Goddesses of Love, Passion & Prostitution

Acca Larentia (Etruscan, "Lady Mother")

Also known simply as Lara, she is a goddess of sexuality in
whose worship ritual prostitution played an important role.
A semi-divine prostitute, she passed into Roman mythology as
a benefactress of the lower classes and as the she-wolf
foster-mother of Remus and Romulus, the mythical founders of
Rome. Her festival, the Larentalia, took place annually on
December 23rd.
Agrat Bat Mahalat
A Near Eastern, Semitic goddess known for her role as sexual
temptress and seductress. According to the Talmud, she is
the "spirit of uncleanness", a designation probably stemming
from her association with unbridled, instinctive sexuality.
Anat (other spellings: Anata, Anath, Anit)
The Ugaritic Great Goddess of life and death, and the
Canaanite "Lady of the Mountain". Apart from Anat being
virgin, mother and whore, she is also famous as an
aggressive and ruthless warrior-goddess wading in the blood
of her human victims. Anat was introduced into Egypt by the
Hyksos and was there partly identified with Hathor, from
whom she acquired her symbolic cow-horns. The Egyptians
regarded her, together with Astarte, as daughter of the god
Ra (the sun), and Pharaoh Ramses III (ruled 1198-1166 BCE)
used both goddesses as divine protectors on his
battle-shield. Anat, as a goddess of fertility and
sexuality, is sometimes depicted together with the
ithyphallic god Min. She is said to have given birth to a
wild bull that sprung from the union with her brother and
lover, the Ugaritic/Syrian god Baal.
Other names connected with Anat are Avaris and Aphrodite
Anaxarete, and she may, perhaps, be the same deity as Anatu
(see Ishtar).
Anna Furrinna (other spelling: Anna Perenna)
An Etruscan and subsequently Roman (river-)goddess whose
fertility festivals were aimed at stimulating the fertility
of both plants and humans. Her worship also involved ritual
prostitution.
Aphrodite
Apsaras
Asherah
Often said to be the Hebrew name for Astarte, simply because
the Bible uses the term asherah to indicate the wooden
pillars associated with Astarte's shrines and sacred places.
Originally, however, Asherah was an independent Near Eastern
deity and was called "She Who Gives Birth to Gods" and
"Wetnurse of the Gods". Her worship included ritual
prostitution.

Astarte
This "Queen of Heaven" and Great Goddess, with a dove as her
symbolic animal, was worshipped mainly by the Canaanites,
Assyrians and Mesopotamian Ishtar, and if both deities are
not truly one and the same, they are at least two very
similar expressions of one goddess-oriented religion which
prevailed for several millennia in Western Asia. Other
related names are Ashdar or Astar, names that were also used
for Ishtar. Both she and Astarte had a brother and lover, by
the name of Tammuz a.k.a. Dumuzi, a vegetation-god.
Astarte's fame and the religious tolerance of Egypt led to
her being officially admitted into the Egyptian pantheon in
about c.1500 BCE, though here she was mainly regarded as a
goddess of battlefields, soldiers and horses. Elsewhere, her
religion embraced ritual prostitution and the Hieros Gamos
ritual.
Atargatis
Near Eastern Great Goddess (moongoddess) who was worshipped
mainly in the Levant, today's Turkey, Syria, Israel and
Lebanon. Atargatis is one of the independent virgins and her
myth speaks of a union with the archetypal vegetation-god
and of incest; Ichthys being her son and lover. She was
often worshipped in a more or less public orgy that usually
involved ritual prostitution and promiscuity. In her temple
at Hierapolis, north-east of Aleppo and close to the
Euphrates river, she was worshipped by men performing
auto-castration.
Names for, and/or aspects of, Atargatis are Derceto
(Derketo), in Rome she was called Dea Syria, and among the
Hittites, Tarkhu.
At some point, this goddess was merged into Ishtar.
Bastet (also Bast)
Egyptian goddess usually shown with the head of a cat and/or
lioness. She is a goddess of pleasure and sexuality, and her
worship included ritual prostitution. Bastet is also often
regarded, in literature, as a goddess involved with
witchcraft and sorcery. This may, however, simply be 'bad
press', just as ancient priests and prudish writers have
made a 'demon' out of the free woman/goddess Lilith.
Benzai Tennyo
Charites
Cotytto (other spellings: Cotys, Cotyto, Kotytto)
A Thracian goddess of sexuality in whose honor secret orgies
were organized by her worshippers. In Southern Greece, she
later became the Athenian goddess of licentious and ritual
promiscuity.
Cybele (Kubile, Kubala, Kubaba, Kubabat)
A Near Eastern goddess whose worship spread from Phrygia

into Greece, Rome and other neighboring cultures. Even in

Athens' Agora there is a temple dedicated to her which is
known as the Metron or "Temple of the Mother". Cybele was
involved with ritual prostitution, sacrifice in the form of
castration and fertility rituals focusing on Attis, one of
the many vegetation-gods. The cult of this Phrygian goddess
has resulted in archeological monuments ranging in time from
6.000 BCE to the end of the Roman Empire, and recent finds
have established that she was also worshipped among the
Thracian peoples.
In his work on the Christian Black Virgins and their
origins, Ean Begg relates Cybele to the Ka'bah.
"Her name is etymologically linked with the words for
crypt, cave, head and dome and is distantly related to the
Ka'aba, the cube-shaped Holy of Holies in Mecca that
contains the feminine black stone venerated by Islam"
Begg, p.57
Cybele, like the Ephesian Artemis and many other goddesses,
was also venerated in the form of a black stone. Once this
stone had been brought to Rome, both stone and goddess were
worshipped in the Roman Empire until the 4th century CE.
A Roman name for this goddess was Mater Kubile, and
sometimes also simply Magna Mater, meaning "Great Mother".
Ephesian Artemis
Erzuli or Erzulie Ge Rouge
A Voodoo goddess connected with love, sexuality, wet dreams
and jealousy. Erzuli, my personal choice among her many
names, is also known as Ezili and Madame Saint Urzuli.
Coming to her worshipers mainly in dreams, she plays the
part of succubus, of astral lover and seducer. However, her
"ministrations" are seen here as beneficial and she is said
to heal by inducing erotic dreams and nocturnal, unconscious
ejaculation. Similar to other Voodoo loa ("deity/spirit"),
the contemporary Caribbean worship of Erzuli is sometimes
accompanied by offerings consisting of such modern
consumer-goods as champagne and expensive perfumes: a sign
that the tradition really is alive and still changing with
the times.
Flora
Roman equivalent to and development of the Greek goddess
Chloris. Most often described as a beautiful "Goddess of
Flowers", writers usually "forget" to mention that her
worship included an annual orgy of ritual promiscuity. A
number of sources claim that Flora was little more than a
deified prostitute.
The Floralia, an annual fertility festival, was dedicated to
her, during which the participants liberally enjoyed wine
and sexual union.
Fortuna Virilis
Roman goddess thought to 'steer' and 'stir' men's lives. She

was also associated with ritual prostitution and phallic

worship.
Freya (Frea, "Lady")
North-European (Teutonic/Scandinavian) goddess of love and
sexuality and leading member of the valkyries, the warrior's
weavers of fate and female astral companions after death.
The myths of Freya show her to be married, but also to be
totally promiscuous. She also practiced incest with her
brother and her worship included ritual prostitution.
Graces
Hathor (other spellings: Athor, Heth)
Near Eastern and Egyptian goddess mostly depicted and
visualized as fertile, cosmic cow. Although in some aspects
she is associated with the dark sides of life such as war
and death, Hathor is very often seen as a goddess of desire,
sexuality and pleasure. Her worship included ritual
prostitution.
Hera
Greek goddess usually known as married to the god Zeus, and
as an example of social values such as being the "Good
Wife". Representing and demanding fidelity, she has also
become the embodiment of a married wife's jealousy.
In an earlier, pre-Olympic aspect, Hera was a rather
different goddess, involved with divination and ritual
prostitution; and the keeper of a sacred serpent (see
Hesperides). She also was seen as divine mother from whose
breasts came forth the Milky Way; our local galaxy.
In yet a different guise, Hera is the encompassing name for
the three aspects of a triple goddess the manifestations of
which are
1. Hebe, the virgin girl who served the wine of
immortality to the Olympic deities
2. Nympheumene, the mature woman
3. the crone Theria
Horae
Huitaca
A goddess of the American Chibcha tribe with associations
such as moon, sexuality, promiscuity, joy; and intoxication
by means of drugs.
Inanna (other spellings: Innin, Innini, Ninanna)
The Sumerian great "Lady Queen of Heaven" (Ninanna) who is
known to us mainly from the Gilgamesh Epic and from the
Cycle of Inanna, a collection of poems concerning her
relation - in life and death - to her brother and lover, the
vegetation-god Dumuzi.

Inanna was a goddess associated - in terms of symbology with the moon, the planet Venus and the serpent. Being
explicitly a goddess of sexuality and fertility, her worship
included ritual prostitution and uniquely sexual prayers.
During and after the decline of the Sumerian kingdom Inanna
was replaced by the Semitic goddess Ishtar, who became the
one to be invoked at Inanna's original temples at the cities
of Erech, Kish and Ur.
Inari
A Japanese goddess responsible for the fertility of plants.
In this connection she is also involved with ritual
prostitution, which is seen as helpful in promoting a good
harvest.
Kameshvari
Korrigan
A Celtic (Gaul/France) goddess associated with nature and
especially with water; for example springs in the vicinity
of dolmens and other megaliths. In daytime she appears as an
old, wrinkled crone yet at night, at the height of her
powers, she seems a beautiful and young woman. Her worship
involved ritual prostitution.
Libera
A goddess of wine, associated with ritual promiscuity and
phallic worship. Her lover/partner is the male God Liber, a
Roman approximation of Dionysus.
Maeve (Irish, "intoxication", "drunken woman")
(other spellings: Maebh, Meave, Mebhdh)
A Celtic/Irish goddess connected to Tara, the island's
legendary, mythical and magical center. Part of her service
was concerned with the use of drugs, with "wanton" sexuality
and ritual prostitution. The legends concerning her speak of
"Queen Maeve" as a mighty warrior, who nevertheless was also
known "to buy victory with her willing thighs" and to stop
"the battle whenever she was menstruating" [Monaghan 1981,
p. 188].
Nayikas
Nympheumene (Gr., "seeking a mate")
A Greek goddess of promiscuous sexuality, representing the
mature and adult phase (second stage) of the triple goddess
Hera.
Oduda
A major goddess worshipped among the North-West African
tribes of the Benin, Dahomey and Yoruba. Her name translates
as "The Black One" and her image is that of a serpent. In
the city of Ado, were "Mother Earth" is thought to
menstruate (according to the African tradition), Oduda is
also responsible for the practice of ritual prostitution.

The cult of which she is the chief deity is known as Obeah

and is practiced today in the Caribbean islands.
Qadesh (other spelling: Qadeshet)
A goddess of love and sexuality known in Egypt and in the
Akkadian and Babylonian empires whose worship included
ritual prostitution. Qadesh has attributes such as the lily
and the serpent and is shown as a "Lady of the Beasts", a
type of goddess known in many cultures as protector and
ruler of the animal world and its fertility.
Rati
An Indian goddess of love, passion, desire, and pleasure,
she is more or less the Indian equivalent to Greek
Aphrodite; and the female counterpart to Kama, the god of
Love. Rati is also a member of the Apsaras, and her name
occurs as well among the 28 Flesh-Eating Goddesses of the
Bardo Thdol.
It is this goddess whose "sexual secrets" have been
described in the Ratirahyasa, a medieval text that has
become better known as the Koka Shastra. In this work, the
name Rati appears also in terms used for sexual techniques
and positions. One example of this is ratipasa, the "noose
of Rati", a position in which the woman locks her legs
behind her partner's back.
Rati is also known under the name Ragalata, the "Vine of
Love", and on the Indonesian island of Bali, she is often
depicted as a dark, demonic figure with huge and pointed
breasts; a fact that is interpreted by some (strange, male)
writers as a sign of "aggressiveness".
Tap-Tun
A little known Far Eastern goddess, whose temple (in
Bangkok, Thailand) is virtually stacked with lingams
(phalli) for use in phallic worship. Thai people, fond of
magical charms and amulets anyway, also know phallic
amulets. They are called palad khik or "representative
phallus", the smaller of which are worn on the body and the
larger ones displayed in temples or shrines.
It has been speculated that Thai phallic worship is based on
influences from India.
Tlazolteotl
Aztec/Mexican goddess of love and sexuality whose worship
included ritual prostitution. In her dark aspect she is
associated with death and human sacrifice; as well as with
witchcraft and terror.
Venus
Yellamma (other spelling: Ellamma)
An ambiguous Indian goddess mainly known among the Tamil

people and among the lowest of the Indian caste-system - the

so-called 'Untouchables'. Yellamma is connected with
healing, wisdom, and childbirth (granting children to barren
women), yet also with the contemporary Indian prostitutes
that have descended from the devadasis.
On the other hand, she also has her darker side and is according to her myths - responsible for the disease of
leprosy.