Lady of the Ocean, Queen of Mothers, Mother of the Children of the Fishes. She is the River of Life, the ocean is her womb, and she is the mother of many of the Orishas. Yemaya shares the oceans with her lover / brother / son / brother-self, Olokun, and She governs the uppermost part of the waters where the sun’s rays mingle with Her waters to promote life and growth. Yemaya is everlasting, She is motherhood, the universal drive for the survival of a species, the procreative urge, the instinct of a mother protecting her young, and She is the governess of all life on Earth. She is the Most Fruitful of Women, and both She and Olokun are the protectors and benefactors of those who wish to conceive. Yemoya, being the mother of Shango, also has jurisdiction over rain and snow. She has seven roads and seven manifestations, all corresponding to the Seven Seas. She is the blood that pumps through our veins, and the sound of our blood rushing through our bodies is Her lullaby. She is in constant motion, never resting, ever vigilant and though she may seem calm on the surface, there is always activity within Her waters. The Great Mother possesses breathtaking beauty, patience and a gentle hand, yet She is also fearsome, temperamental, moody and stern. She nurtures her children, but She is also a disciplinarian. She is symbolized by the fish, mermaid, seagull, wharf rat, ibis, vulture and duck, and She shares the beauty of the peacock feather with Oshun. Her ofrenda is a bounty of melons and grapes, strewn with the petals of the flowers of motherhood, draped with sea mosses.
Lauren –
Wet, it smells like I had melted rich chocolate onto my skin, and as it dries it immediately shifts into being leather-heavy with a hint of patchouli and the cocoa in the very background. It smells amazing (my mom described it as a scent you would wear when you wanna get laid) but unfortunately doesn’t last on my skin, fading within a couple hours, and while it lasts it has no “throw” – you’d have to put your nose right against skin that it has been applied to and even then, it’s faint. Very pleasant and I do intend to keep trying it in different weather settings as I think more body heat will help the scent. Right now it’s rather cold in my area.
Gloame –
Mm chocolate. Seems almost to have a bit of cedar in there, but maybe that’s the flowers mixing with the leather. The incense is low, but I’m getting just a ping of bubblegum like I do with some incensey blends (can’t figure out what type of incense, unfortunately). All in all, it’s a pleasing scent, but not a bottle for me.
Where I’d wear this: Chocolate and camping
Kourtney –
It’s goooood. The cocoa/chocolate burns off quickly, and it just leaves an earthy richness – I had to come back and read the notes (I’d ordered an imp). I couldn’t pick out the exact notes but it smells good on me.
Kourtney –
It’s goooood. The cocoa/chocolate burns off quickly, and it just leaves an earthy richness – I had to come back and read the notes (I’d ordered an imp). I couldn’t pick out the exact notes but it smells good on me. Earthy and dark.
VetchVespers –
Deep, dark, warm cocoa with a dusty, herbal bite. Tezcatlipoca has a richness to it that reminds me of good coffee beans or tobacco, that sort of earthy bite. It’s not sweet or foodie. It stays fairly close to the skin on me and last for a long time. I think it could be worn by either sex. One of my favorites.
KatRampant –
Really nice chocolate note in the bottle – super deep and rich. On the dry down some resinous notes emerge, something musky, and then a hint of marigold and leather. This is a seriously complex blend on me. The dry ends up in a really different place than the wet. The cocoa is much less detectable, but it remains earthy and dark and really delightful.