Finding a Mermaid in Nigeria

How the Book of Enoch led me to find a mermaid in Nigeria

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I know when when you look at the above title your asking yourself…. how does this connection make any sense at all! I marvel at spirits synchronicities when you are on the right path, but the title is true, and the adventure is real.

Who loves Mermaids? Better yet, who doesn’t love Mermaids. Even self proclaimed cynics can't help be a little transfixed with these beauties. I have loved Mermaids and everything they represent since a child. For me, they were a magical being who lives in a beautiful colorful underworld going to places I could only dream about.

I remember watching the Disney movie “The Little Mermaid” with my nieces when it first came out and memorizing the songs, the story, even her collection of baubles and trinkets. Mermaids were beautiful woman with long hair and beautiful iridescent tales. I never even contemplated there being Mermen until I got older. I would watch videos and "documentaries” on sightings and human interactions with supposed Mer people. Questionable, yeah, but it still caught my attention. I guess this love comes from a life time love of water and the ocean. It’s a whole other world… the ocean. Any documentaries that showed underwater life and the animals and behaviors they exhibit always fascinated me.

For a while during high school, when your at that point where you really have to think about a post high school job, becoming a marine biologist was one of my top 3 picks. I especially wanted to do research with Dolphins. Once I realized that it is a very narrow field to get into, I changed my focus or should I say Spirit guided me to another of my picks, but I never lost my love of the Ocean, mermaids or dolphins for that matter.

After returning from my last spirit filled adventure to South Korea (check out my previous blog entries on South Korea), I again felt Spirits nudge to travel again. I felt guided one day to go to Barnes and Noble. Any avid reader knows this is no hardship being asked of anyone who loves to read or be around books. As usual, I wandered the rows and just felt my body stop. I turned and on the bottom shelf I was drawn to a book. It was the Book of Enoch. Actually, it was the exact book below.

I knew of this book, but never read it, so I was excited to read something spirit picked for me. I love to learn new things. I know, call me crazy, but I have always loved school and learning. After reading the book, I delved deeper into its history. I found that a Benedictine monastery in Uganda held the oldest bible called the Ethiopian Bible, which has 88 chapters instead of the 66 that are in the King James Version. The book of Enoch is included in the 88 chapters of the Ethiopian bible. If you go to Amazon, you can find the bible there. I ordered one immediately, so I could continue my research.

In my google searches, I found images of this monastery and the bible. So, I assumed this was to be my next trip…to visit a monastery in Uganda and see this bible! I was getting excited at this prospect. Anybody who knows me, knows this is right up my alley.

Here are the monks in front of their monastery in Uganda.

The Ethiopian Bible was created about 800 years before the King James Version of the bible. My goal is not to debate which bible is truer or more accurate, or its history or express what it means to Christian development, but to allow the reader to realize The Book of Enoch was laid on my path by Spirit to know and read about. As I stated, I thought this was to be my destination for this next trip. For interests sake, I have included a picture of the original Ethiopian bible below. I have to say, when I saw this monastery and this bible I was super excited to go see this incredible book and meet the Benedictine monks who were the caretakers of this Holy Bible.

I got on the phone to my travel agent Bella from Novaland Tours, and she told me the town and the monastery was smack dab in the middle of a civil war area and travel was not allowed there, plus there was no infrastructure to support travel. Whenever you go down a path and realize this is not the way, I knew I would be lead to the right place. Spirit did not disappoint. I wound up having a very personal experience with the energy of the prophet Enoch and I then realized that was the main point of me getting to know Enoch. To be in this energy and to receive this major blessing, for what lay ahead for the real journey.

I also realized I knew an Enoch, who was Christian and his tribe was Yoruba who lived in Nigeria. We had been connecting and discussing spiritual things, as well as life’s adventures for us and enjoying immensely our conversations, and felt there was a very clear spiritual connection between us and it was right that Spirit was wanting me to visit the country of Nigeria and connect with my real life Enoch.

I again called Bella and arranged for her to start working on a trip to Nigeria. I let her develop the itinerary. A couple of days went by and the itinerary came in my email. I immediately realized there was a place that really resonated with me. It was a UNESCO site called The Sacred Forest in the city Osgobo Researching the country, the people, and the sites I was going to see was all part of my adventure and journey with Spirit. It was during the research, I would get “hits” on things that were important, so I started researching the Yoruba people. This included their religious belief. Although the country supports a major Christian and Muslim faith, it also has an indigenous faith that belongs to the Yoruba people. It was in this research, I had my first glimpse of Oshun and Mami Wata.

Oshun is considered a major deity, a Goddess. Her name means “one who brings us love”. She was the creation of the sun and moon. If you know the singer Beyoncé, and I don't know many people who would answer that "who?", she dressed up as Oshun for a video from her song "Hold Up". In the video she comes in through two golden doors in a wave of water. Pure Oshun energy....

Oshun is represented in this framed image I found. She is a most powerful female Goddess- a water Goddess who is known as a river orisha.

She is a protector of the poor and the mother of all orphans. She is a healer, the bringer of song, music and dance. She taught the Yoruba people the art of divination using cowrie shells, as well as songs, chants and meditations taught to her by her father Obatala, the first of the created orisha.

The image to the right is of Mami Wata- the water spirit; our Nigerian mermaid. In Nigeria she goes by the name Yemoja. Images of her show her holding expensive bracelets, baubles and holding a mirror. If you remember, Ariel in the The Little Mermaid has her secret cave filled with these same things.

Mami Wata's mirror is a representation of moving between the present and future. Followers of her can manifest their own reality by imagining themselves in Mami Wata’s world.

She is also seen with a snake wrapped around her and laying its head on her breast. This represents divinity.

It is said she can lose her tail, and have legs and walk among the people in the markets. She can take many forms, including that of a male if wanted.

She is often associated with water, purity, fertility, wealth, love and sensuality. She can also be a jealous spirit, and if you cross her, you will know it by her punishment.

I have come to realize as I continue to delve into more and more cultures and faiths, that there is always a thread that binds us together, and that if you can find the thread, you realize that we are all saying the same thing essentially. The differences are what humans create

There is a “language” higher than humans that if you can feel it, you know we are all one. It boils down to Love. Not in the way humans have defined it, because that is not nearly wide or deep enough to encompass the love of God/Universe/Supreme Being/Olorun - take your pick of names for it is all the same. Faith is a feeling inside that is pure love, no judgements, no rules, no dogmas, just pure heavenly Love. When you put that faith into action, you are love. When you have it inside you, the walls and barriers come tumbling down, and only then can you truly realize we are ALL one.

I realize I digress from my story, but I no longer write what I want. I write what I hear inside me.

So let’s continue….Oshun and Mami Wata presences would become even more prevalent in my life when a week before my trip a co-worker (Lia) was talking about an experience she had at her second job at the Mermaid Museum in Berlin MD in front of the Mami Wata altar. (When I returned from Nigeria, I went to the Mermaid Museum in Berlin MD and took pictures of this altar. The pictures of the sand were taken by Lia before my trip however. I included them here to keep the story flowing).

She recalled coming in to open the store and in front of the altar case that held a unique sculpture of Mami Wata was a a small circular sand pile not far from where the box stood.

The only exhibit that had any sand in it was in the bottom of the Mami Wata altar. The altar had not been moved or changed. The sand pile was feet away from the case in a neat little pile. There was no reason or clear mechanism as to how this got there. This had never shown up before, and the museum was locked the night before and was not opened until she got back the next morning.

Even more significant is that my co-worker did not know I was going to Africa or that I was going to Nigeria, and I listened to her story awestruck. I then told her where Spirit was calling me to go to. After researching Mami Wata, I felt I needed to leave her an offering as I felt this was a sign to pay homage to her and ask for her protection on my trip.

I gave Lia an orange, a bracelet I owned that was made from African stones and a bottle of rum as Mami Wata liked shiny things, food, and fun. Lia stated she would lay these on her altar at the Mermaid Museum on Saturday morning when she worked next, as my flight was leaving Saturday night. She sent me the picture below to show she had indeed put my offerings on the altar, but had put the rum in a cup instead of the bottle. She was afraid someone would take it!

The next day when I boarded my flight in Philadelphia, there was a tornado spotted near the airport in Delaware, so they closed down the airport and all air traffic. Unfortunately, I was in the plane and was taxiing to our spot on the runway when the captain announced the tornado was near the airport, and we were to stay put until it passed. I counted my blessings that I was not up in the air during that time! When we finally got on our way, we were behind the winds of the tornado and it was rough! I called on all heavenly help, including Mami Wata to protect and keep this airplane up and safe!

We moved onto calmer airs and I gave thanks for the rest of the ride. Because of the long delay in Philadelphia, we landed in Frankfurt Germany with 30 mins to spare to get to security, and then get to my gate. To my chagrin, this is a huge airport and you need to take a tram to get to the main terminal, and that took 20 mins from the gate I arrived at. I ran the rest of the way to my gate to take me to the last part of this trip, only to be told that Lufthansa had cancelled my flight, and had re-booked me on another flight.

So I turned around and started walking and in 15 mins I arrived at the terminal and went up to the Lufthansa counter to discuss my flight. I found they had re-booked me on a flight 8 hours later and I was to fly to Uganda and then from there to Nigeria….so I was going all the way to the east of the country to go back to the west part of the country. I won't go into what I said or thought, but decided there was nothing I could do.

With so much time to kill , at some point my thoughts wandered and I realized I was going to Uganda after all, although not staying in the country but to wait for the next plane.

The energy of the book of Enoch and the monastery had found its way to me after all. I don’t always understand Spirits prompting, but you have no option to go with the flow, and I have learned to do that well.

While in Uganda, I thanked God for being in the same country as this amazing bible was kept. The mountains surrounding the airport were actually beautiful to see, and if things had been different, I would enjoy staying there. Instead, I enjoyed the airport window mountain view and thought about the book of Enoch, the blessing the prophet Enoch had given me before I left for this trip, being in Uganda and marveled at spirits synchronicities. I was finally boarding my flight to Nigeria. At this point I would be getting into Nigeria on Monday morning, instead of Sunday night. Talk about tired and exhausted!

My tour started on Tuesday, so I had the rest of the day on Monday to recuperate, sleep and take a hot shower and connect with Enoch. The first part of our tour was amazing, but I want to concentrate on Day 4 as that was when we were visiting the Sacred Forest in Osgobo city, where Mami Wata made her presence felt.

I knew this visit would be important, and I love being in nature and walking. It is a UNESCO Heritage site, and continues to be a sacred place for the Yoruba people. Present in the forest are priestess's who still perform major ceremonies to Mami Wata and Oshun. There are 40 shrines and 2 palaces in this sacred forest dedicated to the patron saint of the Osun River, as well as many sculptures and works of art at this sacred grove. This sacred forest is Oshuns primary sanctuary

The above picture shows the entrance to the sacred forest. It is amazing to go by in a car as a wall starts to come into your view and seems to go on and on and you realize at once this is someplace special. The wall with art work on it and the entrance is beautiful. No wonder it is a UNESCO Heritage site. You could feel the energy as you walked up to the entrance.

As you are walking to the front of the gate, you start passing a wall made of clay. The carvings in the clay and the intricate metalwork on the wall immediately tells you this is an important place. A magical, special place.

There was a beautiful sculpture in metal work on the outside gate that included Mami Wata and people around her offering her praise and offerings. The multiple forms of art work were amazing to behold. I was not expecting the prevalent figure of Mami Wata, but there she was. I was so excited! How beautiful to see my Nigerian Mermaid right in front of me!

I entered the front gate with Yemi, my tour guide, Enoch and myself. We were soon met with our guide for the Sacred Forest who would walk with us and explain the significance of all that we saw. Of note, you are not allowed to wander yourself through the paths and forest and must have a guide. There are places you are not allowed to venture into, for they are sacred and only the priestesses are allowed to go into.

Here is our tour guide explaining the carvings on the wall as we were going in.

Here is some art work on the gate. This was a representation of a fertility God.

This is the front entrance to the Sacred Forest just past the gate. The path through the gate takes you deep into the sacred forest.

We walked through this gate and in the front of this path, to the left, stood an unusual large conch shell looking entrance. I just stood in front of it, transfixed....in awe.... and started to walk towards it, feeling it pull me inside. The guide gently put his hand on my arm and told me that only high priestesses were allowed to enter, as this was the entrance for them to walk into to go to the river for the yearly honoring of Mami Wata and the blessing of the water. There is a definite, no mistaking it, female energy presence as you look at this entrance. It is very strong when you stand in front of it. The pull into it is undeniable. Since I could not go inside, I was allowed to stand in front of it for as long as I wanted, and I got as close as I could to the energy.

As we walked down the path, we were surrounded on both sides by the dense forest. As we got closer to the river, there were specific stone edifices either by themselves or surrounded by other stone columns. You knew instinctively these were places of worship and had a connection to this forest. The offerings made the stones look like hot wax had been dripped on them. However, it turns out to be red palm oil

The guide told us that the colors of Mami Wata are red and white and you may see priestesses dressed in one of these colors or have both on them to honor Mami Wata. It is no surprise then to see the red or white cloths draped over the altars.

We were soon to come upon the first of the two palaces in the forest. Below, is the first one you come up to. Like the art work we passed, the palace also looked like something made of the earth, but with intricate designs and melting hallways into each other. It reminded me of a wet sand sculpture one would find at the beach. Again, we could not go inside, but could look at the outside of it. The intricate work on the poles holding up the veranda were amazing.

The palace did not look like a typical palatial palace, but one could still sense the magnificence of this building in its artwork and how it was constructed.

As we continued our walk we found ourselves coming to the second palace below. In the front of this building stood a tall deity wrapped in white, holding a baby. The guide told us she was honoring fertility. If you touch the statue and pray for a child, especially if you are trying to conceive or you are infertile, she will hear your requests. On the back side of the statue, which I did not take a picture of, there is another baby on her back. The guide told us to be careful, as you may have twins! The statue looked like it had been touched and rubbed on many times with the prayers of hopeful couples.

This is my tour guides Yemi’s hand touching the second child in her pack on her back, asking for this blessing in his life. Notice that the statue is wrapped in a white cloth and behind this large deity, you can see a altar wrapped with a red cloth.

We are now close to the river Osun and you can hear it softly through the trees. Out of respect for the priestesses, I did not take a picture of them or where they were. This is sacred to them and their presence there is a blessing for the grounds. Close to the tree, you can see the white cloth on the stone statue; you know it is dedicated to Oshun.

As a very vague comparison, having grown up Catholic when I was young, It helped me to think of them as nuns or sisters of the order of Mami Wata. They honor her, keep her sanctuary safe and sacred, perform sacred rituals and prayers. They do it together and they do it separately. They are not nuns or sisters, and I want to make that clear. They are priestesses in their own right.

We are now down by the river. It is muddy looking, like a storm has just passed through and stirred up the water. You can see a dip into the side of the river bank where many people go down and walk into the water for a blessing. This river is sacred....this land is sacred and home to the river goddess Osun, patron of land, beauty and fresh water. Pilgrims have been known to bathe and drink of the sacred river. You can see the alter to the side of the river and when the river is high the altar is surrounded by the water. Both Enoch and I walked into the water and asked for Mami Watas blessing and we placed an offering at the altar near the tree.

Our visit was coming to an end and we headed back through the forest path back to the gate. The guide talked about how important this site is for the Yoruba people and Nigeria. It had been going into a state of disrepair as the money and interest in this place had started to wane. However, a revival of a sort was about to take place when it was granted a label of a UNESCO Heritage Site. A resurgence of local artists were called on to help restore it back from its crumbling conditions.

This sacred forest has been revitalized and brought back to life by many artisans who have restored the original buildings and statues using traditional materials.

You will also find many animal guardians of this forest in the form of small monkeys who are very used to humans and most visitors bring them bananas as an offering. Yemi stopped before we got to the forest and bought a bunch for us to give to them. They will take them from your hand and have no problem getting close to you.

This forest is an incredible place exuding peaceful energy as you walk the paths through the forest, and finally to the sacred river. It left one knowing you have just walked on hallowed earth.

Although many artisans helped in the restoration of the buildings and restoring the art work, this forest has been blessed with a special artisan who originally was born in Austria, and found her way into the heart of the Yoruba people. The love she had for the culture and the forest especially, would lead her to create many blessings for her new community. Her name is Susan Weinger. Her story is amazing into how she made her way from Austria to Nigeria and would in her later years become an integral part of this Sacred Forest. So loved was Susan by the Yoruba people she was given a special privilege of being a priestess known as Adunni Olorisha. For an outsider to be given this privilege is rare. This is a picture of a young Susan Weinger below.

The second part of my tour in Osogbo would involve me visiting Susan's house that is still managed by one of her “children”. I was able to talk to this child and spend time in Susan's house and having an intimate conversation with her. Susan is no longer alive, but being in her house made me feel like the house was wrapping me in a holy high energy of peace and love...in the energy of a "saint".... But that my friends is a story for my second blog energy …….stay tuned.