OLODUMARE

Olodumare was worshipped throughout West-Central Africa, but under varying names. The famous Ancient Ghana Empire and Mali Empire were founded by Mande practitioners of Indigenous African spirituality who worshipped Olodumare in the form of Bemba. Bemba's symbolism is primarily the snake, in the same way the one sees the snake symbolism in Yoruba's Osumare and the Vodun's Damballah-Wedo. The snake is not worshipped by the Mande but symbolizes the ability to control our lower brain (popularly called the reptilian brain because it is shared with reptiles). This is the same concept behind the Kemetic uraeas and the Tamil-Indian's Kundalini serpent.

Below is an Ancient Mande temple for Bemba in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, West Africa that was only converted to a mosque in recent centuries.

African Architectural Genius explains:

The Mande are the founders of the Ancient Ghana and Mali empires and still cover much of Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Cote D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mauritania, Senegal, and modern Ghana.

The Mande religion was the worship of the Supreme Being named Bemba and the various divinities that were aspects of the Supreme Being. The popular adobe Sahelian style "mosques" of Mali, Cote D'Ivoire and Burkina Faso were originally Mande temples to Bemba. They were converted over the centuries to being mosques when the West African elite adopted Islam. Nonetheless, they maintained the architectural character of their original religious temples, only recently adopting traditional Arabesque mosque designs in modern structures.

When we ascend into the Yoruba religion, We must first look at the source of all living creatures within our universe and beyond. Thus it brings us to Olodumare , Oló-dú-ma- ré [Olo-run, Elédumare] meaning . Owner of the universe, supreme god.

"Olodumare was transferred into Olorun. Literal meaning: ‘owner’. The head of the Yoruban pantheon, which contains 1,700 divinities. He is Olofin-Orun, ‘lord of heaven’; also he is Olodumare, ‘almighty’ and ‘supreme’. To the Yoruba of Nigeria, this sky god is the discern-er of hearts—‘he who sees the inside and the outside of man’. Active in celestial and terrestrial affairs, Olorun is able to do all things; he is the enabler of all who achieve any ends. No one has ever seen this ‘king who cannot be found by searching’, yet as Olodumare he is omnipotent : a mighty, eternal rock, forever constant and reliable.

Olorun created the universe, appointed night and day, arranged the seasons, and fixed the destiny of men. When ever a misfortune befalls a bad person, the Yoruba say ‘he is under the lashes of god’.

Death was his creation too. At first men did not die. They grew to an immense size, after which they shrank into feeble old people. Because there were so many of them around, men prayed to Olorun, begging him to free them from long life, and in this way the old ones died." defined by the

Eledumare is the name given to one of the three manifestations of the Supreme God in the Yoruba pantheon. Eledumare is the Supreme Creator. The Supreme God has three manifestations: Eledumare, the Creator; Olorun, ruler of the heavens; and Olofi, who is the conduit between Orún (Heaven) and Ayé (Earth).