; DiCT v1.10 by Dr. Nibble (DrN)
; Copyright 2001 Radical Computer Systems
script 992374260 DrN DiCT v1.10 by Dr. Nibble (DrN)
data 992374260 DrN The Pagan Glossary data from this file came from the Book of Shadows section on The Pagan Temple. http://temple.chaotix.net/
Nuada 992374260 DrN  The gaelic Zeus!QL!called !SL!!QT!he of silverhand!SL!!QT!!QL!killed by the Fomor, Balor early in history of the gods!PD!
Camulus 992374260 DrN  Of the invincible sword!QL! the namesignifies !SL!!QT!heaven!SL!!QT!!QL!god of war and sky!QL! akin to mars, only more savage!PD!
The_war_Goddess 992374260 DrN  Fea, the hateful!QL! Nemon, thevenomous!QL! Badb!PD! the fury!QL! Macha, the battle goddess who collects the heads of her victemsfor her !SL!!QT!acorn crop!PD!!SL!!QT!
Morrigan_(Morrigu) 992374260 DrN  The great goddess in her Viragoaspect!QL! as chief deity of battle, she likes to take the form of the hoodie or carrioncrow!QL! her name derives from Mor Righ Anu, meaning !SL!!QT!the great queen!PD!!SL!!QT!
Dagda 992374260 DrN  God of earth!QL! !SL!!QT!good god!SL!!QT!!QL! heposses a living harp and the !SL!!QT!undry,!SL!!QT! a cauldron, where everyone find sustenancein proportion to his/her merits!QL! a formidable fighter, but a god of simple tastes whodresses in a brown tunic, hooded cape and leather boots!PD!
Boann 992374260 DrN  The Dadga!SQ!s wife!QL! an Eve figure!QL! The BoyneRiver is named for her!QL! she and the Dagda have many famous children including Bridgit,Angus, Mider, Ogma, and Bodb the Red!PD!
Brigit 992374260 DrN  Goddess of the hearth, fire and poetry!QL!best loved of all tosurvive into the Christian pantheon of saints!PD!
Angus 992374260 DrN  !LP!Angus Mac Oc!RP!!CO! His name means !SL!!QT!son ofthe young!SL!!QT!!QL! A Gaelic Eros known for his physical beauty and golden hair!QL! his kissesbecome birds!PD!
Mider 992374260 DrN  God of the underworld!QL! his abode is Falga,the Isle of Man!QL! Etain !LP!Ogma!SQ!s daughter!RP! became his wife, but she was taken away by Angus!PD!
Ogma 992374260 DrN  !LP!Cermait!RP!!CO! The !SL!!QT!honey-mouthed!SL!!QT! kingof the bards and god of eloquence and literature!QL! Ogham script is named for him!QL! hemarried Etain, daughter of Diancecht!PD!
Bodb_the_Red 992374260 DrN  He succeeds his father as king of thegods!PD!
Ler 992374260 DrN  The gaelic Poseidon!QL! married to Aebh, Bodb!SQ!sdaughter, with whom he has four children after she dies he marries Aeife, who out ofjealousy turns the children into swans!PD!
Manannan 992374260 DrN  Ler!SQ!s son!QL! !SL!!QT!God of theheadlands!SL!!QT!!QL! patron of sailors and merchants!QL! his famed possessions include the yellowshaft, the red javelin, the boat, the wave-sweeper, a horse called Splendid Mane, andthree swords named retaliator, great fury, and little fury!QL! he has the gift of inexhaustable life!PD!
Goibniu 992374260 DrN  The forger of weapons!QL! the GaelicHephaestus!QL! he posesses a potion that enables those who drink it to become invisable!QL! healso is called the !SL!!QT!devine architect!PD!!SL!!QT!
Diancecht 992374260 DrN  God of medicine!QL! he once saved Ireland!QL!married to Morrigan!QL! among their children are Etan, who marries Ogma, and Cian, whomarries Ethniu, daughter of Balor, the Fomor!PD!
Lugh 992374260 DrN  Son of Cian and Ethniu called the!SL!!QT!long-handed!SL!!QT! or !SL!!QT!far-shooter!SL!!QT!!QL! Sun god par excellence!QL! he possesses amagic spear and magic hound!QL! The Milky Way is called !SL!!QT!Lugh!SQ!s Chain!SL!!QT!!QL! he is the!SL!!QT!master of all art,!SL!!QT! an accomplished carpenter, smith, warrior, harpist, poet,physician, cupbearer, and bronze-worker!PD!
Balor 992374260 DrN  Although he was born with two good eyes, onewas ruined in an accident!QL! the eye is so hideous that he only opens it in battle so thatits venom will slay whoever is unlucky enough to catch glimpse of it!QL! his daughter marriesCian!PD!
Elathan 992374260 DrN  The beautiful Miltonic prince of darknesswith golden hair!PD!
Bress 992374260 DrN  His name means !SL!!QT!beautiful!SL!!QT!!QL!Elthan!SQ!s son!QL! married to Brigit of the Tuatha de Dannan and for a time her rules over thatkingdom!PD!
Idech 992374260 DrN  King of Dommu!PD!
ANTEROS 978856915 DrN (Italian) The God of passion
ASTREA 978856915 DrN (Italian) The Goddess of justice
CARMEN 978856915 DrN (Italian) The Goddess of spell-casting andenchantments
CARMINA 978856915 DrN (Italian) The Goddess of spell-casting andenchantments
COMUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was the god of revelry, feasting anddrinking
CORVUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) was the messenger of the Gods
COPIA 978856915 DrN (Italian) Was the Goddess of wealth and plenty
DIANA 978856915 DrN (Italian) The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother &Crone, the goddess of all witches
DIANUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was the nature God of fertility, HornedGod of the Woods, and the consort of Diana
FANA 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of the Earth, forestswildlife and of fertility, an aspect of Tana.
FAUNUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was the nature God of the forest,wildlife and of fertility, he was consort to Fana and an aspect of Tanus.
FEBRUUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was the God of purification,initiation and of the dead
FORTUNA 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of fortune, fate,blessing, luck and fertility
JANA 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of the Moon, an aspectof Tana.
JANUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was god of the Sun and of allbeginnnings, portals, doorways and threshholds; associated with journeys, consort of Jana,an aspect of Tanus.
LUPERCUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was a god of agriculture. Lupercuswas a wolf god. (Hence the scientific name Canus  Lupus).
NOX 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of the Night
PERTUNDA 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of sexual love ..she was on par with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite.
TAGNI 978856915 DrN (Italian) This is the most ancient name for the God ofWitchcraft
TANA 978856915 DrN (Italian) the great Star goddess, the goddess overall.
TANUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) the Star god, consort to Tana.
TERMINUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) The God of boundaries and fields,protector of personal property
UMBRIA 978856915 DrN (Italian) The Goddess of the shadows and of thingswhich are hidden or secret
UNI 978856915 DrN (Italian) This is the most ancient name for the Goddessof witchcraft
VESTA 978856915 DrN (Italian) She was the Goddess of hearth and fire
VIRBIUS 978856915 DrN (Italian) He was the God of outcasts and outlaws,guardian of sanctuaries
Aditi 978856915 DrN  ('Limitless') Hindu Mother Goddess,self-formed, the Cosmic
Matrix._Mother_of_the_Sun_God_Mitra_and_the_Moon_God_Varuna. 978856915 DrN 
Ambika 978856915 DrN  Hindu, 'the generatrix,' wife of Shivaor of Rudra.
Annapurna 978856915 DrN  Hindu. Goddess who provides food;she lives on top of Mount Annapurna.
Aphrodite 978856915 DrN  ('Foam-Born') Greek Goddess ofsexual love. She was born of the bloody foam of the sea where Cronus threw the genitals ofhis father Uranus after castrating him. Married, on Zeus's orders, to the lame Smith GodHephaestus, and unfaithful to him with the war God Ares. She was in fact an ancient EastMediterranean Goddess and can be equated with Astarte.
Arachne 978856915 DrN  Greek Spider Goddess. A Lydian girlskilled in weaving, she dared to challenge Athene to compete with her. The contest washeld, and Arachne's work was faultless: impudently, it portrayed some of the Gods' lessreputable deeds, including Athene's father Zeus abducting Europa. Furious, Athene turnedher into a spider, doomed eternally to spin thread drawn from her own body. But the SpiderGoddess is more archetypal than this story suggests: spinning and weaving the pattern of destiny like the Moerae or the Norns, and enthroned in the middle of her spiral-pathedstronghold like Arianrhod. Athene here represents Athenian patriarchal thinking, trying todiscipline earlier Goddess-concepts.
Aradia 978856915 DrN  Italian (Tuscany) Witch Goddess,surviving there into this century. Daughter of Diana and Lucifer (i.e. of the Sun and themoon), she came to Earth to heal the people and to teach her mother's magic. As she becamea woman, she became aware of her being a divine child. Others became jealous of her, andat the age of 22, they slayed her. Her followers were heart-broken, they placed her bodyin a cave and sealed it off. Three days later she stepped from the cave alive. She told the people not to worry, and soon after 'left' to follow her true path to the god andgoddess. She is often considered a demi-goddess, although to many she is seen as being areal person. After Christian intervention she was supposedly the one to bring a number ofthe Strega traditions back into the light, responsible for the Tanarra, Fanarra andJanarra traditions of Stregheria today, as well as being honored by the Aridian tradition(part of the Tanarra tradition), which was named after Arida, a village itself named afterAradia. The Strega traditions are known to be very secretive today, they are mainly familytraditions, however Aradia is worshipped by many, including many other pagans and witches.
Ariadne 978856915 DrN  Cretan and Greek. The daughter ofKing Minos of Crete, who with her her cunning thread helped Theseus find his way into thelabyrinth to kill the Minotaur, and out again. She eloped with him, but he abandoned heron the island of Naxos. She was consoled by Dionysus, who in her Naxos cult was regardedas her consort.
Arianrhod 978856915 DrN  ('Silver Wheel') Major WelshGoddess. Mother of Llew Llau Gyffes by her brother Gwydion. Her consort Nwyvre ('Sky,Space, Firmament') has survived in name only. Caer Arianrhod is the circumpolar stars, towhich souls withdraw between incarnations; she is thus a Goddess of reincarnation.Honoured at the Full Moon.
Artemis 978856915 DrN  Greek Nature and Moon Goddess.Daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of Apollo (though a day older). She probablyabsorbed a pre-Indo-European Sun Goddess, and her twinning in classical legend with theSun God Apollo may stem from this. The Greeks assimilated her to a pre-Greek mistress ofwild beasts. Bears were sacred to her, and she was associated with the constellation UrsaMajor.
Astarte 978856915 DrN  Canaanite version of Ishtar;fertility goddess. Chief goddess of Tyre and Sidon. Astarte was also the Greek form of thename Ashtart. Tends to merge with Asherat and Anat, and with the Egyptian Hathor. She cameto Egypt; Rameses II built a temple honoring her, and she and Isis were said to be firmfriends.
Athena 978856915 DrN  Greek, a Warrior Goddess, yet also oneof intelligence and the arts of peace. Protector of towns, above all of Athens.
Banshee 978856915 DrN  (Bean Sidhe , 'Woman Fairy') Irish.Attached to old Irish families ('the O's and the Mac's'), she can be heard keeningsorrowfully near the house when a member of the family is about to die. Still very muchbelieved in, and heard.
Bast 978856915 DrN  Egytian Cat Goddess of Bubastis in theDelta. Originally lion-headed, she represented the beneficient power of the Sun, incontrast to Sekhmet who personified its destructive power.
Bean-Nighe 978856915 DrN  ('Washing Woman') Scottish andIrish. Haunts lonely streams washing the bloodstained garments of those about to die.
Befana 978856915 DrN  ('Epiphany') Italian Witch Fairy whoflies her broomstick on Twelfth Night to come down chimneys and bring presents tochildren.
Binah 978856915 DrN  ('Understanding') Hebrew. The SupernalMother, third Sephirah of the Cabalistic Tree of Life. She takes the raw directionlessenergy of Chokmah, the Supernal Father (the second Sephira), and gives it form andmanifestation; she is thus both the Bright Mother, Aima (nourishing) and the Dark Mother,Ama (constricting).
Bona_Dea 978856915 DrN  ('Good Goddess') Roman EarthGoddess of Fertility, worshipped only by women; even statues of men were covered where herrites took place.
Brighid 978856915 DrN  See Brid
Brigid 978856915 DrN  See Brid
Brigit 978856915 DrN  See Brid
Brid 978856915 DrN  Irish Goddessof Fertility and Inspiritation, daughter of the Dagda; called 'the poetess.' Often triple('The Three Brigids'). Her characteristics, legends and holy places were taken over by thehistorical St Bridget.
Cailleach_Beine_Brick 978856915 DrN  A Scottish legendarywitch probably recalling an earlier local goddess.
Callisto 978856915 DrN  ('Most Beautiful') Greek MoonGoddess, to whom the she-bear was sacred in Arcadia. Envisaged as the axle on whicheverything turns, and thus connected with the Ursa Major constellation. Linked with Artemis, often called Artemis Callisto.
Carman 978856915 DrN  Irish. Wexford Goddess, whence Gaelicname of Wexford, Loch Garman (Loch gCarman).
Cerridwen 978856915 DrN  Welsh Mother, Moon and GrainGoddess, wife of Tegid and mother of Creirwy (the most beautiful girl in the world) andAvagdu (the ugliest boy). Owner of an inexhaustible cauldron called Amen, in which shemade a magic draught called 'greal' ('Grail?') from six plants, which gave inspiration andknowledge. Mother of Taliesen, greatest of all Welsh bards. Most of her legends emphasizethe terrifying aspect of the Dark Mother; yet her cauldron is the source of wisdom andinspiration.
Cliona_of_the_Fair_Hair 978856915 DrN  Irish. South MunsterGoddess of great beauty, daughter of Gebann the Druid, of the Tuatha De Danaan. Connectedwith the O'Keefe family.
Clota 978856915 DrN  Scottish. Goddess of the River Clyde.
Cybele 978856915 DrN  Greek. Originally Phrygian, finallymerged with Rhea. Goddess of Caverns, of the Earth in its primitive state; worshipped onmountain tops. Ruled over wild beasts. Also a Bee Goddess.
Dakini 978856915 DrN  Hindu. One of the Six Goddess Governingthe Six Bodily
Substances;_the_others_being_Hakini,_Kakini,_Lakini,_Rakini_and_Sakini. 978856915 DrN 
Dana 978856915 DrN  See Danu
Danu 978856915 DrN  The major Irish Mother Goddess, whogave her name to the Tuatha De Danann ('Peoples of the Goddess Dana'), the last but one occupiers of Ireland in the mytholigical cycle.
Demeter 978856915 DrN  ('Earth-Goddess-Mother') Greekgoddess of the fruitful Earth, especially of barley. Daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Herbrother Zeus, tricking her in the form of a bull, made her the mother of Persephone.
Diana 978856915 DrN  Roman equivalent of the Greek Moon andNature Goddess Artemis, and rapidly acquired all her characteristics. Like Artemis,classically regarded as virgin but originally a Sacrificial-Mating Goddess.
Dione 978856915 DrN  Phoenician/Greek. Also known as Baltis. ANature or Earth Goddess, overlapping with Diana and Danae. Daughter of Uranus and Gaia.Married her brother Cronus, who gave her the city of Byblos.
Discordia 978856915 DrN  Roman Goddess of Discord andStrife, who preceeded the chariot of Mars. Greek equivalent Eris.
Ereshkigal 978856915 DrN  ('Queen of the Great Below')Assyro-Babylonian Goddess of the Underworld, sister of Ishtar (Inanna). Known as 'Star ofLamentation,' or sometimes simply as Allatu ('The Goddess').
Eris 978856915 DrN  Greek goddess of Discord.
Erin 978856915 DrN  Irish. One of the Three Queens of theTuatha De Danann, daughters of the Dagda, who asked that Ireland be named after them.
Frigg 978856915 DrN  See Freya
Freya 978856915 DrN  ('Well-Beloved, Spouse, Lady')Most revered of the Teutonic Goddesses. Wife and sister of Odin.
Gaia 978856915 DrN  ('Earth') The 'deep-breasted,' theprimordial Greek Earth Mother, the first being to emerge from Chaos. She was regarded ascreating the universe, the first race of gods, and humankind.
Glaisrig 978856915 DrN  Glaistig
Glaistig 978856915 DrN  A Scottish Undine,beautiul and seductive, but a goat from the waist down (which she hides under a long greendress). She lures men to dance with her and then sucks their blood. Yet she can be benign,looking after children or old people or herding cattle for farmers.
Gorgons,_The 978856915 DrN  Greek. Three daughters ofPhorcys and his sister Ceto. Winged monsters with hair of serpents, they turned men tostone by their gaze. They were Euryale and Stheno, who were immortal, and Medusa who wasmortal and killed by Perseus.
Grian 978856915 DrN  ('Sun') Irish. A Fairy Queen with a courton Pallas Green Hill, Co. Tipperary. Also a general Goddess symbol.
Gruagach 978856915 DrN  The Gruagach: ('The Long-Haired One')Scottish. Female fairy to whom the dairymaids used to pour libations of milk into a hollowstone.
Gwenhwyfar 978856915 DrN  See Gueneva
Guinevere 978856915 DrN  See Gueneva
Gueneva 978856915 DrN  Arthur'squeen. Traces of Triple Goddess.
Hathor 978856915 DrN  Egyptian. An ancient Sky Goddess; Ra'sdaughter by Nut, or his wife; sometimes the wife or mother of Horus the Elder, Goddess ofpleasure, joy, love, music and dancing. Protectress of women and embodiment of the finestfemale qualities.
Hecate 978856915 DrN  Greek, originally Thracian andpre-Olympian; at the same time a Moon Goddess, and Underworld Goddess and a Goddess ofmagic.
Hel 978856915 DrN  See Hela
Hela 978856915 DrN  Teutonic Goddess of the kingdom of thedead, not considered as a place of punishment. Daughter of Loki and Angurboda, and sisterof the Midgard serpent of the ocean encircling the Earth, and of the devouringFenris-wolf. Half her face was totally black.
Hestia 978856915 DrN  ('Hearth') Greek. First daughter ofCronus and Rhea, and oldest of the Olympians. Goddess of domestic fire and of the home ingeneral. Poseidon and Apollo both wanted to marry her but she placed herself under Zeus'protection as eternally virgin. She received the first morsel of every sacrifice. Romanequivalent Vesta.
Inanna 978856915 DrN  ('Lady of Heaven') Sumerian Queen ofHeaven, Mother Goddess to whom the Semitic Ishtar was assimilated.
Isis 978856915 DrN  Egyptian. The most complete flowering ofthe Goddess concept in human history. Daughter of Earth God Geb and Sky Goddess Nut.
Kali 978856915 DrN  Hindu, Tibetan, Nepalese. Often called KaliMa ('the Black Mother'). A terrible but necessary destroyer, particularly of demons, but also a powerful creative force, much misunderstood in the West.
Kundalini 978856915 DrN  ('Coiled') Hindu. The feminineSerpent Force, especially in its relation to organic and inorganic matter; the universallife-force of which electricity and magnetism are mere manifestations. Envisaged as movingin a left-handed spiral, when aroused in the human body, from the base of the spine up tothe brain.
Lady_of_the_Lake 978856915 DrN  Arthurian. In somelegends Vivienne (or Viviane); in others, Vivienne was the daughter of the Lady of theLake by Dylan, son of Arianrhod and Gwydion. In Thomas Mallory, the Lady of the Lake iscalled Nimue.
Lakshmi 978856915 DrN  Hindu Goddess of good fortune andplenty, and the personification of beauty.
Leannan_Sidhe 978856915 DrN  Irish fairy lover,succubus. In the Isle of Man she is malevolent and vampiric.
Lilith 978856915 DrN  In Hebrew legend, she was Adam's firstwife, who would not subordinate herself to him and was turned into a demoness.
Lorelei 978856915 DrN  German. A beautiful siren who sat ona cliff above the Rhine, luring boatment to their death with her songs.
Luna 978856915 DrN  The Roman Moon Goddess, identified withDiana and the Greek Selene.
Malkuth 978856915 DrN  ('The Kingdom') Hebrew.Personification of Earth, of the Earth-soul; the goddess in actual manifestation.
Mary_Magdalene 978856915 DrN  Hebrew. Held in Christiantradition to have been a reformed prostitute; but there are no biblical grounds for this whatsoever.
Maya 978856915 DrN  Hindu. The Goddess of Nature, the universalcreatress.
Medusa 978856915 DrN  Greek. The only mortal member of thethree Gorgons. Her hair was turned to serpents by Athene because she dared to claim equalbeauty with hers. Her gaze turned men to stone.
Minerva 978856915 DrN  Roman. Wife of Jupiter, forming atriad with his other wife, Juno.
Morgan 978856915 DrN  ('Of the Sea') Arthur's half-sisterMorgan le Fay; but would seem to be a much older Goddess, possibly the Glastonbury Torone, for her island is Avalon.
Neith 978856915 DrN  Egyptian. A very ancient Delta Goddess,protectress of Sais; her emblem was the crossed arrows of a predynastic clan.
Nemesis 978856915 DrN  (also known as Rhamnusia) Greek.Daughter of Erebus and Nyx. Goddess of divine anger, justice and vengeance, especiallyagainst mortals who offended the moral law, broke taboos or achieved too much happiness orwealth. Her anger is directed toward human transgression of the natural, right order ofthings and of the arrogance causing it. Nemesis pursues the insolent and the wicked withinflexible vengeance. Her cult probably originated from Smyrna. She balanced things and isalso in this sense the bringer of Karma. In mythology, Nemesis was responsible forNarcissus's death. Many nymphs and girls fell in love with him but he rejected them. Oneof these nymphs, Echo, was so distraught over this rejection that she withdrew into alonely spot and faded until all that was left was a plaintive whisper. The goddess Nemesisheard the rejected girls prayers for vengeance. Narcissus was punished by Nemesis, whomade him fall in love with his own reflection, seen in a fountain pool. He was unable tosatisfy his own desire, and wasted away. His blood changed into flowers (the narcissus). Nemesis is portrayed as serious looking woman with in her left hand a whip, a rein, asword, or a pair of scales. In the Hellenistic period she was portrayed with a steeringwheel. Nemesis is often associated with the goose. She has changed into the form of agoose before in mythology.
Nicneven 978856915 DrN  Scottish Samhain Witch Goddess.Tradition places her night according to the old (Julian) calendar, on 10 November.
Nimue 978856915 DrN  Arthurian. Thomas Mallory's name for theLady of the Lake.
Nostiluca 978856915 DrN  Gaulish Witch Goddess.
Nyx 978856915 DrN  (Greek) Mother of Nemesis.
Oshun_and_Oya 978856915 DrN  Nigerian, Yoruba tribe andBrizilian Voodoo. Sisters, daughters of Yemaja, and wives of the Thunder God Shango. Oshunwas beautiful and Oya plain, and there was jealousy between them. Goddesses respectivelyof the rivers Oshun and Niger.
Pandora 978856915 DrN  ('Gift of All') The Greek Eve,fashioned in clay by Hephaestus on Zeus' orders to punish Prometheus for having stolenfire from heaven. Her name means that each God or Goddess gave her an appropriate gift.Zeus gave her a box which she must not open. She did open it, and all the evils thatplague humankind came out of it. All that was left at the bottom was Hope.
Persephone 978856915 DrN  Greek and Phoenician.Originally a purely Underworld Goddess, became a corn-seed Goddess, daughter of Demeter.
Pythia 978856915 DrN  ('Pythoness') Greek. Serpent Goddess,daughter of Gaia.
Rhiannon 978856915 DrN  ('Great, or Divine, Queen'). Welshfertility and Otherworld Goddess.
Sarasvati 978856915 DrN  Hindu. Wife of Brahma, born ofhis body. Goddess of speech, music, wisdom, knowledge and the arts.
Sekhmet 978856915 DrN  ('The Powerful') EgyptianLioness-Goddess, Eye of Ra who was her father. Wife of Ptah as Goddess of the Memphitetriad, and mother of Nefertum, God of the setting Sun (later replaced by Imhotep).
Selene 978856915 DrN  Greek Moon Goddess, daughter ofHyperion and Theia, and sister of Helios (the Sun) and Eos (Dawn); though sometimes saidto be the daughter of Zeus or of Helios.
Sophia 978856915 DrN  ('Wisdom') A Gnostic Aeon; but Wisdompersonified as female was earlier also characteristic of Hebrew and Greek-Hebrew thinking.
Tailtiu 978856915 DrN  Irish. Foster-mother of Lugh, whoinstituted the Tailtean Games, central event of the Festival of Lughnasadh (1 August), inher memory.
Tara 978856915 DrN  ('Radiating') Hindu Star Goddess, wife ofBrihaspati (identified with the planet Jupiter), teacher of the Gods.
Tenemit 978856915 DrN  Egyptian Underworld Goddess, who gaveale to the deceased.
Tiamat 978856915 DrN  Assyro-Babylonian Primordial Sea MotherGoddess, the mass of salt waters, who with her mate Apsu (the sweet waters) begat theoriginal chaotic world and who also symbolized it and ruled it.
Ulupi 978856915 DrN  Hindu. A Serpent Goddess, one of theNagis, dwelling in Patala, the lowest level of the Underworld.
Valkyries 978856915 DrN  Teutonic. In lateScandinavian myth, they brought the souls of those slain in battle to Odin.
Venus 978856915 DrN  Roman. Originally a Goddess of Spring andprotectress of vegetation and gardens, was a minor deity till she became assimilated tothe Greek Aphrodite in the second century BC.
Vesta 978856915 DrN  ('Torch, Candle') Roman Goddess of fire,both domestic and ritual. Daughter of Saturn and Ops. Domestically she presided over thehearth and the preparation of meals.
Virgin_Mary 978856915 DrN  Mother of Jesus.
Vivienne 978856915 DrN  See Viviane
Viviane 978856915 DrN  Arthurian. Sometimesreferred to as the Lady of the
Lake,_sometimes_as_the_Lady's_daughter. 978856915 DrN 
Yesod 978856915 DrN  ('Foundation') Hebrew. Ninth Sephira ofthe Cabalistic Tree of Life, sphere of the Moon and of the astral plane.
Zobiana 978856915 DrN  A medieval Witch Goddess name.
ANANASI 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Various tribes) The spider. A trickster. Acreator god. Something of a scoundrel, but quite well liked. Many amusing and fancifulstories are told of him.
ANYIEWO 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ewe) The Great Serpent who comes out tograze after the rain. The rainbow is his reflection.
BUKU 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Various West African peoples) A sky godsometimes worshipped as a goddess. Buku created everything, even the other gods.
DANH 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) also DAN AYIDO HWEDO (Dahomey) Snake god. TheHaitians know him as Dan Petro. The Rainbow Snake who encircles the world, Danh is oftenprotrayed with his tail in his mouth as a symbol of unity and wholeness.
DXUI 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to theXhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A creator god. In the beginning, Dxui took the form of a differentflower or plant every day, becoming himself at night, until he had created all the plantsand flowers that exist.
ESHU 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Yoruba) A trickster. A shape-shifter, Eshucan change his form at will, and can even seem to be both huge and small at the same time.Eshu confuses men and drives them to madness. But Eshu also knows all human tongues andacts as a go-between for mortals and the gods.
GUNAB 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Hottentot) The enemy of Tsui-Goab, Gunablived under a pile of stones. Gunab kept overpowering Tsui-Goab, but the god grew strongerafter each battle. Because he killed so many, Gunab is sometimes identified with death.Creator of the rainbow.
GUA 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ga tribe of West Africa) God of thunder,blacksmiths and farmers. Gua's temples are often found at blacksmith's forges.
KIBUKA 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Baganda) A war god sent to save the Bagandapeople. The king of the Baganda asked heaven for assistance in war, and Kibuka was sent toaid them. Warned not to have anything to do with the enemy's women, Kibuka neverthelessmmade love to a woman prisoner. Unwisely, Kibuka confided in her, and after escaping shetold the enemy how Kibuka could be killed, by firing arrows into the cloud where he washiding. Kibuka flew off to a tall tree to die, and a temple was built at the place wherehis body was found.
LEZA 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Central Africa) \"The One WhoBesets.\" Known to a number of peoples, Leza is the Supreme God who rules the sky andsend wind and rain. Leza sits on the backs of all people, and no one ever breaks free ofhim. Leza is said to be growing old and so does not hear prayers as well as he once did.
MAWU-LISA 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ewe) The great god and goddess of thesun and moon. Lisa is the sun and Mawu is the moon.
MULUNGU 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (East Africa) God, the Supreme Being. The concept of a supreme being and creator is nearly universal inAfrica, although there are few temples to him. The titles which Africans have given Godare wondrous in their variety. A few of these are: Creator, Moulder, Giver of Rain andSunshine, he Who Brings the Seasons, He Who Thunders, Ancient of Days, the First, theLimitless, the One Who Bends Even Kings, the One You Meeet Everywhere, the Firelighter,Great Mother, Greatest of Friends, the Kindly One, the Providence Who Watches All Like theSun, the Great Pool Contemporary of Everything, the Great Spider, the One Beyond AllThanks, the Bow in the Sky, the Angry One, the Inexplicable.
NANAN-BOUCLOU 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ewe) The original god of the Ewetribe, both male and female, Nanan-Bouclou is much too remote for worship. In HaitiNanan-Bouclou is remembered as the god of herbs and medicines.
'NGAI 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Masai) Creator god. At birth, 'Ngai giveseach man a guardian spirit to ward off danger and carry him away at the moment of death.The evil are carried off to a desert, while the good go to a land of rich pastures andmany cattle.
NYAME 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ashanti) Supreme God of Heaven, both the sungod and the moon goddess. Nyame created the three realms, the sky, the earth and theunderworld. Before being born, souls are taken to Nyame and washed in a golden bath, Nyamegives the soul its destiny and places some of the water of life in the soul's mouth. Thesoul is then fit to be born.
NYASAYE 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Maragoli, Kenya) Cheif god of theMaragoli. Spirits aid Maragoli's work, and they are represented by round stones circling apole which represents the god.
NZAME 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Fan people of the Congo) A vague and shadowygod whose likeness can't be captured in wood, stone or metal. Nzame lived on earth withhis three sons, Whiteman, Blackman and Gorilla. Blackman, Gorilla and all their kinfolksinned against Nzame, and so Nzame took all his wealth and went to live with his sonWhiteman in the west. Gorilla and his kin went to live in the jungle. Without he wealth,power and knowledge of Nzame, Blackman and his kin live a hard life of poverty andignorance, ever dreaming of the western land where dwells Nzame and his favored son,Whiteman.
SAGBATA 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Dahomey; to the Yoruba, SHAGPONA) God ofsmallpox. Sagbata's shrines were painted with a design of small spots. Sagbata's priestsfought small pox with both prayers and medical knowledge, and wielded great power over thepeople because they had learned how to use dried scabs both to immunize themselves againstthe disease and to spread it. Smallpox was considered a great disgrace and its victimswere ostracized.
TANO 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Ashanti) The second oldest son of God, andgod of the river of the same name. The gods of the other rivers and families in the sameregion are all his family. Long ago Tano lost a singing match with Death. Tano and Deathsang defiance to each other for over a month, but neither could win so they had tocompromise. When someone is injured or falls ill, whichever god arrives first will claimhim. If Tano arrives first, the person will live, but if Death arrives first the patientis lost.
TSUI'_GOAB 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Hottentots) \"Wounded Knee,\"\"Father of Our Fathers.\" A rain god who lives in the clouds, a great chief andmagician. Tsui' Goab made the first man and woman from rocks. Several times Tsui' Goabdied and rose again, to great joy and feasting. Men invoke Tsui' Goab with the first raysof dawn and give oaths in his name.
UNKULUNKULU 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Zulu) \"Old, Old One.\"Unkulunkulu was both the first man and the creator, a god of the earth who had no trafficwith the heavens. Unkulunkulu showed men how to live together and gave them knowledge ofthe world in which they lived.
YO 978856915 DrN (AFRICA) (Dahomey) A trickster, neither god nor human.Yo's greed constantly gets him in trouble. Mawu created him for no good reason. Yo iseverywhere. You can't kill him, you can't eat him, you can't get rid of him at all. Yo isthe only one of his kind. One is enough.
CHALCHIHUITLCUE 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Lady Precious Green, wife ofTlaloc. Goddess of storms and water. Personification of youthful beauty, vitality andviolence. In some illustrations she is shown holding the head of Tlazolteotl, the goddessof the witches, between her legs. Chalchihuitlcue is the whirlpool, the wind on thewaters, all young and growing things, the beginning of life and creation.
COATLICUE 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Earth monster. In the darkness and chaosbefore the Creation, the female Earth Monster swam in the waters of the earth devouringall that she saw. Wehn the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca decided to impose form uponthe Earth, they changed themselves into serpents and struggled with the Earth Monsteruntil they broke her in two. Coatlicue's lower part then rose to form the heavens and herupper part descended to form the earth. Coatlicue has an endless, ravenous appetite forhuman hearts and will not bear fruit unless given human blood.
CINTEOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The corn god, the giver of food, god offertility and regeneration. Cinteotl is protected by the rain gods Tlaloc andChalchihuitlcue.
EUEUCOYOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The Old, Old Coyote. Associated withgaiety and sex. A god of spontaneity, of ostentatious ornament, of unexpected pleasure andsorrow. A trickster and troublemaker. Considered unlucky.
HUITZILOPOCHTLI 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) God of war, son of Coatlicue.Principal god of the Aztecs. When Coatlicue became pregnant with Huitzilopochtli, herdaughter Coyolxauhqui incited her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua (the Four HundredStars) to destroy Coatlicue, because her pregnancy brought disgrace on the family. Stillin the womb, Huitzilopochtli swore to defend his mother and immediately on being born puton battle armor and war paint. After defeating the Four Hundred Stars, Huitzilopochtlislew his sister and cast her down the hill at Templo Mayor where her body broke to pieceson striking the bottom. Priests at Templo Mayor killed prisoners in the same way, thesesacrifices being replicas of mythical events designed to keep the daily battle between dayand night and the birth of the God of War ever in the minds of the people. Oftenconsidered synonomous with QUETZALCOATL.
ITZCOLIUHQUI 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The Twisted Obsidian One, the God ofthe Curved Obsidian Blade. God of darkness and destruction. Blinded and cast down from theheavens, Itzcoliuhqui strikes out randomly at his victims.
ITZPAPALOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Obsidian Butterfly. Beautiful, demonic,armed with the claws of a jaguar. The female counterpart of Itzcoliuhqui.
MICTLAN 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Below the world of living men there arenine underworlds, the lowest of which is Mictlan, the Land of the Dead ruled byMictlantechupi and his consort Mictlancihuntl. Souls who win no merit in life come hereafter death, but they do not suffer as in the Christian hell. Instead they merely endure arather drab and colorless existence before passing again into the world of the living. Asa man disappears into the West, the direction of the dead, the seeds of his rebirth aresown.
OMETEOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) \"God of the Near and Close,\"\"He Who Is at the Center,\" the god above all, the being both male and female whocreated all life and existence. Ometeotl is dualistic, embodying both male and female,light and dark, positive and negative, yes and no. Ometoetol occupies Omeyocan, thehighest of the Aztecs' thirteen heavens, and the four heavens immediately below Omeyocanare a mystery about which no one knows very much. Below the five highest heavens is aregion of strife and tempest, where Ometeotl breaks into his many facets or aspects.
QUETZALCOATL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The Feathered Serpent. The PreciousTwin who lifts the sun out of darkness, god of the winds and the breath of life, FirstLord of the Toltecs. Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of the calender. Demons temptedQuetzalcoatl constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice, but his love was too greatfor him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw himself on into a funeralpyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds carrying his heart to thestar Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his first entry into the world inthe shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles to emerge as a butterfly, the symbol ofperfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the most compassionate of the Azec gods -- he onlydemands one human sacrifice a year. Often considered synonomous with HUITZILOPOTCHLI.
TEZCATLIPOCA 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The Prince of This World, the Mirrorthat Smokes, the One Always at the Shoulder, the Shadow. A trickster, revered particularlyby soldiers and magicians. The name refers to the black obsidian mirrors used by magicianswhich become cloudy when scrying. A god of wealth and power, Tezcatlopoca's favors canonly be won by those willing to face his terrors. Ruler over the early years of a man'slife.
TLALOC 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Lord of all sources of water, clouds, rain,lightening, mountain springs, and weather.
TLALOCAN 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Kingdom of Tlaloc, a heaven of sensualdelights, of rainbows, butterflies and flowers, of simple-minded and shallow pleasures.Souls spend only four years here before returning to the land of the living. Unless itstrives for higher and nobler things while living, a soul is destined for this endlessround of mortal life and Tlalocan. When a life had been particularly evil, a soul mightjourney instead to Mictlan.
TLILLAN-TLAPALLAN 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The land of the fleshless. TheLand of the Black and Red, the colors signifying wisdom. A paradise for those whosuccessfully follow the teachings of Quetzalcoatl. Those souls who come toTlillan-Tlapallan have learned to live without fleshly bodies, a state greatly to bedesired.
TLAZOLTEOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Eater of filth, devourer of sins,goddess of witches and witchcraft. Tlazolteotl has power over all forms of uncleanbehavior, usually sexual. Confessing sins to Tlazolteotl, one is cleansed. The goddess hasfour forms or aspects, corresponding to the phases of the moon: a young and carefreetemptress, the lover of Quetzalcoatl; the Goddess of gambling and uncertainty; the GreatPriestess who consumes and destroys the sins of mankind; and frightful old crone,persecutor and destroyer of youth.
TONATIUH 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) God of the Sun. Poor and ill, Tonatiuhcast himself into the flames, and being burnt up, was resurrected. Daily Tonatiuh repeatshis passage across the heavens, down into darkness, and back again into the sky. With himTonatiuh carries all brave warriors who have died in battle and all brave women who havedied in childbirth. The greatest heroes Tonatiuh carries with him to the greatest heights.In Tonatiuhican, the House of the Sun, dwell those who have won even greater enlightenmentthan those who dwell in Tlillan-Tlapallan.
XIPE_TOTEC 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Lord of the Spring, god of newly plantedseed and of pentitential torture. A pockmarked saviour who tears out his eyes and flayshimself in penance to the gods, thus persuading the gods to give maize to men. Giving uphis pockmarked skin, Xipe Totec is then clad in robes of gold.
XIUHTECUHTLI 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) Lord of fire, Lord of the Pole Star,pivot of the universe, one of the forms of the Supreme Deity. The lord of every flame,from those which burn in the temples to those which burn in the lowliest huts.
XOLOTL 978856915 DrN (AZTEC) The god with backward feet who brought Manas well as Fire from the underworlds. Bringer of misfortune. The evil aspect of the starVenus. Quetzalcoatl's deformed twin.
OENGUS_OF_THE_BRUIG 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See ANGUS_OF_THE_BRUGH
ANGUS_OF_THE_BRUGH 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Also OENGUS OF THE BRUIG God ofyouth, son of the Dagda. In Ireland, Angus is the counterpart of Cupid. Angus' kisses turninto singing birds, and the music he plays irresistably draws all who hear.
ARIANRHOD 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) \"Silver Wheel,\" \"HighFruitful Mother.\" One of the Three Virgins of Britain, her palace is Caer Arianrhod,the Celtic name for the Aurora Borealis.
BADB 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) A goddess of war. One of a triad of wargoddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Bird shaped and crimson mouthed, Badb usesher magic to decide battles. Badb lusts after men and is often seen at fords washing thearmor and weapons of men about to die in combat.
BRIGHID 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) also BRIGIT. Goddess of healing andcraftsmanship, especially metalwork. Also a patron of learning and poetry. In Wales she isCaridwen, who possesses the cauldron of knowledge and inspiration. The Celts so lovedBrighid that they could not abandon her even when they became Christians, and so madeBrighid a Christian saint.
HEN_WEN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See CARIDWEN
CARIDWEN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) also HEN WEN; in Wales, BRIGHID\"White Grain,\" \"Old White One.\" Corn goddess. Mother of Taliesen,greatest and wisest of all the bards, and therefore a patron of poets. The \"whitegoddess\" of Robert Graves. Caridwen lives among the stars in the land of Caer Sidi.Caridwen is connected with wolves, and some claim her cult dates to the neolithic era.
CERNUNNOS 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Horned god of virility. Cernunnos wearsthe torc (neck-ring) and is ever in the company of a ram-headed serpent and a stag.Extremely popular among the Celts, the Druids encouraged the worship of Cernunnos,attempting to replace the plethora of local deities and spirits with a national religion.The Celts were so enamored of Cernunnos that his cult was a serious obstacle to the spreadof Christianity.
DAGDA 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Earth and father god. Dagda possesses abottomless cauldron of plenty and rules the seasons with the music of his harp. With hismighty club Dagda can slay nine men with a single blow, and with its small end he canbring them back to life. On the day of the New Year, Dagda mates with the raven goddess ofthe Morrigan who while making love straddles a river with one foot on each bank. Aslightly comical figure.
DANU 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother.Another of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Connected with themoon goddess Aine of Knockaine, who protects crops and cattle. Most importantly, themother of the Tuatha de' Danann, the tribe of the gods.
DIAN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) CECHT A healer. At the second battle ofMoytura, Dian Cecht murdered his own son whose skill in healing endangered his father'sreputation. The Judgments of Dian Cecht, an ancient Irish legal tract, lays down theobligations to the ill and injured. An agressor must pay for curing anyone he has injured,and the severity of any wound, even the smallest, is measured in grains of corn.
DIS_PATER 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Originally a god of death and theunderworld, later the cheif god of the Gauls. The Gauls believed, as their Druids taught,that Dis Pater is the ancestor of all the Gauls.
DONN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Irish counterpart to Dis Pater. Donn sendsstorms and wrecks ships, but he protects crops and cattle as well. Donn's descendents cometo his island after death.
EPONA 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Horse goddess. Usually portrayed as riding amare, sometimes with a foal. Roman legionaires, deeply impressed with Celtic horsemanship,took up the worship of Epona themselves and eventually imported her cult to Rome itself.
ESUS 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) A god of the Gauls \"whose shrines makemen shudder,\" according to a Roman poet. Human sacrifices to Esus were hanged and runthrough with a sword. For unknown reasons, Esus is usually portrayed as a woodcutter.
GOVANNON 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) The smith god. The weapons Govannon makesare unfailing in their aim and deadliness, the armor unfailing in its protection. Also ahealer. Those who attend the feast of Govannon and drink of the god's sacred cup need nolonger fear old age and infirmity.
LUGH 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See LUG
LLEU 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See LUG
LUG 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) also LUGH, LLEU A sun god and a hero god,young, strong, radiant with hair of gold, master of all arts, skills and crafts. One dayLug arrived at the court of the Dagda and demanded to be admitted to the company of thegods. The gatekeeper asked him what he could do. For every skill or art Lug named, thegatekeeper replied that there was already one among the company who had mastered it. Lugat last pointed out that they had no one who had mastered them all, and so gained a placeamong the deities, eventually leading them to victory in the second battle of Moyturaagainst the Formorian invaders. (The Formorians were a race of monsters who challenged thegods for supremacy in the first and second battles of Moytura.) The Romans identified Lugwith Mercury. The most popular and widely worshipped of the Celtic gods, Lug's name in itsvarious forms was taken by the cities of Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Leon, Lieden, Leignitz,Carlisle and Vienna.
MACHA 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) \"Crow.\" The third of the triad ofwar goddesses known as the Morrigan, Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies. Machaoften dominates her male lovers through cunning or simple brute strength.
MEDB 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) \"Drunk Woman.\" A goddess of war, notone of the Morrigan. Where the Morrigan use magic, Medb wields a weapon herself. The sightof Medb blinds enemies, and she runs faster than the fastest horse. A bawdy girl, Medbneeds thirty men a day to satisfy her sexual appetite.
MORRIGU_MORRIGAN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See MORRIGAN
MORRIGAN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) , THE also MORRIGU MORRIGAN A war goddess,forerunner of the Arthurian Morgan La Fey. Like Odin, fickle and unfaithful, not to betrusted. A hag with a demonic laugh, the Morrigan appears as a grotesque apparition to menabout to die in battle. Her name is also used for a triad of war goddesses, who are oftenthought of as different aspects of the Morrigan.
NEMAIN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) \"Panic.\" A war goddess.
NUD 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See NUADHU
NODENS 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See NUADHU
LUD 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See NUADHU
NUADHU 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) also NUD, NODENS, LUD. \"Nuadhu of thesilver arm.\" God of healing and water; his name suggests \"wealth-bringer\"and \"cloud-maker.\" At the first battle of Moytura, Nuadhu lost an arm, and DianCecht replaced it with a new one made out of silver. Because of this, Nuadhu was obligedto turn leadership of the Tuatha de' Dannan over to Lug. People came to be healed atNuadhu's temple at Lydney, and small votive limbs made of silver have been found there.
OGMA 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) See OGMIOS
OGMIOS 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) also OGMA \"Sun Face.\" A hero godlike Hercules, a god of eloquence, language, genius. Generally portrayed as an old mandressed in a lion skin. From his tongue hang fine gold chains attached to the ears of hiseager followers.
SUCELLUS 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) Guardian of forests, patron ofagriculture. His consort is Nantosvelta, whose name suggests brooks and streams. Sometimesconsidered synonomous with Cernunnos or Daghda.
TUATHA_DE'_DANANN 978856915 DrN (CELTIC) The divine tribes and peopledescended from the goddess Danu. Skilled in druidry and magic, the Tuatha de' Danannpossess four talismans of great power: the stone of Fal which shrieked under the true heirto the throne; the spear of Lug which made victory certain; the sword of Nuadhu whichslays all enemies; and the ever full cauldron of Daghda from which no man ever goes awayhungry.
AO 978856915 DrN (CHINA) The Four Dragon Kings Ao Chi'in, Ao Kuang, AoJun, and Ao Shun, gods of rain and the sea. Subjects of the Jade Emperor.
CH'ENG-HUANG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of moats and walls. Every villageand town had its own Ch'eng-Huang, most often a local dignitary or important person whohad died and been promoted to godhood. His divine status was revealed in dreams, thoughthe gods made the actual decision. Ch'eng-Huang not only protects the community fromattack but sees to it that the King of the Dead does not take any soul from hisjurisdiction without proper authority. Ch'eng-Huang also exposes evil-doers in thecommunity itself, usually through dreams. His assistants are Mr. Ba Lao-ye and Mr. Hei Lao-ye -- Mr. Daywatchman and Mr. Nightwatchman.
CHU_JUNG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of fire. Chu Jung punishes those whobreak the laws of heaven.
KUAN_TI 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of war. The Great Judge who protectsthe people from injustice and evil spirits. A red faced god dressed always in green. Anoracle. Kuan Ti was an actual historical figure, a general of the Han dynasty renowned forhis skill as a warrior and his justness as a ruler. There were more than 1600 templesdedicated to Kuan Ti.
KWANNON 978856915 DrN (CHINA) See KWAN YIN
KWAN_YIN 978856915 DrN (CHINA) also KWANNON Goddess of mercy andcompassion. A lady dressed in white seated on a lotus and holding an infant. Murdered byher father, she recited the holy books when she arrived in Hell, and the ruler of theunderworld could not make the dead souls suffer. The disgruntled god sent her back to theworld of the living, where Kwan Yin attained great spiritual insight and was rewarded withimmortality by the Buddha. A popular goddess, Kwan Yin's temple at the Mount of theWondrous Peak was ever filled with a throng of pilgrims shaking rattles and setting offfirecrackers to get her attention.
LEI_KUNG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of thunder. Lei Kung has the head of abird, wings, claws and blue skin, and his chariot is drawn by six boys. Lei Kung makesthunder with his hammer, and his wife makes lightening with her mirrors. Lei Kung chasesaway evil spirits and punishes criminals whose crimes have gone undetected.
PA_HSIEN 978856915 DrN (CHINA) The Eight Immortals of the Taoisttradition. Ordinary mortals who, through good works and good lives, were rewarded by theQueen Mother Wang by giving them the peaches of everlasting life to eat.
LI_TIEH-KUAI 978856915 DrN (CHINA) Li of the Iron Crutch. A healer, Lisits as a beggar in the market place selling wondrous drugs, some of which can revive thedead.
CHUNG-LI 978856915 DrN (CHINA) CH'UAN A smiling old men always beamingwith joy, he was rewarded with immortality for his ascetic life in the mountains.
LAN_TS'AI-HO 978856915 DrN (CHINA) A young flute-player and wanderingminstrel who carries a basket laden with fruit. His soul-searching songs caused a stork tosnatch him away to the heavens.
LU_TUNG-PIN 978856915 DrN (CHINA) A hero of early Chinese literature.Renouncing riches and the world, he punished the wicked and rewarded the good, and slewdragons with a magic sword.
CHANG-KUO_LAO 978856915 DrN (CHINA) An aged hermit with miraculousabilities. Chang owned a donkey which could travel at incredible speed. Thepersonification of the primordial vapor which is the source of all life.
HAN_HSIANG-TZU 978856915 DrN (CHINA) A scholar who chose to study magicrather than prepare for the civil service. When his uncle chastised him for studyingmagic, Han Hsiang-Tzu materialized two flowers with poems written on the leaves.
TS'AO_KUO-CHIU 978856915 DrN (CHINA) Ts'ao Kuo-Chiu tried to reform hisbrother, a corrupt emperor, by reminding him that the laws of heaven are inescapable.
HO_HSIEN-KU 978856915 DrN (CHINA) \"Immortal Maiden Ho.\" ACantonese girl who dreamed that she could become immortal by eating a powder made ofmother-of-pearl. She appears only to men of great virtue.
P'AN-CHIN-LIEN 978856915 DrN (CHINA) Goddess of prostitutes. As a mortal,she was a widow who was much too liberal and inventive with her favors, and herfather-in-law killed her. In death she was honored by her more professional associates andeventually became the goddess of whores.
SHI-TIEN_YEN-WANG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) The Lords of Death, the tenrulers of the underworld. They dress alike in royal robes and only the wisest can tellthem apart. Each ruler presides over one court of law. In the first court a soul is judgedaccording to his sins in life and sentenced to one of the eight courts of punishment.Punishment is fitted to the offense. Misers are made to drink molten gold, liars' tonguesare cut out. In the second court are incompetent doctors and dishonest agents; in thethird, forgers, liars, gossips, and corrupt government officials; in the fifth, murderers,sex offenders and atheists; in the sixth, the sacreligious and blasphemers; in the eighth,those guilty of filial disrespect; in the ninth, arsonists and accident victims. In thetenth is the Wheel of Transmigration where souls are released to be reincarnated againafter their punishment is completed. Before souls are released, they are given a brew ofoblivion, which makes them forget their former lives.
TI-TSANG_WANG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of mercy. Wandering in thecaverns of Hell, a lost soul might encounter a smilng monk whose path is illuminated by ashining pearl and whose staff is decorated with metal rings which chime like bells. Thisis Ti-Tsang Wang, who will do all he can to help the soul escape hell and even to put anend to his eternal round of death and rebirth. Long ago, Ti-Tsang Wang renounced Nirvanaso that he could search the dark regions of Hell for souls to save from the kings of theten hells. Once a priest of Brahma, he converted to Buddhism and himself became a Buddhawith special authority over the souls of the dead.
T'SHAI-SHEN 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of wealth who presides over a vastbureaucracy with many minor deities under his authority. A majestic figure robed inexquisite silks. T'shai-Shen is quite a popular god; even atheists worship him.
TSAO_WANG 978856915 DrN (CHINA) God of the hearth. Every household hasits own Tsao Wang. Every year the hearth god reports on the family to the Jade Emperor,and the family has good or bad luck during the coming year according to his report. Thehearth god's wife records every word spoken by every member of the family. A paper imagerepresents the hearth god and his wife, and incense is burned to them daily. When the timecame to make his report to the Jade Emperor, sweetmeats were placed in his mouth, thepaper was burned, and firecrackers were lit to speed him on his way.
TU-TI 978856915 DrN (CHINA) Local gods. Minor gods of towns, villages andeven streets and households. Though far from the most important gods in the divine scheme,they were quite popular. Usually portrayed as kindly, respectable old men, they see to itthat the domains under their protection run smoothyly.
YENG-WANG-YEH 978856915 DrN (CHINA) \"Lord Yama King.\" Greatestof the Lords of Death. Yeng-Wang-Yeh judges all souls newly arrived to the land of thedead and decides whether to send them to a special court for punishment or put them backon the Wheel of Transmigration.
YU-HUANG-SHANG-TI 978856915 DrN (CHINA) \"Father Heaven.\" TheAugust Supreme Emperor of Jade, whose court is in the highest level of heaven, originallya sky god. The Jade Emperor made men, fashioning them from clay. His heavenly courtresembles the earthly court in all ways, having an army, a bureaucracy, a royal family andparasitical courtiers. The Jade Emperor's rule is orderly and without caprice. The seasonscome and go as they should, yin is balanced with yang, good is rewarded and evil ispunished. As time went on, the Jade Emperor became more and more remote to men, and itbecame customary to approach him through his doorkeeper, the Transcendental Dignitary. TheJade Emperor sees and hears everything; even the softest whisper is as loud as thunder tothe Jade Emperor.
AMON 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) See AMMON
AMUN 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) See AMMON
AMEN 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) See AMMON
AMMON 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Also AMON; AMUN; AMEN \"Hidden.\"King of the gods of Egypt. Patron of the Pharoahs. Originally a god of fertility, a localdeity of Memphis. Ammon became linked with the sun god Ra through the royal family,becoming Ammon-Ra.
ANUBIS 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) The jackal-headed god. Anubis can foresee amortal's destiny and is associated with magic and divination. Anubis supervises theweighing of the soul when the departed are brought to the hall of the dead.
ASTARTE 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) The Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar,inducted into the Egyptian pantheon and made a daughter of Ammon-Ra. Sometimes identified(or confused, which is the same thing) with Isis.
ATUM 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) The first of the gods, the self-created. Bysheer will, Atum formed himself out of the stagnant waters of Nun. Atum was bisexual andwas sometimes called \"the great He-She.\" The Egyptians had two cosmogonies, onetaught by the priests at Heliopolis and the other by the priests at Memphis. The priestsat Memphis taught that Nun and Atum, together with Atum's children Shu and Tefnut, wereaspects or forms of Ptah.
BASTET 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) See BAST
BAST 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Also BASTET. The cat-headed goddess, a localdeity of the delta. The kindly goddess of joy, music and dancing. Cats were sacred to Bastas a symbol of animal passion. Bast's devotees celebrated their lady with processions offlower-laden barges and orgiastic ceremonies. Her festivals were licentious and quitepopular.
HATHOR 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) A sky goddess, sometimes represented as awoman with cow's horns between which hangs a solar disc, sometimes portrayed as a cow.Hathor concerns herself with beauty, love and marriage, and watches over women givingbirth. Mother and wife of Ra. Hathor is also a goddess of death and offers comfort to thenewly dead as they pass into the afterworld.
HORUS 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) The falcon-headed god. A complex deity withmany aspects. Some of them are: Horus the Elder, a sky god whose eyes are the sun and themoon, continually at war with Set, the god of evil; Horus of the Horizon, symbolized bythe rising and setting sun; Horus the Child, whose frequent depictions as a baby at thebreast of his mother Isis influenced Christian images of the Madonna and the Christ child;Horus, son of Isis, avenger of Osiris. There were many others.
ISIS 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Wife and sister of Osiris (the ancients hadnothing against a little divine incest). The ideal wife and mother. Generally a goddess ofthe home and person rather than of the temple and the priest. After the twenty sixthdynasty, Isis is increasingly portrayed as a nursing mother, and her cult eventuallyspread throughout the Roman empire.
MAAT 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Goddess of truth and justice. Her symbol isthe feather.
MIN 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) A god of fertility and sexual potency. Anancient god of pre-dynastic origins. His symbol is the thunderbolt. As orgiasticfestivials were held in his honor, Min was quite a popular god.
NUN 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) God of the primal waters. Nun was a mass ofstagnant water which filled all the universe.
OSIRIS 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) At first the god of corn; later the god ofthe dead. Osiris brought civilization to the Egyptians, teaching them the uses of corn andwine, weaving, sculpture, religion, music and law. Set slew Osiris and dismembered thbody; but Osiris' consort, Isis, reassembled the body and brought Osiris back to life.Osiris then retired to the underworld. Osiris is the god of the Nile which rises and fallsevery year; the god of corn and the vine, which flourish, die, and flourish once more; andthe god of the rising and setting sun.
PTAH 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) The artificer. The creator god. According tothe priests of Memphis, the fount of all creation. God of artisans and artists, designers,builders, architects, masons, metal workers. Ptah's consort is Sekhmut, goddess of war.
RA 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) God of the sun; sometimes identified orconsidered synonomous with Atum. Ra created man from his tears. At one time Ra became sodigusted with men that he orderd Hathor to kill them all. This Hathor did with such zealthat Ra took pity on men and ordered Hathor to stop. Crazed with blood, Hathor ignored theorder, and Ra resorted to chicanery to save humankind. Ra mixed beer with pomegranatejuice and left pots of the concoction about the battlefield. Thinking the mixture wasblood, Hathor drank it greedily and got too swacked to carry out her mission.
SEKHMUT 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Goddess of war and battles, consort ofPtah. Hathor took Sekhmut's shape when she made war on men. Sekhmut is usually portrayedas a woman with the head of a lionness, sometimes brandishing a knife in an upraised hand.
SET 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) Red of hair and eyes, pale of skin, Set is thegod of evil, of drought, of destruction, thunder and storm. Set tore himself from hismother's womb in his hurry to be born. Every month Set attacks and devours the moon, thesanctuary of Osiris and the gathering place of the souls of the recently dead.
THOTH 978856915 DrN (EGYPT) \"Thrice Greatest.\" God of wisdom,music, magic, medicine, astronomy, geometry, surveying, art and and writing. Historian,scribe and judge. Thoth's priests claimed Thoth was the Demi-Urge who created everythingfrom sound. It was said that Thoth wrote books in which he set forth a fabulous knowldegeof magic and incantation, and then concealed them in a crypt.
ADONIS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Beloved of Aphrodite, the central figure ofa widespread fertility cult, god of vegetation and re-birth. Adonis seems clearly linkedwith Tammuz, the Assyro-Babylonion god who dies and rises again. Adonis is the Greekversion of the Phoenician term Adon, which means \"Lord.\"
APHRODITE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Goddess of fertility, love and beauty.When Zeus killed his father, Uranus, he cut off his father's genitals and cast them intothe sea. The sea foamed and boiled and Aphrodite arose from the waters. As Aphroditestepped from the ocean, flowers grew wherever her feet touched. Paphos, the place whereAphrodite supposedly rose from the waters, was her most important place of worship, and atCorinth she was worshipped with sacred whores. Aphrodite is clearly related to Ishtar andAstarte and very much loves the company of the male gods. While married to Hephaestus, shealso dallied with Ares, Poseidon, Adonis, and Dionysius. Aphrodite is a complex, manyfaceted deity. Among her many names are Melaina (the Black One), Androphonos (Killer ofMen), Epitymbidia (She Upon the Graves), Anadyomene (Rising from the Sea), Urania (SkyBorne), and Pandemos (Goddess of All the People).
APOLLO 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of light, god of prophecy and music, godof medicine, god of flocks and herds, the divine archer, a pastoral god. Wise, beauteous,all-knowing, ever just, ever young. Apollo urges forgiveness to all offenses, even theblackest of crimes, so long as the offender was truly penitent. After Zeus and Athene, thegreatest of the Gods. Apollo's most important place of worship was the famous temple atDelphi, where oracles prophesied in his name. The Sybil at Cumae in southern Italy alsoforetold the future in his honor. Paintings and statuary show him with his bow and lyre,which were a gift from the infant Hermes. Apollo loved young men and young women alike,though his affairs usually ended unhappily. Artemis is his twin sister, and Horus is hiscounterpart in the Egyptian pantheon.
ARES 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, MARS God of war. The Greeksdetested Ares. Quarrelsome, spiteful, unfaithful, Ares loves only hatred, strife andbloodshed. Ares was the first god to be placed on trial for murder, and the place inAthens where he was supposed to be have been tried was called the Aeropagus, the Hill ofAres. By custom trials for murder were held at the Aeropagus. The Romans believed Ares tobe the father of Romulus and Remus
PARTHENOS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) See ARTEMIS
ARTEMIS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Also PARTHENOS Fertility goddess, patron ofmaidens, goddess of childbirth. Identified with the moon, as her brother Apollo isidentified with the sun. The Virgin Huntress, Mistress of Beasts, Lady of All Wild Things,A Lion unto Women. Usually benevolent, but stern and demanding, dangerous to cross.Artemis lived in Arcadia with a band of nymphs subject to her strict discipline; those whodallied with men, as did Callisto, might be shot down with an arrow or otherwise punished.No man or god ever gained the love of Artemis. Artemis is virtually unbeatable in combat.The only one of the immortals who ever bested her was Hera, who defeated Artemis on thebattlefield at Troy, whipped her with her own bow, and sent her fleeing in tears.
ASCLEPIUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of medicine and healing, son ofApollo. Originally a mortal. So great was Asclepius' skill that he could revive the dead.Zeus killed Asclepius after Hades complained that he was being cheated of his lawful due,but Asclepius' virtues and good deeds won him a place among the gods. Those who wished acure of Asclepius would sleep in his temple, where he would appear to them in a dream andadvise them. Snakes are his symbol and were allowed to wanderfreely in his temple at Epidaurus.
ATHENE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, MINERVA Goddess of wisdom,of architects and sculptors, of weavers, of oxen and horses. A goddess of war. LikeArtemis, an eternal virgin. Often associated with birds, particularly the owl. Athenetaught men to tame horses and invented the potter's wheel. Her city is Athens, which shewon in a contest with Poseidon.
CHARON 978856915 DrN (GREECE) The ferryman who carries dead souls acrossthe river Styx to Hades. His fee is one obol, which was placed in the mouth of the deadman before he was buried.
CRONUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) The chief of the Titans, the race of giantswho preceded the Olympian gods. In very ancient times, Cronus was probably a corn god.Told that he would be overthrown by one of his own sons, Cronus devoured them all as theywere born until his wife Rhea deceived him to save Zeus. Wrapping a stone in swaddlingclothes, Rhea gave the stone to Cronus and spirited Zeus away to a hiding place. Afterdefeating Cronus, Zeus imprisoned him and the rest of the Titans, thus beginning the ageof the Olympian gods.
DEMETER 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, CERES Goddess of grain andthe fruitful earth. An earth mother who was certainly one of, if not the oldest of thegods. Demeter's immensely popular festivals, held twice a year at Eleusis, were so highlyrevered that no initiate was ever known to break the vow of secrecy. Demeter gave the giftof grain to men and instituted the Eleusinian Mysteries. The nature of these Mysteries hasbeen lost to us, though we know that the mystery cults celebrated the Lesser Mysteries inFebruary of every year and the Greater Mysteries in September of every fifth year. Mostlikely the rites included processions, ritual cleansing and religious dramas.
DIONYSIUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of religious ecstasy and wine,accompanied always by satyrs and nymphs. The force of life in all growing things.Dionysius is the Greek form of Thracian and Phrygian deities of vegetation and fetility,who followers worked themselves into a frenzy and ritually tore apart their god in theform of a goat, a bull or a man. The cult survived the introduction of the Olympian godsand proved so popular that it finally had to be accepted by the Dorian Greeks. In the darkage which followed the decline of the Myceneans, the cult of Dionysius spread rapidly,especially among women. His followers were known as maenads (mad women) and it was bestnot to be near when their frenzy came upon them. Animals, and sometimes people, were tornapart and sometimes eaten in the belief that they were devouring the god himself. Drunk,lawless and noisy, not terribly impressed by authority or convention, the followers ofDionysius were often unwelcome. His worshippers danced wildly, and his rites were designedto cleanse men of lowly irrational emotions and desires.
ERIS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) The dark sister of Eros. Goddess of chaos anddiscord, Eris loves confusion and conflict. It was Eris who gave the goddesses the goldenapple inscribed \"To the Fairest,\" which set in motion the chain of events thatled to the Trojan War.
EROS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of love both heterosexual and homosexual,though his domain is not limited solely to sexual love and includes love in all itsbroadest senses. One of the oldest of the gods, the center of his worship was at Thespiae.The ancient Greeks feared Eros. Eros can cause havoc, and there is an air of maliciousnessabout him. Eros can drive men and women to noble self-sacrfice, but he can also torturethem to madness and drive them to self-destruction. Lacking wisdom, moderns have made Eroscontemptibly cute and sweet, and somewhat prankish.
GAIA 978856915 DrN (GREECE) \"Mother of all things.\" The Earthitself, mother of the Titans, the old gods. Usually represented as a giant woman. Beforeanything else existed, there was only Chaos (the Void, the Nothingness, the Emptiness) andthe Earth. Gaia nurses the ill and watches over marriages. Gaia is an oracle as well, andthe temple at Delphi was hers before it was Apollo's. The Greeks had no tales about Gaia,because she belonged to the distant past.
PLUTO 978856915 DrN (GREECE) See HADES
HADES 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Also PLUTO \"The Unseen,\" \"theRich.\" God of wealth and the underworld. Hades is stern but perfectly just, andrejects all pleas for mercy, but he is in no sense evil or destructive. His realm is not aplace of flames and torment, as is the Christian hell. Most dead souls dwell on the plainof Asphodel, where they wander aimlessly as mere shadows of their earthly selves. Theblessed go to the Elysian Fields, a place of great joy and beauty, while the abominablywicked go to the dismal plain of Tartarus. You're born, you live, you die, you go toHades. End of story.
HEBE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Goddess of youth and beauty. An eternallyyoung girl, Hebe helps the gods wash and dress themselves, though her main duty is toserve nectar and ambrosia at their feasts. A minor but charming deity.
HECATE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Goddess of black magic and evil ghosts.Often portrayed with three faces: maiden, mother and crone. The poor and down troddenoften turned to Hecate for protection or vengance. Hecate defends children and appearswith her dogs at crossroads and tombs.
HELIOS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of the sun, the charioteer who drivesthe sun across the sky. From his great height, Helios sees everything and was often calledupon to witness contracts and oaths. From the fifth century onward, Helios was consideredidentical with Apollo.
HEPHAESTUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, VULCAN The lameblacksmith god, patron of craftsman and metalworkers, god of fire. The centers of his cultcould be found wherever metalworkers congregated and near volcanos. Hephaestus was so uglythat his mother Hera kept him out of sight, and the other gods laughed at his lame gait.In revenge, Hephaestus tricked the gods into giving him Aphrodite for his wife, though henever succeeded in keeping her faithful. Some scholars say Hephaestus' lameness was areflection of an actual practice. A skillful smith was a rare and valuable man, and tribesor villages would often cripple a good smith to keep him from leaving or running away.
HERA 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, JUNO. Wife of Zeus, queen ofthe gods. Zeus is quite a randy god, and Hera's domestic life with him is always stormy.Zeus and Hera were on opposite sides during the Trojan War, and they squabble all the waythrough the Iliad. At first a sky goddess, Hera later became the embodiment ofwomanliness. Like Dionysius, Hera is a pre-Olympian deity whose cult was so strong that ithad to be adopted by the Dorian Greeks. Hera was worshipped in high places, and hertemples were built on mountain peaks. Her festival, held at Argos and called the Heraia,involved athletic contests.
HERMES; 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, MERCURY The messenger of thegods, the god of eloquence, the god of luck. God of travelers, merchants and athletes.Originally a pastoral and fertility god in Arcadia, in his oldest monuments Hermes isrepresented simply as a phallus. Easygoing, kind and obliging, Hermes is quite helpful toboth gods and men, though he appears in some stories as a trickster. Hermes invented thelyre, which he gave to Apollo to get out of a mess he'd made by stealing Apollo's cattle.Hermes' image was often found at crossroads and junctions, and he is shown with wingedsandals and a winged helmet. Hermes was quite popular.
HYPNOS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of sleep. Brother of Thanatos (Death).Hypnos has power even over the gods.
IRIS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Goddess of the rainbow. Like Hermes, amessenger for the gods. The center of her cult was at Delos, and the proper offerings toher were dried figs and honeycakes.
MOROS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of destiny. Dark, unknowable, allpowerful. Even the gods are subject to Moros.
MORPHEUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of dreams. His name is the root wordof \"morphine.\"
ADRASTEIA 978856915 DrN (GREECE) See NEMESIS
NEMESIS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Also ADRASTEIA Goddess of destiny andinevitability, the repayment of sin and crime.
NIKE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, VICTORIA Goddess of victory.Generally portrayed as a winged maiden holding high a wreath of bay leaves, the victor'slaurel. Her most famous temple was in Athens.
OCEANUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Ancient god of the oceans, eventuallydisplaced by Poseidon. With his sister, Tethys, he had six thousand children, half of themsea spirits, the other half river spirits.
PAN 978856915 DrN (GREECE) \"The Pasturer,\" \"the Feeder ofFlocks.\" God of herds, fertility and male sexuality. Pan has the horns and legs of agoat and plays a syrinx, a pipe withs seven reeds. An ancient god, he has no moral orsocial aspect whatsoever, and is simply the embodiment of pure, basic instinct. Some saidthat Pan taught Apollo the art of prophecy. Pan especially loves mountains and wildcountry. Pan has a dark aspect as well, causing men and animals to go suddenly mad withterror in distant, lonely places. His name is therefore the root word of\"panic.\"
KORE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) See PERSEPHONE
PERSEPHONE 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Also KORE \"Maiden.\" Daughterof Demeter, wife of Hades. Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to the underworld to behis queen. When Demeter heard, she wandered the earth in mourning, abandoning herresponsibilities, and the earth grew gray and barren. The growing famine forced Zeus todemand that Hades return Persephone to the surface world. But Persephone had eaten part ofa pomegranate, and eating of the food of the dead bound her to their world. Zeus and Hadesstruck a bargain -- Persephone would spend seven months a year in the world of the livingand five in the world of the dead. When Persephone is in the world, her mother Demeter iscontent, and te world blooms and lives. When she is in the underworld, Demeter mourns, theworld languishes, and we have winter.
POSEIDON 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of the sea and earthquakes. Horses andbulls are sacred to him. Originally the god of earth tremors, of vegetation and fecundity,Poseidon fought for the Olympians against the Titans, and his reward after the victory wasdominion over the seas, lakes and rivers. Poseidon's fits of rage manifest as storms, andseamen dread his anger. Bulls were thrown into the sea as sacrifices to Poseidon. Hisamorous adventures played an important role in Greek mythology, and he loved men no lessthan women.
THANATOS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) God of death. Sometimes portrayed as awinged spirit, at other times as a man robed in black armed with a sword. Thanatos is notevil or hateful. He is just doing his job.
URANUS 978856915 DrN (GREECE) Heaven personified. The son born to Gaiawhen she first emerged from Chaos. Uranus' rain made Gaia fruitful, and she brought forththe Titans. Jealous of his children, Uranus confined them to the earth, and Gaia conspiredwth Cronus, the boldest of her children, to overthrow him. Cronus castrated Uranus with asickle, only to be overthrown by Zeus in his turn.
ZEUS; 978856915 DrN (GREECE) to the Romans, JUPITER. \"CloudGatherer.\" The ruler of the Olympian gods, god of the sky, thunder, and lightening,the upholder of custom and tradition. Zeus had many names. As Soter, he is know as thefather and saviour of mankind; as Herkeios, guardian of the home; as Xenios, keeper of therules of hospitality; as Ktesios, protector of property; as Gamelios, god of marriage; asZeus Chronius, god of the earth and fertility; as Zeus Eluetherious, protector of freedom;and as Zeus Polieus, god of the civic virtues. Despite all these duties, Zeus still hadplenty of time to romp with young girls and boys. His wife Hera persecuted his lovers,both mortal and divine.
AJI-SUKI-TAKA-HI-KONE 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) One of several thunder gods.Born noisy, he grew up even noisier, and so they carry him up and down a ladder to quiethim. That is why you can hear him receding and approaching.
AMA-NO-UZUME 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Fertility goddess. A companion ofNinigi, she performed a bawdy dance hoping to entice the sun out of hiding. This dancesymbolizes the planting of seed which waits for the sun come after winter.
AMATERASU 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Sun goddess, ruler of the heavens. Whenher great enemy, the storm god Susa-No-Wo, destroyed her fine palace, Amaterasu went tohide in a cave. The other gods used all their magical tricks to get her to come out, to noavail. In her absence, darkness and demons ruled the earth until Ama-No-Usume luredAmaterasu out of the cave with a trick. With a comical and obscene dance, he made the godsgathered at the mouth of the cave laugh. When Amaterasu asked waht was going on,Ama-No-Uzume replied that they had found another and better sun goddess. Amaterasu peepedout of her cave and saw her own reflection in a mirror which Ama-No-Uzume had hung on anearby tree. Fascinated, Ameratasu drew a little closer for a better look, and the godsgrabbed her and hauled her out.
AMATSU 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) MIKABOSHI \"August Star of Heaven.\"God of evil.
BENZAITEN 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Goddess of love, one of the gods ofhappiness. Benzaiten rides a dragon while playing a stringed instrument.
BISHAMON 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of happiness and war, a strangecombination. Bishamon protects men from disease and demons. Bishamon was often portrayedwearing a wheel of fire like a halo, which some see as the Wheel of Fate.
CHIMATA-NO-KAMI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of crossroads, highways andfootpaths. Originally a phallic god, his phallic symbol was placed at crossroads.
HO-MASUBI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Fire god. His birth killed the creatorgoddess Izanami, and his father, the creator god Izanagi, was so enraged with grief thathe killed the baby. From his blood came eight gods, and from the body came eight mountaingods.
IZANAMI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) See IZANAGI
IZANAGI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) and IZANAMI Creator god and goddess sentdown from heaven to build the earth. The other gods and goddesses are their descendents,but when the god of fire was born he burned his mother to death. Descending to theunderworld, Izanami became old and ugly. Izanagi followed her to bring her back, but sheforbade him to look at her. Izanagi looked anyway and Izanami tried to imprision him inthe underworld. Pursued by Izanimi's furies, Izanagi escaped and sealed up the entrance tothe underworld with a boulder. Enraged, Izanami vowed to kill a thousand of Izanami'ssubjects a day, and Izanami vowed to create fifteen hundred a day. So it was that Izanamibecame the goddess of death and Izanagi became the lord of life.
KAWA-NO-KAMI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of rivers. Larger rivers havetheir own gods, but all waterways are under Kawa-No-Kami's authority. When rivers flooded,the gods were sometimes appeased with human sacrifices.
NAI-NO-KAMI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of earthquakes. A late addition tothe Japanese pantheon, Nai-No-Kami was inducted in the seventh century A.D.
NINIGI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Grandson of Amaterasu, sent to rule theearth, the ancestor of all the Japanese emperors.
O-KUNI-NUSHI 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of sorcery and medicine.Originally the ruler of the province of Izumo, he was replaced by Ninigi, but incompensation he was made ruler of the unseen world of spirits and magic.
SENGEN-SAMA 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) Goddess of the sacred mountain ofFujiyama. At her shrine at the top of the mountain, worshippers greet the rising sun.
SHINE-TSU-HIKO 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of the wind. Shine-Tsu-Hikofills up the empty space between earth and heaven, and with his wife Shina-To-Be, he holdsup the earth.
SUSA-NO-WO 978856915 DrN (JAPAN) God of storms, snakes and farming.Amaterasu's brother and greatest enemy. From the moment he was born, he was atroublemaker. After Amaterasu was finally taken out of her cave, Susa-No-Wo was punished.The other gods shaved his beard and moustache, pulled out his fingernails, and banishedhim to live as a mortal on the earth.
ANU 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The god of the sky, from whence the sun shinesand the rain falls. Lord of all, the fountainhead of order in both the natural andsupernatural worlds. The stars are his warriors, the Milky Way his personal highway. Anudwells exclusively in the celestial heaven. Unapproachable, remote and otherwordly, hecares little about men and seldom intervenes in their affairs.
APSU 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The Abyss. The waters upon which the earthfloats. When the gods were first created, their noise disturbed Apsu, who complained tohis mother, the great dragon Tiamat. Tiamat made war on the gods and was slain by Marduk.
ANSHAR 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Father of Anu and all the other gods. Hisconsort is his sister, Kishu. Anshar is the male principle, Kishu the female principle.Anshar is the sky, Kishu the earth. Anshar led the gods in the war against Tiamat.
ENKI 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) See EA
EA 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Also ENKI \"Lord of the Sacred Eye.\"God of water, supreme god of magic and wisdom, patron of the arts. An oracle. Ea is thegod of fresh waters. Ea is portrayed as a goat with a fish's tail or a human with waterflowing from his shoulders. Mating with Ninhursag (\"Lady Mountain\") he createdthe plants and gave men agriculture.
ENLIL 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The god of earth and wind. The master ofmen's fates. The god who dries up the flood waters after the Tigris and Euphrates haveoverflowed their banks; who brings rain; who fills the sails of ships and boats; whofetrilizes the palm blossoms. The god who struggles against the suffering of the world.Enlil's power moves all; he is the active principle which drives the earth. Enlil sent theflood which destroyed all mankind except Utnapishtim and his family. Enlil can be found inthe howling storm and the ruins and ashes of war.
ERESHKIGAL 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Goddess of the underworld, consort ofNergal. Some consider her a dark side or apect of Ishtar. When Ishtar descended into theunderworld to save Tammuz, Ereshkigal tricked her into leaving some part of her clothingor insignias at each of the underworld's seven gates as she passed through them. Standingnaked at the seventh gate, Ishtar threw herself on Ereshkigal; but like Samson shorn ofhis hair she was powerless. Ereshkigal confined Ishtar in the underworld until the wily Eacontrived her release with a trick.
GILGAMESH 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Like Hercules, a hero-god, two partsdivine and one part human. The story of his adventures survives in an epic poem on twelvetablets dating back to Akkadia in the middle of the second millenium B.C. Gilgamesh foughtand tamed the wild man Enkiddu. Despite the warnings of the priests and ill omens from thesun god, Gilgamesh and Enkiddu set out upon a quest. Enkiddu's death incited Gilgamesh toseek immortality, and after many adventures he found at last Utnapishtim who survived theGreat Flood and with his wife was granted eternal life by thegods. Utnapishtim convinced Gilgamesh of the futility of immortality.
ISHTAR 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) to the Sumerican INANNA; to the Egyptians,ASTARTE The greatest of all the mother goddesses of the Mesopotamians. Goddess offertility, goddess of sex, goddess of the moon, goddess of war. Lady of heaven, lady ofsorrow and battles. The great lover, the great mother. The hero-god Gilgamesh spurned her,ensuring his death. Venus is her star, and the lion is her cult animal. Ishtar's love isall consuming and even deadly. An Egyptian sculpture portrays her nude, standing on alion, and holding a lotus blossom (the symbol of life) in her right hand. Ishtar's worshipinvolved phallic symbols, sacred whores and painted priests in women's clothing. At hershrine at Uruk the priestesses performed a sexual rite in her honor. A priestess playedthe goddess; the priest who played the god was slain. The Christians turned her into ademon, and she is mentioned as such in Milton's PARADISE LOST.
KINGU 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Tiamat's general in the war against the gods.Keeper of the tablets of destiny, which hold the divine plan for all the cosmos. Ninhursagused Kingu's blood to make the first man, and from this comes the demonic, rebelliousaspect of human nature.
MARDUK 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The great god of Babylon, King of Kings,Guardian of the Law, the Great Sorcerer, the Great Healer, slayer of Tiamat. Marduk isOrder fighting against Chaos, the conflict from which all Creation emerges. DefeatingTiamat, Marduk brought order and life to the world. When the tablets of destiny wereseized from Kingu, Marduk fastened to his own breast, and so brought control of the earthunder the divine authority of the gods. The stele of Hammurabi shows Marduk on his thronewith a horned headdress, giving Hammurabi his ring and sceptre. The Amorites saw Marduk asa god of spring and sunlight, of herbs and trees.
NEBO 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Also NABU God of writing and speech, speakerfor the gods. Nebo maintains records of men's deeds and produces them for judgment afterdeath. His symbol is the stylus.
NERGAL 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) God of the underworld, mass destruction andplague, consort of Ereshkigal. Thrown out of heaven, he stormed the underworld withfourteen demons until Ereshkigal consented to marry him.
NINHURSAG 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Also MAAT \"Lady Mountain.\" Anearth mother. She mold the first man out of clay and brought him to life with the blood ofKingu.
SHAMASH 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Also BABBAR, UTU The sun. Son of the moongod Sin, brother and husband to Ishtar. The great god of justice. In Sumer, a god ofdivination. The enemy of darkness and all the evil darkness brings. Every morning,scorpion-men throw open the gates of his great palace, and Shamash mounts his chariot. Hethen crosses the sky from one horizon to the other, casting his rays upon the earth like anet, seeing all the evils and wrongs of the world. Entering the earth on the easternhorizon, Shamash travels through the underworld back to his palace. Shamash requiresjustice of earthly kings and champions their subjects, especially the poor.
SIN 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The moon god. Wise and secretive, the enemy ofall evil spirits. An old man with a long beard who flies through the sky in his sailboatevery night.
TAMMUZ 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Also DUMUZI God of the harvest. The god whodies and rises again. The love of Ishtar killed him, and Ishtar fought Ereshkigal in theunderworld to bring him back.
TIAMAT 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA)  to the agnostics, LEVIATHAN Goddess of theprimeval depths, the chaos from which Marduk formed the world. She took the form of adragon and swam in the primal waters. Tiamat warred on the gods, spawning a brood ofdragons, sphinxes, scorpion-men and other demons and monsters for her army. Marduk slewher, defeating her with magic and powerful winds. Splitting her in two, Marduk cast onehalf of Tiamat into the sky to form the heavens and the other he cast down to form theearth.
ANAT 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) Goddess of love and war. Female counterpart ofBaal-Haddad. Anat often aids Baal-Haddad in his battles and takes his part in defeat.
ATHIRAT 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) In the Bible, ASHERAH Mother of the gods,female counterpart of El. Athirat persuaded El to give his blessing to a temple forBaal-Haddad after his great victory over Sea, the god of chaos. Corresponds to Ishtar.
BAAL-HADDAD 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) \"The Mighty,\" \"He whomounts the clouds.\" Son of Dagon, the corn god. The executive of the divine assembly.Baal-Haddad dies and rises again so that the world may live. Baal-Haddad is the championof divine Order against Chaos. LIghtening is his weapon, and he can be found in storms andthunder. Defying Mot, the god of death, Baal-Haddad was swallowed up by the god of deathand taken to the underworld which Baal Haddad laid waste after a terrible struggle. In thebeginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered Yamm the Sea, and sobrought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority and control. See BAAL-HADDAD2
BAAL-HADDAD2 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The term \"Baal\" (alternate spellings: Beel, Bel) is not aproper name but a title. It means simply, \"Lord.\" To know the proper name of agod was t possess great power, and so the proper name was often kept secret from anyonewho was not a member of the priesthood. Many local and regional gods were thereforereferred to simply as \"Lord\" -- Baal. The Baal of the Bible is most often BaalShamim, \"Lord of the Skies.\" In Carthage, a colony of the Phoenicians, thepeople worshipped Baal Hammon or Ammon, a sky and fertility god whose symbol was the ram.The god of the Semitic nomad tribe of Zebulon was the \"Fly,\" or Beel-Zebul, Lordof Zebulon, often mistakenly called Beelzebub.
EL 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) \"The Bull,\" the Father of Men, theKindly One, the Compassionate. Creator of all things, greatest of all the gods, father ofthe divine family, head of the divine assembly.
KATHIRAT 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) \"The Skillful Ones.\" Minorgoddesses who preside over childbirth.
MOT 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) The god of death who rules the underworld amidwreckage and blackness.
SKILLFUL 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) AND PERCIPIENT ONE, THE The divineartificer, patron of craftsmanship and magic. The Skillful One made Baal-Haddad's weaponsfor the struggle against Yamm and built the temple in which Anat and Baal-Haddad dwell.
YAMM 978856915 DrN (MESOPOTAMIA) THE SEA Aslo PRINCE SEA, OCEAN-CURRENT THERULER God of primordial chaos, much like Tiamat and Coatlicue. Baal-Haddad's enemy. Beforethe great combat with Baal-Haddad, Yamm terrified the divine assembly of gods and sentemissaries to demand tribute from them. Part of the tribute he demanded was Baal-Haddad asa slave. Infuriated, Baal-Haddad drove the emissaries from the assembly hall, lashingtheir buttocks and depriving them of all dignity. So the war began.
AEGIR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) \"Alebrewer.\"So called because Aegir loves to give feasts for the gods. God of the sea. Saxon piratesgave to Aegir a tenth of their captives, who were thrown into the sea.
ANGRBODA 978856915 DrN (NORSE) The giantess who mated with Loki to createHel, Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent.
BALDER 978856915 DrN (NORSE) A hero god, the god who dies and risesagain. Fair skinned, fair haired, wise and merciful, beloved of all. Loke tricked Hoderinto killing Balder, who had to be rescued from the underworld. According to the epic poemVOLUSKA, Balder will come to rule again after Ragnarok.
BRAGI 978856915 DrN (NORSE) God of poetry and eloquence, husband ofIduun. It is Bragi's duty to prepare Valhalla for new arrivals.
DONAR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) German god of thunder, forerunner of Thor.His symbol is the swastika. Oak trees are sacred to Donar, as they are to Jove.
FENRIS_WOLF 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See FENRIR
FENRIR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Also FENRIS WOLF A monstrous wolf conceivedby Loki. Fenrir was raised in Asgard, the home of the gods, until he became so immense andferoucious that only the god Tyr was brave enough to feed him. Tyr bound Fenrir until theday of Ragnarok, when Fenrir will break loose to slay Odin.
FORSETI 978856915 DrN (NORSE) God of justice, the great arbiter, the godwho \"stills all strife.\" Forseti dwells in a hall of gold and silver calledGiltnir.
FREYR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) \"The god of the world,\" son ofNjord, husband of Freyja. God of fertility, sunlight and rain, peace, joy and contentment.Freyr was worshipped with human sacrifices and a kind of religious play in which mendressed as women mimed and danced to the sound of chimes and bells. Freyr had someassociation with the horse cult as well, and horses sacred to his service were kpet nearhis shrines. Freyr and his sister/wife FREYJA were of the Vanir, a family or race of godswhich originally competed with the Aesir and later became allies. The Vanir may have beenthe gods of an earlier Scandinavian race who were adopted into the pantheon of laterconquerors.
FREYJA 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Goddess of magic and death, goddess of sex,daughter of Njord, a shape-shifter who often took the form of a falcon. When her husbandOd disappeared, Freyja wept golden tears. Donning a magical garment, Freyja could fly longdistances. Patroness of seithr, a practice in which a sorceress would enter a trance toforetell the future. The women who practiced siethr, who were know as Volva, wanderedfreely about the country casting spells and foretelling the future. Freyja's worshippersinvolved orgiastic rites which horrified and outraged the Christians. Half of all thoseslain in battle belonged to Freyja, the other half belonging to Odin.
FRIGG 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Wife of Odin, mother of Balder, queen ofAsgard. A fertility goddess.
HEIMDALL 978856915 DrN (NORSE) The god who guards the Bifrost Bridgewhich is the entrance to Asgard. Heimdall can see for immense distances, and his ear is sosensitive that he can hear the grass grow. On the day of Ragnarok, Heimdall will blow thegreat horn Gjallarhorn, and in the ensuing battle he will slay Loki.
HEL 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Goddess of death. Daughter of Loki. Ruler ofNiflheim, the land of mists. Heroic souls go to Valhalla. Those who die of disease or oldage come to Niflheim. Surrounded by high walls and strong gates, Niflheim is impregnable;not even Balder could return from there without Hel's permission.
HERMOD 978856915 DrN (NORSE) A hero god. Hermod rode through the gates ofNiflheim to rescue Balder and found Balder seated on the right hand of Hel. Hel agreed torelease Balder on condition that all living things weep for him.
HODER 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Little is known about Hoder, other than thathe is blind. Loki tricked Hoder into killing Balder with a sprig of mistletoe. Hoder willjoin Balder in the new world which will come into being when the present one is destroyed.
IDUNN 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Wife of Bragi, keeper of the golden apples ofeternal youth. The giant Thiazzi kidnapped her with the aid of Loki.
LOKI 978856915 DrN (NORSE) A trickster. Sly, deceitful, a master thief,not to be trusted. Nevertheless, Loki is charming, witty, quite capable, and possessed ofa sardonic sense of humor which he aims at himself no less often than at others. A shapeshifter who can change into almost any animal form. Loki was involved in many of the gods'adventures, usually because one of his tricks had made some kind of a mess.
MIDGARD 978856915 DrN (NORSE) SERPENT The great snake which lies in theocean and encircles the world, its tail in its mouth. On the day of Ragnarok, the worldwill disappear under the ocean's waters when the Midgard Serpent rises from the sea. Thorwill kill the Midgard Serpent but will be killed by the Serpent's poision.
MIMIR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) The guardian of a spring of wisdom at theroot of Yggdrasill, the world tree which connects the lower and higher worlds and is thesource of all life. Odin gave an eye to drink from that spring.
NERTHUS 978856915 DrN (NORSE) An earth mother worshipped by the Germantribe of the Suebi. Her sacred grove stood on an island in the North Sea.
NJORD 978856915 DrN (NORSE) The chief of the Vanir, who warred with theAesir. Lord of the winds and of the sea, giver of wealth. Particularly revered on the westcoast of Sweden. In pagan days, oaths in law courts were sworn in his name. Njord may be amasculine form of Nerthus.
OTHINN 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See ODIN
WODEN 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See ODIN
WOTAN 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See ODIN
ODIN 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Also OTHINN; WODEN; WOTAN A god of strife andwar, magic and death. The chief of the Aesir who lives in his hall Valaskjal in Sagardfrom which he can look out over all the worlds. In his hall Valhalla, valkyries (femalewar spirits) serve heros who have fallen in battle and will aid the god in the greatbattle of Ragnarok. On Odin's shoulders perch two ravens, Hugin (\"Thought\") andMunin (\"Memory\") who can fly about all the worlds to bring Odin knowledge. Odinoften aids great heros but is quite fickle and can turn against a man for any reason ornone. Tales of Odin's treachery are not merely Christian propaganda. Odin's worshippersthemselves could be quite sharp-tongued about Odin's unfaithfulness. Odin's worshipinvolved human sacrifices, who were generally hung from trees or gallows.
RAGNAROK 978856915 DrN (NORSE) \"Destruction of the powerfulones.\" The Twilight of the Gods. The time of fire and ice. The great battle at theend of time between the gods and the Frost Giants in which the world will be destroyed andmade anew. Ragnarok will be preceded by three winters of bitter wars followed by theFimbulvetr, a winter so cold that the usn will give no heat. Then the forces of evil willgather and make war on the gods.
THOR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) God of thunder. Huge, red-bearded, red-eyed,powerful. His weapon is the magic hammer Mjollnir, which is augmented by a magic beltwhich doubles Thor's strength, and iron gloves with which Thor grips Mjollnir. In someways Odin's rival, Thor is the god of law and order, the champion of the people. UnlikeOdin, Thor will keep faith. Oaths were sworn in Thor's name, which no sane man would everdo with Odin. When Christianity came to Iceland, the other gods surrendered meekly, butThor fought to the bitter end. The Hammer is Thor's sacred sign and is the most commonimage in Nordic art. The worship of Thor survived well into the Christian age; littlesilver hammers were often made in the smith's shop along with crosses and crucifixes.
TIWAZ 978856915 DrN (NORSE) The one-handed sky god and war god of theearly Germanic peoples. Tiwaz was worshipped with human sacrifices conducted in the deepforest. Tiwaz is god of law and justice, and oaths were sworn in his name. His functionswere later taken over by Odin and Thor, though unlike Odin Tiwaz is completely withoutdeceit and guile. Tiwaz is also known as Irmin, and his sacred pillar Irminsulsymbollically held the universe together.
TYR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) God of battle, the only god with the strengthand courage to bind Fenris. Warriors marked their swords with a T to gain the god'sprotection. Tyr was originally was Tiwaz, retained in a later pantheon but overshadowed byOdin and Thor.
VOLUNDR 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See WELAND
WIELAND 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See WELAND
WAYLAND 978856915 DrN (NORSE) See WELAND
WELAND 978856915 DrN (NORSE) Also VOLUNDR; WIELAND; WAYLAND God of smithsand metal workers. Son of the giant Wade. Weland has much in common with smith gods suchas Govannon and Hephaistos, which comes as no surprise. Technology and metalworking spreadslowly in the ancient world, usually on a person to person basis, and highly skilledmetalsmiths and other technical workers formed a virtual international brotherhood similarto the Masons.
ANGUTA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) Gatherer of the dead. Angutacarries the dead down to the underworld, where they must sleep with him for a year.
ANINGAN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) The moon, brother to the sunwhom Moon chases across the sky. Aningan has a great igloo in the sky where he rests.Irdlirvirissong, his demon cousin, lives there as well. The moon is a great hunter, andhis sledge is always piled high with seal skins and meat.
ASGAYA_GIGAGEI 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) The Red Man or Womanevoked in spells to cure the ill. Asgaya Gigagei is either male or female, depending onthe sex of the patient.
ATIRA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pawnee) The Earth, Sacred Mother of everyliving creature. The Pawnee were hunters. When told to abandon hunting and settledown to farming, their priest replied: \"You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take aknife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom torest. You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones? Then when Idie I cannot enter her body to be born again. You ask me to cut grass and make hay andsell it, and be rich like white men! But how dare I cut off my mother's hair? It is a badlaw and my people cannot obey it.\"
AWONAWILONA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pueblo Indians) \"The One WhoContains Everything.\" The Supreme God, the Creator of All. Before the creation therewas only Awonawilona; all else was darkness and emptiness. Both male and female,Awonawilona created everything from himself and taking form became the maker of light, theSun.
BIG_HEADS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Iroquois) Demon gods. Giand headswithout bodies which fly about in storms. They find men very tasty.
BREATHMAKER 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Seminole) Breathmaker taught men tofish and dig wells, and made the Milky Way. When the virtuous die, they follow the MilkyWay to a glorious city in the western sky.
COYOTE 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Southwestern Indians, but known in otherareas as well) A trickster, a clown. The creator and teacher of men. Like Loki, Coyote isalways lurking about, causing trouble and playing pranks. To the Zunis, Coyote is a herowho set forth the laws by which men may live in peace. The Pomo Indians maintain thatCoyote created the human race and stole the sun to keep them warm. The Montana Sioux saythat Coyote created the horse. (See COYOTE2)
COYOTE2 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) The Chinook tell how Coyote and Eagle went to the land of the deadto bring back their dead wives. On reaching the land of the dead, they found a meetinglodge lit only by the moon which lay on the floor. Every night an old woman would swallowthe moon and the dead would appear in the meeting lodge. Recognizing their wives among thespirits of the dead, the two gods devised a plan. The next day, after the old woman hadvomited up the moon and the dead had disappeared, Coyote built a huge wooden box andplaced in it leaves of every kind of plant. Coyote and Eagle then killed the old woman,and Coyote donned her clothes. When the time came, Coyote swallowed the moon. The deadappeared, but Eagle had place the box outside the exit. When Coyote vomited up the moon,the dead filed out and were trapped in the box. Coyote pleaded to be allowed to carry thebox, and Eagle gave it to him. But Coyote couldn't waitto see his wife and opened the box.The spirits of the dead rose up like a cloud and disappeared to the west. So it is thatpeople must die forever, not like the plants which die in winter and are green again in aseason.
DEOHAKO 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Iroquois/Seneca) Spirits of maize, beansand gourds who live together in a single hill. Searching for dew, the maize spirit Onathawas captured by the evil spirit Hahgwehdaetgah who took her off to the underworld. Sunrescued her, and ever since she has remained in the cornfields until the corn is ripe.
ESTANATLEHI 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Navajo) First Woman's adopteddaughter. To punish mankind for pride, First Man and First Woman sent a plague of monstersto kill and devour them. The time came when First Woman repented of the evils she andFirst Man had visited upon men, and she sought a means for their deliverance. First Womandiscovered the infant Estanatlehi lying on the ground near First Woman's mountain, andtook her in. The infant Estanatlehi grew to adulthood in four days. Making love with theSun, she gave birth to the Twin Brothers who after many adventures slew the monsters.
EVENING_STAR 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pawnee) An evil star who drives thesun down out of the sky and send his daughter to hinder Morning Star from the sun back upagain.
FIRST_MAN_AND_FIRST_WOMAN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Navajo) In thebeginning, First Man and First Woman ascended from the underworld together with Coyote,leading the people through trials and tribulations into the surface world which becametheir home. Deciding that the sky was too empty with only Sun and Moon, First Man, FirstWoman and Coyote gathered up glittering stones and placed them in the sky to serve asstars.
GA'AN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) See GAHE   
GAHE 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) Also GA'AN (Apache) Supernatural beings whodwell inside mountains. The can sometimes be heard dancing and beating drums. Because theycan heal and drive away disease, they are worshipped. In the ritual dances of theChiricahua Apache masked dancers painted a different color for each point of the compassrepresent all the Gahe except the Grey One. The Grey One, though he appears as a clown, isreally the mightiest of all the Gahe.
GLUSKAP 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Algonquin) The Creator, or more exactly,the creator force. Generally benevolent, but often whimsical. Gluskap created the plains,the food plants, the animals and the human race from the body of the Mother Earth. Hisrival was his wolf brother Malsum, who made rocks, thickets and poisonous animals. After along struggle Gluskap killed Malsum and drove his evil magic under the earth. Gluskapdrove away monsters, fought stone giants, taught hunting and farming to men, and gavenames to the stars. His work done, Gluskap paddled towards the sunrise in a birch barkcanoe. Some day he may return.
HINO 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Iroquois) Thunder god, god of the sky. TheRainbow is his consort. With his fire arrows, Hino destroys evil beings.
IRDLIRVIRISISSONG 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) The demon cousinof the moon. Sometimes Irdlirvirissong comes out into the sky to dance and clown and makethe people laugh. But if anyone is nearby, the people must restrain themselves or thedemon clown will dry them up and eat their intestines.
KACHINAS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Hopi) Nature spirits which inhabit andcontrol everything -- animal spirits, spirits of departed ancestors, spirits of naturalresources such as wind, rain and thunder. Their exact number is not known, but at leastfive hundred appear in the mythologies of the different villages.
KANATI 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) \"The Lucky Hunter.\"Sometimes called First Man. He lives with his wife Selu (\"Corn\") in the eastwhere the sun rises, and their sons, the Twin Thunder Boys, live in the west.
KITCKI_MANITOU 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Algonquin) The Great Spirit, theSupreme Being. The Uncreated, the Father of Life, God of the Winds. The Great Spirit ispresent in some way in nearly every North American Indian mythology.
MICHABO 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Algonquin) The Great Hare. A trickster. Ashape-shifter. Creator of men, the earth, deer, water and fish. Michabo drives awaycannibal spirits. In the House of Dawn, Michabo is host to the souls of good men, feedingthem succulent fruits and fish.
MORNING 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) STAR (Pawnee) A protector who leads the sunupward into the sky. A soldier god.
NAGENATZANI 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Navajo) Elder Twin Brother.
NESARU 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Arikara) Sky spirit. In the beginning,Nesaru had charge over all creation. Displeased with a race of giants in the underworldwho would not respect his authority, Nesaru sent a new race to the underworld to replacethem and sent a flood which destroyed the giants without destroying the new men. When thenew men cried out to be released from the underworld, Nesaru sent the Corn Mother fortheir deliverance.
NOKOMIS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Algonquin) \"Grandmother.\" TheSacred Earth Mother. Nokomis nurtures all living things.
NORTH 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) STAR (Pawnee) A creator god. Beneficiant andvenerated.
OCASTA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) \"Stonecoat.\" The namecomes from his coat which was made of pieces of flint. Equally good and evil, Ocasta wasone of the Creator's helpers. Ocasta created witches and drifted from village to villagestirring up turmoil. Some women trapped Ocasta, pinning him to the ground with a stickthrough his heart. The men cremated the dying Ocasta, who while burning on his funeralpyre taught them songs and dances for hunting, fighting wars and healing. Some of the menwere granted great power and became the first medicine men.
OLELBIS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Wintun, Pacific Coast) The Creator wholived in Olelpanti (Heaven) with two old women. When the first people destroyed the worldwith fire, Olelbis sent wind and rain to quench the flames, and repaired the earth.Olelbis intended men to live forever. When they grew old, they were to climb to heaven andjoin Olelbis in paradise. Olelbis set two vultures to the task of building a ladder toOlelpanti for men to ascend, but Coyote persuaded them to stop work.
RABBIT 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Southeastern tribes) Like Coyote andMichabo, a trickster god. Through a sly trick, Rabbit brought fire to man.
RAVEN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Northwestern tribes) Another trickster god.Very greedy, forever seeking food. Raven stole the moon from a miser and placed it in thesky.
SEDNA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) Goddess of the sea and thecreatures of the sea. A one-eyed giant. A frightfull old hag, but she was young andbeautiful when her father threw her in the sea as a sacrifice. A sorcerer wishing to visitSedna must pass through the realms of death and then cross an abyss where a wheel of icespins eternally and a cauldron of seal meat stews endlessly. To return he must crossanother abyss on a bridge as narrow as a knife edge.
SELU 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) \"Corn.\" Sometimes knownas First Woman. Kanati's wife. Selu created corn in secret by rubbing her belly or bydefecating. Her sons, the Twin Thunder Boys, killed her when they spied upon her anddecided she was a witch.
SHAKURA 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pawnee) Sun god. The Pawnee performedtheir famous Sun Dance for Shakura's sake. Young warriors attached themselves to tallpoles with strips of hide which were tied to sharp stakes. The stakes were driven throughthe skin and flesh on the chest. The young brave would then support his entire weight withthe hide ropes as he slowly circled the pole following the sun's movement in the sky. Thislasted until the sun went down or the stakes ripped out of the brave's flesh.
SOUTH_STAR 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pawnee) God of the underworld, theopposite of North Star. Magical and feared.
SUN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) A goddess. When Sun's daughter wasbitten by a snake and taken to the Ghost Country, Sun hid herself in grief. The world wasever dark, and Sun's tears became a flood. At last the Cherokee sent their young men andwomen to heal Sun's grief, which they did with singing and dancing.
SUN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) A beautiful young maidencarrying a torch who is chased through the sky by her brother Aningan, the moon. Theplanet Jupiter is the mother of the sun and very dangerous to magicians. If they arecareless, she will devour their livers.
TEKKEITSERKTOCK 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) The earth god,master of hunting to whom all deer belong.
TIRAWA-ATIUS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Pawnee) The Power Above, creator ofthe heavens and the earth. (See TIRAWA-ATIUS2)
TIRAWA-ATIUS2 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) In the beginning Tirawa-Atius called the gods together to announcehis plan to create the human race and promised the gods a share of power for their help.Shakura the Sun was assigned to provide light and heat, Pah the Moon was assigned thenight, and Tirwara-Atius placed the Evening Star, the Mother of All Things in the west.The Morning Star he set to guard the east. After the gods had raised dry land from thewatery chaos, Tirawa Atius told Sun and Moon to make love, and they gave birth to a son.He then told Evening and Morning Star to make love, and they gave birth to a daughter. Sothe human race was made. (See TIRAWA-ATIUS3)   
TIRAWA-ATIUS3 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) All would have been well if Coyote had not stolen a sack of stormsfrom Lightening. Opening the sack, Coyote loosed the storms and so brought death into theworld.
THOBADESTCHIN 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Navajo) Youngest Twin Brother.
THOUME' 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Chitimacha) Thoume' taught the people tomake clothing and fire, and how to make love. After making the moon and the sun, Thoume'sent the trickster god Kutnahin to teach medicine and food preparation to men. Kutnahintraveled through the world disguised as a derelict covered with buzzard dung.
TORNGASAK 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Inuit/Eskimo) The good spirit,representing everything in nature good and helpful to man.
TWIN_THUNDER_BOYS 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Cherokee) The sons of Kanati andSelu. Kanati and Selu live in the east, the Twin Thunder Boys live in the west. Whenthunder sounds, the boys are playing ball.
WACHABE 978856915 DrN (NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN) (Sioux/Osage) Black Bear. A guardian.Symbol of long life, strength and courage.
AGUNUA 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Solomon Islands) Serpent god. All othergods are only an aspect of Agunua. The first coconut from each tree is sacred to Agunua.
ALULUEI 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Micronesia) God of knowledge andnavigation. Aluluei has two faces, one to see where he is going, the other to see where hehas been. Aluluei makes his home on sandbars.
BUNJIL 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) A sky god. Bunjil made men outof clay while his brother, Bat, made women out of water. To mankind Bunjil gave tools,weapons and religious ceremony.
DARAMULUN 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) A sky god, a hero. There aremany tales of his adventures. Daramulun is usually portrayed with a mouth full of quartzand a huge phallus, carrying a stone axe.
DREAM_TIME 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) The period of creation whenthe gods brought the world and all living creatures into being.
GIDJA 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) Moon god. In the Dream Time,Gidja created women by castrating Yalungur, for which he was punished by Kallin Kallin.Gidja floated out to sea and ended up in the sky, where he became the moon.
JULUNGGUL 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
GALERU 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
UNGUR 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
WONUNGUR 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
WOROMBI 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
YURLUNGGUR 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
LANGAL 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
MUIT 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE
GREAT_RAINBOW_SNAKE 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) Also JULUNGGUL, GALERU, UNGUR,WONUNGUR, WOROMBI, YURLUNGGUR, LANGAL, MUIT and many others names. (Australian) The greatgiver of life who lives in a deep pool, stretches across the sky and shines with waterdrops, quartz and mother of pearl. In the Dream Time, the Great Rainbow Snake created allthe waterways and all living creatures. The Great Rainbow Snake is the greatest of all thegods, and no wise man will dare offend him. Many pools are sacred to him and must not becontaminated with blood. Sorcerers perform their magic with pieces of quarts and mother ofpearl, because their iridescence holds the life force of the Great Rainbow Snake.
HINE 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) See HINA 
HINA 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) Also HINE (Polynesia) Goddess of darkness, whobrought death to humankind by slaying the god Maui. While sailing with her brother Ru, shedrifted off to the moon, liked what she saw, and decided to stay, thereby becoming Hinathe Watchwoman and a patroness of travelers.
IO 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (New Zealand) \"Io of the Hidden Face,\"\"Io the Originator of All Things,\" \"Io Eternal,\" \"Io God ofLove.\" Supreme being of the Maori, master of all the other gods, known only to thepriesthood.
KALLIN_KALLIN 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) Chickenhawk. KallinKallin punished Gidja for castrating his brother Yalungur, the Eaglehawk, by ambushingGidja as he crossed a bridge and throwing him into the ocean. Realizing that Yalungur wasnow a woman and therefore no longer a member of the tribe, Kallin Kallin took Yalungur ashis wife and so established the custom among Australian aborigines of taking wives fromdifferent communities.
KUKLIKIMOKU 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) God of war. His colors arered and yellow, and his is the crested feather helmet of the Hawaiians.
MARRUNI 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Melanesia) God of earthquakes. Marruni'stail terrified his wives, so he cut it into pieces and from them made animals and humanbeings.
MAUI 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) \"Maui of the thousandtricks.\" A trickster and a hero god. Maui lived when the world was still beingcreated, and fought on the side of humankind, constantly struggling to get them a betterdeal. Maui raised the sky and snared the sun. His death at the hands of Hina brought deathinto the world.
NAREAU 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Micronesia) Actually two gods, Old Spiderand Young Spider. Creators and tricksters. Old Spider created the world from a seashell,but the heavens and the earth were not properly separated, so Young Spider enlisted theaid of Riiki, the eel, to fix the problem. They then created the sun, moon and stars, anda great tree from which came the race of men.
OLIFAT 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Micronesia) A trickster. Olifat inventedthe custom of tattooing. Olifat loves pranks and is constantly spoiling food, ruiningfishing trips and seducing men's wives.
PELE 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) Goddess of volcanic fire andsorcery. Pele lives in Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii. Altars to Pele are built beside lavastreams, though only those descended from her worship her.
QAT 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) Creator god. Qat was born when hismother, a stone, suddenly exploded. Qat made the first three pairs of men and women bycarving them from wood and playing drums to make them dance. Qat stopped night from goingon forever by cutting it with a hard red stone, which is the dawn. Qat sailed away in acanoe filled with all manner of wonderful things, leaving behind the legend that he wouldone day return. When the Europeans first came, many believed that Qat had finally comeback.
RUA 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Tahiti) The Abyss. God of craftsmen. Ruainvented wood carving.
TAWHAKI 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) God of thunder and lightening.Noble and handsome.
TU 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Polynesia) \"Tu of the Angry Face,\"\"Tu the Man Eater,\" \"Tu the Lover of War,\" \"Tu of the NarrowFace.\" God of war.
WONDJINA 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) The primordial beings of thegreat Dream Time, who created the world. They are shown in rock paintings with halos andno mouths, their eyes and noses joined. The Wondjina give both rain and children, andtheir paintings are touched up every year so that they will continue to bring rain at theend of the dry season.
YALUNGUR 978856915 DrN (OCEANIA) (Australian) Eaglehawk. Yalungur defeatedthe terrible ogress Kunapipi and became the first woman.