Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Goddess name "Boora Pennu" | Indian / Khond | God of light. A local deity in the Orissa province who created the earth goddess TARI PENNU as his consort and through her engendered the other great gods. Until recently this deity was the subject of sacrifice in notorious meriah rituals, which involved violent human sacrifice.... |
Goddess name "Britannia" | Roman / Celtic / British | Tutelary goddess. The genia loci of Britain who first appears on the coinage of Antoninus Pius in the second century AD. She became the symbol of the British Empire after being partly syncretized with the Roman war goddess MINERVA.... |
God name "Buriyas" | Kassite / Iran | Tutelary war god. He was invoked by the Kåśśite armies which overthrew Babylonia in the sixteenth century BC.... |
Goddess name "CERES" | Roman | Mother goddess. Mother goddess. Ceres is arguably the most recent model of the great mother whose predecessors include INANA, IS TAR, ARTEMIS, KYBELE and Demeter on whom she is directly modeled. She is the daughter of KRONOS (Cronus) and RHEA and one of the more important consorts of JUPITER. Ceres was worshiped through the festivals of Thesmophoria and Cerealia in sanctuaries throughout the Greco-Roman empires.... |
Spirit name "CERNUNNOS" | Celtic, Gallic | Fertility and chthonic god. Cernunnos appears to have been recognized in the region of Gaul which is now central France. He is typically drawn as a man bearing the antlers of a stag, not necessarily representing an animal spirit but a deity closely involved with animals and one which can transform instantly into animal shape. In the Celtic world, horns and antlers were generally regarded as symbols of virility and fertility.... |
Goddess name "Caelestis" | Carthaginian / North Africa | moon goddess. The Romanized form of the Punic goddess TANIT. Elsewhere she became syncretized into the cult of APHRODITE-VENUS. Annual games were held in her honor. She was brought to Rome in the form of an abstract block of stone (like that of KYBELE from Pessinus) and became popular there during the early part of the third century AD; in this guise she was known as the mighty protectress of the Tarpeian hill.... |
Goddess name "Centeocihuati" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Maize goddess. Represented at various sites including Tula [Hidalgo]. According to the codices Borgia, Cospi and Fejervery-Mayer she is also one of four temple deities. Also Centeotl.... |
Goddess name "Centeocihuatl" | Aztec | Goddess of maize Aztec |
Goddess name "Centeotl" | Aztec | Maize god. Another name for Centeocihuatl, goddess of the maize. Aztec |
Deities name "Centzon-Totochtin" | Aztec | four-hundred rabbits were a group of deities who met for frequent parties; they are Divine rabbits, and the gods of drunkenness. Aztec |
Spirit name "Chang Tao Ling" | Taoist / Chinese | God of the afterlife. The head of the heavenly Ministry of Exorcism, and allegedly the first head of the Taoist church. By tradition he vanquished the five poisonous ani malsthe centipede, scorpion, snake, spider and toadplacing their venom in a flask in which he concocted the elixir of life. Having drunk the contents at the age of 123, he ascended to heaven. He is depicted riding upon a tiger and brandishing a sword. Before the communist takeover of China, the gods of exorcism lived in a sanctuary on the dragon Tiger mountain in Kiangsi province. Exorcised spirits were trapped in jars which were stored in the cellars.... |
Demon name "Chung K'uei" | Taoist / Chinese | God of the afterlife. He belongs to the heavenly ministry of exorcism and, though not the most senior (he is subservient to CHANG TAO LING), is probably the most popular within the category. He was originally a mortal working as a physician in the eighth century AD. He is depicted with a fearsome face, said to be so terrible that it can drive away any demonic spirit who dares to oppose him. He is engaged in combat using a sword and a fan on which is written a magical formula to ward off evil. Symbolic peaches are suspended from his hat and a bat circles his head representing happiness.... |
God name "Cocidius" | Britain | A major cult centre of this Hunter god in Britain was at Bewcastle in Čú𝔪bria, known in Roman times as Fanum Cocidi or 'The Temple of Cocidius'. |
Goddess name "Cordaca" | Greek | A surname of Artemis in Elis, derived from an indecent dance which the companions of Pelops are said to have performed in honour of the goddess after a victory which they had won. |
God name "Dagan (1)" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Grain and fertility god. Generally linked with ANU in giving status to cities e.g. the dedications by the ninth-century BC Assyrian king Assur-nasir-apli at Kalakh. Cult centers existed at Tuttul and Terqa.... |
God name "Deus Munificentissimus" | Roman | Latin for "The most bountiful God" |
Goddess name "Devi (the goddess)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Goddess epitomizing the active female principle. Devi evolved as a major goddess out of the older notion of mother and vegetation goddesses. She is seen more as an abstract principle who will nevertheless respond directly to worshipers' prayers. By the fifth century AD she appears in many forms as the active (feminine) aspect or power of male deities. General attributes: conch, hook, noose, prayer wheel and trident. Devi is also the generic name given to a female deity, in her capacity as the consort of a god or DEVA.See also SRI(DEVI), BHUMIDEVI.... |
Goddess name "Disciplina" | Roman | Minor goddess. Significant in the legions, known particularly from the second century BC.... |