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Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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Goddess name "AENGUS" | Celtic / Irish | KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 500 BC . The son of the DAGDA by the wife of Elcmar (one of the kings of Tara) who may have been the goddess BOANN, Aengus lived in the Valley of the Boyne and was closely linked with the ancient funerary tumuli in the region. According to legend, Aengus fell in love with a maiden whose identity he sought in vain. As he wasted away, his father and mother made enquiries until they located Caer, daughter of the king of Cannaught, who lived on Loch Bel dragon in the shape of a swan with 150 attendant swans. Aengus eventually found her and he also changed into a bird.... |
Goddess name "Arachne" | Greek | A Lydian maiden who challenged Athena to a weaving contest. Arachne produced a piece of cloth as and Athena could find no fault with it, she tore the work to pieces, and Arachne in despair hung herself. The goddess loosened the rope and saved her life, but the rope was changed into a cobweb and Arachne herself into a spider, the animal most odious to Athena. Greek |
Goddess name "Badb" | Celtic / Irish | war goddess. One of the aspects of the MORRIGAN. Capable of changing shape at will. She confronts the Irish hero Cu Chulainn before a battle and terrifies him by turning into Badb Catha, the crow and harbinger of death.... |
Goddess name "Bariba" | Celtic / Irish | Fertility goddess. One of the aspects of the MORRIGAN. A name of the Sovereignty of Ireland to whom the king was married in symbolic ceremony. Also a goddess of war capable of changing shape from girl to hag, and into birds and animals.See also BADB, ERIU, Fodla, Medb and MAEVE.... |
Goddess name "Ch'ang O / Chang'e, Chang-Ngo, Heng-E / Heng-O" | China | the Chinese goddess of the moon. Unlike many lunar deities, Chang'o only lives on the moon. China |
Goddess name "Chang Xi" | China | Goddess of the moon. China |
Goddess name "Chang Yong" | China | Goddess of justice. China |
Goddess name "Changing Woman" | Cherokee | Goddess of the moon. Cherokee |
Goddess name "Daphne" | Greek | Oracular goddess. A number of oracular shrines were dedicated to her in various places in Asia Minor, including Antiocheia, Mopsuestia (Cilicia), Sura and Patara (Lycia), Telmessos (Caria). Represented by the laurel Dapbne she is linked with the Dapbnepboria festivals honoring APOLLO. Tradition has it that she was changed into the laurel to avoid sexual submission to the god.... |
Goddess name "Eriu" | Celtic / Irish | Fertility goddess. An aspect of the MORRIGAN. One of the deities who were known as the Sovereignty of Ireland and wedded sym bolically to a mortal king. Also a warrior goddess, capable of changing shape from girl to hag, and into birds and animals. She is patroness of the royal seat of Uisnech in County Meath. Eire and Erin are corruptions of her name. See also BADB.... |
Goddess name "Estsanatlehi (woman that changes)" | Navaho / USA | Fertility goddess. Probably regarded as the most powerful deity in the Navaho pantheon, she has powers of endless self-rejuvenation. According to tradition, she was created from a small turquoise image into which life was infused through a ritual of the great gods and she is the sister of the goddess YOLKAI ESTAN. She is also the consort of the Sun god TSOHANOAI and the mother of the war god NAYENEZGANI. She is said to live in the west and is benevolent in nature, sending the gentle Rains of summer and the warm thawing winds of spring.... |
Goddess name "Gaomei" | China | Ancient goddess and first mother was called Kao Mi in the Ching Dynasty and was changed into a male divinity during the Japanese occupation. China |
Goddess name "Gestin-Ana" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian | Chthonic goddess. The sister of DUMUZI and consort of Ningisida. The so-called heavenly grape-vine, this minor goddess is involved in the account of Dumuzi trying to escape from his fate at the hands of INANA and ERESKIGAL. In her house he is changed into a gazelle before being caught and finally transported to the underworld.... |
Goddess name "Ichpuchtli" | Aztec | The ruler of love, marriage, flowers, art, music, women, magic, spinning, fertility, sex, weaving, and changes. Ichpuchtli is also the Goddess of Sacred Prostitutes, and professions which imitate nature. Aztec |
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 "Kishimo-jin" | Japan? | A goddess that changed her mind, maybe |
Goddess name "MORRIGAN (queen of demons)" | Celtic / Irish | war, fertility and vegetation goddess. A complex goddess displaying various characteristics which are both generative and destructive (see also ANAT, INANA, IS'TAR, ATHENE). At the festival of Samain, she mates with the DAGDA to ensure the future prosperity of the land and as queen Maeve (Medb) of Connaught she was ritually wedded to the mortal king whose antecedent was Ailill. As Nemain (panic) and Badb Catha (raven of battle), she takes on a more warlike and destructive aspect. Rather than engaging directly in conflict, she uses her supernatural powers to spread fear and disarray. The Irish hero Cu Chulainn was thus visited on the battle field by BADB driving a chariot and dressed in a red cloak and with red eyebrows presenting an intimidating appearance. She is capable of changing her shape into various animal forms and in the guise of a raven or a crow is able to foretell the outcome of battle.... |
Goddess name "Macha" | Celtic / Irish | Fertility goddess. One of the aspects of the MORRIGAN (a trio of warrior goddesses with strong sexual connotations), she appears as the consort of Nemed and of Crunnchu. She is also a warrior goddess who influences the outcome of battle by magical devices. She can change shape from girl to hag and is generally dressed in red. She is depicted with red hair. She appears thus to the Irish hero, Cu Chulainn, before the Battle of Moytura when she suddenly changes herself into a crow, the harbinger of death. heads of slaughtered soldiers were fixed on the so-called Pole of Macha, and the ancient religious center of Emain Macha in Ulster is named after her.See also Banbha, ERIU and Fodla.... |
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