OXALÁ

Great king of purity

Oxalá is the first Orixá and is regarded as the most powerful and important. From Olorum he obtained the responsibility to create earth. Water, earth, and air are associated with Oxalá as the primordial elements from which all creation emerged. He governs these elements.
The dynamics of Oxalá is responsible for all creatures, all beings are protected by him. Therefore he controls life and death. Oxalá is identified with heaven, with the principle of the end of everything. Exú starts, Oxalá ends.
Oxalá appears as an old hunchback and sick man and also as a powerful youth. These two representations reflect the responsibility Oxalá carries for the life of creatures, for the perpetual cycle of birth, ageing, and death.

Virtues like wisdom and equilibrium are connected with him. His color is white, his symbol the cross, and rock crystal is his stone. He lives in heaven and Sunday is his day.

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