A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods and Goddesses,pt.1
by D.W. Owens
Copyright 1994. This work may be reproduced without permission, in its entirety and without alteration, together with the other four parts which make up the entire work, for free distribution. For any other distribution, please contact the author.
CONTENTS
Pt. 1 : Contents / Foreword / AFRICA / AZTEC / CELTIC
Pt. 2 : CHINA / EGYPT / GREECE
Pt. 3 : GREECE (Continued) / JAPAN / MESOPOTAMIA / NORSE
Pt. 4 : NORSE (Continued) / NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN / OCEANIA (PACIFIC ISLANDS AND AUSTRALIA)
PT. 5 : ROME / SANTERIA / SLAVIC / SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICAN INDIAN / Sources
FOREWORD
Some time ago, for no particular reason, I started spending odd moments in the public library browsing through reference works about ancient religion. I started taking notes, more or less at random, about the gods and gradually accumulated information about some 330 pagan gods and goddessess. Not wanting all that work to go to waste, and not knowing what else to do with the information, I decided to make a small dictionary and place it on several bulletin board systems, in hopes that others will find this little work interesting and useful.
There is no pretense of original or exhaustive research here. The information is drawn from popular books and standard reference works such as can be found in any library. There have been many thousands of pagan deities, of course, and a truly complete listing of them is probably impossible. This little listing of only a a few hundred gods does not pretend to be any more than a random sampling of the riches of the pagan religious genius. Many will disagree with my choices -- why this god and not that one? Why was this pantheon ignored altogether? The answer is that the choices are almost completely arbitrary, being those gods I thought important or interesting enough to make a note of. I remind the reader that this is a little piece done in spare moments, and not a major scholarly work.
One caveat. Sources sometimes disagree with each other, and the pagan pantheons were quite fluid, changing all the time. One god would split into several, or several gods would merge into one, and often one god was considered an aspect or form of another god. The pagans borrowed deities from each other quite freely, and the various cults went in and out of fashion much the same way that rock groups go in and out of fashion in our own day. With that explanation (or excuse), I accept all blame for any truly glaring errors.
Blessed be.
AFRICA
ANANASI (Various tribes) The spider. A trickster. A creator god. Something of a scoundrel, but quite well liked. Many amusing and fanciful stories are told of him.
ANYIEWO (Ewe) The Great Serpent who comes out to graze after the rain. The rainbow is his reflection.
BUKU (Various West African peoples) A sky god sometimes worshipped as a goddess. Buku created everything, even the other gods.
DANH also DAN AYIDO HWEDO (Dahomey) Snake god. The Haitians know him as Dan Petro. The Rainbow Snake who encircles the world, Danh is often protrayed with his tail in his mouth as a symbol of unity and wholeness.
DXUI (Bushman; to the Hottentots, TSUI; to the Xhosa and Ponda, THIXO) A creator god. In the beginning, Dxui took the form of a different flower or plant every day, becoming himself at night, until he had created all the plants and flowers that exist.
ESHU (Yoruba) A trickster. A shape-shifter, Eshu can change his form at will, and can even seem to be both huge and small at the same time. Eshu confuses men and drives them to madness. But Eshu also knows all human tongues and acts as a go-between for mortals and the gods.
GUNAB (Hottentot) The enemy of Tsui-Goab, Gunab lived under a pile of stones. Gunab kept overpowering Tsui-Goab, but the god grew stronger after each battle. Because he killed so many, Gunab is sometimes identified with death. Creator of the rainbow.
GUA (Ga tribe of West Africa) God of thunder, blacksmiths and farmers. Gua's temples are often found at blacksmith's forges.
KIBUKA (Baganda) A war god sent to save the Baganda people. The king of the Baganda asked heaven for assistance in war, and Kibuka was sent to aid them. Warned not to have anything to do with the enemy's women, Kibuka neverthelessm made love to a woman prisoner. Unwisely, Kibuka confided in her, and after escaping she told the enemy how Kibuka could be killed, by firing arrows into the cloud where he was hiding. Kibuka flew off to a tall tree to die, and a temple was built at the place where his body was found.
LEZA (Central Africa) "The One Who Besets." Known to a number of peoples, Leza is the Supreme God who rules the sky and send 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.
MAWU-LISA (Ewe) The great god and goddess of the sun and moon. Lisa is the sun and Mawu is the moon.
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. The titles which Africans have given God are wondrous in their variety. A few of these are: Creator, Moulder, Giver of Rain and Sunshine, he Who Brings the Seasons, He Who Thunders, Ancient of Days, the First, the Limitless, the One Who Bends Even Kings, the One You Meeet Everywhere, the Firelighter, Great Mother, Greatest of Friends, the Kindly One, the Providence Who Watches All Like the Sun, the Great Pool Contemporary of Everything, the Great Spider, the One Beyond All Thanks, the Bow in the Sky, the Angry One, the Inexplicable.
NANAN-BOUCLOU (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.
'NGAI (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.
NYAME (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. Before being born, souls are taken to Nyame and washed in a golden bath, Nyame gives the soul its destiny and places some of the water of life in the soul's mouth. The soul is then fit to be born.
NYASAYE (Maragoli, Kenya) Cheif god of the Maragoli. Spirits aid Maragoli's work, and they are represented by round stones circling a pole which represents the god.
NZAME (Fan people of the Congo) A vague and shadowy god whose likeness can't be captured in wood, stone or metal. Nzame lived on earth with his three sons, Whiteman, Blackman and Gorilla. Blackman, Gorilla and all their kinfolk sinned against Nzame, and so Nzame took all his wealth and went to live with his son Whiteman in the west. Gorilla and his kin went to live in the jungle. Without he wealth, power and knowledge of Nzame, Blackman and his kin live a hard life of poverty and ignorance, ever dreaming of the western land where dwells Nzame and his favored son, Whiteman.
SAGBATA (Dahomey; to the Yoruba, SHAGPONA) God of smallpox. Sagbata's shrines were painted with a design of small spots. Sagbata's priests fought small pox with both prayers and medical knowledge, and wielded great power over the people because they had learned how to use dried scabs both to immunize themselves against the disease and to spread it. Smallpox was considered a great disgrace and its victims were ostracized.
TANO (Ashanti) The second oldest son of God, and god of the river of the same name. The gods of the other rivers and families in the same region are all his family. Long ago Tano lost a singing match with Death. Tano and Death sang defiance to each other for over a month, but neither could win so they had to compromise. When someone is injured or falls ill, whichever god arrives first will claim him. If Tano arrives first, the person will live, but if Death arrives first the patient is lost.
TSUI' GOAB (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. Several times Tsui' Goab died and rose again, to great joy and feasting. Men invoke Tsui' Goab with the first rays of dawn and give oaths in his name.
UNKULUNKULU (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 in which they lived.
YO (Dahomey) A trickster, neither god nor human. Yo's greed constantly gets him in trouble. Mawu created him for no good reason. Yo is everywhere. You can't kill him, you can't eat him, you can't get rid of him at all. Yo is the only one of his kind. One is enough.
AZTEC
CHALCHIHUITLCUE Lady Precious Green, wife of Tlaloc. Goddess of storms and water. Personification of youthful beauty, vitality and violence. In some illustrations she is shown holding the head of Tlazolteotl, the goddess of the witches, between her legs. Chalchihuitlcue is the whirlpool, the wind on the waters, all young and growing things, the beginning of life and creation.
COATLICUE Earth monster. In the darkness and chaos before the Creation, the female Earth Monster swam in the waters of the earth devouring all that she saw. Wehn the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca decided to impose form upon the Earth, they changed themselves into serpents and struggled with the Earth Monster until they broke her in two. Coatlicue's lower part then rose to form the heavens and her upper part descended to form the earth. Coatlicue has an endless, ravenous appetite for human hearts and will not bear fruit unless given human blood.
CINTEOTL The corn god, the giver of food, god of fertility and regeneration. Cinteotl is protected by the rain gods Tlaloc and Chalchihuitlcue.
EUEUCOYOTL The Old, Old Coyote. Associated with gaiety and sex. A god of spontaneity, of ostentatious ornament, of unexpected pleasure and sorrow. A trickster and troublemaker. Considered unlucky.
HUITZILOPOCHTLI God of war, son of Coatlicue. Principal god of the Aztecs. When Coatlicue became pregnant with Huitzilopochtli, her daughter Coyolxauhqui incited her brothers, the Centzon Huitznahua (the Four Hundred Stars) to destroy Coatlicue, because her pregnancy brought disgrace on the family. Still in the womb, Huitzilopochtli swore to defend his mother and immediately on being born put on battle armor and war paint. After defeating the Four Hundred Stars, Huitzilopochtli slew his sister and cast her down the hill at Templo Mayor where her body broke to pieces on striking the bottom. Priests at Templo Mayor killed prisoners in the same way, these sacrifices being replicas of mythical events designed to keep the daily battle between day and night and the birth of the God of War ever in the minds of the people. Often considered synonomous with QUETZALCOATL.
ITZCOLIUHQUI The Twisted Obsidian One, the God of the Curved Obsidian Blade. God of darkness and destruction. Blinded and cast down from the heavens, Itzcoliuhqui strikes out randomly at his victims.
ITZPAPALOTL Obsidian Butterfly. Beautiful, demonic, armed with the claws of a jaguar. The female counterpart of Itzcoliuhqui.
MICTLAN Below the world of living men there are nine underworlds, the lowest of which is Mictlan, the Land of the Dead ruled by Mictlantechupi and his consort Mictlancihuntl. Souls who win no merit in life come here after death, but they do not suffer as in the Christian hell. Instead they merely endure a rather drab and colorless existence before passing again into the world of the living. As a man disappears into the West, the direction of the dead, the seeds of his rebirth are sown.
OMETEOTL "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, yes and no. Ometoetol occupies Omeyocan, the highest of the Aztecs' thirteen heavens, and the four heavens immediately below Omeyocan are a mystery about which no one knows very much. Below the five highest heavens is a region of strife and tempest, where Ometeotl breaks into his many facets or aspects.
QUETZALCOATL The Feathered Serpent. The Precious Twin who lifts the sun out of darkness, god of the winds and the breath of life, First Lord of the Toltecs. Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of the calender. Demons tempted Quetzalcoatl constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice, but his love was too great for him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw himself on into a funeral pyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds carrying his heart to the star Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his first entry into the world in the shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles to emerge as a butterfly, the symbol of perfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the most compassionate of the Azec gods -- he only demands one human sacrifice a year. Often considered synonomous with HUITZILOPOTCHLI.
TEZCATLIPOCA The Prince of This World, the Mirror that Smokes, the One Always at the Shoulder, the Shadow. A trickster, revered particularly by soldiers and magicians. The name refers to the black obsidian mirrors used by magicians which become cloudy when scrying. A god of wealth and power, Tezcatlopoca's favors can only be won by those willing to face his terrors. Ruler over the early years of a man's life.
TLALOC Lord of all sources of water, clouds, rain, lightening, mountain springs, and weather.
TLALOCAN Kingdom of Tlaloc, a heaven of sensual delights, of rainbows, butterflies and flowers, of simple-minded and shallow pleasures. Souls spend only four years here before returning to the land of the living. Unless it strives for higher and nobler things while living, a soul is destined for this endless round of mortal life and Tlalocan. When a life had been particularly evil, a soul might journey instead to Mictlan.
TLILLAN-TLAPALLAN The land of the fleshless. The Land of the Black and Red, the colors signifying wisdom. A paradise for those who successfully follow the teachings of Quetzalcoatl. Those souls who come to Tlillan-Tlapallan have learned to live without fleshly bodies, a state greatly to be desired.
TLAZOLTEOTL Eater of filth, devourer of sins, goddess of witches and witchcraft. Tlazolteotl has power over all forms of unclean behavior, usually sexual. Confessing sins to Tlazolteotl, one is cleansed. The goddess has four forms or aspects, corresponding to the phases of the moon: a young and carefree temptress, the lover of Quetzalcoatl; the Goddess of gambling and uncertainty; the Great Priestess who consumes and destroys the sins of mankind; and frightful old crone, persecutor and destroyer of youth.
TONATIUH God of the Sun. Poor and ill, Tonatiuh cast himself into the flames, and being burnt up, was resurrected. Daily Tonatiuh repeats his passage across the heavens, down into darkness, and back again into the sky. With him Tonatiuh carries all brave warriors who have died in battle and all brave women who have died in childbirth. The greatest heroes Tonatiuh carries with him to the greatest heights. In Tonatiuhican, the House of the Sun, dwell those who have won even greater enlightenment than those who dwell in Tlillan-Tlapallan.
XIPE TOTEC Lord of the Spring, god of newly planted seed and of pentitential torture. A pockmarked saviour who tears out his eyes and flays himself in penance to the gods, thus persuading the gods to give maize to men. Giving up his pockmarked skin, Xipe Totec is then clad in robes of gold.
XIUHTECUHTLI Lord of fire, Lord of the Pole Star, pivot of the universe, one of the forms of the Supreme Deity. The lord of every flame, from those which burn in the temples to those which burn in the lowliest huts.
XOLOTL The god with backward feet who brought Man as well as Fire from the underworlds. Bringer of misfortune. The evil aspect of the star Venus. Quetzalcoatl's deformed twin.
CELTIC
ANGUS OF THE BRUGH Also OENGUS OF THE BRUIG God of youth, son of the Dagda. In Ireland, Angus is the counterpart of Cupid. Angus' kisses turn into singing birds, and the music he plays irresistably draws all who hear.
ARIANRHOD "Silver Wheel," "High Fruitful Mother." One of the Three Virgins of Britain, her palace is Caer Arianrhod, the Celtic name for the Aurora Borealis.
BADB A goddess of war. One of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Bird shaped and crimson mouthed, Badb uses her magic to decide battles. Badb lusts after men and is often seen at fords washing the armor and weapons of men about to die in combat.
BRIGHID also BRIGIT. 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 even when they became Christians, and so made Brighid a Christian saint.
CARIDWEN also HEN WEN; in Wales, BRIGHID "White Grain," "Old White One." Corn goddess. Mother of Taliesen, greatest and wisest of all the bards, and therefore a patron of poets. The "white goddess" of Robert Graves. Caridwen lives among the stars in the land of Caer Sidi. Caridwen is connected with wolves, and some claim her cult dates to the neolithic era.
CERNUNNOS Horned god of virility. Cernunnos wears the torc (neck-ring) and is ever in the company of a ram-headed serpent and a stag. Extremely popular among the Celts, the Druids encouraged the worship of Cernunnos, attempting to replace the plethora of local deities and spirits with a national religion. The Celts were so enamored of Cernunnos that his cult was a serious obstacle to the spread of Christianity.
DAGDA Earth and father god. Dagda possesses a bottomless cauldron of plenty and rules the seasons with the music of his harp. With his mighty club Dagda can slay nine men with a single blow, and with its small end he can bring them back to life. On the day of the New Year, Dagda mates with the raven goddess of the Morrigan who while making love straddles a river with one foot on each bank. A slightly comical figure.
DANU Mother goddess, an aspect of the Great Mother. Another of a triad of war goddesses known collectively as the Morrigan. Connected with the moon goddess Aine of Knockaine, who protects crops and cattle. Most importantly, the mother of the Tuatha de' Danann, the tribe of the gods.
DIAN CECHT A healer. At the second battle of Moytura, Dian Cecht murdered his own son whose skill in healing endangered his father's reputation. The Judgments of Dian Cecht, an ancient Irish legal tract, lays down the obligations to the ill and injured. An agressor must pay for curing anyone he has injured, and the severity of any wound, even the smallest, is measured in grains of corn.
DIS PATER Originally a god of death and the underworld, later the cheif god of the Gauls. The Gauls believed, as their Druids taught, that Dis Pater is the ancestor of all the Gauls.
DONN Irish counterpart to Dis Pater. Donn sends storms and wrecks ships, but he protects crops and cattle as well. Donn's descendents come to his island after death.
EPONA Horse goddess. Usually portrayed as riding a mare, sometimes with a foal. Roman legionaires, deeply impressed with Celtic horsemanship, took up the worship of Epona themselves and eventually imported her cult to Rome itself.
ESUS A god of the Gauls "whose shrines make men shudder," according to a Roman poet. Human sacrifices to Esus were hanged and run through with a sword. For unknown reasons, Esus is usually portrayed as a woodcutter.
GOVANNON The smith god. The weapons Govannon makes are unfailing in their aim and deadliness, the armor unfailing in its protection. Also a healer. Those who attend the feast of Govannon and drink of the god's sacred cup need no longer fear old age and infirmity.
LUG also LUGH, LLEU A sun god and a hero god, young, strong, radiant with hair of gold, master of all arts, skills and crafts. One day Lug arrived at the court of the Dagda and demanded to be admitted to the company of the gods. The gatekeeper asked him what he could do. For every skill or art Lug named, the gatekeeper replied that there was already one among the company who had mastered it. Lug at last pointed out that they had no one who had mastered them all, and so gained a place among the deities, eventually leading them to victory in the second battle of Moytura against the Formorian invaders. (The Formorians were a race of monsters who challenged the gods for supremacy in the first and second battles of Moytura.) The Romans identified Lug with Mercury. The most popular and widely worshipped of the Celtic gods, Lug's name in its various forms was taken by the cities of Lyons, Loudun, Laon, Leon, Lieden, Leignitz, Carlisle and Vienna.
MACHA "Crow." The third of the triad of war goddesses known as the Morrigan, Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies. Macha often dominates her male lovers through cunning or simple brute strength.
MEDB "Drunk Woman." A goddess of war, not one of the Morrigan. Where the Morrigan use magic, Medb wields a weapon herself. The sight of Medb blinds enemies, and she runs faster than the fastest horse. A bawdy girl, Medb needs thirty men a day to satisfy her sexual appetite.
MORRIGAN, THE also MORRIGU MORRIGAN A war goddess, forerunner of the Arthurian Morgan La Fey. Like Odin, fickle and unfaithful, not to be trusted. A hag with a demonic laugh, the Morrigan appears as a grotesque apparition to men about to die in battle. Her name is also used for a triad of war goddesses, who are often thought of as different aspects of the Morrigan.
NEMAIN "Panic." A war goddess.
NUADHU also NUD, NODENS, LUD. "Nuadhu of the silver arm." God of healing and water; his name suggests "wealth-bringer" and "cloud-maker." At the first battle of Moytura, Nuadhu lost an arm, and Dian Cecht replaced it with a new one made out of silver. Because of this, Nuadhu was obliged to turn leadership of the Tuatha de' Dannan over to Lug. People came to be healed at Nuadhu's temple at Lydney, and small votive limbs made of silver have been found there.
OGMIOS also OGMA "Sun Face." A hero god like Hercules, a god of eloquence, language, genius. Generally portrayed as an old man dressed in a lion skin. From his tongue hang fine gold chains attached to the ears of his eager followers.
SUCELLUS Guardian of forests, patron of agriculture. His consort is Nantosvelta, whose name suggests brooks and streams. Sometimes considered synonomous with Cernunnos or Daghda.
TUATHA DE' DANANN The divine tribes and people descended from the goddess Danu. Skilled in druidry and magic, the Tuatha de' Danann possess four talismans of great power: the stone of Fal which shrieked under the true heir to the throne; the spear of Lug which made victory certain; the sword of Nuadhu which slays all enemies; and the ever full cauldron of Daghda from which no man ever goes away hungry.
