Gods and Goddesses
 

This is by no means a comprehensive list it is merely a beginning reference.

Anat - Canaanite and Phoenician (Israel, Lebanon, and Syria) - Fertility and war goddess. Synonyms: Anat.; Lady of the Mountain; Antit The sister of Baal, Anat is primarily a fertility goddess. She is usually depicted naked, with breasts and vaginal area prominent. Often she wears a coiffure similar to that of th Egyptian goddess Hathor, with whom at times she has been closely linked. Anat is described as "mother of gods" and "mistress of the sky". In addition to her fertility role, she is a youthful and aggressive goddess of war, a capacity in shich she was adopted by Egypt from the end of the 18th century. A sanctuary was dedicated to her at Tanis and she was identified as a daughter of the sun god Re with warlike attributes of lance, battle-ax and shield. The Ras Samra stele describes her as "Antit, queen of heaven and mistress of all the gods". Known as the "virgin Anat," she indulged in orgies of violence "wading up to her thighs in blood and gore." She may be one of a triad of goddesses with Athirat and Asera.

Aphrodite - Greek - goddess of sexuality, beauty, and love.

Arachne - Greek - Minor goddess. Concerned with the craft of weaving.

Artemis - Greek - goddess of the moon, wild beasts, the hunt, and women. fertility goddess; associated with groves, wooded places, and the Moon.

Astarte / Ishtar - Midlle East - goddess of love, war and Venus ( the morning star ).

Athena - Greek - Goddess of widom and war, patron defender of many Greek cities. Synonyms: Athene; Pallas Athenae (goddess of Athens); Minerva. Athena is a prinicipal goddess of the Greek pantheon and according to Hesiod, the daughter of Metis (wisdom) born fully armed from the head of Zeus. A goddess of battle and allegedly a snake goddess, she is a deity who also stands for discipline against the nore unruly conduct of such as Hermes and Poseidon. Her inmost famed sanctuary is the Parthenon. The olive tree is sacred to her, particularly that grown by tradition on the Acropolis, whose oil was given to the victors in the Panathenaia festival. Her symbol is the aigis-the skin of a sacrificial goat. She is also associated with shipbuilding and with domestic crafts including wool work. She is the destroyer of Ajax and lures Hector to his death.

Ba - Chinese - Goddess of drought. She is identified in some texts as the daughter of the god Huang Ti.

Bast - Egyptian - Solar Goddess of pleasure. Bast seemed to have two sides to her personality, docile and aggressive. Her docile and gentle side was displayed in her duties as a protector of the home, and pregnant women. Her aggressive and vicious nature was exposed in the accounts of battles in which the pharaoh was said to have slaughtered the enemy as Bastet slaughtered her victims.

Carmenta - Roman - The Carmentalia is a day that belongs to the goddess Carmenta. Carmenta was the mother of Evander. After arriving in Latium with her son, she went atop the Capitoline Hill and began prophesying. Afterwards she became revered as a deity. She is also considered the goddess of childbirth. A temple in Rome was dedicated to her and known as the Temple of Carmentis. The right arch of this temple was called the porta scelerata, the portal of guilt, because the Fabii passed through it on their way to destruction at Cremera.
Carmen / Carmina - Goddess of casting spells and of Enchantments. Possibly related to Carmenta, who was one of the Camenae. These goddesses dwelt in the frewater springs and rivers. Their name means "foretellers" for they were prophetic forces. Carmenta is the goddess of Prophecy and Midwifery. She also brought the art of writing to her land. She was worshipped January 11 and 15. She would be consulted to fortell the future of newborns.
Carmentalia (Roman)- Similar to an early form of Mother's Day. The birth of the goddess who brings in the new generations is honored in this time. Carmenta ruled the hinge of life, on which the door of life is hung. She lived behind the North Wind. There were festive processions of the city matrons, pregnant women made offerings to her to help in childbirth. On the first day people ate pastries shaped like male and female genitalia to honor the goddess who started everything worth living for. The second day Carmenta was honored as Mania "The Mother of Ghosts". To appease Mania women made effigies of people out of straw as a substitute for the living. The last two days had processions of mothers in chariots decorated with flowers.

Circe - Greek< - The daughter of Helius and Perseis, she was a sorceress on the island of Aeaea and reknowned for her knowledge of magic and poisonous herbs. She is best known for her habit of turning men into swine. On his return from the Trojan War, Odysseus visits her island. He sends a group of his men to inspect the island, and through the use of potions, Circe transformed them into swine. When Odysseus goes to rescue his men, he encounters Hermes, who tells him how to counter Circe's charms and gave him the antidote, the magic herb moly, whose "root is black and flower as white as milk." So he ate Circe's food unharmed and threatened her with his sword when she tried to turn him into a pig. Recognizing Odysseus, Circe made love to him instead and prepared a feast for him. Still, Odysseus refused to eat until she had changed his companions back to human form, which she did. Odysseus lived with Circe for a year and by her begot a son, Telegonus. Urged by his men, Odysseus finally asked Circe to help him go home. She agreed, and told him that he first had to >go to the Underworld and there ask for directions from the prophet Tyresias. Circe is also the aunt of Medea.
Circe ('She-Falcon'). Goddess of Aeaea ('Wailing'), a sepulchral island in the North Adriatic. She turned men into swine, lions and wolves. In Homer's Odyssey, 'the beautiful Circe, a formidable goddess, though her voice is like a woman's,' turned Odysseus's crew into swine, but with Hermes's help he wards off her magic and himself remains a man. Then he goes 'with the goddess to her beautiful bed'. She changes the crew back into men, and they all stay for a year and a day before sailing on. But she warns them that before reaching home, they will have to visit 'the Halls of Hades and Persephone the Dread'. She represents, to the patriarchal Greeks, both the danger and seductiveness of the Goddess, and her alarming insistence that they penetrate the Underworld (the treasures of the Unconscious). Odysseus wisely uses Hermes (intellect) to come to terms with her, not to evade her. Willow trees are sacred to her (as to Hera, Hecate and Persephone).

Demeter - Greek - goddess of the fruitful earth.

Diana - Roman - see Artemis

Durga - Hindu - Great Mother goddess

Epona - Britain and Gaul (Celtic) - Goddess of horses; Mother Goddess.  Associated with fertility, maternity, protectress of horses, horse-breeding, prosperity, dogs, healing springs, crops.  She is also the bringer of dreams. She was vigorously adopted by the conquering pagan Rome, and also by Scottish and Irish pagans.  Her Irish name is Mare.

Ereshkigal - Sumerian - Goddess of underworld, Darkness, Gloom, and Death, sister of Inanna<

Eriu (Aair-ee-oo) - Irish (Celtic) - Protectress of Ireland. One of the 3 queens of the Tuatha De Danann. She is often part of the Triple Goddess in her maiden form. The native form of her name, Erinn or Erin, has been the poetic name for Ireland for centuries.

Fand and Liban - Irish (Celtic) - Twin goddess of health and earthly pleasures.

Fauna - Roman - Minor goddess fo vegatation.  Consort of Faunus with guardianship of woods and plants.

Flidias (Flee-daws) - Irish (Celtic) - Shape-shifting goddess of the woodlands. Sometimes depicted as the consort of the Horned God, she is believed to get about on the back of a deer or in a sleigh pulled by deer. She is the goddess of forests, woodlands, and wild things, ruler of wild beasts.

Flora - Roman - Goddess of flowers.  Consort of Zephyrus and chiefly worshiped by young girls with offerings of fruit and flowers.  Her major festivals, with strongly sexual overtones but also identified with the dead, were celebrated in the spring months from April 28 to early May and known as Floralia.

Fortuna - Roman - Goddess of good fortune and fate.  A deity who particularly appealed to women, partly in an oracular contest.  She is depicted carrying a globe, rudder and cornucopia.  She probably evolved from the model of the Greek goddess Tyche.  Her main symbol is the wheel of fate, which she may stand upon, and Renaissance artists tended to depict her thus.  Among her more celebrated sanctuaries in Rome, the temple of Fortuna Redux was built by Domitian to celebrate his victories in Germany.  She is depicted in a well-known stone carving in Gloucester Museum, England, holding her three main attributes.

Freyja, Freya - Nordic or Germanic, Icelandic - Name means lady. Fertility and vegetation goddess. Synonyms; Gefn; Mardoll; Syr(sow); Horn; Skialf; possibly Thorgerda in some parts of the north. Freyja is one of the most popular of the deities in Asgard. A Vanir goddess, twin sister and/or wife of Freyr, and daughter of Njord. A goddess of love concerned with affairs of the heart, marriage and prosperity. Much sought after by giants, and reputed to have enjoyed sexual liaisons with many suitors, including gods and elves. She drives a chariot pulled by two cats and is said to roam at night in the form of a she-goat. She also rides upon a boar with golden bristles, the Hildeswin. Closely associated with death, according to some legends she received half of those slain in battle. A weeping goddess with tears of gold, symbolized by the boar (see Frigg), she wears a necklace with ritual significance, the Brisingamen. Said to be able to take the shape of a falcon and fly great distances. Associated with a form of witchcraft, senior, involving a seeress and divination. Frigg and Freyja are possibly separate aspects of a single divine principle.

Frigg - Nordic or Germanic, Icelandic - Mother goddess. Synonyms; Frija. The Senior Aesir goddess living in Asgard; consort of Othin and mother of Balder. Saxon implies that she had been the unfaithful spouse but generally she was revered as a regal consort and "queen of heaven". She is thought to have been closely concerned with childbirth and midwifery. She may also have headed a group of shadowy female deities to whom carved stones were erected in pre-Christian Europe associated with fertility and protection of the household. A weeping goddess occasionally described as taking the shape of a falcon (see Freyja).

Gaia - Greek - Earth mother. Synonyms; Gaea; Ge; Terra. Gaia is an ancient pre-Hellenic goddess who was mainly revered in Attica. She is the primordial essence of the earth, one of the creations of Aether and Hedera, the primordial beings of the cosmos. Through the encouragement of Eros she became the mother of Pontos (sea) and Ouranos (heaven). According to tradition, through liaison with Ouranos, she also engendered the race of Titans. By consorting with the underworld she created the monstrous Typhon. In Hellenic times she became Da-meter or Demeter, the grain mother whose daughter is Kore, the grain spirit. Her attributes include fruit and cornucopiae.

Grianne (Gree-awn) - Celtic - Sun Goddess

Hathor - Egyptian - The horned cow-goddess of love, she was also the deity of beauty, happiness, pleasure, dance and music, and a protector of women.

Hecate - Greek - Dark Goddess of magick, sorcery and the moon

Hera - Greek - Goddess of marriage, women, and jelousy wife of Zues, Queen of the Gods

Inanna - Sumerian - Goddess of Love and War: Inanna stands beside her insignia, gateposts hung with streamers, and is present whenever life is conceived through love or ended in battle.

Isis - Egyptian - Mother Goddess,  associated with the Moon, magick, fertility, resurrection, and Sirius. Perhaps the most important goddess of all Egyptian mythology, Isis assumed, during the course of Egyptian history, the attributes and functions of virtually every other important goddess in the land. Her most important functions, however, were those of motherhood, marital devotion, healing the sick, and the working of magical spells and charms. She was believed to be the most powerful magician in the universe, owing to the fact that she had learned the Secret Name of Ra from the god himself. She was the sister and wife of Osiris, sister of Set, and twin sister of Nephthys. She was the mother of Horus the Child (Harpocrates), and was the protective goddess of Horus's son Amset, protector of the liver of the deceased.

Isis was responsible for protecting Horus from Set during his infancy; for helping Osiris to return to life; and for assisting her husband to rule in the land of the Dead.

Her cult seems to have originally centered, like her husband's, at Abydos near the Delta in the North (Lower Egypt); she was adopted into the family of Ra early in Egyptian history by the priests of Heliopolis, but from the New Kingdom onwards (c. 1500 BC) her worship no longer had any particular identifiable center, and she became more or less universally worshiped, as her husband was.

Juno - Roman - see Hera, wife of Jupiter

kali - hindu - earth and nature

Ki - Sumerian - Goddess of the Earth

Lakshmi - Hindu - Goddess of good fortune and beauty.

Luchtaine / Luchta - Ireland (Celtic) - Carpenter god of the Tuatha, also a god of war.&

Luna - Roman - Moon goddess.  She derives from the Greek model of Selene, but is also comparable Hekate.  She enjoyed a major temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome.

Ma - (Anatolia) [Turkey] - Fertility and vegetation goddess. Cappadocian. The tutelary goddess of Pontic Comana, she was served by votary priestesses acting as sacred prostitutes, and biennial festivals were celebrated in her honor. Gradually she took on an added role as a warrior goddess with solar connotations and ultimately became syncretized with Roman goddess Bellona. On coins of the Comana region she is depicted with radiate head of a solar deity carrying weapons and a shield.<

Maat - Egyptian - Minor goddess of truth, justice and cosmic order.  Epitomizing the harmonious laws of the cosmic order.  She is recognized from the middle of the third millennium, and probably earlier, closely associated with the creator deities and particularly the sun god.  In later times she was described as the "daughter of Re".  Her only known sanctuary is in the complex of Karnak at Thebes.  Maat is depicted either in human form wearing an ostrich plume on her head or by an ostrich feather alone.  The rulers of Egypt believed that they governed under her aegis and frequently had themselves described as "beloved of Maat".  Maat was also integral to the success of a soul passing through the Hall of the Two Truths, where the heart was weighed, to reach paradise.

Macha - Celtic, Irish - Fertility goddess.  One of the aspects of the Morrigan (a trio of warrior goddesses with strong sexual connotations).  She appears as the consort of Nemed and of Crunnchu.  She is also a warrior goddess who influences the outcome of battle by magical devices.  She can change shape from girl to had and is generally dressed in red.  She is depicted with red hair.  She appears thus to the Irish hero, Cu Chulainn, before the Battle of Moytura when she suddenly changes herself  into a crow, the harbinger of death.  Heads of slaughtered soldiers were fixed on the so-called Pole of Macha, and the ancient religious center of Emain Macha in Ulster is named after her.  See also Banbha, Eriu and Fodla.

Death goddess of Ireland, a crone aspect of the Triple Goddess who is synonymous with the Caillech. She rules over the cauldron of death and rebirth. Her home is in the west in Tir-Na-Nog. The faeries are said t do her bidding. One word of baneful utterance from her can destroy the world. She is credited with mingling attributes of the deities with the human race. Her symbols are ravens and crows. She is honored at Lughnassadh. Protectress in war as in peace, goddess of war and death. She represents, cunning, sheer physical force, sexuality, fertility, dominance over males.

Maeve / Mab / Mabh / Medb / Medbh / Medhbh - Irish(Celtic) - A warrior queen of Connacht, also a faery queen. War deity, actually participating in the fighting; combined mother and warrior aspects of the goddess. She is associated with physical sexuality and fertility, revenge and war.

Maia - Greco-Roman - Chthonic or earth goddess. Originally, in pre-Homeric times, a mountain spirit who subsequently became a minor consort of Zeus. The Romans worshipped her as an obscure goddess of the plains who became briefly a consort of Jupiter, and they perceived her as the mother of the messenger god Mercury.

Mare - Irish(Celtic) - Irish horse goddess of the night who brings dreams. The word “nightmare” is derived from her name. She is the equivalent of the Pan-Celtic goddess Epona.

Minerva - Roman - see Athene

The Morrigan / Morrigu / Morrighan / Morgan - Ireland Wales Britain(Celtic) - Goddess of war. A shape shifter, the carrion crow is her favorite disguise. Reigned over the battlefield, helping with her magick, but did not join in battles. Symbols are ravens and crows. Crone aspect of the goddess; Great Mother; Moon Goddess; Great White Goddess; Queen of Faeries. In her dark aspect (the symbol is then the raven or crow) she is the goddess of war, fate, and death. She went fully armed and carried two spears. With her, Fea (hateful), Nemon (Venomous, patron goddess of the Bean Sidhe), Badb (Fury, arbiter of life and death), Macha (Battle, goddess of war), encouraged fighters to battle-madness. Tradition says she has nine loosed tresses on her head, a sign of her connection with the Ninefold Goddesses of the Cauldron. Goddess of rivers, lakes, and fresh water. Patroness of priestesses and witches. >Associated with revenge, magick, night, prophecy, wisdom, war and peace.

Nammu - Sumerian - Goddess of the Primeval Sea, "the mother who gave birth to heaven and earth."

Nephthys - Egyptian - earth and fertility goddess

Ninhursag - Sumerian - Mother Earth, the source of all life: from Ninhursag came the birth of the planets; she is usually seen wearing a leafy crown and holding a branch to indicate fertility.

Nuit - Egyptian - Goddess of sky and peace

Oya - Nigeria, West Africa - River goddess.  The consort of the god Shango, she is hte guardian deity of the river Niger.  Also a goddess of storms and thunder.   Her sacred animal is the buffalo and her presence is symbolized by its horns.

Padma - Hindu - Meaning:   Lotus  1. Snake god. One of a group of seven mahanagas. Attributes: rosary and water jar. Three-eyed.   2. Goddess. An incarnation of Laksmi, the consort of an avatara of Visnu. She is depicted as emanating from the padma or lotus which is the symbol of creation and one of the nost important iconographic devices in Hinduism. Also Kamala.

Parvati - Hindu (Epic and Puranic) India - Her name means daughter of the mountain.  Parvati may have originated from the mountain tribes in the Himalayas.  As a goddess of fertility, she is the youngest of the benign aspects of the goddess Saki.  She also appears as a reincarnation of Sati.  She is the daughter of Himavan and Mena, a sister of Visnu and the younger sister of Ganga.  She becomes the consort of the god Siva and as much personifies the extreme example of the devoted and steadfast Hindu wife.   Her sons include Ganesa and Skanda.  She is depicted with 2 arms when accompanying Siva, but four when standing alone, she may be elephant headed or carrying Ganesa as a baby, and appears in many varieties.  Attributes, conch, crown, mirror, ornamental head-band, rosary and occasionally a lotus.

Pele - Hawaii - Volcano goddess. According to tradition she arrived in Hawaii in a canoe, having sailed from Tahiti. She may derive locally from the more familiar Polynesian moon goddess, Hina, since one of her alternative names is Hina-Ai-Malama (Hina who devours the moon).

Persophone - Greek - Chthonic goddess of death and harvest. Synonyms. Kore; Persephassa; Pherrephatta; Perserpina. The daughter of Zeus and the grain goddess Demeter, Persephone's persona is intricately entwined with that of her mother; the may be seen as aspects of each other, though Persephone's name suggest an earlier, independent identity as a major goddess in prehistory. Persephone is perceived as Kore, the immature daughter or aspect of the grain mother, but specifically as mistress of the dead and ill-fated consort of the underworld god Hades-Aidoneus or Aides. Persephone leaves her mother's house to pick flowers with a group of girls, the Okeanides. As she bends to collect a particularly beautiful bloom, the earth suddenly opens and the god of the underworld rides out in a chariot drawn by black horses to seize her and take her to Hades, where she is to reign as its queen. The flower meadow is traditionally believed to lie on the island of Sicily close to the Lago di Pergus at Enna, though other sites including one near Syracuse, contest the claim. Subsequently, Demeter wanders the earth in fruitless search for her child. Eventually she locates Persephone and Hermes is allowed to bring her back to the upper world, but because Persephone has tasted the pomegranate of death, she may return only for two-thirds of each year. When she returns to her mother as Kore, the girl, nature flourishes, but when she returns to Hades as its queen, Demeter is distraught and angry and the living world shrivels and dies.<

Rhiannon - Celtic - "The Great White Queen". She is the Goddess of birds, horses, enchantments, fertility, and the Underworld. She rides a swift white horse. "Rhiannon," is derived from the earlier Welsh that literally translates as Great Queen Goddess. She rode a pale white horse, carried the magical bag of abundance, and the song of her three sacred birds was so perfect it held power over life and death. A prince who attempted to overtake her rode for several days before asking her to wait. Known for rewarding those who ask for what they want, she stopped immediately, saying "...and would have been better for your horse had you asked long before this."

Sarasvati - Hindu - goddess of language, eloquence, and wisdom.

Sekmet - Egyptian - Sekhmet was the lioness-headed goddess of war and destruction. She was the sister and wife of Ptah. She was created by the fire of Re's eye. Re created her as a weapon of vengence to destroy men for their wicked ways and disobedience to him.

Selene - Greek - moon goddess and tutelary deity of magicians and sorcerers.

Venus - Roman - Goddess of sexual love and beauty.  The name venus is in neuter form but Venus is modeled on the greek goddess Aphrodite.  Venus is the daughter of Jupiter and Dione.  Her consorts include Mars and Adonis.  She is also linked romantically with Anchises, King of Troy.