The goddess of agriculture, horticulture, grain and harvest. Demeter is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea and sister of Zeus, by whom she bore Persephone. She was depicted as a mature woman, often crowned and holding sheaf’s of wheat and a torch. Her symbols are the Cornucopia (horn of plenty), wheat-ears, the winged serpent and the lotus staff. Her sacred animals are pigs and snakes.
Saturn is perhaps best known today for his annual winter festival of debauchery, called the Saturnalia, which falls in December. However, for the ancient Romans, he was an important agricultural deity, holding various associations both with the planting season and with time itself. Similar to the Greek god Cronus, Saturn is credited with giving the gift of agriculture to the Romans.
A temple was erected to Saturn at the base of the Capitoline hill in Rome, where it housed the state treasury.
Not much is known about Saturn in his Roman persona, because there is so much overlap between him and the Greek Cronus. While it is possible the some variant of Saturn was worshiped as early as the pre-Roman Etruscans, it’s difficult for scholars to tell what attributes were originally Roman, and which were Greek.
In general, one thing that academics do agree on is that Saturn’s festival, the Saturnalia, was held each year during the month of December. By contrast, festivals honoring Cronus took place in the summer.
Businesses and court proceedings closed up for the entire Saturnalia celebration, and food and drink were everywhere to be had.
Elaborate feasts and banquets were held, and it wasn’t unusual to exchange small gifts at these parties. A typical Saturnalia gift might be something like a writing tablet or tool, cups and spoons, clothing items, or food. Citizens decked their halls with boughs of greenery, and even hung small tin ornaments on bushes and trees. Bands of naked revelers often roamed the streets, singing and carousing – a sort of naughty precursor to today’s Christmas caroling tradition.
A great statue of Saturn stood in the temple, and interestingly enough, it was filled with oil – likely olive oil, given his status as an agricultural god. In addition, the statue’s feet were wrapped in wool, and the strips were only unbound during the Saturnalia. In addition to merrymaking, street celebrations, and social role reversals, there were sacrifices made to Saturn for a bountiful harvest during the coming year.
Patti Wigington, Paganism/Wicca Expert
Article published on & owned by About.com
ZEUS BINDING SPELL
God: I call upon Zeus, chief ruler of immortals
And mortals alike, most powerful of all the gods,
Who was known as the omnipotent Father Zeus,
And to the Romans as Jupiter, and who punishes
those who lie and break.
Around I bind you three times three
No more bad things you’ll think of me
Around I bind you three times three
No more bad things you’ll say of me
Around I bind you three times three
No more bad things you’ll do to me
Around I bind you three times three
And if these things continue to be
Then back upon you three times three
‘Til totally vanquished you will be
By the powers of three times three
By Earth and Fire, Air and Sea
I fix this spell, then set it free
‘Twill give no harm to mine or me
As I so will, So Mote It Be!
Children of the Night and Daughters of the Earth and Darkness
“Then fell Tisiphone with Rage was stung,
and from her mouth th’ untwisted serpents hung,
Girt in a bloody gown a torch she shakes,
And round her neck twines speckled wreathes of snakes.
Part of her tresses loudly hiss, and part
Spread poison as their forked tongues they dart…” (Metamorphoses, Book IV)
The Erinyes, the three Goddesses of revenge, are among the most ancient Goddesses and predated Zeus and all the other Olympians. In Greek mythology, They gare called the Erinyes – in Roman mythology They are called the Furies (“the furious”) or Dirae (“the terrible”). They are usually represented as three black sisters: Alecto (“the Unceasing”), Megaera (“the Grudging”) and Tisiphone (“the Avenging”).
The Erinyes are the children of Gaia and Uranus. They were created from drops of blood coming from the wounds of Uranus when He was castrated by His son Cronus and which fell upon the Earth (Gaia). The first drop of blood formed Aphrodite, which is why She is sometimes referred to as the oldest of The Erinyes.
Artists in ancient times depicted The Erinyes as women with fiery eyes and snake hair and with attributes such as torches and whips. Sometimes They were dressed as hunters.
The Erinyes were placed in Hades and are Goddesses of the dead. They also are called upon to revenge the crimes – especially those against women and mothers – of murder, perjury, ingratitude, disrespect, harshness, violation of filial piety and the laws of hospitality. They are impartial and impersonal, and pursue these wrongdoers until they are driven mad and die. But even in death, the criminal does not find rest until he shows remorse.
The Erinyes are associated with funeral trees: the alder, the black poplar, and the yew. The color associated with the three is black and the animal associated with Them is the snake.
Hera, queen of the gods, the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister and wife of the god Zeus. Hera was the goddess of marriage and protector of married women. She was the mother of Ares, god of war; Hephaestus, god of fire; Hebe, goddess of youth; and Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth. A jealous wife, she often persecuted Zeus’s mistresses and children, especially the half- god Hercules, and was known for her vindictive nature.
Gods/Goddesses– Bel, Sucellus, Hecate, Thalia, Cronus, Hades, Hermes, Zeus, Ops, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, Pluto, Dis Pater, Isis, Bes, Osiris, Arianrhod, Brigit, Cerridwen, Brigantia, Macha, Herne the Hunter, Cernunnos, Bel, Epona, Manannan mac Lir, Mab, Nantosuelta, Druantia, the Horned God, Anu, Arianrhod, Rhiannon, the Dagda, Ostara, Eostre, Apollo, Cronus, Hera, Artemis, Maia, Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Gaea, Rhea, Pan, Dionysus, Poseidon, Antheia, Bendis, Cabari, Cabiri, Charities, Derceto, Europa, Pontia, Priapus, Hermes, Persephone, Hecate, Juno, Bona Dea, Diana, Fauna, Flora, Pales, Venus, Tellus Mater, Faunus, Bacchus, Vertumnus, Apollo, Cybele, Lupercus, Ops, Pomona, Saturn, Nerthus, Bast, Heqet, Selqet, Min, Osiris, Amen, Khnemu, Bes, Hapi, Bast, Isis, Attis, Mut, Selkhet, Tlazolteotl, Itzamna, Tlaloc, Chantico, Centeotle, Quetzalcoatl, Ishtar, Kuan Yin, Lilith, Inanna, Astarte
Color– True Pure Blue
Incence/Oil– Lily of the Valley
Animals– Dolphin, Whales
Spirits– Mermaid
Stones– Azurite, Torquoise
Metal– Aluminum
Plants– Carnation, Honeysukle, Vervain
Wood– Bramble
Planet– Neptune
Tarot Cards– Four Kings, Four Twos
Magickal Tools– Cauldron, Wand
Direction– South
Rituals- Achieving Equilibrium, Spiritual Manifestations, Creative Force, Divine Inspiration
Gods/Goddesses– the Dagda, Cronus, Ptah, Osiris, Sebek, Khnemu, Seb, Ra, Hurukan, Arianrhod, Danu, Demeter, Hera, Rhea, Gaea, Ceres, Juno, Heqet, Isis, Neith, Mut, Tara, Nohochacyum
Color– Brillant Pure Light
Incense/Oil– Angelica, Wisteria
Animals– Hawk
Spirits– Winged Dragon
Stones– Diamond, Zircon
Metal– Gold, Silver
Plants– Shamrock, Clover, Woad, Male Fern, Aspen
Tree– Aspen
Planet– Uranus
Tarot Cards– Four Aces
Magickal Tools– Cauldron
Direction– East
Rituals– Divine Consciousness, Illumination, Enlightment, Spiritual Development/Attainment, Finding Karmic Purpose
Hestia is one of the three great goddesses of the first Olympian generation, along with Demeter and Hera. She was described as both the oldest and youngest of the three daughters of Rhea and Cronus, sister to three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, in that she was the first to be swallowed by Cronus and the last to be disgorged. Originally listed as one of the Twelve Olympians, Hestia gave up her seat in favor of newcomer Dionysus to tend to the sacred fire on Mount Olympus. However, there is no ancient source for this claim. As Karl Kerenyi observes,”there is no story of Hestia’s ever having taken a husband or ever having been removed from her fixed abode.” Every family hearth was her altar. Of the Olympian gods, Hestia has the fewest exploits “since the hearth is immovable, Hestia is unable to take part even in the procession of the gods, let alone the other antics of the Olympians,” Burkert remarks. Sometimes this is assumed to be due to her passive, non-confrontational nature. This nature is illustrated by her giving up her seat in the Olympian twelve to prevent conflict. She is considered to be the first-born of Rhea and Cronus; this is evidenced by the fact that in Greek (and later Roman) culture ritual offerings to all gods began with a small offering to Hestia; the phrase “Hestia comes first” from ancient Greek culture denotes this.
Immediately after their birth, Cronus swallowed Hestia and her siblings except for the last and youngest, Zeus, who later rescued them and led them in a war against Cronus and the other Titans. Hestia, the eldest daughter “became their youngest child, since she was the first to be devoured by their father and the last to be yielded up again”—the clearest possible example of mythic inversion, a paradox that is noted in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (ca 700 BC): “She was the first-born child of wily Cronus—and youngest too.”
Poseidon, and Apollo of the younger generation, each aspired to court Hestia, but the goddess was unmoved by Aphrodite’s works and swore on the head of Zeus to retain her virginity. The Homeric hymns, like all early Greek literature, reinforce the supremacy of Zeus, and Hestia’s oath taken upon the head of Zeus is an example of surety. A measure of the goddess’s ancient primacy—”queenly maid…among all mortal men she is chief of the goddesses”, in the words of the Homeric hymn—is that she was owed the first as well as the last sacrifice at every ceremonial assembly of Hellenes, a pious duty related by the mythographers as the gift of Zeus, as if it had been his to bestow: another mythic inversion if, as is likely, the ritual was too deep-seated and essential for the Olympian reordering to overturn. There are theories (by modern neopagans among others) that Hestia, as goddess of “home and hearth”, was one of the most ancient of all gods later worshiped as Olympians; as a maternal goddess of humans finding safety and homes in caves around a fire, worship of Hestia, by other names, may literally be hundreds of thousands of years old and has continued through classical Greek times to the present day.
“The power worshipped in the hearth never fully developed into a person,” Walter Burkert has observed. Hestia evolved into a lesser goddess in the same ranks of Pan and Dionysus, who was incorporated into the Olympian order in Hestia’s place. At Athens “in Plato’s time,” notes Kenneth Dorter “there was a discrepancy in the list of the twelve chief gods, as to whether Hestia or Dionysus was included with the other eleven. The altar to them at the agora, for example, included Hestia, but the east frieze of the Parthenon had Dionysus instead.
He is a real high-flyer, an Olympic champion, battling with the giant TITANS, casting thunderbolts and engaged in all manner of gut-busting glorious Godly pursuits.
His father CRONUS was so terrified of the newborn baby ZEUS’s awesome power that he swallowed him up. And lived to regret it. It was left to AMALTHEA (and her goat) to protect the budding SuperGod while he learned to walk, talk, and rule the Universe. Since then he’s never looked back.
ZEUS is married to the long-suffering HERA, but spends most of his time lusting after Goddesses, mortals, animals, and indeed anything that will keep still long enough.
It’s tough at the top being the most fantastic hunky irresistible God of all time and having constantly to prove it. And never a quiet night in with slippers and a mug of cocoa because he has to keep his long-suffering wife HERA happy too. Their trials and tribulations form the basis of half the Greek entries in our database.
ZEUS has had so many mistresses and fathered so many children that there’s no point in giving a list here. Just take our word for it. See also CRONUS, RHEA, HEPHAESTUS, ATHENA… and in fact most of the other Greek Gods.
Moving on to more Godly matters, ZEUS was also known to the ancient Greeks as Epiphanes, the Magnificent One, whenever a certain star appeared in the east. This was celebrated with piph-ups known as epiphanies.
When he’s not running around after nubile Goddesses in the form of a lusty animal, ZEUS looks after Law, upholds Justice, and casts thunderbolts on those deserving it.
Witches Of The Craft® 
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