Many archeologists believe that mankind has been worshipping Goddess figures since prehistoric times. There have been several statues and figurines unearthed that seem to support this theory. Several of these images are well known to Pagans today, and are even seen on many modern-day altars. Find out more about these ancient Goddesses.
Pronounced "AHNG-er-boh-dah", the name of this Ogress means "bringer of anguish." She was a Jotun, one of the giants that preceded the Aesir gods and had to be defeated before the world of the Aesir could be created. She was Loki's wife in Jotunheim, and mother to their three monster-children: Fenris; Hel; and the Midgard's Serpent.
Source: Ingri and Edgar Darin D'Aulaire "Norse Gods & Goddesses"
This Norse goddess's name means "air" and stands for "mercy" and :forebearing" She is the goddess of healing.
Source: Ingri and Edgar Darin D'Aulaire "Norse Gods & Goddesses"
Freyja sculpture by Markus Wolff available for order
Friday was named for the principal Norse goddess Frigg, who is also called Frigga, Freyja, and Freya. She is the Nordic Goddess of Spring and flowers, the patron goddess of Spring crops. The most beautiful of Norse Goddesses, she is the symbol of sensuality and patroness of all matters of love, fertility, and birth. Frigg is the giver of children. She loves music and nature, and is particularly fond of the elves (fairies).
Frigg was the wife of Odin and goddess of marriage and motherhood, time, weather, and destiny. She was the weaver of clouds, and she spun golden threads of sunlight on a jeweled spinning wheel. This wheel, a symbol of the whirling cosmos with its stars, can be seen in her constellation in the night sky, which includes Orion's belt. In her aspect as Freyja, she is the goddess of love and fertility, crops and birth, and has a special affinity for the elves. The rune Bjørk, or Boerc, pertains to Frigg. It represents healing, regeneration, and the atonement of past deeds. It rules the sound made by the letter 'B' in the English alphabet. The tree it corresponds to is the birch, but it may be compared to thorn as a polar opposite. Bjørk rules the number 2.
Both male and female, Inari descends from the mountains each Spring to watch over the planting of rice, precious to the Japanese. He/She is venerated as symbolic of rice cultivation in the Spring, prosperity, and friendship. Inari/Inara, the rice Goddess, may also be identified with the Indian Lakshmi, the Javanese Dewi Sri, and sometimes with Uga-no-Mitama, the goddess of agriculture.
The Chinese Goddess of Spring
One of the seven daughters of Atlas and mother of Hermes, she is also the Greek Goddess of Springtime, rebirth, and renewal. Though a crone Goddess, she is patroness of love and sometimes known as the "Grandmother of Magick".
Welsh Patroness of Springtime and Love, she is known as the white footprint because of the flowers which spring up beneath her every step.
The personification of the rising sun to ancient Anglo-Saxons, she brings Spring and fertility. A friend to all children, she created the Easter Bunny myth along with its colored eggs. Ostara is similar to the Greek Eos and Roman Aurora.
Greek Goddess of Spring, daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest and the Hearth. Her daughters kidnapping by Hades who made her become his bride and Queen of the Underworld drove Demeter mad with sorrow. She searched for her everywhere and allowed the fields to lay barren until Persephone's return. The condition of the Earth finally moved the other Gods and Goddesses who appealed to Hades to release her, though he will not let her depart from his kingdom entirely. Persephone's gift of Springtime and renewal lasts only while she is allowed to remain on earth; when she returns to the Underworld, nature withers and dies or sleeps until her return.
Pronounced "vahr", the name of this Norse goddess means "truth" or "promise". She was the patroness of faithfulness between man and woman.
Source: Ingri and Edgar Darin D'Aulaire "Norse Gods & Goddesses"
The name of this Norse goddess is pronounced "VAHR-ah-nay", meaning "that which is to come." She is one of the three Norns.
Ingri and Edgar Darin D'Aulaire "Norse Gods & Goddesses"
Vesta, thought by some to be a triple-goddess and the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hestia, was the goddess of the hearth, home, and all domestic happiness, as well as the protector of virginal womanhood. she was honored at Vestalia, an 8-day festival which began when Vesta's sanctuary doors were opened.
Her six priestesses, the Vestal Virgins, embodied the creative power of the Goddess prior to the first great rite of passage from maiden to mother. They were chosen from physically perfect girls with two living parents, between their sixth and tenth years. Each was sworn to thirty years of chastity and service to the Goddess, under threat of the punishment of being buried alive should they fail to maintain their purity.
Their most sacred duty was tending Her sacred fire, said to have been brought to Italy by Aeneas, at the Temple of Vesta. For the great pageantry of the Vestalia, they would draw holy water from a sacred spring and gather grain to make the holy cakes, the salty 'mola salsa', which were offered with prayers and songs on behalf of the state and individual households. Libations of wine would be poured on the ground and altars as well as into goblets for drinking. Donkeys, the favorite animal of the Goddess, would be garlanded with wreaths and cakes, blessing the bakers and millers.
The well being of the entire State depended on the Vestals' devotion and service to the Goddess. The Vestals guarded state documents, and the Vestalis Maxima, the chief Vestal Virgin, had undisputed advisory power in times of national crisis. The Vestals appearance was required in many public ceremonies and they were given many privileges. To this day, remains of statues of the Vestals can be seen at the Roman Atrium.
The Emperor Theodosius abolished the worship of Vesta in 380 AD, but echoes of the Vestal Virgins and their pontifex maximus, the man who oversaw the order of their daily lives, can be seen in the nuns and Pope of Roman Catholicism.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is not a Christian manifestation at all, though the Catholic Church has gotten her to be an appearance of their Virgin Mary. She is and was the very pagan Goddess in that area of Mexico. Her image is that of the female sex organs; her head is the clitoris, her robes are the lips of the labia, and her hands welcoming one to the sacred heart are more an invitation into the vagina. This is not blasphemy but noble. We, if we be Pagans, honor and love the organ of birth and pleasure in women and, of course, goddesses. Also, the traditional Madonna and Child motif in Christianity is a direct appropriation of the image of Isis, the maternal archetype of the goddess.
Source: Robin Goodfellow, Pagans With Brains group
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