Laroyé Exu! Salve Pomba Gira!
Cabula Mavile Kitula kia Njila is a semi-public Quimbanda de Raíz temple, practicing Quimbanda separate from Umbanda or the many Candomblês. We are firmly rooted in and celebrate our Quimbanda de Angola lineage and hold Quimbanda to be a pragmatic and syncretic pact-based sorcery rooted in Afro-Brazilian cosmologies under the tutelage of Exu and Pombagira-the Devil and his Wife-in all their forms and qualities. With an emphasis on community, hands-on training, and personal empowerment, the temple boasts a diverse and dedicated family of initiates. The Temple is located in the Hudson Valley, two hours upriver from New York City in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains. We host open events several times a year, and regularly perform consultations, workings, initiations, and other services. Feel free to inquire for more information.
What is Quimbanda?
Quimbanda is an Afro-Brazilian tradition focusing on the spirits known as Exu and Pombagira. It is inherently syncretic, and incorporates the ritual technologies and cosmologies of Bantu and Yoruba, syncretized with European conceptions of Sorcery and Witchcraft, and incorporates Indigenous materia magica and herbal modalities.
While the term was popularized in the 20th Century by the spiritist tradition called Umbanda, its roots lay in pre-existent African practices where kimbanda meant ‘healer’ and ‘priest’ in a larger collectivity of traditions also called umbanda, cabula, and often pejoratively macumba. Quimbanda has many expressions, from its inclusion in Umbanda and some Candomblês, to those traditions called 'de raíz’ where the spirits are engaged with on their own terms, outside the doctrines of other faiths.
Who are Exu & Pomba Gira?
The Exus and Pomba Giras of Quimbanda are spirits of agency and power, each a proverbial Devil at the Crossroads. Intrinsically bound to the world of the Dead, these messengers and emissaries of ancestry and place are alternatively known as catiços, seres, and even diabos and demônios. They provoke and tempt, empower and teach, and under their tutelage the Quimbandeiro develops and grows in força–power and strength.
Exu and Pomba Gira are themselves legion. Each person has an intrinsic relationship with an individual Exu and Pomba Gira. It is these individual relationships the Quimbandeiro nourishes through their practice. The name Exu comes from the Yoruba orixa of the crossroads, the name Pombagira from the Kongo-Angola nkisi of the crossroads. While Exu and Pomba Gira of Quimbanda are not the same as these deities, they inhabit the same world, and are served in similar ways. Salve o bom povo da rua!
About the Temple
We are a Quimbanda de Raíz Temple, in the Quimbanda de Angola and Kimbanda Kongo lineages. With an emphasis on community, hands-on training, personal empowerment, the Temple boasts a diverse and dedicated family of initiates.
Under the leadership of Tata Apokan, who was made a Tata Kimbanda in 2009 in Minas Gerais, Brazil, the spiritual house took new form in 2021 when the Temple was established in the Hudson Valley, two hours upriver from New York City in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains.
Performing all ceremonies of Quimbanda, including divination, workings, and initiations, the Temple is the central home to an international community of initiates and students who continue to learn at a distance through remote education and in-person training.
Consultations & Services
Divination is at the heart of our work, interpreting the words of our spirits through our oracles. Once an issue has been diagnosed, we can then endeavor to find a remedy. Divination is performed to examine every day concerns, as well as investigating tradition-specific queries like determining one’s course in Quimbanda and who one’s personal spirits are.
Initiation & Training
For those interested in hands-on training and exposure to how Quimbanda works in a community and temple setting, we offer baptisms, empowerments, and formal priesthood training in the Quimbanda de Angola lineage. These formalized relationships demand physical presence and are reliant upon ongoing visits to the Temple to continue such training.
Courses for Non-Initiates
While praxis and exposure are most at home within a community or temple setting, there is always a possibility for Quimbanda to be practiced without initiation, without membership in a Temple. Additionally, initiation into a lineage does not guarantee training by that lineage. We offer courses and tutelage for those seeking to deepen their knowledge around Quimbanda who may not wish to join a Temple or for those whom distance proves an obstacle.
Articles & Essays
Interested in reading more about Quimbanda? Take a look at our writings and media created by members of the Temple and our sister Cabula and community in Brazil.
Resources & Community
Quimbanda’s digital footprint and presence in the Anglo-phone world has grown exponentially in the last decade. We’ve collected some resources and links to relevant resources and other allied Temples.
Cabula Mulemba (Brazil)
We proudly share our Quimbanda de Angola lineage with our sister house in São Paulo, Brazil: Cabula Mulemba, under the leadership of Maganza Kiasobakiuba. Cabula Mulemba is also our ndaji (root) in Kimbanda Kongo. If you are looking for a Brazilian house that works similarly to how we do, or are curious about Quimbanda de Angola or Kimbanda Kongo, visit their page and follow them on social media.
