Concerning the Goddess and the God
A Goddess Gallery
-EGYPTIAN-
ISIS: Goddess of motherhood and fertility, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus; she is the supreme Egyptian goddess who sends the annual innundation of the Nile which waters the fields; she lives in the star Sirius, which she wears on her head between the horns of the moon, as she is a lunar goddess as well. Surmounting the rest of the headdress is the ideogram for her name, a throne; she is the patroness of priestesses and the goddess of magick; her spells bring the dead back to life and she is the queen of death.
(note: Some believe that all goddesses in Egypt are facets of ISIS, and although this may be true in a figurative sense as discussed in the last section, it has been proven through artifacts that the ancient Egyptians -did- believe in a monotheistic society without unification under a faceted goddess. Some books declare otherwise, so be warned to always check sources and do your own interpretation.)
NEPHTHYS: The dark sister of Isis, also a goddess of death and wife of Set; she generally accompanies her sister Isis and helps her in her magic, and they are often said to be the good twin/bad twin representation of one Goddess. Maybe so. She is also considered the goddess of the protective aspect of family.
HATHOR: A sky goddess, and goddess of love and beauty; she has the head of a cow and wears the lunar horns and full moon on her head.
MAAT: Goddess of law and justice, she weighs the deceased person's heart in the balance against her vulture feather in the Egyptian after-world -- those that measure up go to the blessed Osiris' realm, those whose hearts are heavy are perpetually devoured by monsters. (This is also one interpretation. Others are available and encouraged.)
BAST AND SEKHMET: The cat or lion-headed goddess, who with her sister Sekhmet, who looks like her, represent the heat of the sun; Bast is th eliving power and gentle heat of sunlight; Sekhmet, the dark sister, is the destroying power of the desert sun.
(note: A statue from an Egyptian temple, fashioned of Sekhmet's image, was on display in the Portland Museum Of Art's "Splendours of Ancient Egypt" exhibit. I was knocked against the statue at one point, and put my hand on her "leg". Within six months, most of the negative points of my life had been "burned away", though not without pain and not the way I would have chosen. Sekhmet is a powerful goddess-form, but unpredictable. Be careful if you choose her to align a ritual with.)
NUT: Also known as MUT, she is the watery celestial void from which all things were born, and is therefore the Great Mother and Mother of the Gods; she is often portrayed as the night sky, with the goddess' body arched over the earth, and rain falling from her breasts; she wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and carries the wand of power.
NET: Also spelled NEITH or NIT, she is the Huntress and is often considered to be an aspect of NUT. It is She who culls souls, carrying a bow and arrow, with the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt on her head.
-GRECO/ROMAN GODDESSES-
ATHENE/MINERVA: Goddess of Wisdom and the Arts; She is both a warrior goddess and goddess of the hearth.
APHRODITE/VENUS: Goddess of Love and Beauty.
ARTEMIS/DIANA: Goddess of both the moon and the hunt.
HERA/JUNO: Goddess of marriage and birth, the Queen of Heaven.
DEMETER/CERES: Goddess of the harvest, the Sorrowing Mother.
HECATE: Goddess of witchcraft, the moon in her Crone aspect.
SELENE/LUNA: The moon as lover and bride, its second aspect, with Diana the Virgin Moon and Hecate the third.
PERSEPHONE/PROSERPINA: The daughter of Demeter/Ceres, who each year is raped and carried off by Hades/Pluto, God of the Underworld; this symbolizes the dying-down of the earth each fall and winter; and it is whom the Mother mourns, until her return each spring.
IRIS: Goddess of the Rainbow.
VESTA: Goddess of the hearth, she had a perpetual fire burning to her in Rome.
-NORDIC-GERMANIC-
FRIGG/FREYA: Dawn and fertility, love and beauty, her sacred animal is the Cat.
BERTHA/HOLDA: A spinning goddess, like the Roman Fates, also goddess of winter and witchcraft; she rides abroad in midwinter on the Wild Hunt; the Crone.
-WELSH-
ARIANRHOD: The Star Goddess, beautiful daughter of Don, the King of Heaven
CORDELIA: The "blossom of the flowering seas," daughter of King Llyr, ruler of the sea; she is a Venus and Proserpina, and the Goddess of the summer flowers
RHIANNON: The Goddess of Birds, and enchantress whose music makes men forget everything, she is always accompanied by her birds.
BRANWEN: A goddess of love, the "Venus of the Northern Seas", the daughter of Llyr and probably the same as Cordelia.
CERIDWEN: The Goddess of Nature, the Great Mother; she has a Culdron of Inspiration, which symbolises the reproductive power of the Earth.
-GAELIC-
The deities of the Irish are often called the "Tuatha de Danann", or the faerie folk which dwells in the land of promise. They have also been known as the Sidhe or Fairy folk, and have spawned the legends locally (and in Scotland) about the "Good Folk". The Gelic Great Mother is the Great White Goddess, a triple goddess, and many of the goddess-forms below are thought of as aspects of her or have three aspects themselves. The situation is confusing, because Ireland was Christianized very early and the new monks zealously suppressed the old worship.
BRIGID: fire and fertility goddess, goddess of home and all feminine arts and crafts; she was supposed to have invented agriculture, pottery and spinning; she is also the goddess of divination, poetry, love, healing and occult knowledge, like Vesta she had a perpetual fire in her honor; Candlemas is celebrated in her honor.
MORRIGHAN: she is the Moon Goddess, and the most likely candidate for the Great White Goddess, the queen of the faeries and the goddess of rivers, lakes, and water; she often assumes the form of a raven or crow, for she is also the goddess of war and death and is said to haunt battlefields right after a battle; there are many sacred wells in Ireland which are dedicated to her; the Great mother; Patroness of witches and priestesses, Goddess of night and magic.
DANU: One of the three aspects of Morrighan, that of the mother of the gods, she who was before the Earth was formed, and Goddess of Wisdom, Queen of Heaven.
ANU: Another aspect of Mother Earth, Mother of Men; there are two famous hills in Ireland which are known as the Paps of Anu.
BLODWEN: The Holy Flora, the Earth in bloom, Goddess of Flowers.
MABH: Also spelled as Medhbh or Maebe, goddess of love and fertility, queen of the faeries, as well.