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Yeye opo
Mother of Abundance
O san rere o
We sing your praises
Ase
The child of Ife where the sun rises
The mother who gives a bounteous gift
The tender hearted one
The source of water
The child of Ijesa
The water to whom the King prostates to receive a gift
Yeye O, Osun, Osun O, aare me Osun waa se kumara!
(chant to be sung to Osun, inviting her to come)
Most people, when they think of Osun, think of her as a river Goddess, or a fertility Goddess, the
Afrikan Venus. However, she is much, much, more than that. Osun is central to Yoruba
thought and praxis. Her power is multidimensional. Osuns name means source. from the word
orisun. The source of a river, a people, of children, of wealth, of life. Osun represents the
perpetually renewing source of life. As the elemental power of water, she makes life possible.
Osun is the child-giving and curative power of water. She is Odo Aro, the blue river, the birth
canal where our ori is developed. What some people forget, is that Osun is also the owner of
Eerindinlogun sixteen cowrie divination. She is also the source and condition of political
power, as leader of the Aje (the Mothers, Iyami). As such, she is a founder of the Ogboni
Society, the council of elders that bestow kingship. Like Esu, she can change at will. She can be
the loquacious and beautiful young flirt who succeeds by killing you with kindness, or the deadly
serious old woman, owner of the spiritual eye (mystical power); she can be rich or poor, loving
or vengeful. She is the Benevolent Mother and the Fierce Warrior. She heals with her cool waters
and destroys indiscriminately with her raging floods. She is the creator of children, fertility
squared, yet she is the leader of vengeful spirits (Aje) who will take any child away at the drop of
a hat. She is the fierce defender of her children (priests and priestesses). She cries when she is
happy, and laughs when she is sad. To accentuate her dual natures, Osun carries a brass cooling
fan in one hand and a brass cutlass in the other. Strength and compassion; brass and honey.
In Lucumi, there are five different caminos or roads of Ochun. These are distinctively different
Ochuns, each with their own narratives, rituals and songs. There is Ochun Yeye Moro, the
beautiful dancer, Ochun Ololodi, the diviner, Ochun Ibu Kole, the powerful buzzard (Aje), etc.
But there is only one Osun, a dynamic, multifaceted Orisa.
In Yorubaland, Orisa serve as the glue that holds communities together. Each town or city has a
founding narrative that includes the founding Orisa and intertwines facts, myths and metaphor.
These mythistories create community-ship, which is at least as strong as the larger sense of
citizenship. Ijesa country in Osun State, Nigeria, is the center of Osun worship. It is the place of
the largest annual Osun festival. People come from all over the world to attend the festival and
be blessed and/or healed by the sacred waters of the Osun river at the city of Osogbo. In the
Osogbo mythhistory, it is said that a prince (Olarooye) from Ilesa, went out to found a new city
due to a water shortage in Ilesa. He set out with his buddy, a hunter named Timehin (an
incarnation of Ogun), and they led the expeditionary group in search of a water source. They
came upon the Osun river. To make a long story short, they settled there with the blessing and
protection (she and Timehin ran off the invading Tapa warriors from the north) of Osun. This
Itan (story from Odu corpus) is speaking to the sacred nature of this town. It sits on a curve of
the Osun river that is one of those spots on earth that serve as portals. Here is an invocation given
at the start of the annual Osun festival by the Oba:
Aladekoju, I am calling on you
Hail my Beloved Mother Aladekoju
The Beloved one from the town of Efon Ekiti
Hail the powerful Mother Aladekoju
The descendent of the one who uses the crown made of brass
The one who dances with the jingling brass
My Wondrous Mother!
Who owns plenty of brass ornaments in the town of Efon
She moves majestically in the deep water
Oh spirit, Mother from Ijesaland
The land of the tough and brave people
Men who would fight to secure their wives
Even to the point of killing themselves
O wa yanrin, wa yanrin
She who digs up sand, digs up sand
Kowo si
And keeps money there (for her omo children)
Yeye o, a fi ide re omo
Oh beloved Mother, you pamper children with brass (riches)
Oyeye ni mo eni ide kii sun
Wise one, owner of brass who never sleeps (eternal energy)
E gbenu imo fi ohun tore Ota were were ni ti Osun
You live with wisdom and give it away freely (through eerindinlogun)
Osun ke kowo temi fun mi o
Osun, please give me my own money
E ma ri owo temi mo yanrin
Do not bury my money in the sand
Ore Yeye O!
Oh! Thank you dear Mother!
In the above opening invocation for the Osun festival by the Oba, one of the stanzas says, only
Osun can mold my Ori. We know that Ajala Mopin is the molder of heads as he works with
Obatala in the molding of humans, so what is Oba referring to? Osun provides the water that
Obatala (and Ajala Mopin)uses to smooth the clay with which he molds human beings. Osuns
traditional occupation is hair-plaiting, which is a mark of honor to Ori. The hair plaiting style of
Osun is similar to the pattern weaved into the making of Ile-Ori, house of Ori, a cowrie covered
structure that serves as a shrine, or pot to ones Ori. The oriki stanza, Osun owner of the beaded
hair comb for beautiful women alludes to Ori. This aspect of Osun is often overlooked, but is
important to her role as owner of sixteen cowrie divination (eerindinlogun, or dilogun), and the
efficacy of ebo (no divinity can bless one without the consent of his/her Ori).
Odo gbogbo lagbo
All rivers are Osuns medicine
Obatala molds the body, Ajala Mopin molds the head, Olodumare supplies the breath . Osun
supplies the water, Thus Osun is integral to human creation itself. The Osun pot contains stones
(ota Osun) from the Osun river. Alongside the pot is a special pot for water drawn at dawn
(before anyone else gets there) from a spring and containing one of the stones. This water is
called Agbo and is used for healing, fertility, security, success, protection, progress, etc. In the
Diaspora we use oriki and ese Odu to invoke the spirit of Osun in the water.
Ase gbere wa aye
The one who unexpectedly comes into the world
Omi lo maa gbaa
Will be admitted by water
Arinrin gbere lo sode orun
The one who slowly goes back into heaven
Omi lo maa gbaa
Will be received by water
Omi labuwe
It is water that we bathe with
Omi labumu
It is water that we drink
Enikan ki I bomi sota
No one makes an enemy of water
Ase
In the following itan from Odu Osetura, we are introduced to the real power of Osun. Osun (as
leader of the Iyami, the mothers) holds a special place in Yoruba thought, and is indispensable to
successful and harmonious political, economic, religious, and social life.When Olodumare sent
the first Irunmole (God's task force) down to earth, he sent 16 male Orisa and Osun. In
accordance with Olodumares instructions, they started to set up the world, but they didnt
include Osun in any of their activities. The result was that everything they did was a total failure.
Rain did not fall, women were barren, illness prevailed, there was bitterness and restlessness all
over the world. The sixteen male Orisa went back to Olodumare to find out what was going on.
They said they were living on earth in accordance with the instructions of Olodumare, but
nothing they did was good. Olodumare asked them if they had included Osun in all they were
doing. They said no, they hadn't bothered with her; after all, she's just a woman.
Olodumare ni danidani loun, oun e e dani leemeji
Olodumare said that he was the Creator, but he would never create any person or thing twice
O ni e pada sohoun, o ni e ree be e, ko maa yin lowo si nkan. O ni gbogbo nnkan yin o si maa
gun.
He told Orunmila to go back to his colleagues and that all of them should go and beg Osun for
forgiveness, so that she would agree to to be involved in their affairs. He assured them their
affairs would then be good. So the sixteen male Orisa went and begged Osun for forgiveness, but
she didnt yield until Orunmila made his personal appeal. She said:
E maa be ori yin ateledaaa yin pe oyun ti n be ninu oun yii, koun o bi I lokunrin, nnkan yin
oogun. Amo toun ba bi I lobinrin, e kangun.
Begin to beg your Ori and your Creator, so that the fetus which is in my womb be delivered as a
male child.
She assured them that if it was a male child, their matters from then on would be straight, but if it
was a female child, war would begin in earnest. Obatala used his powers to peer into Osuns
womb, and saw that it was a girl. He (Obatala is androgynous) pointed his ado asure at her womb
and commanded that the fetus change into a male. Orisanla was the first to hold the baby when
born. Then Orunmila, the father, carried the baby and named him Osetuura, who became Odu
Ose Otura, the Odu that imparts ase and invokes Esu.
They said, If someone is pounding yams without the knowledge of Osun, his or her pounded
yam will not be smooth. If someone is preparing oka without involving Osun in it, the oka will
not come out fine. We will involve Osun in whatever we do. We will involve Osun in all our
deliberations. Our Great Mother, who must be present at every important deliberation.
Ose'Tura
It was divined for the sixteen Odu
Who were coming from heaven to earth
A woman was the seventeenth of them.
When they got to earth,
They cleared the grove for Oro,
Oro had his own space.
ase
Nothing moves without Osun!! Ore yeye O! Ogun cant even begin his evolutionary work
without Osun.
A fimo jo tOsun
We will involve Osun in all are deliberations
Agberegede, ajuba
Ajuba Agberegede
A difa fun Osun Sengesi
Agberegede, ajuba
Ajuba Agberegede
Divined for Osun Sengesi
Olooya yun
Owner of the hair comb decorated with iyun
O gbe koko
When she was in a secret place
O n bebo Irunmole e je
She spoiled the ebo of other divinities
Ta ni en rubo
Who is performing ebo
Ti o ke selebo
Without involving the owner of ebo?
Osun Ewuji
Osun, whose other name is Ewuji,
A kunle
Ajedo eniyan ma bi
One who devours human livers without vomiting
Eyi tii lo nigbaoja bat u
One who vacates only when the market closes
A-le mo loju ala wiriwiri
One who terrifies in dreams
Ase
Another facet of Osun energy (no, she aint done yet!) is her ownership of Eerindinlogun, sixteen
cowrie divination, the seeing eyes of Orisa. Osun priestesses are the best diviners, hands down.
Another Itan from Odu OseTura tells the story of how Osun became the owner of sixteen cowrie
divination. We learn much about Osuns intimate connection with Ifa divination in her own right,
as well as through her son , Osetuura.
Osun was married to Orunmila, the prophet, and keeper of the oracle. He was leaving town on
business, and told Osun to tell his many clients that he would be back in a couple of weeks. Well,
Osun, being Osun, got tired of sending away all of Orunmila's clients so she figured out his
divination system and started divining for his clients! So when Orunmila comes home, he finds
his house full of people; What's going on! "We're waiting for Osun to divine for us," he was
told. "Say what!" So he was angry with her for a little while, but no one stays angry at Osun for
long. He was actually quite amazed with her ability to learn so quickly. Orunmila then gave
Osun the eerindinlogun and told her that from then on, she would own the cowrie system and he
gave her the oracle. Osun shared her knowledge with other Orisa, starting with Obatala.
Although Osun receives the Eerindinlogun system from Orunmila and he created it, another
verse of Odu OseTura tells how this system of divination received its own ase from Olodumare,
thus making it independently Osuns. Every sixteen years, Olodumare would subject the earthly
diviners to a test, to find out whether they were telling lies or the truth to their clients. When
Orunmila finished his turn divining for Olodumare, Olodumare said, Whos next? Orunmila
said, She is. Olodumare asked if this woman (Osun) was a diviner at which point Orunmila
answered, Yes, she is. Olodumare asked, Who is this one? Orunmila explained how he had
given her eerindinlogun. When Osun divined for Olodumare, she hit on all those things in his
mind. But she did not say it in full. She mentioned the gist, but she didnt tell the root of the
matter, like Ifa. Olodumare said, Its all right. He further said that even though she did not go
into details, he, Olodumare, gave his assent to it. He added, From today on and forever, even if
what eerindinlogun says may not be detailed, anybody who disbelieves it would see the
consequences instantly. It must not wait until the following day. This is why the predictions of
eerindinlogun come to pass quickly, even though the stories might not be impressive.
Bi eerindinlogun se gba ase Lodo Olodumare nu un
Osuns ileke
Brass bracelets
Brass bells
Osun carving
Peacock crown
Brass fan
Brass cutlass
Mbe, mbe ma Yeye
Exist, exist always, Mother
Mbe, mbe lOro
Exist, exist always in our tradition
Osun Awuraolu
The Spirit of the River, Turtle Drummer
Serge si elewe roju oniki
Open the path of attraction, Mother of Salutations
Latojoku awede we mo
Cleansing Spirit that cleans me inside out
Eni ide ki su omi o san rere
The maker of brass does not pollute the water
Alose koju ewuji o san rere
We are entitled to wear the crown that awakens all pleasure
Alode koju emuji o san rere
We are entitled to wear the crown that awakens all pleasure