A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods and Goddesses, pt 3

by D.W. Owens

Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, in its entirety and without alteration, together with the other four parts which make up the whole work, for free distribution. For any other distribution, please contact the author.

Part 3 : GREECE (Continued) / JAPAN / MESOPOTAMIA / NORSE

GREECE (Continued)

HERMES; to the Romans, MERCURY The messenger of the gods, the god of eloquence, the god of luck. God of travelers, merchants and athletes. Originally a pastoral and fertility god in Arcadia, in his oldest monuments Hermes is represented simply as a phallus. Easygoing, kind and obliging, Hermes is quite helpful to both gods and men, though he appears in some stories as a trickster. Hermes invented the lyre, which he gave to Apollo to get out of a mess he'd made by stealing Apollo's cattle. Hermes' image was often found at crossroads and junctions, and he is shown with winged sandals and a winged helmet. Hermes was quite popular.

HYPNOS God of sleep. Brother of Thanatos (Death). Hypnos has power even over the gods.

IRIS Goddess of the rainbow. Like Hermes, a messenger for the gods. The center of her cult was at Delos, and the proper offerings to her were dried figs and honeycakes.

MOROS God of destiny. Dark, unknowable, all powerful. Even the gods are subject to Moros.

MORPHEUS God of dreams. His name is the root word of "morphine."

NEMESIS Also ADRASTEIA Goddess of destiny and inevitability, the repayment of sin and crime.

NIKE; to the Romans, VICTORIA Goddess of victory. Generally portrayed as a winged maiden holding high a wreath of bay leaves, the victor's laurel. Her most famous temple was in Athens.

OCEANUS Ancient god of the oceans, eventually displaced by Poseidon. With his sister, Tethys, he had six thousand children, half of them sea spirits, the other half river spirits.

PAN "The Pasturer," "the Feeder of Flocks." God of herds, fertility and male sexuality. Pan has the horns and legs of a goat and plays a syrinx, a pipe withs seven reeds. An ancient god, he has no moral or social aspect whatsoever, and is simply the embodiment of pure, basic instinct. Some said that Pan taught Apollo the art of prophecy. Pan especially loves mountains and wild country. Pan has a dark aspect as well, causing men and animals to go suddenly mad with terror in distant, lonely places. His name is therefore the root word of "panic."

PERSEPHONE Also KORE "Maiden." Daughter of Demeter, wife of Hades. Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her to the underworld to be his queen. When Demeter heard, she wandered the earth in mourning, abandoning her responsibilities, and the earth grew gray and barren. The growing famine forced Zeus to demand that Hades return Persephone to the surface world. But Persephone had eaten part of a pomegranate, and eating of the food of the dead bound her to their world. Zeus and Hades struck a bargain -- Persephone would spend seven months a year in the world of the living and five in the world of the dead. When Persephone is in the world, her mother Demeter is content, and te world blooms and lives. When she is in the underworld, Demeter mourns, the world languishes, and we have winter.

POSEIDON God of the sea and earthquakes. Horses and bulls are sacred to him. Originally the god of earth tremors, of vegetation and fecundity, Poseidon fought for the Olympians against the Titans, and his reward after the victory was dominion over the seas, lakes and rivers. Poseidon's fits of rage manifest as storms, and seamen dread his anger. Bulls were thrown into the sea as sacrifices to Poseidon. His amorous adventures played an important role in Greek mythology, and he loved men no less than women.

THANATOS God of death. Sometimes portrayed as a winged spirit, at other times as a man robed in black armed with a sword. Thanatos is not evil or hateful. He is just doing his job.

URANUS Heaven personified. The son born to Gaia when she first emerged from Chaos. Uranus' rain made Gaia fruitful, and she brought forth the Titans. Jealous of his children, Uranus confined them to the earth, and Gaia conspired wth Cronus, the boldest of her children, to overthrow him. Cronus castrated Uranus with a sickle, only to be overthrown by Zeus in his turn.

ZEUS; to the Romans, JUPITER. "Cloud Gatherer." The ruler of the Olympian gods, god of the sky, thunder, and lightening, the upholder of custom and tradition. Zeus had many names. As Soter, he is know as the father and saviour of mankind; as Herkeios, guardian of the home; as Xenios, keeper of the rules of hospitality; as Ktesios, protector of property; as Gamelios, god of marriage; as Zeus Chronius, god of the earth and fertility; as Zeus Eluetherious, protector of freedom; and as Zeus Polieus, god of the civic virtues. Despite all these duties, Zeus still had plenty of time to romp with young girls and boys. His wife Hera persecuted his lovers, both mortal and divine.

JAPAN

AJI-SUKI-TAKA-HI-KONE One of several thunder gods. Born noisy, he grew up even noisier, and so they carry him up and down a ladder to quiet him. That is why you can hear him receding and approaching.

AMA-NO-UZUME Fertility goddess. A companion of Ninigi, she performed a bawdy dance hoping to entice the sun out of hiding. This dance symbolizes the planting of seed which waits for the sun come after winter.

AMATERASU Sun goddess, ruler of the heavens. When her great enemy, the storm god Susa-No-Wo, destroyed her fine palace, Amaterasu went to hide in a cave. The other gods used all their magical tricks to get her to come out, to no avail. In her absence, darkness and demons ruled the earth until Ama-No-Usume lured Amaterasu out of the cave with a trick. With a comical and obscene dance, he made the gods gathered at the mouth of the cave laugh. When Amaterasu asked waht was going on, Ama-No-Uzume replied that they had found another and better sun goddess. Amaterasu peeped out of her cave and saw her own reflection in a mirror which Ama-No-Uzume had hung on a nearby tree. Fascinated, Ameratasu drew a little closer for a better look, and the gods grabbed her and hauled her out.

AMATSU MIKABOSHI "August Star of Heaven." God of evil.

BENZAITEN Goddess of love, one of the gods of happiness. Benzaiten rides a dragon while playing a stringed instrument.

BISHAMON God of happiness and war, a strange combination. Bishamon protects men from disease and demons. Bishamon was often portrayed wearing a wheel of fire like a halo, which some see as the Wheel of Fate.

CHIMATA-NO-KAMI God of crossroads, highways and footpaths. Originally a phallic god, his phallic symbol was placed at crossroads.

HO-MASUBI Fire god. His birth killed the creator goddess Izanami, and his father, the creator god Izanagi, was so enraged with grief that he killed the baby. From his blood came eight gods, and from the body came eight mountain gods.

IZANAGI and IZANAMI Creator god and goddess sent down from heaven to build the earth. The other gods and goddesses are their descendents, but when the god of fire was born he burned his mother to death. Descending to the underworld, Izanami became old and ugly. Izanagi followed her to bring her back, but she forbade him to look at her. Izanagi looked anyway and Izanami tried to imprision him in the underworld. Pursued by Izanimi's furies, Izanagi escaped and sealed up the entrance to the underworld with a boulder. Enraged, Izanami vowed to kill a thousand of Izanami's subjects a day, and Izanami vowed to create fifteen hundred a day. So it was that Izanami became the goddess of death and Izanagi became the lord of life.

KAWA-NO-KAMI God of rivers. Larger rivers have their own gods, but all waterways are under Kawa-No-Kami's authority. When rivers flooded, the gods were sometimes appeased with human sacrifices.

NAI-NO-KAMI God of earthquakes. A late addition to the Japanese pantheon, Nai-No-Kami was inducted in the seventh century A.D.

NINIGI Grandson of Amaterasu, sent to rule the earth, the ancestor of all the Japanese emperors.

O-KUNI-NUSHI God of sorcery and medicine. Originally the ruler of the province of Izumo, he was replaced by Ninigi, but in compensation he was made ruler of the unseen world of spirits and magic.

SENGEN-SAMA Goddess of the sacred mountain of Fujiyama. At her shrine at the top of the mountain, worshippers greet the rising sun.

SHINE-TSU-HIKO God of the wind. Shine-Tsu-Hiko fills up the empty space between earth and heaven, and with his wife Shina-To-Be, he holds up the earth.

SUSA-NO-WO God of storms, snakes and farming. Amaterasu's brother and greatest enemy. From the moment he was born, he was a troublemaker. After Amaterasu was finally taken out of her cave, Susa-No-Wo was punished. The other gods shaved his beard and moustache, pulled out his fingernails, and banished him to live as a mortal on the earth.

MESOPOTAMIA

(Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian)

ANU The god of the sky, from whence the sun shines and the rain falls. Lord of all, the fountainhead of order in both the natural and supernatural worlds. The stars are his warriors, the Milky Way his personal highway. Anu dwells exclusively in the celestial heaven. Unapproachable, remote and otherwordly, he cares little about men and seldom intervenes in their affairs.

APSU The Abyss. The waters upon which the earth floats. When the gods were first created, their noise disturbed Apsu, who complained to his mother, the great dragon Tiamat. Tiamat made war on the gods and was slain by Marduk.

ANSHAR Father of Anu and all the other gods. His consort is his sister, Kishu. Anshar is the male principle, Kishu the female principle. Anshar is the sky, Kishu the earth. Anshar led the gods in the war against Tiamat.

EA Also ENKI "Lord of the Sacred Eye." God of water, supreme god of magic and wisdom, patron of the arts. An oracle. Ea is the god of fresh waters. Ea is portrayed as a goat with a fish's tail or a human with water flowing from his shoulders. Mating with Ninhursag ("Lady Mountain") he created the plants and gave men agriculture.

ENLIL The god of earth and wind. The master of men's fates. The god who dries up the flood waters after the Tigris and Euphrates have overflowed their banks; who brings rain; who fills the sails of ships and boats; who fetrilizes the palm blossoms. The god who struggles against the suffering of the world. Enlil's power moves all; he is the active principle which drives the earth. Enlil sent the flood which destroyed all mankind except Utnapishtim and his family. Enlil can be found in the howling storm and the ruins and ashes of war.

ERESHKIGAL Goddess of the underworld, consort of Nergal. Some consider her a dark side or apect of Ishtar. When Ishtar descended into the underworld to save Tammuz, Ereshkigal tricked her into leaving some part of her clothing or insignias at each of the underworld's seven gates as she passed through them. Standing naked at the seventh gate, Ishtar threw herself on Ereshkigal; but like Samson shorn of his hair she was powerless. Ereshkigal confined Ishtar in the underworld until the wily Ea contrived her release with a trick.

GILGAMESH Like Hercules, a hero-god, two parts divine and one part human. The story of his adventures survives in an epic poem on twelve tablets dating back to Akkadia in the middle of the second millenium B.C. Gilgamesh fought and tamed the wild man Enkiddu. Despite the warnings of the priests and ill omens from the sun god, Gilgamesh and Enkiddu set out upon a quest. Enkiddu's death incited Gilgamesh to seek immortality, and after many adventures he found at last Utnapishtim who survived the Great Flood and with his wife was granted eternal life by the gods. Utnapishtim convinced Gilgamesh of the futility of immortality.

ISHTAR; to the Sumerican INANNA; to the Egyptians, ASTARTE The greatest of all the mother goddesses of the Mesopotamians. Goddess of fertility, goddess of sex, goddess of the moon, goddess of war. Lady of heaven, lady of sorrow and battles. The great lover, the great mother. The hero-god Gilgamesh spurned her, ensuring his death. Venus is her star, and the lion is her cult animal. Ishtar's love is all consuming and even deadly. An Egyptian sculpture portrays her nude, standing on a lion, and holding a lotus blossom (the symbol of life) in her right hand. Ishtar's worship involved phallic symbols, sacred whores and painted priests in women's clothing. At her shrine at Uruk the priestesses performed a sexual rite in her honor. A priestess played the goddess; the priest who played the god was slain. The Christians turned her into a demon, and she is mentioned as such in Milton's PARADISE LOST.

KINGU Tiamat's general in the war against the gods. Keeper of the tablets of destiny, which hold the divine plan for all the cosmos. Ninhursag used Kingu's blood to make the first man, and from this comes the demonic, rebellious aspect of human nature.

MARDUK The great god of Babylon, King of Kings, Guardian of the Law, the Great Sorcerer, the Great Healer, slayer of Tiamat. Marduk is Order fighting against Chaos, the conflict from which all Creation emerges. Defeating Tiamat, Marduk brought order and life to the world. When the tablets of destiny were seized from Kingu, Marduk fastened to his own breast, and so brought control of the earth under the divine authority of the gods. The stele of Hammurabi shows Marduk on his throne with a horned headdress, giving Hammurabi his ring and sceptre. The Amorites saw Marduk as a god of spring and sunlight, of herbs and trees.

NEBO Also NABU God of writing and speech, speaker for the gods. Nebo maintains records of men's deeds and produces them for judgment after death. His symbol is the stylus.

NERGAL God of the underworld, mass destruction and plague, consort of Ereshkigal. Thrown out of heaven, he stormed the underworld with fourteen demons until Ereshkigal consented to marry him.

NINHURSAG Also MAAT "Lady Mountain." An earth mother. She mold the first man out of clay and brought him to life with the blood of Kingu.

SHAMASH Also BABBAR, UTU The sun. Son of the moon god Sin, brother and husband to Ishtar. The great god of justice. In Sumer, a god of divination. The enemy of darkness and all the evil darkness brings. Every morning, scorpion-men throw open the gates of his great palace, and Shamash mounts his chariot. He then crosses the sky from one horizon to the other, casting his rays upon the earth like a net, seeing all the evils and wrongs of the world. Entering the earth on the eastern horizon, Shamash travels through the underworld back to his palace. Shamash requires justice of earthly kings and champions their subjects, especially the poor.

SIN The moon god. Wise and secretive, the enemy of all evil spirits. An old man with a long beard who flies through the sky in his sailboat every night.

TAMMUZ Also DUMUZI God of the harvest. The god who dies and rises again. The love of Ishtar killed him, and Ishtar fought Ereshkigal in the underworld to bring him back.

TIAMAT; to the agnostics, LEVIATHAN Goddess of the primeval depths, the chaos from which Marduk formed the world. She took the form of a dragon and swam in the primal waters. Tiamat warred on the gods, spawning a brood of dragons, sphinxes, scorpion-men and other demons and monsters for her army. Marduk slew her, defeating her with magic and powerful winds. Splitting her in two, Marduk cast one half of Tiamat into the sky to form the heavens and the other he cast down to form the earth.

(Canannite)

ANAT Goddess of love and war. Female counterpart of Baal-Haddad. Anat often aids Baal-Haddad in his battles and takes his part in defeat.

ATHIRAT In the Bible, ASHERAH Mother of the gods, female counterpart of El. Athirat persuaded El to give his blessing to a temple for Baal-Haddad after his great victory over Sea, the god of chaos. Corresponds to Ishtar.

BAAL-HADDAD "The Mighty," "He who mounts the clouds." Son of Dagon, the corn god. The executive of the divine assembly. Baal-Haddad dies and rises again so that the world may live. Baal-Haddad is the champion of divine Order against Chaos. LIghtening is his weapon, and he can be found in storms and thunder. Defying Mot, the god of death, Baal-Haddad was swallowed up by the god of death and taken to the underworld which Baal Haddad laid waste after a terrible struggle. In the beginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered Yamm the Sea, and so brought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority and control.

The term "Baal" (alternate spellings: Beel, Bel) is not a proper name but a title. It means simply, "Lord." To know the proper name of a god was t possess great power, and so the proper name was often kept secret from anyone who was not a member of the priesthood. Many local and regional gods were therefore referred to simply as "Lord" -- Baal. The Baal of the Bible is most often Baal Shamim, "Lord of the Skies." In Carthage, a colony of the Phoenicians, the people worshipped Baal Hammon or Ammon, a sky and fertility god whose symbol was the ram. The god of the Semitic nomad tribe of Zebulon was the "Fly," or Beel-Zebul, Lord of Zebulon, often mistakenly called Beelzebub.

EL "The Bull," the Father of Men, the Kindly One, the Compassionate. Creator of all things, greatest of all the gods, father of the divine family, head of the divine assembly.

KATHIRAT "The Skillful Ones." Minor goddesses who preside over childbirth.

MOT The god of death who rules the underworld amid wreckage and blackness.

SKILLFUL AND PERCIPIENT ONE, THE The divine artificer, patron of craftsmanship and magic. The Skillful One made Baal-Haddad's weapons for the struggle against Yamm and built the temple in which Anat and Baal-Haddad dwell.

YAMM THE SEA Aslo PRINCE SEA, OCEAN-CURRENT THE RULER God of primordial chaos, much like Tiamat and Coatlicue. Baal-Haddad's enemy. Before the great combat with Baal-Haddad, Yamm terrified the divine assembly of gods and sent emissaries to demand tribute from them. Part of the tribute he demanded was Baal-Haddad as a slave. Infuriated, Baal-Haddad drove the emissaries from the assembly hall, lashing their buttocks and depriving them of all dignity. So the war began.

NORSE

AEGIR "Alebrewer." So called because Aegir loves to give feasts for the gods. God of the sea. Saxon pirates gave to Aegir a tenth of their captives, who were thrown into the sea.

ANGRBODA The giantess who mated with Loki to create Hel, Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent.

BALDER A hero god, the god who dies and rises again. Fair skinned, fair haired, wise and merciful, beloved of all. Loke tricked Hoder into killing Balder, who had to be rescued from the underworld. According to the epic poem VOLUSKA, Balder will come to rule again after Ragnarok.

BRAGI God of poetry and eloquence, husband of Iduun. It is Bragi's duty to prepare Valhalla for new arrivals.

DONAR German god of thunder, forerunner of Thor. His symbol is the swastika. Oak trees are sacred to Donar, as they are to Jove.

FENRIR Also FENRIS WOLF A monstrous wolf conceived by Loki. Fenrir was raised in Asgard, the home of the gods, until he became so immense and feroucious that only the god Tyr was brave enough to feed him. Tyr bound Fenrir until the day of Ragnarok, when Fenrir will break loose to slay Odin.

FORSETI God of justice, the great arbiter, the god who "stills all strife." Forseti dwells in a hall of gold and silver called Giltnir.

FREYR "The god of the world," son of Njord, husband of Freyja. God of fertility, sunlight and rain, peace, joy and contentment. Freyr was worshipped with human sacrifices and a kind of religious play in which men dressed as women mimed and danced to the sound of chimes and bells. Freyr had some association with the horse cult as well, and horses sacred to his service were kpet near his shrines. Freyr and his sister/wife FREYJA were of the Vanir, a family or race of gods which originally competed with the Aesir and later became allies. The Vanir may have been the gods of an earlier Scandinavian race who were adopted into the pantheon of later conquerors.

FREYJA Goddess of magic and death, goddess of sex, daughter of Njord, a shape-shifter who often took the form of a falcon. When her husband Od disappeared, Freyja wept golden tears. Donning a magical garment, Freyja could fly long distances. Patroness of seithr, a practice in which a sorceress would enter a trance to foretell the future. The women who practiced siethr, who were know as Volva, wandered freely about the country casting spells and foretelling the future. Freyja's worshippers involved orgiastic rites which horrified and outraged the Christians. Half of all those slain in battle belonged to Freyja, the other half belonging to Odin.

FRIGG Wife of Odin, mother of Balder, queen of Asgard. A fertility goddess.

HEIMDALL The god who guards the Bifrost Bridge which is the entrance to Asgard. Heimdall can see for immense distances, and his ear is so sensitive that he can hear the grass grow. On the day of Ragnarok, Heimdall will blow the great horn Gjallarhorn, and in the ensuing battle he will slay Loki.

HEL Goddess of death. Daughter of Loki. Ruler of Niflheim, the land of mists. Heroic souls go to Valhalla. Those who die of disease or old age come to Niflheim. Surrounded by high walls and strong gates, Niflheim is impregnable; not even Balder could return from there without Hel's permission.

HERMOD A hero god. Hermod rode through the gates of Niflheim to rescue Balder and found Balder seated on the right hand of Hel. Hel agreed to release Balder on condition that all living things weep for him.

HODER Little is known about Hoder, other than that he is blind. Loki tricked Hoder into killing Balder with a sprig of mistletoe. Hoder will join Balder in the new world which will come into being when the present one is destroyed.

IDUNN Wife of Bragi, keeper of the golden apples of eternal youth. The giant Thiazzi kidnapped her with the aid of Loki.

LOKI A trickster. Sly, deceitful, a master thief, not to be trusted. Nevertheless, Loki is charming, witty, quite capable, and possessed of a sardonic sense of humor which he aims at himself no less often than at others. A shape shifter who can change into almost any animal form. Loki was involved in many of the gods' adventures, usually because one of his tricks had made some kind of a mess.

MIDGARD SERPENT The great snake which lies in the ocean and encircles the world, its tail in its mouth. On the day of Ragnarok, the world will disappear under the ocean's waters when the Midgard Serpent rises from the sea. Thor will kill the Midgard Serpent but will be killed by the Serpent's poision.

MIMIR The guardian of a spring of wisdom at the root of Yggdrasill, the world tree which connects the lower and higher worlds and is the source of all life. Odin gave an eye to drink from that spring.

NERTHUS An earth mother worshipped by the German tribe of the Suebi. Her sacred grove stood on an island in the North Sea.

NJORD The chief of the Vanir, who warred with the Aesir. Lord of the winds and of the sea, giver of wealth. Particularly revered on the west coast of Sweden. In pagan days, oaths in law courts were sworn in his name. Njord may be a masculine form of Nerthus.

(Continued in Part 4)

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