She is the source of creativity, the gorgeous, sexy, vibrant goddess of fertility and abundance. She is a goddess of joy and delight. Her worship is highly sensory, involving brightly colored clothing, throbbing drumbeats, lively dancing, music, and song. She is attracted to beautiful things—brass and copper, elegantly fashioned fans, brass mirrors, plaited hair.
She embodies the bliss of the writing life: the pleasure of creation. The physical nature of writing. The luscious, effervescent, sensual pleasure of writing. Writing that engages not just your brain, but your entire body.
Pray to Oshun, and she’ll tell you what to do.
1. First, disorganize your desk.Get rid of the paper, pencils, and pens. Cover it with peacock feathers, peanut butter cups, Mardi Gras beads, candles, ribbons, bells. With crystals and jade carvings and chocolate kisses in silver foil. A postcard of a sunrise on a tropic beach, a chrysanthemum floating in a bowl of water. A cat lounging on your keyboard.
2. Feast your senses. Play music with heavy beats. Make the neighbors complain. Hang silk from your windows. Burn orange-scented candles. Daub vanilla behind your ears.
3. Don’t forget the sense of taste:
Old salts.
Sour grapes.
Bitter tears.
Sweet lovin.
4. Dance before you write. Dance after you write. Dance while you write.
5. Dance.
6. Place a mirror on your desk. Look into the mirror often. Watch yourself in the mirror as you write. Think of how beautiful you are. You are beautiful.
7. Remember all your old lovers.
8. Wear yellow. It is her favorite color. The brighter the better.
9. Listen to a waterfall. Watch a river. Gaze into water. Pay attention to the frost on your window, the condensation on your lemonade. Oshun is a river goddess. Water is life. Writing is the underground river pulsing to the surface. Writing is life. Live your life. Live your writing.