Roman Pantheon

ANGERONA Goddess of secrecy. Angerone is portrayed with her mouth bound
and sealed, her finger raised to her mouth in a gesture of warning. The
ancients thought names powerful; the commonly known name of an
individual or a community was often not the real name at all, the real
name being a closely guard secret. Very probably the cult of Angerona
guarded the secret name of the city of Rome. Little else is known of
her.

ATTIS A god of vegetation, similar to Tammuz and Adonis. Imported
together with his mother Cybele from Persia. Driven mad by the deranged
love of his mother, Attis castrated himself under a pine tree. Attis’
priests were eunuchs.

BELLONA War goddess. Bellona’s priests were recruited from the
gladiators, and emissaries were received at her temple

CYBELE An Asian goddess adopted by the Greeks and Romans. A healer,
mistress of fertility and untamed nature, a protector in war. Cybele is
always accompanied by two lions. Cybele granted immortality to those who
worshipped her. Cybele’s priests danced wildly and mutilated themselves.
Her festivals, held at the beginning of spring, were occasions for wild
orgies.

FAUNA Goddess of fertility. Fauna’s festival, which seems to have been
quite an orgy, was open only to women, being strictly forbidden to men.

FAUNUS God of crops and herds. An oracle. Faunus’ temple, the Lupercal,
was supposed to have been the site where the she-wolf suckled Romulus
and Remus. Goats and dogs were sacrificed at his festival, the
Lupercalia, and priests dressed in newly skinned goat hides whipped
women who wished to become pregnant with whips made of goatskin.

FEBRUUS The Etruscan god of the underworld, later associated with Dis
Pater, the Latin equivalent of Hades. The month of the dead, February,
is named after him.

FIDES God of faithfulness.

FLORA Goddess of flowers and blooming plants. Usually shown with a
wreath of flowers in her hair. A favorite deity of courtesans, Flora’s
festivals were held in April and May.

FORTUNA Goddess of fate and chance. Fortuna’s statue was kept veiled,
because she was ashamed of the capriciousness of her favors. Fortuna is
represented by the sphere, the ship’s rudder, the cornucopia, and the
wheel. To this day, wheels of fortune can be found in casinos, and the
wheel on the tenth card of the Major Arcana is Fortuna.

GENIUS A guardian who protects both individuals and homes.

JANUS Guardian of entrances and exits, the opener of all things who
looks inward as well as outward, custodian of the universe. Janus’
two-faced image was usually displayed over doorways and gates. Janus
signifies both past and future wisdom. Janus is the god of beginnings,
so the first month of each year, the first day of each month, and the
first hour of each day are dedicated to him. Janus was the first god to
be mentioned in prayers, even before Jupiter.

LAR God of the house, a cheerful and beautiful youth.

MARS God of farming, war and springtime. Like the typical Roman citizen,
Mars was first a farmer and then a soldier. The wolf, the oak and the
woodpecker are sacred to Mars. Often identified with the Greek god Ares,
but the differences are more important than the similarities. For one
thing, the Romans liked Mars.

MITHRAS The god who dies and rises again, god of vegetation, the sun
god, the Savior who who redeems mankind from evil. A Roman version of a
Persian god. Especially popular among soldiers, Mithras was widely
worshipped throughout the Roman empire and gave Christianity a run for
its money. Mithras’ cult served a number of purposes and its
organization was highly complex. A temple of Mithras served as a social
club, a place of worship, a dramatic society, a magical society, an
officers’ club, and much more. The worshippers of Mithras conducted
elaborate ceremonies to which no woman was admitted. The worship of
Mithras emphasized correct behavior in this world, which was the only
way to win the favor of the god in the next. There were different
degrees of initiation into the cult, each degree having its own name:
the Crow, the Secret, the Soldier, the Lion, the Fathers and many more
on up to the King of Kings, which was open only to those of royal blood.
Initiates were placed under a grating upon which a bull had been
slaughtered and were drenched in its blood, signifying the emergence
from death to rebirth. Ceremonies generally took place in caverns or
rooms made up to look like caverns, and involved the wild beating of
drums, anointings with honey, the unveiling of hidden statues, and the
use of hallucenogenic drugs.

OPS Goddess of the harvest. Identified with the Greek goddess RHEA.

QUIRINIAS A mystery. Originally a war god of the Sabines, later a state
god of the Romans. One of the highest gods of ancient Rome, every bit as
important as Mars or Jupiter, yet almost nothing is known today of
Quirinias or his worship.

TELLUS MATER An ancient earth goddess. Pregnant cows were sacrificed on
her festival, April 15. Tellus is one of the very oldest gods, dating
back to the time before the Roman religion was formalized.

VESTA “The Shining One.” Goddess of domestic life and the hearth.
Worshipped privately in the home and publicly in Vesta’s temple. In the
home, Vesta lived near the hearth and was offered food and drink at
every meal. The Vestal Virgins served her, and (apart from mothers who
were allowed to bring offerings during festivals) were the only ones
allowed to enter her temple. The Vestal Virgins, chosen only from the
nobility, tended a sacred fire which was the symbol of the hearth of the
nation. A strict vow of chastity was imposed on the Virgins, and a
Virgin caught breaking the vow was walled up alive. In more than a
thousand years, only twenty women were so punished.

Egyptian Pantheon

AMMON Also AMON; AMUN; AMEN “Hidden.” King of the gods of Egypt. Patron
of the Pharoahs. Originally a god of fertility, a local deity of
Memphis. Ammon became linked with the sun god Ra through the royal
family, becoming Ammon-Ra.

ANUBIS The jackal-headed god. Anubis can foresee a mortal’s destiny and
is associated with magic and divination. Anubis supervises the weighing
of the soul when the departed are brought to the hall of the dead.

ASTARTE The Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar, inducted into the Egyptian
pantheon and made a daughter of Ammon-Ra. Sometimes identified (or
confused, which is the same thing) with Isis.

ATUM The first of the gods, the self-created. By sheer will, Atum formed
himself out of the stagnant waters of Nun. Atum was bisexual and was
sometimes called “the great He-She.” The Egyptians had two cosmogonies,
one taught by the priests at Heliopolis and the other by the priests at
Memphis. The priests at Memphis taught that Nun and Atum, together with
Atum’s children Shu and Tefnut, were aspects or forms of Ptah.

BAST Also BASTET. The cat-headed goddess, a local deity of the delta.
The kindly goddess of joy, music and dancing. Cats were sacred to Bast
as a symbol of animal passion. Bast’s devotees celebrated their lady
with processions of flower-laden barges and orgiastic ceremonies. Her
festivals were licentious and quite popular.

HATHOR A sky goddess, sometimes represented as a woman with cow’s horns
between which hangs a solar disc, sometimes portrayed as a cow. Hathor
concerns herself with beauty, love and marriage, and watches over women
giving birth. Mother and wife of Ra. Hathor is also a goddess of death
and offers comfort to the newly dead as they pass into the afterworld.

HORUS The falcon-headed god. A complex deity with many aspects. Some of
them are: Horus the Elder, a sky god whose eyes are the sun and the
moon, continually at war with Set, the god of evil; Horus of the
Horizon, symbolized by the rising and setting sun; Horus the Child,
whose frequent depictions as a baby at the breast of his mother Isis
influenced Christian images of the Madonna and the Christ child; Horus,
son of Isis, avenger of Osiris. There were many others.

ISIS Wife and sister of Osiris (the ancients had nothing against a
little divine incest). The ideal wife and mother. Generally a goddess of
the home and person rather than of the temple and the priest. After the
twenty sixth dynasty, Isis is increasingly portrayed as a nursing
mother, and her cult eventually spread throughout the Roman empire.

MAAT Goddess of truth and justice. Her symbol is the feather.

MIN A god of fertility and sexual potency. An ancient god of
pre-dynastic origins. His symbol is the thunderbolt. As orgiastic
festivials were held in his honor, Min was quite a popular god.

NUN God of the primal waters. Nun was a mass of stagnant water which
filled all the universe.

OSIRIS At first the god of corn; later the god of the dead. Osiris
brought civilization to the Egyptians, teaching them the uses of corn
and wine, weaving, sculpture, religion, music and law. Set slew Osiris
and dismembered th body; but Osiris’ consort, Isis, reassembled the body
and brought Osiris back to life. Osiris then retired to the underworld.
Osiris is the god of the Nile which rises and falls every year; the god
of corn and the vine, which flourish, die, and flourish once more; and
the god of the rising and setting sun.

PTAH The artificer. The creator god. According to the priests of
Memphis, the fount of all creation. God of artisans and artists,
designers, builders, architects, masons, metal workers. Ptah’s consort
is Sekhmut, goddess of war.

RA God of the sun; sometimes identified or considered synonomous with
Atum. Ra created man from his tears. At one time Ra became so digusted
with men that he orderd Hathor to kill them all. This Hathor did with
such zeal that Ra took pity on men and ordered Hathor to stop. Crazed
with blood, Hathor ignored the order, and Ra resorted to chicanery to
save humankind. Ra mixed beer with pomegranate juice and left pots of
the concoction about the battlefield. Thinking the mixture was blood,
Hathor drank it greedily and got too swacked to carry out her mission.

SEKHMUT Goddess of war and battles, consort of Ptah. Hathor took
Sekhmut’s shape when she made war on men. Sekhmut is usually portrayed
as a woman with the head of a lionness, sometimes brandishing a knife in
an upraised hand.

SET Red of hair and eyes, pale of skin, Set is the god of evil, of
drought, of destruction, thunder and storm. Set tore himself from his
mother’s womb in his hurry to be born. Every month Set attacks and
devours the moon, the sanctuary of Osiris and the gathering place of the
souls of the recently dead.

THOTH “Thrice Greatest.” God of wisdom, music, magic, medicine,
astronomy, geometry, surveying, art and and writing. Historian, scribe
and judge. Thoth’s priests claimed Thoth was the Demi-Urge who created
everything from sound. It was said that Thoth wrote books in which he
set forth a fabulous knowldege of magic and incantation, and then
concealed them in a crypt.

Norse Pantheon

AEGIR “Alebrewer.” So called because Aegir loves to give feasts for the
gods. God of the sea. Saxon pirates gave to Aegir a tenth of their
captives, who were thrown into the sea.

ANGRBODA The giantess who mated with Loki to create Hel, Fenrir and the
Midgard Serpent.

BALDER A hero god, the god who dies and rises again. Fair skinned, fair
haired, wise and merciful, beloved of all. Loke tricked Hoder into
killing Balder, who had to be rescued from the underworld. According to
the epic poem VOLUSKA, Balder will come to rule again after Ragnarok.

BRAGI God of poetry and eloquence, husband of Iduun. It is Bragi’s duty
to prepare Valhalla for new arrivals.

DONAR German god of thunder, forerunner of Thor. His symbol is the
swastika. Oak trees are sacred to Donar, as they are to Jove.

FENRIR Also FENRIS WOLF A monstrous wolf conceived by Loki. Fenrir was
raised in Asgard, the home of the gods, until he became so immense and
feroucious that only the god Tyr was brave enough to feed him. Tyr bound
Fenrir until the day of Ragnarok, when Fenrir will break loose to slay
Odin.

FORSETI God of justice, the great arbiter, the god who “stills all
strife.” Forseti dwells in a hall of gold and silver called Giltnir.

FREYR “The god of the world,” son of Njord, husband of Freyja. God of
fertility, sunlight and rain, peace, joy and contentment. Freyr was
worshipped with human sacrifices and a kind of religious play in which
men dressed as women mimed and danced to the sound of chimes and bells.
Freyr had some association with the horse cult as well, and horses
sacred to his service were kpet near his shrines. Freyr and his
sister/wife FREYJA were of the Vanir, a family or race of gods which
originally competed with the Aesir and later became allies. The Vanir
may have been the gods of an earlier Scandinavian race who were adopted
into the pantheon of later conquerors.

FREYJA Goddess of magic and death, goddess of sex, daughter of Njord, a
shape-shifter who often took the form of a falcon. When her husband Od
disappeared, Freyja wept golden tears. Donning a magical garment, Freyja
could fly long distances. Patroness of seithr, a practice in which a
sorceress would enter a trance to foretell the future. The women who
practiced siethr, who were know as Volva, wandered freely about the
country casting spells and foretelling the future. Freyja’s worshippers
involved orgiastic rites which horrified and outraged the Christians.
Half of all those slain in battle belonged to Freyja, the other half
belonging to Odin.

FRIGG Wife of Odin, mother of Balder, queen of Asgard. A fertility
goddess.

HEIMDALL The god who guards the Bifrost Bridge which is the entrance to
Asgard. Heimdall can see for immense distances, and his ear is so
sensitive that he can hear the grass grow. On the day of Ragnarok,
Heimdall will blow the great horn Gjallarhorn, and in the ensuing battle
he will slay Loki.

HEL Goddess of death. Daughter of Loki. Ruler of Niflheim, the land of
mists. Heroic souls go to Valhalla. Those who die of disease or old age
come to Niflheim. Surrounded by high walls and strong gates, Niflheim is
impregnable; not even Balder could return from there without Hel’s
permission.

HERMOD A hero god. Hermod rode through the gates of Niflheim to rescue
Balder and found Balder seated on the right hand of Hel. Hel agreed to
release Balder on condition that all living things weep for him.

HODER Little is known about Hoder, other than that he is blind. Loki
tricked Hoder into killing Balder with a sprig of mistletoe. Hoder will
join Balder in the new world which will come into being when the present
one is destroyed.

IDUNN Wife of Bragi, keeper of the golden apples of eternal youth. The
giant Thiazzi kidnapped her with the aid of Loki.

LOKI A trickster. Sly, deceitful, a master thief, not to be trusted.
Nevertheless, Loki is charming, witty, quite capable, and possessed of a
sardonic sense of humor which he aims at himself no less often than at
others. A shape shifter who can change into almost any animal form. Loki
was involved in many of the gods’ adventures, usually because one of his
tricks had made some kind of a mess.

MIDGARD SERPENT The great snake which lies in the ocean and encircles
the world, its tail in its mouth. On the day of Ragnarok, the world will
disappear under the ocean’s waters when the Midgard Serpent rises from
the sea. Thor will kill the Midgard Serpent but will be killed by the
Serpent’s poision.

MIMIR The guardian of a spring of wisdom at the root of Yggdrasill, the
world tree which connects the lower and higher worlds and is the source
of all life. Odin gave an eye to drink from that spring.

NERTHUS An earth mother worshipped by the German tribe of the Suebi. Her
sacred grove stood on an island in the North Sea.

NJORD The chief of the Vanir, who warred with the Aesir. Lord of the
winds and of the sea, giver of wealth. Particularly revered on the west
coast of Sweden. In pagan days, oaths in law courts were sworn in his
name. Njord may be a masculine form of Nerthus

ODIN Also OTHINN; WODEN; WOTAN A god of strife and war, magic and death.
The chief of the Aesir who lives in his hall Valaskjal in Sagard from
which he can look out over all the worlds. In his hall Valhalla,
valkyries (female war spirits) serve heros who have fallen in battle and
will aid the god in the great battle of Ragnarok. On Odin’s shoulders
perch two ravens, Hugin (“Thought”) and Munin (“Memory”) who can fly
about all the worlds to bring Odin knowledge. Odin often aids great
heros but is quite fickle and can turn against a man for any reason or
none. Tales of Odin’s treachery are not merely Christian propaganda.
Odin’s worshippers themselves could be quite sharp-tongued about Odin’s
unfaithfulness. Odin’s worship involved human sacrifices, who were
generally hung from trees or gallows.

RAGNAROK “Destruction of the powerful ones.” The Twilight of the Gods.
The time of fire and ice. The great battle at the end of time between
the gods and the Frost Giants in which the world will be destroyed and
made anew. Ragnarok will be preceded by three winters of bitter wars
followed by the Fimbulvetr, a winter so cold that the usn will give no
heat. Then the forces of evil will gather and make war on the gods.

THOR God of thunder. Huge, red-bearded, red-eyed, powerful. His weapon
is the magic hammer Mjollnir, which is augmented by a magic belt which
doubles Thor’s strength, and iron gloves with which Thor grips Mjollnir.
In some ways Odin’s rival, Thor is the god of law and order, the
champion of the people. Unlike Odin, Thor will keep faith. Oaths were
sworn in Thor’s name, which no sane man would ever do with Odin. When
Christianity came to Iceland, the other gods surrendered meekly, but
Thor fought to the bitter end. The Hammer is Thor’s sacred sign and is
the most common image in Nordic art. The worship of Thor survived well
into the Christian age; little silver hammers were often made in the
smith’s shop along with crosses and crucifixes.

TIWAZ The one-handed sky god and war god of the early Germanic peoples.
Tiwaz was worshipped with human sacrifices conducted in the deep forest.
Tiwaz is god of law and justice, and oaths were sworn in his name. His
functions were later taken over by Odin and Thor, though unlike Odin
Tiwaz is completely without deceit and guile. Tiwaz is also known as
Irmin, and his sacred pillar Irminsul symbollically held the universe
together.

TYR God of battle, the only god with the strength and courage to bind
Fenris. Warriors marked their swords with a T to gain the god’s
protection. Tyr was originally was Tiwaz, retained in a later pantheon
but overshadowed by Odin and Thor.

WELAND Also VOLUNDR; WIELAND; WAYLAND God of smiths and metal workers.
Son of the giant Wade. Weland has much in common with smith gods such as
Govannon and Hephaistos, which comes as no surprise. Technology and
metalworking spread slowly in the ancient world, usually on a person to
person basis, and highly skilled metalsmiths and other technical workers
formed a virtual international brotherhood similar to the Masons.

Celtic Pantheon

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 irresistibly 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 Cerridwen, 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.

CERRIDWEN 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. Cerridwen 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 synonymous 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.