Yo

Yo (the Creative Spirit): in the Bambara cosmogony the void's first point of being, a primordial creative SOUND from which the heavens, the earth, all beings and human consciousness proceed; it brings into being the three creator-figures Faro (water/Word), Pemba (earth) and Teliko (air). Distinct from Pemba: Yo precedes and begets Pemba. Bambara creation accounts exist in several conflicting versions; this figure follows the version recorded in Scheub's A Dictionary of African Mythology (2000).

Children

• Teliko

Domains

• creation
• speech word
• cosmic order

Powers

• Sound the first point of being from which the cosmos issues
• Create the structure of the heavens, the earth and all things living and non-living
• Bring into being the creator-figures Faro, Pemba and Teliko

Relations

• creator of: Faro
• creator of: Pemba
• creator of: Teliko

Sources

• Scheub, A Dictionary of African Mythology (Oxford University Press, 2000), s.v. Yo, the Creative Spirit (Bambara/Mali)