How Ọ̀ṣun Saved the World

When the Supreme God Olódùmarè sent the Orisha down to make the world habitable, seventeen came. Sixteen were male, and one was the goddess Ọ̀ṣun, spirit of the sweet river, of love, and of fertility.

The male Orisha met in council to order the world, and they did not invite her. 'What could a woman add?' they scoffed, and set about their great works — but everything they attempted failed. Rain would not fall. Seeds would not sprout. Nothing they built would hold.

Baffled, they returned to Olódùmarè and asked why the world resisted them. He asked a single question: 'Did you include Ọ̀ṣun in all you did?' Shamefaced, they admitted they had not.

'Then nothing you attempt will succeed,' he told them, 'for she carries the power of àṣẹ — the force that makes things come to pass. Without her, your labor is empty.'

The Orisha returned and begged Ọ̀ṣun's forgiveness. She joined their work, and at once the rains came, the crops rose, and life flourished. So it is remembered that the sweet-water goddess holds the balance of creation — and that no council is complete without her.