| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| God name "MITHRA (friend)" | Persian / Iran | God of the upper air. Originating in India, Mithra is a god of light who was translated into the attendant of the god AHURA MAZDA in the light religion of Persia; from this he was adopted as the Roman deity Mithras. He is not generally regarded as a sky god but a personification of the fertilizing power of warm, light air. According to the Avesta, he possesses 10,000 eyes and ears and rides in a chariot drawn by white horses. In dualistic Zoroastrianism, which effectively demoted him, Mithra is concerned with the endless battle between light and dark forces; he represents truth. He is responsible for the keeping of oaths and contracts. He was born from a rock and, according to legend, engaged in a primeval struggle with Ahura Mazda's first creation, a wild bull, which he subdued and confined to a cave. The bull escaped, but was recaptured by Mithra, who slit its throat. From the blood sprang plant life on earth. His chief adversary is AHRIMAN, the power of darkness. Mithra is not generally worshiped on his own, but as an integral part of the Mithraic worship of Ahura Mazda, where he acts as an intercessor between gods and men. In the Hellenic period he was transformed more closely to the role of a Sun god. See also AHURA MAZDA.... |
| Demon name "MON (great god)" | Kafir / AfghanistanHindukush | warrior god and hero. Mon is a senior deity in the Kafir pantheon who challenges and defends mankind against demons and giants. He is the first offspring of the creator god Imra. He is also a weather god who controls clouds and mist. Mon is perceived as a deity of vast size and vigor who creates glaciers with his footprints. He is also a god of flowing water. Some legends place him as a creator of mankind and law-giver, but only mirroring the actions of the supreme creator IMRA. He appears as a mediator between heaven and earth.... |
| God name "Mabon (son)" | Celtic / Welsh | God of youth. The son of an earthly mother, MODRON. According to legend he was abducted when three days old. Also a god of hunters and fishermen. He is known particularly from northwestern Britain and his cult extends along the region of Hadrian's Wall. Known from many Romano-Celtic inscriptions and syncretized with the Romano-Greek god APOLLO.... |
| Goddess name "Mahisasuramardini (slayer of the buffalo demon)" | Hindu / Puranic | Form of the goddess DEVI. Appearing from the fourth century AD onward, this goddess is a DURGA form of Devi. She possesses up to twelve arms holding an åśśortment of weapons and may be seated on a lion. According to legend, the form arose in response to the threat from the demonic MAHISA who was eventually slain by the goddess Devi with his own sword. Attributes: ax, banner, bell, bow, club, conch, drum, hook, lizard, mirror, noose, prayer wheel, shield, sword, staff and trident. Three-eyed.... |
| Goddess name "Mami" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Mother goddess. Identified in the Atrahasis texts and other creation legends and probably synonymous with NINHURSAG A. She was involved in the creation of mankind from clay and blood. The name almost certainly came into use because it is the first word that a child formulates. Also Mama; Mammitum.... |
| Demon name "Matsya" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god VIS'NU. In this first avatara Vis'nu appears as a fish which, according to one legend, tows a ship carrying the law-giver MANU to safety after the primal flood. Matsya engages in an epic battle with the demon HAYAGRIVA who stole the Vedas from a sleeping BRAHMA. Usually depicted with a human torso carrying symbols, e.g. wheel and conch, on a fish's body.... |
| Goddess name "Mayahuel" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Minor fertility goddess. One of the group clåśśed as the Ometochtli complex åśśociated with the maguey plant from which pulque is brewed. She may be depicted seated upon a tortoise beside an agave plant in bloom. According to legend she was abducted by QUETZALCOATL and subsequently dismembered by wild animals. From the fragments grew the first agave plants.... |
| King name "Melaneus" | Greek | A son of Apollo, and king of the Dryopes, He was the father of Eurytus and a famous archer. According to a Messenian legend Melaneus came to Perieres who åśśigned to him a town as his habitation which he called Oechalia, after his wife's name. Greek |
| Goddess name "Metis" | Greek | Goddess of wisdom. The daughter of OKEANOS and TETHYS. The original consort of ZEUS and mother of ATHENA. According to legend, Zeus swallowed her because he feared she would engender a child more powerful than he.... |
| God name "Midir" | Celtic / Irish | Chthonic god. Appears in polymorphic form. According to legend the consort of Etain and ruler of the land of Mag Mor. He lost an eye when hit by a hazel wand; the eye was replaced by DIANCECHT, the physician god. In Roman times he became more of an underworld deity. Also Mider.... |
| God name "Mistilleinn" | Norse | Mistletoe. The mistletoe or mistle-twig, the fatal twig by which Balder, the white Sun-god was slain. After the death of Balder, Ragnarok set in. Balder's death was also symbolical of the victory of darkness over light, which comes every year at midwinter.. The mistletoe in English households at Christmas time is no doubt a relic of a rite lost in the remotest heathendom, for the fight of light and darkness at midwinter was a foreshadowing of the final overthrow in Ragnarok. The legend and the word are common to all Teutonic peoples of all ages. Norse |
| Goddess name "Mnemosyne" | Greek | Goddess of memory. A consort of ZEUS and mother of the legendary nine Muses of Helicon.... |
| Goddess name "Modron" | Welsh | Divine Mother, one of the most powerful of the Celtic mother goddesses. She may have been the prototype of Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend. Welsh |
| Goddess name "Mors" | Roman | Minor god of death. Mors replaces the Greek THANATOS and, according to legend, is one of the twin sons of NYX, goddess of the night. He lives in part of the remote cave occupied by SOMNUS, god of sleep, beside the river Lethe. Ovid depicts him as a hideous and cadaverous figure dressed in a winding sheet and holding a scythe and hour glåśś. Known particularly through Lacedaemonian culture where twin statues of Mors and Somnus were placed side by side.... |
| Demon name "Morvran (sea crow)" | Celtic / Welsh | Local god of war. The son of CERIDWEN and TEGID FOEL. Legend has it that he was extremely ugly and that his mother tried to imbue him with wisdom by preparing a special brew of inspiration. It was drunk by Gwion. Morvran was invincible in battle because his enemies thought him a demon.... |
"Musaeus" | Greek | A semi-mythological personage, to be clåśśed with Olen, Orpheus, and Pamphus. He was regarded as the author of various poetical compositions, especially as connected with the mystic rites of Demeter at Eleusis, over which the legend represented him as presiding in the time of Heracles. Greek |
| Goddess name "Narasinha (man-lion)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god Vis'nu. The fourth avatara of the god is depicted as a man-lion hybrid. According to legend, the demonic king Hiranyakasipu had taken on a dangerous invulnerability. To thwart this, VIS'NU took the form of Narasinha and hid inside a pillar of the king's palace whence he sprang, capturing Hiranyakasipu and tearing out his entrails. IconographicalIy, the scene is portrayed with the victim thrown across Narasinha's lap and the god's claws plunged into his body. Narasinha may also appear seated in a yoga position with the goddess LAKSMI on his knee.... |
| God name "Nareu" | Melanesia / Vanuatu | Creator god. As in many comparable legends, he created the world inside the shell of a mussel. He engendered a son from sand and water who, in turn, created the Sun and moon from his father's eyes, rocks from his flesh and bones and mankind from his spine.... |
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