Gods and Goddesses

[WitchBoy]

There are thousands of gods and goddesses in the many different pantheons, and it is near impossible to include them all.  The origins of the deities used in eclectic Wicca are far and wide, and here I have included some of the more well known ones from Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Japanese, Aztec, Oceanic, Sumerian, Mesopotamian, African, Celt, Caananite, Chinese and North American Indian traditions.

ATUM (Egypt) The first of the gods, the self-created. Atum was bisexual and was sometimes called "the great He-She."

AWONAWILONA (North American Indian - Pueblo Indians) "The One Who Contains Everything." The Supreme God, the Creator of All. Before the creation there was 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, the Sun.

BAAL-HADDAD (Canaanite) "The Mighty," "He who mounts the clouds." The executive of the divine assembly.

BADB (Celt) A goddess of war. One of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan.

BALDER (Norse) A hero god, the god who dies and rises again.

BAST Also BASTET. (Egypt) The cat-headed goddess, a local deity of the delta. The kindly goddess of joy, music and dancing. Cats were sacred to Bast as a symbol of animal passion.

BENZAITEN (Japan) Goddess of love, one of the gods of happiness.

BISHAMON (Japan) God of happiness and war, a strange combination.

BRAGI (Norse) It is Bragi's duty to prepare Valhalla for new arrivals.

BRIGHID also BRIGIT (Celt) Goddess of healing and craftsmanship, especially metalwork. Also a patron of learning and poetry. In Wales she is Caridwen, who possesses the cauldron of knowledge and inspiration. The Celts so loved Brighid that they could not abandon her when they became Christians, and so made Brighid a saint.

BUKU (Africa - Various West African peoples) A sky god sometimes worshipped as a goddess. Buku created everything, even the other gods.
CERNUNNOS (Celt) Horned god of virility.

CH'ENG-HUANG(China) God of moats and walls. Every village and town had its own Ch'eng-Huang, most often a local dignitary or important person who had died and been promoted to godhood. His divine status was revealed in dreams, though the gods made the actual decision. Ch'eng-Huang not only protects the community from attack but sees to it that the King of the Dead does not take any soul from his jurisdiction without proper authority. Ch'eng-Huang also exposes evil-doers in the community itself, usually through dreams.

DAGDA (Celt) Earth and father god.

DANU (Celt) Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother.

DARAMULUN (Oceania - Australian) A sky god, a hero.

DEMETER; to the Romans, CERES (Greece) Goddess of grain and the fruitful earth. An earth mother who was certainly one of, if not the oldest of the gods.

DIAN CECHT (Celt) A healer.

DIS PATER (Celt) Originally a god of death and the underworld, later the chief god of the Gauls.

DXUI (Africa - Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to the Xhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A creator god.

EA Also ENKI (Mesopotamia) God of water, supreme god of magic and wisdom.

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

ERESHKIGAL (Mesopotamia) Goddess of the underworld, consort of Nergal. Some consider her a dark side of Ishtar.

ERIS (Greece) The dark sister of Eros. Goddess of chaos and discord.

EROS (Greece) God of love both heterosexual and homosexual.

ESHU (Africa - Yoruba) A trickster.  Eshu also knows all human tongues and acts as a go-between for mortals and the gods.

[WitchBoy]

FIRST MAN AND FIRST WOMAN (North American Indian - Navajo) In the beginning, First Man and First Woman ascended from the underworld.

FORSETI (Norse) God of justice, the great arbiter, the god who "stills all strife."

FREYJA (Norse) Goddess of magic and death, goddess of sex.

FREYR (Norse) God of fertility, sunlight and rain, peace, joy and contentment.

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

GAIA (Greece) "Mother of all things." The Earth itself, mother of the Titans, the old gods. Gaia nurses the ill and watches over marriages.

GIDJA (Australian) Moon god.

HADES Also PLUTO (Greece) "The Unseen," God of wealth and the underworld.

HATHOR (Egypt) A sky goddess. Hathor concerns herself with beauty, love and marriage, and watches over women giving birth. Mother and wife of Ra. Hathor is also a goddess of death and offers comfort to the newly dead as they pass into the afterworld.

HECATE (Greece) Goddess of the crossroads, often depicted with two ghost hounds that were said to serve her. Hecate is often wrongly portayed as evil, probably due to her job - she guides the newly deceased to the Underworld - but like all deities of death, she is simply doing her work.

HEL (Norse) Goddess of death.

HERA; to the Romans, JUNO. (Greece) Wife of Zeus, queen of the gods.

HERMES; to the Romans, MERCURY (Greece) The messenger of the gods, the god of eloquence, the god of luck. God of travellers, merchants and athletes.

HO-MASUBI (Japan) Fire god.

HORUS (Egypt) The falcon-headed god. A complex deity with many aspects. Frequent depictions as a baby at the breast of his mother Isis influenced Christian images of the Madonna and the Christ child.

HUITZILOPOCHTLI (Aztec) God of war. Principal god of the Aztecs.

HYPNOS (Greece) God of sleep. Hypnos has power even over the gods.
IO (Oceania - New Zealand) "Io of the Hidden Face," "Io Eternal," "Io God of Love."  Supreme being of the Maori, master of all the other gods, known only to the priesthood.

ISHTAR; to the Sumerican INANNA; to the Egyptians, ASTARTE (Mesopotamia) The greatest of all the mother goddesses of the Mesopotamians. Goddess of fertility, goddess of sex, goddess of the moon, goddess of war. Lady of heaven, lady of sorrow and battles. The great lover, the great mother.

ISIS (Egypt) Sister-wife of Osiris.  The ideal wife and mother. One of the most popular images of the complete Goddess.

IZANAGI and IZANAMI (Japan) Creator god and goddess sent down from heaven to build the earth. The other gods and goddesses are their descendents.

KIBUKA (Africa - Baganda) A war god sent to save the Baganda people.
KITCKI MANITOU (North American Indian - Algonquin) The Great Spirit, the Supreme Being. The Uncreated, the Father of Life, God of the Winds. The Great Spirit is present in some way in nearly every North American Indian mythology.

KUAN TI (China) God of war. The Great Judge who protects the people from injustice and evil spirits.

KWAN YIN also KWANNON (China) Goddess of mercy and compassion

[WitchBoy]

LEZA (Central Africa) "The One Who Besets." Known to a number of peoples, Leza is the Supreme God who rules the sky and sends wind and rain. Leza sits on the backs of all people, and no one ever breaks free of him. Leza is said to be growing old and so does not hear prayers as well as he once did.

LOKI (Norse) A trickster. Sly, deceitful, but Loki is charming, witty, quite capable, with a sardonic sense of humour which he aims at himself no less often than at others.

LUG also LUGH, LLEU (Celt) A sun god and a hero god, young, strong, radiant with hair of gold, master of all arts, skills and crafts.

MAAT (Egypt) Goddess of truth and justice.

MACHA (Celt) "Crow." The third of the triad of war goddesses known as the Morrigan,

MARDUK (Mesopotamia) The great god of Babylon, King of Kings, the Great Sorcerer.

MAWU-LISA (Africa - Ewe) The great god and goddess of the sun and moon.

MORRIGAN, THE also MORRIGU MORRIGAN (Celt) A war goddess, forerunner of the Arthurian Morgan La Fey.

MULUNGU (East Africa) God, the Supreme Being. The concept of a supreme being and creator is nearly universal in Africa, although there are few temples to him.

NANAN-BOUCLOU (Africa - Ewe) The original god of the Ewe tribe, both male and female, Nanan-Bouclou is much too remote for worship. In Haiti Nanan-Bouclou is remembered as the god of herbs and medicines.

NEBO Also NABU (Mesopotamia) God of writing and speech, speaker for the gods.

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

NGAI (Africa - Masai) Creator god. At birth, 'Ngai gives each 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 and many cattle.

NIKE; to the Romans, VICTORIA (Greece) Goddess of victory.

NOKOMIS (North American Indian - Algonquin) "Grandmother." The Sacred Earth Mother. Nokomis nurtures all living things.

NYAME (Africa - Ashanti) Supreme God of Heaven, both the sun god and the moon goddess. Nyame created the three realms, the sky, the earth and the underworld.

ODIN; OTHINN; WODEN; WOTAN (Norse) God of strife, war, magic and death.

OGMIOS also OGMA "Sun Face."(Celt) A hero god like Hercules, a god of eloquence, language, genius. Generally portrayed as an old man dressed in a lion skin.

O-KUNI-NUSHI (Japan) God of sorcery and medicine.

OMETEOTL (Aztec) "God of the Near and Close," "He Who Is at the Center," the god above all, the being both male and female who created all life and existence. Ometeotl is dualistic, embodying both male and female, light and dark, positive and negative.

OSIRIS (Egypt) At first the god of corn; later the god of the dead. Osiris brought civilization to the Egyptians, teaching them the uses of corn and wine, weaving, sculpture, religion, music and law. Osiris is the god of the Nile which rises and falls every year; the god of corn and the vine, which flourish, die, and flourish once more; and the god of the rising and setting sun.

PAN (Greece) God of herds, fertility and male sexuality. Pan has the horns and legs of a goat and plays a syrinx, a pipe withs seven reeds. The embodiment of pure, basic instinct.

P'AN-CHIN-LIEN (China) Goddess of prostitutes. As a mortal, she was a widow who was much too liberal and inventive with her favours, and her father-in-law killed her. In death she was honored by her more professional associates.

POSEIDON (Greece) God of the sea and earthquakes.

PTAH (Egypt)   The artificer. The creator god. According to the priests of Memphis, the fount of all creation.

QAT (Oceania - Polynesia) Creator god.

RA (Egypt) God of the sun; sometimes identified or considered synonomous with Atum. Ra created man from his tears.

[WitchBoy]

SEKHMUT (Egypt) Goddess of war and battles, consort of Ptah.

SELU (North American Indian - Cherokee) "Corn." Sometimes known as First Woman.

SET (Egypt)  God of evil, of drought, of destruction, thunder and storm. Set tore himself from his mother's womb in his hurry to be born.

SHAKURA (North American Indian - Pawnee) Sun god.

SHAMASH Also BABBAR, UTU (Mesopotamia) The sun. Son of the moon god Sin.

SIN (Mesopotamia) The moon god. Wise and secretive, the enemy of all evil spirits.

TAMMUZ Also DUMUZI (Mesopotamia) God of the harvest.

TANO (Africa - Ashanti) The second oldest son of God, and god of the river of the same name.

TEKKEITSERKTOCK (North American Indian - Inuit/Eskimo) The earth god.

THANATOS (Greece) God of death, but not evil or hateful. He is just doing his job.

THOR (Norse) God of thunder. God of law and order, the champion of the people.

THOTH (Egypt) "Thrice Greatest." God of wisdom, music, magic, medicine, astronomy, geometry, surveying, art and and writing. Historian, scribe and judge.

TIRAWA-ATIUS (North American Indian - Pawnee) The Power Above, creator of the heavens and the earth.

TI-TSANG WANG (China) God of mercy. Once a priest of Brahma, he converted to Buddhism and himself became a Buddha with  authority over the souls of the dead.

TLALOC (Aztec) Lord of all sources of water, clouds, rain.

TONATIUH (Aztec) God of the Sun.

TORNGASAK (North American Indian - Inuit/Eskimo) The good spirit, representing everything in nature good and helpful to man.

TSAO WANG (China) God of the hearth. Every household has its 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. The hearth god's wife records every word spoken by every member of the family.

TSUI' GOAB (Africa - Hottentots) "Wounded Knee," "Father of Our Fathers." A rain god who lives in the clouds, a great chief and magician. Tsui' Goab made the first man and woman from rocks.

UNKULUNKULU (Africa - Zulu) "Old, Old One." Unkulunkulu was both the first man and the creator, a god of the earth who had no traffic with the heavens. Unkulunkulu showed men how to live together and gave them knowledge of the world.

URANUS (Greece) Heaven personified. The son born to Gaia when she first emerged from Chaos.

WACHABE (North American Indian - Sioux/Osage) Black Bear. A guardian. Symbol of long life, strength and courage.

XIPE TOTEC (Aztec) Lord of the Spring, god of new seed and of pentitential torture.

XIUHTECUHTLI (Aztec) Pivot of the universe, one of the forms of the Supreme Deity.

YALUNGUR (Oceania - Australian) defeated Kunapipi and became the first woman.

YU-HUANG-SHANG-TI (China) "Father Heaven." The August Supreme Emperor of Jade, whose court is in the highest level of heaven,

ZEUS; to the Romans, JUPITER. (Greece) The ruler of the Olympian gods, god of the sky, thunder, and lightening, the upholder of custom and tradition

[Nemesis]

Good job Witch! We should place this in the library!

[Teej]

Yeah, it's was pretty cool.  I liked it  


Teej

[Freya]

Man. jay you sound like a dictionnary! But cool, I like it!!

[WitchBoy]

Thank you my friends  
I'm just a walking encyclopedia on the occult  ;D

[Freya]

You might be an encyclopedia, but you are a very good one!

[WitchBoy]

Thank you nicky ....(takes a bow)  
I do my best to please  ;D

[Freya]

And you do! Anymore information? It's soo good!

[WitchBoy]

ive got loads...please read my topic in ufo..the long one

[LoTu]

sorry but isn't DIANA the mother goddess....

[WitchBoy]

check out my topic - Meet The Deities in the Great Library