A Small List Of Gods
Home





by D.W. Owens
Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, inits entirety
and without alteration, togther with the other four parts which make up
theentire work, for free distribution. For any other distribution, please
contact the author.
CONTENTS
Pt. 1 : Contents / Foreword / AFRICA / AZTEC / CELTIC
Pt. 2 : CHINA / EGYPT / GREECE
Pt. 3 : GREECE (Continued) / JAPAN / MESOPOTAMIA / NORSE
Pt. 4 : NORSE (Continued) / NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN / OCEANIA (PACIFIC ISLANDS
AND AUSTRALIA)
PT. 5 : ROME / SANTERIA / SLAVIC / SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN INDIAN



A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods and Goddesses, pt.1


Celtic Deities


Nuada: The gaelic Zeus; called "he of silverhand"; killed by the Fomor, Balor
early in history of the gods.
Camulus: Of the invincible sword; the name signifies "heaven"; god of war and
sky; akin to mars, only more savage.
The war Goddess: Fea, the hateful; Nemon, the venomous; Badb. the fury; Macha,
the battle goddess who collects the heads of her victemsfor her "acorn crop."
Morrigan (Morrigu): The great goddess in her Virago aspect; as chief deity of
battle, she likes to take the form of the hoodie or carrion crow; her name
derives from Mor Righ Anu, meaning "the great queen."
Dagda: God of earth; "good god"; he posses a living harp and the "undry," a
cauldron, where everyone find sustenance in proportion to his/her merits; a
formidable fighter, but a god of simple tastes who dresses in a brown tunic,
hooded cape and leather boots.
Boann: The Dadga's wife; an Eve figure; The BoyneRiver is named for her; she
and the Dagda have many famous children including Bridgit, Angus, Mider, Ogma,
and Bodb the Red.
Brigit: Goddess of the hearth, fire and poetry; best loved of all deities;
candlemas is held in her honor; she is the only goddess to survive into the
Christian pantheon of saints.
Angus (Angus Mac Oc): His name means "son of the young"; A Gaelic Eros known
for his physical beauty and golden hair; his kissesbecome birds.
Mider: God of the underworld; his abode is Falga, the Isle of Man; Etain
(Ogma's daughter) became his wife, but she was taken away by Angus.
Ogma (Cermait): The "honey-mouthed" king of the bards and god of eloquence and
literature; Ogham script is named for him; hemarried Etain, daughter of
Diancecht.
Bodb the Red: He succeeds his father as king of the gods.
Ler: The gaelic Poseidon; married to Aebh, Bodb'sdaughter, with whom he has
four children after she dies he marries Aeife, who out ofjealousy turns the
children into swans.
Manannan: Ler's son; "God of the headlands"; patron of sailors and merchants;
his famed possessions include the yellowshaft, the red javelin, the boat, the
wave-sweeper, a horse called Splendid Mane, and three swords named retaliator,
great fury, and little fury; he has the gift of inexhaustable life.
Goibniu: The forger of weapons; the Gaelic Hephaestus; he posesses a potion
that enables those who drink it to become invisable; healso is called the
"devine architect."
Diancecht: God of medicine; he once saved Ireland;married to Morrigan; among
their children are Etan, who marries Ogma, and Cian, who marries Ethniu,
daughter of Balor, the Fomor.
Lugh: Son of Cian and Ethniu called the"long-handed" or "far-shooter"; Sun god
par excellence; he possesses amagic spear and magic hound; The Milky Way is
called "Lugh's Chain"; he is the "master of all art," an accomplished
carpenter, smith, warrior, harpist, poet,physician, cupbearer, and
bronze-worker.



The opponents of Tuatha de Dannan are the children of Domnu, which signifies
"under-sea." Offspring of "Chaos and Old Night" they are, for the most part
grotesque creatures, often with physical deformities. These gods of death and
darkness are listed below.
Balor: Although he was born with two good eyes, one was ruined in an accident;
the eye is so hideous that he only opens it in battle so that its venom will
slay whoever is unlucky enough to catch glimpse of it; his daughter marries
Ian.
Elathan: The beautiful Miltonic prince of darkness with golden hair.
Bress: His name means "beautiful"; Elthan's son; married to Brigit of the
Tuatha de Dannan and for a time her rules over that kingdom.
Idech: King of Dommu.



Italian Gods and Goddesses



ANTEROS - The God of passion
ASTREA - The Goddess of justice
CARMEN/CARMINA - The Goddess of spell-casting and enchantments
COMUS - He was the god of revelry, feasting and drinking
CORVUS - was the messenger of the Gods
COPIA - Was the Goddess of wealth and plenty
DIANA - The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother &Crone, the goddess of all witches
DIANUS - He was the nature God of fertility, Horned God of the Woods, and the
consort of Diana
FANA - She was the Goddess of the Earth, forests wildlife and of fertility, an
aspect of Tana.
FAUNUS - He was the nature God of the forest, wildlife and of fertility, he
was consort to Fana and an aspect of Tanus.
FEBRUUS - He was the God of purification, initiation and of the dead
FORTUNA - She was the Goddess of fortune, fate, blessing, luck and fertility
JANA - She was the Goddess of the Moon, an aspect of Tana.
JANUS - He was god of the Sun and of all beginnings, portals, doorways and
thresholds; associated with journeys, consort of Jana, an aspect of Tanus.
LUPERCUS - He was a god of agriculture. Lupercuswas a wolf god. (Hence the
scientific name Canus Lupus).
NOX - She was the Goddess of the Night
PERTUNDA - She was the Goddess of sexual love ..she was on par with the Greek
Goddess Aphrodite.
TAGNI- This is the most ancient name for the God ofWitchcraft
TANA - the great Star goddess, the goddess overall.
TANUS - the Star god, consort to Tana.
TERMINUS - The God of boundaries and fields, protector of personal property
UMBRIA - The Goddess of the shadows and of things which are hidden or secret
UNI - This is the most ancient name for the Goddess of witchcraft
VESTA - She was the Goddess of hearth and fire
VIRBIUS - He was the God of outcasts and outlaws, guardian of sanctuaries





AFRICA
ANANASI (Various tribes) The spider. A trickster. Acreator god. Something of a
scoundrel, but quite well liked. Many amusing and fancifulstories are told of
him.
ANYIEWO (Ewe) The Great Serpent who comes out tograze after the rain. The
rainbow is his reflection.
BUKU (Various West African peoples) A sky godsometimes worshipped as a
goddess. Buku created everything, even the other gods.
DANH also DAN AYIDO HWEDO (Dahomey) Snake god. TheHaitians know him as Dan
Petro. The Rainbow Snake who encircles the world, Danh is oftenprotrayed with
his tail in his mouth as a symbol of unity and wholeness.
DXUI (Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to theXhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A
creator god. In the beginning, Dxui took the form of a differentflower or
plant every day, becoming himself at night, until he had created all the
plantsand flowers that exist.
ESHU (Yoruba) A trickster. A shape-shifter, Eshucan change his form at will,
and can even seem to be both huge and small at the same time.Eshu confuses men
and drives them to madness. But Eshu also knows all human tongues andacts as a
go-between for mortals and the gods.
GUNAB (Hottentot) The enemy of Tsui-Goab, Gunablived under a pile of stones.
Gunab kept overpowering Tsui-Goab, but the god grew strongerafter each battle.
Because he killed so many, Gunab is sometimes identified with death.Creator of
the rainbow.
GUA (Ga tribe of West Africa) God of thunder,blacksmiths and farmers. Gua's
temples are often found at blacksmith's forges.
KIBUKA (Baganda) A war god sent to save the Bagandapeople. The king of the
Baganda asked heaven for assistance in war, and Kibuka was sent toaid them.
Warned not to have anything to do with the enemy's women, Kibuka
neverthelessmmade love to a woman prisoner. Unwisely, Kibuka confided in her,
and after escaping shetold the enemy how Kibuka could be killed, by firing
arrows into the cloud where he washiding. Kibuka flew off to a tall tree to
die, and a temple was built at the place wherehis body was found.
LEZA (Central Africa) "The One WhoBesets." Known to a number of peoples, Leza
is the Supreme God who rules the sky andsend wind and rain. Leza sits on the
backs of all people, and no one ever breaks free ofhim. Leza is said to be
growing old and so does not hear prayers as well as he once did.
MAWU-LISA (Ewe) The great god and goddess of thesun and moon. Lisa is the sun
and Mawu is the moon.
MULUNGU (East Africa) God, the Supreme Being.
The concept of a supreme being and creator is nearly universal inAfrica,
although there are few temples to him. The titles which Africans have given
Godare wondrous in their variety. A few of these are: Creator, Moulder, Giver
of Rain andSunshine, he Who Brings the Seasons, He Who Thunders, Ancient of
Days, the First, theLimitless, the One Who Bends Even Kings, the One You Meeet
Everywhere, the Firelighter,Great Mother, Greatest of Friends, the Kindly One,
the Providence Who Watches All Like theSun, the Great Pool Contemporary of
Everything, the Great Spider, the One Beyond AllThanks, the Bow in the Sky,
the Angry One, the Inexplicable.
NANAN-BOUCLOU (Ewe) The original god of the Ewetribe, both male and female,
Nanan-Bouclou is much too remote for worship. In HaitiNanan-Bouclou is
remembered as the god of herbs and medicines.
'NGAI (Masai) Creator god. At birth, 'Ngai giveseach man a guardian spirit to
ward off danger and carry him away at the moment of death.The evil are carried
off to a desert, while the good go to a land of rich pastures andmany cattle.
NYAME (Ashanti) Supreme God of Heaven, both the sungod and the moon goddess.
Nyame created the three realms, the sky, the earth and theunderworld. Before
being born, souls are taken to Nyame and washed in a golden bath, Nyamegives
the soul its destiny and places some of the water of life in the soul's mouth.
Thesoul is then fit to be born.
NYASAYE (Maragoli, Kenya) Cheif god of theMaragoli. Spirits aid Maragoli's
work, and they are represented by round stones circling apole which represents
the god.
NZAME (Fan people of the Congo) A vague and shadowygod whose likeness can't be
captured in wood, stone or metal. Nzame lived on earth withhis three sons,
Whiteman, Blackman and Gorilla. Blackman, Gorilla and all their kinfolksinned
against Nzame, and so Nzame took all his wealth and went to live with his
sonWhiteman in the west. Gorilla and his kin went to live in the jungle.
Without he wealth,power and knowledge of Nzame, Blackman and his kin live a
hard life of poverty andignorance, ever dreaming of the western land where
dwells Nzame and his favored son,Whiteman.
SAGBATA (Dahomey; to the Yoruba, SHAGPONA) God ofsmallpox. Sagbata's shrines
were painted with a design of small spots. Sagbata's priestsfought small pox
with both prayers and medical knowledge, and wielded great power over
thepeople because they had learned how to use dried scabs both to immunize
themselves againstthe disease and to spread it. Smallpox was considered a
great disgrace and its victimswere ostracized.
TANO (Ashanti) The second oldest son of God, andgod of the river of the same
name. The gods of the other rivers and families in the sameregion are all his
family. Long ago Tano lost a singing match with Death. Tano and Deathsang
defiance to each other for over a month, but neither could win so they had
tocompromise. When someone is injured or falls ill, whichever god arrives
first will claimhim. If Tano arrives first, the person will live, but if Death
arrives first the patientis lost.
TSUI' GOAB (Hottentots) "Wounded Knee,""Father of Our Fathers." A rain god who
lives in the clouds, a great chief andmagician. Tsui' Goab made the first man
and woman from rocks. Several times Tsui' Goabdied and rose again, to great
joy and feasting. Men invoke Tsui' Goab with the first raysof dawn and give
oaths in his name.
UNKULUNKULU (Zulu) "Old, Old One."Unkulunkulu was both the first man and the
creator, a god of the earth who had no trafficwith the heavens. Unkulunkulu
showed men how to live together and gave them knowledge ofthe world in which
they lived.
YO (Dahomey) A trickster, neither god nor human.Yo's greed constantly gets him
in trouble. Mawu created him for no good reason. Yo iseverywhere. You can't
kill him, you can't eat him, you can't get rid of him at all. Yo isthe only
one of his kind. One is enough.



AZTEC
CHALCHIHUITLCUE Lady Precious Green, wife ofTlaloc. Goddess of storms and
water. Personification of youthful beauty, vitality andviolence. In some
illustrations she is shown holding the head of Tlazolteotl, the goddessof the
witches, between her legs. Chalchihuitlcue is the whirlpool, the wind on
thewaters, all young and growing things, the beginning of life and creation.
COATLICUE Earth monster. In the darkness and chaosbefore the Creation, the
female Earth Monster swam in the waters of the earth devouringall that she
saw. Wehn the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca decided to impose form
uponthe Earth, they changed themselves into serpents and struggled with the
Earth Monsteruntil they broke her in two. Coatlicue's lower part then rose to
form the heavens and herupper part descended to form the earth. Coatlicue has
an endless, ravenous appetite forhuman hearts and will not bear fruit unless
given human blood.
CINTEOTL The corn god, the giver of food, god offertility and regeneration.
Cinteotl is protected by the rain gods Tlaloc andChalchihuitlcue.
EUEUCOYOTL The Old, Old Coyote. Associated withgaiety and sex. A god of
spontaneity, of ostentatious ornament, of unexpected pleasure andsorrow. A
trickster and troublemaker. Considered unlucky.
HUITZILOPOCHTLI God of war, son of Coatlicue.Principal god of the Aztecs. When
Coatlicue became pregnant with Huitzilopochtli, herdaughter Coyolxauhqui
incited her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua (the Four HundredStars) to
destroy Coatlicue, because her pregnancy brought disgrace on the family.
Stillin the womb, Huitzilopochtli swore to defend his mother and immediately
on being born puton battle armor and war paint. After defeating the Four
Hundred Stars, Huitzilopochtlislew his sister and cast her down the hill at
Templo Mayor where her body broke to pieceson striking the bottom. Priests at
Templo Mayor killed prisoners in the same way, thesesacrifices being replicas
of mythical events designed to keep the daily battle between dayand night and
the birth of the God of War ever in the minds of the people. Oftenconsidered
synonomous with QUETZALCOATL.
ITZCOLIUHQUI The Twisted Obsidian One, the God ofthe Curved Obsidian Blade.
God of darkness and destruction. Blinded and cast down from theheavens,
Itzcoliuhqui strikes out randomly at his victims.
ITZPAPALOTL Obsidian Butterfly. Beautiful, demonic,armed with the claws of a
jaguar. The female counterpart of Itzcoliuhqui.
MICTLAN Below the world of living men there arenine underworlds, the lowest of
which is Mictlan, the Land of the Dead ruled byMictlantechupi and his consort
Mictlancihuntl. Souls who win no merit in life come hereafter death, but they
do not suffer as in the Christian hell. Instead they merely endure arather
drab and colorless existence before passing again into the world of the
living. Asa man disappears into the West, the direction of the dead, the seeds
of his rebirth aresown.
OMETEOTL "God of the Near and Close,""He Who Is at the Center," the god above
all, the being both male and female whocreated all life and existence.
Ometeotl is dualistic, embodying both male and female,light and dark, positive
and negative, yes and no. Ometoetol occupies Omeyocan, thehighest of the
Aztecs' thirteen heavens, and the four heavens immediately below Omeyocanare a
mystery about which no one knows very much. Below the five highest heavens is
aregion of strife and tempest, where Ometeotl breaks into his many facets or
aspects.
QUETZALCOATL The Feathered Serpent. The PreciousTwin who lifts the sun out of
darkness, god of the winds and the breath of life, FirstLord of the Toltecs.
Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of the calender. Demons temptedQuetzalcoatl
constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice, but his love was too greatfor
him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw himself on into a
funeralpyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds carrying
his heart to thestar Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his
first entry into the world inthe shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles
to emerge as a butterfly, the symbol ofperfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the
most compassionate of the Azec gods -- he onlydemands one human sacrifice a
year. Often considered synonomous with HUITZILOPOTCHLI.
TEZCATLIPOCA The Prince of This World, the Mirrorthat Smokes, the One Always
at the Shoulder, the Shadow. A trickster, revered particularlyby soldiers and
magicians. The name refers to the black obsidian mirrors used by
magicianswhich become cloudy when scrying. A god of wealth and power,
Tezcatlopoca's favors canonly be won by those willing to face his terrors.
Ruler over the early years of a man'slife.
TLALOC Lord of all sources of water, clouds, rain,lightening, mountain
springs, and weather.
TLALOCAN Kingdom of Tlaloc, a heaven of sensualdelights, of rainbows,
butterflies and flowers, of simple-minded and shallow pleasures.Souls spend
only four years here before returning to the land of the living. Unless
itstrives for higher and nobler things while living, a soul is destined for
this endlessround of mortal life and Tlalocan. When a life had been
particularly evil, a soul mightjourney instead to Mictlan.
TLILLAN-TLAPALLAN The land of the fleshless. TheLand of the Black and Red, the
colors signifying wisdom. A paradise for those whosuccessfully follow the
teachings of Quetzalcoatl. Those souls who come toTlillan-Tlapallan have
learned to live without fleshly bodies, a state greatly to bedesired.
TLAZOLTEOTL Eater of filth, devourer of sins,goddess of witches and
witchcraft. Tlazolteotl has power over all forms of uncleanbehavior, usually
sexual. Confessing sins to Tlazolteotl, one is cleansed. The goddess hasfour
forms or aspects, corresponding to the phases of the moon: a young and
carefreetemptress, the lover of Quetzalcoatl; the Goddess of gambling and
uncertainty; the GreatPriestess who consumes and destroys the sins of mankind;
and frightful old crone,persecutor and destroyer of youth.
TONATIUH God of the Sun. Poor and ill, Tonatiuhcast himself into the flames,
and being burnt up, was resurrected. Daily Tonatiuh repeatshis passage across
the heavens, down into darkness, and back again into the sky. With himTonatiuh
carries all brave warriors who have died in battle and all brave women who
havedied in childbirth. The greatest heroes Tonatiuh carries with him to the
greatest heights.In Tonatiuhican, the House of the Sun, dwell those who have
won even greater enlightenmentthan those who dwell in Tlillan-Tlapallan.
XIPE TOTEC Lord of the Spring, god of newly plantedseed and of pentitential
torture. A pockmarked saviour who tears out his eyes and flayshimself in
penance to the gods, thus persuading the gods to give maize to men. Giving
uphis pockmarked skin, Xipe Totec is then clad in robes of gold.
XIUHTECUHTLI Lord of fire, Lord of the Pole Star,pivot of the universe, one of
the forms of the Supreme Deity. The lord of every flame,from those which burn
in the temples to those which burn in the lowliest huts.
XOLOTL The god with backward feet who brought Manas well as Fire from the
underworlds. Bringer of misfortune. The evil aspect of the starVenus.
Quetzalcoatl's deformed twin.



CELTIC
ANGUS OF THE BRUGH Also OENGUS OF THE BRUIG God ofyouth, son of the Dagda. In
Ireland, Angus is the counterpart of Cupid. Angus' kisses turninto singing
birds, and the music he plays irresistably draws all who hear.
ARIANRHOD "Silver Wheel," "HighFruitful Mother." One of the Three Virgins of
Britain, her palace is Caer Arianrhod,the Celtic name for the Aurora Borealis.

BADB A goddess of war. One of a triad of wargoddesses known collectively as
the Morrigan. Bird shaped and crimson mouthed, Badb usesher magic to decide
battles. Badb lusts after men and is often seen at fords washing thearmor and
weapons of men about to die in combat.
BRIGHID also BRIGIT. Goddess of healing andcraftsmanship, especially
metalwork. Also a patron of learning and poetry. In Wales she isCaridwen, who
possesses the cauldron of knowledge and inspiration. The Celts so lovedBrighid
that they could not abandon her even when they became Christians, and so
madeBrighid a Christian saint.
CARIDWEN also HEN WEN; in Wales, BRIGHID"White Grain," "Old White One." Corn
goddess. Mother of Taliesen,greatest and wisest of all the bards, and
therefore a patron of poets. The "whitegoddess" of Robert Graves. Caridwen
lives among the stars in the land of Caer Sidi.Caridwen is connected with
wolves, and some claim her cult dates to the neolithic era.
CERNUNNOS Horned god of virility. Cernunnos wearsthe torc (neck-ring) and is
ever in the company of a ram-headed serpent and a stag.Extremely popular among
the Celts, the Druids encouraged the worship of Cernunnos,attempting to
replace the plethora of local deities and spirits with a national religion.The
Celts were so enamored of Cernunnos that his cult was a serious obstacle to
the spreadof Christianity.
DAGDA Earth and father god. Dagda possesses abottomless cauldron of plenty and
rules the seasons with the music of his harp. With hismighty club Dagda can
slay nine men with a single blow, and with its small end he canbring them back
to life. On the day of the New Year, Dagda mates with the raven goddess ofthe
Morrigan who while making love straddles a river with one foot on each bank.
Aslightly comical figure.
DANU Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother. Another of a triad of war
goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Connected with themoon goddess
Aine of Knockaine, who protects crops and cattle. Most importantly, themother
of the Tuatha de' Danann, the tribe of the gods.
DIAN CECHT A healer. At the second battle of Moytura, Dian Cecht murdered his
own son whose skill in healing endangered his father'sreputation. The
Judgments of Dian Cecht, an ancient Irish legal tract, lays down the
obligations to the ill and injured. An agressor must pay for curing anyone he
has injured,and the severity of any wound, even the smallest, is measured in
grains of corn.
DIS PATER Originally a god of death and the underworld, later the cheif god of
the Gauls. The Gauls believed, as their Druids taught,that Dis Pater is the
ancestor of all the Gauls.
DONN Irish counterpart to Dis Pater. Donn sends storms and wrecks ships, but
he protects crops and cattle as well. Donn's descendents cometo his island
after death.
EPONA Horse goddess. Usually portrayed as riding a mare, sometimes with a
foal. Roman legionaires, deeply impressed with Celtic horsemanship, took up
the worship of Epona themselves and eventually imported her cult to Rome
itself.
ESUS A god of the Gauls "whose shrines make men shudder," according to a Roman
poet. Human sacrifices to Esus were hanged and run-through with a sword. For
unknown reasons, Esus is usually portrayed as a woodcutter.
GOVANNON The smith god. The weapons Govannon makesare unfailing in their aim
and deadliness, the armor unfailing in its protection. Also a healer. Those
who attend the feast of Govannon and drink of the god's sacred cup need
nolonger fear old age and infirmity.
LUG also LUGH, LLEU A sun god and a hero god,young, strong, radiant with hair
of gold, master of all arts, skills and crafts. One dayLug arrived at the
court of the Dagda and demanded to be admitted to the company of the gods. The
gatekeeper asked him what he could do. For every skill or art Lug named, the
gatekeeper replied that there was already one among the company who had
mastered it. Lugat last pointed out that they had no one who had mastered them
all, and so gained a place among the deities, eventually leading them to
victory in the second battle of Moytura against the Formorian invaders. (The
Formorians were a race of monsters who challenged thegods for supremacy in the
first and second battles of Moytura.) The Romans identified Lugwith Mercury.
The most popular and widely worshipped of the Celtic gods, Lug's name in
itsvarious forms was taken by the cities of Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Leon, Lieden,
Leignitz, Carlisle and Vienna.
MACHA "Crow." The third of the triad of war goddesses known as the Morrigan,
Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies. Mach often dominates her male
lovers through cunning or simple brute strength.
MEDB "Drunk Woman." A goddess of war, not one of the Morrigan. Where the
Morrigan use magic, Medb wields a weapon herself. The sightof Medb blinds
enemies, and she runs faster than the fastest horse.
MORRIGAN, THE also MORRIGU MORRIGAN A war goddess, forerunner of the Arthurian
Morgan La Fey. Like Odin, fickle and unfaithful, not to betrusted. A hag with
a demonic laugh, the Morrigan appears as a grotesque apparition to men about
to die in battle. Her name is also used for a triad of war goddesses, who are
often thought of as different aspects of the Morrigan.
NEMAIN "Panic." A war goddess.
NUADHU also NUD, NODENS, LUD. "Nuadhu of the silver arm." God of healing and
water; his name suggests "wealth-bringer "and "cloud-maker." At the first
battle of Moytura, Nuadhu lost an arm, and DianCecht replaced it with a new
one made out of silver. Because of this, Nuadhu was obligedto turn leadership
of the Tuatha de' Dannan over to Lug. People came to be healed at Nuadhu's
temple at Lydney, and small votive limbs made of silver have been found there.

OGMIOS also OGMA "Sun Face." A hero godlike Hercules, a god of eloquence,
language, genius. Generally portrayed as an old mandressed in a lion skin.
From his tongue hang fine gold chains attached to the ears of hiseager
followers.
SUCELLUS Guardian of forests, patron of agriculture. His consort is
Nantosvelta, whose name suggests brooks and streams. Sometimes considered
synonomous with Cernunnos or Daghda.
TUATHA DE' DANANN The divine tribes and people descended from the goddess
Danu. Skilled in druidry and magic, the Tuatha de' Danannpossess four
talismans of great power: the stone of Fal which shrieked under the true heir
to the throne; the spear of Lug which made victory certain; the sword of
Nuadhu which slays all enemies; and the ever full cauldron of Daghda from
which no man ever goes away hungry.


A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods and Goddesses, pt.2



by D.W. Owens
Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, inits entirety
and without alteration, together with the other four parts which make up
thewhole work, for free distribution. For any other distribution, please
contact the author.
Part 2 : CHINA / EGYPT / GREECE



CHINA
AO The Four Dragon Kings Ao Chi'in, Ao Kuang, AoJun, and Ao Shun, gods of rain
and the sea. Subjects of the Jade Emperor.
CH'ENG-HUANG God of moats and walls. Every villageand town had its own
Ch'eng-Huang, most often a local dignitary or important person whohad died and
been promoted to godhood. His divine status was revealed in dreams, thoughthe
gods made the actual decision. Ch'eng-Huang not only protects the community
fromattack but sees to it that the King of the Dead does not take any soul
from hisjurisdiction without proper authority. Ch'eng-Huang also exposes
evil-doers in thecommunity itself, usually through dreams. His assistants are
Mr. Ba Lao-ye and Mr. Hei Lao-ye -- Mr. Daywatchman and Mr. Nightwatchman.
CHU JUNG God of fire. Chu Jung punishes those whobreak the laws of heaven.
KUAN TI God of war. The Great Judge who protectsthe people from injustice and
evil spirits. A red faced god dressed always in green. Anoracle. Kuan Ti was
an actual historical figure, a general of the Han dynasty renowned forhis
skill as a warrior and his justness as a ruler. There were more than 1600
templesdedicated to Kuan Ti.
KWAN YIN also KWANNON Goddess of mercy andcompassion. A lady dressed in white
seated on a lotus and holding an infant. Murdered byher father, she recited
the holy books when she arrived in Hell, and the ruler of theunderworld could
not make the dead souls suffer. The disgruntled god sent her back to theworld
of the living, where Kwan Yin attained great spiritual insight and was
rewarded withimmortality by the Buddha. A popular goddess, Kwan Yin's temple
at the Mount of theWondrous Peak was ever filled with a throng of pilgrims
shaking rattles and setting offfirecrackers to get her attention.
LEI KUNG God of thunder. Lei Kung has the head of abird, wings, claws and blue
skin, and his chariot is drawn by six boys. Lei Kung makesthunder with his
hammer, and his wife makes lightening with her mirrors. Lei Kung chasesaway
evil spirits and punishes criminals whose crimes have gone undetected.
PA HSIEN The Eight Immortals of the Taoisttradition. Ordinary mortals who,
through good works and good lives, were rewarded by theQueen Mother Wang by
giving them the peaches of everlasting life to eat. They are:
LI TIEH-KUAI Li of the Iron Crutch. A healer, Lisits as a beggar in the market
place selling wondrous drugs, some of which can revive thedead.
CHUNG-LI CH'UAN A smiling old men always beamingwith joy, he was rewarded with
immortality for his ascetic life in the mountains.
LAN TS'AI-HO A young flute-player and wanderingminstrel who carries a basket
laden with fruit. His soul-searching songs caused a stork tosnatch him away to
the heavens.
LU TUNG-PIN A hero of early Chinese literature.Renouncing riches and the
world, he punished the wicked and rewarded the good, and slewdragons with a
magic sword.
CHANG-KUO LAO An aged hermit with miraculousabilities. Chang owned a donkey
which could travel at incredible speed. Thepersonification of the primordial
vapor which is the source of all life.
HAN HSIANG-TZU A scholar who chose to study magicrather than prepare for the
civil service. When his uncle chastised him for studyingmagic, Han Hsiang-Tzu
materialized two flowers with poems written on the leaves.
TS'AO KUO-CHIU Ts'ao Kuo-Chiu tried to reform hisbrother, a corrupt emperor,
by reminding him that the laws of heaven are inescapable.
HO HSIEN-KU "Immortal Maiden Ho." ACantonese girl who dreamed that she could
become immortal by eating a powder made ofmother-of-pearl. She appears only to
men of great virtue.
P'AN-CHIN-LIEN Goddess of prostitutes. As a mortal,she was a widow who was
much too liberal and inventive with her favors, and herfather-in-law killed
her. In death she was honored by her more professional associates
andeventually became the goddess of whores.
SHI-TIEN YEN-WANG The Lords of Death, the tenrulers of the underworld. They
dress alike in royal robes and only the wisest can tellthem apart. Each ruler
presides over one court of law. In the first court a soul is judgedaccording
to his sins in life and sentenced to one of the eight courts of
punishment.Punishment is fitted to the offense. Misers are made to drink
molten gold, liars' tonguesare cut out. In the second court are incompetent
doctors and dishonest agents; in thethird, forgers, liars, gossips, and
corrupt government officials; in the fifth, murderers,sex offenders and
atheists; in the sixth, the sacreligious and blasphemers; in the eighth,those
guilty of filial disrespect; in the ninth, arsonists and accident victims. In
thetenth is the Wheel of Transmigration where souls are released to be
reincarnated againafter their punishment is completed. Before souls are
released, they are given a brew ofoblivion, which makes them forget their
former lives.
TI-TSANG WANG God of mercy. Wandering in thecaverns of Hell, a lost soul might
encounter a smilng monk whose path is illuminated by ashining pearl and whose
staff is decorated with metal rings which chime like bells. Thisis Ti-Tsang
Wang, who will do all he can to help the soul escape hell and even to put
anend to his eternal round of death and rebirth. Long ago, Ti-Tsang Wang
renounced Nirvanaso that he could search the dark regions of Hell for souls to
save from the kings of theten hells. Once a priest of Brahma, he converted to
Buddhism and himself became a Buddhawith special authority over the souls of
the dead.
T'SHAI-SHEN God of wealth who presides over a vastbureaucracy with many minor
deities under his authority. A majestic figure robed inexquisite silks.
T'shai-Shen is quite a popular god; even atheists worship him.
TSAO WANG God of the hearth. Every household hasits own Tsao Wang. Every year
the hearth god reports on the family to the Jade Emperor,and the family has
good or bad luck during the coming year according to his report. Thehearth
god's wife records every word spoken by every member of the family. A paper
imagerepresents the hearth god and his wife, and incense is burned to them
daily. When the timecame to make his report to the Jade Emperor, sweetmeats
were placed in his mouth, thepaper was burned, and firecrackers were lit to
speed him on his way.
TU-TI Local gods. Minor gods of towns, villages andeven streets and
households. Though far from the most important gods in the divine scheme,they
were quite popular. Usually portrayed as kindly, respectable old men, they see
to itthat the domains under their protection run smoothyly.
YENG-WANG-YEH "Lord Yama King." Greatestof the Lords of Death. Yeng-Wang-Yeh
judges all souls newly arrived to the land of thedead and decides whether to
send them to a special court for punishment or put them backon the Wheel of
Transmigration.
YU-HUANG-SHANG-TI "Father Heaven." TheAugust Supreme Emperor of Jade, whose
court is in the highest level of heaven, originallya sky god. The Jade Emperor
made men, fashioning them from clay. His heavenly courtresembles the earthly
court in all ways, having an army, a bureaucracy, a royal family
andparasitical courtiers. The Jade Emperor's rule is orderly and without
caprice. The seasonscome and go as they should, yin is balanced with yang,
good is rewarded and evil ispunished. As time went on, the Jade Emperor became
more and more remote to men, and itbecame customary to approach him through
his doorkeeper, the Transcendental Dignitary. TheJade Emperor sees and hears
everything; even the softest whisper is as loud as thunder tothe Jade Emperor.



EGYPT
AMMON Also AMON; AMUN; AMEN "Hidden."King of the gods of Egypt. Patron of the
Pharoahs. Originally a god of fertility, a localdeity of Memphis. Ammon became
linked with the sun god Ra through the royal family,becoming Ammon-Ra.
ANUBIS The jackal-headed god. Anubis can foresee amortal's destiny and is
associated with magic and divination. Anubis supervises theweighing of the
soul when the departed are brought to the hall of the dead.
ASTARTE The Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar,inducted into the Egyptian
pantheon and made a daughter of Ammon-Ra. Sometimes identified(or confused,
which is the same thing) with Isis.
ATUM The first of the gods, the self-created. Bysheer will, Atum formed
himself out of the stagnant waters of Nun. Atum was bisexual andwas sometimes
called "the great He-She." The Egyptians had two cosmogonies, onetaught by the
priests at Heliopolis and the other by the priests at Memphis. The priestsat
Memphis taught that Nun and Atum, together with Atum's children Shu and
Tefnut, wereaspects or forms of Ptah.
BAST Also BASTET. The cat-headed goddess, a localdeity of the delta. The
kindly goddess of joy, music and dancing. Cats were sacred to Bastas a symbol
of animal passion. Bast's devotees celebrated their lady with processions
offlower-laden barges and orgiastic ceremonies. Her festivals were licentious
and quitepopular.
HATHOR A sky goddess, sometimes represented as awoman with cow's horns between
which hangs a solar disc, sometimes portrayed as a cow.Hathor concerns herself
with beauty, love and marriage, and watches over women givingbirth. Mother and
wife of Ra. Hathor is also a goddess of death and offers comfort to thenewly
dead as they pass into the afterworld.
HORUS The falcon-headed god. A complex deity withmany aspects. Some of them
are: Horus the Elder, a sky god whose eyes are the sun and themoon,
continually at war with Set, the god of evil; Horus of the Horizon, symbolized
bythe rising and setting sun; Horus the Child, whose frequent depictions as a
baby at thebreast of his mother Isis influenced Christian images of the
Madonna and the Christ child;Horus, son of Isis, avenger of Osiris. There were
many others.
ISIS Wife and sister of Osiris (the ancients hadnothing against a little
divine incest). The ideal wife and mother. Generally a goddess ofthe home and
person rather than of the temple and the priest. After the twenty
sixthdynasty, Isis is increasingly portrayed as a nursing mother, and her cult
eventuallyspread throughout the Roman empire.
MAAT Goddess of truth and justice. Her symbol isthe feather.
MIN A god of fertility and sexual potency. Anancient god of pre-dynastic
origins. His symbol is the thunderbolt. As orgiasticfestivials were held in
his honor, Min was quite a popular god.
NUN God of the primal waters. Nun was a mass ofstagnant water which filled all
the universe.
OSIRIS At first the god of corn; later the god ofthe dead. Osiris brought
civilization to the Egyptians, teaching them the uses of corn andwine,
weaving, sculpture, religion, music and law. Set slew Osiris and dismembered
thbody; but Osiris' consort, Isis, reassembled the body and brought Osiris
back to life.Osiris then retired to the underworld. Osiris is the god of the
Nile which rises and fallsevery year; the god of corn and the vine, which
flourish, die, and flourish once more; andthe god of the rising and setting
sun.
PTAH The artificer. The creator god. According tothe priests of Memphis, the
fount of all creation. God of artisans and artists, designers,builders,
architects, masons, metal workers. Ptah's consort is Sekhmut, goddess of war.
RA God of the sun; sometimes identified orconsidered synonomous with Atum. Ra
created man from his tears. At one time Ra became sodigusted with men that he
orderd Hathor to kill them all. This Hathor did with such zealthat Ra took
pity on men and ordered Hathor to stop. Crazed with blood, Hathor ignored
theorder, and Ra resorted to chicanery to save humankind. Ra mixed beer with
pomegranatejuice and left pots of the concoction about the battlefield.
Thinking the mixture wasblood, Hathor drank it greedily and got too swacked to
carry out her mission.
SEKHMUT Goddess of war and battles, consort ofPtah. Hathor took Sekhmut's
shape when she made war on men. Sekhmut is usually portrayedas a woman with
the head of a lionness, sometimes brandishing a knife in an upraised hand.
SET Red of hair and eyes, pale of skin, Set is thegod of evil, of drought, of
destruction, thunder and storm. Set tore himself from hismother's womb in his
hurry to be born. Every month Set attacks and devours the moon, thesanctuary
of Osiris and the gathering place of the souls of the recently dead.
THOTH "Thrice Greatest." God of wisdom,music, magic, medicine, astronomy,
geometry, surveying, art and and writing. Historian,scribe and judge. Thoth's
priests claimed Thoth was the Demi-Urge who created everythingfrom sound. It
was said that Thoth wrote books in which he set forth a fabulous knowldegeof
magic and incantation, and then concealed them in a crypt.



GREECE
(See also the section on Roman gods in Part 5)
ADONIS Beloved of Aphrodite, the central figure ofa widespread fertility cult,
god of vegetation and re-birth. Adonis seems clearly linkedwith Tammuz, the
Assyro-Babylonion god who dies and rises again. Adonis is the Greekversion of
the Phoenician term Adon, which means "Lord."
APHRODITE Goddess of fertility, love and beauty.When Zeus killed his father,
Uranus, he cut off his father's genitals and cast them intothe sea. The sea
foamed and boiled and Aphrodite arose from the waters. As Aphroditestepped
from the ocean, flowers grew wherever her feet touched. Paphos, the place
whereAphrodite supposedly rose from the waters, was her most important place
of worship, and atCorinth she was worshipped with sacred whores. Aphrodite is
clearly related to Ishtar andAstarte and very much loves the company of the
male gods. While married to Hephaestus, shealso dallied with Ares, Poseidon,
Adonis, and Dionysius. Aphrodite is a complex, manyfaceted deity. Among her
many names are Melaina (the Black One), Androphonos (Killer ofMen),
Epitymbidia (She Upon the Graves), Anadyomene (Rising from the Sea), Urania
(SkyBorne), and Pandemos (Goddess of All the People).
APOLLO God of light, god of prophecy and music, godof medicine, god of flocks
and herds, the divine archer, a pastoral god. Wise, beauteous,all-knowing,
ever just, ever young. Apollo urges forgiveness to all offenses, even
theblackest of crimes, so long as the offender was truly penitent. After Zeus
and Athene, thegreatest of the Gods. Apollo's most important place of worship
was the famous temple atDelphi, where oracles prophesied in his name. The
Sybil at Cumae in southern Italy alsoforetold the future in his honor.
Paintings and statuary show him with his bow and lyre,which were a gift from
the infant Hermes. Apollo loved young men and young women alike,though his
affairs usually ended unhappily. Artemis is his twin sister, and Horus is
hiscounterpart in the Egyptian pantheon.
ARES; to the Romans, MARS God of war. The Greeksdetested Ares. Quarrelsome,
spiteful, unfaithful, Ares loves only hatred, strife andbloodshed. Ares was
the first god to be placed on trial for murder, and the place inAthens where
he was supposed to be have been tried was called the Aeropagus, the Hill
ofAres. By custom trials for murder were held at the Aeropagus. The Romans
believed Ares tobe the father of Romulus and Remus
ARTEMIS Also PARTHENOS Fertility goddess, patron ofmaidens, goddess of
childbirth. Identified with the moon, as her brother Apollo isidentified with
the sun. The Virgin Huntress, Mistress of Beasts, Lady of All Wild Things,A
Lion unto Women. Usually benevolent, but stern and demanding, dangerous to
cross.Artemis lived in Arcadia with a band of nymphs subject to her strict
discipline; those whodallied with men, as did Callisto, might be shot down
with an arrow or otherwise punished.No man or god ever gained the love of
Artemis. Artemis is virtually unbeatable in combat.The only one of the
immortals who ever bested her was Hera, who defeated Artemis on thebattlefield
at Troy, whipped her with her own bow, and sent her fleeing in tears.
ASCLEPIUS God of medicine and healing, son ofApollo. Originally a mortal. So
great was Asclepius' skill that he could revive the dead.Zeus killed Asclepius
after Hades complained that he was being cheated of his lawful due,but
Asclepius' virtues and good deeds won him a place among the gods. Those who
wished acure of Asclepius would sleep in his temple, where he would appear to
them in a dream andadvise them. Snakes are his symbol and were allowed to
wanderfreely in his temple at Epidaurus.
ATHENE; to the Romans, MINERVA Goddess of wisdom,of architects and sculptors,
of weavers, of oxen and horses. A goddess of war. LikeArtemis, an eternal
virgin. Often associated with birds, particularly the owl. Athenetaught men to
tame horses and invented the potter's wheel. Her city is Athens, which shewon
in a contest with Poseidon.
CHARON The ferryman who carries dead souls acrossthe river Styx to Hades. His
fee is one obol, which was placed in the mouth of the deadman before he was
buried.
CRONUS The chief of the Titans, the race of giantswho preceded the Olympian
gods. In very ancient times, Cronus was probably a corn god.Told that he would
be overthrown by one of his own sons, Cronus devoured them all as theywere
born until his wife Rhea deceived him to save Zeus. Wrapping a stone in
swaddlingclothes, Rhea gave the stone to Cronus and spirited Zeus away to a
hiding place. Afterdefeating Cronus, Zeus imprisoned him and the rest of the
Titans, thus beginning the ageof the Olympian gods.
DEMETER; to the Romans, CERES Goddess of grain andthe fruitful earth. An earth
mother who was certainly one of, if not the oldest of thegods. Demeter's
immensely popular festivals, held twice a year at Eleusis, were so
highlyrevered that no initiate was ever known to break the vow of secrecy.
Demeter gave the giftof grain to men and instituted the Eleusinian Mysteries.
The nature of these Mysteries hasbeen lost to us, though we know that the
mystery cults celebrated the Lesser Mysteries inFebruary of every year and the
Greater Mysteries in September of every fifth year. Mostlikely the rites
included processions, ritual cleansing and religious dramas.
DIONYSIUS God of religious ecstasy and wine,accompanied always by satyrs and
nymphs. The force of life in all growing things.Dionysius is the Greek form of
Thracian and Phrygian deities of vegetation and fetility,who followers worked
themselves into a frenzy and ritually tore apart their god in theform of a
goat, a bull or a man. The cult survived the introduction of the Olympian
godsand proved so popular that it finally had to be accepted by the Dorian
Greeks. In the darkage which followed the decline of the Myceneans, the cult
of Dionysius spread rapidly,especially among women. His followers were known
as maenads (mad women) and it was bestnot to be near when their frenzy came
upon them. Animals, and sometimes people, were tornapart and sometimes eaten
in the belief that they were devouring the god himself. Drunk,lawless and
noisy, not terribly impressed by authority or convention, the followers
ofDionysius were often unwelcome. His worshippers danced wildly, and his rites
were designedto cleanse men of lowly irrational emotions and desires.
ERIS The dark sister of Eros. Goddess of chaos anddiscord, Eris loves
confusion and conflict. It was Eris who gave the goddesses the goldenapple
inscribed "To the Fairest," which set in motion the chain of events thatled to
the Trojan War.
EROS God of love both heterosexual and homosexual,though his domain is not
limited solely to sexual love and includes love in all itsbroadest senses. One
of the oldest of the gods, the center of his worship was at Thespiae.The
ancient Greeks feared Eros. Eros can cause havoc, and there is an air of
maliciousnessabout him. Eros can drive men and women to noble self-sacrfice,
but he can also torturethem to madness and drive them to self-destruction.
Lacking wisdom, moderns have made Eroscontemptibly cute and sweet, and
somewhat prankish.
GAIA "Mother of all things." The Earthitself, mother of the Titans, the old
gods. Usually represented as a giant woman. Beforeanything else existed, there
was only Chaos (the Void, the Nothingness, the Emptiness) andthe Earth. Gaia
nurses the ill and watches over marriages. Gaia is an oracle as well, andthe
temple at Delphi was hers before it was Apollo's. The Greeks had no tales
about Gaia,because she belonged to the distant past.
HADES Also PLUTO "The Unseen," "theRich." God of wealth and the underworld.
Hades is stern but perfectly just, andrejects all pleas for mercy, but he is
in no sense evil or destructive. His realm is not aplace of flames and
torment, as is the Christian hell. Most dead souls dwell on the plainof
Asphodel, where they wander aimlessly as mere shadows of their earthly selves.
Theblessed go to the Elysian Fields, a place of great joy and beauty, while
the abominablywicked go to the dismal plain of Tartarus. You're born, you
live, you die, you go toHades. End of story.
HEBE Goddess of youth and beauty. An eternallyyoung girl, Hebe helps the gods
wash and dress themselves, though her main duty is toserve nectar and ambrosia
at their feasts. A minor but charming deity.
HECATE Goddess of black magic and evil ghosts.Often portrayed with three
faces: maiden, mother and crone. The poor and down troddenoften turned to
Hecate for protection or vengance. Hecate defends children and appearswith her
dogs at crossroads and tombs.
HELIOS God of the sun, the charioteer who drivesthe sun across the sky. From
his great height, Helios sees everything and was often calledupon to witness
contracts and oaths. From the fifth century onward, Helios was
consideredidentical with Apollo.
HEPHAESTUS; to the Romans, VULCAN The lameblacksmith god, patron of craftsman
and metalworkers, god of fire. The centers of his cultcould be found wherever
metalworkers congregated and near volcanos. Hephaestus was so uglythat his
mother Hera kept him out of sight, and the other gods laughed at his lame
gait.In revenge, Hephaestus tricked the gods into giving him Aphrodite for his
wife, though henever succeeded in keeping her faithful. Some scholars say
Hephaestus' lameness was areflection of an actual practice. A skillful smith
was a rare and valuable man, and tribesor villages would often cripple a good
smith to keep him from leaving or running away.
HERA; to the Romans, JUNO. Wife of Zeus, queen ofthe gods. Zeus is quite a
randy god, and Hera's domestic life with him is always stormy.Zeus and Hera
were on opposite sides during the Trojan War, and they squabble all the
waythrough the Iliad. At first a sky goddess, Hera later became the embodiment
ofwomanliness. Like Dionysius, Hera is a pre-Olympian deity whose cult was so
strong that ithad to be adopted by the Dorian Greeks. Hera was worshipped in
high places, and hertemples were built on mountain peaks. Her festival, held
at Argos and called the Heraia,involved athletic contests.



by D.W. Owens
Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, inits entirety
and without alteration, together with the other four parts which make up
thewhole 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 thegods, 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
isrepresented simply as a phallus. Easygoing, kind and obliging, Hermes is
quite helpful toboth gods and men, though he appears in some stories as a
trickster. Hermes invented thelyre, 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 wingedsandals 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, amessenger for the gods. The center
of her cult was at Delos, and the proper offerings toher were dried figs and
honeycakes.
MOROS God of destiny. Dark, unknowable, allpowerful. Even the gods are subject
to Moros.
MORPHEUS God of dreams. His name is the root wordof "morphine."
NEMESIS Also ADRASTEIA Goddess of destiny andinevitability, 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'slaurel. Her
most famous temple was in Athens.
OCEANUS Ancient god of the oceans, eventuallydisplaced by Poseidon. With his
sister, Tethys, he had six thousand children, half of themsea spirits, the
other half river spirits.
PAN "The Pasturer," "the Feeder ofFlocks." God of herds, fertility and male
sexuality. Pan has the horns and legs of agoat and plays a syrinx, a pipe
withs seven reeds. An ancient god, he has no moral orsocial aspect whatsoever,
and is simply the embodiment of pure, basic instinct. Some saidthat Pan taught
Apollo the art of prophecy. Pan especially loves mountains and wildcountry.
Pan has a dark aspect as well, causing men and animals to go suddenly mad
withterror in distant, lonely places. His name is therefore the root word
of"panic."
PERSEPHONE Also KORE "Maiden." Daughterof Demeter, wife of Hades. Hades
kidnapped Persephone and took her to the underworld to behis queen. When
Demeter heard, she wandered the earth in mourning, abandoning
herresponsibilities, and the earth grew gray and barren. The growing famine
forced Zeus todemand that Hades return Persephone to the surface world. But
Persephone had eaten part ofa pomegranate, and eating of the food of the dead
bound her to their world. Zeus and Hadesstruck a bargain -- Persephone would
spend seven months a year in the world of the livingand five in the world of
the dead. When Persephone is in the world, her mother Demeter iscontent, and
te world blooms and lives. When she is in the underworld, Demeter mourns,
theworld languishes, and we have winter.
POSEIDON God of the sea and earthquakes. Horses andbulls 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
wasdominion over the seas, lakes and rivers. Poseidon's fits of rage manifest
as storms, andseamen dread his anger. Bulls were thrown into the sea as
sacrifices to Poseidon. Hisamorous adventures played an important role in
Greek mythology, and he loved men no lessthan women.
THANATOS God of death. Sometimes portrayed as awinged spirit, at other times
as a man robed in black armed with a sword. Thanatos is notevil or hateful. He
is just doing his job.
URANUS Heaven personified. The son born to Gaiawhen she first emerged from
Chaos. Uranus' rain made Gaia fruitful, and she brought forththe Titans.
Jealous of his children, Uranus confined them to the earth, and Gaia
conspiredwth Cronus, the boldest of her children, to overthrow him. Cronus
castrated Uranus with asickle, only to be overthrown by Zeus in his turn.
ZEUS; to the Romans, JUPITER. "CloudGatherer." 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 thefather and saviour of mankind;
as Herkeios, guardian of the home; as Xenios, keeper of therules of
hospitality; as Ktesios, protector of property; as Gamelios, god of marriage;
asZeus 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 hadplenty 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 quiethim. That is why
you can hear him receding and approaching.
AMA-NO-UZUME Fertility goddess. A companion ofNinigi, she performed a bawdy
dance hoping to entice the sun out of hiding. This dancesymbolizes the
planting of seed which waits for the sun come after winter.
AMATERASU Sun goddess, ruler of the heavens. Whenher great enemy, the storm
god Susa-No-Wo, destroyed her fine palace, Amaterasu went tohide in a cave.
The other gods used all their magical tricks to get her to come out, to
noavail. In her absence, darkness and demons ruled the earth until
Ama-No-Usume luredAmaterasu out of the cave with a trick. With a comical and
obscene dance, he made the godsgathered 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 peepedout of her cave and saw her
own reflection in a mirror which Ama-No-Uzume had hung on anearby tree.
Fascinated, Ameratasu drew a little closer for a better look, and the
godsgrabbed her and hauled her out.
AMATSU MIKABOSHI "August Star of Heaven."God of evil.
BENZAITEN Goddess of love, one of the gods ofhappiness. Benzaiten rides a
dragon while playing a stringed instrument.
BISHAMON God of happiness and war, a strangecombination. Bishamon protects men
from disease and demons. Bishamon was often portrayedwearing a wheel of fire
like a halo, which some see as the Wheel of Fate.
CHIMATA-NO-KAMI God of crossroads, highways andfootpaths. Originally a phallic
god, his phallic symbol was placed at crossroads.
HO-MASUBI Fire god. His birth killed the creatorgoddess Izanami, and his
father, the creator god Izanagi, was so enraged with grief thathe killed the
baby. From his blood came eight gods, and from the body came eight
mountaingods.
IZANAGI and IZANAMI Creator god and goddess sentdown 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 theunderworld,
Izanami became old and ugly. Izanagi followed her to bring her back, but
sheforbade him to look at her. Izanagi looked anyway and Izanami tried to
imprision him inthe underworld. Pursued by Izanimi's furies, Izanagi escaped
and sealed up the entrance tothe underworld with a boulder. Enraged, Izanami
vowed to kill a thousand of Izanami'ssubjects a day, and Izanami vowed to
create fifteen hundred a day. So it was that Izanamibecame the goddess of
death and Izanagi became the lord of life.
KAWA-NO-KAMI God of rivers. Larger rivers havetheir 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 tothe Japanese pantheon,
Nai-No-Kami was inducted in the seventh century A.D.
NINIGI Grandson of Amaterasu, sent to rule theearth, 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 incompensation he was made ruler of
the unseen world of spirits and magic.
SENGEN-SAMA Goddess of the sacred mountain ofFujiyama. At her shrine at the
top of the mountain, worshippers greet the rising sun.
SHINE-TSU-HIKO God of the wind. Shine-Tsu-Hikofills up the empty space between
earth and heaven, and with his wife Shina-To-Be, he holdsup 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 atroublemaker. 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 banishedhim to live
as a mortal on the earth.



MESOPOTAMIA
(Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian)
ANU The god of the sky, from whence the sun shinesand the rain falls. Lord of
all, the fountainhead of order in both the natural andsupernatural worlds. The
stars are his warriors, the Milky Way his personal highway. Anudwells
exclusively in the celestial heaven. Unapproachable, remote and otherwordly,
hecares little about men and seldom intervenes in their affairs.
APSU The Abyss. The waters upon which the earthfloats. When the gods were
first created, their noise disturbed Apsu, who complained tohis 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. Hisconsort 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 thegod of fresh waters. Ea is
portrayed as a goat with a fish's tail or a human with waterflowing from his
shoulders. Mating with Ninhursag ("Lady Mountain") he createdthe plants and
gave men agriculture.
ENLIL The god of earth and wind. The master ofmen's fates. The god who dries
up the flood waters after the Tigris and Euphrates haveoverflowed their banks;
who brings rain; who fills the sails of ships and boats; whofetrilizes 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 theflood which destroyed all mankind except Utnapishtim and
his family. Enlil can be found inthe howling storm and the ruins and ashes of
war.
ERESHKIGAL Goddess of the underworld, consort ofNergal. Some consider her a
dark side or apect of Ishtar. When Ishtar descended into theunderworld to save
Tammuz, Ereshkigal tricked her into leaving some part of her clothingor
insignias at each of the underworld's seven gates as she passed through them.
Standingnaked at the seventh gate, Ishtar threw herself on Ereshkigal; but
like Samson shorn ofhis hair she was powerless. Ereshkigal confined Ishtar in
the underworld until the wily Eacontrived her release with a trick.
GILGAMESH Like Hercules, a hero-god, two partsdivine and one part human. The
story of his adventures survives in an epic poem on twelvetablets dating back
to Akkadia in the middle of the second millenium B.C. Gilgamesh foughtand
tamed the wild man Enkiddu. Despite the warnings of the priests and ill omens
from thesun god, Gilgamesh and Enkiddu set out upon a quest. Enkiddu's death
incited Gilgamesh toseek immortality, and after many adventures he found at
last Utnapishtim who survived theGreat Flood and with his wife was granted
eternal life by thegods. 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 offertility, goddess of
sex, goddess of the moon, goddess of war. Lady of heaven, lady ofsorrow 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 isall consuming and even deadly. An Egyptian sculpture portrays
her nude, standing on alion, and holding a lotus blossom (the symbol of life)
in her right hand. Ishtar's worshipinvolved phallic symbols, sacred whores and
painted priests in women's clothing. At hershrine at Uruk the priestesses
performed a sexual rite in her honor. A priestess playedthe goddess; the
priest who played the god was slain. The Christians turned her into ademon,
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. Ninhursagused Kingu's
blood to make the first man, and from this comes the demonic, rebelliousaspect
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 isOrder fighting against
Chaos, the conflict from which all Creation emerges. DefeatingTiamat, Marduk
brought order and life to the world. When the tablets of destiny wereseized
from Kingu, Marduk fastened to his own breast, and so brought control of the
earthunder the divine authority of the gods. The stele of Hammurabi shows
Marduk on his thronewith a horned headdress, giving Hammurabi his ring and
sceptre. The Amorites saw Marduk asa god of spring and sunlight, of herbs and
trees.
NEBO Also NABU God of writing and speech, speakerfor the gods. Nebo maintains
records of men's deeds and produces them for judgment afterdeath. His symbol
is the stylus.
NERGAL God of the underworld, mass destruction andplague, consort of
Ereshkigal. Thrown out of heaven, he stormed the underworld withfourteen
demons until Ereshkigal consented to marry him.
NINHURSAG Also MAAT "Lady Mountain." Anearth mother. She mold the first man
out of clay and brought him to life with the blood ofKingu.
SHAMASH Also BABBAR, UTU The sun. Son of the moongod Sin, brother and husband
to Ishtar. The great god of justice. In Sumer, a god ofdivination. 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. Hethen
crosses the sky from one horizon to the other, casting his rays upon the earth
like anet, seeing all the evils and wrongs of the world. Entering the earth on
the easternhorizon, Shamash travels through the underworld back to his palace.
Shamash requiresjustice of earthly kings and champions their subjects,
especially the poor.
SIN The moon god. Wise and secretive, the enemy ofall evil spirits. An old man
with a long beard who flies through the sky in his sailboatevery night.
TAMMUZ Also DUMUZI God of the harvest. The god whodies and rises again. The
love of Ishtar killed him, and Ishtar fought Ereshkigal in theunderworld to
bring him back.
TIAMAT; to the agnostics, LEVIATHAN Goddess of theprimeval depths, the chaos
from which Marduk formed the world. She took the form of adragon and swam in
the primal waters. Tiamat warred on the gods, spawning a brood ofdragons,
sphinxes, scorpion-men and other demons and monsters for her army. Marduk
slewher, defeating her with magic and powerful winds. Splitting her in two,
Marduk cast onehalf of Tiamat into the sky to form the heavens and the other
he cast down to form theearth.
(Canannite)
ANAT Goddess of love and war. Female counterpart ofBaal-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 forBaal-Haddad after his
great victory over Sea, the god of chaos. Corresponds to Ishtar.
BAAL-HADDAD "The Mighty," "He whomounts 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 championof divine Order against
Chaos. LIghtening is his weapon, and he can be found in storms andthunder.
Defying Mot, the god of death, Baal-Haddad was swallowed up by the god of
deathand taken to the underworld which Baal Haddad laid waste after a terrible
struggle. In thebeginning of all things, Baal-Haddad warred with and conquered
Yamm the Sea, and sobrought the unruly waters of Chaos under divine authority
and control.
The term "Baal" (alternate spellings: Beel, Bel) is not aproper name but a
title. It means simply, "Lord." To know the proper name of agod was t possess
great power, and so the proper name was often kept secret from anyonewho was
not a member of the priesthood. Many local and regional gods were
thereforereferred to simply as "Lord" -- Baal. The Baal of the Bible is most
often BaalShamim, "Lord of the Skies." In Carthage, a colony of the
Phoenicians, thepeople 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, Lordof Zebulon, often mistakenly called Beelzebub.
EL "The Bull," the Father of Men, theKindly One, the Compassionate. Creator of
all things, greatest of all the gods, father ofthe divine family, head of the
divine assembly.
KATHIRAT "The Skillful Ones." Minorgoddesses who preside over childbirth.
MOT The god of death who rules the underworld amidwreckage and blackness.
SKILLFUL AND PERCIPIENT ONE, THE The divineartificer, patron of craftsmanship
and magic. The Skillful One made Baal-Haddad's weaponsfor the struggle against
Yamm and built the temple in which Anat and Baal-Haddad dwell.
YAMM THE SEA Aslo PRINCE SEA, OCEAN-CURRENT THERULER God of primordial chaos,
much like Tiamat and Coatlicue. Baal-Haddad's enemy. Beforethe great combat
with Baal-Haddad, Yamm terrified the divine assembly of gods and
sentemissaries to demand tribute from them. Part of the tribute he demanded
was Baal-Haddad asa slave. Infuriated, Baal-Haddad drove the emissaries from
the assembly hall, lashingtheir 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 piratesgave to Aegir a tenth of their captives, who were
thrown into the sea.
ANGRBODA The giantess who mated with Loki to createHel, Fenrir and the Midgard
Serpent.
BALDER A hero god, the god who dies and risesagain. Fair skinned, fair haired,
wise and merciful, beloved of all. Loke tricked Hoderinto killing Balder, who
had to be rescued from the underworld. According to the epic poemVOLUSKA,
Balder will come to rule again after Ragnarok.
BRAGI God of poetry and eloquence, husband ofIduun. 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 conceivedby Loki. Fenrir was raised
in Asgard, the home of the gods, until he became so immense andferoucious that
only the god Tyr was brave enough to feed him. Tyr bound Fenrir until theday
of Ragnarok, when Fenrir will break loose to slay Odin.
FORSETI God of justice, the great arbiter, the godwho "stills all strife."
Forseti dwells in a hall of gold and silver calledGiltnir.
FREYR "The god of the world," son ofNjord, 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 mendressed as
women mimed and danced to the sound of chimes and bells. Freyr had
someassociation with the horse cult as well, and horses sacred to his service
were kpet nearhis shrines. Freyr and his sister/wife FREYJA were of the Vanir,
a family or race of godswhich originally competed with the Aesir and later
became allies. The Vanir may have beenthe gods of an earlier Scandinavian race
who were adopted into the pantheon of laterconquerors.
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 husbandOd
disappeared, Freyja wept golden tears. Donning a magical garment, Freyja could
fly longdistances. Patroness of seithr, a practice in which a sorceress would
enter a trance toforetell the future. The women who practiced siethr, who were
know as Volva, wanderedfreely about the country casting spells and foretelling
the future. Freyja's worshippersinvolved orgiastic rites which horrified and
outraged the Christians. Half of all thoseslain in battle belonged to Freyja,
the other half belonging to Odin.
FRIGG Wife of Odin, mother of Balder, queen ofAsgard. A fertility goddess.
HEIMDALL The god who guards the Bifrost Bridgewhich is the entrance to Asgard.
Heimdall can see for immense distances, and his ear is sosensitive that he can
hear the grass grow. On the day of Ragnarok, Heimdall will blow thegreat horn
Gjallarhorn, and in the ensuing battle he will slay Loki.
HEL Goddess of death. Daughter of Loki. Ruler ofNiflheim, the land of mists.
Heroic souls go to Valhalla. Those who die of disease or oldage 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 ofNiflheim to rescue Balder
and found Balder seated on the right hand of Hel. Hel agreed torelease Balder
on condition that all living things weep for him.
HODER Little is known about Hoder, other than thathe is blind. Loki tricked
Hoder into killing Balder with a sprig of mistletoe. Hoder willjoin 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 ofeternal 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 ofa
sardonic sense of humor which he aims at himself no less often than at others.
A shapeshifter 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 theocean and encircles the
world, its tail in its mouth. On the day of Ragnarok, the worldwill disappear
under the ocean's waters when the Midgard Serpent rises from the sea. Thorwill
kill the Midgard Serpent but will be killed by the Serpent's poision.
MIMIR The guardian of a spring of wisdom at theroot of Yggdrasill, the world
tree which connects the lower and higher worlds and is thesource of all life.
Odin gave an eye to drink from that spring.
NERTHUS An earth mother worshipped by the Germantribe of the Suebi. Her sacred
grove stood on an island in the North Sea.
NJORD The chief of the Vanir, who warred with theAesir. Lord of the winds and
of the sea, giver of wealth. Particularly revered on the westcoast of Sweden.
In pagan days, oaths in law courts were sworn in his name. Njord may be
amasculine form of Nerthus.


A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods and Goddesses, pt.4



by D.W. Owens
Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, inits entirety
and without alteration, together with the other four parts which make up
thewhole work, for free distribution. For any other distribution, please
contact the author.
Part 4 : NORSE (Continued) / NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN / OCEANIA(PACIFIC ISLANDS
AND AUSTRALIA)



NORSE (Continued)
ODIN Also OTHINN; WODEN; WOTAN A god of strife andwar, magic and death. The
chief of the Aesir who lives in his hall Valaskjal in Sagardfrom which he can
look out over all the worlds. In his hall Valhalla, valkyries (femalewar
spirits) serve heros who have fallen in battle and will aid the god in the
greatbattle of Ragnarok. On Odin's shoulders perch two ravens, Hugin
("Thought") andMunin ("Memory") who can fly about all the worlds to bring Odin
knowledge. Odinoften aids great heros but is quite fickle and can turn against
a man for any reason ornone. Tales of Odin's treachery are not merely
Christian propaganda. Odin's worshippersthemselves could be quite
sharp-tongued about Odin's unfaithfulness. Odin's worshipinvolved human
sacrifices, who were generally hung from trees or gallows.
RAGNAROK "Destruction of the powerfulones." The Twilight of the Gods. The time
of fire and ice. The great battle at theend of time between the gods and the
Frost Giants in which the world will be destroyed andmade anew. Ragnarok will
be preceded by three winters of bitter wars followed by theFimbulvetr, a
winter so cold that the usn will give no heat. Then the forces of evil
willgather and make war on the gods.
THOR God of thunder. Huge, red-bearded, red-eyed,powerful. His weapon is the
magic hammer Mjollnir, which is augmented by a magic beltwhich doubles Thor's
strength, and iron gloves with which Thor grips Mjollnir. In someways Odin's
rival, Thor is the god of law and order, the champion of the people.
UnlikeOdin, Thor will keep faith. Oaths were sworn in Thor's name, which no
sane man would everdo with Odin. When Christianity came to Iceland, the other
gods surrendered meekly, butThor fought to the bitter end. The Hammer is
Thor's sacred sign and is the most commonimage in Nordic art. The worship of
Thor survived well into the Christian age; littlesilver hammers were often
made in the smith's shop along with crosses and crucifixes.
TIWAZ The one-handed sky god and war god of theearly Germanic peoples. Tiwaz
was worshipped with human sacrifices conducted in the deepforest. Tiwaz is god
of law and justice, and oaths were sworn in his name. His functionswere later
taken over by Odin and Thor, though unlike Odin Tiwaz is completely
withoutdeceit and guile. Tiwaz is also known as Irmin, and his sacred pillar
Irminsulsymbollically held the universe together.
TYR God of battle, the only god with the strengthand courage to bind Fenris.
Warriors marked their swords with a T to gain the god'sprotection. Tyr was
originally was Tiwaz, retained in a later pantheon but overshadowed byOdin and
Thor.
WELAND Also VOLUNDR; WIELAND; WAYLAND God of smithsand metal workers. Son of
the giant Wade. Weland has much in common with smith gods suchas Govannon and
Hephaistos, which comes as no surprise. Technology and metalworking
spreadslowly in the ancient world, usually on a person to person basis, and
highly skilledmetalsmiths and other technical workers formed a virtual
international brotherhood similarto the Masons.



NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN
ANGUTA (Inuit/Eskimo) Gatherer of the dead. Angutacarries the dead down to the
underworld, where they must sleep with him for a year.
ANINGAN (Inuit/Eskimo) The moon, brother to the sunwhom Moon chases across the
sky. Aningan has a great igloo in the sky where he rests.Irdlirvirissong, his
demon cousin, lives there as well. The moon is a great hunter, andhis sledge
is always piled high with seal skins and meat.
ASGAYA GIGAGEI (Cherokee) The Red Man or Womanevoked in spells to cure the
ill. Asgaya Gigagei is either male or female, depending onthe sex of the
patient.
ATIRA (Pawnee) The Earth, Sacred Mother of everyliving creature.
The Pawnee were hunters. When told to abandon hunting and settledown to
farming, their priest replied: "You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take
aknife and tear my mother's bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her
bosom torest. You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her
bones? Then when Idie I cannot enter her body to be born again. You ask me to
cut grass and make hay andsell it, and be rich like white men! But how dare I
cut off my mother's hair? It is a badlaw and my people cannot obey it."
AWONAWILONA (Pueblo Indians) "The One WhoContains Everything." The Supreme
God, the Creator of All. Before the creation therewas only Awonawilona; all
else was darkness and emptiness. Both male and female,Awonawilona created
everything from himself and taking form became the maker of light, theSun.
BIG HEADS (Iroquois) Demon gods. Giand headswithout bodies which fly about in
storms. They find men very tasty.
BREATHMAKER (Seminole) Breathmaker taught men tofish and dig wells, and made
the Milky Way. When the virtuous die, they follow the MilkyWay to a glorious
city in the western sky.
COYOTE (Southwestern Indians, but known in otherareas as well) A trickster, a
clown. The creator and teacher of men. Like Loki, Coyote isalways lurking
about, causing trouble and playing pranks. To the Zunis, Coyote is a herowho
set forth the laws by which men may live in peace. The Pomo Indians maintain
thatCoyote created the human race and stole the sun to keep them warm. The
Montana Sioux saythat Coyote created the horse.
The Chinook tell how Coyote and Eagle went to the land of the deadto bring
back their dead wives. On reaching the land of the dead, they found a
meetinglodge lit only by the moon which lay on the floor. Every night an old
woman would swallowthe moon and the dead would appear in the meeting lodge.
Recognizing their wives among thespirits of the dead, the two gods devised a
plan. The next day, after the old woman hadvomited up the moon and the dead
had disappeared, Coyote built a huge wooden box andplaced in it leaves of
every kind of plant. Coyote and Eagle then killed the old woman,and Coyote
donned her clothes. When the time came, Coyote swallowed the moon. The
deadappeared, but Eagle had place the box outside the exit. When Coyote
vomited up the moon,the dead filed out and were trapped in the box. Coyote
pleaded to be allowed to carry thebox, and Eagle gave it to him. But Coyote
couldn't waitto see his wife and opened the box.The spirits of the dead rose
up like a cloud and disappeared to the west. So it is thatpeople must die
forever, not like the plants which die in winter and are green again in
aseason.
DEOHAKO (Iroquois/Seneca) Spirits of maize, beansand gourds who live together
in a single hill. Searching for dew, the maize spirit Onathawas captured by
the evil spirit Hahgwehdaetgah who took her off to the underworld. Sunrescued
her, and ever since she has remained in the cornfields until the corn is ripe.

ESTANATLEHI (Navajo) First Woman's adopteddaughter. To punish mankind for
pride, First Man and First Woman sent a plague of monstersto kill and devour
them. The time came when First Woman repented of the evils she andFirst Man
had visited upon men, and she sought a means for their deliverance. First
Womandiscovered the infant Estanatlehi lying on the ground near First Woman's
mountain, andtook her in. The infant Estanatlehi grew to adulthood in four
days. Making love with theSun, she gave birth to the Twin Brothers who after
many adventures slew the monsters.
EVENING STAR (Pawnee) An evil star who drives thesun down out of the sky and
send his daughter to hinder Morning Star from the sun back upagain.
FIRST MAN AND FIRST WOMAN (Navajo) In thebeginning, First Man and First Woman
ascended from the underworld together with Coyote,leading the people through
trials and tribulations into the surface world which becametheir home.
Deciding that the sky was too empty with only Sun and Moon, First Man,
FirstWoman and Coyote gathered up glittering stones and placed them in the sky
to serve asstars.
GAHE Also GA'AN (Apache) Supernatural beings whodwell inside mountains. The
can sometimes be heard dancing and beating drums. Because theycan heal and
drive away disease, they are worshipped. In the ritual dances of theChiricahua
Apache masked dancers painted a different color for each point of the
compassrepresent all the Gahe except the Grey One. The Grey One, though he
appears as a clown, isreally the mightiest of all the Gahe.
GLUSKAP (Algonquin) The Creator, or more exactly,the creator force. Generally
benevolent, but often whimsical. Gluskap created the plains,the food plants,
the animals and the human race from the body of the Mother Earth. Hisrival was
his wolf brother Malsum, who made rocks, thickets and poisonous animals. After
along struggle Gluskap killed Malsum and drove his evil magic under the earth.
Gluskapdrove away monsters, fought stone giants, taught hunting and farming to
men, and gavenames to the stars. His work done, Gluskap paddled towards the
sunrise in a birch barkcanoe. Some day he may return.
HINO (Iroquois) Thunder god, god of the sky. TheRainbow is his consort. With
his fire arrows, Hino destroys evil beings.
IRDLIRVIRISISSONG (Inuit/Eskimo) The demon cousinof the moon. Sometimes
Irdlirvirissong comes out into the sky to dance and clown and makethe people
laugh. But if anyone is nearby, the people must restrain themselves or
thedemon clown will dry them up and eat their intestines.
KACHINAS (Hopi) Nature spirits which inhabit andcontrol everything -- animal
spirits, spirits of departed ancestors, spirits of naturalresources such as
wind, rain and thunder. Their exact number is not known, but at leastfive
hundred appear in the mythologies of the different villages.
KANATI (Cherokee) "The Lucky Hunter."Sometimes called First Man. He lives with
his wife Selu ("Corn") in the eastwhere the sun rises, and their sons, the
Twin Thunder Boys, live in the west.
KITCKI MANITOU (Algonquin) The Great Spirit, theSupreme Being. The Uncreated,
the Father of Life, God of the Winds. The Great Spirit ispresent in some way
in nearly every North American Indian mythology.
MICHABO (Algonquin) The Great Hare. A trickster. Ashape-shifter. Creator of
men, the earth, deer, water and fish. Michabo drives awaycannibal spirits. In
the House of Dawn, Michabo is host to the souls of good men, feedingthem
succulent fruits and fish.
MORNING STAR (Pawnee) A protector who leads the sunupward into the sky. A
soldier god.
NAGENATZANI (Navajo) Elder Twin Brother.
NESARU (Arikara) Sky spirit. In the beginning,Nesaru had charge over all
creation. Displeased with a race of giants in the underworldwho would not
respect his authority, Nesaru sent a new race to the underworld to replacethem
and sent a flood which destroyed the giants without destroying the new men.
When thenew men cried out to be released from the underworld, Nesaru sent the
Corn Mother fortheir deliverance.
NOKOMIS (Algonquin) "Grandmother." TheSacred Earth Mother. Nokomis nurtures
all living things.
NORTH STAR (Pawnee) A creator god. Beneficiant andvenerated.
OCASTA (Cherokee) "Stonecoat." The namecomes from his coat which was made of
pieces of flint. Equally good and evil, Ocasta wasone of the Creator's
helpers. Ocasta created witches and drifted from village to villagestirring up
turmoil. Some women trapped Ocasta, pinning him to the ground with a
stickthrough his heart. The men cremated the dying Ocasta, who while burning
on his funeralpyre taught them songs and dances for hunting, fighting wars and
healing. Some of the menwere granted great power and became the first medicine
men.
OLELBIS (Wintun, Pacific Coast) The Creator wholived in Olelpanti (Heaven)
with two old women. When the first people destroyed the worldwith fire,
Olelbis sent wind and rain to quench the flames, and repaired the
earth.Olelbis intended men to live forever. When they grew old, they were to
climb to heaven andjoin Olelbis in paradise. Olelbis set two vultures to the
task of building a ladder toOlelpanti for men to ascend, but Coyote persuaded
them to stop work.
RABBIT (Southeastern tribes) Like Coyote andMichabo, a trickster god. Through
a sly trick, Rabbit brought fire to man.
RAVEN (Northwestern tribes) Another trickster god.Very greedy, forever seeking
food. Raven stole the moon from a miser and placed it in thesky.
SEDNA (Inuit/Eskimo) Goddess of the sea and thecreatures of the sea. A
one-eyed giant. A frightfull old hag, but she was young andbeautiful when her
father threw her in the sea as a sacrifice. A sorcerer wishing to visitSedna
must pass through the realms of death and then cross an abyss where a wheel of
icespins eternally and a cauldron of seal meat stews endlessly. To return he
must crossanother abyss on a bridge as narrow as a knife edge.
SELU (Cherokee) "Corn." Sometimes knownas First Woman. Kanati's wife. Selu
created corn in secret by rubbing her belly or bydefecating. Her sons, the
Twin Thunder Boys, killed her when they spied upon her anddecided she was a
witch.
SHAKURA (Pawnee) Sun god. The Pawnee performedtheir famous Sun Dance for
Shakura's sake. Young warriors attached themselves to tallpoles with strips of
hide which were tied to sharp stakes. The stakes were driven throughthe skin
and flesh on the chest. The young brave would then support his entire weight
withthe hide ropes as he slowly circled the pole following the sun's movement
in the sky. Thislasted until the sun went down or the stakes ripped out of the
brave's flesh.
SOUTH STAR (Pawnee) God of the underworld, theopposite of North Star. Magical
and feared.
SUN (Cherokee) A goddess. When Sun's daughter wasbitten by a snake and taken
to the Ghost Country, Sun hid herself in grief. The world wasever dark, and
Sun's tears became a flood. At last the Cherokee sent their young men andwomen
to heal Sun's grief, which they did with singing and dancing.
SUN (Inuit/Eskimo) A beautiful young maidencarrying a torch who is chased
through the sky by her brother Aningan, the moon. Theplanet Jupiter is the
mother of the sun and very dangerous to magicians. If they arecareless, she
will devour their livers.
TEKKEITSERKTOCK (Inuit/Eskimo) The earth god,master of hunting to whom all
deer belong.
TIRAWA-ATIUS (Pawnee) The Power Above, creator ofthe heavens and the earth.
In the beginning Tirawa-Atius called the gods together to announcehis plan to
create the human race and promised the gods a share of power for their
help.Shakura the Sun was assigned to provide light and heat, Pah the Moon was
assigned thenight, and Tirwara-Atius placed the Evening Star, the Mother of
All Things in the west.The Morning Star he set to guard the east. After the
gods had raised dry land from thewatery chaos, Tirawa Atius told Sun and Moon
to make love, and they gave birth to a son.He then told Evening and Morning
Star to make love, and they gave birth to a daughter. Sothe human race was
made.
All would have been well if Coyote had not stolen a sack of stormsfrom
Lightening. Opening the sack, Coyote loosed the storms and so brought death
into theworld.
THOBADESTCHIN (Navajo) Youngest Twin Brother.
THOUME' (Chitimacha) Thoume' taught the people tomake clothing and fire, and
how to make love. After making the moon and the sun, Thoume'sent the trickster
god Kutnahin to teach medicine and food preparation to men. Kutnahintraveled
through the world disguised as a derelict covered with buzzard dung.
TORNGASAK (Inuit/Eskimo) The good spirit,representing everything in nature
good and helpful to man.
TWIN THUNDER BOYS (Cherokee) The sons of Kanati andSelu. Kanati and Selu live
in the east, the Twin Thunder Boys live in the west. Whenthunder sounds, the
boys are playing ball.
WACHABE (Sioux/Osage) Black Bear. A guardian.Symbol of long life, strength and
courage.



OCEANIA (PACIFIC ISLANDS AND AUSTRALIA)
AGUNUA (Solomon Islands) Serpent god. All othergods are only an aspect of
Agunua. The first coconut from each tree is sacred to Agunua.
ALULUEI (Micronesia) God of knowledge andnavigation. Aluluei has two faces,
one to see where he is going, the other to see where hehas been. Aluluei makes
his home on sandbars.
BUNJIL (Australian) A sky god. Bunjil made men outof clay while his brother,
Bat, made women out of water. To mankind Bunjil gave tools,weapons and
religious ceremony.
DARAMULUN (Australian) A sky god, a hero. There aremany tales of his
adventures. Daramulun is usually portrayed with a mouth full of quartzand a
huge phallus, carrying a stone axe.
DREAM TIME (Australian) The period of creation whenthe gods brought the world
and all living creatures into being.
GIDJA (Australian) Moon god. In the Dream Time,Gidja created women by
castrating Yalungur, for which he was punished by Kallin Kallin.Gidja floated
out to sea and ended up in the sky, where he became the moon.
GREAT RAINBOW SNAKE Also JULUNGGUL, GALERU, UNGUR,WONUNGUR, WOROMBI,
YURLUNGGUR, LANGAL, MUIT and many others names. (Australian) The greatgiver of
life who lives in a deep pool, stretches across the sky and shines with
waterdrops, quartz and mother of pearl. In the Dream Time, the Great Rainbow
Snake created allthe waterways and all living creatures. The Great Rainbow
Snake is the greatest of all thegods, and no wise man will dare offend him.
Many pools are sacred to him and must not becontaminated with blood. Sorcerers
perform their magic with pieces of quarts and mother ofpearl, because their
iridescence holds the life force of the Great Rainbow Snake.
HINA Also HINE (Polynesia) Goddess of darkness, whobrought death to humankind
by slaying the god Maui. While sailing with her brother Ru, shedrifted off to
the moon, liked what she saw, and decided to stay, thereby becoming Hinathe
Watchwoman and a patroness of travelers.
IO (New Zealand) "Io of the Hidden Face,""Io the Originator of All Things,"
"Io Eternal," "Io God ofLove." Supreme being of the Maori, master of all the
other gods, known only to thepriesthood.
KALLIN KALLIN (Australian) Chickenhawk. KallinKallin punished Gidja for
castrating his brother Yalungur, the Eaglehawk, by ambushingGidja as he
crossed a bridge and throwing him into the ocean. Realizing that Yalungur
wasnow a woman and therefore no longer a member of the tribe, Kallin Kallin
took Yalungur ashis wife and so established the custom among Australian
aborigines of taking wives fromdifferent communities.
KUKLIKIMOKU (Polynesia) God of war. His colors arered and yellow, and his is
the crested feather helmet of the Hawaiians.
MARRUNI (Melanesia) God of earthquakes. Marruni's tail terrified his wives, so
he cut it into pieces and from them made animals and human beings.
MAUI (Polynesia) "Maui of the thousandtricks." A trickster and a hero god.
Maui lived when the world was still beingcreated, and fought on the side of
humankind, constantly struggling to get them a betterdeal. Maui raised the sky
and snared the sun. His death at the hands of Hina brought deathinto the
world.
NAREAU (Micronesia) Actually two gods, Old Spiderand Young Spider. Creators
and tricksters. Old Spider created the world from a seashell,but the heavens
and the earth were not properly separated, so Young Spider enlisted theaid of
Riiki, the eel, to fix the problem. They then created the sun, moon and stars,
anda great tree from which came the race of men.
OLIFAT (Micronesia) A trickster. Olifat inventedthe custom of tattooing.
Olifat loves pranks and is constantly spoiling food, ruiningfishing trips and
seducing men's wives.
PELE (Polynesia) Goddess of volcanic fire andsorcery. Pele lives in Mt.
Kilauea in Hawaii. Altars to Pele are built beside lavastreams, though only
those descended from her worship her.
QAT (Polynesia) Creator god. Qat was born when hismother, a stone, suddenly
exploded. Qat made the first three pairs of men and women bycarving them from
wood and playing drums to make them dance. Qat stopped night from goingon
forever by cutting it with a hard red stone, which is the dawn. Qat sailed
away in acanoe filled with all manner of wonderful things, leaving behind the
legend that he wouldone day return. When the Europeans first came, many
believed that Qat had finally comeback.
RUA (Tahiti) The Abyss. God of craftsmen. Ruainvented wood carving.
TAWHAKI (Polynesia) God of thunder and lightening.Noble and handsome.
TU (Polynesia) "Tu of the Angry Face,""Tu the Man Eater," "Tu the Lover of
War," "Tu of the NarrowFace." God of war.
WONDJINA (Australian) The primordial beings of thegreat Dream Time, who
created the world. They are shown in rock paintings with halos andno mouths,
their eyes and noses joined. The Wondjina give both rain and children,
andtheir paintings are touched up every year so that they will continue to
bring rain at theend of the dry season.
YALUNGUR (Australian) Eaglehawk. Yalungur defeatedthe terrible ogress Kunapipi
and became the first woman.