Gbadu
Fon · deity · mythic · deity
Fon goddess of fate, daughter of the creator Mawu (of Mawu-Lisa) and the source and seat of Fa, the destiny-oracle. Mawu set her in a tall palm at the centre of the world with sixteen eyes ringing her head and gave her the keys to the future; the configuration of her opened eyes is the sign read in Fa divination, and to open an eye she must call upon Legba. Among the Fon she is reckoned the female counterpart and wife of Fa, the destiny-oracle (the corpus entry fon_fa notes that his wife Gbadu sources his power). Her sons or messengers carry Fa-divination down to humankind. Wired as daughter of fon_mawu_lisa and spouse of fon_fa. Her further daughter Minona is named in the Dahomean material but left unregistered as a cascade descendant.
Parentage
Domains
- fate destiny divination
Powers
- Hold the eyes of fate read in Fa divination
Epithets
- Gbadu
Relations
Sources
- Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (Northwestern University Press, 1958)
- Melville J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (J. J. Augustin, 1938), Fa divination, pp. 201-230
- Bernard Maupoil, La geomancie a l ancienne Cote des Esclaves (Institut d Ethnologie, 1943)