Let's just casually ignore how embarrassingly late this post is...I bet you all forgot about the Goddess Challenge here on Puddles of Ink, and I certainly wouldn't blame you. Rest assured that, whilst I can't give you a series of solid, set-in-stone dates for the rest of the ladies in our line-up, I have been working really hard at creating the next couple, so there shouldn't be a gap that long any time soon. If you have no idea what I'm on about, or are struggling to remember the last, and only, goddess in the challenge so far, as well as any information about the challenge itself, then click here to learn all about Selu, the Native American 'Corn Mother'. You'll find all of the goddesses on my Instagram, the Pinterest Board (as well as my inspiration board for the challenge).
And now all of the housekeeping has been taken care of, let's get on with the show!
To meet goddess number two, we find ourselves pealing back the curtain on the rich and spiritual world of the Yoruba people of South-Western Nigeria and southern Benin. Traditional practitioners of Yoruba religion believe in a pantheon of 401 gods and goddesses - the Orisha deities, each with their own set of powers and attributes, and a web of connections so convoluted it makes the stories fascinating to read and impossible to forget. Out of the pantheon, Oshun (or Osun - there are many different spellings and names for her depending on region and culture) is one of the most powerful and remarkable. She is a complex deity, with some qualities that compliment each other harmoniously, and some that clash intensely, making her powerful and unpredictable.
As the Patron Saint of the Osun River in Nigeria, she is naturally linked to the water; she can empower, educate, aid fertility issues, heal the sick, and embody feminine energy in an alluring package. She is known for being the goddess of beauty, and is associated with sensuality and lust. Unsurprisingly, that all comes with a side-helping of piping hot jealousy and prickly anger when provoked. There are just as many stories of Oshun helping mortals as there are of her punishing them for displeasing her; a common theme is how hard humans work to appease her when something goes wrong.
Trying to feature all of these things in one illustration was challenging, mainly because I wanted to incorporate as many of her emblems as possible. I ended up featuring different things in different illustrations to allow each piece some space. Oshun is often drawn with an Abebe; a traditional circular fan, usually made of gold or brass, that sometimes has a mirror in the centre. I looked at a few reference pictures and eventually went with a simple design that has little cowrie shells (another feature in a lot of her depictions) around the edges. I chose to keep a galaxy in the middle of hers, partly because I liked it echoing the galaxy sky in Selu's illustration, and partly because I think it's a very simple way to allude to her power as such a prominent goddess - as though she has the entire universe in the palm of her hand.
Her pose was a no-brainer to me; out of all the different thumbnails I sketched, I was more drawn to featuring her in this way. I think it makes her seem playful and coquettish, but also mysterious and a little slippery; from the stories I've read, Oshun is a woman who always seems a step or two ahead of everyone else. For me, she has the air of someone who always knows more than they let on, and you're never quite sure how that can be possible. This pose, with her body facing away from the viewer but her face turned towards us, embodies this perfectly for me.
I went through a couple of different outfit ideas, but the openness of her back framed alongside a pretty pink dress felt the most right: it's feminine and pretty, but also sensual and provocative. Oshun is known to love dancing, and so I wanted her to look as though she's about to bounce off into the distance; I didn't want her to be stiff. I did have a lot of issues with getting her skin tone to look even and cohesive; I had to scrap two attempts because she ended up looking patchy when the light and shade should have flowed seamlessly together. She is always heavily adorned with beautiful jewellery, and sometimes her hair is free flowing or in an elaborate hair-style. Initially I had her hair entirely in a scarf, because I thought her back being completely open would offer a more seductive picture, but I found I couldn't get the shape of her head to work with me in a way that made sense, so instead I opted to have parts poking out. I think it's in her nature to be quite free, and so I think this works best with her character.
There is a lot of green in this piece; not only is it one of the colours associated with Oshun (alongside gold, yellow and pink), but it also works as a tribute to the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. This enchanting forest surrounds the outskirts of Osogbo Town in West Nigeria, and it is the site of 40 shrines, 2 palaces, and a plethora of sculptures and artwork.
Oshun is honoured here annually at the Osun-Osogbo festival, which lasts for 2 weeks. The story of how this came about actually starts off with her being quite angry with the humans. Villagers were migrating towards the grove in search of water; they were hoping to come across a natural source with an abundance of free-flowing water, and they must have counted their lucky stars when they found the beautiful river that wound its way through the town that is presently known as Osogbo. The settlers didn’t know that this land belonged to Oshun, and one day when they were preparing the ground for planting season, they found this out the hard way. A tree fell into the river and, before anyone could do anything, a voice from the depths of the water shook them all to their cores: "You have destroyed my land!" Naturally the villagers were terrified and did everything they could to appease Oshun; it took a while, but eventually they succeeded. She declared that humans and spirits could never live together, and so the settlers were to move to the upper part of the river. The former settlement has been known as the Osun-Osongbo Sacred Grove ever since.
The beauty of the folklore surrounding a goddess with as many qualities as Oshun is that there are so many stories to be inspired by. The most popular and well-known tale seems to be where she attends a drum festival, eager to dance and lose herself in the music. She meets Shango, the god of thunder, amongst the crowd and the two are said to have fallen in love instantly. They got married that day and Oshun became one of Shango's wives; he was already married to Oba and Oya, but it is repeatedly asserted that Oshun was always his favourite. A lot of the stories demonstrating her intense love, and equally intense jealousy, occur in this triangle. I wanted to honour them in an illustration, and I love how this turned out. Shango’s hand is the one thing that makes me annoyed - I just couldn’t get it right - but other than that I love the colours and the composition. It feels fun, and that’s something that plays a part throughout their relationship.
Some stories also tell of a time when she married Orunmila, the Orisha diety of wisdom, divination and destiny. Their union occurred as a result of Orunmila becoming waylaid by a group of bloodthirsty cannibalistic witches on his way to a grand feast. These creatures were using their magic to capture and devour any gods that came into their path, and they seemed to be enjoying every last second of it. Now, Orunmila being so adept at divination, foresaw the entire incident, and consequently ran to the camp of the cannibals. It is here that he finds Oshun, preparing to escape the horrific scene as quickly as possible; I like to imagine her being a little irritated at him for thwarting her escape - it feels like that would suit her character!
Orunmila convinces her to help him, and so they hatch a plan: Orunmila hides inside a drum, and when the cannibal witches return, Oshun pretends to have cleverly captured the Orisha and cooked him for them - she actually feeds them some roasted goat, although when she managed to chef that culinary surprise up is a mystery to me! The demons, having feasted on what they thought was Orunmila, fall asleep into intense food comas, and Orunmila and Oshun escape. Orunmila is so grateful that he makes Oshun his wife, and crafts her her very own system of divination as a wedding gift. It seems that it is through him that Oshun gets her association with divination and destiny. The gold circles in the main piece are a subtle nod towards Oshun's powers of divination and knowledge of cosmology. I adore this story, and I’m drawn to the calming nature of Orunmila, which is why I used a lot of blue and silver in their illustration.
I had a lot of fun with Oshun, although the illustrations took me a really long time to get done because of other commitments. Did you enjoy reading about her? Which story was your favourite? Let me know which of the illustrations you preferred, I personally think the one with Shango, as well as the main piece, are my ultimate favourites from the challenge so far!
Sources:
All links are also available on the website’s Writing and Research page!
https://whlovers.com/osun-osogbo-sacred-grove/ - the inspiration for a few of my illustrations for the stories came from this site! I also found a few through random Google Image searches.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-Nigeria-with-Osogbo-and-Osun-Osogbo-Sacred-Grove-from-African-World-Heritage_fig1_284209042 - A map that will help you visualise the location of the Sacred Grove.