Arnaldo Batista (He/Him)

Akia: What is your name?

Arnaldo: Arnaldo Batista.

Akia: What is your age?

Arnaldo: I'm 30.

Akia: Where are you from?

Arnaldo: Brazil.

Akia: What area?

Arnaldo: The center. It's called Goiania.

Akia: Where are you, where are your ancestors from?

Arnaldo: Brazil. Brazil. Yeah.

Akia: What is your religion or practice or just spirituality base?

Arnaldo: I don't have a religion. I've practiced witchcraft, Wicca, since I was like a teenager, but I never really had a strong attachment to that. If I ever needed, or if I felt the need to do something, I would pray to the Gods or do a spell. But for the past year I've been praying to Yemoja. I love that. Yeah.

Akia: Have you been to any candomblé or ceremonies?

Arnaldo: No, but I would love to. I just don't know people.

Akia: A big dream of mine, which is going to happen most likely next year, is go to the Yemoja festival. It's right before the Bahia carnival. It's that week right before. So, everybody comes to the pilgrimage. We wear all white every day.

Akia: What is your first memory of spirituality as you know it?

Arnaldo: My family are spooky people. I grew up with ghost stories, and my mom is a spiritualist. She was baptized in a spiritualist church. She had to jump over a fire when she was like four years old. And my dad would do candomblé, and he would be in the houses when he was a kid, his entire family. I didn't grow up with the church. We went to church like a couple of times and then we got kicked out for laughing. Me and my sister, who's my best friend, they would put us in the room where they would breastfeed the kids. And we would laugh so loud. You could still hear us, so we got kicked out. So, I never was really Christian as a kid, but I remember hearing these stories from my mom and my dad when I was super young. Spooky stories.

Akia: How would you describe your practice?

Arnaldo: Every Saturday, today, around seven o'clock. I light a candle. I kneel. I have a little altar in my house. I have the image of Yemaya, her portrait, on my wall, and I talk to her. Yeah. I speak Portuguese to her to have an affinity with my people. I live on a river, and ever since I've moved to my apartment, I’ve felt this peace. And I think it's her giving me this peace. Every Saturday, I throw out the last week's river water. So, I can grab some fresh water from the river in a cup, and I put on the altar, and I light an incense, and I speak to her.

Akia: Would you say that it's something that just comes naturally to you? Just even building a ritual for yourself.

Arnaldo: So, I also go to the beach a lot. I'm Brazilian. I'm in from the center of the country, so it's not like my people are beach people by any means, but I grew up in Miami. Whenever I would go to the beach, even as a young kid, my father would tell us to jump seven waves. And to say thank you, Yemaya, for letting us in her home. And, I've been doing that as an adult for years, going to the beach and jumping my waves, and speaking to her on the beach. But then I went through a divorce, and then I felt like I needed to have like a closer connection, so that's where the practice kind of took off in terms of me, every week, doing something habitually.

Akia: Actually, I love that because like every time I go to the beach, I genuinely do feel like it's my one time I like really interact with her. She can get a little rough.

Arnaldo: She's like one of the more insightful ones.

Akia: And you feel it. The personality is so strong.

Akia: Do you feel comfortable and safe to practice your rituals outside of your home?

Arnaldo: Well, I go to the beach, and I do it. I brought flowers to the water. I brought offerings to her at the beach. I'm proud of it, it's not something I feel ashamed of, something to hide. So, if somebody at the beach were to be like, ”What the fuck are you doing?” I'd be like, this is nothing, I'm going to do my offering. Apparently, you’re supposed to take a watermelon to her, but I'm not there yet. I'm not going to show up with a big watermelon.

Akia: We do it.

Arnaldo: You do?

Akia: Yes. Yeah. Yes. And no one says anything. No, because it's kind of normal, because there are so many Santeros that live in Miami.

Arnaldo: Okay. Right. Yeah, that's true. Then next Saturday I'll do that. 

Akia: If I'm at the beach, one of my favorite beach snacks is literally eating watermelon. So I'll eat some watermelon with her, and then I'll just throw the rest in the ocean.

Akia: Do you have a spiritual home? Do you feel like you have a community of people that you can practice with? 

Arnaldo: No. Yeah. I don't know if I would want to either. 

Akia: Really? Why? 

Arnaldo: I feel like I don't know. I'm a loner. I'm a very private person. But my sister's super witchy.

Akia: She does. She was my neighbor. She was my best friend. 

Akia: Do you ever be witchy together? 

Arnaldo: We do, but her witchy is more of a different vibe; she'll make an herb tea. Which is amazing and powerful. It’s just a different sort of thing.

Akia: Oh, she's a green witch. Exactly.

Arnaldo: So, I think that would be my closest thing to a community. 

Akia: Do you want one? 

Arnaldo: Maybe. Yeah. I gotta check it out. I've never been a part of one, so I can't say.

Akia: Actually, are you open?

Arnaldo: I'm a Gemini, so you know, I just gotta vibe.

Akia: I'm a Libra, so I feel you.

Akia: How did you learn about this? 

Arnaldo: My dad. His first tattoo was a big portrait of Yemaya on his back. His entire back. And he also had a restaurant, a nightclub, when we were growing up as kids, and one of the first things we bought was a statue of Yemaya that he hung right in the center, and it was there. It probably is still there. So, just as a kid, hearing my dad, also with his experience as a kid himself. Going to the houses,  he would tell the stories about everything he would do, but he never told me what to do. He just told me of Yemaya, and he told me her dominion was water, and to jump the seven waves, but he didn't ever go specifically into how to commune with a God or Goddess. He just gave an overview. So, the other things that I do, I just feel that is what I should do for me. I llight a candle, because I think that's what people do. Or  I'll talk, because I think that's what people also do,  talk to their Gods and Goddesses.

Akia: Is your father still around?

Arnaldo:  Yeah, he lives in Brazil. He lives in Brazil. We are friends.

Akia: Friends. Okay, that's nice. It's like tribes.

Arnaldo: We're not best friends. We know each other, and we respect each other, and when we're around, we talk. It's open. 

Akia: Do you feel like you can be completely open with Yemaya? 

Arnaldo: She's in my room. She watches over my bed. She sees everything. She sees literally everything. And then recently, a guy looked at it, and it's like, she just watches everything? And I was like, yeah, I mean, my version of this Goddess accepts everything.  I'm not gonna hide who I am from her. But when I speak to her, like I mentioned, she is one of the more vengeful sort of Goddesses, so I’m very, not in fear, but super respectful. I bow my head when I'm talking, and I call her mother. And when I leave, I walk backwards, I take seven steps back, backwards. I'm very respectful. And I speak out loud, like a crazy person, people that's probably watching me from my balcony, on my knees, like speaking to her. But yeah, very respectful, not imploring or begging, like, Why did you do this? It’s very much like, I am basically your servant.

Akia: Do you see Yemaya in other people?

Arnaldo:  I never thought about that. Probably my mom. See, because when I do talk to her, I think about my mom. It's like, as if I'm talking to my mom a lot. Yeah. So yeah, I think I would, I treat her the same way I do with my mom.

Akia: Do you have any gifts that you were born with?

Arnaldo: I think I'm very good at intuition. But I think ever since I was a kid, I always knew what to do. I've never been in a bad situation that I put out for myself.  No, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that. But I think I have a super strong mind, and I'm very intuitive. If I follow it. There will  be moments where I'm just quiet, sitting, not trying to think of what the next step is. And I'm super relaxed and I'm not thinking about anything. Usually, when I'm smoking a cigarette in the morning, but a thought will come to me and say, You have to do this. And then I do it. And then it turns out to be what I had to do without thinking about it.

So, I think I have a very strong intuition. 

Akia: Where do you feel Yemaya? 

Arnaldo: I think my heart, my chest. 

Akia: What evokes that? 

Arnaldo:  I feel just like my anxiety. I feel like intense feelings in my chest. Like, usually people get like headaches or whatever, or they feel like the weight, but I always feel when I'm talking to her, like my heart starts to beat up a little bit more. It’s the heart, it's about love, and it's about all the good feelings.

Akia: What have been some of your protection rituals, especially during this time period?

Arnaldo: I crochet, and I'm a very big fabric worker in general.  So, I will make these little charms. I have one on my ankle as well. And,  I bless them with saltwater. I tie knots seven times, thinking about intentions. I do that for my family, that's what I did over New Year's. I light Pablo Santo and  Mugwort throughout my house. And whenever I pray to her, too, I always ask her to please protect me over the week. 

Akia: Other than that, what else do you pray for? 

Arnaldo: Health.  I have really bad health. I'm always sick. Always constantly sick. So I ask her to just give me health for this week. And if it's not, I'm just like, fine. Yeah. Not healthy this week, but at least I'm alive to ask for health again. But health, a better job opportunity, protect my mom, and my sister, and my dog, and my dad. Mainly those three things. It's for health, protection, and just bettering myself. 

Akia: Who do you think prays for you? 

Arnaldo: My mom. Yeah. My mom. My mom does. She does. Through Jesus. She's super open with it, though. She’s the one who told me to buy candles and what specific candles to buy. 

Akia: So who's the last person you prayed for? 

Arnaldo: This guy over here. He asked me last week to light up a candle. So I prayed for him.

I also pray for my ex-husband a lot. Yeah. And I'm just like, like, I hope he's okay. Don't know anything about him. But I hope that he's okay. He finds his light wherever he is. 

Akia: I have a question about your mom, since you said that she showed you the candles and whatnot. Where did that come from with her? 

Arnaldo: I think just being around my dad.  She was 17 when she came here from Brazil, and she basically grew up around Cuban people her entire life. She’s 52 now. So she must've had some conversations with some santeros before, but I never asked her how she knew that. 

Akia: Intuition.

Arnaldo: Yeah. I mean, my mom is the queen of intuition. She was like, buy white and blue candles. I was like, okay. 

Akia: Do you feel like what you do brings you closer to God? 

Arnaldo: I was always scared, because I was never raised in the church, when people would ask me, What do you believe in?  I would always say nothing. And not that I was scared, but I never felt I had that part in my brain to do that. When I was growing up, it felt silly. And then I would try, and nothing would happen, and I wouldn't feel fulfilled.I don't know if I feel super close, but I feel like I'm working on it. 

Akia: Have you created certain milestones for yourself in your journey? 

Arnaldo: I was taught as a kid, never bring shells home. And then I read that it's okay if you have shells to give to an altar for Yemaya. It took me a couple of months, and I was like, I don't know, this feels wrong. But I went to the beach, and I spent the entire day getting the prettiest shells that I could find. And they're all on my altar.