Elegua is the orisha that opens and closes all paths to humanity. He is the divider of heaven and earth. He travels between heaven and earth letting Olofi and Olodumare know what happens in this kingdom. Elegua is an orisha boy in some respects who loves to play tricks and tests man’s faith. He walks between night and day looking for humanity to test his faith for the great Olofi and the orishas. It is said that there are 121 paths of Elegua. He ranges from a little boy to a very knowledgeable old man. There is also a path of Elegua where the essence is of a woman. In more than half of Elegua’s paths, he is a little boy who sits on street corners, mountaintops, coastlines, hospital entrances, cemeteries gates, etc. He has many names as he has been called Elegba, Elegbara, Legba, Eshu or Exu. Elegua is seen all over the world. From continent to continent he feels, praises and listens to the presence of Elegua. Inseparable friend of Ogun and Ochosi that the trio forms the first group of orishas “Los Guerreros” to receive in Santería. Elegua is anyone and everywhere.

Elegua is the guardian of the dead as well since through him he opens the door for the deceased to walk to reach Olofi where they will rest. In this path he is called Eshu Alagwana. In other religions or beliefs it can be associated with the Egyptian god of the dead Osiris, who leads the dead through the underworld.

Elegua is the one that makes you play at your own risk. By that I mean, he’s the one that if you’re stuck at a crossroads and don’t know which way to go, he’s the one that tests you and watches you make your decision. If you make a wrong decision, Elegua will open the door with his garavato (hook stick made from the guava tree) to make you pay your consequence. While you are paying for your mistakes, he tests you again to see if you continue to do wrong or if you take the right path. If he is successful and he takes the right path, he will open the door to happiness and fortune. If you have heard of a labyrinth, then you may associate it with Elegua. Our lives are made up of labyrinths to see which way we go. Elegua is the guardian who sits in every corner and turn of the labyrinth. If you make the wrong move, he will lead the way to the wrong result. If you take the right path, he will open the path you are looking for.

Elegua knows and sees everything. There is nothing that Elegua does not know. He is the messenger of Olodumare and Olofi, along with the orishas. That is, he is the one who carries the messages of humanity to the orishas and the messages of the orishas to Olofi. That is why he is the first and last orisha to be praised in every ceremony that takes place in Santeria.

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