Prayer is necessary.

Priests of Santeria pray before divination, cleansings, and sacrifice. They use special praise names for the Orisha and use legal names for blood and religious ancestors. Details change depending on the reason for prayer. This article describes how to invoke Yemaya prayer for money.

Prayer is a verbal petition to the spiritual realm.

Prayer in Santeria starts with the person dipping their fingers in a gourd of cool water and letting three drops of water hit the floor while saying:

Omi tutu
Ona tutu
Ashe tutu
Tutu ile
Tutu Laroye
Tutu ariku babawa

Cool water,
Cool road,
Cool energy,
Cool house,
Cool Laroye
(mischievous path of Elegba for whom communication is key)
Coolness so that we do not see death

Cooling the road before us is a way to ask that the future not be fiery and treacherous. Cooling the house we are in is necessary because we are about to invoke Orisha to our home. Elegba is the Orisha of communication and is essential to sending our prayer to the Orisha. The cool water is also an offering to placate hot energies, such as death.

Once this introductory prayer and libation are complete, we praise Olodumare:

Mojuba Olorun
Mojuba Olofin
Mojuba Olodumare

Praise to the owner of the sun / heaven
Praise to the owner of the king of the palace
Praise to the owner of repositories of all possibilities

The praise names of God in Santeria depict a deity that is the owner of all in every realm. Ownership of these different domains highlights the immensity of God in Santeria. From the king, to the sun, and the universe, God owns everything that was, is, and will be.

Following the invocation of Olorun, Olofin, and Olodumare, we praise Egun:

Ibae layen torun gbogbo’Egun Araonu ori emi nani (your name).

We pay homage to all the ancestors of (your name).

Egun is a concept in Santeria that embodies our deceased ancestors. But for practitioners of Santeria, Egun also includes deceased religious relatives. Egun encapsulates our ancestors, whether blood or stone.

After the opening libation and praise of Olodumare and Egun, Yemaya’s praise names are called. We are calling Yemaya’s praise names to invoke the energy she represents. She is the owner of all the water, including the rivers.

An example of her praise names is:

Yemaya olodo!

Yemaya, owner of the river.

To call Yemaya, it is advisable to shake Yemaya’s rattle while calling her. We often adorned her rattles with blue and white beads in multiples of seven. To open a potentially stronger portal to Yemaya, you could bring offerings to where she lives in nature. Any large body of water will do, if there is one close by. The ocean is ideal, but a lake, river, or even a basin of water can symbolize her essence. Besides offering Yemaya prayer, you can also offer food or flowers. Practitioners in Chicago bring offerings to Lake Michigan every year to honor Yemaya as a community. Her foods are melons, plantain chips, pork rinds, molasses, and whole fried fish.

But it is also important to know who she is to offer a more mindful prayer.

Who is Yemaya?

Yemaya is the mother (yeye) whose children (omo) are fish (eje). Yemaya is water, salt and fresh. She has existed since there was water on Earth. She is the oceans, lakes, and rivers. Her water sustains all plants and animals. Yemaya sustains life itself. We associate Yemaya with abundance, as exemplified by this pataki:

“Oshun once gave up everything she had while trying to save the world. Without money, Oshun started washing clothes in the river and people paid her with coins. One day, a coin fell into the water and the current carried the coin to the sea.

Oshun begged Yemaya to return her last coin, because it was all she had to pay for her children’s food. Yemaya heard her prayers. Yemaya picked up the great oceans and showed Oshun the great riches at the bottom of the sea. But Oshun only took the coin that she had lost.

Yemaya, noticing that Oshun only took her coin and nothing else, said, 

“For your honor and honesty, I give you part of my riches and the river as your home, 

but never again give everything you have.”

The great riches of the sea represent Yemaya’s abundance. The story also depicts Yemaya as a caring mother who provides for those in need. But there is an obvious message of only asking for what you need.

Call to Yemaya prayer for money

After omi tutu, praising Olodumare, Egun, you have invoked Yemaya, and it is time to speak to Yemaya prayer for money. Talk with her as you would your mother. Say what troubles you, what situation you are in, and what needs to be done. Talk about the specific reason you need money and your plans.

Yemaya is often one of the Orisha’s that will help us when we are in need. The story of Yemaya giving Oshun the river as her home is symbolic of her as a source of abundance. But remember, Oshun only took the coin that she dropped. She did not ask Yemaya for more than she needed. The story also speaks of giving away too much, and not being mindful of your own resources. Consider why you have money troubles, how you can fix it, ask Yemaya for the power to succeed.