Yoruba TraditionRealm
Orun (Heaven)
The heavenly realm where Olodumare and the Orishas dwell. Orun exists in layers, with the supreme being at the highest level. It is also the destination of righteous souls after death, where they join the ancestors and may eventually be reborn into the earthly realm (Aye).
About Orun (Heaven)
Heaven of Olodumare
Orun is the heavenly side of Yoruba cosmology, paired with Aye (earth). Olodumare and many orisha dwell there; destinies (ori) are chosen there before birth. Ifa verses move between the two realms constantly. It is layered, not a single throne room. Righteous dead and ancestors have commerce with Orun; it is not a sealed Christian heaven. There is no archaeological Orun. The word is a cosmological address used in living ritual speech.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Ifa oral corpus (ori / Orun verses)
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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