Image of St. Croix Virgin Islands shortly after take off
“The orishas demonstrate through natural acts that every element carries both positive, ire, and negative, osogobo, forces,” says Martha Moreno Vega in her book, The Altar of My Soul: The Living Traditions of Santeria. “Our own lives reflect the need to balance these positive and negative energy fields. If we pollute the ocean, it will cease to give us food. And the air that is essential to our lives must be kept clean if we are to survive. We are part of a divine creation. And I ask my godchildren to respect this creation, since orun, the spirit world, is spiritually united with aye, the world of the living, like two halves of a tightly fitted calabash.”
Published in 2000, The Altar of My Soul is a memoir of Vega's journey as a Yoruba priestess in Santeria. Dr. Vega is one of the scholars that you'll get a chance to meet in the documentary film, Across The King's River. The current plan is to interview her in Puerto Rico. Although most of the film will be shot in Africa, it is important to pay tribute to the ancestors, and that's why I'll also be traveling to the Caribbean islands of Puerto Rico and St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
Without going to the Caribbean, I'll truly feel like an important component of the story is missing – part of my soul.
For more information about the life and work of Dr. Moreno Vega, visit: http://www.martamorenovega.com/