In the Beginning

My take on the Taino creation story.

Before sound, before matter, before color, there was Atabey, The Supreme Mother, who created the Cosmos out of herself, and it was good.

To unfold her vision, the Supreme Mother divided herself into two equally balanced expressions of love and power.

Yucajú was the beginning of the idea.

Guabanex was its completion.

And through their rhythmic, balanced interchange, the worlds were born, and the evolution of Atabeys’ idea of the cosmos unfolded over untold billions of years.

The Natural world emerged, fish in the sea, birds in the sky, animals roamed the land, and eventually, Locao: human beings, made in the image and likeness of their creator. The dual essences of Yucajú and Guabanex balanced them, and they were endowed with the Supreme Mother’s ability to create worlds out of themselves using magic words.

And mankind has been forging worlds in their image and likeness ever since.