Oshun

Origin

In folk tradition, Oshun is the Orisha spirit of beauty, love, fertility, and most of all, femininity. She is the patron of the Osun river in Nigeria, and the deity of fresh water rivers. Being a lover of honey and symbolized with the peacock, she was one of the main orisha brought down to create the Earth.

However, she was discarded because of her position as a love goddess. So, being unwanted, she left back to heaven to admire herself in a mirror. And, after a while of work, the rest of the orishas realized that they were unable to revive or birth anything anew without the goddess Oshun. So, they returned to heaven to plead and beg for her to return. And, after they all apologized, she returned to the earth and bathed everything in fresh water, fertilizing the world and reviving all. From then, she was placed over fresh water.

She would be venerated as a woman of sensuality and love. The lover of Shango, she is the nurturer of humanity.

Creation

In her mortal life, Oshun was Osun, the wife consort of King Shango, the third ruler of the kingdom of Oyo.

Powers and Abilities

Oshun is the orisha of fresh water, and can fully control it. In one myth, when not given an offering by her followers, she grew angry and allowed a never-ending stream of rainfall to take over the earth. Flooding the planet, she only stopped after they gave her a offering. Her water can fully birth and/or revive life, as it once did in the Yoruban origin story.

In another story, all of the Orishas were calling for Ogun to come from the forest, as his followers yearned for him. But, he refused to leave. However, Oshun appeared to him in a stream, mesmerizing him with her sensual dance, before using her honey to convince him to come out. It is said that she could charm anyone, even the other Orishas, or the supreme god, Olodumare.