| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| God name "Ebisu" | Shinto / Japan | God of luck. The most popular of seven gods of fortune recognized in Shintoism and frequently linked with the god DAIKOKU. He is depicted as a fat, smiling and bearded fisherman holding a fishing rod in one hand and a sea bream in the other. The name does not appear in the clåśśical sacred texts Nibongi and Kojiki, but Ebisu is known to have been worshiped in ancient times among fishermen. From about the sixteenth century his character changed and he became a deity åśśociated with profit. Thus he is a patron of commerce and his picture hangs in most establishments. He is perhaps syncretized with the gods HIRUKO and KOTO-SHIRO-NUSHI. He may also be identified with Fudo, the god of knowledge. He does not join the rest of the Shinto pantheon in the great October festival at Izumo because he is deaf. His festival is celebrated concurrently in his own temple.... |
| God name "Emes" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian | vegetation god. Emes was created at the wish of ENLIL to take responsibility on earth for woods, fields, sheep folds and stables. He is identified with the abundance of the earth and with summer. An unidentified deity who is depicted iconographically with a plough may well be Emes.... |
| God name "Esu" | Edo / Benin / Nigeria, West Africa | God of påśśage. A fearsome deity who stands at the gates of the home of the gods holding a set of keys. He is known for his trickery.... |
| Goddess name "Fortuna" | Roman | Goddess of good fortune. A deity who particularly appealed to women, partly in an oracular context. She is depicted carrying a globe, rudder and cornucopiae. She probably evolved from the model of the Greek goddess TYCHE. Her main symbol is the wheel of fate which she may stand upon and Renaissance artists tended to depict her thus. Among her more celebrated sanctuaries in Rome, the temple of Fortuna Redux was built by Domitian to celebrate his victories in Germany. She is depicted in a well-known stone carving in Gloucester Museum, England, holding her three main attributes.... |
| God name "Hachiman" | Shinto / Japan | God of war and peace. A deity whose origins are confused. The name does not appear in either of the sacred texts of Shintoism, but such a deity was probably worshiped in the distant past with the alternative title of HimeGami or Hime-O-Kami. The cult center was on the southern island of Kyushu at Usa. In modern Shintoism, Hachiman originates as a member of the imperial dynasty. Named Ojin-Tenno and born in AD 200 to the empress Jingu-Kogo, he greatly improved the living standards and culture of Japan during his remarkable reign. The place of his birth was marked by a sanctuary and several centuries after his death, a vision of a child KAMI appeared there to a priest. The kami identified himself by the Chinese ideogram representing the name Hachiman, and thus the link developed. The site is, today, the location of a magnificent shrine, the Umi-Hachiman-Gu, where Hachiman has been perceived as a god of war. Soldiers departing for battle once took with them relics from the shrine. Hachiman is also a deity of peace and a guardian of human life and, when pacifism dominated Japan during the post-war era, he became more strongly identified in the latter context.... |
| God name "Huehueteotl" | Aztec | Old god. A central Mexican / Aztec deity åśśociated with fire |
| God name "Ifa" | Yoruba / western Nigeria, West Africa | God of wisdom. An oracular deity who, according to tradition, lives in a sanctuary in the holy city of Ile Ife but who is called on by the tutelary god, OLDUMARE, for advice. He is the father of eight children, all of whom became paramount chiefs.... |
| God name "Ikenga (right forearm)" | Ibo / Nigeria, West Africa | God of fortune. A benevolent deity who guides the hands of mankind. He is depicted wearing a horned headdress, and carrying a sword and a severed head. He is invoked as a household guardian.... |
| Goddess name "Inar (rice-grower)" | Shinto / Japan | God (Goddess) of foodstuffs. The popular name of a god(dess) worshiped under the generic title Miketsu-No-Kami in the Shi-Den sanctuary of the imperial palace, but rarely elsewhere. The deity displays gender changes, develops many personalities and is revered extensively in Japan. Inari is often depicted as a bearded man riding a white fox but, in pictures sold at temple offices, (s)he is generally shown as a woman with long flowing hair, carrying sheafs of rice and sometimes, again, riding the white fox. Inari sanctuaries are painted bright red, unlike most other Shinto temples. They are further characterized by rows of wooden portals which form tunnels leading to the sanctuary. Sculptures of foxes are prolific (an animal endowed, in Japanese tradition, with supernatural powers) and the shrines are decorated with a special device, the Hoju-No-Tama, in the shape of a pear surrounded by small flames. Often identified with the food goddess TOYO-UKE-BIME.... |
| Goddess name "Inlti (sun)" | Inca / pre - Columbian South America / Peru, etc | Sun god. His consort is the moon goddess MAMA-KILYA. Inti was depicted as a trinity in the sanctuaries in Cuzco, possibly in deference to the Christian Trinity. The Temple of the Sun is reported to have housed images, in gold, of all the sky gods in the Inca pantheon on more or less equal terms, since the Sun is regarded as one of many great celestial powers. Inti may also have been depicted as a face on a gold disc. The socalled fields of the Sun supported the Inca priesthood. The three Sun deities are Apo-Inti (lord Sun), Cori-Inti (son Sun) and Inti-Wawqi (sun brother). The Sun god(s) is perceived as the progenitor of the Inca rulers at Cuzco through two childrena son Manco Capac and his sister / consort Mama Ocllo Huaco. The Quechua Indians of the central Andes call the same deity Inti Huayna Capac and perceive him as part of a trinity with the Christian god and Christ.... |
| Goddess name "Ishi-Kori-Dome" | Shinto / Japan | God(dess) of stone cutters. Of ambiguous gender, this deity created the stone mold into which the bronze was cast to make the perfect Divine mirror. It was used so that AMATERASU, the Sun goddess, could see her glorious reflection and so be enticed from the dark cave where she had hidden herself to escape the excesses of the god SUSANO-WO. Ishi-Kori-Dome is also the tutelary deity of mirror makers and was one of the escorts for Prince NINIGI when he descended from heaven to earth. Generally invoked beside fire and smith KAMIS.... |
| Spirit name "Istadevata" | Hindu | (1) Generic title of a personal god. The name given to a deity chosen by an individual for special worship in return for protection and spiritual guidance. Also the name given to a household icon.(2) Tutelary god. Buddhist, particularly in Tibet. The personal deity of one preparing for Tantric initiation.... |
| God name "Kuladevata (family god)" | Hindu | Generic name of a household god. The god is chosen by a family to be their guardian deity and they all åśśemble at his temple, as and when necessary, for worship. Also Kulanayaka.... |
| Deity name "Lha" | Buddhist - Lamaist / Tibet | Generic term for a deity. Also the title for a deity in the old Bon pantheon, equating to the Sanskrit term DEVA.... |
| Deity name "Lulal" | Sumeria | The younger son of Inanna. He was the patron deity of Bad-tibira while his older brother, Shara was located at neighboring Umma. Sumeria |
| God name "MIN" | Egypt | Fertility god. Min is the most significant deity in the Egyptian pantheon in respect of sexual virility. In some genealogies he is the son of ISIS, in others he represents Isis's consort with HORUS as their child. Min is depicted in anthropomorphic form wearing a modius bearing two plumes and a hanging ribbon. He is generally drawn in profile, legs together and with his left arm raised into the angle made by his royal flail. The most obvious feature of the iconography is a strongly erect śéméñ. Min is represented in older art by two serrated cones projecting horizontally from a disc. His sacred animal is probably a white bull and he is also åśśociated with the tall lettuce species (Lac tuca sativa), the shape of which may be reminiscent of an erect phallus.... |
| God name "Mahakala (the great death)" | Hindu / Puranic | (1) God. A violent aspect of S IVA. His SAKTI is Mahakah. Rides upon a lion. Color: black. Attributes: five arrows, ax, Brahma-egg, club, cup, rosary of skulls, staff and trident. Three-eyed. Also considered to be a form of the god BHAIRAVA in which context he is a guardian of the faith.(2) Guardian god of tents and science. BuddhistLamaist [Tibet]. Derived from the Hindu god S iva and an emanation of the five DHYANIBUDDHAS. Also one of a group of DHARMAPALAS with terrible appearance and royal attire. A deity of riches. He treads on the god Vinayaka, or on a man, a corpse, or on two elephant-headed men. Color: black, blue or white. Attributes: mainly elephant skin, prayer wheel and trident, but may hold various other objects.... |
| God name "Majas Gars" | Pre - Christian Latvian | household god. Invoked until very recent times in country districts as a deity who would bring prosperity to the family home.... |
Table of Gods
Your guide to the World gods, spirits,
demons and legendary monsters
1996 - 2024 Copyright © Godfinder.org
