CELTIC DEITIES

Brigit

NAME: Brigit, Bride (Scotland), Bridget (Irish), Saint Brigit.

SYMBOLS: A golden branch of an oak tree. a well. the Shamrock. a Scallop

shell.

USUAL IMAGE: a triple Goddess so she is shown as a young maiden, mother,

and crone, depending on the time of the year. and their were some who thought
of her as the goddess of both poetry and blacksmithing, and show her as being
pale on one side of her face (the side that did the poetry) and dark on the other
(the side that faced the fire).

HOLY DAYS: February 2. once called Imbolg, this was later turned into
Candlemas, or Saint Brigits Day, it is now known as Groundhogs Day! Imbolg
meant "the surrounding belly", or "around the belly" in old Irish, it was thought of
as the time of the beginning of spring, and was marked by the lighting of fires,
and rituals for the benefit of the crops.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: All over the place, she was very popular. (that's why the
Christians came up with the a phony Christian saint called St. Brigit. The early
church in Ireland could not get blot her out so they tried to convert her.) One of
more popular places of Brigit worship was around water wells as it was believed
that one could most easily speak to Brigit via wells, this was put down, but not
out. "Wishing wells" are what many of the holy wells became, and the idea
spread.

SYNODEITIES: Aphrodite (Greek). Shamrakh (pre-Islamic Arabic). Morgan

(another Celtic). Juno (Greek/Roman).

DETAILS: There is not a lot known about the stories and worship of Brigit. She
was said to watch over women at the major points in their lives, and was the
goddess of spring, poetry, love, kindness, the seas, and metal. She was
worshiped by the Celtic people. Another thing that happened on Imbolg was the
making of all the candles that would be needed for the coming year.

Ceres

Ceres, also known as Demeter (Greek) is the Roman Mother goddess as well as
a vegetation Goddess. Her predecessor Goddesses include: Artemis and
Cybele.
Ceres is the mother of Kore (Percephone, Prosperpina), a beautiful maiden
variously depicted as being kidnapped or enticed by Hades (Plugo_ to go with
him to the Underworld (Hades, Hel) and rule there with him as his bride.

In her anguish over losing her daughter, Ceres neglects the natural world,
causing winter.

Jupiter arranges for mother and daughter to be reunited half of each year as the
Gods do not wish all life on Earth to be extinguished. During that time it is spring
and summer. During the time Kore returns to Hel Ceres continues to neglect the
world and it the fall and winter cycles are created.

Ceres is also known as a grain goddess and is honored with "corn dollies" made
of various grains or even maise plants such as "Indian Corn" that are bound up
and displayed as representations of the harvest and sometimes burned the
following year in preparation for the new harvest.

Demeter

Demeter is a Grecian Mother/Earth and vegetation Goddess that is the model for
Ceres, a Roman Mother/Earth and vegetation Goddess.

Demeter is a combination of a very ancient grain Goddess and that of a Goddess

of the Underworld and by the time of the great Homeric epics was considered a
Goddess of death. She battles with Hades each year for her daughter,
Persephone. However, it could also be said that Persephone is a sister/duo
aspect of the original Mother Goddess giving her Mother/Maiden aspects.

As Persephone, she is out picking flowers in a field when she is spied by the God
Hades and abuducted to his realm of death to act as his queen. Demeter is
beside herself and wanders the Earth, searching for her lost daughter, allowing
the vegetation on Earth to die and the first winter to occur. Things look so bad for
the world that Olympus bands together to force Hades to return Persephone to
her mother. However, Persephone has eaten of the food of the land of the dead -
six pomegranet seeds; because of this she spends six months as Queen of
Hades and six months with her mother. Seasonal variations are tied to her
coming and goings.

Eris

SYMBOLS: Golden apple with a "K" on it, which stands for Kallisti, It is a word
from the Greek language. It may be translated as "for the most beautiful one" or
"to the prettiest one."

USUAL IMAGE: : Depends upon who is seeing her.

HOLY BOOKS: : The Principia Discordia, Cosmic Trigger, Illuminatus!, How I
Found The Goddess And What I Did To Her After I Found Her, Alice In Wonder
Land. Some of the films of the Marks Brothers.

HOLY DAYS: : May the 23rd (also the birthday of St. Harpo), Moosemass (not
sure just what this day falls on) and April 1st.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: : The right hemisphere of your brain.

MAJOR TABOOS: : No Dogma, really, just a very few light Catmas.

RELATIVES: : Acoording to standard Greek muth Eris was the daughter of

Mars/Aries and she had a brother called MOMUS who was the god of cynicism
and clowns, which I guess would make him the patron god of BBS'.

FORM OF WORSHIP: : Spreading good Chaoa, eating a hotdog without a bun

every Friday (this is because of the taboos of other deities i.e. no por, no meat of
beef, no meat on Friday) looking for 23's, opening minds. (It's an aill wind that
blows no minds - old Discordian saying.)

SYNODEITIES: : Coyote (Native American), Brother Rabbit (African), Loki

(Norse), Monkey God (Hindu), and Q (Star Trek).

NOTE: : When asked how things had been going for him of late, Lord
Ravenhurst, one of the founders of Discordianism said: You know, if I had
realised that all of this was going to come true, I would have chosen Venus.

Epona

Epona is a Celtic, largely Gallic (European) horse Goddess who is also

associated with fertility. Epona was a pivotal Goddess for individuals involved in
the raising, training, and trading of horses in Gallic Europe and the Celtic areas
of the British Isles.

Epona was so well known in Europe she is the only known Celtic Goddess to be
worshipped in Rome.

Epona is pictured with mares or foals, with sheafs of grain, fruit and other
vegetative goods, suggesting a connection as a vegetation Goddess as well. She
watched over mares in labor and foals as they matured, insuring a healthy horse
herd - something quite valuable in those times. She is not a battle Goddess as
she is depicted as riding in a feminine side-saddle style or sometimes in a cart
hauled by mares.

As can be imagined, Epona was a favorite Goddess among cavalry of the Celts,
Galls, and Romans.
Estsanatlehi (Changing Woman)
NAME: Estsanatlehi. also Changing Woman.

SYMBOLS: Spruce Mountain, hoops, the rainbow.

USUAL IMAGE: An attractive Native American woman at any age between 12

and 80, she most often is shown wareing a muti-color dress and a cloak made
from white feathers into which white shells and large turqoises have been sewn,
she holds four hoops.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The home was the main place of worship for
Estsanatlehi as she was a goddess that was believed to deal closely with the
public and as such did not make others come to her.

MAJOR TABOOS: Harm to children

RELATIVES: Coyote (step-father), Sun-rise and Sun-set (twin sons).

DETAILS: Estsanatlehi was the ancestral mother of the Navajo and Apache
peoples, she is also called Changing Woman because she can change her age
at will by walking into the horizon until she meets herself comeing back. Some of
her other names are White Shell Woman and Turquoise Woman. The Navajo say
she was born of darkness and dawn on top of Spruce Mountain, where Coyote
the trickster finds her, a baby wrapped in clouds, surrounded by three rainbows
and bound to her cradle board with sunbeams and lighting. She grows up in 18
days, feeding on sun, clouds, and flower pollens. Later she is impregnated by the
Sun and a waterfall and has twin boys who hold up each end of the day, because
of this monsters soon begin to seek them out to kill them. To protect them from
these monsters she throws four hoops into the four directions, causing barrier
winds to arise and keep the monsters away. She is the keeper of the
Blessingway, ceremonies used by the Navanjos, Apache and some other tribes
to create well-being in childbirth, puberty, house blessings and weddings. The
ceremonies are also used to ensure that the people may walk in beauty.

Hecate

NAME: Hecate, also Hebe the Virgin, Hera the Mother, Hecate the Crone, and
Hecate Trevia.

SYMBOLS: Three-way crossroads, Dogs, the Moon, a Frog.

USUAL IMAGE: One of the triple goddesses. She was seen at different times as
a young girl, mother, and crone, the ancients ideas of the three states of female
power. She is most often shown as a crone, an old hag with the power of death.

HOLY BOOKS: The Book of Shadows.

HOLY DAYS: September 21, Feast of Divine Life, October 31, Samhain.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Where three roads meet.

RELATIVES: Dionysus, son (as Hecate Selene).

FORM OF WORSHIP: Wine, dancing, running around naked, the basic stuff.

SYNODEITIES: Hequit (Egyptian), Kali-Ma (Hindu), Baba-Yaga (Russian),

Morgan Le Fay (Arthurian), Joan Collins (Hollywood).

DETAILS: One of the oldest Greek versions of the Trinitarian Goddess, Hecate
was derived from the Egyptian midwife-Goddess Hequit, Heket, or Kekat, who in
turn evolved from the heq or tribal matriarch of pre-dynastic Egypt: a wise-
woman in command of all the hekau or "mother's words of power."

As a heavenly midwife Hequit delivered the Sun God every morning. Her totem
was the frog, symbol of the fetus, and this animal was sacred to worshipers of
Hecate.

In Greece Hecate was one of the many names for the original feminine trinity,
ruling heaven, Earth, and the underworld. Hellenes tended to emphasize her
Crone or underworld aspect, but continued to worship her at places where three
roads met, especially in rites of magick, divination, or consultation with the dead.
Her image was used to guard three-way crossroads for many centuries; thus she
was called Hecate Trevia or Hecate of the Three Ways. Offerings were left to her
roadside shrines on nights of the full moon. Dogs were said to be the only
animals that could always see her when she moved about on the Earth, so that it
was said when dogs barked at night for no reason Hecate was walking by.

During the early Middle Ages, Hecate was turned into the Queen of the
Ghostworld or Queen of the Witches. One reason for this may have been
because she was one of the favorite versions of the Crone, an archetype of the
belief that as women had the power to bring life into the world with birth, at some
point they must also gain the power to take it away.

Ishtar

SYMBOLS: Moon, Venus, eight pointed star, lion, and scorpion.

IMAGE: Ishtar was generally depicted face on, naked, ornamented with jewels,
holding her breasts with her hands, her thighs full and womanly, her ankles,
knees, and feet pressed closely together. In her aspect of fertility goddess she
was often seen surrounded by flowers or grain and dispensing water from an
endlessly full jar.
HOLY DAYS: Yule is often associated with Ishtar as she was, in early times,
credited with creating the evergreen out of love and sorrow for her beloved
Tammuz. She is also a goddess of fertility and harvest, hence honoring in her in
the spring and fall is appropriate.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Temples were dedicated to the worship of Ishtar. Today

we might better honor her during moon rituals, near the ocean or fresh streams,
and in celebration of our loving relationships.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Offerings of water to the Earth, encouraging fertility.

RELATIVES: In her love goddess aspect her parents were said to be the sky god
Anu and a fertility goddess Anat. In her battle goddess aspect she is the
daughter of Sin, a moon god. She is associated with a variety of different
consorts including: Assur (war god), Marduk (sun god), Nebo (writing) or
Tammuz (dying and ressurecting vegetation god). Sister to sun god Shamash. In
Hittite form she was sister to Hadad, a storm god.

SYNODEITIES: Ashera (who gave her name to the Hebrew tribe of Asher),
Astarte (Phonecian), Atergatis (Syria), Inanna (Syrian).

DETAILS: Of all the Middle Estern goddesses, Ishtar (or one of her other forms)
was the most widely known and loved. She is a balanced form of the goddess,
with both a positive and a negative side. She rules over fertility, yet the world
grew barren when she decended to the otherworld in search of her beloved
Tammuz. Ishtar is associated with water, both in the provision of adequate
amounts and in excesses of it. She is associated with a Babylonian flood story
when she prophesied a great flood.

Kali

NAME: Kali

SYMBOLS: A necklace of skulls representing the "seed syllables" of the Sanskrit

alphabet. These syllables are considered sacred sounds of which the universe is
created. She wields a bloodied sword which cuts through illusion (Maya).

USUAL IMAGE: Kali is depicted as a woman with black or blue skin, with long
black hair. Her tongue protrudes from her mouth. She stands or dances atop her
husband, Lord Shiva the Destroyer, who lies dead, covered in white ashes. Kali
holds a bloody sword and severed head in her two upper hands while holding out
her two lower hands in welcome, holding boons to those who follow her.

HOLY DAYS: The dark of the moon.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: There are many temples to Kali in India. Other places
considered appropriate are: cremation grounds, especially during darkest night.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Kali accepts offerings of flesh.

SYNODEITIES: Kele (Ireland), Kal-Ma (Finland), Kalu (Sinai region of the Middle
East), and Kalli (Ancient Greece), possibly Ushas (India), Prajnaparamita, the
"Perfection of Wisdom" and Ugra Tara (early Buddhist tradition),.and Shyam.

DETAILS: Kali is a primordial mother goddess of the Hindu tantric tradition. She
predates the Aryan invasion of India as evidenced by her dark skin. The conflict
between the darker skinned inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent and the
lighter skinned invaders is told through the myths of conflict and the ferocity of
Kali in defending her own against the alien invaders.

Originally a warrior goddess, Kali was worshiped with offerings of blood and
flesh. After the introduction of the patriarchal gods in India Kali continued to be
revered by the matriarchal tribes of India such as the Shabara tribes of Orissa.

Although seen as a warrior goddess, the followers of Kali find in her the strongest
of protectresses. She is considered the great mother and as such is referred to
as Kali-Ma (Kali Mother). Those who follow her are relieved of their suffering and
negative Karma as well as receiving the gifts of bliss and liberation from fear.

Kali is also associated with intense sexuality. Mythology tells of her Yoni falling to
earth at on the sacred hill near Gauhati, where the Temple of Kamakhya is now
located. The outer walls of the temple are decorated with carvings of the goddess
as a squatting woman exposing her Yoni, a mother with a suckling child, and a
warrior woman drawing a bow. These carvings present Kali as a sexual being, a
motherly woman of compassion, and full of protective fervor.

Kali has been worshiped by the Thuggee of India and this has contributed to a
negative connotation about her in the west. However, most westerners do not
understand that Kali Ma is the most widely recognized and worshiped Goddess
in India.

Maat

SYMBOLS: The rose - a sweet smelling flower full of brilliant red color, the color
of the feather in Maat's hair. The aloe, which is bitter, as justice can sometimes
be. The scales of justice, for Maat is a Goddess devoted to justice.

IMAGE: Maat is often portrayed as a young, beautiful woman with feather over
her left ear. The feather is upright and tied with on with a binding knotted at the
back of her head. .
HOLY DAYS: Unknown.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The halls of justice are sacred to Maat, who is closely
associated with truth and justice. All judges were her priests. It was believed
there was no escape from the justice of Maat in this world or the next. Princesses
of the royal families often wore the red feather of Maat in their hair in a similar
manner to indicate they were priestesses of Maat.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Maat was honored even by the monotheistic Pharoah,

Akenaten. Perfumes were offered up to her - rose, galbanum or Kyphi. The stone
sacred to her was the emerald, reputed to turn opaque if a lie was told near it.

RELATIVES: Maat is the daughter of Ra in some mythologies, the daughter of

Shu and Tefnut in other. Her siblings are Thoth (her husband), Nut (sky) and Geb
(Earth).

SYNODEITIES: Minerva, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom. In America Justice is

blinded by a fold of cloth across her eyes and carries the scales of balance long
associated with Maat.

DETAILS: Maat is associated with bringing order from chaos. In addition to her
main function, the honorable judging of the deeds of the deceased, she was
established as The Light of a Million Years by Ra - he was the sun, she the light
of the sun - and she determines his course as the sun. Because of her vast
power, all deities, including Ra, are subject to her. Maat is, above all things,
truthful and honorable.

Macha

DETAILS: The Below Is Used With Permision Of Timeless Myths. If you wish to
use this you must seek permision from the noted author above.

She was known as Macha, the goddess of fertility – a mother goddess. Macha
appeared several times in Irish myths. In her first appearance, she was the wife
of Nemed, leader of the Nemedians.

Macha also appeared as the wife of Nuada of the Silver Hand, king of Ireland
and leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Here, Macha was the daughter of Delbáeth
and Ernmas, and sister of Badb, Morrígan, and possibly of Nemain. As a tripartite
goddess of war, Macha was one of the three aspects of the Morrígans. Macha
died with her husband in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura); they were
killed by Balor's destructive eye.

However, Macha was most popular and active in her roles in the northern
province of Ulster (Ulaid). Macha appeared twice in the Ulaid Cycle.
She was once known as Macha, the red war-goddess. Macha was the daughter
of Áed Ruad. Macha married her uncle Cimbáeth and became queen of Ulaid
(Ulster). It was she, who founded the city that was named after her: Emain
Macha. The name Emain Macha means the "Brooch of Macha", because she
marked the boundary of hill-fortress with her brooch.

In the second story of Ulster, Macha appeared again, this time as the second
wife of the wealthy farmer Crunnchu. This Macha placed the curse upon the men
of Ulaid, for their mistreatment of her, during her pregnancy. The curse was that
during Ulster's hours of greatest need, the men of Ulster would suffer the pang
like those of a woman giving birth. In this story she was the goddess of horses.

Morrighan

NAME: Morrighan. The Washer at the Ford. 

SYMBOLS: Bloody linen, Ravens, Baying Hounds, a Cauldron.

USUAL IMAGE: An old woman washing linen out in a river.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: None, people tended to want her to leave them alone

SYNODEITIES: All the gods/goddesses of death. Hel (Norse), Yama (Hindu)

Pluto (Roman), Hecate (Greek), Surma (Finnish), Osiris (Egyptian), Yeh-Wang-
Yeh (Chinese), Mictlantecuhtli (Aztec), Arawn (another Celtic) the
Grandfathers/Mothers (Native Americans), Kali (another Hindu), Ankou (Breton),
Bean-Sidhe `banshee' (Scot). etc...

DETAILS: The Washer at the Ford is one of the oldest figures of death in Celtic
tradition. Those who see her washing out bloody linen are normally warriors
whose vision of her presages their pending death in battle.

The Morrighan, who, under her personas of Badh, Macha, and Nemainn, pick the
battlefield clean in the form of ravens.

In Scotland she is known as the Bean-Sidhe or banshee as we call her, who is

said to sing or cry whenever someone in a family is soon to die.

The Washer at the Ford while manly a challenging figure, is also known as the
Dark Woman of Knowledge in tradition because she is a teacher who initiates the
hero into knowledge of himself.

Nut

NAME: Nuit. Nut. Night. Nox.

SYMBOLS: The night sky.

USUAL IMAGE: A nude woman, her body filled with stars and in the area just
below her breasts the sun. She is shown in the form of an arch. She was also
sometimes shown as a cow whose udder gave forth the Milky Way.

HOLY DAYS: February the 25th was the Egyptian day of Nuit.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Under an open sky.

RELATIVES: Geb (husband\brother, Earth god), IsIs, Osiris, Nephthys, Set

(children).

FORM OF WORSHIP: Your basic Egyptian thing.

SYNODEITIES: Not many really, as Nuit is one of the few sky-goddesses to be

found in any culture, the way it works in most is that you have a sky-father and
an earth-mother, the Egyptians were one of the few that had a sky-mother and
an earth father.

DETAILS: Nuit, or Nut, is the origin for the word that means `night' in a number
of languages, In Egypt she was the endless giving sky, and their personification
of the Heavens, and all that was between Bakhau and Manu, the Maountains of
sunrise and sunset. They said that she gave birth morning and swallowed it
every night. Every day the sun would pass through her body, which was arched
over the earth, who was Geb her brother and husband, her fingers and toes were
shown barely touching the ground. Her image is usually found painted on the
inner lid sarcophagie, she was also the Mother of Gods to the Egyptians.

An Egyptian creation story says that Ra separated Nuit and Geb (Heaven and
Earth) because he was disturbed by their incest. The sycamore-fig tree was
sacred to her. Egyptians said every woman was a nutrit, or little goddess.

White Buffalo Woman

NAME: White Buffalo Woman, White Buffalo Calf Woman

SYMBOLS: White Buffalo, Pipe, Stone Circle of 36 stones.

USUAL IMAGE: Young Native American Woman dressed in white buckskins,

carrying a pipe and often shown encircled by a cloud.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: In a Stone Lodge, Within a Medicine Wheel, During a

Pipe Ceremony.

MAJOR TABOOS: Disrespect for the seven sacred ceremonies.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Not what you would call worship, as no one ever said that
White Buffalo Woman was what you would call a Goddess in the Western sense
of the word, so she was not really worshiped, but was the one who introduced a
number of ceremonies, however in the stories about her extra-human abilities are
given to her.

SYNODEITIES: Spider Grandmother, Changing Woman, Iatiku, Copper Woman,

The Corn Maidens (different Native American), Ceres (Greek/Roman), Mary
(Christian), Kwan Yin (Chinese).

DETAILS: According to Native Americans around 1800 to 2100 years ago a

woman appeared to two braves out of a cloud that came from the North, she told
them that she was there to teach them better ways to talk with the Great Spirit,
on hearing this one of the braves said they did not need some stranger telling
them how to do anything and attacked her intent on rape, but as soon as he got
near her both she and he were encircled by the cloud so that the other brave
could not see them, after a moment the cloud again left and the woman was
standing unharmed, the only thing left of the attacking brave however was a pile
of dried bones, this convinced the remaining brave that it might be a good idea to
be courteous to this woman, so he did as she asked him and brought back as
many of the chiefs, shaman, and elders of the different tribes in the area as he
could get to come.

Over seven days she taught seven ceremonies which she said would bring them
into contact with the Great Spirit, and bring them back into contact with that
which they had lost touch with.

Among the ceremonies that she was said to have brought was The Pipe
Ceremony as well as how to make the pipe and how to use tobacco, How to build
a Medicine Wheel and what it meant, The ceremony of the Seven (or five or
three, depends on how many you have) Fires which was a way for different tribes
to meet peacefully, A ceremony for contacting the spirits of the dead, as well as
others such things as bring back the buffalo, preying, and other things.

After teaching the seven ceremonies she was said to have been seen to go into
a cloud which flew off into the North, leaving behind only a few of the things she
used to teach the ceremonies.

What ever the case there are seven ceremonies that are to be found in one form
or another all over America. Interestingly enough there is a man in South Dakota
who claims to have the Pipe that White Buffalo Woman left behind back then, he
lives sort of like a Native American monk in the Bad Lands and spends his time
taking care of this Pipe and different stories related to it, as well as teaching the
Pipe Ceremony.....And to you cynics out there, no he does not do this for pay,
and gets very upset if someone tries to bring money into the matter.
Note: After this was first writen and first put up there as been the birth of Miracle
the white buffalo, who is not albino, and was greeted by thousands of Native
Americans as a return of White Buffalo Woman and the herald of important
changes. As time pasted Miracle's hair changed color a number of times, taking
on a yellowish hue, then rust (red), brown and now black. This they say showing
the five hues that humans come in and that it was time that we as a people come
together.

White Buffalo Woman or not, it is plain that Miracle has gotten the interest of
more then just a small group of Native Americans. While this has sparked great
interest among N.A. religious people (by the way until 1972 N.A. religion was
against the law.) It is having enough effect that other forces are trying to move
against it, with endless stories about average albino buffalo showing up on T.V.
and in the paper to blunt it, and old rocker and N.R.A. spokes dork Ted Neugent
trying to buy Miracle so he could "fill him full of arrows." offering a huge mound of
cash. The reply was get lost Ted.

Yemaya

NAME: Yemaya. Holy Mother of the Sea. Ymoja. Iamanja.

SYMBOLS: A six sided star, an open shell, the Seas or other body of water.

USUAL IMAGE: Most often a mermaid dressed in black and white pearls with
flowers all around her.

HOLY DAYS: June 20, called Candalaria.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The shoreline of the Sea, or the nearest large river that
flows into the Sea.

SYNODEITIES: Manannan Mac Lir (Celtic), Chalchiuhtlicue (Aztec), Ahto

(Finnish), Poseidon (Greek), Susanowo (Japanese).

DETAILS: Yemaya who is also called the Holy Mother Sea is a powerful
Goddess in the African-Caribbean tradition. In Western Africa she is Ymoja, the
Yoruban river mother, prayed to for fertility. In Santeria she is Yemaya, mother of
many orishas (spirit divinities). She traveled with her people when they were
enslaved in the Americas and the Caribbean Islands. Her popularity grew and
spread to many different peoples.

In Brazil she is Iamaja, a sea goddess celebrated on Summer Solstice with the
Candalaria ceremony in which thousands of worshipers dressed in white come to
the shorelines and throw offerings of flowers and other gifts into the sea, as well
as sacred boats which they have made. They then wait to see if she accepts their
prayer and offering or sends them back on the waves. She is thought by her
followers to wash away their troubles with her waters which are also thought of
as the womb of creation and dreams.

“Gods”

Balder

Balder, also known as Baldaeg (an Anglo-Saxon name) is Icelandic/Nordic in

origin.

Balder is known as the "shining one" and is the favored son of Odin. Balder was
made invincible by his mother, Frigg, who carefully asked all things on Earth not
to harm him. Unfortunately, she overlooked the mistletoe plant as (according to
legend) she considered it too small and insigificant.

Never underestimate the power of the villan of the tale. Loki, God of Mischief,
who wasn't overly fond of Balder, caused the blind God, Hoder, to turn a sprig of
mistletoe into a leathal weapon.

The Anglo-Saxon God Baldaeg is killed by a magic sword rather than a sprig of
mistletoe and in the Anglo tales there is a bitter and jealous rivalry between
Baldaeg and Hoder that is missing from the Norse tale. The Anglo version also
includes legends that Baldaeg went on to become the ruler of Hel along with
other warriors slain in battle.

Geb

Geb -the Egyptian Earth God

SYMBOLS: The desert surrounding the Nile Valley.

IMAGE:Geb is a dark-skinned man lying upon his back. penis erect. He is an

Earth God, a rarity among deity, but not a fertile Earth God as the Earth Mother is
considered to be the Nile Valley. He is forever separated from his beloved, Nut,
the Sky, also known as night.

HOLY DAYS: Unknown. Geb is one of the few gods without a cult. He was given
the Earth to rule but abused his rule and had to be forced to provide for
humanity. Not a way to endear followers!

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Perhaps under the arch of the sky, his beloved. Or near
in the desert lands.

FORM OF WORSHIP: The animal sacred to Geb is the gander, which is one of
his guises. Colors associated with Geb are those of earth - green, black, and
brown. Stones associated with Geb are obsidian and sandstone. The plant
sacred to Geb is the aloe, a desert plant. Kyphi incense is burned in his worship.
Phallic cakes are also used as a part of his worship.

RELATIVES: Son of Shu and Tefnut, father of Osiris and Isis. His wife was Nut,
who was also his older sister. They bore, in addistion ot Osiris and Isis, Set and
Nepthys.

SYNODEITIES: None, exactly. Most Earth Gods and Goddesses are those of
plenty. Geb is a god of the barren wastes of desert.

DETAILS: Geb and his older sister, Nut, fell in love while still being carried within
their mother's womb. They began copulating upon brith, creating four children,
then returning to their embrace. So all consumed with their passion were they
that humanity had to turn to Ra to force them to provide light and air. Ra
forceably removed the lovers, planting Shu between them. They are pictured with
Geb lying on his back, penis erect, Shu on one knee holding Nut up by her belly.
Nut is arched overhead, only her toes and fingers able to touch the ground.

Greenman

NAME: The Greenman. Silvanus. The Green Knight.

SYMBOLS: Man's face surrounded by leaves.

USUAL IMAGE: A man that seems to be made out of plant life. A normal man
save that he is a bright green in color.

HOLY DAYS May the 1st.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The forest, to be sure!

MAJOR TABOOS: Taking without putting a bit back.

RELATIVES: Not many detailed myths, but does seem to have something to do
with a number of local Earth Goddesses. And in the Arthurian story he does have
an unnamed wife.

SYNODEITIES: Pan (Greek), Gaia (Roman), Meilikki (Finnish) Swamp Thing

(DC Comics).

DETAILS: The Greenman is a mostly mythless god that appears on Gothic

churches as a male face surrounded by leaves. This was based on the image of
nature as an awakened initiator, a guardian and revealer of nature's mysteries,
whose body was wild nature itself.
He also shows up in the tales of King Arthur, when he shows up in green armor
riding a green horse. Riding right into court, he offers to let any knight take a
swing at his neck, noting that if he should live the knight must seek him out one
year later and let the Green Knight take the same strike at his neck. Sir Gawain,
the most handsome and fearless of knights, accepted the stranger's challenge
and chopped the Green Knight's head off with one stroke. As the head is rolling
around on the floor the Green Knight's body walks over, picks up the head, puts it
back on, and leaves - reminding Gawain to look for him in one year. One year
later Gawain arrives at the chapel where the Green Knight lives. There he was
tested by the Knight's wife. He succumbed somewhat to her. Later he offers his
neck to the Green Knight who wings his sword but stops just before it would have
hit - save he gives him a small nick to remind him of his indiscretion.

Hades

Hades is the Greek God of Death and the Underworld. He is the brother of Zeus,
son of Cronos and Rhea and the husband of Persephone.

Hades is also the God of great wealth as gems and minerals exist only within the
underworld, also known (rather conveniently) as Hades.

He is depicted as a dark haired, dark bearded God driving a black chariot pulled
by black horses. He carries a harpoon or sometimes a scepter, as well as a key.

Hades, the Kingdom, is a rather interesting place full of rivers and various levels.
It has been described by everyone from the ancient Greeks and Romans down to
Dante and his "Inferno." Piers Anthony has, during the last decade, done a
credible job at giving a graphic description of Hades and it's occupants while
naming it Hell, a Christianesque term.

Hades is not associated with Satan nor does he rule over the eternal torment of
sinners. Instead, there are many sections of the kingdom of Hades where
individuals rest, wander, lament, or engage in other activities. There are, indeed,
some nasty places, but also some adequate areas. The biggest problem seems
to be having the coin to pay the ferryman (Charon) to get across the River Styx,
and dealing with the judges.

Hermes

Grecian Hermes was also called "the messenger of the Gods" and was known by
his winged cap and shoes. This speedy fellow was the son of Zeus and a nymph
by the name of Maia.

Mercury watches over graves and protects them from desecration - considering
which many vandalized graveyards in America might wish to invoke his
assistance.
He is also the God of boundaries and apparently is still honored in New England
where "good fences makes good neighbors" still seems to hold sway.

He is associated with good fortune and was called upon in games of chance.

He is the patron of thieves, probably due to his speedy characteristics as well as

his association with divine thefts of cattle, a lyre, and even a trapped hero in a
barrel.

With all the above activity, as well as being the patron of shepherds and heralds,
you'd think he'd be too pooped to pop, but he also had time for a mistress -
Aphrodite. He also consorted with a large number of nymphs and kept a large
herd of sheep and goats.

His staff, a magickal staff of the type used by heralds, twined with snakes, can be
found in the medical profession today, so it seems that the honoring of that
ancient God is alive and well in America!

Herne

NAME: Herne, Herne the Huntsman, Master of the Hunt, Lord of the Wild Hunt,
Cernunnos.

SYMBOLS: Stag horns, Hounds, Hunting Horn.

USUAL IMAGE: A large man with the horns of a stag, sometimes show with
midnight black skin and glowing green eyes.

HOLY DAYS: The whole of the winter months, like most Celtic 'horned' gods,
Herne was said to rule the cold months. The Goddess ruled during the summer
months.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: The wild wood.

MAJOR TABOOS: Escaping.

FORM OF WORSHIP: "All heads turn when the hunt goes by."

SYNODEITIES: Silvanus (another Celtic God), Pan (Greek/Roman), Buffalo

(Native American), Mielikki (Finnish).

DETAILS: Herne is the silent master of the Wild Hunt, a legend that is found in
most Celtic lands. Herne is also one of a number of horned gods that are found
in Celtic tales. Like the others he was a symbol of the life force. Herne, like the
Greek Pan, was a symbol for a wilder form of that force. Just as Pan's pipes
drove people to pan-ic, Herne also had a highly effective horn. Only his did not
drive one to panic but called all who heard it to joint he wild hunt and be filled
with an uncontrollable lust to hunt down and rip to shreds what or whom ever
was unlucky enough to become the object of this hunt. He was always aided in
this by a number of large hounds.

Horus

NAME: Horus. also: Hor-akhuti (Horus of the Horizons), Hor-behedet, Hadit, Hor-
pa-kraat (Horus the Child), Her-ur (Horus the Elder), Ra-Hoor-Khuit.

SYMBOLS: a falcon, the Eye of Horus.

USUAL IMAGE: A human with the head of a falcon, some said that he had one
blue eye and one red eye.

HOLY BOOKS: Liber Al Vel Legis.

RELATIVES: Osiris (father), Isis (mother), Set (Uncle), Amset, Duamutef, Hapi,
Qebhsenuef (sons).

SYNODEITIES: Chih-Chiang Fyu-Ya (Chinese), Nuada (Celtic), Thor (Norse)

DETAILS: One of the most important deities of Egypt. Horus as now conceived
is a mixture of the original deities known as "Horus the Child" and "Horus the
Elder". As the Child, Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis, who, upon reaching
adulthood, becomes known as Her-nedj-tef-ef ("Horus, Avenger of His Father")
by avenging his father's death, by defeating and casting out his evil uncle Set. He
then became the divine prototype of the Pharaoh. As Horus the Elder, he was
also the patron deity of Upper (Southern) Egypt from the earliest times; initially,
viewed as the twin brother of Set (the patron of Lower Egypt), but he became the
conqueror of Set c. 3000 B.C.E. when Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and
formed the unified kingdom of Egypt. He had four sons called:

Amset - who was represented as a mummified man. He was the protector of the
liver of the deceased, and was protected by the goddess Isis.

Duamutef - who was represented as a mummified man with the head of a jackal.
He was the protector of the stomach of the deceased, and was protected by the
goddess Neith.

Hapi - who was represented as a mummified man with the head of a baboon. He
was the protector of the lungs of the deceased, and was protected by the
goddess Nephthys. The name Hapi, spelled identically in most but not all cases,
is also the name of the god who was the personification of the River Nile, epicted
as a corpulent man (fat signifying abundance) with a crown of lilies or papyrus
stems.
Qebhsenuef - who was represented as a mummified mman with the head of a
falcon. He was the protector of the intestines of the deceased, and was protected
by the goddess Serket.

Mammon

NAME: Mammon. The Golden Calf.

SYMBOLS: a golden calf. $ (also signs for the Pound, Yen, Mark etc...)

USUAL IMAGE: Mostly bovine, male calves and Bulls.

HOLY BOOKS: If there ever were any in the past they have been destroyed
however a good god is hard to put down, so that he can be found in the
Wallstreet Journal, The Financial Times, Sears & Robuck catalog, Wealth of
Nations, Forbes, etc...

HOLY DAYS: Main one use to take place between Dec. 12 to Dec. 25, but his
followers have stretched this out so that the images, icons, and chanting of their
high holy day now starts around Nov. first.

UNHOLYDAY: One of the rare one's that has one of these, takes place (at least
in the U.S. so this one can be thought of as sort of like Thanksgiving,an
American based (un)holiday) on April 15

PLACES OF WORSHIP: the market place, Malls, Banks, the `pits' on Wallstreet
and in like centers of worship. Also like few other up to date deities Mammon has
gone video and has a televised worship place, and just like some others are
served by the 700 club or MTV, he is served on the religious channel known as
the Home Shopping Network.

MAJOR TABOOS: Don't get caught. Don't leave home with out it. Never give a
sucker an even brake.

FORMS OF WORSHIP: BUYING!. spending. hording. dancing around a graven

image (as Golden calves are hard to come by today, this has mainly been
replaced by such things as large boats, BMW's, and other types of cars.

SYNODEITIES: Baal, Rockefeller, Nephthys, Scrooge McDuck, Santa Claus.

DETAILS: Mammon is the all-American deity, though he is just as well liked and
worshiped the whole world over, an interesting bit of synchronicity is the way that
the bull image and related images turn up to day, in the past a common foe of
some bull deities was a tiger, and as you go west this foe becomes a bear. and
on Wallstreet we still have bulls and bears, and the new myths about the war
between the bull (capitalism) and the bear (communism) are well known to every
one.

Dagda

NAME: The Dagda. "The Good God."

SYMBOLS: A large club, a golden harp, a cauldron.

USUAL IMAGE: Most images of him show the Dagda as a normal looking
human male with a paunch. He is also often shown wearing a tunic with a hood.

HOLY BOOKS: The Second Battle of Mag Tured, Leabar Gabala "The Book of
Conquests," The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Druid Grove.

MAJOR TABOOS: Doing anything halfway, not trying ones best.

RELATIVES: Dana (mother).

SYNODEITIES: Apollo (Greek), Cupid (Greek), Odin (Norse).

DETAILS: The Dagda was really more of a title than anything else. It meant the
Good God. By that the old Celtics meant he was "endowed with all qualities." He
was known as the God who was most successful with both women and
goddesses, this in spite of the fact he was always shown as having a fairly large
paunch.

His favorite weapon was a club so large that when not in use he had to mount it
on wheels in order to be able to carry it around, but when he needed to use it, he
was able to lift it easily. He was said to be able to kill nine of his enemies with
one blow from it, but that is not all it did. When a dead person was touched with
the other end of the club they were brought back to life.

He also had a golden harp which would fly to his hand when called by him. With
it he could sing songs which could make anyone glad, sad, or fall asleep.

He was said to have the Cauldron of Abundance, one of the four great sacred
objects of the Tuatha De Danann (the people of Dana, which is what the
grouping of gods he was a part of were called). The cauldron was said never to
run out of food, and if a dead person was placed in it they would spring out alive
and young again. But in one respect this was a little strange, as cauldrons were
almost always owned by and the symbols of goddesses in the part of the world
where The Dagda came from - so I guess he was good!
The Dagda was thought of as one of the main patrons of the Druids.

Great Mystery

NAME: Great Mystery. Swenio (to use the Seneca word)

SYMBOLS: None.

USUAL IMAGE: None.

HOLY BOOKS: None.

HOLY DAYS: All of them.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: All places, all time, all at the same time.

MAJOR TABOOS: None.

RELATIVES: None, or maybe everyone and everything.

FORM OF WORSHIP: None, has no use for it.

SYNODEITIES: Ain Soph (Qabalaistic `Jewish mysticism'), The Zen (Chinese).

Ntu (African).

DETAILS: Something that gets asked by some of those in mainstream religions

who have not had all the curiosity squeezed out of them is "If God made the
universe, then who made him? where did he come from, and what was he doing
before he did it?" This is usually brushed off with a "he just always was." or "we
are not meant to know that." Well the Native Americans say that they were, and
the answer is Great Mystery, not A great mystery but Great Mystery as a being.

The Seneca Indians and a number of other Native Tribes called the being that
they believed made the world different words that all meant Creator or Great
Spirit, but that Great Spirit came out of Great Mystery, was something that
always was, that touched all space and all time all at the same time, and from
which all things came out of, from the Creator to the last pebble, and yet was at
the same time also those things and people as well. They said that Great
Mystery lives in everything, is everything, and encompasses everything in
Creation. The forms may change, but the energy of Creation was self-
regenerative and eternal, and that even God would return to it someday. These
and other ideas that were a part of the idea of Great Mystery were alien to the
"Boat People" (you know, the people that came after that Columbus boy)

When some whites began to understand the languages of Native Americans and
tried to conceptualize Indian understandings regarding Great Mystery, the limits
of their religions blocked their paths of understanding. The white idea of God was
then, as it is now to most people let's face it, rather primitive, in that most think of
God as more or less human, just bigger, older, and with many more abilities. The
Indians were more expansive and all encompassing in their views of the Original
Source of Creation. Great Mystery lives in everything and knows no boundaries
or limits, but was not so much an "person" as everything, while at the same time
just one great thought, and that all peoples (humans, plants, animals, rocks
etc...) had free will to co-create with the Great Mystery in beauty and truth or in
ugliness or dispair. Some of the Eastern tribes tried to communicate their
understanding of Great Mystery without success to the French trappers.

The Idea of all things coming from this Thought from God to the last little rock
was not understood. Since these concepts were limited by the Christian
backgounds of the settlers Great Mystery was misinterpreted by them as a one
big all-powerfull thing like their God. The Joke among Native People at the time
was that according to the white understanding, "In the beginning was the
word...and it was misunderstood".

Yog-Sothoth

NAME: Yog-Sothoth. the Key and Guardian of the Gate. Atomic-Chaos. The All
in One. Tawil at'Umr. Umr at'Tawil. The King in Yellow.

SYMBOLS: The Y rune. Veil. Silver Fire. Iridescent Spheres.

USUAL IMAGE: A giant mass of iridescent globes, like soap bubbles or a barely
seeable mass of feelers, legs, eyes, stalked organs, and tentacles phasing in and
out of reality. or a huge man seated on a throne, dressed in fine yellow robes, his
face covered by a yellow veil, with only his clawed hands showing. or a free-
flying globe like a UFO.

HOLY BOOKS: the Necronomicon, Unausprechichen Kulten, Pnakotic

Manuscripts, Azathoth and Others, Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan,
Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft. Liber Al. H.P.
Lovecraft and the Hidden God by Kenneth Grant.

HOLY DAYS: As he...it is said to touch all times and all spaces I guess this is a
moot point.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Your basic wind swept moor, or craggy rock out-cropping
overlooking the sea.

MAJOR TABOOS: Getting in it's way I guess.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Contemplating "him" without going nuts. Mating with

some form of it. Feeding things to it.
SYNODEITIES: Cthulhu, Hastur the Unspeakable, Nyarlathotep, Shub-
Niggurath, Aywass, Kali, Yig, Nodens, Tsathoggua, Cthugha, Azathoth, Gozer.

DETAILS: Yog-Sothoth first appeared in The Dunwitch Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

in the 20's, but has been used by many other writers since then, and is an
important part of the `Cthulhu Mythos' which by the way is not what Lovecraft
called or wanted this fiction called, he preferred Yog-Sothothism. And while for
H.P. and his friends it was all fiction, there are some that take it a little more
seriously, claiming that Lovecraft was an unknowing sensitive who picked up
"real" things and filtered them through his paranoid imagination to produce his
stories and poems. And there are those that claim that Liber Al by Aleister
Crowley (or by Aywass received by Crowley as some would say) is the "real"
Necronomicon, and there are those that say that when Liber Al was being up-
loaded in data from to different boards each and every one of them had hard-
drive trouble that very week, but I don't believe it, not for a minute. (makes elder
sign)

Vulcan

NAME: Vulcan. Vulcanus.

SYMBOL: Volcano, Bonfire. (nope, no anvil.)

IMAGE: The guy with the game leg that stands on Red Mountain. Hephaestus
the Greek god of blacksmiths and magic looked like the Roman God Vulcan. The
two were combined. When that happened they did not have a human image, but
was thought of as a big fire being.

HOLY BOOKS: None, the big guy was not much into reading, but there was a
Son of Vulcan comic back in the 60's.

HOLY DAYS: August 23rd - called the Vulcanalia.

PLACE OF WORSHIP: Outside, near a volcano if you have one.

MAJOR TABOOS: As far as I can tell, not being careful with fire. Vulcan was
prayed to mainly to ask that one's house not be burned down, or that the local
volcano not act up.

FORM OF WORSHIP: Believe it or not, throwing fish into a bonfire. They did it
every August 23rd.

SYNODEITIES: Zeus, Huhueteotl, Peli, Crom.

DETAILS: Despite the hammer and anvil that our Vulcan has, the original Vulcan
of the Romans has nothing to do with blacksmiths and was in fact one of the
chief deities of the very early Romans. Vulcan hung on as such until they started
mixing with the Greeks, and the myths of Hephaestus got tagged on to him.
Before that there is not one myth dealing with Vulcan, as he was regarded by
them as this mysterious unknowable being that lived in a Volcano and was
prayed to only to be asked to please stay calm, and protect ones home from fire.
His only Holy-day was the 23rd of August at which time they had a fish fry.