A LIST OF GODS
GODS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
The Greek Gods and Goddesses:
I figure that I should return to my roots and do a list of Greek gods before I continue the list. I’m mostly going by memory for most of this information, but aside from that, my main source is Theoi.com. The Olympians and Other Major Gods: Zeus: The King of the Gods, god of the sky and storms. Zeus is the youngest of the six children of Kronos, and the only one who he didn’t swallow. His mother, Rhea, put a stone wrapped like a baby in his place and spirited him away to the Dictaean Cave on Crete. Zeus eventually overthrew his father and became the Lord of the Universe. He is worshipped as the god of rulership, divine justice, destiny, and fatherhood. He is well known for his infidelity, and his many divine and semi-divine children. His sacred animal is the eagle, and he is also associated with bulls. He wields thunderbolts, the most powerful and terrifying weapon of the gods. Hera: The Queen of the Gods, the goddess of marriage and fidelity, Zeus’ sister and his wife. She’s best known for being extremely jealous of Zeus’ other lovers, which would be understandable, except that she takes out her anger on the innocent women and on Zeus’ children. Many myths are kicked into motion by her actions in retaliation. She is worshipped as a goddess of marriage, childbirth, political power, and womanhood. Her sacred animal is the peacock. Poseidon: Zeus’s brother, an Olympian and the god of the sea. He rules as king over many other sea gods, alongside his wife Amphitrite. He is thought to cause natural disasters, especially floods and earthquakes, by striking the ground with his trident — hence, his epithet “earth-shaker.” He is worshipped as a god of safe sea travel. His sacred animal is the horse, which he is said to have invented from breaking waves, and he is also associated with all sea creatures. Demeter: Zeus’s sister, an Olympian and the goddess of the grain harvest. She taught humanity how to cultivate land and gather crops. This is because she fell into such despair after her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the land itself became desolate and barren. She had to teach humans how to survive during the long winters while her daughter was away from her. She is worshipped as a goddess of abundance and nourishment. Her sacred animal is the sow, and she is also associated with snakes. Hephaestus: The god of blacksmithing, an Olympian and the son of Zeus and Hera. He became lame when his parents were having an argument and he sided with one of them, angering the other, who threw him off Olympus. His legs were permanently damaged, but he makes up for it with his powerful arms and genius skills as an inventor and artist. He makes most of the gods’ regalia and magical weapons. He is worshipped as a god of artisans and smiths, and also as the god of fire. Volcanoes were said to be his forges. His sacred animal is the donkey. Aphrodite: The goddess of love, sex, and beauty, one of the Olympians. There are different accounts of her origins, but she’s usually considered to have sprung from sea foam when the severed genitals of the sky, Ouranos, fell into the sea. She is unhappily married to Hephaestus, but is in love with Ares. She is mainly worshipped as a goddess of sex and relationships, but also personifies celestial divine love. She is even worshipped as a war goddess in Sparta and some other places. Her sacred animal is the dove. Athena: The goddess of wisdom, war, and craftsmanship, an Olympian and daughter of Zeus. While Ares personifies the frenzy of battle, Athena is the goddess of the political and strategic aspects of war. She bears her father’s magic shield/breastplate, the Aegis. She is also the goddess of arts and crafts, especially those considered “women’s work,” and weaving in particular. She is associated with science, industry, innovation, and invention — she invented many useful tools like the chariot, the plow, the bridle, and the loom. She is the patron goddess of the city of Athens, and considered a protectress of civilization and law. She is known for her prudence and good counsel, and in mythology, she frequently helps heroes out. She is worshipped for victory and courage in war, prudence when making decisions, protection, prosperity, health, and peace. Her sacred animal is the owl. Apollo: The god of light, archery, reason, music, healing, disease, and prophecy; an Olympian, the son of Zeus and Leto and the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo is the god of illumination in a literal and figurative sense. He inspires musicians and poets, he reveals the truth with logic, he drives off evil and punishes the wicked. He is also particularly associated with oracular divination; he won for himself the most famous oracle in Greece, the Pythia of Delphi, by slaying the dragon Python. He personifies the elegance and order of civilization, while his sister personifies the wilderness. He is also the god of health and medicine, and he sends plagues when he is angry. He is worshipped for inspiration, insight, purification, protection, and health. His sacred animal is the raven. Artemis: The goddess of the hunt, archery, and the wilderness; an Olympian, the daughter of Zeus and the twin sister of Apollo. When she was born, she asked her father never to make her marry, and she runs wild in the woods with her nymphs as an eternal virgin. When a man happened upon her bathing, she turned him into a stag so that he would be torn apart by his own hunting dogs. She is associated with young women and children. Like her brother, she is worshipped for health and purification, and also for protection of young women and successful hunts. Her sacred animals are her hunting dogs, and deer (though she’s associated with wild animals in general). Hermes: The god of travel, commerce, communication, magic, and trickery; an Olympian and a son of Zeus and Maia. Hermes is the herald of the gods, and can fly all over the world with a winged hat and winged sandals to transmit messages and perform tasks for Zeus. He carries a magic wand called the caduceus, with wings and two entwined serpents. He is known for having a silver tongue and literally talked Hera’s watchman Argus to death, which is why he is associated with persuasion and deception. The first thing he did when he was born is steal fifty cows from one of Apollo’s herds, and Apollo only forgave him because he invented the lyre. He is also a psychopomp who accompanies the souls of the dead to Hades. He is worshipped for protection while travelling, business success, eloquence, and luck. His sacred animals are the ram and hare, and he is also associated with hawks. Dionysus: The god of wine, ecstasy, madness, and theater, an Olympian and the son of Zeus. Dionysus is the only Olympian god whose mother is a mortal, the princess Semele of Thebes. Hera tricked her into asking to see Zeus’s true form, and she was burned to cinders, so Dionysus was born from Zeus’s thigh. He travels about the earth with his band of satyrs and madwomen, teaching humans how to make wine and bringing them joy. He carries a pinecone-topped magic staff called the thyrsus. Though he is kinder than most gods, he is still very dangerous to anger — he is known for driving mortals mad or having them dismembered by his Maenads when they offend him. He is also associated with the cycles and process of viticulture, and also with death and rebirth. The art of theatre was developed as part of his worship, and the most famous Greek plays premiered at his festivals. He was worshipped for joy, ecstasy, bountiful grape harvests, mental health, liberation, and pleasure. His sacred animals are the panther and the bull. Hestia: Zeus’s eldest sister, the goddess of the hearth. She and Dionysus are interchangeably considered the twelfth Olympian (though there isn’t actually any myth in which Hestia gives up her seat for Dionysus). Though she mostly stays out of mythological drama, she is immensely important because she rules all aspects of domestic life, and thus was relevant to most Ancient Greeks’ daily lives. She is the goddess of the practice of ritual; sacrifices and offerings are dedicated first to her, and then to other gods. She is worshipped for blessings in all aspects of home life, and her sacred animal is the pig. Hades: Zeus’ eldest brother and the Lord of the Underworld, who presides over the souls of the dead. He is also the god of wealth, because all the precious metals and stones in the earth belong to him. He rules funerary rites and necromancy. Contrary to popular belief, Hades does not resent his lot. (Most people are well aware by now that he isn’t at all similar to the Abrahamic Satan, but this stereotype that he hates being the Lord of the Underworld remains. Even the game Hades has a little bit of it, and it gets almost everything else right.) Hades is a grim, silent god, and though he was not perceived as evil, the Ancient Greeks feared to attract his attention by naming him and usually referred to him euphemistically. He was rarely actively worshipped. Despite this dreaded reputation, his judgements of mortals are usually fair and proportionate, and he does not cheat on his wife. His sacred animal is the screech-owl, and he also famously has a three-headed watchdog, Cerberus. Persephone: The goddess of life and death, the seasons, and Queen of the Underworld, Hades’ wife and Demeter’s daughter. Persephone was once an innocent maiden, Kore, who was kidnapped by Hades and brought to the Underworld to be his queen. Demeter demanded she be released from the Underworld, holding the entire earth hostage by refusing to allow anything to grow until then. But Persephone ate four (or six) pomegranate seeds from a tree in the Underworld, condemning her to return to the Underworld for that many months each year. Though she is on the surface for half the year, Persephone almost always appears in mythology as the dread Queen of the Underworld, and therefore it can be assumed that she settled into her role as Lady of the Dead. She controls ghosts, and is associated with reincarnation. She and Hades also have one of the most stable marriages of Greek mythology, and modern media tends to interpret it as happy (or relatively so). Persephone was worshipped for bountiful harvests, health, abundance, long life, and blissful afterlife. Minor, Primordial, and Titan Gods: Eos: A Titan goddess and the personification of the dawn, usually described as “rosy-fingered” in the Homeric epics. She brings the morning dew and heralds the arrival of her brother Helios. She is the mother of the Four Winds, and is sometimes depicted with wings. She had numerous lovers, the most famous of which is the youth Tithonus. She begged Zeus to grant him immortality, but forgot to ask for eternal youth, so he eventually shriveled from age and turned into a cicada (or a grasshopper). Selene: A Titan goddess and the personification of the moon, the sister of Eos. The lunar disk is her chariot, which she drives across the sky. She also fell for a mortal man, but she learned from her sister’s mistake and asked for eternal sleep. Her beloved, Endymion, eternally remained a handsome young man in blissful sleep. Helios: A Titan god and the personification of the sun, the brother of Eos and Selene. Helios drives the solar chariot across the sky every day, and retreats to his golden palace at night. He’s also the god of vision, because he sees all things from his place in the sky. Once, his son Phaethon tried to drive his chariot, but lost control and caused such devastation that Zeus struck him down. Helios has many children, including Circe and Pasiphae. Pan: The satyr god of the wilderness, a son of Hermes. Pan is the god of wild and domestic animals, shepherds and herdsmen, and other aspects of pastoral life. Like all satyrs, he is known for being lascivious, and often chases after nymphs. He gives his name to a type of reed flute, the panpipe, which he plays in the woods. He also gives his name to a particular type of fear that is induced by his terrifying screams — panic. The Nine Muses: The goddesses of the arts, knowledge, and inspiration. They are the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Titaness of memory: Calliope (epic poetry), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Clio (history), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), and Urania (astronomy). They are attendants of the god Apollo, and live on Mt. Parnassus (or Mt. Helicon). It is their job to sing and retell all the stories of the gods. They provide inspiration to writers, poets, and artists, and they are always invoked at the beginning of epics. Nyx: A primordial goddess and the personification of the night. She leaves Tartarus when the sun sets to bring night across the world. She is the mother of many daimones, anthropomorphic personifications of natural forces, including Hemera (day), Aether (light), Hypnos (sleep), Thanatos (death), Morpheus (dreams), Eris (discord), Nemesis (vengeance), Styx (hatred), and the Moirai (fates). Erebus: Nyx’s mate, the personification of darkness. He and Nyx emerged from primordial Khaos at the beginning of time. He is the mists of the Underworld, which obscure the heavenly light of his son Aether. His daughter, Hemera, the personification of day, scatters his dark mists every morning. His name is sometimes used as a synonym for Hades (the place) or Tartarus. Eros: The god of love, specifically sexual love, and progenation. He’s usually Aphrodite’s mischievous little son in later myths, appearing as a baby or as a young man with wings. He has a bow and a quiver full of arrows that can incite lust, infatuation, or revulsion in those whom they hit. He is responsible for a lot of the gods’ more sordid flings, like Apollo’s love for Daphne. However, in some creation myths, Eros (the driving principle of creation) was one of the first beings in existence, having hatched from a cosmic egg at the beginning of time. Eros eventually finds love of his own when he falls for the mortal Psyche, and they are happily married. Iris: The goddess of the rainbow, and the messenger of the gods before Hermes was born. She travels along the rainbow to bring information to and from Olympus. She mostly runs errands for Zeus, and fills rain clouds with water from the sea. Hebe: The goddess of youth, a daughter of Zeus and Hera. She is a cupbearer of the gods alongside Ganymede, serving them ambrosia and nectar. When Heracles experienced apotheosis and became a god, Hebe became his wife. Nike: The goddess of victory, an attendant of Athena. She is a daughter of Styx, and has three siblings, one of which is Kratos. She is almost always depicted with wings. She symbolizes both victory in war and victory in peaceful athletic competitions, and she crowns victors with olive wreaths. Eris: The goddess of strife and discord, an attendant of Ares. She is best known for throwing her magical golden apple among three Olympian goddesses, causing them to fight over it and setting in motion the chain of events that would lead to the Trojan War. This was all because she wasn’t invited to Peleus and Thetis’ wedding. Ouranos: A primordial god and the personification of the sky. He is the father of the Titans by Gaia, and the first Lord of the Universe. He was dethroned by his son Kronos, who castrated him with a sickle. This is because Gaia was resentful that Ouranos locked his and Gaia’s more monstrous children, like hundred-armed giants, in Tartarus. Gaia: A primordial goddess and the personification of the Earth. In some sources, she is the first being to emerge from Khaos. She plotted against her husband Ouranos when he locked her monstrous sons in Tartarus, and helped Kronos to overthrow him and Zeus to overthrow Kronos. After Zeus became Lord of the Universe and threw the Titans into Tartarus, Gaia started plotting against him. She mated with Tartarus to give birth to the Gigantes and Typhon, but failed to put an end to Zeus’s rule. Khaos: The primordial chasm from which all things emanate. Khaos was conceived of as a kind of atmosphere beneath the Earth, an abyss full of dark mist (Erebus). Khaos is the mother of everything that exists, but the order in which primordial beings emerge from Khaos depends on the source. Sometimes Gaia and Ouranos are first, sometimes Erebus and Nyx are first, sometimes Ananke and Khronos are first, and sometimes Eros or Phanes is first. Khaos is usually conceived of as female, the airy equivalent of Gaia and Thalassa, and thus is associated with birds (as Gaia is associated with land animals and Thalassa with fish). Kronos: A Titan and the Lord of the Universe after Ouranos, succeeded by his son Zeus. When he learned that one of his children would overthrow him, he swallowed each one of his children. With Gaia’s help, Rhea saved her youngest son, Zeus, and he eventually overthrew his father. Sometimes he is characterized as the god of time, who consumes all things the way he did his children. Sometimes he is distinct from the primordial god of time, Khronos. Kronos’ rule was described as a Golden Age, during which life was long and peaceful and prosperous. In Rome, as Saturn, he became a more peaceful agricultural deity, and the festival of Saturnalia was a brief return to his Golden Age. According to some accounts, Zeus eventually released him from Tartarus and made him the king of the Isles of the Blessed in Elysium. Rhea: A Titaness and the wife of Kronos, the Queen of the Universe alongside him. After her son Zeus succeeded in becoming King, she became the goddess of motherhood, fertility, and comfort. She raised Dionysus to protect him from Hera. She was eventually syncretized with the Phrygian mother goddess Kybele, and had her own mystery cult as Kybele. She was worshipped as the Great Mother goddess, and her sacred animal is the lion. Themis: A Titaness, the goddess of justice and one of Zeus’s first wives. She represents divine law and morality. She (or her daughter Dike) is still depicted as “Lady Justice.” She is also the mother of the Horae (seasons), and according to some accounts, the Moirai (fates). Hecate: A Titaness and the goddess of witchcraft, magic, ghosts, the night, and the crossroads. She is the daughter of second-generation Titans Perses and Asteria. She was one of the few Titan gods whom Zeus allowed to keep her power over the heavens, earth, and underworld after the Titans were dethroned. Hecate taught pharmakeia (use of herbs) to Medea and Circe, and travels with a parade of ghosts on the Dark Moon. She is often depicted with three heads, representing a crossroads, and holds torches and keys to illuminate one’s path and open gateways. She has been identified with many other goddesses, including Artemis/Diana, Rhea/Kybele, and Eileithyia. Her sacred animal is the dog. Hypnos: The god of sleep, a son of Nyx and Erebus and the twin brother of Thanatos. He is usually depicted with wings on his back or head. He follows his mother Nyx out of Tartarus each night, accompanied by the Oneiroi, the gods of dreams. Hera once requested that he put Zeus to sleep, but he refused because of what happened last time. Thanatos: The god of death, a son of Nyx and Erebus and the twin brother of Hypnos. He is specifically the god of peaceful death (in contrast to the Keres, the spirits of violent death), his touch is as gentle as Hypnos’ touch of sleep, and he is also depicted with wings. Sometimes, Sisyphus captures and binds him instead of Hades. He was not depicted with a scythe; instead, he had an inverted torch, representing the extinguishing of life. His sacred animal is the butterfly, which symbolizes the souls of the dead. Morpheus: The god of dreams, and the king of the Oneiroi, the daimones of dreams. He is a divine messenger for the gods, bringing significant or prophetic dreams to mortals. He is either another child of Erebus and Nyx, or the son of Hypnos. He is called Morpheus because he takes human shapes in dreams. Nemesis: The goddess of vengeance, the personification of resentment. She avenges or punishes mortals for getting unfair treatment. She also acts on the commands of gods who have felt wronged by other gods, sometimes with horrifying results. She is a daughter of Nyx and Erebus, and works to maintain equilibrium among humans. Her sacred animal is the griffin. The Moirai: The Three Fates, who handle the thread of life and determine the destinies of gods and mortals. They are Clotho, who spins the thread of life, Lachesis, who measures it, and Atropos, who cuts it. They are goddesses of birth, prophecy, and death. Sometimes they are the daughters of Nyx and Erebus, and sometimes they are the daughters of Zeus and Themis.
The Norse Gods and Goddesses:
These are the gods of Scandinavia and the other Nordic countries, and versions of them were also worshipped in parts of Germania. My main source for this information are the Eddas and https://norse-mythology.org/. Odin: (Óðinn, also Woden or Wotan.) The Allfather, chief of the Æsir and the god of wisdom, prophecy, travel, sovereignty, war, poetry, and magic. His name means “master of ecstasy,” and he bestows ecstasy upon mortals in the form of a berserker’s battle frenzy or a poet’s divine inspiration. He is also associated with language and the written word, because he hung himself on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and invented the runic writing system by observing the patterns of the fallen branches of the tree. He also sacrificed his eye to gain wisdom. He is the patron god of both kings and outlaws. Odin is a trickster god, who is more cunning than just and uses trickery to solve problems, embodying the deviousness of both political leaders and criminals. He rules the practices of shamanism, witchcraft (seiðr), and necromancy. He also presides over the worthy dead in Valhalla, his war hall where the dead warriors he has selected wait for Ragnarok. He has two raven familiars, Huginn and Muninn (thought and emotion/desire), who act as his spies and messengers throughout Midgard. He also has two pet wolves, Geri and Freki, and rides an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. Odin was one of the most widely-worshipped Germanic deities, given how often he is referenced in place names, and he has the most recorded epithets out of any Norse gods. He is also the divine ancestor of several clans of legendary kings (including the Volsungs). Wednesday (“Woden’s day”) is named after him. Frigg: (Also Frigga.) Odin’s wife and the queen of the Æsir, the goddess of fate, fertility, marriage, and motherhood. She tried to save her son Baldur’s life by convincing everything in the world to refuse to hurt him, but ultimately failed because she overlooked the mistletoe. Like Odin and Freyja, she practices seiðr. She lives in a hall called Fensalir, and her name means “beloved.” (It’s likely that Frigg and Freyja are in fact two variations on the same deity, since they share many of the same attributes, and Freyja’s lost husband is named Odr, “ecstasy,” i.e. Odin). Friday (“Frigg’s day”) is named after her and/or Freyja. Loki: The only male jotun to live among the Æsir, the god of mischief, trickery, and lies. (Loki is sometimes interpreted as a fire god, but there isn’t much to substantiate this.) Loki is known for being able to shapeshift into any form, human or animal, male or female. Loki’s role in mythology is ambivalent; he is neither good nor evil, and he frequently got the gods into and out of trouble. He helps out the gods or the jotnar depending on what’s most advantageous for him. He accompanies Thor on many of his adventures as a cunning sidekick. He finally crosses the line when he kills the beloved god of light, Baldur, and was punished by being bound with a snake dripping venom over his head; his wife, Sigyn, holds up a bowl to catch the venom, and make his punishment more bearable. He is the son of Farbauti and Laufey, and the father of Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr the Midgard Serpent. He is also the mother of Sleipnir. It’s really unclear what Loki’s role in Norse religion was, or what he was associated with in the day-to-day lives of people, but he may have been a hearth spirit. The etymology of his name is also uncertain, but it might (and that’s a big might) mean “entangler.” Thor: (Þórr, also Thunor.) The god of storms, strength, and protection, the son of Odin and Jord. It is Thor’s responsibility to protect Asgard from the jotnar, and most of his myths revolve around his ability to slay giants with his mighty hammer, Mjolnir (Lightning). Many Norse myths concern Thor and his various battles and trials with frost giants, with Loki at his side as a not-so-trusty sidekick. (Thor is so secure in his masculinity that he crossdresses to disguise himself as Freya, and is no less badass for it.) Thunder sounds when he rides across the sky in his goat-drawn chariot. Though Thor is Odin’s son, he stands in stark contrast to Odin as the god of honorable and dutiful war (as opposed to backhanded scheming and duplicitousness). He also is a god of commoners rather than rulers. Mortals called upon him to sanctify their words, rituals, and possessions, making his hammer an instrument of consecration as well as destruction. As the god of rain, Thor is also associated with agriculture, emphasized by his relationship with his wife Sif. He lives in a hall called Bilskirnir, “lightning-crack.” Thursday (“Thor’s day”) is named after him. Sif: Sif is Thor’s wife and the goddess of the harvest, with hair like golden wheat. When Loki stole her hair just for kicks, Thor threatened to kill him, and Loki had Sif’s hair replaced with strands of real gold. There’s not much we know about Sif beyond this, but it’s likely that Thor and Sif’s marriage represents the (sexual) union of sky and earth — the fecund earth is “fertilized” by the falling rain, and produces crops. Tyr: (Also Tiw) The god of war, law, and justice. There’s only one significant myth involving him, in which he helps the other gods to bind the giant wolf Fenrir by putting his hand in Fenrir’s mouth as a gesture of trust. When the gods do not untie Fenrir, Fenrir bites off Tyr’s hand. In allowing Fenrir to take his hand, Tyr nullifies the other gods’ deception. There’s evidence that Tyr was much more important to Ancient Norse religion than mythology, as a protector of the legal system. The Norse interpreted legal battles in the same kind of way they approached actual battles, which is why Tyr is the god of both law and war. Tuesday (“Tiw’s day”) is named after him. Heimdall: (Heimdallr) The guardian of Asgard, who stands above the rainbow bridge, Bifrost, that connects Asgard and Midgard. Whenever Asgard is threatened, he blows Gjallarhorn, a warhorn that resounds through the sky and alerts all gods to the danger. He is a son of Odin and nine goddesses… somehow. He is the enemy of Loki, destined to slay and be slain by him during Ragnarok. It was his idea to dress Thor like Freya. It’s unclear exactly what his associations are or what roles he played in Norse religion, but he seems to have been associated with boundaries, gateways, and liminal spaces. Baldur: (Baldr, Balder.) The god of light and the son of Odin and Frigg. Baldur is beautiful and literally radiant, fair-haired, and associated with white flowers. He was seen to be the giver of all good things to mortals. The most famous story of Baldur is that of his death — Frigg made every object on earth promise not to harm Baldur, and the gods enjoyed throwing things at him which would fall harmlessly at his feet. But Frigg did not even bother to ask the mistletoe not to harm Baldur, thinking it too gentle to do any harm, so Loki made an arrow out of mistletoe and Baldur was shot dead. Baldur’s death signifies the beginning of Ragnarok, though Baldur is reborn as soon as Ragnarok is over, as the first of the new generation of gods. Though Snorri depicts him as a martyr (likely encouraging a Christ connection), Baldur was probably a war god like many of the other significant Norse gods. Bragi: The god of skalds (bards), poetry, and wisdom. He is Odin’s skald, and sings of the triumphs and adventures of the warriors in Valhalla. Similar to the Welsh Taliesin, it’s possible that Bragi is a deified version of a real or legendary person, who was such an excellent skald that Odin took him to Valhalla after his death. It’s unclear whether pagans recognized Bragi as a true deity or as one of the exalted dead. Idunn: (Iðunn, also Idun or Iduna.) Bragi’s wife and the goddess of youth, the guardian of the golden apples of immortality. When she was kidnapped by a jotun, the gods began to age without her magical fruit. The gods charge Loki (who aided in her kidnapping) with getting her back. Through her apples, she is associated with health, rejuvenation, and fertility. Freyja: (Also Freja or Freya) The goddess of love, sex, beauty, death, and witchcraft, a Vanir goddess and the Queen of the Valkyries. She’s known for her hedonistic tendencies, and she also acts as the local volva (professional witch or cunning woman) for the Æsir. She taught gods and humans the art of seiðr (witchcraft). She is also the leader of the Valkyries, the goddesses who choose who is to die in battle. She takes half of these dead to her hall, Sessrumnir, in her own realm of Folkvangr, while the other half go to Odin’s mead hall, Valhalla. Frejya’s husband is the god Odr, who is said to be missing or absent, so she constantly weeps tears of gold for him. Because Odr is the root of Odin’s name, and Freya and Frigg are likely the same goddess, her husband may in fact be Odin. Freya and Odr have a daughter called Hnoss, whose name refers to priceless treasure. Freya has a feathered cape that allows her to transform into a falcon, and a famous necklace called Brisingamen. Her chariot is pulled by cats. Her name simply means “the lady.” Friday (“Frejya’s day”) is named after her and/or Frigg. Freyr: (or Frey, also Ing or Yngvi) The god of fertility, harvests, rain and sunshine, health, wealth, virility, peace, and abundance. He is a Vanir god and Freya’s brother. He was one of of the most popular gods among the Norse people. He rides on a golden boar, Gullinbursti, and also has a magical ship that can sail over land and be folded up to fit in a purse. He married a beautiful giantess, Gerdr, but had to trade away his magic sword for her. He is the divine ancestor of the Ynglings, one of the legendary dynasties of Scandinavian kings. His name means simply “the lord.” Njord: (Njörðr) The god of the sea and of wealth, a Vanir god and the father of Freyr and Freya. Njord was married to the giantess Skadi, who chose him by mistake — he hated her home in the snowy mountains and she hated his home on the seashore, so they separated. He grants favorable winds to seafarers, and also bestows wealth and prosperity on mortals. He is also associated with wagons, for some reason, and with gift-giving. Skadi: A jotun and the goddess of snow and hunting. She is the patron goddess of winter, and her attributes are skis, snowshoes, and a hunter’s bow. She single-handedly waged war on the Æsir for having killed her father, and as compensation, they offered her a husband (with the condition that she choose him only by looking at his feet). Skadi chose Njord, thinking he was Baldur, but this backfired. She and Njord split up, and Skadi married Odin instead. It was Skadi who put the snake above Loki’s face. Her name means either “harm” or “shadowy,” and is etymologically related to “Scandinavia.” This suggests that she may be a personification of Scandinavia. Ullr: The son of Sif and Thor’s stepson, the god of hunting and skiing. He is associated especially with bows and with the yew trees used to make them, and also with shields — apparently he crossed the ocean on a shield, but this story is lost. Another time, he took over for Odin while Odin was in exile for practicing witchcraft. Ullr was very significant in Norse religion, because his name often shows up in place names, but we don’t know exactly why he was worshipped. It’s likely he was associated with weaponry and oaths. (It’s my headcanon that he and Skadi are friends or lovers, but that’s just a headcanon.) Vili and Ve: Odin’s brothers, who helped him create the world out of the body of the giant Ymir, the first being. Their names mean “Will” and “Temple.” Together, Odin and his brothers represent inspiration, intention, and consecration, the three forces that create the world. Vili and Ve also help take over from Odin when he’s in exile (and sleep with Frigg while they’re at it). Jord: (Jörð) The mother of Thor, a giantess and the personification of Earth or the physical terrain. Unlike most of the Jotnar, she is fully benevolent, and Norse pagans worshipped her by pouring milk and honey out onto the land. Her position as a wife of Odin may make her another variant of Frigg. She also may be identical to the goddess Nerthus. Her name simply means “earth.” Gefjun: A goddess of abundance, fertility, fecundity, and prosperity. She asked a king for as much land as four oxen could plow in one day, and turned her sons into oxen to plow the land. They dragged the land into the water, where it became the island of Zealand, where Copenhagen is today. Although she has sons, which she bore to a jotnar, she’s also described as being a virgin, and her handmaidens are women who died as virgins. Vidar: (Víðarr) One of the gods who survives Ragnarok, alongside Baldur and Vali. He kills Fenrir to avenge his father, Odin. He has the epithet “the silent god,” possibly as a form of vigil preceding vengeance, and is almost as strong as Thor. He has an iron shoe. Vali: A son of Odin and the youngest of the gods, who avenged the death of Baldur by killing Hodr. He may have been born expressly for this purpose, because he was only a day old, having aged to adulthood in that time. He is one of the gods to survive Ragnarok. Forseti: An obscure god of law, justice, and reconciliation. His courthouse is a magnificent hall of gold and silver, called Glitnir. According to Snorri, he is the son of Baldur and Nanna. There’s a legend of twelve lawmakers who were cast out into the sea with no oars for refusing to convert to Christianity. A mysterious man with a golden axe came and helped them, using his axe as an oar. When the reached land, he taught them a new system of laws. Then he struck the earth with the axe, and a spring welled up. This mysterious divine figure might be Forseti, or might be a pagan-ish variant of Christ. Or both! Eir: A goddess (or valkyrie) of healing and mercy. She serves as one of Frigga’s handmaidens. She is one of a group of protective spirits who heal the sick and injured, and is associated with physicians. Not much else is known about her, but she is worshipped as a goddess of medicine by modern Heathens. Her name means “mercy.” Nanna: A goddess of joy and peace, and romantic love. She is the wife of Baldur. Her father’s name is Nepr, but nothing else is known about him. Nanna and Baldur had an ideal, loving relationship, and she is so grief-stricken upon his death that she throws herself on his funeral pyre. She and Baldur dwell together in relative peace in the Underworld. Nerthus: An early Germanic earth goddess, mentioned by Tacitus in Germania. Her name is etymologically related to that of Njord, and she may be a feminine form of the same deity, and/or the unnamed mother of Freya and Freyr. She also may be a variant of Jord. She is most likely a goddess of nature and fertility. Hodr: (Höðr, also Hod) The blind god, who slew Baldur. There are two stories about this. In one, he is engaged in the game of throwing things at him that would drop harmlessly at his feet, until Loki gave him a spear of mistletoe (the one thing that could actually hurt Baldur). In the other, he descended to the Underworld in order to intentionally find a way to defeat Baldur and win the hand of Nanna. In either case, Baldur is avenged by Vali and Hodr joins Baldur in Hel. They both return after Ragnarok. Hermodr: A god who traveled to the Underworld on Sleipnir to beg Hel to let Baldur go. His name suggests that he is a war god associated with the same battle-passion as Odin, and he likely is also connected with shamanism. Alongside Bragi, he greets fallen warriors in Valhalla. He may have been a messenger deity capable of travel between world, similar to Hermes. Gullveig: A Vanir goddess, the goddess of seiðr (witchcraft), known for her enchantments and divinations. Witchcraft was touchy in ancient Norse society, being both useful and (at best) untrustworthy. (It was also female-coded, which is why Odin was exiled for practicing it.) Gullveig was rejected by the Æsir for her ability to practice witchcraft. They pierced her with spears and burned her at the stake three times, but she resurrected. She may also be a goddess of wealth, specifically the potentially corruptive power of wealth. Gullveig is very likely Freya in her aspect as a volva (witch). Hel: The goddess of the dead and Queen of the Underworld, daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, and the sister of Fenrir and Jormungandr. Her name means “hidden.” She is half-alive and half-dead (or half-white and half-black), literally split down the middle. It’s unknown if Hel was ever actually worshipped, or if she was simply a personification of the state of death. Hel is also the name of her domain. She is grim, but not necessarily evil (at least, not to the same extent as Loki’s other monstrous children). Sol: (Also Sunna.) The personification of the Sun. She rides across the sky in a chariot drawn by two horses, and she is pursued by the wolf Skoll, who will swallow her at Ragnarok. Skoll sometimes is temporarily able to swallow her, causing a solar eclipse. She was born from Muspelheim, the realm of fire. Sunday is named after her. Mani: The brother of Sol and personification of the Moon. He also rides across the sky in a horse-drawn chariot, and is pursued by the wolf Hati. If Hati gets too close to him, it causes a lunar eclipse, and lunar phases are a result of his attempts to evade Hati. According to Snorri, he is attended by two children, Hjuki and Bil, who carry a pail of water between them. It’s unknown exactly what they do or what aspect of the moon they are meant to represent. Being the moon, Mani is a god of timekeeping, and Monday is named after him. Nott: The personification of Night and the mother of Jord. She brings the darkness on the back of the horse Rimfaxe. Dagr: The son of Nott and the personification of Day. He brings forth the light on the back of the horse Skinfaxi. The Norns: The goddesses of fate, who live by a well at the base of Yggdrasil. They are not of the same stock as all the other gods, giants, elves, dwarves, humans, or any other known beings. There are more than three Norns (“norn” is just a word for supernatural women, it’s a little like saying “nymph” or “fairy”), but there are three named ones that are responsible for people’s fates: Urd (Urðr, i.e. wyrd), Verðandi, and Skuld, who represent the past, present, and future respectively. They might weave thread like the Greek Moirai, but they could also cast lots or carve runes to determine fate. The Valkyries: (Valkyrjur) “Choosers of the slain,” a race of female spirits that decide who is going to die in battle to join Odin in Valhalla, to await the final battle of Ragnarok. They weave the fates of the warriors using human entrails. They act as spirit-lovers to the Einherjar, the warriors in Valhalla, and can appear as beautiful swan maidens. They can also shapeshift into ravens or crows, in the form of which they inspect the battlefield. They are both beautiful and terrifying beings. They seem to be spiritual extensions of Odin himself. Freyja herself is the Queen of the Valkyries.
The Eygptian Gods and Goddesses:
Ra: The supreme deity, god of the sun and King of Heaven. He rides across the sky in a boat and descends into the Underworld at night to battle the serpent, Apophis. He was conflated for political reasons with the Theban creator god Amun to form Amun-Ra. Ra and Amun can therefore be treated as mostly interchangeable. As Amun he usually has a human head, and as Ra he usually has a falcon’s head. Ptah: Primordial creator god (of Memphis) who thought the world into existence. Also the god of craftsmanship, “making things” in general. Neith: Like Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war and craftsmanship. She differs from Athena in that she is a cosmic primordial goddess who created the entire world, and gave birth to Ra. She’s usually portrayed with or represented by hunting weapons. She is one of the oldest Egyptian deities. Geb: The primordial anthropomorphic personification of the Earth. Similar to Gaia in Greek mythology, but male instead of female. Particularly associated with snakes. The father of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. He was permanently separated from his wife Nut by Shu, the god of air. Nut: The primordial anthropomorphic personification of the night sky. Similar to Ouranos in Greek mythology, but female instead of male. The mother of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Set. She was permanently separated from her husband Geb by Shu, the god of air. Shu: The primordial god of air, the atmosphere, and peace, the father of Nut and Geb. He separated Nut and Geb from each other, annoyed by their constant copulating. Osiris: Lord of the Dead and god of the afterlife. He was killed and dismembered by his brother, Set, brought back to life just long enough to conceive Horus, and then descended to the underworld where he ruled permanently. He is almost always portrayed as a pharaoh, with green skin to indicate that he is dead. Isis: The winged goddess of life and magic. She collected the pieces of her husband’s body and brought him back to life long enough to conceive Horus. Deeply associated with the practice of magic, more so than any other deity (aside from maybe Thoth, and Heka goes without saying). She uses magic and trickery to learn Ra’s secret name, and therefore gain all the magical power in the universe. Nephthys: The “lady of the temple,” goddess of darkness, death, and mourning, the wife of Set and (often) mother of Anubis. The dark counterpart to her sister Isis, representing the experience and process of death and descent. Usually human-headed, but associated with the kite. Set: The god of storms, chaos, and the infertile desert. Originally a more neutral deity, but he took on a distinctly villainous role in the killing and dismembering of Osiris. After that, he became Horus’ mortal enemy, with a number of myths concerning their conflict. There is a more benevolent aspect of Set that aids in the fight against Apophis (this is the one that Nephthys is married to). His head is that of an unidentifiable aardvark-like creature, referred to by Egyptologists as the “Set animal.” Horus: The son of Osiris and Isis, god of the sky and of regal authority. He battled Set for rulership of Egypt (their conflicts involved everything from literal rape to boat races) and won. He was deeply associated with the pharaoh and his office; the pharaoh was though to be the earthly incarnation of Horus. He is usually portrayed with a hawk or falcon’s head. Anubis: The jackle-headed god of death, embalming, and funerary rites. Anubis wasn’t actually that important to Egyptian religion in general, since his role is limited to one specific context, but he is one of the most recognizable gods because his image is all over tombs. He embalms corpses for burial and protects tombs from those who would desecrate them. He is also a psychopomp, guiding the souls of the dead to Osiris. He is also the god to actually weigh the soul’s heart against the Feather of Truth, and deliver judgement. Hathor: The wife of Horus and the goddess of love, joy, mirth, and fertility. Like Isis, she was associated with motherhood and the cosmos (Isis sort of absorbed some of her connotations overtime). She was also associated with Ra and the sun in general. She was one of many gods (also including Anubis, Isis, Imentet, and Wepawet) who acted as a psychopomp to help ease souls’ transition to the afterlife. She is always depicted either with the head of a cow, or as a woman with bovine horns. Sobek: The crocodile-headed god of water and personification of the Nile River. He was also associated with kingship, military might, and male sexuality. Although he was considered benevolent and protective, he was also particularly vicious and bestial. His ferocity wards off evil while also protecting the innocent. Khonsu: The god of the moon, associated with travel and time, who keeps watch over those who travel at night. He also heals illnesses and helps women to concieve. He is usually depicted either as a child mummy (as the son of Amun and Mut) or with a falcon’s head and a headdress shaped like a lunar disk. Thoth: The god of wisdom, writing, knowledge, equilibrium, and magic. He was said to have been self-begotten, and to have invented magic and hieroglyphs. Like Khonsu, he was also associated with the moon; if he has a headdress, it’s usually a lunar disk. He was present in the Hall of Two Truths, where he recorded the results of the Weighing, and he was the husband of Ma’at. He was the patron of scribes and magicians. He was usually depicted as a man with the head of an ibis, and his name (probably) means “he who is like the ibis,” but he was also closely associated with baboons. Ma’at: The personification of truth, justice, and moral uprightness. She is the personification of the “Feather of Truth,” an ostrich feather against which souls are weighed to judge their character before entering the afterlife. Khnum: The “divine potter,” who created humanity out of clay. Associated with the source of the Nile River. Usually portrayed with a ram’s head. Bastet: The cat-headed goddess of domestic life, good fortune, pleasure, and fertility. She has a lot of the same connotations as Hathor, including being closely associated with the sun. In some myths, she appears as a great golden cat that slays Apophis. She’s therefore associated with protection from evil. The earliest versions of her had a lioness’s head instead of a domestic cat’s (see below). Sekhmet: The violent aspect of either Hathor or Bastet, a goddess of war, bloodlust and destruction with the head of a lioness. She represents the vengeance of Ra. She breathes fire and causes disease. In her most prominent myth, Ra lets her loos to destroy his enemies, and she damn near kills all of humanity. Ra gives her beer dyed to look like blood, and gets her so drunk that she can be subdued and transformed back into Hathor/Bastet. Sometimes she’s the wife of Ptah. I’m not sure how that works, so don’t question it. Wepawet: Wolf-headed god of war and death, who acts as a psychopomp alongside Anubis (eventually considered a son of Anubis). His name means “opener of the ways,” and he opens the gates to Duat for Ra and the souls of the dead to pass through. Wadjet: One of Egypt’s oldest goddesses, the goddess of sovereignty and power in Lower Egypt. She protects all of Lower Egypt, kings, and women in childbirth. She is one of the goddesses who nursed the infant Horus. She sometimes appeared as a cobra or a woman with a cobra’s head. The uraeus (cobra on a pharaoh’s headdress) represents her. Her name is also given to the Eye of Horus or Eye of Ra. Serket/Serqet: The scorpion goddess of fertility, animals, and medicine. She was able to heal the stings and bites of scorpions, snakes, and other venomous animals. She was a protector of pharaohs, and was also associated with embalming (through the stiffening caused by poison). Heka: The anthropomorphic personification of magic itself; basically “the Force.” Rarely mentioned, only because he is so ubiquitous.
The Celtic Gods and Goddesses:
There isn’t one Celtic pantheon. The Celts were a very widespread group of people, and had different pantheons depending on where you’re talking. Unfortunately, we know very little about most Celtic deities because the Celts didn’t leave written records of their religion and mythology, and most of what we do know was recorded by Christians centuries later. Most of what we know concerns the Irish pantheon and the Welsh pantheon, so I’ll cover both. I’ve used a handful of different sources for this, including The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends by Peter Berresford Ellis, and my copy of the Mabinogion. Also, a disclaimer: the line between mortals and gods can be thin in Celtic mythology, especially since Christian influence presents deities as humans or as only vaguely-supernatural. The Mabinogion, for example, never explicitly calls any of its characters deities. I have excluded demigods from my other lists, so I will only be listing characters that are deities or are especially likely to be deities. I will exclude demigods or humans like Cú Chulainn, Fionn MacCumhaill, Pwyll, etc. However, there may be some arbitrary overlap. The Irish Pantheon The Dagda: The King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the god of life and prosperity. He is associated with the basic drives of life — eating, drinking, sex, sleep, excretion, and enjoyment of life. He is known for his strength and for his enormous appetite. He has a magic cauldron, the Coire Ansic, that can produce an endless supply of food. He also wields a magic club — one end can kill many people in a single blow, and the other end can bring them back to life again. He is frequently depicted as a jovial but slovenly old man with a round belly, wearing simple clothes. He is known as “The Good God,” referring not to moral goodness, but to skill and excellence. The Morrigan: (Also Morrigu, Mor-Rioghain.) The Phantom Queen, the wife of The Dagda and the goddess of war, bloodshed, death, and fate. She is technically three goddesses — Badb, Macha, and Nemain, who are all aspects of a single entity. Sometimes she appears as a desirable young woman, and other times she appears as a hideous hag, or as a raven. She is especially associated with ravens and other carrion birds. She might also appear as a banshee washing blood out of clothes in a river, in which case, the person who sees her is about to die. She inspires or terrifies warriors on the battlefield, brings victory, and decides the outcomes of wars. She may be the Sovereignty Goddess in her aspect as a protector and a bestower of political power. Brigid: (Also Brigit, Bridget, Bríg, Bríde, Brìghde, Brigantia) The goddess of fire, blacksmithing, childbirth, poetry, martial arts, cattle, and springs. Her name means “the Exalted One.” She is the daughter of the Dagda and the Morrigan. Like the Morrigan, she is sometimes interpreted as a triad of goddesses, or one goddess with three distinct aspects — a poet, a healer, and a smith. She is especially associated with protection of the land, and ensuring the health and fertility of domestic animals. Brigid invented the mourning practice of keening, wailing in grief for her son. It is very likely that St. Brigid is a Christianized version of this goddess. Her festival is Imbolc, on 2nd February. Boann: The goddess of the River Boyne, associated with healing, cattle, and fertility. She formed the river through having gazed upon a forbidden magic well, the water of which “followed” her to the sea. She has a herd of cows that represent the phases of the moon through their colors (white, red, brown, black). The Dagda had an affair with her, and made the sun stand still in the sky for the nine months that Boann was pregnant, so that their son Aengus was technically conceived and born in one day. This day was Samhain, so the Dagda froze time between the old and the new year. Aengus Og: (Also Aonghus, Óengus, Macán) “Aengus the Young,” god of love, youth, beauty, music, and dreams. He is the son of the Dagda and Boann. Because of his unusual birth, he is also associated with time. He plays music on a silver harp, and is attended by four doves or swans. He fell in love with a beautiful girl called Caer Ibormeith, who first appeared to him in a dream, and turned himself into a swan to be with her. His home is the exceptionally ancient barrow of Newgrange. He’s also the father (or foster-father) of the hero Diarmuid. Lugh: The god of light and craftsmanship, the son of Cian and Eithniu. He is the grandson of an evil one-eyed giant called Balor, the king of the Fomorians, a race of malevolent beings that ruled Ireland before the Tuatha Dé Danann defeated them. Lugh is therefore a child of two worlds, half-god and half-Formoir, half-light and half-dark. Lugh was prophesied to destroy his grandfather, so Balor locked his daughter in a tower to prevent her from having any children, but of course Lugh was conceived anyway. Balor threw him into the sea, and he was raised by Manannan Mac Lir. He eventually killed Balor by hitting him in the eye with a slingshot. Lugh is known for being skilled at many things, including war, music, magic, blacksmithing, and medicine. He is known as Lugh Lamhfada, “Lugh of the Long Arm” for his skill with a spear. He wields a magic, fiery spear of yew that can hit targets by itself and return to the hand of the wielder. Lugh is also the father of the hero Cú Chulainn. He gives his name to the month of August, and to his festival of Lughnasadh. Manannán mac Lir: The god of the sea, and the son of the god Lir. He divvied up the sidhe mounds among the Tuatha Dé Danann when they came to live underground, but forgot to assign one to himself, so he lives in the sea and on smaller islands (like the Isle of Man, which is named after him). He can travel over land and sea on his magical gray horse, Embarr. He is also a god of magic, and has a Bag of Holding made of crane skin, with which he performs somewhat disturbing magic tricks. Nuada: The former King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who led them in the battle against the Fomorians. He is known as Nuada Airgetlam, “Nuada of the Silver Hand,” because he lost his arm in battle and had to have it replaced with a silver prosthetic. Nuada lost his kingship for this reason, because a maimed person could not be king. His brothers are alternately listed as either The Dagda and Oghma, or Goibniu and Dian Cecht. Nuada’s Welsh equivalent is Nudd or Lludd Llaw Ereint. His name is cognate with that of Nodens, a British sea god who Lovecraft incorporated into his mythos (as one of the very few benevolent-ish Lovecraftian deities, and the lord of Night-Gaunts). Dian Cecht: Lugh’s other grandfather, the god of healing and craftsmanship. He fashioned Nuada’s silver hand. He can heal any wound, no matter how fatal, by submerging the injured person in a magic well called the Tobar Slaine. However Dian Cecht was not a stereotypically gentle healer in any sense; he killed his own son for being a better healer. Oghma: A god of speech, language, bards, knowledge, writing, eloquence, and poetic inspiration. He is known as the inventor of the Ogham alphabet. Neo-Druids interpret him as the source of Awen, the force of divine inspiration that is perceived as breaths of wind or rays of light. He also acted as the king’s champion in the battle against the Formorians, before being supplanted by Lugh. Oghma, Lugh, and The Dagda are the Trí Dé Dana — the Three Gods of Skill. Etain: A goddess of poetry and inspiration, the daughter of Dian Cecht. Aengus brought her to marry his foster father, Midir, but Midir already had a wife, Fuamnach. Fuamnach turned Etain into a fly, and she floated over the ocean for seven years only to land on Aengus, who built her a little fly-house. Fuamnach eventually found her again, and after another seven years, she landed in a wine glass and was swallowed by a queen. Etain was reborn from the queen. Eventually Midir came and won her from her husband Eochaid in a series of games. They turned into swans, and she finally flew away with Midir. Modern pagans interpret Etain as a goddess of transformation and rebirth. Goibniu: The god of blacksmithing, who forged the weapons of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His weapons were magic and never missed their marks. He also could brew a magical mead that maintained the gods’ eternal youth. He works with his two brothers, Credne and Luchta, who are a metallurgist and woodworker, respectively; it is likely that he is a triple-aspected deity, and they are all the same god. Áine: The goddess of summer and abundance, one version of the Sovereignty Goddess — a goddess representing the land itself whom the king must marry to gain his power over it. She therefore has the ability to either give or take away political power. Sometimes she (rather than Fand) is the wife of Manannán mac Lir. She appears as a supernatural female figure in many Irish legends, leading to her modern designation as a “fairy queen.” (Technically, all of the Tuatha Dé Danann are “fairies,” the Aos Sí or Sidhe.) Her festival is Midsummer’s Eve. Flidais: A fertility goddess and the mother of several benevolent witch goddesses, including Fand, who seduces Cú Chulainn. She was primarily associated with cattle, like many Celtic goddesses. Modern pagans have reinterpreted her as a woodland goddess and associated her with deer. Caer Ibormeith: A beautiful girl who visited Aengus Og in a dream. Aengus fell madly in love with her, to the point where he started wasting away, and searched the whole of Ireland for her. After three years of the entire Tuatha Dé searching for her, she was finally found on a lake. She and 149 other girls transform into swans every other year on Samhain. Aengus turned into a swan to be with her, and they lived happily ever after. Clíodhna: (Also Clidna, Cliona, Kleena) The goddess of love and beauty, who is also the Queen of Banshees. She has three magical birds whose singing heals the sick. In other stories, she’s a ghostly woman who lures sailors to drown. She left her home in the Otherworld to marry a mortal, but drowned in a wave. She is therefore associated with waves and the tide in Cork. The Blarney Stone was indirectly created by Clíodhna, who told Cormac McCarthy to kiss the first stone he came across to gain the power of eloquence. Donn: The god of the dead. He gathers the souls of the dead in his house, Tech Duinn, which is in the (apparently endless) ocean west of Ireland. He may have been interpreted as a divine ancestor by the ancient Irish, and he is possibly a dark aspect of The Dagda. Julius Caesar identified him with Dis Pater (Hades). Sometimes he appears as a ghost riding a white horse, similar to Arawn. The Cailleach: (Also Beira) An Irish and Scottish goddess of winter and storms. She almost always appears as an old woman or a hag. Her name comes from an Old Irish word meaning “veiled one,” and is now a word to refer to any old woman. She is associated with terraforming, having shaped the mountains by dropping stones from her basket. Many topographical features of Ireland and Scotland are said to have been created by her. She herds deer, and her magic staff freezes the ground. She trades off with Brigid, ruling the dark half of the year while Brigid rules the light half of the year. It is she and not a groundhog who indicates whether winter will be longer or not at the beginning of February, before Brigid’s festival — if the day has good weather, she’s out gathering firewood, meaning there will be more winter. Neit: The husband of Nemain and the god of war. He is the father of Delbaeth and Dian Cecht, the grandfather of Balor, and the uncle of The Dagda. He personified battle-frenzy, and fought with the Tuatha Dé Danann against the Fomorians. Ériu: The divine namesake of Ireland, and a personification of Ireland itself, making her one version of the Sovereignty Goddess. She and her two sisters, Banba and Fodla, gave their names to Ireland (though Ériu’s name eventually won out). It’s possible that she was the mother of Bres by Elatha. Danu: (Also Anu) A goddess of the land, likely a primordial earth goddess of some kind. She gives her name to the Danube, which means that she was recognized by Celts well beyond Ireland. However, there is not much mythology about her. Danu’s importance is often overstated. “Tuatha Dé Danann” is sometimes interpreted to mean “People of the Goddess Danu,” but it more likely means “People of Skill” (which makes more sense). Scathach: “The Shadowy One,” the daughter of the Morrigan. She runs a brutal martial arts academy in her Fortress of Shadows on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. She taught martial arts to the already-skilled warrior Cú Chulainn, back when he was still called Setanta. He helped her settle her long-standing rivalry with her sister, Aífe. Medb/Maeve: A warrior queen of Connaught, known for her power, skill, and beauty. She caused a war by stealing a bull, so that she could have a greater net worth than her husband. Her name means “intoxicating,” and is cognate with the word “mead.” It’s thought that she is the fairy “Queen Mab” mentioned in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She’s likely a version of the Sovereignty Goddess; she represents women’s empowerment and fully-realized sexuality. The Welsh Pantheon Bran the Blessed: The divine King of Wales, often interpreted as a giant who can stand in the ocean. He possesses a magic cauldron that can bring the dead back to life. When he died, his head was buried under the fortress of his father Llyr (which would become the Tower of London), to forever protect Britain from invasion. The ravens that live at the Tower of London are a recent tradition, dating from the nineteenth century, but there’s a similar superstition involving them — if the ravens leave, Britain will fall. This superstition may have its ultimate origins in Bran’s legend, because Bran’s name means “raven.” Branwen: The sister of Bran. Her story is a tragic one. She was married to Matholwch, the King of Ireland, to forge an alliance between the two countries. Unfortunately, she took the blame for an insult to her husband’s honor, and was publically manipulated, forced to be a scullery maid. Ireland and Wales went to war over this, destroying both kingdoms in the process, and Branwen died of grief. Modern neopagans interpret her as a Sovereignty Goddess who personifies the land and the feminine principle. Llyr: The Welsh variant of the Irish Lir, the god of the sea. He is the father of Bran the Blessed, Branwen, Rhiannon, and Manawydan (Manannan). Dôn: The ancestral mother goddess of the Welsh pantheon, very likely the Welsh variant of Danu. She is the mother of Gwydion, Amaethon, Gofannon, and Arianrhod. Beli Mawr: The husband of Dôn, and possibly a god of light or death. He is the father of Arianrhod and Lludd Llaw Ereint (Nuada). It’s possible that Beli is the local Welsh variant of the Gaulish god Belenus. Math fab Mathonwy: The brother of Dôn and the god of wealth, who, for some reason, had to always have his feet resting in the lap of a virgin or else he would die. Gwydion: The devious god of magic and illusion. He comes up with a very complicated scheme to trick Pryderi into attacking Math, so that Math will be forced to go to war and leave his virgin unattended for Gwydion’s brother to rape. (Gwydion and his brother were both turned into animals as punishment for this.) He helps Lleu Llaw Gyffes to overcome the three geasa placed on him by his mother. He also created Blodeuwedd, and later turns her into an owl. Amaethon: The god of agriculture. His name means “ploughman.” He stole three animals — a dog, a lapwing, and a roebuck — from Arawn, resulting in the “Battle of the Trees.” This story is related in the poem Cad Goddeu. Gofannon: The god of blacksmithing, the brother of Gwydion and Amaethon. He’s likely the Welsh variant of Goibniu. Arianrhod: The sister of Gwydion, Amaethon, and Gofannon. She was brought to Math for him to rest his feet in her lap, but (to her surprise) she was not a virgin. It’s heavily implied that her children are Gwydion’s. She places three geasa upon her son Lleu — that he will not have a name, weapons, or a bride (and thus not attain manhood or kingship) — out of shame over him being a child of incest. Her name means “silver wheel,” and she is often interpreted as a goddess of the moon, stars, and natural cycles by modern neopagans. Lleu Llaw Gyffes: The son of Arianrhod and Gwydion, and very likely the Welsh variant of Lugh. (His name means “Bright One of the Skillful Hand,” which isn’t far off from “Lugh of the Long Arm.”) Lleu must overcome his mother’s trials and conditions before he can claim his kingship and godhood. His wife, Blodeuwedd, tried to trick him into fulfilling the conditions of his own death, but he turned into a golden eagle instead of dying. Blodeuwedd: Her name means “flower-faced,” because Gwydion made her out of flowers to be a wife for Lleu (Arianrhod had decreed that Lleu would have no human wife). Blodeuwedd tricked Lleu into revealing the extremely specific set of conditions in which he could be killed, so she could kill him and run off with her lover, Goronwy. Lleu turned her into an owl as punishment for this, cursing her to only come out at night in her shame. Modern neopagans interpret her as a goddess of initiation, emotion, and self-actualization — she was created as an object for Lleu to possess, but chose her own path in life, and found freedom as an owl. Arawn: The King of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead. The Celtic Underworld or Otherworld is more of an alternate dimension that exists alongside this one, rather than a dark and dismal cavern as in other mythologies. It is a pleasant place, for the most part. Arawn spends most of his time hunting with a pack of white dogs with red ears, chasing after mythical animals or rounding up the souls of dead humans. He showed kindness and hospitality to Pwyll when he stumbled upon the hunt, but plays a mostly neutral role throughout Welsh mythology. He is very likely the same figure as Gwyn ap Nudd, who is also said to rule the Otherworld and has many of the same associations. Rhiannon: The divine wife of Pwyll and mother of Pryderi, often interpreted as a version of the Sovereignty Goddess. She appeared to Pwyll as an otherworldly woman riding a white horse. He chased her obsessively, but she only stopped when he politely asked her to; she felt bad for his horse, pushed to run so fast! She is known for her beauty and her intelligence, but much like Branwen, found herself brought low for pointless reasons. She was accused of having killed and eaten her own son (like many “good” fairy-tale queens), and forced to live outside the castle gates and confess this to anyone who came by. Over the course of Pryderi’s life, she watches over him as a divine protector. Modern neopagans interpret her as a goddess of spiritual Mysteries and passage between this world and the Otherworld. She represents looking through the veil to find the truth of things. Her name means “Great Queen.” Mabon ap Modron: Mabon ap Modron (literally, “the son of the mother”) is character in the Arthurian tale “Culhwch and Olwen.” He was kidnapped and taken away from his mother Modron when he was three days old, and kept imprisoned in a citadel in Gloucester. Culhwch and co. consulted all of the oldest animals (the Blackbird, the Stag, the Owl, the Eagle, and the Salmon) to find him. His name is etymologically related to that of the British/Gaulish god Maponos, which means “great son,” implying that he is a divine son archetype; the Romans syncretized him with Apollo. He may be a Welsh variant of Aengus Og, and therefore a god of youth. If Rhiannon is Modron, then that would mean Mabon is actually Pryderi, who plays a similar “divine son” role and appears in all the branches of the Mabinogion. He arbitrarily gives his name to the Wiccan festival of the autumn equinox, because Aiden Kelly thought Mabon sounded kind of like Persephone (he is not at all like Persephone). Cerridwen: The goddess of poetic inspiration. She brewed a potion in her cauldron that would give divine wisdom and poetic ability to her ugly and otherwise-hopeless son. The first three drops of the potion would be pure Awen, the substance of inspiration and enlightenment, but the rest would be poison. Cerridwen charged her servant Gwion Bach with stirring the cauldron. As he stirred, three drops of the scalding landed on his finger and burned him, so he put his finger in his mouth. Instantly, he received the powers of poetic inspiration from the cauldron, and the rest of the potion became useless. Furious, Cerridwen chased Gwion, but he used his new powers to turn into a series of animals — a hare, a fish, and a songbird — and finally a grain of wheat. Cerridwen turned into a greyhound, an otter, then a hawk, and finally a chicken that ate the grain of wheat. Cerridwen eventually gave birth to the reincarnated Gwion, who would grow up to be the renowned poet Taliesin. Modern neopagans interpret Cerridwen as a goddess of that grants poetic inspiration and wisdom. Within the poisonous brew in her cauldron are three drops of pure spiritual insight. Taliesin: A historical bard who lived in the sixth century AD, and whose work survives as the Book of Taliesin. Very little is known of Taliesin’s actual life, but the legend about him (recounted above) makes him the son of the goddess Cerridwen. He was supposedly the bard in King Arthur’s court. His approach to poetry is shamanic and mystical in nature, literally channelling the spirit of Awen (similar to the Ancient Greek idea of mania). Some neopagans interpret him as a deified mortal, making him the god of poetry, music, and storytelling. Other Gaulish and Brythonic Gods Worth Mentioning Cernunnos: A Gaulish god depicted with antlers and holding a torc. His image on the Gundestrup Cauldron shows him surrounded by animals. His name comes from a word meaning “horn.” We know almost nothing about Cernunnos beyond what we can glean from surviving epigraphic sources, and none of his mythology survives. However, despite this, Cernunnos is enormously popular among neopagans and is the default incarnation of the “Horned God” in Wicca. Modern neopagans interpret him as a god of the wilderness, hunting, and fertility. The torc or purse that he holds in some depictions suggest an association with wealth and commerce, and he might have been a psychopomp. He is sometimes called Herne by modern pagans, after a character from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, who is a ghost that supposedly haunts Windsor Forest. Whether Herne is actually a local variant of Cernunnos, or just an invention of Shakespeare’s, is unclear. Sulis: The goddess worshipped at the natural hot spring at Bath. She is one of the very few pre-Roman English deities whose name survives. The Romans syncretized her with the goddess Minerva. It’s likely that her hot spring was considered to have healing powers. Coins and curse tablets were offered to Sulis, thrown in the water like pennies into a fountain. Most of the curse tablets request that Sulis punish thieves who have stolen personal belongings at the baths, by making them sick or killing them. This suggests that Sulis was primarily associated with physical health. Taranis: A Gaulish god of storms, whom the Romans syncretized with Jupiter. In addition to the thunderbolt, his symbol was a wheel, and his worshippers offered wheel amulets to him. His name is etymologically related to the Anglo-Saxon Thunor and Norse Thor. According to one medieval text, he is the deity to whom the infamous “wicker man” human sacrifices are dedicated. He may be the Gaulish version of the Irish god Tuireann, the father of Goibniu. He was widely worshipped among Celts across Europe, but very little is known about him becuase of a lack of written records Belenus: A god of light and healing, syncretized with Apollo by the Romans. He was worshipped at various healing springs. It’s possible that he also shared Apollo’s associations with prophecy, because one possible origin of his name refers to henbane, a psychoactive plant. It’s also possible that his name is given to or cognate with that of the festival of Beltane. Epona: A Gaulish goddess of horses and grain. She was worshipped actively by the Romans, who identified her with Ceres, and her worship spread throughout the empire. Her name means “Great Mare.” She was almost always depicted with horses or foals, and was considered a protector of cavalry. Shrines to her were kept in stables and barns. It is possible, though not certain, that Rhiannon is the local Welsh variant of her. Her associations with fertility suggest that she is yet another Sovereignty Goddess, and she was in fact worshipped as a goddess of imperial authority in Rome. Her sacred day is December 18th.
The Japanese Gods and Goddesses:
Unlike most of the pagan religions I write about, this one is a living religion with millions of modern practitioners. I do not practice Shintoism, and my knowledge of it is very surface-level. I’ve done my best to be accurate, but please take the following with a grain of salt. There are hundreds of kami, and from my uninformed perspective, I have no real way of assessing the relative significance of each one. As such, this selection may be somewhat arbitrary. Amaterasu: The personification of the Sun and the principal deity of Shintoism. She is also the patron god of Japan itself (the “Land of the Rising Sun”), and is considered the divine ancestor of its emperors. She was born from the left eye of the creator god Isanagi. One of her most famous myths is about how she hid herself away in a cave out of fury and embarrassment at her brother Susanoo’s actions, and the other gods had to convince her to come out again. Tsukuyomi: The personification of the Moon, born from the right eye of Isanagi. Tsukuyomi technically has no established gender, but is usually considered to be male. He was originally Amaterasu’s husband and co-ruler of heaven, but he killed Ukemochi, the goddess of food, and Amaterasu left him in disgust. This is why the sun and moon usually appear separately in the sky. Isanagi and Isanami: The first man and first woman (respectively), the creator gods of Japan and the father and mother of many of the kami of natural forces. The last of these was fire, and Isanami was so badly burned giving birth to him that she died. Isanagi descended into the Underworld to get her back, but was so repulsed by her decayed appearance that he abandoned her. She became the Queen of the Dead. Inari: The god of agriculture (especially rice), prosperity, cunning, industry, and blacksmithing. They represent abundance and success on earth, in the form of surplus food, successful businesses, luck, health, and wealth. They are associated with foxes, and kitsune are their messengers and attendants. They are very close to humans and will take personalized forms. Susanoo: The god of storms and the sea, and the brother of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. He is alternately benevolent and malevolent, playing a variety of different roles depending on the myth. In one, he chases Amaterasu into a cave with his wild misbehavior. In another, he slays a monstrous serpent and presents the legendary “Grass-Cutting Sword” to Amaterasu to reconcile. Raijin and Fujin: The god of thunder and lightning and the god of wind. They are depicted as frightening oni. They carry drums and a bag of wind (respectively). The word kamikaze means “god wind,” and refers to a wind that drove off Mongol invaders that was sent/created by Raijin and Fujin. Their fearsome visages guard temples, similar to gargoyles on cathedrals. Hachiman: The god of war, archery, and protection, an emperor who ascended to godhood. He is the patron god of samurai, and considered a divine protector of Japan. Like Raijin and Fujin, he is credited with having sent the kamikaze. He is commonly worshipped as another god of agriculture and fishermen. He is an extremely popular deity, and has the second-most shrines in Japan (after Inari). His symbol is the dove. Tenjin: The deification of a famous scholar, and the god of intellect, literature, learning, academia and scholarship. Originally a god of natural disasters (hence his name, literally “sky god”), because of the scholar’s vengeful ghost causing various cataclysms until he was given proper respect. He eventually settled into his current role as the patron god of students and academics. Omoikane: The god of wisdom, skill, and intelligence. He is the personification of thought, specifically in the sense of combining one’s thoughts. It was his responsibility to find a way to get Amaterasu out of the cave. Uzume: The goddess of dawn, pleasure, revelry, joy, and entertainment. She finally succeeded in getting Amaterasu out of the cave, by performing a striptease and making the other gods laugh. Because of this, she’s associated with a particular kind of shamanic ritual dance. Sarutahiko: The god of strength, guidance, and martial arts, and the husband of Uzume. He helped guide Amaterasu’s grandson Niningi from Heaven to Earth, making him also the god of crossroads and travel. Ninigi: The grandson of Amaterasu and the great-grandfather of Japan’s first emperors. He traveled from Heaven to Earth, bringing the divine gift of rice with him and establishing order. He also brought divine treasures that became Japan’s imperial regalia, including the Grass-Cutting Sword. He’s worshipped as a god of agriculture, civilization, justice, and rulership. Konohanasakuya-hime: The “Cherry Blossom Princess,” the goddess of life, volcanoes, and Mt. Fuji in particular. She is worshipped to prevent Mt. Fuji from erupting. She is represented by cherry blossoms, which symbolize the delicate and ephemeral nature of human life. She is the wife of Ninigi and the mother of Hoderi and Hoori, the gods of the bounty of the sea and land (fish and grain/game, respectively). Okuninushi: The leader of the terrestrial (as opposed to celestial) kami. He ruled over Japan before Ninigi and gave magic and medicine to humans. He and his brothers were fighting over a princess, and they killed him twice, but he was resurrected by his mother. He also withstood various trials in the Underworld to marry Susanoo’s daughter. He is worshipped as a god of magic, medicine, agriculture, commerce, and civilization. Ryujin: The dragon god of the sea. He lives in a palace under the ocean and is able to control the tides. Marine creatures are believed to be his servants. He is worshipped to bring rain and to bring luck to fishermen. He may be the same as Watatsumi, another sea god. Suijin: The god of water, especially ponds, lakes, springs, and wells. May refer to a group of gods associated with all such bodies of water. Represented by the animals that live in freshwater environments, like snakes and turtles (and kappa). Associated with irrigation and purification. Kagutsuchi: The god of fire, whose birth burned Isanami’s womb. Isanagi killed and dismembered Kagutsuchi in revenge, and various other kami were born from his remains. He is worshipped as the patron deity of blacksmiths and potters. Ukemochi: The goddess of food, a daughter of Isanami and Isanagi. Tsukoyomi killed her in disgust, because she produced food from the orifices of her body. Different parts of her corpse turned into different kinds of food. Ebisu: One of the Seven Lucky Gods, and the only one native to Japan (as opposed to syncretic). He is a god of fish, fishermen, merchants, luck, prosperity, business success, and wealth. He is also called Hiruko. As Hiruko, he was the first child of Isanami and Isanagi, and he was born without bones, causing his parents to be so horrified that they put him in a basket and sent him out to sea. Sometimes he’s instead a son of Okuninushi. He usually appears as a plump, happy fisherman with a giant fish on his line. Kotoamatsukami: The three primordial creator gods, Ame-no-Minakanushi, Takamimusubi, and Kamimusubi. They were self-generated at the dawn of creation, and everything else emanated from them. A lot of Japanese gods are gods of either storms or agriculture, if not both. That highlights just how important those things are to Japanese people and their culture. With many other pantheons, it’s easy to feel disconnected to the gods’ roles in religion as opposed to folklore, because the religions that they belong to are so removed from the present. For gods of living religions, it becomes obvious how their associations/divine domains, their mythology, and their roles in people’s lives are intertwined.
The Aztec Gods and Goddesses:
Aztec mythology is bloody even by mythology standards, and that’s saying a lot. The Mexica had a lot of gods, and this isn’t anywhere near all of them, but here’s a selection of the most significant: Huitzilopochtli: The god of war and the sun, and the head of the Aztec pantheon. He was the patron deity of the city of Tenochtitlan and also of the Mexica people as a whole (though he wasn’t that prominent until the Aztec Empire kicked off). His brothers are Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Xipe Totec, and they function as the central gods of the Aztec pantheon. Huitzilopochtli is the fifth and current sun, and must be fed human blood every single day, so that he will survive the darkness and rise in the morning (this is one reason why the Aztecs sacrificed so many people). He is associated with South and the color blue, and is usually depicted with blue skin. His mother is the goddess Coalticue, and he has no father — his mother was inseminated by a ball of hummingbird feathers. Warriors who died in battle and women who died in childbirth would turn into hummingbirds, and go to serve Huitzilopochtli in his palace. His name means “hummingbird of the south.” Tezcatlipoca: The god of the night sky, storms, hurricanes, magic, discord, beauty, obsidian, and jaguars. He is considered to be “the embodiment of change through conflict.” He is the rival of his brother, Quetzalcoatl, with whom he killed the monster Tlaltecuhtli to form the Earth (although Tlaltecuhtli ate part of his leg). Tezcatlipoca acted as the first sun, but didn’t do a very good job of it. He sent down a rain of jaguars after Quetzalcoatl kicked him out, destroying humanity in the process. It’s almost solely because of Tezcatlipoca’s spite that the following three suns (Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Chalchiuhtlicue) failed, and also destroyed humanity. He is associated with North and the color black. His name means “smoking mirror,” referring to an obsidian mirror used as a shamanic scrying device. Quetzalcoatl: The best-known Aztec god, the god of wind, dawn, the arts, knowledge, wisdom, and the planet Venus. He created mankind out of the bones of all the previous races, which he stole from the Underworld. He invented writing and calendars, discovered maize, and brought the divine cacao tree to Earth. He also inadvertently created the first bat when a drop of his semen fell on a rock. In some sources, Quetzalcoatl is the only deity that abhors human sacrifice. His name means “feathered serpent,” and he does indeed appear to be a gigantic serpentine dragon with green feathers and/or birdlike wings. He is associated with West and the color white. Different versions of the Feathered Serpent were worshipped throughout Mesoamerica. Xipe Totec: The god of agriculture and vegetation, spring, war, metalsmithing, and liberation. His name means “flayed lord,” because he literally flayed himself, which symbolizes how maize is removed from its cob. He literally wears his skin like clothing. Despite his grotesque appearance, he is actually a benevolent deity. His shedding of his own skin symbolizes rebirth and renewal in springtime, as well as new crops and germinating seeds. Xipe Totec was also associated with skin conditions like rashes and pimples. He was worshipped on the spring equinox by flaying war prisoners, and his priests would then wear the victims’ skins. He is associated with East, and it’s no surprised that he is associated with the color red. Tlaloc: The god of rain, life, springs, caves, mountains, storms, and weather in general. He has fangs and wears a headdress of heron feathers. Tlaloc acted as the third sun, but threw a fit when Tezcatlipoca seduced his wife, Xochiquetzal, resulting in a drought. He then destroyed humanity in a rain of fire. The Aztecs prayed and sacrificed to him for rain, and to withhold the storms and droughts caused by his wrath. He is the ruler of a paradisal afterlife, Tlalocan, in which victims of drowning, storms, or some kinds of diseases (such as leprosy) live in happiness. He is one of the oldest deities worshipped by the Mexica people, and was likely the head of the pantheon before Huitzilopochtli supplanted him. He was still considered the equal of Huitzilopochtli, and they were worshipped side-by-side as complimentary opposites. Chalchiuhtlicue: Tlaloc’s second wife, the goddess of rivers, lakes, and streams, fertility, and childbirth. While Tlaloc represents water that comes from the sky, Chalchiuhtlicue represents water that comes from the earth. She was especially associated with the Gulf of Mexico, which bears her name in Nahuatl. She acted as the fourth sun, until Tezcatlipoca accused her of faking her kindness to humans only so that they would worship her. She responded by crying blood for fifty-two years, destroying humanity yet again. She presides over ritual bathing, purification, birth, and death by drowning. Her name means “she of the jade skirt.” Coatlicue: The goddess of childbirth and the mother of the sun, the moon, and the stars (not necessarily in that order). Her name means “serpent skirt,” and she literally wears a skirt made of snakes, as well as a necklace made of human hands and hearts with a skull pendant. She also has claws on her hands and feet. When she was beheaded by her daughter Coyolxauhqui, two gigantic snakes sprung from her severed neck. Coyolxauhqui: The goddess of the moon. She decided to kill her mother, Coatlicue, when she became pregnant with the sun god Huitzilopochtli by way of a ball of feathers. Huitzilopochtli sprang fully-grown from his mother’s womb, beheaded Coyolxauhqui, and dismembered her. The full moon is her head. She pursues Huitzilopochtli in an attempt to eat him, alongside her four hundred brothers, the stars. Huitzilopochtli must be fed blood so that he can fend her off another night. Her name means “painted with bells.” Mixcoatl: The god of the hunt and the stars. He wears a black mask and has red and white vertical stripes on his skin. He is a personification of the Milky Way, and is credited with bringing fire to humanity by spinning the heavens. His name means “cloud serpent.” Sometimes, he is interpreted as the night-sky aspect of Tezcatlipoca. In another legend, he was originally a mortal hunter who was transformed into a god after killing a shapeshifting deer-woman. He is the father of Coyolxauhqui and the stars, and was the patron god of Tlaxcala. Itzpapalotl: A goddess of birth and death, the mother of Mixcoatl. Her name means “obsidian butterfly.” She has black butterfly or bat wings with sharp obsidian knives on their tips. She is especially associated with the orizaba silkmoth. She rules over a paradisal afterlife called Tamoanchan, where the souls of babies who died as infants reside. It’s also the realm where the first humans were created. She appears dark and terrifying, but she represents renewal as a result of sacrifice. Tlazolteotl: The goddess of lust, sin, filth, and cleansing. She was known to encourage people to commit adultery, but could also cleanse people of their sins by presiding over ritual baths and “confessionals” in which she would devour your evil deeds. (I would not be surprised if the interpretation of these rituals as “confession” and a removal of “sin” were a Spanish Catholic interpretation. I don’t know that for sure, but it’s an educated guess.) Her name comes from a word for “garbage,” so she was associated with literal and spiritual waste that would need to be filtered out and decomposed so that new things can grow. She is also called Ixcuina. Centeotl: The god of maize, the son of Tlazolteotl. Though he has little presence in mythology, he is one of the oldest and most significant Mesoamerican gods, because corn was intrinzic to the prosperity and survival of the Mexica and Mayan people. Centeotl and Chicomecoatl are likely the respective masculine and feminine aspects of the same deity. Centeotl married Xochiquetzal after Tlaloc split from her. Chicomecoatl: The goddess of maize, abundance, sustenance, and mirth. She plays mostly the same role as Centeotl, but in contrast, she was especially associated with dried or unripe maize. Her name means “seven serpents.” She’s also called Xilonen. Xochiquetzal: The goddess of love and beauty, sex, fertility, women’s work (making textiles), and (again) childbirth. She was Tlaloc’s first wife, whom Tezcatlipoca seduced. She has also been married to several other gods, including Centeotl, Xochipilli, and Xiuhtecuhtli. Like Itzpapalotl, she lives in Tamoanchan. She is always depicted as a beautiful young woman. Her name means “flower feather” or “quetzal flower.” Xochipilli: The “prince of flowers,” god of games, merriment, gambling, art, music, and dance. He is also associated with hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, and was the patron god of homosexuality. He is a youthful and beautiful god, more concerned with pleasure-seeking than anything else. At his festivals, his statues were decked with flowers and butterflies. Xochipilli is considered a male counterpart to Xochiquetzal (and is one of her many possible husbands). Sometimes he and Centeotl are considered the same deity. He also goes by Macuilxochitl, in his aspect that is associated specifically with games and gambling, though sometimes Macuilxochitl is his brother. His other brother is Ixtlilton, the god of healing, medicine, peaceful sleep, and dreams. Together, they represent happiness, health, and wellbeing. Xiuhtecuhtli: The god of fire, the day, light, heat, and volcanoes. He is associated with the North Star and represents the solar year. He was also associated with kingship, and the Aztec emperors identified themselves with him. His name means “fire lord” or “turquoise lord.” He has many other names, one of which is Xiuhcoatl, “fire/turquoise serpent.” In this aspect, Huitzilopochtli wields him as a weapon. Another aspect is Huehueteotl, an old man with a brazier. Chantico: The goddess of fire, the hearth, and volcanoes. Her name means “she who lives in the house,” indicating her association with domestic matters. She protects the home and guards one’s precious possessions. She’s also associated with war, and wears a military headdress. In her warlike aspect, she most likely represents defending the things that you love. Mictlantecuhtli: The god of death and Lord of Mictlan, the Underworld. He always appears as a skeletal figure wearing a headdress of owl feathers. Mictlan has nine levels, much like Dante’s conception of Hell. Upon arrival in Mictlan, the dead would be subjected to various challenges, such as a field with a wind of knives that would strip their flesh from their bones. Mictlantecuhtli tried to stop Quetzalcoatl from stealing the bones of dead humans from the Underworld, and although he failed, he did cause Quetzalcoatl to trip and drop the bones. He and his wife are both portrayed with open mouths to swallow the stars as they set. Rituals in his honor sometimes involved literal cannibalism. Mictecacihuatl: The goddess of death and wife of Mictlantecuhtli. She became the Queen of the Dead because she was sacrificed as soon as she was born. She represents death as a sacred and ultimately beneficent thing, instead of something to be feared and rejected. She presided over the celebration of the dead that evolved into the modern Dia de los Muertos, and she is still worshipped in Mexico as Santa Muerte. Xolotl: The god of monstrosity, lightning, disease, and aberrations, who appears as a dog or a dog-headed man. He causes babies to be born deformed, or to be twins (which was considered a deformity). Although he is associated with abominations, he is actually a benign god. He is a psychopomp who guides souls to the afterlife, and he accompanies the sun on his nightly journey through Mictlan. Xolotl is the twin brother of Quetzalcoatl in some sources, and also represents Venus, albeit in its dark aspect. He also gives his name to the Axolotl, the world’s most adorable amphibian. Huehuecoyotl: The god of music, dance, storytelling, sex, mischief, and deception. He is the Aztec variant of the widespread North American trickster god, Coyote. Like most trickster gods, he’s neither good nor evil, sometimes helping and sometimes harming mortals depending on his mood. He’s relatively laid-back and friendly for a god, but he could also commit genocide on a whim. Often, his pranks would backfire on himself. He could also shapeshift into anything. He’s the only god who is friends with Xolotl. Patecatl: The god of medicine and drunkenness. He is especially associated with hallucinogens and intoxicants, especially pulque, an alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant (represented by his wife, Mayahuel). These kinds of drugs were used for all kinds of medicinal purposes, and likely for shamanic purposes as well. Patecatl and Mayahuel had four hundred children, who were all divine rabbits, the gods of excess. Huixtocihuatl: The goddess of salt water, the older sister of Tlaloc and the other rain gods. She was banished to the ocean after having slighted Tlaloc. Unusually for an ocean deity, Huixtocihuatl is associated much more with salt than with water, having provided salt to humans. She had a festival in June that would, of course, end with the sacrifice of a woman who acted as the living embodiment of Huixtocihuatl for the duration of the festival. Tlaltecuhtli: The “earth monster,” the goddess of primordial chaos. She resembles a crocodile or a toad. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca dismembered her and formed the earth from her body. Unlike many other deities of this type (like Ymir and Tiamat), Tlaltecuhtli is still alive, and needs to regularly be fed human hearts to keep her from consuming everything. (Aztecs, man…) Sometimes Tlaltecuhtli also goes by Cipactli; in other sources, Cipactli is a separate entity associated with the sea rather than the earth. Ometeotl: The androgynous primordial god of life, the parent of Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Xipe Totec. Ometeotl means “dual god” because it is technically two gods, one male and one female, which comprise a single entity. The male is named Ometecuhtli and the female is named Omecihuatl. They represent all pairs of primordial opposites — light and darkness, day and night, order and chaos, etc. — embodying a concept similar to the yin-yang. Therefore, they are the source of all creation.
The Mayan Gods and Goddesses:
There’s multiple ethnic groups and languages that fall within the umbrella of “Maya,” so gods will have different names and identities depending on the group. The Mayan language was also only deciphered relatively recently, so previously the gods were referred to by anthropologists using signifiers like “God L,” “God G,” and so forth. Also, almost all these deities have multiple aspects, so some of the individual deities listed below may be different versions of the same god. It’s been a little difficult for me to parse through all of that, so what I’ve got here is an amalgamated pantheon. But hey, that’s mythology for you! As usual, there are so many gods that I had to make a cutoff somewhere, so I’m sorry in advance if I’m missing someone important. Itzamna: The god of the sky, one of the most important and widely-worshipped Mayan gods. In myth, he formed the foundations of Mayan culture by teaching medicine, writing, the arts, the sciences, and agriculture to humanity. He may have created humans as well. He is usually the father of the Bacabs, by Ixchel. Like Chaac, he is associated with kingship and governance. He is usually portrayed as an old man, and based on one possible etymology of his name, may be associated with lizards. He has a divine emissary in the form of a bird of prey. Known as “God D” before the Mayan languages were deciphered. It’s also possible that the fourfold “God N” are Itzamna. Ixchel: The goddess of medicine, midwifery, divination, the moon, and childbirth. Mayan art tended to portray her as an old medicine woman with jaguar ears and a snake on her head. She taught human women medicine, weaving, and midwifery. She also has warlike aspects, and may be depicted with claws or wearing human bones. This dual nature illustrates her ability to give life and also to destroy it. Ixchel is the consort of Itzamna (and maybe also Chaac). Very little of her mythology survives, but she was one of the most important Mayan deities. Her name might mean “rainbow.” Known as “Goddess O” or “Goddess I” before the Mayan languages were deciphered. Chaac: The god of rain, storms, and kingship. Because he makes the life-giving rains fall, he is associated with fertility and agriculture. He is usually depicted with amphibious or reptilian attributes, and like Tlaloc (his Aztec counterpart), he has gigantic fangs. Mayan kings were considered embodiments of Chaac, and invoked him when they went into battle. He has four different aspects representing the cardinal directions, represented by different colors (similar to the Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Xipe Totec, and Huitzilopochtli being the black, white, red, and blue “Tezcatlipocas” in Aztec mythology). These are called Chaac Xib, the red, Ex Xib, the black, Sak Xib, the white, and Kan Xib, the yellow. They represent east, west, north, and south respectively. Hunahpu and Xbalanque: I’ve mostly avoided discussing demigods in my “list of gods” posts, but the Hero Twins are so central to Mayan mythology that I feel like I need to discuss them. Hunahpu and Xbalanque represent perfectly balanced opposites — the sun and the moon, life and death, light and darkness, day and night, above and below, warrior and shaman, etc. Their names mean roughly “hunter” and “jaguar sun.” They use guile and trickery to subvert the power of arrogant and evil gods. The Popol Vuh is mainly the story of how they survive all the trials of Xibalba, the Underworld, and win a series of ballgames against the gods of death. They also defeated numerous other monsters, such as the arrogant Seven-Macaw and the earth monster Zipacna. They have resurrective immortality, which probably symbolizes the repeated “resurrection” of maize plants every year. At the end of their adventure, Hunahpu and Xbalanque become the gods of the sun and moon, respectively. The Lords of Xibalba: The gods of the Underworld, who confront Hunahpu and Xbalanque when they arrive in Xibalba. The most powerful are Hun-Kame and Vucub-Kame (One-Death and Seven-Death). The rest represent various kinds of diseases or manners of death. The underlings of these Lords are sent to Earth to cause their respective type of suffering among humans. One of the Lords, Cuchumaquic, the god of diseases of the blood, is the grandfather of the Hero Twins. His daughter, Xquic (“Blood Maiden”), became pregnant with the twins when the skull of their father spat on her hand. The twins defeat the Lords by beating them at a ballgame. Camazotz: A deadly bat god who lives in the Bat House in Xibalba. His name is K’iche and means “death bat.” One of the Hero Twins’ trials in Xibalba is to survive the House of Bats, a house full of bloodthirsty demonic bats. The twins were only able to survive by (somehow) squeezing themselves inside their blowguns, but when Hunahpu stuck his head out to check if the night was over, Camazotz decapitated him. Depictions of Camazotz show him as a man with the head and wings of a bat, sharp teeth, and a phallus. Madeleine L’Engle gave his name to the planet consumed by darkness in A Wrinkle in Time. Kisin: The god of death and putrefaction, also called Ah Puch and Yum Cimil. He wears a collar of human eyeballs strung together by their optic nerves, and a skeletal mask. His very flesh was in a perpetual state of decay, and his name means “stench.” He tortures souls by burning them with his flatulence and dunking them in cold water. He was associated with owls, earthquakes, and human sacrifice. It’s unclear whether he is the same as One-Death or Seven-Death, or a separate deity entirely. Called “God A” before the Mayan languages were deciphered. Kinich Ahau: The Yucatec god of the sun, also called Ahau Kin. He might be the solar aspect of Itzamna. When he travels through the Underworld at night, he takes the shape of a jaguar and becomes the “Night Sun,” a god of war and fires. A Mayan child told a Spaniard a story about the origin of the sun — when the world was completely dark and mankind huddled around a fire for warmth, a little boy flung himself into the fire and rose from the flames as the Kinich Ahau. Known as “God G” before the Mayan languages were deciphered. The Bacabs: The gods of groundwater and the cardinal directions. Their names are Can Tzicnal, Hosanek, Hobnil, and Zac Cimi. They are respectively associated with North, South, East, and West, and the colors White, Yellow, Red, and Black. They were associated with agriculture, and divination related to agriculture. Yumil Kaxob: A son of Chaac and the god of vegetation, agriculture, and maize. Yumil Kaxob was understood as the god that causes a seed to grow and ripen into grain, like the driving life force or animating principle of the plant. He is dependent on the rains of Chaac for his life, but constantly resurrects. His name means “Lord of the Crops.” He might be the same as “God E.” He also might be the same as Hun-Hunahpu, the father of the Hero Twins, who fails to defeat the Lords of Xibalba and dies in the Underworld. The birth of his sons by Xquic represents the continued survival of the maize plant. Yum Kaax: The god of the wilderness, wildlife, and hunting. As a sort of counterpart to Yumil Kaxob, he is the protector of wild places, wild vegetation, and game animals. Farmers would ask him for permission before clearing land for cultivation, and give him offerings to protect crops from wild animals. He was also worshipped by hunters. His name means “Lord of the Forest.” Ek Chuah: The god of trade and of travelling, usually depicted as a travelling merchant. He is especially associated with cacao; cacao was such a valuable commodity, it was treated as currency. He was known as “God M” before the Mayan languages were deciphered. He is also likely the same as or a variant of “God L,” which would make him an Underworld god of black magic who is still associated with trade. Kukulkan: The Mayan variant of the Feathered Serpent deity (Quetzalcoatl), also called Chimalcan, Qʼuqʼumatz, or Gucumatz. Kukulkan is one of the creator gods, who shaped humanity and taught them law, medicine, arts, and agriculture. Relatively little is known about this version of the Feathered Serpent as distinct from the Aztec version, but we know that Kukulkan was associated with war and with bringing divine visions from gods to mortals. His primary center of worship was at Chichen Itza. In modern folklore, he lives in the ocean and causes earthquakes. Huracan: The god of wind, fire, and storms. He has three distinct aspects — Thunderbolt Huracan, Youngest Thunderbolt, and Sudden Thunderbolt, which together are the Heart of the Sky. He is one of the principle creator gods in the Popol Vuh, alongside Kukulkan. They created the world by thinking it into existence. Huracan embodies the destructive and chaotic aspects of nature, and is responsible for the local Deluge myth by flooding the world after the second generation of mankind (although in the Dresden Codex, Ixchel is depicted as flooding the world). His name means “one leg” (this one leg being a funnel cloud), and as you may have noticed, hurricanes are named after him. He may be the same as K’awiil or “God K,” the god of lightning. Ixtab: The “Rope Woman,” goddess of the gallows. A Spanish text describes her as a psychopomp for those who die by hanging (especially suicides), whom she transports to a paradisial afterlife. This led to Ixtab being interpreted as a goddess of suicide, but this probably isn’t accurate, because there are no artistic motifs that reflect this interpretation. Ixtab is more likely a goddess of hunting, since rope snares will suspend an animal upside down in midair. An image of a hanging woman in the Dresden Codex that is often identified as Ixtab is actually meant to represent the Moon during an eclipse; assuming it is Ixtab, then Ixtab could be an aspect of the Moon Goddess that manifests during an eclipse. Regardless, her association with suicide is likely a result of a Spaniard’s projecting onto Mayans, and making assumptions about “exotic” indigenous cultures.[1] In modern folklore, she is a demoness called Xtabay who lures men to their deaths. Akan: The god of alcohol, specifically balché, which is made from tree bark. He is also a god of death and sickness. Depictions of him portray him with black marks around his eyes and a black cape decorated with crossbones. He is also depicted vomiting or holding a syringe, associating alcohol consumption with disease and other negative effects of drunkenness. There are also some disturbing scenes of this deity cutting off his own head. Based on iconographic interpretation, Akan might actually be a variant of “God A” or Ah Puch. (The article I was reading by Nikolai Grube ended with “Akan is clearly on the dark side of the Maya universe, a fact that the Spanish friars did not realize when they translated his name as ‘Bacchus, a god of wine.’”…Has Grube met Dionysus? Because this is pretty on-brand.) Tohil: The the patron god of the K’iche alongside Awilix and Hacavitz, worshipped primarily in Guatemala. He is associated with both the sun and rain, fire, mountains, sacrifices, war, and agriculture. His festival was in mid-autumn, right before the maize harvest. In the Popol Vuh, he gave fire to mortals in exchange for mass human sacrifice. He may be a variant of Kukulkan, or the Mayan version of either Tezcatlipoca or Mixcoatl. Called “God K” before the languages were deciphered. Awilix: One of the three patron gods of the K’iche, goddess of the night and the moon, worshipped primarily in Guatemala. She was a patron of the K’iche alongside Tohil. Awilix is actually sometimes referred to as a male deity, and s/he incarnated as Xbalanque. It’s possible that this deity’s gender switched overtime or that s/he had no set gender to begin with. The waxing and waning moon are both feminine, with the waxing moon being a promiscuous young woman who has affairs with the Lords of the Underworld, and the waning moon being a terrifying old woman associated with jaguars and midwifery. The full moon is masculine, represented by Xbalanque. All versions of the Moon are associated with water and timekeeping. Hacavitz: One of the three patron gods of the K’iche, the god of mountains. His association with both fire and mountains suggests that he may be a god of volcanoes specifically. Ah-Muzen-Cab: The god of bees and honey. He is also called the “diving god” or “descending god,” because he is usually depicted as diving out of the sky, having the body and wings of a bee but the head and arms of a man. He was (probably) the patron god of Tulum. Maximón: A result of syncretism between multiple Christian and Mayan figures in Guatemala. He is a trickster deity who protects people from their oppressors, but also causes mischief and is known for womanizing. He is usually worshipped in the form of an effigy that is displayed during Holy Week. His effigy wears a cowboy hat, multiple neckties, and sometimes even sunglasses. People pray to him for love, prosperity, protection, health, and other common objectives of “low magic.” He is usually offered alcohol and cigarettes. He is associated with various taboos like sexuality and shamanism, but that is also what makes him such a popular and enduring cult figure. Also called San Simón. Hunab-Ku: The Mayan name for the god of the Spaniards, a syncretic form of the Abrahamic God. In conjunction with other Mayan deities, Hunab-Ku functions as a distant “supreme being,” omnipotent and formless in the same manner as the Abrahamic God. His name means “One God” or “Only God,” further identifying him with a specifically monotheistic context. The Spaniards interpreted him as the principal deity of the Mayan pantheon. His consort is Ixazalvoh, the goddess of life, water, weaving, childbirth, healing, and oracular divination. It’s very likely that Hunab-Ku and Ixazalvoh are rebranded, syncretic versions of Itzamna and Ixchel.
