Oshun Goddess Of The Ocean (Story Time)

Oshun is an African goddess who is primarily worshipped by the Yoruba people of Nigeria and Benin, but her worship has also spread to other parts of West Africa and the African diaspora. She is one of the Orishas, or deities, in the Yoruba religion. Oshun is associated with fertility, love, beauty, prosperity, and the rivers. She is often depicted as a beautiful woman adorned with gold jewelry, representing wealth and abundance. Oshun is known for her sensual and charismatic nature and is considered the epitome of feminine grace and beauty.

Transcript

Another very beloved goddess from African diaspora is Oshun and she's the daughter of Yemoja.

Unlike many mermaid goddesses and mermaids in general from all these other myths around the world,

Oshun doesn't have a malicious side of her.

She's seen mostly as a very good and benevolent goddess.

She is generous and kind-hearted and compassionate.

Oshun is the goddess of luxury and love.

A lot of the modern people who follow the Yoruba faith,

When they worship Oshun and they make altars for Oshun,

They put their makeup and lipstick and all kinds of feminine things because she is the goddess of luxury and beauty and love.

Because she is a mermaid goddess and goddess of the sea,

She also represents nourishment,

Prosperity and some people see her as a bit vain and self-indulgent goddess.

She loves beautiful things and sometimes she's described to have a golden fan with her.

She was thought to be this very beautiful black woman with a human torso and then a lower body of a fish.

She loves jewelry and she's often described to have a comb or a mirror with her.

And many artists,

When they create paintings or pictures of her,

She's described to have lots of gems and jewelry.

The only time when Oshun would get angry is when somebody is hurting children,

Because she is the protector of children as well.

And because she is the goddess of love,

People would go to her when they were performing love spells.

Some of her symbols are amber,

Amber jewelry,

And she's also thought to like honey a lot.

So all these kind of things that have sort of gold or yellow color in them.

Yellow and gold are her signature colors,

So she's usually described to be a mermaid with a yellow tail or a yellow dress.

She also likes cinnamon and pumpkins.

She loves flowers.

Yellow roses are her thing.

So there's very strong visuals connected to Oshun.

She's thought to live in every river,

Not just in Nigeria,

But everywhere.

And then in a sort of modern representation she can be found from all these luxurious places like spas or tourist stores and beauty shops.