Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "Vertumnus" | Roman | Is said to have been an Etruscan divinity whose worship was introduced at Rome by an ancient Vulsinian colony. The name signifies "the god who changes or metamorphoses himself." For this reason the Romans connected Vertumnus with all occurrences to which the verb verto applies, such as the change of seasons, purchase and sale, the return of rivers to their proper beds,etc. But in reality the god was connected only with the transformation of plants, and their progress from being in blossom to that of bearing fruit. Roman |
Goddess name "Vidyadevi" | Jain / India | The generic title for a group of 16 goddesses that are åśśociated with knowledge & learning |
Goddess name "Vidyadevi" | Jain / India | Generic title for a group of goddesses. sixteen deities led by SARASVATI who are åśśociated with knowledge or learning.... |
Goddess name "Vimala (stainless)" | Buddhist / Vajrayana | Minor goddess. One of several deified BHUMIS recognized as different spiritual spheres through which a disciple påśśes. Color: white. Attributes: lotus and staff.... |
"Vimer" | Norse | A river that Thor crosses. Norse |
God name "Virbius" | Roman | Minor chthonic god. A malevolent underworld deity who was frequently invoked during the worship of Diana in the Arician woodlands surrounding her sanctuary at Nemi. Virbius was reputed to prowl these woods and to be an emanation of Hippolytus, a mortal who had been trampled to death by his horses and made immortal by Aesculapius. For this reason the Arician woods were barred to horses.... |
Goddess name "Vivasvan (shining)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic | Sun god. The original Vedic list of six descendants of the goddess ADITI or ADITYAS, all of whom take the role of Sun gods was, in later times, enlarged to twelve, including Vivasvan. One of his titles is the embodiment of ancestral law. His consort is SARANYU and he is identified as the father of YAMA and YAMI, as well as MANU and the ASVINS. His color is golden and his attributes a Forest garland, two lotuses and a trident. Also Vivasvat.... |
Goddess name "Vodni Panny" | Slavic | A goddesses of rivers |
Goddess name "Vor" | Nordic / Icelandic | Goddess. Of Germanic origin, one of the AESIR goddesses listed by Snorri in Prose Edda. He suggests that Vor may be concerned with the making of oaths and of marriage agreements, punishing those who break them. Possibly also Var(a), though Snorri lists her as a separate Aesir goddess.... |
"Väinämöinen" | Finland | The old and wise man, who possessed a potent, magical voice. The central character in Finnish folklore and he is the main character in the Kalevala. |
"Wabun" | Hiawatha | Son of Mudjekeewis, East-Wind, the Native American Apollo. Young and beautiful, he chases darkness with his arrows over hill and valley, wakes the villager, calls the Thunder, and brings the Morning. He married Wabun-Annung, and transplanted her to heaven, where she became the Morning Star. Hiawatha |
Spirit name "Wakai Taaika" | Dakota Indian / USA | Creator god. A remote and vaguely defined deity invoked by the shamans of the tribe. Also a generic term equating to the spirit which, in an animistic and shamanistic religion, all things existing in nature possess.... |
Spirit name "Wakonea" | Omaha Indian / USA | Creator god. A remote and vaguely defined deity invoked by the shamans of the tribe. Also a generic term equating to the spirit which, in an animistic and shamanistic religion, all things existing in nature possess.... |
God name "Well of Wisdom" | Scandinavian | This was the well under the protection of the god Mimir. Odin, by drinking thereof, became the wisest of all beings. Scandinavian |
God name "Weng Shiang" | Taoist / Chinese | God of literature. His name tablet hangs on the wall in many Chinese houses.... |
"White Ladies" | Normandy | A species of fee in Normandy. They lurk in ravines, fords, bridges, and other narrow påśśes, and ask the påśśenger to dance. If they receive a courteous answer, well; but if a refusal, they seize the churl and fling him into a ditch, where thorns and briars may serve to teach him gentleness of manners. |
God name "Wiidigo" | Ojibwa / Canada | Ice god. A terrible being formed of ice who symbolizes the starvation of Winter. There are said to be many windigos, but they are always referred to in the singular. Cannibalistic, the windigo appears as an ice skeleton and a human being can be turned into one through possession.... |
"Wild Huntsman" | German | The German tradition is that a spectral hunter with dogs frequents the Black Forest to chase the wild animals. The English name is "Herne the Hunter," who was once a keeper in windsor Forest. In Winter time, at midnight, he walks about Herne's Oak, and blasts trees and cattle. He wears horns, and rattles a chain in a "most hideous manner". Another legend is that a certain Jew would not suffer Jesus to drink out of a horse-trough, but pointed to some water in a hoof-print as good enough for "such an enemy of Moses," and that this man is the "Wild Huntsman." Various |