Eka Abasi
Ibibio · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Eka Abasi, whose name means 'Mother of God,' is in Ibibio esoteric religion the supreme and nameless Great Mother who stands at the fount of all existence. Beyond and above the ordinary gods, she may scarcely be spoken of among them, and from her have sprung all things, from her son and consort Obumo the Thunderer down to the least living creature. Holy pools and rocks scattered through Ibibio country are regarded as her earthly manifestations, and she is invoked above all as the giver of children. She is distinct from the earth goddess Abasi Isong and from Atai, being conceived as the primal maternal source underlying the whole divine order.
Children
Domains
- motherhood and childbirth
- primordial creation
- sacred waters and rocks
Powers
- to grant children to her worshippers
- to bring forth all gods and living things from herself
Epithets
- Eka AbasiTalbot, P. Amaury. Life in Southern Nigeria: The Magic, Beliefs and Customs of the Ibibio Tribe. London: Macmillan and Co., 1923. (secondary)
Relations
- mother of: ObumoBy her own might she gave birth to Obumo the Thunderer, who is at once her son and her consort.Talbot, D. Amaury. Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People: The Ibibios of Southern Nigeria. London: Cassell and Company, 1915. (secondary)
- spouse: ObumoTalbot records that Eka Abasi is at once mother and spouse of Obumo, standing above him with a great gulf fixed between her and the lesser gods.Talbot, D. Amaury. Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People: The Ibibios of Southern Nigeria. London: Cassell and Company, 1915. (secondary)
Sources
- Eka Abasi ('Mother of God') is, in Ibibio esoteric teaching, the primordial Great Mother and true head of the pantheon, mother and consort of the thunder god Obumo, from whom all gods and living things spring.: Talbot, D. Amaury. Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People: The Ibibios of Southern Nigeria. London: Cassell and Company, 1915. (secondary); Talbot, P. Amaury. Life in Southern Nigeria: The Magic, Beliefs and Customs of the Ibibio Tribe. London: Macmillan and Co., 1923. (secondary)