This lecture is part of the Changing Times, Changing Worlds Conference in Cromwell, Connecticutt from 21 November to 23 November, 2025. The theme of the conference is “Dancing Within Light and Shadow”.

Quimbanda is an Afro-Brazilian witchcraft focusing on the spirits known as Exu and Pombagira, spirits of the crossroads, agency and power. Each is intrinsically bound to the world of the Dead, being messengers and emissaries of ancestry and place. Exu and Pomba Gira are in themselves legion, manifesting in the world around us, and primarily are organized into Seven Kingdoms: The Beach, the Woods, the Cemetery, the Cross, the Harp, the Crossroads, and the Souls. Each of these Kingdoms has certain characteristics that color the specific reach, power, and qualities of the specific Exus and Pombagiras there, but they not the only spirits found  in these places…

Kiumbas, or shells of the dead, are the hungry ghosts or larvae of Quimbanda. They are hollow versions of the individuals they once were, shades of the dead that are overcome by their emotions– they are the lingering ghosts of desire.  Often their presence invites unwanted emotions and obsessions in people, and they must be cleansed from the body, temple, and home. The experienced macumbeiro can utilize the same spirits because of their relationship with Exu and Pombagira, but even then it is a work of constant rigor and containment.

Looking the types of Kiumbas, how and where they manifest both in nature and in the emotional body and psychology of the person to whom they attach, we can understand seven lingering hungers parallel to each of the Seven Kingdoms. Utilizing the materia and authority of the spirits of each Kingdom we might tame, pacify, transform, or eradicate such errant dead that are a necessary reality of the work of Quimbanda. We can look at how these very real spirits blur the line between outer and inner demons, and invites us to examine the miasma of our work as magicians and witches through the equivalencies in necromantic traditions around the world. 

For more information about the Changing Times, Changing Worlds conference and to register, follow this link.