Bestiary

They are parent. There are few universal truths from around the globe, but parenthood is one of them. A child needs her parents even into adulthood, and the gods recognize as much. Mawu-Lisa, then, personifies the bond between parents — both mother and father, both seed and womb, both nurturer and disciplinarian.

Among vodou devotees, Mawu-Lisa is sometimes asso­ ciated with (or regarded as an aspect of) the orishas Aganju and Yemaja. In Dahomy lore, Mawu-Lisa are celestial twins who combined in matrimony and thus became one. The potency of Their love made living apart unbearable, and so They fused together into a spirit of two-as-one. Mawu is the female entity, and Lisa (much to the confusion of certain English-speakers) is the male, but they exist as the presence of both genders and the absence of either. Thus, They can be thought of as the essence of life itself, because each of us holds elements of the masculine and the feminine.

The joining of Their forces put the creation of the world and all its inhabitants into motion. Mawu-Lisa are the holders of Sekpoli: the breath of life they use to imbue their children with life. When one of Their children is born, They watch over that person with great love and patience, remembering the special needs, tastes, and attributes of each one of their offspring. Everyone is special to Mawu-Lisa. Some people mistakenly believe they can win the favor of their creator by being the smartest or strongest person around, but Mawu-Lisa views all of Their children as special, and potentially capable of great love.

In all aspects of Their existence, Mawu-Lisa remains highly concerned with human procreation. If a woman is unable to conceive, Mawu-Lisa is the deity to ask for help. A successful petition to the god soothes their child’s fear and heals the malady that’s blocking fertility. Ideally, Mawu-Lisa protects the mother through her pregnancy, though the horrific toll taken by childbirth despite their blessings shows that Mawu-Lisa cannot save everyone. The creation of a child, however, through any means necessary, reflects the presence of Mawu-Lisa and acts a sign of Their love.

Healer-mages of African ancestry may also invoke Mawu-Lisa in order to harness the power of Sekpoli when the healer or her patients are low on energy or life force. (In game terms, then when using Quintessence, Prime-Sphere Effects, and Life-Sphere healing spells.) By praying to Mawu-Lisa, a mage can be restored to health after injury or illness, and she may be protected from sickness while she’s under Their protection. Much as They love Their children, however, Mawu-Lisa has little

patience with hubris. When Awe the monkey-god, one of Their earliest children, scaled mountains to the heavens, and bragged that he, also, could create life, Mawu-Lisa made him a porridge with the seed of death in it, and reminded Awe that just as Mawu-Lisa could bless us with life, They could revoke it, too.

Often envisioned as a unified body in which the upper bodies of a man and a woman join into a single body at the waist, Mawu-Lisa may, of course, appear as a man and a woman, as a fusion of a single person with characteristics of any gender, or as person whose gender identity does not match either polarity. Especially because They transcend rigid notions of identity, and love all their children, Mawu-Lisa has been occasionally associated (especially in recent years) with people who live outside those rigid polarities too.

Mawu-Lisa sees every living thing as Their offspring. They are protective of their children, and yet very strict with the punishments those children deserve if they guilty of wrongdoing. They have an incredible patience and see all of Their children as equals: humans, animals, and plants, no matter how great or small.