Eshu

Èṣù (in the standard Yoruba spelling Èṣù, also invoked as Èṣù Ẹlẹ́gbára, Bara and Laròyé) is the primordial orisha of communication, of language, of transformative dynamism, of crossroads (oríta) and of the universal circulation of àṣẹ in the traditional Yoruba religion and in the religions of African matrix in the Atlantic diaspora. Far from any Manichaean assimilation with the Judeo-Christian devil, a colonial exegetical distortion begun by missionaries in the 19th century, Èṣù personifies the dialectical principle of movement indispensable for existence and for the interaction between the invisible world (Ọ̀run) and physical reality (Ayé). As established in the sacred corpus of the Odu Òsétùrá of Ifá, Èṣù is the official guardian and carrier of offerings and supplications (ẹbọ): by decree of Olodumare, he always receives the first ritual portion in any ceremony or devotional act, since without his assent and dynamism no door opens, no orisha hears human appeals, and the social order sinks into stagnation or conflict.

6 min read · Reviewed on September 29, 2026 · How we research

The ogó, the crossroads, the number three and the colors red and black

Primary sources

• Wande Abimbola, Awon Oju Odu Mereerindinlogun (The Sixteen Major Poems of Ifá). translation: Ibadan: Oxford University Press Nigeria, 1977.
• Pierre Fatumbi Verger, Orixás: Os deuses iorubás na África e no Novo Mundo. translation: Translation by Maria Aparecida da Nóbrega, Salvador: Editora Corrupio, 1981.
• William Bascom, Ifa Divination: Communication Between Gods and Men in West Africa. translation: Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1969.

Studies

• Juana Elbein dos Santos, Os Nàgô e a Morte: Pàdà, Àsèsè e o culto Égun na Bahia. Editora Vozes, Petrópolis, 1976.
• Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism. Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Robert Farris Thompson, Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. Vintage Books / Random House, 1983.