The Yoruba Pantheon

This article will be updated with more information as time goes on, but for now it is a basic view of the key players in the Yoruba Pantheon.

Also of note, the orishas mentioned and myths discussed on my page are strictly the ones worshipped by west Africans. So I will not be including deities or stories from the diaspora as those tales and orishas are slightly different due to the transatlantic slave trade and the resultant loss of cultural identity in the new world.

 

The Yoruba pantheon is as varied as the Yoruba people, with individual gods being worshipped depending on the family and the craft of the head of the household. It is similar to the Greek pantheon in which sacrifices are offered to specific gods depending on what the person asking wants.

Before diving further into the list of gods and goddesses, we have to make a note of what some words mean:

“Orisha” is the Yoruba word for “deity”. So wherever you see the word orisha, you can substitute it for the word deity/god/goddess.

Moving on…

To make things easier, we can break down the list of Orishas into different families. Four to be exact;

The divine Orishas:

• Eeledumare
• Oolorun
• Olofi

The Spirits/ manifestations of human traits:

• Ori (The Yorubas believe strongly in the power of ori. Ori is seen as the personification of one’s spiritual intuition, destiny, one’s future and it is asked to intercede on one’s behalf during difficult situations)
• Orunmila

Male Orishas:

• O̩balúayé – said to have dominion over the Earth and smallpox
• Aganju – A deified warrior king from the town of Shaki in the present-day Oyo State of Nigeria. He was said to walk with a sword, strongly associated as Sango’s brother
•  Ibejí – Twin orishas, the patron deities of twins
• Erinlẹ̀ – Orisha of medicine, healing, and comfort, physician to the gods
• Èṣù – Orisha of crossroads, duality, beginnings, travellers, fertility and death
• Ọbàtálá – creator of human bodies; Orisha of light, spiritual purity, and moral uprightness
• Oduduwa – Orisha of Humans
• Ògún – Orisha who presides over iron, fire, hunting, politics and war
• Osanyin – Orisha of the forest
• Ọ̀ṣọ́ọ̀sì – Orisha of the hunt and forest
• Ṣàngó- Orisha of thunder and lightning

Female Orishas

• Ọbà – first wife of Shango and Orisha of domesticity and marriage
• Ọ̀ṣun – Orisha who presides over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy
• Ọya – Orisha of the Niger River; associated with wind, lightning, fertility, fire, and magic
• Yemọja – a mother goddess; patron deity of women, and the Ogun river