She rakes and claws at flesh, Our Lady of Ambition…
She brings desires to the fore, Our Lady of the Crossroads…

The spirits called Pomba Giras in 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. They are no less than the mystery of ‘WOMAN’.

In a collaboration with talismanic jeweler Sword + Scythe, we offer these silver Pomba Gira claws in silver with inset garnets. The garra de Exu/garra de Pombagira (Martynia annua) is a seedpod sacred to the cult of Exu and Pombagira, and recognizable to those in Candomble, Umbanda and Quimbanda as integral to the cult.

Their appearance is wonderfully agressively feminine-at once vaginal, clawed, and alien, the garra de pombagira is a beautfiul expression of her força.

Beautifully cast and sculpted to be both easy to wear but still capture the imposing nature of the seed, each garra has a garnet set between its claws. These garnets were washed and fed for Pombagira at the heliacal rising of Antares, a star associated with ambition and desire, the poison at the heart of the scorpion- and perhaps if we are lucky, the poison that cures us. It has a strong sympathy for Quimbanda, and especially the red força of Pombagira.

There are two forms of this pendant, and they are identical in appearance. The difference is in their ritual charges. Each pendant comes with a ritaul to align to either Antares or Pombagira, or both. Only seven of each have been made available to the public. 

Seven under Star and Devil: These silver pendants are set with garnets that were washed and fed (ritually empowered) during the heliacal rise of Antares, incorporating materia from the same election into the pendant under the garnet.

Seven from the Flames: Utilizing key materia prepared during the ritual election of Antares’ heliacal rising, these pendants have the same ritual charge as their siblings but the garnets were not washed and fed during the election.