Babalú-Ayé
lord of plague and its passing
earthBabalú-Ayé carries both the sickness of the earth and its cure, feared and beloved; to dream of him is to meet suffering not as punishment but as a hard teacher, and to sense the mending that waits on its far side.
Fragments
Wrapped in raffia from crown to foot, he walks with a limp and a small broom, sweeping the ground clean of the sickness he himself can send.
The grain left to rot and the same grain that heals are both his; those who tend the suffering with patience find him standing quietly at their shoulder.
illnesshealingearthendurancemercy