So because the journal of 'Who's your favourite Goddess?" was such a hit, I decided to share some of the responses. So maybe we can learn from each other. SO here are a few of the deities who was mentioned;
Hecate
HEKATE (or Hecate) was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy. She was the only child of the Titanes Perses and Asteria from whom she received her power over heaven, earth, and sea.
Hekate assisted Demeter in her search for Persephone, guiding her through the night with flaming torches. After the mother-daughter reunion became she Persephone's minister and companion in Haides.
Two metamorphosis myths describe the origins of her animal familiars: the black she-dog and the polecat (a mustelid house pet kept to hunt vermin). The bitch was originally the Trojan Queen Hekabe, who leapt into the sea after the fall of Troy and was transformed by the goddess into her familiar. The polecat was originally the witch Gale who was transformed into the beast to punish her for her incontinence. Other say it was Galinthias, the nurse of Alkmene, transformed by the angry Eileithyia, but received by Hekate as her animal.
Hekate was usually depicted in Greek vase painting as a woman holding twin torches. Sometimes she was dressed in a knee-length maiden's skirt and hunting boots, much like Artemis. In statuary Hekate was often depicted in triple form as a goddess of crossroads.
<da:thumb id="348167707"/>Brigit
Brigit is the Celtic goddess of fire, healing, fertility, cattle, crops, poetry, and patroness of smiths. Brigit is also known as Brighid or Brigantia and in Christianity is associated with St. Brigit or Brigid. When her son was killed, Brigit was said to have lamented with Ireland's first keening.
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Irene (Flora in Roman mythology)
(Also known as Irene or Thallo) - the goddess of Peace; associated with the season Spring and all things blooming. Irene is Zeus’s daughter and one of three Horae (her sisters) who together preside over matters of peace, order and justice. They are also the goddesses of seasons (Spring, Autumn, and Summer). They guarded the gates of Mount Olympus to ensure that all who passed had good-intentioned hearts.
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Kuan Yin (Guanyin)
East Asian goddess of mercy, and a bodhisattva associated with compassion asvenerated by Mahayana Buddhists. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means "Observing the Sounds (or Cries) of the World". She is also sometimes referred to as Guanyin Pusa (simplified Chinese: 观音菩萨; traditional Chinese: 觀音菩薩; pinyin: Guānyīn Púsà; literally: "Bodhisattva Guanyin").[2] Some Buddhists believe that when one of their adherents departs from this world, they are placed by Guanyin in the heart of a lotus, and then sent to the western pure land ofSukhāvatī.
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Isis
The great Egyptian goddess, wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus. She searched for her husband's body, retrieved and reassembled Osiris, taking on the role of goddess of the dead. She then impregnated herself from Osiris' body and gave birth to Horus whom she raised in secrecy to keep him safe from Osiris' killer, Seth.
Aphrodite
APHRODITE was the great Olympian goddess of beauty, love, pleasure and and procreation. She was depicted as a beautiful woman usually accompanied by the winged godling Eros (Love). Her attributes included a dove, apple, scallop shell and mirror. In classical sculpture and fresco she was often depicted nude.
Some of the more famous myths featuring the goddess include:--
- Her birth from the sea foam;
- Her adulterous affair with the god Ares;
- Her love for Adonis, a handsome Cypriot youth who was tragically killed by a boar;
- Her love for Ankhises, a shepherd-prince;
- The judgement of Paris in which the goddess was awarded the prize of the golden apple in return for promising Paris Helene in marriage;
- The Trojan War in which she supported her favourites Paris and Aeneas and was wounded in the fighting;
- The race of Hippomenes for Atalanta, which was won with the help of the goddess and her golden apples;
- The death of Hippolytos, who was destroyed by the goddess for scorning her worship;
- The statue of Pygmalion which was brought to life by Aphrodite in answer to his prayers;
- The persecution of Psykhe, the maiden loved by the goddess' son Eros.
Athena
ATHENE (or Athena) was the great Olympian goddess of wise counsel, war, the defence of towns, heroic endeavour, weaving, pottery and other crafts. She was depicted crowned with a crested helm, armed with shield and spear, and wearing the snake-trimmed aigis cloak wrapped around her breast and arm, adorned with the monstrous head of the Gorgon.
The more famous myths featuring the goddess Athene include:--
- Her birth from the head of Zeus, fully-grown and arrayed in arms;
- Her contest with Poseidon for dominion of Athens in which she produced the first olive tree and he the first horse;
- The War of the Giants in which she buried Enkelados beneath Mount Etna and made her aigis from the skin of Pallas;
- The attempted rape of the goddess by Hephaistos, who spilled his seed upon the earth and produced Erikhthonios, who she then adopted as her own;
- The assisting of Perseus in his quest to slay the Gorgon and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece;
- The assisting of Herakles with his twelve labours;
- The weaving contest with Arakhne who was transformed by the goddess into a spider;
The blinding of Teiresias for viewing her naked in the bath; - The Judgement of Paris in which she competed with Hera and Aphrodite for the prize of the golden apple;
- The Trojan War where she sided with the Greeks in battle, but attacked their ships with a storm when they failed to punish Oilean Ajax for violating her Trojan shrine.
Artemis
ARTEMIS was the great Olympian goddess of hunting, wilderness and wild animals. She was also a goddess of childbirth, and the protectress of the girl child up to the age of marriage. Her twin brother Apollon was similarly the protector of the boy child. Together the two gods were also bringers of sudden death and disease--Artemis targetted women and girls, and Apollon men and boys.
In ancient art Artemis was usually depicted as a girl dressed in a short knee-length chiton and equipped with a hunting bow and quiver of arrows.
Some of the best known myths featuring the goddess include:--
- Her birth, immediately following which she assisted her mother in the birth of her twin brother Apollon;
- The Trojan War where she was beaten by Hera in an angry contest of the gods;
- The hunter Aktaion who encountered the goddess whilst she was bathing and was turned into a stag;
- The Aloadai giants who attempted to storm Olympos but were tricked by Artemis into killing each other;
- The sacrifice of Iphigeneia whom King Agamemnon offered to her for the passage of the Greek fleet to Troy;
- The giant Orion, a close companion of the goddess, who was slain by the goddess or her jealous brother;
- The Kalydonian boar sent by Artemis to ravage Kaldyon;
- The nymph Kallisto, a companion of Artemis, who was seduced by Zeus in the guise of the goddess.
Ishtar
The Sumerian goddess of love and war, Inanna or Ishtar, was Nanna's daughter and associated with the Underworld.
Psyche
PSYKHE (or Psyche) was the goddess of the soul, wife of Eros god of love.
She was once a mortal princess whose astounding beauty earned the ire of Aphrodite when men turned their worship from goddess to girl. Aphroditecommanded Eros make Psykhe fall in love with the most hideous of men, but the god himself fell in love with her and carried her away to his secret palace. However Eros hid his true identity, and commanded her never to look upon his face. Psykhe was eventually tricked by her jealous sisters into gazing upon the face of god, and he abandoned her. In her despair, she searched throughout the world for her lost love, and eventually came into the service of Aphrodite. The goddess commanded her perform a series of difficult labours which culminated in a journey to the Underworld. In the end Psykhe was reunited with Eros and the couple wed in a ceremony attended by the gods.
Persephone
PERSEPHONE was the goddess queen of the underworld, wife of the god Haides. She was also the goddess of spring growth, who was worshipped alongside her mother Demeter in the Eleusinian Mysteries. This agricultural-based cult promised its initiates passage to a blessed afterlife.
Persephone was titled Kore (the Maiden) as the goddess of spring's bounty. Once upon a time when she was playing in a flowery meadow with her Nymph companions, Kore was seized by Haides and carried off to the underworld as his bride. Her mother Demeter despaired at her dissappearance and searched for her the throughout the world accompanied by the goddess Hekate bearing torches. When she learned that Zeus had conspired in her daughter's abduction she was furious, and refused to let the earth fruit until Persephone was returned. Zeus consented, but because the girl had tasted of the food of Haides--a handful of pomegranate seeds--she was forced to forever spend a part of the year with her husband in the underworld. Her annual return to the earth in spring was marked by the flowering of the meadows and the sudden growth of the new grain. Her return to the underworld in winter, conversely, saw the dying down of plants and the halting of growth.
In other myths, Persephone appears exclusively as the queen of the underworld, receiving the likes of Herakles and Orpheus at her court.
