| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| 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.... |
| Goddess name "Melicertes" | Greek | Son of Ino, a sea deity. Athamas imagined his wife to be a lioness, and her two sons to be lion's cubs. In his frenzy he slew one of the boys, and drove the other, Melicertes, with his mother into the sea. The mother became a sea-goddess, and the boy the god of harbours. greek |
| 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 "Mixcoatl-Camaxtli (cloud serpent)" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | God of war. Also a deity of hunting and fire who received human sacrifice of captured prisoners. According to tradition, the Sun god TEZCATLIPOCA transformed himself into MIXCOATL-CAMAXTLI to make fire by twirling the sacred fire sticks.... |
| Goddess name "NA CHA (here is a loud cry)" | Taoist / Chinese | Guardian god. A somewhat ambiguous god who is generally regarded as benevolent, but whose traditions hint at a more destructive aspect. He was born a god of human parents, the reincarnation of an older deity, Ling Chu-Tzu, the intelligent pearl. According to tradition, his father was Li Ching, who threatened to kill his mother because she claimed she was made pregnant by the mystical actions of a Taoist priest who told her she was to bear the child of a unicorn. Na Cha is said to have fought in the Shang-Chou war on the side of the Chou dynasty circa 1027 BC. His chief adversary was the sea dragon king. Ultimately he became involved with the goddess Shih-Chi Niang Niang, accidentally killed her attendant and, in remorse, committed suicide.... |
| God name "Nabu" | Mesopotamian / Babylonian - Akkadian | God of writing and wisdom. The son of MARDUX and ZARPANITU(M), his consort is TASMETU(M). He is symbolized by the inscribing stylus. A major deity in neo-Babylonian times from the eighth century BC onward, with an important sanctuary at Borsippa, near Babylon, known as the Ezida. He is considered a god of mountain regions, described as the firstborn son of Marduk and his image is closely involved in the New Year akitu festival. Also NEBO (Vetus Testamentum).... |
| Goddess name "Naeeeegaaei (slayer of alien gods)" | Navaho / USA | God of war. The most powerful of the Navaho war gods. The son of the Sun god TSOHANOAI and the fertility goddess ESTSANATLEHI. According to tradition, he vanquished a race of giants who had nearly destroyed the human race. He is a benevolent god, ready to help mankind in times of trouble. He also cures diseases brought about through witchcraft. Said to live at the junction of two rivers in the San Juan valley, he is invoked by warriors preparing for battle. His priest wears a buckskin bag mask, painted black and adorned with five zigzag lightning streaks, the eye and mouth holes covered with white sea shells. He also wears a fox skin collar, a crimson cloth around the hips and a leather belt with silver ornamentation, but is otherwise naked. No depictions are made of this deity.... |
| God name "Naguai" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Tutelary deity. A generic name for a personal god. A nagual generally takes the form of an animal and it may be adopted either by a mortal being or by another deity.... |
| God name "Nahui Oiiin (earthquake sun)" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Creator god. According to most of the codices, at the time of the Spanish conquest there had been four previous world ages, each represented by a Sun and terminated by a cataclysm. Ollin, the fifth Sun, was created at Teotihuacan and at the conquest was just under 2,000 years old. It is presided over by the god TONATIUH. Each creation is considered to last 2028 x 52 terrestrial years and the present one is destined to be destroyed by a great earthquake. Tradition has it that Ollin was originally a sickly or humble deity named NANAHUATL (the diseased one). Also (4)Ollin; Ollintonatiuh.... |
| God name "Ndjambi" | Herero / Namibia, southwest Africa | sky god. A benevolent deity who protects and lifts up all who die natural deaths. The utterance of his name is generally forbidden.... |
| God name "Nediyon" | Early Dravidian / Tamil / southern India | Creator god. Equates with a syncretization of VISNU and KRSNA. The name implies a deity of tall stature. Sangam texts describe him wearing a golden robe. Attributes: conch, prayer wheel and lotus. Also Neduvel.... |
| Goddess name "Nemesis" | Greco - Roman | Goddess of justice and revenge. The dreaded deity who, with the Furies, is responsible for transporting the souls of the guilty to Tartarus. She is also described as the deification of indignation. Her presence may be symbolized by the fabulous winged griffon. Her cult was predominantly at Rhamnus (Attica), where a magnificent temple was built in her honor in the fifth century BC, and in Smyrna. She also had a temple at Iconium in Asia Minor. According to legend, ZEUS raped her and she bore HELEN in consequence. In certain respects she provides a parallel with the goddess ERINYS. Her cult became one of morality.... |
| Goddess name "Nemetona" | Roman / Celtic | Goddess of sacred groves. Consort to the Roman deity MARS. Evidenced at places such as Bath (England) and Mainz (Germany); but also in place names which include the etymological base nemeton (a shrine).... |
| Planet name "Neptunus" | Italic / Roman | God of irrigation. Identified with the planet Neptune, but thought to have originated as an agricultural deity concerned with watering. He was celebrated in the festival of Neptunalia on July 23. Also the patron deity of horseracing. He became syncretized with the Greek god POSEIDON, but Neptune's modern åśśociation with the sea is a misrepresentation.... |
| Deity name "Nezha" | Chinese | Nataku or Nata, a deity, the enfant terrible trickster, originally of Chinese mythology. His official Taoist deity name is Zhongtan Yuanshuai. |
| God name "Ni" | Chimu Indian / pre - Columbian South America / coastal areas of Peru | Sea god. A significant deity in the pantheon, revered by fishermen. Often linked with SI, the moon god.... |
| God name "Ningishzida" | Sumerian | An underworld Mesopotamian deity, the patron of Medicine, and also a God of nature. His name in Sumerian means "lord of the good tree". Sumerian |
| Goddess name "Ninigi (Prince)" | Shinto / Japan | Ancestral god. The deity who, according to tradition, is the heir apparent of the Sun goddess Amaterasu. He was sent to earth from heaven to rule at the behest of the gods. His parents are Taka-Mi-Musubi and Ame-No-OshiHo-Mimi and he takes the title of divine grandchild. He is the ancestral deity of the imperial dynasties.... |
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