Mother Deities
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Aditi
"The Unfettered". Hindu mother goddess. She was self-formed and the mother of the sun and moon gods, Mitra and Varuna. She is the unlimited space of sky beyond the far east, the brilliant light from which the gods sprang. She clears obstacles, protects, and solves problems.
Akka
Finnish earth mother and goddess of the harvest and female sexuality. Wife and consort of the supreme sky God Ukko. She symbolizes love, agriculture, womanliness.
Ala
Ibo earth mother, goddess of justice, protection, laws. Protectress of the harvest. She took the dead in her pocket.
Alilat
Arabian mother goddess.
Anu
Manifestation magic, moon, air, fertility, prosperity. Celtic (Irish) goddess of plenty. Mother earth goddess and maiden aspect of Morrigu.
Aphrodite
Greek Goddess of passion and sexual love, and womanly beauty. She is considered the epitome of beauty and femininity. Said to have been born of sea-foam.
She is kind to those she liked, but can be cruel and merciless to those who displease her. She married Hephaestos, had an affair with Ares, and was caught.
Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, and mother of Eros. Her animal totems are the dove, sparrow, swan, and swallow. Plants sacred to her are myrtle, poppy, rose, and apple. She symbolizes feminine prowess, sexuality, relationships, flower magic.
Apollo
Greek god of the sun, light, music, song, medicine, and healing. Patron of herdsmen.
Apollo's mother Leto was forced to run from Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus. She went to the Island of Delos and delivered her two children- the twins, Apollo and Artemis.
Though the god of light, Apollo had a dark side. Under the name of Carneios, he is seen as a god of death. He and Artemis slew all of their mother Leto's children when Niobe, their grandmother, claimed all of Leto's children were more beautiful than the gods.
Apollo was worshipped at the oracle of Delphi, where a priestess who give forth his predictions. The Greeks believed that the egyptian God Heru and Apollo were the same deities. He is the twin brother of Artemis. Apollo's minor associations include black magic, blessing, justice, divination, oracles, prophecy, creativity, fertility, productivity, success.
Aradia
Italian witch goddess. She came to earth to teach her mother Diana's magic. Symbolizes the air element, the moon.
Arianrhod
"The Silver Wheel", "High Fruitful Mother". Celtic (Welsh) goddess, the sister of Gwydion and wife of Don. Deity of element of Air, reincarnation, full moons, time, karma, retribution.
Aruru
Babylonia earth and mother goddess and creator of man.
Asclepius
God of Healing. Son of Apollo and the Lake nymph Coronis. Removed from the corpse of his mother who had died from a disease sent by Artemis as a punishment for being unfaithful to Apollo. Killed by Zeus for raising the dead. Symbolizes health.
Astamatara
In Hindu beliefs, a group of mother goddesses.
Atargatis
Near Eastern (Syrian) mother goddess who symbolizes the moon, love, and fertility. She was most often portayed as half-woman and half-fish. Her sacred animals were the dove and fish.
Athyr
Mother cow goddess. Goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure. Sometimes a lunar deity and sometimes a solar deity. Gave birth to the universe. Originally the mother of Heru, though in later times Isis and Asar become the parents of Heru.
Babd Catha
Celtic (Irish) goddess of war. Mother aspect of the triple goddess. Symbolizes life, enlightenment, wisdom and inspiration.
Bala
A Hindu mother goddess.
Balder
Norse (Scandinavian) god of joy, light, beauty, innocence, purity, and reconciliation. His parents are Odin and Frigg.
Balder's mother, Frigg, took oaths from all plants, creatures, minerals, and elements that they would not harm him, all except the mistletoe plant for she felt it was too young and too small to harm him. He was therefore considered immune from harm and the other gods would throw things at him in sport. Loki deceived Hod (Balder's blind brother) into throwing a spear made from mistletoe at Baldur. It was this which killed him. This story can easily be compared to the Greek legend of Achilles' heel.
Bharat Mata
Modern Hindu mother goddess.
Brahmini
A Hindu mother goddess.
Ceres
Roman Goddess of agriculture and fertility. See also Demeter.
Grant us the wisdom to see thy ways in all living things,
Grant us thy fruitful protection!
Grant us the power to heal the land,
Grant us thy fruitful protection!
O beautiful Ceres and Great Mother Isis are One!
Grant us thy fruitful protection!
-"Invokation to Ceres", Psyche in Apuleisus
Coatlicue
Aztec mother goddess, a giver of life. She was positive and negative and therefore had the ability to bless or punish. Often shown as a woman with claws and a skirt of snakes. Symbolizes the moon.
Coventina
Mother Of Covens, group magick, collective tapping, seances.
Cybele
Greek Great Mother of the Gods. She is the leading deity of the Greek mystery religions. Symbolizes the element air and fertility.
Danu
Celtic (Irish) goddess, the mother of The Dagda, god of the Tuatha de Danaan. Aspect of Morrigu. Considered to have been an early form of Anu, the Universal Mother. Patroness of wizards. Symbolizes rivers, water, wells, prosperity, magick, and wisdom.
Demeter
Greek Earth goddess. All-nourishing mother of the earth.
Her daughter, Persephone, was gathering flowers one day when Hades came out from the earth and abducted her to make her his bride. Demeter grieved and searched all the lands for her. Wherever she was warmly received, she would give people instruction in agriculture. Along her way she met the kind Keleos of Attica, and left him her snake-drawn carriage and the seed of barely so that he could spread the knowledge of agriculture around the lands.
Demeter finally found out where Persephone had been taken. Though Zeus had given Hades permission to carry off the girl, and had instructed the other gods not to help, Demeter was able to convince them to come to her aid. They agreed, provided that Persephone had not eaten anything in her time in the underworld. However, Persephone had eaten 6 seeds of a pomegranate Hades had given her as proof of her love. They came to a compromise; Persephone would spend 6 months of the year with Demeter, during which time the earth would prosper and flourish in Demeter's joy. The other 6 months would be passed by Persephone in the underworld with Hades. While Persephone is with Hades, Demeter grieves her and the earth suffered extreme temperatures and poor harvests. This is a myth which explains the seasons.
Demeter is the daughter of Chronos and Rhea. She is associated with agriculture, crops, and all produce, as well as abundance in childbirth and agriculture.
Devaki
Hindu mother goddess. She bore Krishna and Balarama.
Devi
The Hindu mother goddess. She can be portrayed as a mild and loving goddess, holding pleasure and pain in her right hand, and life and death in her left. She can also be portrayed as a frightening and vicious death goddess, with a sword in one of eight arms. Also the goddess of women and creativity. Also known as Mahadevi.
Dharti Mata
Puranic Hindu mother goddess.
Dione
Greek nature and earth goddess, daughter of Uranus and Gaia. Mother of Aphrodite. Associated with divination, predictions, love, prophecy.
Discordia
Roman goddess of discord and strife, known as Eris to the Greeks. The other gods employed her to stir up feuds and rivalry amongst men. Root of Erisian/Discordian beliefs. Mother of Enyo.
Diti
Hindu earth and mother goddess, in Hinduism, an ancestor of demons and giants.
Druantia
"Queen of the Druids". Celtic Fir Goddess and Mother of the tree calender. Symbolizes protection, knowledge, creativity, passion, sex, fertility, growth, trees and forests.
Frigg
Norse (Scandinavian) Goddess of love, fertility, marriage and motherhood. It is said that she knows but will not reveal the destiny of everyone. She symbolizes fertility, physical love, foresight, cunning, wisdom, the moon, and love. Also known as Frigga.
Gaia
A concept, rather than an actual deity, created in the early 1970s. Gaia can be thought of as a goddess, but was originally a name for the life force of the earth as a whole. Gaia corresponds to mother nature or mother earth. This concept is a deification of the earth. Today it has become something of a new age goddess, however, that was not what the concept began as. Gaia symbolizes health, element of earth, fertility, love. [One would invoke Gaia in a similar manner as The Goddess or another such all-encompassing goddess.]
Hera
Greek goddess of matrimony and cycles of women's growth. Sister and wife of Zeus. She is best known for her intense jealousy of all of Zeus' affairs with mortal women. She can be invoked for love, the moon, element of Air, motherhood.
Hestia
Greek mother goddess. She symbolizes the element of fire, domestic and home magic, conception, and the well-being of the self and family. See also Vesta.
Hsi-Wang-Mu
"Royal Mother of the Western Paradise". Highest goddess of ancient China. Responsible for growing magical peaches which give the recipient eternal life. She may be invoked for matters involving immortality, healing, or death.
Ilmatar
Extremely powerful virgin daughter of Ilma, creatress and mother/nature goddess. Symbolizes the elements air and water.
Ilmatecuhtli
"The Old Princess". Aztec mother goddess. During her winter festival, a woman's heart was cut out and the severed head carried during a procession. She can also be invoked for fertility.
Isis
Egyptian mother goddess of day and moisture. It was Isis who retrieved and reassembled the body of Osiris after his murder and dismemberment by Seth. Because of this she took on the role of a goddess of the dead and of funeral rites. Isis impregnated herself from the corpse and gave birth to Horus. She gave birth secretly and hid the child from Seth in the papyrus swamps. Horus later defeated Seth and became the first ruler of a united Egypt. Isis, as mother of Horus, was revered as the mother and protectress of the pharaohs. The relationship between Horus and Isis may have been an influence on the Christian relationship between Jesus and Mary. Icons of Isis holding the infant Horus as he suckled are quite remininscent of such images of Jesus in Mary's arms. Statues of Isis and Horus were gradually disallowed by the Christian churches.
Oh Isis, Great Goddess,
Mother of God, and Creator of Life
You reign over Philae and all other lands.
Oh Mighty Goddess, Queen of Philae
You rule over the celestial bodies
And give the stars their place.
-A Hymn to Isis
Izanami
Japanese mother goddess, the female counterpart to Izanagi.
Jord
Norse (Scandinavian) primeval earth goddess. Mother of Thor and wife of Odin.
Juno
Roman goddess of the home and motherhood/women, wife of Jupiter. Watched and protected all women. Her festival is Matronalia, where people asked Juno to bless their marriages and provide a safe childbirth and a healthy newborn. Juno restores peace to quarreling lovers. Also symbolizes the moon, the moon, love, fertility. See also Hera.
Kali
Hindu black earth mother. It is said that she induces fear in anyone who looks upon her, so grim is her appearance. She is a dark, destructive aspect of the goddess, and is known for giving life and then taking it away again. She often eats her own children for sustainance. She is worshipped primarily by assassins. She symbolizes the moon, protection, divination, creation, necromancy, combat.
There is no light, nor any motion.
There is no mass, nor any sound.
Still, in the lampless heart of the ocean,
Fasten me down and hold me drowned
Within thy womb, within thy thought,
Where there is naught-
where there is naught!
-Aleister Crowley, "Kali" (excerpt)
Kishi-Mojin
Japanese goddess who protected children. Universal mother. She symbolizes compassion, children, life, fertility, and balance.
Ma-Ri-Enna
"The High And Fruitful Mother Of Heaven", symbolizes fertility, element of Air.
Maia
"Grandmother of Magic". Greek goddess of spring, youth, life, and rebirth. One of the seven daughters of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She symbolizes love.
Mama Kilya
Mother Moon, the moon.
Margawse
Celtic mother aspect of the goddess.
Marienna
"The High Fruitful Mother", the moon, fertility, love.
Metsaka, Grandmother Moon
Lunar.
Mut
The original Egyptian mother goddess. Wife of Amun. She had thousands of children, among them were Bast, Neith, Hapi, and Chons. She lost importance once Isis became the primary mother goddess. She symbolizes the element air.
Nana
African earth goddess. Mother of Omolu.
Nanna
Norse (Scandinavian) great goddess of earth. Mother goddess, symbolizes the moon and fertility.
Nerthus
Norse (Scandinavian) earth mother. She symbolizes peace, fertility, the sea, purity, magic, and white witchcraft.
Nzambi
African bisexual creator god. Associated with the sky and mother earth.
Pi-Hsai Yuan Chin
Chinese goddess of childbirth and labor; she brings health and good fortune to the newborn and protection to the mother.
Prithivi
Indian mother of all things, associated with patience, element of earth, fertility.
Rauni
Finnish thunder goddess. Forest mother, spirit of the mountain ash. She was one of the most powerful deities and wife of the god of thunder. Invoke during childbirth for a painless and safe delivery.
Tiamat
Babylonian sea and mother goddess. She represented salt water and with her husband of the sweet waters created the original chaotic universe.
Tozi
Aztec mother goddess, healing, nature, mother of the gods.
Yemonja
One of the great African goddesses, specifically of Nigerian Yoruba. She was the daughter of the sea into whose waters she flows. Her breasts were enormous because she mothered so many Yoruban gods. She also is the Mama Watta, or "mother of the waters", and gave birth to all the bodies of water in the world. She is the sister and wide of Aganju, the soil god, and together they had Orungan, god of the noonday sun, as their child.
She is known by many different names, each with some variations in character:
As Yemayah or Yemoja, she is the orisha of the oceans, seas, fish, and motherhood. Nurturing, feminine, and life-giving. Considered the epitome of feminine power. Like the ocean, she can be not only gentle but destructive and torrential as well. She holds the secrets that are within the sea. She can be invoked for issues with childbirth, mothers, fertility, or anything involving women's issues or women's mysteries.
As Imanje or Yemanja in Brazil, she is the ocean goddess of the crescent moon.
As Ymoja in West Africa, she is the river goddess who grants fertility to women.
In Cuba, she is Yemayah. Yemaya Achabba, stern goddess - Yemayah Oqqutte, violent goddess - Yemayah Ataramagwa, wealthy queen of the sea - Yemayah Olokun, dream goddess.
She is Agwe in Haitian voodoo beliefs. Finally, she is Yamoja, a combination of the phrase Iyamo eja ("our mother").
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