Oya, the Orisha Who Walks with Lauren Olamina

Tracing the spiritual, mythological, and narrative weight of Lauren’s middle name and how Octavia Butler foreshadowed a storm long before Earthseed took root.

Long before we meet Lauren Olamina and before she gathers followers or puts Earthseed to paper, Octavia Butler was at work, sketching, reimagining, and wrestling with mythology in the pages of her notebook. In a dated entry from March 6, 1988, we find her steeped in the mythologies of the Yoruba Orishas, meticulously mapping the entanglements between Chango, Ogun, Oshun, and Oya.