Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Goddess name "Victoria" | Roman | Goddess of victory. Known particularly from the second century BC and closely linked with JUPITER. Became adopted by the Christian church in an angelic capacity.... |
God name "Vindhya" | Hindu | mountain god. Personification of the hills forming the northern edge of the Deccan area of central India.... |
God name "Virtus" | Roman | God of military prowess. Known particularly from the second century BC.... |
God name "Vitthali" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | God. A lesser known incarnation of the god VISNU (or KRSNA). The cult of Vitthali is centered mainly on Panharpur, near Bombay, where he is the object of devotion by the Varkari sect. Generally depicted standing on a brick, wearing a fez-like hat and with hands on hips. Also Vithoba; Panduranga.... |
"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. |
God name "Wa" | Ntomba / Democratic Republic of Congo, central Africa | Sun god. Probably originating as a god of hunters who protects and controls the animals in the Forest. He has a son, Mokele.... |
Goddess name "Wadjet" | Egypt | Goddess of royal authority. Wadjet takes the form of a fire-breathing cobra and, as the uraeus symbol worn on the headdress of the ruler, she epitomizes the power of sovereignty. She is a goddess of Lower Egypt equating to NEKHBET in Upper Egypt, with her main cult center at Buto (Tell el-Farain) in the Nile delta. She forms an integral part of the symbolism of the Sun god RE, coiling around the Sun disc to symbolize Re's powers of destruction. According to mythology, she created the papyrus swamps of the delta. She is described as a wet nurse to the god HORUS and is the mother of the god of the primeval lotus blossom, NEFERTUM.... |
Spirit name "Wanka" | Inca / pre - Columbian South America / Peru, etc | Guardian spirit. The apotheosis of a tall stone or boulder (HVACA) set upright in the center of a field.... |
God name "Watauinewa" | Tierra del Fuego | The Ancient of Days, "The One Who Does Not Change." The supreme omnipresent and beneficent god of the Yahgan, Tierra del Fuego |
God name "Wer" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian | storm god. A minor deity linked with ADAD and AMURRU. His attendant is the fierce guardian of the pine Forest, Huwawa, the focus of one of the Gilgames epic sagas. Cult centers include Afis, south of Aleppo.... |
"Werwolf" | Europe | Werewolf. A bogie who roams about devouring infants, sometimes under the form of a man, sometimes as a wolf followed by dogs, sometimes as a white dog, sometimes as a black goat, and occasionally invisible. Its skin is bullet-proof, unless the bullet has been blessed in a chapel dedicated to St. Hubert. This superstition was once common to almost all Europe, and still lingers in Brittany, Limousin, Aurergne, Servia, Wallachia, and White Russia. In the fifteenth century a council of theologians, convoked by the Emperor Sigismund, gravely decided that the Werwolf was a reality. |
Goddess name "Wosret" | Egypt | Localized guardian goddess. With a cult center at Thebes, Wosret is, according to some inferences, an early consort of the creator god AMUN and was superseded by MUT. She is identified with the protection of the young god HORUS. Also Wosyet.... |
Spirit name "Xaya Iccita" | Yakut / central Siberia | mountain spirit. The owner or master of the mountains.... |
God name "Yah" | Egypt | moon god. Yah may have been an import to Egypt brought by Semitic immigrants who based his profile on the Mesopotamian god SIN. He is mentioned largely from the twentieth century BC onward and is depicted in human form, but can also be represented by the falcon and the ibis.... |
Spirit name "Yaksas" | Hindu | Tree spirits. Generic title for animistic beings mentioned circa fifth century BC by Panini.... |
God name "Yama-No-Kami" | Shinto / Japan | mountain god. Specifically the deity who comes down to the rice paddies in spring and returns in autumn. The festival of Nolde-No-Shinji marks his descent.... |
God name "Yayu" | Ngbandi / Democratic Republic of Congo, central Africa | sky god. One of seven gods invoked at daybreak.... |
God name "Yemeoonji" | Mongo / Nkundo / Democratic Republic of Congo, central Africa | Creator god. According to tradition, he gave the Sun god Nkombe three parcels when the people complained the world was too dark; two were brightly colored and one was a dull gray. Realizing that he was about to be tricked, Nkombe opened the gray parcel and the world was flooded with light.... |