Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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God name "MIMIR" | Nordic / Icelandic | God of wisdom and inspiration. An AESIR god who lives in the world of the Frost Giants. He guards the well of knowledge, filled by a spring which flows beneath the world Tree, Yggdrasil, and which is supplied from the primeval waters. The god OTHIN drank from the spring to acquire knowledge, having forfeited one of his eyes to Mimir. Said to be the wisest among the gods. According to some sources he was sent as hostage to the VANIR in their war with the Aesir and was killed by them (see Othin). Some authors argue that he is more properly a giant than a god. Said to be accompanied often by the silent god HOENIR. Mimir warns Othin of the final onslaught at Ragnarok (doom).... |
God name "MIN" | Egypt | Fertility god. Min is the most significant deity in the Egyptian pantheon in respect of sexual virility. In some genealogies he is the son of ISIS, in others he represents Isis's consort with HORUS as their child. Min is depicted in anthropomorphic form wearing a modius bearing two plumes and a hanging ribbon. He is generally drawn in profile, legs together and with his left arm raised into the angle made by his royal flail. The most obvious feature of the iconography is a strongly erect śéméñ. Min is represented in older art by two serrated cones projecting horizontally from a disc. His sacred animal is probably a white bull and he is also åśśociated with the tall lettuce species (Lac tuca sativa), the shape of which may be reminiscent of an erect phallus.... |
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.... |
Demon name "MON (great god)" | Kafir / AfghanistanHindukush | warrior god and hero. Mon is a senior deity in the Kafir pantheon who challenges and defends mankind against demons and giants. He is the first offspring of the creator god Imra. He is also a weather god who controls clouds and mist. Mon is perceived as a deity of vast size and vigor who creates glaciers with his footprints. He is also a god of flowing water. Some legends place him as a creator of mankind and law-giver, but only mirroring the actions of the supreme creator IMRA. He appears as a mediator between heaven and earth.... |
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.... |
God name "MOT (death)" | Canaanite / Phoenician / northern Israel, Lebanon / Syrian coastal regions | God of natural adversity. ot is the Canaanite representation of adversity in the natural world. He lives in a pit within the earth and is responsible for its annual death from drought and heat: he has scorched the olive, the produce of the earth and the fruit of the trees. He engages in the clåśśic confrontation with the Canaanite hero and national god, BAAL. Though the duel results in Baal's demise, his death is avenged by his twin sister ANAT, who slays Mot, then cleaves, winnows, burns and grinds him with a millstone, in what appears to be a ritual allied to the sowing of seed and harvesting (see OSIRIS). Baal is later restored. The conflict probably formed the basis of an annual ritual drama at the Canaanite New Year which was held in the autumn. In the texts Mot is the son of Il and his mother is AS'ERAH (ATHIRAT).... |
Goddess name "Ma" | Africa | The Goddess of Creation, and mother of Mbali-yamswira. South Africa |
Goddess name "Ma" | Anatolia | mountain Mother and a fertility and vegetation goddess. Anatolia |
"Ma" | Asia Minor | The personification of fruitfulness. Asia Minor |
Goddess name "Ma" | Cappadocia / Anatolia / Turkey | A fertility & vegetation goddess |
Deity name "Ma" | Comana | A warlike deity identified by the Greeks with Enyo and by the Romans with Bellona. Comana |
Nymph name "Ma" | Greek | The name of a nymph in the suite of Rhea, to whom Zeus entrusted the bringing up of the infant Dionysus. Greek |
"Ma" | Greek | Ma signifies probably mother, as in Aeschylus, who applies it to the earth to designate her as the mother of all. Greek |
"Ma" | Greek | Rhea herself was by the Lydians called Ma, and that bulls were sacrificed to her, whence the name of the town Mastaura was derived. Greek |
Goddess name "Ma" | Cappadocian / Anatolia / Turkey | Fertility and vegetation goddess. The tutelary goddess of Pontic Comana, she was served by votary priestesses acting as sacred prostitutes, and biennial festivals were celebrated in her honor. Gradually she took on an added role as a warrior goddess with solar connotations and ultimately became syncretized with the Roman goddess BELLONA. On coins of the Comana region she is depicted with the radiate head of a solar deity carrying weapons and a shield.... |
Goddess name "Ma Emma" | Baltic | Goddess of Midsummer. Baltic |
"Ma Kiela" | Africa | The personification of boiling and dyeing fabrics. Southern Africa |
Spirit name "Ma Kiela" | Bakongo / Democratic Republic of Congo, central Africa | Female spirit being. The deified head of a band of mortal women who died specifically from knife wounds.... |