Maria Lionza, Queen of Witches & Fairies.

Maria Lionza

The Queen of Witches & Fairies.

In my native Venezuela, we have a folklore full of spirits and witches so complex that it does not even fit in the books, but it is also so popular that it has been studied in different universities of USA, Germany, and England by the level of devotion and ritual practice of Their respective followers.

One of these cults, perhaps the most notable is the cult of Maria Lionza. Maria Lionza (Yara) or "Maria de la Onza & Yara" is one of the most iconic characters in Venezuelan folklore, her cult dates back to a little more than 500 years and began to be commented on in the history books from 1515, Almost two decades after the discovery of America, although it was in the early 1900s that the cult came to light and began to be documented by anthropologists and historians.

The cult of Queen Maria Lionza began in the vicinity of the mountains of Sorte in Chivacoa (Yaracuy), where the indigenous people of the region met to worship at that time to their ancestors, a cult that still prevails in Venezuela, Becoming more and more popular.

The American anthropologist Wade Glenn of Tulane University has studied and confirmed that more than half of the Venezuelan population has voluntarily participated in at least one ritual in honor of Queen Maria Lionza, being she the central figure of Venezuelan spiritualism, Cult similar to that of Maria Laveau in New Orleans, USA.

The cult of Maria Lionza is of Indian origin, but in spite of it, with the passage of the years its figure has been modified to adapt it to the figure of a white woman with a gold crown on its head, a white or red rose In a hand (symbol of peace or love respectively) and a banner in the right hand, just where he has written his mission as divinity as "Protector of the waters and Goddess of the crops."

Maria Lionza is the goddess who lives in the leafiest forests of Venezuela, between the caves enchanted by fairies and the flocks of wild animals, always surrounded by subordinate and obedient spirits. As divinity symbolizes femininity, love as a universal principle and the force of life and rebirth. For many modern pagans, the Queen Mary Lionza is an incarnation of Venus or Gea, as goddess of peace, love and nature. Among its attributes are mainly magic and divination linked to the element of water, thunder, natural perfumes based oils, forests, fairy courts and mountains.

The cult of Maria Lionza has spread outside of Venezuela, leading her to be venerated in Chile, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Guatemala. And it has also been mixed with elements of Santeria, Spiritism, magic with fairies and traditional witchcraft to lead him to develop his own form of witchcraft, which has led him to know him in different countries like "The Queen of fairies", "Matriarch of the Witches" and "the Patroness of the 21 Courts".

All these honorific titles have been awarded to the blessed Queen Maria Lionza, not only for her thousands of miracles granted but also for her different attributes as an autochthonous deity of the Latin American region.

The Queen of Fairies

The cult around Queen Maria Lionza has always been linked in Venezuela and Colombia to the worship of the fairies, due in great measure to the indigenous belief because the aboriginal Indians of Venezuela believed in the magic presence of spiritual beings of enormous power that They lived in the forests and could change their shape. Aboriginal peoples originating in Venezuela, such as the Wayuu, the Añu, the Wanikua, the Pemones, the Yukpa, the Timoto-cuicas and the Yanomami (just to mention a few) shared the belief in life after the Death, the presence of spirits and fairies in nature, although their belief in fairies (even today throughout South America) prevails untouchable in the face of the European belief in fairies and their concept of the "good fairies" of diminutive stature And character wise or in some cases childish.

In Venezuelan native folklore, the fairies are spirits that inhabit and care for the forest, the lagoons and the rivers, they take human form and they can become all kinds of animals, they live mainly in the night and after the Sunset, they are extremely intelligent and they know All the secrets of witchcraft, attend sorcerers and witches in their rituals and usually do not wear clothes. In the native folklore of Venezuela, sirens are another form that fairies take to mobilize by the rivers, make deals with the sorcerers of the night in exchange for all sorts of favors and kidnap to babies that are not baptized.

According to the myth, Queen Maria Lionza, at that time a virgin maiden, daughter of a powerful Cacique, pact with the fairies in exchange for knowing the secrets of the night, the fairies, who at that time had mourned the ascent of his Reigned in the world of spirits, saw the young maiden in the incarnation of her queen, bestowed beauty on her and all the secrets were revealed to her, upon her death she became the queen of the forests of the Amazon, queen of the fairies and All the spirits of the forest.

Since then, both myths have been intimately linked, in fact, it is very common to say in Venezuela that "to make deals with the fairies", you must first request the permission of your queen patron Maria Lionza. It is also popularly believed that the practice of the South American shamans to place the children a bracelet of red thread with a hanging jet to "ward off the Evil Eye" was a teaching of the fairies by order of their Indian queen.

The Matriarch of All Witches

"To understand Santeria you must first understand spiritualism".

The above is a common phrase of every home practitioner in Venezuela, because in magic and witchcraft, as in everything else, there are no fast roads or short roads, and this motto comes from the order of witches, an order ( A Coven) of many others that are maintained under the devotion of the Venezuelan people.

In traditional Venezuelan witchcraft it is common to work with one of the 21 magic courts to ask favors, being Maria Lionza the main character of the main of these (not all) but of the largest, for which has been considered the Queen Of witches.

A common practice is to bring white flowers, tobaccos, and aguardiente to the river to be left there in the name of Maria Lionza, who in return would grant favors to her devout servants.

The Legend of the Queen of Witches

"Maria Lionza (Yara) was a maiden Nívar, delighted daughter of a powerful cacique of Nirgua. The Shaman of the village had predicted that when a strange-eyed, water-green-eyed girl was born, she had to be sacrificed and offered as a sacrifice to the Waterman, the "Great Anaconda," and if not, Extinction of the Nívar. But his father was unable to do so. And he had the girl in a mountain cave, with 22 warriors guarding her and preventing her from leaving. She was forbidden to see herself in the mirrors of water. But one day a mysterious force numbed the guardians and the beautiful girl came out of the cave and walked to the lake, discovering her own reflection in the water.

She was delighted with her vision. Thus he awakened the Water Master to the Great Anaconda, who emerged from the depths, falling in love with her and drawing her to herself. On Lake Maria Lionza and the mighty serpent, they celebrated a spiritual and mystical communion. When his father discovered the union, he tried to separate them. Then the Anaconda grew, became huge and exploded causing a great flood that devastated the village and its people.

From that day Maria Lionza became the protective Goddess and owner of the lagoons, rivers and waterfalls, protector mother of nature, wild animals and queen of love. The myth of Yara survived the Spanish conquest, although it underwent some modifications. In this sense, Yara was covered by the Catholic religion with the mantle of the Christian virgin and took the name of Our Lady Mary of the Ounce of the Meadow of Talavera de Nivar. However, with the passage of time, would be known as Maria de la Onza, or Maria Lionza.

The Mother Goddess

Since it was published in her 1939 essay "The Spiritualist Service to the Queen" by Gilberto Antolínez, there have been more than 25 different accounts of the cult of Maria Lionza in Venezuela, all of them very popular in the circles of witches and Venezuelan spiritualists.

All these different accounts tell the same story of the myth of the Queen of fairies from different points of view, all concluding in the rise of the young maiden as queen of the Indians and protector of their devout witches.

The Venezuelan Trinity

As in most of the religions that have emerged from the Indo-European period, a trinity patron of the pantheon is often found, the case of Venezuela would not be the exception.

Maria Lionza is the central character of the Venezuelan trinity that represents the Latin culture of that time, known as "Las Tres Potencias" (The Three Powers) made up of blacks, Indians, and white Spaniards. In this case, the trinity is conformed by the Queen Maria Lionza, the famous "Cacique Guaicaipuro", a Cacique of the Caracas and other tribes that strongly opposed to the invasion of the Spaniards, and "El Negro Felipe", a soldier during the wars of Independence from Venezuela.

The courts

In the Venezuelan esoteric cult, the so-called "Three Powers" form a spiritual council of great power that governs a magical universe full of spirits and fairies divided in a total of 21 courts that assist the witches in the accomplishment of their magical works.

The main courts of Maria Lionza are:

• The Celestial Court: Led by Jesus of Nazareth and represented by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it is conformed by all Catholic saints.

• The Venezuelan Indigenous Court: This order is presided over by Queen Maria Lionza, the Cacique Guaicaipuro and his sister India Cari Cara, is made up of: caciques, cacicas, and Indians.

• The Black Court: Directed by El Negro Felipe and la Negra Matea, is conformed by the souls of black slaves, witches, and sorcerers with colored skin.

• The Liberating Court: Presided by Simón Bolívar and General Francisco de Miranda, conformed by those who led the revolt against the Spanish crown.

• The Court of the Juanes: Conformed by various figures of Venezuelan folklore: Don Juan del Tabaco, Don Juan del Dinero, Don Juan de los Caminos, Don Juan de los Suspiros, etc ...

• The Medical Court: Led by Dr. José Gregorio Hernández (El Venerable) and conformed by the souls of doctors and nurses. It is a very popular order that is invoked to aid in healing processes.

• The Shaman's Court : Led by the Great Nicanor Ochoa Pinto Morillo (the sorcerer who cures and kills in 24 hours).

• The Court of Souls: Led by the Anima Sola (Maria de la Luz) and made up of the souls without rest of the popular belief of each country.

The other Courts

• The African Court.
• The Viking Court.
• The Cale Court.
• The Court of Students.
• The Court of Charms.
• The Court of the Witches (READ HERE)
• The Asian Court or Chinese Court.
• The Indian Apache Court.
• The Gypsy Court or court of the fortune tellers.
• The Red Court.
• The Barbara Court.
• The Egyptian Court.
• The English Court.

Amazing Symbol

The sculptor Alejandro Colina immortalized her for the world as a naked athletic musculature woman, an Indian Caribbean Goddess on a tapir (male tapir, worshiped by indigenous tribes), and with outstretched hands holding a female pelvis bone (Symbol of fertility) on her feet the tapeworm crushes snakes, symbols of envy and selfishness.