Oshun

Oxum (in the standard Yoruba orthography Ọ̀ṣun, revered with the regal titles Ìyálóde, Ọ̀lọ́lá Àbátà and Yèyé Kari) is the orisha of sweet waters, of the great rivers, of the waterfalls, of female fertility, of gold, of gleaming brass, of love and of spiritual wealth in the traditional Yoruba religion and in Afro-Atlantic traditions. The sovereign patron of the sacred city of Òṣogbo (Osogbo), in Nigeria, where her tutelary river runs through the Sacred Grove listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Oxum is the seventeenth primordial deity in the cosmogony of Ifá. When the male deities sent by Olodumare tried to organize creation while excluding her from political and liturgical decisions, the whole cosmos stagnated in drought and sterility; only after the gods acknowledged the indispensability of female power and paid her public homage did the springs flow again and life triumph. Endowed with refined strategic intelligence, Oxum obtained from Orunmilá mastery of the oracle of the sixteen cowries (ẹẹrìndínlógún), becoming the great spiritual counsellor who protects the wombs of mothers and guides the growth of children.

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

The golden abebé (fan), the mirror, the gold and the color yellow

Primary sources

• Jacob K. Olupona, Òṣun across the Waters: A Yoruba Goddess in Africa and the Americas. translation: Coletânea de fontes etnográficas e oriki, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
• Pierre Verger, Dieux d'Afrique: Culte des orishas et vodouns à l'ancienne Côte des Esclaves. translation: Paris: Paul Hartmann Éditeur, 1954.
• Ulli Beier, The Return of the Gods: The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger. translation: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.

Studies

• Diedre L. Badejo, Ọ̀ṣun Sèègèsí: The Elegant Deity of Wealth, Power, and Femininity. Africa World Press, Trenton, 1996.
• Sandra T. Barnes, Women in Yoruba Religion and Society. University of Pennsylvania Press, Filadélfia, 1990.
• Oyeronke Oyewumi, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1997.