Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
God name "Avrikiti" | Fon / Benin, West Africa | God of fishermen. Statues of this deity, in a sitting position, were placed on the beaches and fishermen and local elders sacrificed to them annually to ensure a good season of catches.... |
God name "BELENUS" | Celtic, European, Irish | Pastoral deity concerned with light, solar worship and healing. Considered to be one of the oldest of the Celtic gods thus far recognized. Celebrated long into the Christian era in the festival of Beltine or Cetsbamain, set on May 1, the start of the warm season. The rites involved lighting huge bonfires and driving cattle between them as a protection against disease. It marked the season when cattle were liberated after Winter to graze the open pastures.... |
Goddess name "BRAGI (poet; leader)" | Nordic / Icelandic | God of poetry. A Viking deity, said by Snorri to be a son of OTHIN and consort of IDUNN, the goddess who keeps the apples of immortality for the gods of Asgard. Bragi is possibly also a pseudonym for Othin himself. Often found in company with AEGIR. The cup over which oaths were sworn was known as the cup of Bragi and he was seen as a poet and orator in the hall of the slain, Valhalla.... |
Spirit name "Ba (2)" | Egypt / Lower | Ram god. A fertility deity from early in Egyptian religion invoked particularly at Mendes. In a later cult, the name ba comes to represent the spirituality of a deity, often represented in an animal, e.g. the bull, or the mortal manifestation of a god as pharaoh.... |
God name "Baetylus" | Greek | The name of a peculiar kind of conical shaped stones, which were erected as symbols of gods in remarkable places, and were from time to time anointed with oil, wine, or blood. Greek |
Goddess name "Bagala (power of cruelty)" | Hindu | Goddess. One of a group of ten MAHAVIDYAS personifying the SAKTI of SIVA. Aspects include VIRARATRI.... |
Goddess name "Balarama (strength of Rama)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god VIS'NU. May have originated in Vedic times as an agricultural fertility deity. He is the son of VASUDEVA and DEVAKI, though born from the womb of ROHINI. Jointly with KRSNA (his brother), he is identified as the eighth avatara (incarnation) of Vis'nu, or, with RAMA, as the seventh. Legend describes how Vis'nu impregnated the belly of the goddess Devaki with two hairs, one black, one white. To ensure their safety against a demon king, they were transferred before birth to Rohini. Krsna grew to be dark-skinned, and Balarama light. The latter enjoys similar characteristics to Krsna but fails to attract the same popularity. He is usually depicted on the right side of Krsna, rarely standing alone. The consort of Balarama is REVATI and his sons are Nisatha and Ulmuka. Epithets included Ananda (joy). In Jainism he is known as Baladeva. Attributes: arrow, club, drinking cup, fan palm, honey pot, lotus, pestle, pitcher, plough, prayer wheel, shield and sword.... |
God name "Bali" | Hindu | He was a Hindu god of the sky, but Vishnu took his power from him, casting him to the underworld where he would rule instead. |
Demon name "Bali" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | demonic god. The son of Virocana, his power was removed by VIS'NU in his avatara of VAMANA.... |
God name "Banebdjedet" | Egypt | Ba of the Lord of Mendes a fertility god and originally a ram with horns shaped like cork-screws, later he was often thought of as a he-goat. According to Herodotus his followers did not sacrifice goats. Egypt |
Goddess name "Baptes" | Greek | Priests of the goddess Cotytto, whose midnight orgies were so obscene that they disgusted even Cotytto, the goddess of obscenity. They received their name from the Greek verb bapto, to wash, because they bathed themselves in the most effeminate manner. Greek |
Goddess name "Bariebdjedet" | Egypt / Lower | Ram god. Possibly concerned with arbitration, his consort is the fish goddess HATMEHYT. He is the father of HARPOKRATES. According to tradition (Chester Beatty I papyrus) he was called upon to intercede in the contest for the Egyptian kingdoms between HORUS and SETH. He is placed in some accounts in Upper Egypt on the island of Seheil at the first Nile cataract, but his cult is centered on Mendes in the Delta region of Lower Egypt [Tell et-Ruba] and is closely linked with the mother of Rameses III. He is generally depicted in anthropomorphic form, but with the head of a ram.... |
Goddess name "Bastet aka Pasht" | Egypt | Goddess of fertility, love, sex,of joy. A Divine mother, and more especially as protectress, for Lower Egypt (Bastet) |
Goddess name "Bat" | Egypt / Upper | cow goddess of fertility. She was probably well known in the Old kingdom (circa 2700 BC onward). Associated principally with Upper Egypt, for a while she may have rivaled Hathor in Lower Egypt but by the time of the New kingdom (sixteenth century BC) her influence had waned. She may be represented on the Narmer Palette (Cairo Museum) which com memorates the unification of the two kingdoms. Bat is only rarely found in large sculptures and paintings, but is often the subject of Egyptian period jewelry, including amulets and ritual sistrum rattles. Depicted as a cow or anthropo morphically with bovine ears and horns. Also Bata.... |
God name "Batara Guru" | Indonesia | Has full authority from Sang Hyang Wenang, the power holder of all gods, to direct other gods to perform their duties, as well as to govern all kinds of life in the universe included life and fate of human beings. Indonesia |
Goddess name "Bhavani" | India | A ferocious aspect of Hindu goddess Shakti or Devi. Bhavani means "giver of life", the power of nature or the source of creative energy. In addition to her ferocious aspect, she is also known as Karunaswaroopini, "filled with mercy". India |
Deities name "Bishamon" | Shinto / Japan | God of luck. One of seven deities concerned with fortune, he appears as a warrior clad in full armor holding a spear in one hand and a toy pagoda, identified as a tower of treasure in the other. He has been linked with the Buddhist god Vaisravana (KUBERA).... |
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.... |