Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Planet name "Jupiter" | Roman | Jupiter is, properly speaking, a derivation of Jove and pater (Latin for father) The name of the god was also adopted as the name of the planet Jupiter, and was the original namesake of the weekday that would come to be known in English as Thursday (the etymological root can be seen in French jeudi, from Jovis Dies). The Indo-European deity who also evolved into the Germanic Tiwaz (after whom Tuesday was named), the Greek Zeus, and Dyaus Pita of the Vedic religion. Jove is a vocative form of the name, evolved from Dyeus. Roman |
God name "Kave" | Finland | Ancient god of sky, later the deity of the lunar cycle. Father of Väinämöinen. Also Kaleva. |
Goddess name "Khandsba" | Hindu / late | Form of the god SI IVA. Khandoba is believed to have emerged as a deity with a distinct cultic following no earlier than the thirteenth or fourteenth century, mainly in western India and centered on Jejuri, near Poona. The god is generally regarded as one of several martial forms which SI iva took to combat demons. His consort is the goddess MHALSA, considered to be a form of PARVATI. He is depicted bearing four arms and is usually mounted on a horse, but may also be accompanied by a dog. Attributes: bowl, drum, sword and trident. Also Makhari; Mallari; Martland.... |
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.... |
Goddess name "Laka" | Polynesian / Hawaii | Goddess of dancing. A minor deity who is nonetheless greatly revered by islanders in a hedonistic cult of song, dance and sexual liberality.... |
God name "Lalaia'il" | Bella Coola Indian / British Columbia, Canada | God of shamans. The deity who initiates into the shamanistic circle. He lives in the Forest and carries a wooden wand bound with cedar bark which he waves, creating a singing noise. He also frequents woodland lakes and ponds. When a woman meets him she is said to menstruate, while a man develops a nose bleed. Also Kle-klati-e'il.... |
Deity name "Lan Cai-he" | Taoist / Chinese | Immortal being. One of the eight immortals of Taoist mythology, the deity is of ambiguous sex, sometimes depicted as a girl. Once a mortal being who achieved immortality through perfect lifestyle. Attributes include flowers and a flute. See also BA XIAN.... |
Spirit name "Lar Familiaris" | Roman | Ancestral spirit. A personal and vaguely defined deity brought into the house from the surrounding land.... |
God name "Libertas" | Roman | Minor god(dess). deity of constitutional government and the notion of freedom, known particularly from the second century BC. Attributes include the scepter, lance and a special hat, the pileus, which emancipated slaves were permitted to wear as a sign of their liberation.... |
God name "Lu Pan" | Chinese | God of artisans. The deity concerned with builders, bricklayers, housepainters and carpenters. He is particularly revered in Hong Kong. According to tradition he was born in 606 BC in the kingdom of Lu, where he became a skilled carpenter. He turned into a recluse on the Li Shan mountain, where he perfected his skills. He is said to have constructed the palace of the queen of the western heaven. Because of his powers he was murdered. He is also an invoker of harmonious relationships. His festival takes place on the thirteenth day of the sixth month, when the Rains are due. Attributes include a set square and carpenter's plane. He is also depicted with an ax, the symbol of a marriage go-between.... |
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.... |
God name "Make Make" | Polynesian / Easter Island | Sea god. The tutelary deity of the Easter Islanders, he created mankind and animals. His sacred animal is the sea swallow and the huge anthropomorphic stone figures which characterize the island's archaeology form part of his cult.... |
Planet name "Mangalla" | India | Stellar deity who rules the planet Mars India |
Goddess name "Maui" | Polynesian / Maori / New Zealand | Tutelary god. Not a creator god but one who åśśists mankind in various supernatural ways. According to tradition he was aborted at birth and cast into the sea by his mother, who thought he was dead. He was rescued entangled in seaweed. He is the deity who drew the islands of New Zealand from the floor of the ocean in a net. Maui caught the Sun and beat it into submission, making it travel more slowly across the sky so that the days became longer. He also brought fire from the underworld for mankind and tried, unsuccessfully, to harness immortality for him by entering the vulva of the underworld goddess HINE-NUI-TE-PO while she was asleep. She awoke and crushed him to death. Though a deity, he had been made vulnerable to death by a mistake during his rites of birth (see also Balder). Also Mawi.... |
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 "Mkulumncandi" | Swazi / Swaziland, South Africa | Creator god. There is no worship of this deity, though he is known as the great first one.... |
Supreme god name "Mukasa" | Buganda / Uganda, East Africa | Supreme god. A benevolent deity whose main oracular sanctuary was sited on the island of Bubembe, lake Victoria. His first high priest was Semagunga and, by convention, only the tribal leader was permitted to consult with the oracle there. Mukasa provides Rain, food and cattle.... |
Goddess name "Neharennia" | Roman / Celtic | Goddess of seafarers. Worshiped extensively between the second and thirteenth centuries AD, particularly in the Netherlands with sanctuaries at Domberg at the mouth of the Rhine and Colijnsplaat on the Scheldt. Probably began as a tribal deity of the Morini tribe. She is generally depicted with the attributes of fertilitya basket of fruit or cornucopia. She may also often have a small lapdog. Alternatively, she stands with one foot on the prow of a boat and grasps an oar or the rope.... |