Bel – ‘Lord’, Ab-Kal Ilâni Bêl Terêti – “Leader of the Gods”

Associations

Deity: Asarluhi
Animal: Dragon
Symbol: Triangular Headed Spade, Hoe
Planet: Jupiter

Family & Other Connections

Head of the Babylonian pantheon, an heir of Anu. Marduk was said to be the son of Ea, but as his worship grew in popularity he took on aspects of older gods, including Enlil and Ea. This handing over of power from older god to the younger was actually acknowledged as Ea was said to recognise Marduk’s superiority and voluntarily pass over control. Marduk was father to Nabu and consort – or variously child – of Sarpanitu.

Information & Stories

When Babylon became the capital of Mesopotamia Marduk was elevated to the level of supreme god. The story explaining his rise to power is called the Enûma Eliš. In this tale the Anunnaki gods were looking for one champion god who would defeat the forces rising against them. Marduk volunteered and was promised the position of head god if he succeeded.

To prepare himself for the upcoming battle Marduk made a bow and arrows and a net to trap Tiamat in, armed himself with a mace, gathered the four winds and created new winds of his own, and raised up the rain-flood. First of all he challenged the dragon Tiamat, and trapped her with his net before blowing her up with his winds and piercing her belly with an arrow. Marduk then sought Kingu and took from him the Tablets of Destiny.

By defeating the enemies of the gods Marduk attained ultimate power. He created humans so that they might bear the burdens of life while the gods could be at leisure, and was seen as a god of light and life; the ruler of destinies.

Magic

Marduk was associated with water, vegatation, judgement and magic. He is a god of healing, regeneration and light, and it was said that Marduk’s power spreads peace in man.

Misc

Marduk is sometimes depicted as a winged bull centaur, or as a giant human with many eyes and ears.

Pictures

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Cytherea, Lady of Cythera, Cypris, Lady of Cyprus, Acidalia, Cerigo, Dione, Aphrodite Ourania, Aphrodite Pandemos

Associations

Deity: Venus, Astarte, Hathor, Inanna
Animal: Doves, Sparrows, Horses, Swans
Symbol: Girdle, Mirror, Scallop Shell, Sceptre, Pearls
Planet: Venus
Herb: Myrtle, Rose, Pomegranate

Family & Other Connections

The most common story says that Aphrodite was born when Cronus cut off Uranus’ genitals and threw them into the sea; she then arose from the churning sea foam. This Aphrodite became known as ‘heavenly’ Aphrodite Ourania and was associated with love of the body and soul. Another version gives her parentage as Zeus and Dione, and this Aphrodite became known as ‘common’ Aphrodite Pandemos, associated with physical love alone. Her siblings were the Tree Nymphs, the Furies and Gigantes.

Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, and was said to be the mother of many children, including Eros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, Tyche, Eunomia, The Graces, Priapus and Aeneas.

Information & Stories

Aphrodite was so beautiful that she enflamed the passions of both gods and mortal men, and despite being married to Hephaestus she engaged in a number of affairs. Hephaestus had in fact been chosen as her husband by Zeus, on the basis that the even-tempered god of smithing would not easily become enraged by her dalliances.

Aphrodite was beautiful but she was also vain, and her vanity was an indirect cause of the Trojan War. She had been invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis along with all the other Gods except Eris. Offended at being left out, or simply looking to cause trouble, Eris threw an apple bearing the note “for the fairest one” amongst the wedding party. Aphrodite, Hera and Athena all claimed to be the fairest and argued over who the apple rightfully belonged to. Eventually they took their problem to Zeus who, not wanting to choose a favourite from the goddesses, delegated the matter to Paris.

All three goddesses made arguments to Paris for why they should be chosen, but when he couldn’t decide they resorted to bribery. Hera offered Paris control over all Asia and Europe; Athena offered him wisdom, fame and glory in battle; but Aphrodite chose to appear naked before him and promise that if he chose her as the fairest then he could take the most beautiful mortal woman to be his wife. Unsurprisingly Paris chose Aphrodite, and the most beautiful woman in the world turned out to be Helen of Troy. Despite the fact that Helen was married, Aphrodite made her fall in love with Paris, and when he kidnapped her, he started the Trojan War.

Another story about Aphrodite begins with Pygmalion, a sculptor who had never found a woman to love. Aphrodite took pity on him, and wanted to show him what love was. She inspired Pygmalion in his dreams, and he decided to make a statue of her image. As he shaped the figure he fell in love with it, and he named her Galatea. He prayed to Aphrodite and, this having been her plan all along, she brought Galatea to life. Galatea loved Pygmalion as much as he loved her, and they were soon married.

One of Aphrodite’s most notable lovers was Adonis. She discovered him as an infant and took him to Persephone, asking her to care for him until he was grown up. When Adonis was an adult Persephone fell in love with him herself and refused to give him back to Aphrodite. When the goddesses couldn’t reach an agreement about Adonis they appealed to Zeus who decreed that the mortal would spend one third of each year with Aphrodite, one third with Persephone and the final third wherever he pleased. During his first stay with Aphrodite they became an inseparable couple and when Adonis was killed by a wild boar Aphrodite was inconsolable. She realised that he was in the underworld with Persephone and once more went to Zeus to argue for him. This time Zeus said that he should spend half the year with her, and the other half with Persephone.

Magic

Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. She is associated with lust and desire.

Misc

Her festival, the Aphrodisia, was celebrated throughout Greece, but particularly in Athens and Corinth. At her temple on the summit of Acrocorinth, her worship was carried out through ritual prostitution; she was a patron of courtesans.

Pictures

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Bisu, Aha – ‘The Fighter’

Associations

Deity: Taweret
Animal: Lion
Symbol: Ostrich feather, rattle

Family & Other Connections

Husband of Beset, who was essentially a female version of himself.

Information & Stories

Bes was depicted as a short, squat man, with a thick, dark beard. Often he is seen sticking out his tongue and shaking a rattle. Because of his short stature he is thought by some to be a dwarf, but as he is also often depicted with a lion’s tail it may be that he is meant to resemble a lion rearing up on its hind legs.

Traces of Bes’ worship can be traced back through the Middle Kingdom to the Old Kingdom, but it was not until the New Kingdom that he became really popular. He was a protector of households, and many homes would contain an image of Bes. These depictions were unusual for Egyptian art in that they showed Bes face-on instead of the side-profile which most people associate with Egyptian pictures. This signified that Bes was ready to meet any foes head-on, and he would scare demons away from houses.

Bes would protect the people inside the home as well, watching over births and guarding the children. Because he was known to drive away evil, Bes became associated with such luxuries as music, dance and sexual pleasure. Archaeologists have found chambers painted with images of Bes and Beset, and these are thought to have been used for rituals involving healing or fertility.

Due to Bes’ affinity for dance and music, entertainers would sometimes have a tattoo of Bes in order to gain his prorection. Bes himself would entertain small children, and it was said that if a baby laughed for no reason, Bes was pulling funny faces at it.

Magic

Bes is a protector; of households, mothers and children. He is the defender of everything good and the enemy of everything bad.

Misc

Later on in the history of Ancient Egypt it became common to wear an amulet depicting Bes’ face, and Bes masks and costumes have been discovered which show too many signs of wear to have been kept for special religious purposes. They may have been used on stage by professional entertainers.

Pictures

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Bastet, Ubasti, Baset, Baast, Lady of Flame, Eye of Ra, Ailuros, Perfumed Protector, Pacht, Pasch

Associations

Deity: Artemis, Sekhmet
Animal: Cats, Lions
Symbol: Sistrum, Aegis

Family & Other Connections

Bast was sister to Sekhmet and their parents were Ra and Atum. Or alternatively she was sister to Horus and the daughter of Osiris and Isis. Wife of Ptah, mother of Mihos. Bast became associated with Wadjet, eventually the two becoming Wadjet-Bast.

Information & Stories

Bast may be the most well-known of all Egyptian deities; the cat-headed goddess is certainly easy to recognise and remember. She was a local deity whose worship was centered in the city of Bubastis or ‘House of Bast’. The ‘Bastet’ variant of her name has been translated to mean ‘she of the ointment jar’ and Bast was known as a goddess of perfumes. In this role she was seen as wife to Anubis, god of embalming, despite other stories giving her as his mother.

Bast was given one of the Divine Eyes in the form of Uraeus, the serpent of wisdom, by Ra as a reward for defending him against Apep. As a lion goddess, Bast was patron and protector to Lower Egypt, but when it lost in the wars against Upper Egypt Bast took on a less threatening form; that of a cat. In this guise she was recognised as a good mother, and Egyptian women wanting children would honour her.

Magic

Goddess of music, dance, pleasure and fertility, Bast was protector of women and children as well as domestic cats. Bast is also associated with qualities of the lion, such as strength, agility and loyalty.

Misc

Bast was a sun goddess for most of the time she was being worshipped, but as she became known more as a cat goddess than a lion goddess, so also did she turn into a moon goddess. Cats were particularly revered in Egypt as they would keep the grain stores free from rats. Some Egyptians even had their cats mummified and buried with them in tombs.

Her feast day was celebrated on October 31st.

Pictures

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Badhbh, Badb Catha – ‘Battle Raven’, ‘The Fury’

Associations

Deity: Nemain
Animal: Crow, Wolf
Triple Goddess Aspect: Crone

Family & Other Connections

The trinity Morrigan is formed by Badb and her two sisters, although there is a great deal of confusion about exactly who was who.

Information & Stories

Badb is associated with the crow, and was said to take its form. She would be seen on the battlefield before war as a harbinger of the fate to come, and would take an active part in the battle, striking fear into the hearts of her enemies. She would create confusion amongst the soldiers, and feed off the resulting chaos. The battlefield was referred to as the ‘Garden of Badb’, and her arrival could mean ruin for whole armies, or for one specific person.

Badb would scream and wail to terrify her enemies, in a similar way to the Beansidhe or Banshee, and was known to appear as a ‘washer at the ford’, washing the armour of those who would fall in battle.

Magic

Badb is a goddess of war, chaos and death.

Pictures

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Acca Larentina

Associations

Deity: Ceres, Flora, Muta

Family & Other Connections

Acca Larentia may be connected to the Lares, possibly deriving her name from them. She has twelve sons; coincidentally the number of country Lares.

Information & Stories

Acca Larentia is best known as the wife of the shepherd Faustulus. In this role she became the adoptive mother of Romulus and Remus, along with her own twelve sons. Alternatively she is also known as a beautiful girl who was won by Hercules in a game of dice. When Hercules tired of her, he advised her to marry the first wealthy man she met. This turned out to be a rich Etruscan, and when the man died she inherited all of his estate. When Acca Larentia in turn passed on she left this to the Roman people. In gratitude Ancus allowed her to be buried in the Velabrum, and instituted the Larentalia.

Magic

Acca Larentia was a goddess of fertility, particularly of the earth and the city’s crops.

Misc.

Her festival, the Larentalia, was celebrated on December 23rd.

Pictures

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Balder, Baldr

Associations

Element: Air
Herb: Mistletoe

Family & Other Connections

Son to Odin and Frigg, brother to Hod, Baldur is married to Nanna and has a son named Forseti.

Information & Stories

Baldur is described in the Prose Edda;

The second son of Odin is Baldur, and good things are to be said of him. He is best, and all praise him; he is so fair of feature, and so bright, that light shines from him. A certain herb is so white that it is likened to Baldr’s brow; of all grasses it is whitest, and by it thou mayest judge his fairness, both in hair and in body. He is the wisest of the Æsir, and the fairest-spoken and most gracious; and that quality attends him, that none may gainsay his judgments. He dwells in the place called Breidablik, which is in heaven; in that place may nothing unclean be.

Baldur’s hall in Asgard, Breidablik, is the most beautiful place that can be found and no lie can pass through its walls. His ship, Hringhorni, is the greatest one ever built.

The most commonly known story featuring Baldur is that of his death. Both Baldur and his mother Frigg had dreams of his death, and as their dreams were often prophetic they took action to ensure they could not come true. Frigg made every object and force on earth vow to never harm Baldur, but she overlooked mistletoe, thinking it too unimportant and too young to ask.

The gods had made a game of testing Baldur’s invincibility; throwing weapons at him and seeing them bounce harmlessly off. Loki, jealous of Baldur, disguised himself as an old woman and questioned Frigg about all the things that had sworn not to harm her son. Upon learning that mistletoe had made no such vow, Loki found the plant and fashioned a spear or arrow from its branch. He then returned to Valhalla and approached the blind god Hod who had not been able to participate in testing Baldur’s powers. When Hod explained to Loki that he couldn’t take part because he couldn’t see to aim, Loki gave him the mistletoe weapon and guided his hand; Hod threw and it struck Baldur’s chest, killing him. His death, and with it the loss of truth and light, is seen as the first in a chain of events which will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarok.

In revenge for Baldur’s death Odin and the giantess Rindr gave birth to Váli, who grew to adulthood in the space of a single day and killed Hod. Baldur was ceremonially burned on his ship Hringhorni with a huge funeral pyre, surrounded by rich tapestries, foods and jewels. Baldur’s wide Nanna was so distraught that she died from grief, and was placed on the pyre beside Baldur. In the Poetic Edda both brothers are said to come back and rule a new world with Thor’s sons.

Frigg was so upset by Baldur’s death that she sent Hermod to plead with Hel to release Baldur from the underworld. Hel agreed she would do so provided that all things living and dead would weep for him. Everything loved Baldur and agreed to shed tears for him, apart from the giantess Thökk, and so Baldur could not be released. The gods discovered that Thökk was actually Loki in disguise, and to punish him they hunted him down and bound him to three rocks, then tied a serpent directly above him so that its venom would drip down into Loki’s face. His wife Sigyn would hold a bowl above him to catch the venom, but when she turned away to empty the bowl, the venom would touch him and he would writhe in pain, thus causing earthquakes.

Magic

Baldur was a god of truth and light, and was also knowledgable in healing herbs and runes.

Pictures

Asgarth, Esageard, Asgardr

Associations

Deity: Odin, Frigg
Place: Valhalla

Information & Stories

Asgard was not a god, but rather home to gods. In Norse mythology Asgard was one of nine worlds and was the country or city of the Aesir, one of the Norse pantheons of gods. It was ruled over by Odin and his wife Frigg, who lived in a great hall called Valaskjalf. Valhalla, an enormous hall where those who die in combat go, is also located within Asgard, and in all there were 12 halls built for the most important of the Aesir.

The wall surrounding Asgard was built by the frost-giant, Hrimthurs, and the single entrance, known as ‘bifrost’ or ‘rainbow bridge’ was guarded by the god Heimdall.

Pictures

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Great Spirit, Kitche Manitou, Gitche-Manito

Associations

Deity: God

Family & Other Connections

Belief in Gitche Manitou, or the Great Spirit, was widespread amongst Algonquian peoples, and many other Native American cultures believed in some form of supreme being; a creator and ‘Great Mystery’.

Information & Stories

Tobacco was smoked as an offering to Gitche Manitou; as part of the correct mix of herbs the sacred smoke given off would carry prayers with it to the heavens.

In one creation story the Great Spirit looked into the darkness before anything was and decided to fill the space with light and life. He commanded the sparks of creation and ordered the Great Turtle to come out of the waters and become the land. He shaped hills and valleys on the turtle’s back and then sat back, tired, to consider what kind of life to fill the new world with. As he contemplated, he drifted into sleep and dreamed of strange and unusual things. When he awoke he realised that his dream had turned into reality as he slept, and all around him living things were moving. He watched a beaver nibbling on a branch and making its home and he realised that everything had its place and purpose even though his dream had seemed imperfect.

Misc

‘Manitou’ is an Algonquian term for spirit beings, and it was believed that everything that existed – every person, plant, animal and even stone – had its own manitou. These manitous could be connected to achieve a desired affect, such as plant manitous for healing. The manitou itself was believed to be similar to qi; an essential force that was connected to, and a part of, the balance of nature.

Pictures

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Trickster

Associations

Deity: Loki, Prometheus, Anasi
Animal: Coyote

Family & Other Connections

Coyote is a character common to many, but by no means all Native American cultures. Coyote is generally regarded as male, and while he can be thought of anything from fully human to a wild coyote, he is often depicted as human with coyote characteristics such as ears or eyes.

Information & Stories

As Coyote is common to so many different traditions, there is no definitive description or all-encompassing story about him. To different people at different times he has been seen as the ultimate creator, as a manipulative trickster and as a foolish messenger. He is also seen as a ‘culture hero’, teaching humanity and helping us survive and improve ourselves.

Magic

Coyote’s magic is transformative, and also connected to resurrection and medicine. Bear in mind that a trickster is not necessarily noble or benign, and there are plenty of stories of malevolent, mean tricks perpetrated by Coyote.

Pictures

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