FEMININE DEITIES, QUEENS, GODDESSES
October 2008
email....okarresearch@gmail.com
"The roots of American Yuletide customs are manifold and fascinating. I will concentrate here on just two major points: that the Christmas tree was originally a symbol of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and that Santa Claus is an avatar of Asherah’s consort, the high god ‘El, who is equivalent to the Israelite Yahweh. The coniferous Christmas tree, whether real or stylized (made of metal or plastic), is customarily hung with bright votive offerings: tinsel, metallic globes, colored lights, etc. Small figurines of humans and animals may also adorn the shrub. The custom of decorating a Christmas tree is very old, as shown by a second-century C.E. description of Syrian practice: Of all the festivals …the greatest is the one they hold at the beginning of [winter]...... Some call it “Fire-Festival,” others “Lamp Festival.” During the festival they sacrifice like this: They chop down large trees and stand them in the courtyard. Then they drive in goats, sheep and other livestock and hang them alive from the trees. In the trees are also birds, clothes, and gold and silver artifacts. When they have made everything ready, they carry the sacred objects around the trees and throw fire in, and everything is immediately burnt. Here we find customs still recognizable: selection of a tree, lopping it off at the base and erecting it for a cultic purpose, hanging it with anything valuable, bright or globular—and, finally, burning it as the “Yule log.” Suspending animals, dead or alive, is mercifully no longer customary, although one still finds symbolic reindeer, teddy bears, troll dolls, etc., adorning many a spruce. Scholars agree that the sacred tree was a symbol of the great ancient Near Eastern Mother Goddess. Many believe that the Israelite God, Yahweh, was no old bachelor, that in fact, he had a consort—the goddess Asherah.3 For example, an inscription on a pithos (large storage jar) from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud in the Negev wilderness reads, “I bless you by Yahweh of Samaria and by his Asherah.” My own carbon-14 analysis of the ink yields a date in late December 799 B.C.E.! Evidently the text was a seasonal blessing, a sort of Hallmark card. Asherah’s symbol was a tree, upon which one might hang garments (2 Kings 23:7 mentions that women wove hangings for Asherah). The resemblance to a Christmas tree could not be more striking. Asherah’s mate, the chief of the Canaanite pantheon, was named ’El, or “the God.” As is generally recognized, the Bible’s descriptions of Yahweh, are heavily influenced by ’El.5
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"The Tibetans have very complicated linkages and overlappings among the protector gods of the person, the protector gods of lineages (male, female, maternal uncle) and the different masters of the place or territory." (Blondeau: 1996..pg ix)...
"The idea that sky divinities were male and earth divinities female is in general acord with Indo-European cosmologies." (Campbell: 1968..pg 155)
"The inner dralas are divided into the mother and father lineages. The mother lineage represents gentleness." (Trungpa:1984..pg 175)...
"The rituals and traditions of Poo (Northwest Tibet) reflect very cleary the ways in which deities were confused with one another, and adapted in meaning, but not in name fo fit the belief systems met at certain geographical points." (June Campbell: "Traveller in Space: In Search of Feminine Identity in Tibetan Buddhism...1996)...
FEMININE
The Four Queens of the Seasons were bodied forth by the first of the Nine Young Warriors who created the world and ordered it, the nine great artificers who fashioned existence out of non-existence....The Queen of Winter was called Crystal Palace; the Queen of Spring was Tigress; teh Queen of Summer, Torch of Flowers, and the Queen of Autumn was called White Moon of Joy.....The four Queens of the Seasons chanted a song in the symbolic words accompanied by a bamboo flute.....
The Queen of the Sea....Her gown was of seamless watersilk. She played a tamboura. Her music was like the dance of swans and her beauty competed with the reflections of the sea.....
The fifth warrior, The Supernal Golden Maiden, arose from her peacefulnes like steam arising from a lake. She looked up and saw the unchanging light of wisdom. She looked forward and saw the unceasing play of luminosity. She looked down and saw the spontaneous display of the fascinating world, and the mirage of existing non-existence. She saw the nature of this as a magical play of appearances. Her lips were like flower petals, slightly smiling; her eyes shone like pearls, gazing peacefully. She sang a song of the cosmic AH, highpitched but melodic. She was bedizened with jewels, and over the jewels silk cloth bearing designs of golden rings. Her hair was wouund up around a primordial flower. She moved gently like a bamboo grove stirred by gentle breezes. Wisps of cloud emanated from her body, which became turquoise lakes. Thus she created the lakes.....Everywhere arose a cry celebrating the triumph of God.......
AHURANI...corresponding to the Vedic Varunani. She impersonates the Ahurian waters. She is invoked in company with the sea Vourukasha and other waters.
AMATERASU Omi Kami is the main goddess or drala of the Japanese. She represents the sun. She is the giver of life. (Omi=limitless, way beyond...kami=god.....Amaterasu means heaven, space....terasu is shining, beams of light......Shining beams of light in limitless space)." (Yamamoto Negi of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine at RMSC in 1992)..."Amatu-no-kami is the Kami of Heaven. The Kami of Heaven are found at old, prestigious shrines..(Picken: 1994..pg 95)..."Came from the left eye of the first god. Mother of the Japanese royal family just as Re was father of the Egyptian Pharaoh and Inti of the Sapa Incans." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 209)...
ANAHITA...Persian goddess of heavenly waters..."Aphrodite-Astarte was the goddess of the Aqua-Vitae. Both a divinity of the sky and the earth waters. (Campbell: 1968..pg 332)......"Most beautiful woman in the Avesta. Anahita: Undefiled, immaculate. The river goddess. Of noble lineage and well formed." (Acta: 1985..pg 665)...Iranian version of Astarte (June Campbell: pg 38)..."non-Iranian Anahita" (Dhalla 1963 pg 125)..."undefiled, is the name of a mythical river as well as that of a female divinity of the waters. She resides in the starry regions. Classical writers speak of her sanctuaries founded aat Pasargadae, Ecbatana, Kangavar and other places. She is assimilated into Artemis, Aphrodite, Athene-Minerva, Hera, Magna Mater, Ishtar, and Nanaia. She overleaps barriers of Mt Alburz where her cult becomes obscene rites. She is celebrated in some of the longest Yashts and in the 65th chapter of the Yasna...Eighth month of the year and tenth day of the month are named after the waters of the Ardvi Sura...Pliny says that a temple of solid gold was set up in the temple of Anaitis"=." (Dhalla...pg 226)..."non-Iranian Anahita" (Dhalla: 1963..pg 125)...
APHRODITE, whose bull was a demiourges of Genesis, was a naked goddess, between a solar and lunar god seated on a bull....
APIA..."Saka goddess of the earth was the goddess of fertility, equivalent to the Medo-Persian Anahita." (Rudenko: 1970..pg 290)...
ARAMAITI...the Iranian Earth Goddess. Aramaic Alphabet named after her. Brought by Bon into Tibet in 500 BC (June Campbell: pg 37)...
ARDVI SURA...'Anahita: undefiled"...name of a mythical river as well as the female divinity of the waters. Resides in the starry regions.
ARTEMIS (Greece) was the many breasted great mother (twin sister of Apollo) of Asia, whom the Greeks encountered in Ephesus in 1000 BC.....Aphrodite's origins were also Asian....Both were adopted by the Greeks...."the Cretan goddess of hunting"...
ARTIMPASA..."Saka female deity of the moon was also worshipped by the ancient Iranians." (Rudenko: 1970..pg 290)...
ASHERAH..."the mother goddess Asherah had roots in many of the cultures of the Ancient Near East. Especially in the literature of ancient Ugarit. Adopted by the Hebrews, she was known as the consort of Yahweh in about 1000 BC.' (Petty: 1990)...
ASHI...(Asi)..."Ashi is a goddess of "Good Reward", both Gathic and Young Avestan. She is the daughter of Ahura Mazda and Spenta Armaiti. Sister of Sraosha. Human sexuality. Offerings of Haoma mixed with milk. Yasht 17." (Malandra: 1983...pg 132)..."Those who sacrifice with libations to Asi sacrifice with libations to Mithra." (Piras: 1996...pg 11)...
ASTARTE...one of the most ancient forms of the universal great goddess, worshipped by the Iranians in her form as Anahita. Her image found in Sumeria in 2300 BC. (June Campbell: pg 38)..."It seems very likely that Astarte, as the main female of ancient Persia whose name appears in Bon texts, and who was thought to rule the stars, would indeed be the object of Padmasambhava's suppressive missionary zeal." (June Campbell: pg 41)...
ATHENA...Greece
BENZAI-TEN...Japan...sister of 6 gods
BYAMS MA....."Byams-ma (Loving Mother) as attributes she holds the "Five Heroic Syllables' and a mirror..(Kvaerne: 1985..pg 22)
BYUNG BA DUS KYI LHA MO..."Goddesses of the Elements and of Time...(byung ba dus kyi lha mo)"..(Norbu: 1995..pg 172)
CERRIDWEN...the Celts worshipped Cerridwen as the Goddess of Intelligence and knowledge...
CHANG-O...China....husband shot the nine suns
CHUCHAM...goddess of water...
CHU ICAM (ICAGS) RGYAL MO....mothered the nine brothers and nine sisters....
CISTA...."The elongated ray that penetrates the cave and reaches the head of Mithra is the equivalent of the Avestan Cista, whose sharpness of vision was manifested in various animals, but particularly in the raven (varegan). Her sharpness of vision was an expression of visibility and she is said to be white, and her whiteness is in sharp contrast to the blackness of invisibility of the raven. (Campbell:1968)...A goddess of paths, both physical and spiritual...
DAENA...Persian feminine aspect of Den...."In the Avesta: At dawn on the fourth day after death, the departed passes over the Cinwad bridge and meets the personification of his deeds. If he is righteous, a beautiful maiden appears to him amidst the sweetly smelling breeze. (If wicked she is wretched). The girl is the manifestation of one's own daena (Pahlavi: Den). The beautiful maiden is one's own inner consciousness, the internal being." (Acta: 1985..pg 583)..."The rise of Mithra and the rise of Daena are both connected with the first light of dawn, 'birth' from darkness. The appearance of Daena in the early morning light coincides with the scented wind." (Piras: 1996...pg 10)..."In the Gathic texts, the daena, after the rise of Astunat Arata from Lake Kasaoya, will render the corporeal world imperishable with their salvific gaze." (Piras: 1996...pg 14)...
DAKINIS..."mkha' gro ma: literally she (ma) sho goes ('gro) in the sky (mkha')...she who moves in space." (Reynolds: 96..pg 345)..."the Dakinis have been looked upon by the Buddhist mystics as the protectors from forces of destruction and unscrupulous profanization. The dakinis are looked upon as advanced practitioners and the highest orders of dakinis are manifestations of the enlightened ones."..(Lhalungpa: 1986..pg 460)
DIANA...Roman...Oak tree is sacred
DOLMA..."Principle goddess in the Lamaist pantheon. Goddess Tara of the Hindus." (David-Neel: 1981..pg 147)....
DGRA SHED...."dgra gshed: female deities linked with the astrological cycles of the years and of the five elements." (Norbu: 1995..pg 171)..
LADY DORJE KUNDRAK...(T: jo-mo-rdo-rje-kun-grags-ma)..One of the 12 tenma goddesses (bstan-ma-bcu-gnyis) subjugated by Padmakara...(Nalanda: 1980..pps 353 & 249-250)...
ESTSANATLEHI.....Navajo...Blessingway Traditions
FREYJA......Norse Goddess of Beauty
GWENHWYFAR....Welsh...white water waves
HSI WANG MU...China...Jade Mountain in Kun Lun
HOS-ZA-RGYAL-MYED (Hoza Gyelmed:wife of Shenrab Miwo): "hair like the petals of the Utpala flower, eyes like the fruit of the indigo, brow is of the greatest serenity and full like the moon, eyebrows of wide arch and like the letter o, cheeks are of clear color and like blood-red rubies in a cup of ivory, nose of good fashion, whose speaking mouth is like the mountains of gold encircling the Sumeru, teeth beautiful and smiling like the pinnacles of the mountains of the gods, speaking tongue is like the lightning in the atmosphere, whose body is like a precious vessel, clear and glorious as precious stone." (Francke:1950..pg 164)... Shenrab had six wives....Hoz bza rgyal med....dPo bza thang mo...gSas bza ngan ring...Phywa bza gung drug...Kong bza khri icam...and....rgya bza phrul bsgyur...(karmay: 1972..pg 3)...
INANNA.....Summerian (Iraq)
ISHTAR...3000 BC...a major Akkadian goddess of war and love/fertility...Sumerian queen of heaven...winged goddess...mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh...same function as Asherah as legitimator of the throne...(Petty: 1990..pg 31)...
ISIS...Egyptian..wears the Sun Disk...the female of nature and receptive of all genesis (the bull Osiris)...She has an innate love (symphyton erota) of the first principle....Same function Asherah...
JUNO...Roman...
KALADUGMO...(mkhah.la.gdug.mo) 'fierce sky goddess' (ma namkha: mother sky)...
KARMO NYIDA...(dkar mo nyi zla)...Tibetan goddess. Holds Mt Meru in right hand. Garland with 999 suns and moons....
KARMO TUNG DA....Karmo Tung Da..Ocean Goddess
KROTISHAURIMA....."embraced by the mother, Buddha Krotishaurima"...(Clark: 1954..pg 325)...
KUAN YIN...China
LACHAM DRUGMO: the consort of Gesar...
LAKSHMI...Goddess of wealth and good fortune...Also known as: Laksmi, Sri, Padma, Kamala, Dharani, Sita....Candhamadana is the mountain of Lakshmi...Lakshmi...India...flys on the Garuda
LU...."The only female degye is Lu, who is associated with water, bringing rain and fertility. She wears a gown of seamless watersilk. She holds a crystal vase filled with gems." (Trungpa: 1978)
MA....The Phryians (1200 BC) were Indo-Europeans who occupied Central Anatolia. Their chief deity was called Ma, the Great Mother, riding in a chariot drawn by lions.(Langer: World History: 1940)...Mithra took as his consort the Anatolian Mother Goddess Ma...(June Campbell..pg 38)...
MAIA...Grandmother of Magic
MA LHA...Deity of Mothers...(Nebesky: 1956..pg 332).."Ma lha is adorned with jewels. The function of this dgra lha is to increase and guard the family." (Norbu: 1995..pg 332)...
MAMOS...Cosmic mamos?
MANENE...the mother lineage of Warrior Manene...."Manene means grandmother. More of a title than a deity. Dolma, the principle goddess in the Lamist pantheon. Tara of the Hindus. Gesar epic."(David-Neel: 1981..pg 147)...
MENMOS...33 momens (menmo?) of the Mukpo lineage....
"Khala Kangkar, the foremost Menmo (sman), and other female deities of the same family. Although the Menmo do not usually assume a fierce mien or cause disturbances, if they are irritated by an offence against them they immediately take on the guise of beautiful girls and by deception easily manage to provoke negativities." (Norbu: 1995...pg )...."(sman mo)..."White Menmo of the Sky".(gNam sman dKar mo)..(Norbu: 1995..pg 166)...
METSUNS...enchanting appearances...
MITRA...North Mesopotamia. 1400 BC....the sky goddess who became the male Indo-Iranian Sun God Mithra, who took as his consort the Anatolian Mother Goddess Ma. (June Campbell..1996...pg 38)...
MO LHA...deity of females is a young woman of exquisite beauty. With one face and two hands holding an arrow and a mirror. Wears blue silk." (5th Dalai Lama in Norbu: 1995: pg 66) (Nebesky: 1975..pg 328)...
NAMCHI KUNGYEL..."gNam phyi gung rgyal: the juniper (lha shing) is the creation of this great goddess" (Blondeau: 1996..pg 103)..."The first born of the Nine Female beings was gNam phyi gung rgyal, Goddess of Heavenly Space. She resides on Mt Tise (Kailasa)." (Tucci: 1980..pg 216)..."Namchi Kungyel (Queen Sky Ancestress) (gNam phyi gung rgyal) 'The nectarous mother let nectar rain from her mouth.' One of the foremost female deities of the Tibetan pantheon. She is the first born of the nine sisters who are the ancestors of mankind."..(Norbu: 1995..pg 261)...
NAM LHA KARMO....gNam lha dKar mo (White Goddess of the Sky) lives in the neighborhood of Mount Everest (Hoffman: 1979..pg 95)
NANA...multifaceted Mesopotamian goddess in Sogdia
"NINE primordial females (srid pa mo dgu): Ancestress Queen of the Sky, White Menmo of the Sky, Woman Who Does Not Talk, Female Tiger, She Who Develops and Strengthens, Sharp Flaming Point, She Who Rides a Deer, Queen of the Cha, White Goddess"..(Norbu: 1995..pg 166)..."The first of these sisters are known as the Nine females of the world....First of these is gnam-phyi-gung-rgyal. The second is gNam-sman-dkar-mo..(The aunt of Gesar)...The third sister is Mi-mkhan ma-mo. She had 8 offspring who are the original progenitors of man. The 5th sister is Shed-za na-ma. She is the goddess of life. She had four offspring, pho-lha, ma-lha, zhang-lha, and sGra-lha. The 7th sister is phyva-tshe rgyal-mo (Queen of Wealth). She is the mother of the gods, of horses, the door, and the hearth." (Karmay: 1975..pg 193)...
NYAI Loro Kidul....Javanese Sea Queen
OYA...Niger River of Africa...Yoruba Tribes
"PALDEN LHAMO... (dPal ldan lha mo) (sridevi)(Lhamo: god-woman)..... is an important female deity of fierce mien, connected with Remati and to the class of mamo." (Nebesky: 1956..pg 22)..."Belden Lhamo is the wrathful tantric goddess and the special protectoress of teh Tibetan state." (Lopez: 1997..pg 21)...
PELE...Hawaii...Mt Kilauea
PETRA GENETRIX...Rock Mother...the Iranian Mithra was born from the Rock Mother..(June Campbell...pg 37)
PAIRIKA (Peri)...witches who live on Mount Ilo in Swat. (Tucci:1977....Boyce: 1975..pg 85)....
RANGJUNG GYALMO..(rang byung rgyal mo)...A mahakali, consort of Pernakchen...
RHIANNON....Celtic (Epona)
RIGDEN QUEENS??????????????????????????????????????????????
SA ERTI SANG....Sa trig er sangs...'the Mother of Space" (Hoffman: 1979..pg 105)...Sa Erti Sang: sa trig er ti sangs...
SHAKTIS.... (nus ma)..."The goddesses surrounding Kalachakra in the mandala of great bliss are called Shaktis (nus ma)." (Geoffrey Hopkins: 1985..pg 485)....
SHALEBHANJIKA....:The attendants of the goddesses surrounding Kalachakra.".(G. Hopkins 1985..pg 485)...
SIDAG TSUNMO...Sidag Tsunmo (Queen Mistress of Existence)..wife of Yemon Gyelpo..."Sidag Tsunmo (srid bdag btsun mo) "mother of the 4 divine Lords of Lungta."..(Norbu: 1995..pg 70)...
SPENTA ARMAITIS...Avestan Goddess
SRING MO NA...."the sister of the eight Lam Lha is known as as Sring mo na chung gzi byin ma. She rides on a bee with a sharp stinger." (Nebesky: 1956..pg 335)...Sinmo...(srin.mo)..the mythical Tibetan demoness who had to be subdued in order for Buddhism tobe established in Tibet. See Janet Gyatso essay on patriarchal imperatives. (June Campbell..pg 45)
SANDRAMATA...Khotanese Goddess
TABITI..."The goddess of the hearth, of family well being, and her cult was linked to the worship of fire. An oath by the gods of the royal hearth, like the royal gods of the Persians, was regarded by the Sacae as the most sacred. This is the connection between the domestic hearth and the worship of ancestors. This divinity held such a high position among the ancient Persians." (Rudenko: 1970..pg 290)...
TARA...(T: sgrol-ma)...the female aspect of compassion and a very popular deity in Tibet.
TSOMEN.... are lake goddesses (mtsho sman)...
TSUGNA RINCHEN...(gtsug-na-rin-chen)...crest jewel...Queen of the nagas, ruler of the world of water. (Nalanda: 1980..pps 371 & 218)...
TWELVE LOCAL GODDESSES....(T: bsta-ma-bcu-gnyis)...Local deities subjugated ('invited to come along') by Padmakara. They are associated with the months of the year, the realms, and the nidanas."(Nalanda:1980..pg 353)
UKEMOCHI...Japan
UMA...Umai was embodied in Uma, the ancient female spirit, who as the Shakti of Shiva is the power of light that makes perception possible. Uma manifests as Kali in the Kalavada System and in the Kalachakra Tantra...(Kharatidi: 1996..pg 217)...
USHAS..."the goddess of dawn, who rises in the east clad in a garment of light, exhibiting her youthful graces." (James: 1963...pg 74)...
VERETHRAGHNA..."A close companion of Mithra. She was white and dressed in white. Her sparpness of vision was an expression of visibility itself."...(Campbell: 1968..pg 95)..."Verethraghna is the victorious (verethraghnem) and unconquered (invictus) power of Mithra in the vital drive and virility (damois upamano) of world generation. These are the recreative powers of Mithra mounted on horseback." (Campbell: 1968..pg 191)...
VETALI...( T: dud-sol-ma)..A mahakali who has been a traditional protector of the Kagyu since the time of Naropa...(Nalanda: 1980..pg 374)....Vetalas (Indian vampires)...
VENUS...Roman...deity of Venice...the original black stone of the kaaba in Mecca represented Venus...Eros. Friday. Divinity of the motions of love. Anahita (the Persian equivalent of Venus) was in particular a goddess of the fresh waters.)...
WAWALAK....Australian Aboriginal...Dreamtime...
XOCHIQUETZAL...Aztec Mexico...World Mother
YAMARI...Sister of Yama, Lord of Death
YEMANA....Cuba...Santeria
YUN CHENMO...(Tib: Great Mother)...
ZAM...."The avestan term for earth is Zam, from which Zam or Zamyat derives her name. 28th day of the month is sacred to Zam. (Dhalla: 1963..pg 231)...
MASCULINE AND FEMININE COMBINED