Oshun is the Spirit of the river in the West African religious tradition called Ifá. The word Oshun is the name given to describe a complex convergence of Spiritual Forces that are key elements in the Ifá concept of fertility and the erotic. Those Spiritual Forces that form the foundation of Oshun’s in the Spirit Realm relate to the Creation of new forms through the interaction between polar opposites. According to Ifá, Creation occurs through the polarity between the Forces of expansion and contraction. Together these Forces create light and darkness, which in turn sustains and defines all that is. Ifá scripture often refers to Forces of expansion as "Orisha Okunrin", which means "Male Spirit" and to Forces of contraction as "Orisha Obinrin", which means "Female Spirit". Both forms of Spiritual Power are considered of equal importance in the evolution of all that exists. One is not better than the other because it is only through the balance of opposites that life comes into Being.
This title is part of a series of eight booklets about the Orisha by Awo Fá’ Lokun Fátunmbi. Please feel free to write us and tell us which of the Orisha you would like to know more about.
Awo Baba Falokun Fatunmbi is a white North American, who at the age of 38 visited Nigeria with the purpose of studying the Yoruba traditions Ifa Orisa. Baba got the initiation in Ifa in Ode Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria in Ile Ogunti Ode Remo. For 25 years Baba has been traveling around Nigeria, collecting little by little the Ifa knowledge. His main teacher became Adebolu Fatunmise, who was initiated at the age of 7 in Ifa (Kekere Awo a young Babalawo). During the initiation of Adebolu Fatunmise at the moment of reading it was foretold that he would teach a white Babalawo in practice and that Babalawo turned out to be Awo Falokun Fatunmbi, the author of a number of books about the Ifa Orisa tradition.
