Saturday Goddess Blogging

Oshun, according to Amy Sophia Marashinsky in The Goddess Oracle is a Brazilian water Goddess, known for her love of beauty.

She loves to adorn herself, especially in yellows and golds. Her rites at watery places include honoring her with honey and pennies (copper). Her necklace of cowrie shells symbolizes her knowledge and power in divination. . . . Oshun appears seductively in your life and cajoles you into remembering and honoring your sensuality. Wholeness is nourished by focusing your attention and time on your body, respecting and giving play to your senses and your sensuality.

Wikipedia traces her roots back to Africa, stating that in Yoruba mythology, [She] is a spirit-goddess (Orisha) who reigns over love, intimacy, beauty, wealth, and diplomacy. She is worshipped also in Brazilian Candombla Ketu, with the name spelled "Oxum."

She is beneficent, generous, and very kind. She does, however, have a horrific temper, though it is difficult to anger her. She is married to Ang, the sky god, and is his favorite wife because of her excellent cooking skills. One of his other wives, Oba, was her rival. They are the goddesses of the Aun and Oba rivers, which meet in a turbulent place with difficult rapids.

In Cuban Santeria, she is represented by Our Lady of Charity (La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre), Cuba's patron saint.

Encyclopedia Mythica tells a story about her that has hints of the Demeter myth-- or perhaps it is the story of Demeter that carriess hints of Oshun:

Her life was fraught with difficulties: at one point she had to become a prostitute to feed her children. When other Orishas heard of this, They removed her children from her home and Ochun went insane. She had only one white dress during this period of her life and, because of her self-respect, went to the river to wash it everyday. Her dress, from the many washings and its age, had turned yellow. Another Orisha, Aje'-Shaluga, who lived in the river, saw her and fell in love with her. Once when she came to the river to wash, Aje' sprang out of the water and presented her with cowries and gold and jewels which he had collected for her from the bottom of the river. This act of love allowed her to get her children back and live a more acceptable life.

What can you do to help women who lose their children due to poverty? What river are you willing to protect? How is your sensuality magic? What one piece of your self-respect do you cling to even when everything else in your world falls apart?