In this presentation, I explore the ways in which Ifa-Orisa communities apply gender to the social power of the Yoruba divinity Sango. In nature the energy of the Orisa Sango is expressed through thunder, lightening, fire, and sound. In human society the only way to capture and restrict the essence of fire and sound is to gird its loins with restricted notions of gender. Consequently, Sango the divinity has been primarily mythologized through representations of masculine power and leadership. Yet, the nature-based force of Sango cannot be adequately interpreted through human notions of gender.
In practice, gender assignments dramatically effect how devotes experience the divinity of Sango and they govern the religious practices of the devotees. Within any Ifa-Orisa community in the Western world the male experience of Sango is interpreted differently than that of the female devotee. A female with a male divinity has to do more work

devotee. A female with a male divinity has to do more work to achieve a state of balance between the expression of her social role as a female member of the community and her “male” mental processes and energies. Through the filter of gender, her authority is limited by biology, and her interpretations of spiritual realities are often distorted. In contrast, a male devotee who is consecrated to Sango is allowed, encouraged, and supported to live a life that is dominated by the human ideation of male prowess, womanizing, and community leadership.
Gender interpretations of this divinity are a social process that attempts to control the social power of the deity and devotees. In other words, the Westernization of Yoruba spiritual traditions has changed the way in which Ifa-Orisa people relate to each other as spiritual communities and the ways in which we interpret our collective experience of the divine.