Orisa Yoruba — The Sacred Pantheon of 400+1 Deities

Name	Type	Domain	About
E
Esu Oke	Primordial Orisa		Esu of the Mountain Crossroads; The Divine Decision Point at Altitude
Etutu	Nature Orisa		The Cooling Medicine; Sacred Ritual Pacification
Ewi	Nature Orisa		Voice of the Creator; The Divine Poet; Tongue of Sacred Knowledge
Eyele	Nature Orisa		The Dove; Sacred Bird of Peace and Divination
Eyiogbe	Cosmic Orisa		The Odu of Brightness; The Second Ifa Manifestation of Light
G
Gbadu	Cosmic Orisa		The Daughter of Mawu-Lisa; Keeper of the Fate Calabash
I
Ibeji wind	Nature Orisa	twins, children	Ibeji are the divine twins — sacred children of Sango and Osun who embody the cosmic princ
Ibeji Kehinde air	Nature Orisa	the elder twin, the watcher	Ibeji Kehinde is the second-born but spiritually elder of the divine twins — the watcher,
Ibeji Taiwo air	Nature Orisa	the first twin, the explorer	Ibeji Taiwo is the first-born of the sacred twins — the explorer who tests the world for K
Idole	Cosmic Orisa		The Deified Ancestor; Every Person Who Becomes Divine
Idowu	Nature Orisa		The Child Born After Twins; Special Protected Child
Igbalasin	Nature Orisa		The Forest Trail Spirit; Orisa of Hidden Forest Paths
Iku night	Ajogun	death, the inevitable	Ikú is the Ajogun of death in the Yoruba cosmos — the inevitable, necessary force of endin
Ile earth	Nature Orisa	the earth as divine, the ground itself	Ile is the earth itself in its sacred character — the ground that is honored at the beginn
Ile Ife	Cosmic Orisa		The Sacred City Itself; Ile-Ife as Divine Being
Iroko Orisa	Nature Orisa		Spirit of the Iroko Tree; The Great Forest Giant
Iwa	Cosmic Orisa		Character Itself; The Orisa of Good Character
Iwin	Nature Orisa		Forest Spirits; The Playful and Dangerous Little People
Iyaami Ajogun night	Ajogun	the punishing mothers, female adversaria	Iyaami Ajogun is the adversarial, punishing aspect of the Great Mothers — the collective f
Iyalode	Deified Queen / Woman		Chief of Women; The Divine Authority of the Senior Woman

About the Orisa Yoruba Tradition

The Yoruba people of West Africa — primarily in present-day Nigeria, Benin, and Togo — have one of the richest and most sophisticated spiritual traditions in human history. At the heart of this tradition are the Orisa: divine forces who embody every aspect of nature, human experience, and cosmic law. The Yoruba pantheon is traditionally expressed as 400+1 Orisa, reflecting the understanding that the divine is not closed by a finite count but remains living and expansive.

The Orisa fall into several categories: the primordial Orisa created by Ọlọdùmarè before the world was formed; nature Orisa who embody rivers, storms, forests and the sea; and deified humans — kings, queens, warriors and healers of extraordinary power who were elevated to divine status. Each Orisa has their own domain, their own taboos, their own sacrificial requirements, and their own rich mythology encoded in the Odu Ifa — the sacred corpus of Yoruba divination wisdom.

The worship of the Orisa survived the Middle Passage and took root across the Americas, giving birth to Santería in Cuba, Candomblé in Brazil, Trinidad's Shango-Baptist faith, and Vodou in Haiti. Today, Orisa worship is practiced by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

The Orisa Yoruba Pantheon

The Seven African Powers

Obatala

Orunmila

Esu

Ogun

Sango

Yemoja

Osun

Oya

Olokun

Babalu-Aye

The Divine Categories

Principal Orisa

Olódumarè