Sea My Home

This is the spiritual centerpiece of the album — an invocation of Yemanjá, the Yoruba ocean goddess who represents the mother of all Orixás, the source of life and creation.

Key Translations:

• Mãe das ondas (Portuguese) = mother of waves
• Mo n pada s'Ilẹ̀ mi (Yoruba) = I return to my home
• Mo n pada s'Ọ̀nà mi (Yoruba) = I return to my path
• ro mi s'odo ìfẹ́ (Yoruba) = carry me to the river of love
• Ilê (Yoruba) = home, earth, ancestral temple

Key Themes:

• Water as spiritual cleansing — the ocean washes away what no longer serves
• Returning to origin — the sea as womb of creation, source of all life
• Remembering divine name — rediscovering your true spiritual identity

In Afro-Brazilian tradition, Yemanjá is honored as the compassionate mother who receives all offerings, all pain, all prayers. She transforms sorrow into rebirth, much like the ocean transforms everything it touches.

Musical Elements: Ocean sound effects merge with low conga, cinematic strings, and ambient pads at a meditative 90 BPM. The choral harmonies create a sacred, ceremonial atmosphere. The structure builds from intimate whisper to full choir, mirroring the journey from separation to homecoming.

This track anchors the entire Axé Ilê concept — the recognition that home (Ilê) was never lost, it lives within.

[Intro]

{ad-lib: ocean breaths / Yemanjá…}

The song begins with ocean breaths = the rhythmic sound of waves, representing the pulse of creation, the breath of the divine mother. Yemanjá = calling the name of the ocean goddess/mother Orixá, establishing the devotional intention.

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[Verse 1]

I walked the shore where the night still breathes,

The shore = the threshold between land (physical reality) and sea (spiritual realm). Where the night still breathes = in the liminal time of darkness, when the veil is thin and spiritual presence is palpable.

Footprints fading into dreams.

Your footprints (evidence of your journey, your identity in the physical world) are fading into dreams = dissolving, becoming less solid, less defined. You're moving from the material into the mystical realm.

Calling the name I forgot was mine,

You're calling your true name (your divine identity, your soul's essence) that you forgot = lost connection with through life's conditioning and distractions. You're seeking to remember who you really are.

Salt on my lips, a silver line.

Salt on lips = the taste of the ocean, the physical evidence of the sea's presence, also symbolic of tears and purification. Silver line = the moonlight reflected on water, the thread connecting you to the divine, the guidance showing the way home.

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[Pre-Chorus]

I hear the water say, "come, remember"

The water (representing Yemanjá, the divine mother, spiritual source) is calling you: "come, remember" = return to me, recall your true nature, reconnect with your origin.

Old songs rising from the embers.

Old songs = ancient wisdom, ancestral knowledge, forgotten truths stored in cellular memory. Rising from the embers = awakening from dormancy, coming back to life after being buried beneath modern life's noise.

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[Chorus]

Mare Ilê, mãe das ondas, leva-me ao lar
(Sea of home, mother of waves, carry me home)

Mare Ilê = combining "maré" (tide/sea in Portuguese) with "Ilê" (home in Yoruba) = the sea that IS home, the water that holds the temple.
Mãe das ondas = "mother of waves" = honoring Yemanjá as the maternal force of the ocean.
Leva-me ao lar = "carry me home" = asking to be returned to your spiritual origin, your true belonging.

Yemanjá, wash me clean, I'm born again

Direct invocation of Yemanjá with a clear request: wash me clean = purify me, remove what is not mine, cleanse my spirit.
I'm born again = through this cleansing, I experience rebirth, renewal, a fresh start.

The tide knows my name, I'm home within.

The tide knows my name = the ocean/divine recognizes your true identity, you're not a stranger to the sacred.
I'm home within = the revelation that home is not a place you must reach, but a state of being you already contain. The journey ends in self-recognition.

{background: Ilê… Ilê…}

Repeated chant of Ilê = anchoring in the concept of home, temple, sacred space. The repetition is meditative and grounding.

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[Verse 2]

Moon in the foam like an open eye,

The moon reflected in the ocean's foam appears like an open eye = the divine watching, witnessing, seeing you. The universe is conscious and aware of your journey.

Body of water, soul of sky.

The ocean (body of water) and the heavens (soul of sky) are one — as above, so below. The material and spiritual are unified, not separate.

I offer my sorrow to the moving blue,

Offering sorrow = consciously releasing pain, grief, and suffering to the moving blue (the ocean, Yemanjá). This is a sacred exchange, a spiritual ritual of surrender.

It comes back golden, born anew.

What you offered (sorrow) is transformed and comes back golden = returned as wisdom, light, treasure.
Born anew = transmuted, reborn, alchemized into something precious.

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[Pre-Chorus]

I hear the water say, "you remember"

Now the water's message has shifted from "come, remember" to "you remember" = confirmation that the remembering has happened. You've arrived. You've recalled your true nature.

Breath of the sea inside my center.

The breath of the sea (the spirit of Yemanjá, the life force of the ocean) is now inside my center = internalized, integrated. You're carrying the divine within you, not seeking it externally.

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[Bridge]

Mo n pada s'Ilẹ̀ mi, mo n pada s'Ọ̀nà mi

Yoruba: "I return to my home, I return to my path."
This is the declaration of completion — you've found your way back to your origin and your purpose.

Yemanjá, Yemanjá, ro mi s'odo ìfẹ́

Ro mi s'odo ìfẹ́ = "carry me to the river of love" (Yoruba).
The ultimate request: bring me to the source of love, the flow of divine compassion, the current that connects all beings.

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[Outro — chant]

Ilê… Ilê… Ilê…
Home in the heartbeat of the sea.

Final affirmation: Home is found in the heartbeat of the sea = in the rhythm of creation, in the pulse of the divine mother, in the flow of life itself. You've arrived. You've remembered. You are home.