, because of my comfort level with her in the dream, i feel like i have received the go-ahead, or the 'blessing' to travel to new orleans ...

also find out, when i look her up online, that in the voodou tradition, erzulie has many forms, and that 'mary-erzulie' (aka erzulie freda) is actually one of the various erzulie 'loa'. this one has to do with sexuality and love, pleasure and riches - she is called virgin (like mary) not because she doesn't have sex (she does - with three husbands and numerous lovers :), but because the ultimate love she is drawn to is a higher love... also she can be disappointed/sad when the earthly reality of love doesn't always measure up to 'higher love....'

her sister erzulie dantor is related to the black madonna of czestochowa (poland - my ancestry - i know this madonna (!).. and got associated with erzulie when this madonna's image was brought to haiti - she has marks on her cheek - said to be scarred from battle, fierce protector of women. erzulie freda (the first one) is specifically from the louisiana voodun tradition, and either she or erzulie dantor are the patron saint of new orleans(!)...

interesting that the erzulie of sexuality and pleasure came to me in the dream and not the warrior side of this goddess (considering my relationship with kali - although kali IS multivalent - warrior,mother, lover...) does this aspect of the goddess/loa showing up relate to what my experience will be like in new orleans? if so, this is remarkable - that dream guidance is starting to answer my waking time questions so directly....thank you dream guides!