Thunder God of the Storm

The Ewe thunder god is properly So/Sogbo (Anlo: Heviesso, Xebieso), deliberately listed under the Ewe tradition and kept distinct from the Fon Vodun Xevioso/Hevioso. The English word leads name.primary; native forms in `term`/alt. Spirit-class deity per schema (typed deity, explained here).

Parentage

• Twofold Creator Pair

Domains

• thunder and lightning
• rain
• divine justice
• justice and oaths

Powers

• hurls the thunderbolt as a stone axe
• sends the rains that fertilize the land

Epithets

• Heviesso

Relations

• sibling: Earth Lord of Smallpox
• sibling: Vodu of Iron and War
• sibling: Vodu of the Bush and the Hunt
• sibling: Trickster-Linguist of the Crossroads
• equated with: Sogbo
• equated with: Shango

Sources

• Spieth, Jakob. Die Religion der Eweer in Süd-Togo. Leipzig, 1911.
• Herskovits, Melville J. Dahomey. 1938, vol. 2, pp. 150-155.
• Gilbert, Michelle. "The Sudden Death of a Millionaire: Conversion and Consensus in a Ghanaian Kingdom." Africa 58, no. 3 (1988).
• Rosenthal, Judy. Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo. 1998.