Category: Deities

Gods of the Vine

Gods of the Vine

By Patti Wigington

Grapes. They’re everywhere in the fall, so it’s no surprise that the Mabon season is a popular time to celebrate winemaking, and deities connected to the growth of the vine. Whether you see him as Bacchus, Dionysus, the Green Man, or some other vegetative god, the god of the vine is a key archetype in harvest celebrations.

The Greek Dionysus was representative of the grapes in the vineyards, and of course the wine that they created. As such, he gained a bit of a reputation as a party-hardy kind of god, and his followers were typically seen as a debauched and drunken lot. However, before he was a party god, Dionysus was originally a god of trees and the forest. He was often portrayed with leaves growing out of his face, similar to later depictions of the Green Man. Farmers offered prayers to Dionysus to make their orchards grow, and he is often credited with the invention of the plow.

In Roman legend, Bacchus stepped in for Dionysus, and earned the title of party god. In fact, a drunken orgy is still called a bacchanalia, and for good reason. Devotees of Bacchus whipped themselves into a frenzy of intoxication, and in the spring Roman women attended secret ceremonies in his name. Bacchus was associated with fertility, wine and grapes, as well as sexual free-for-alls. Although Bacchus is often linked with Beltane and the greening of spring, because of his connection to wine and grapes he is also a deity of the harvest.

In medieval times, the image of the Green Man appeared. He is typically a male face peering out from the leaves, surrounded by ivy or grapes. Tales of the Green Man have overlapped through time, so that in his many aspects he is also Puck of the MidSummer forest, Herne the Hunter, Cernunnos, the Oak King, John Barleycorn, Jack in the Green, and even Robin Hood. The spirit of the Green Man is everywhere in nature at the time of the harvest — as leaves fall down around you outside, imagine the Green Man laughing at you from his hiding place within the woods!

Demeter, Dark Mother of the Harvest

Demeter, Dark Mother of the Harvest

Perhaps the best known of all the harvest mythologies is the story of Demeter and Persephone. Demeter was a goddess of grain and of the harvest in ancient Greece. Her daughter, Persephone, caught the eye of Hades, god of the underworld. When Hades abducted Persephone and took her back to the underworld, Demeter’s grief caused the crops on earth to die and go dormant. By the time she finally recovered her daughter, Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds, and so was doomed to spend six months of the year in the underworld. These six months are the time when the earth dies, beginning at the time of the autumn equinox. Each year, Demeter mourns the loss of her daughter for six months. At Ostara, the greening of the earth begins once more and life begins anew.

In some interpretations of the story, Persephone is not held in the underworld against her will. Instead, she chooses to stay there for six months each year so that she can bring a little bit of brightness and light to the souls doomed to spend eternity with Hades.

MAIDEN, MOTHER and CRONE

MAIDEN, MOTHER and CRONE

GODDESSES

Triads involving the Gods & Goddesses are older than the Christian archetype. In
the Craft, the triad is symbolized by the Maiden, Mother and Crone.

The Maiden

The Maiden signifies youth, the excitement of the chase, and the newness of
life and magick. In human age she would be between puberty and her twenties. She
does not have a mate. Her colors are soft & light, such white, soft pink, or
light yellow.

Rituals using the Maiden:

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* Any new beginning, or even the hopes and plans for new beginnings.
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* When taking on a new job, or planning to apply for a new job.
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* During the first steps of new ideas, whatever they are.
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* Whenever you plan or begin a complete turn around in your life.
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* Whenever you begin a new phase in your life.
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* On moving, in to a new house or apartment.
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* On entering a new school or going back to school after a delay in education.
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* Any journey that is connected with anticipated changes. This can be anything.
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* The beginning of a new relationship, love or friendship.
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* Plans for getting pregnant.
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* The birth of a child.
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* The first menstruation for girls.
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* Puberty on reaching the teens for boys.
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The Mother

The Mother stands for nurturing, caring, fertility; she is a woman in the prime
of her life and at the peak of her power. She protects her own and will ensure
that justice is done and done well. This woman is usually mated. In human age,
she would be seen as a woman in her thirties to mid-forties. Her colors are
warmer than that of the maiden, such as green, copper, red, light purple or
royal blue.

Rituals using the Mother:

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* Project fruition and completion.
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* When childbirth is near
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* Strength to see matters through to the end.
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* Blessings and protection. This especially applies to females who are
threatened by
men.
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* Guidance in life decisions.
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* Marriages, or the contemplation of or desire for marriage.
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* Finding or choosing a mate or companion.
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* Gardening, the growing of any plant.
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* Choosing or accepting an animal. Protection of animal life.
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* Making choices of any kind.
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* Gaining or continuing peace.
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* Developing intuition and psychic gifts.
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* Spiritual direction.

The Crone

The Crone is a being of age-old wisdom. She is shrew and counsels well. She
cares for the Maiden and the Mother as well as the off-spring thereof. She is
logical and can be terrible in her vengeance. She stands at the door to the
dimension of death. In human years, she is approximately 45 or older. The Crone
is the Most difficult of the three to place in human age. The Crone’s
traditional colors are black, gray, purple, brown or midnight blue.

Rituals using the Crone

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* Ending relationships, jobs, friendships
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* Menopause, or coming to terms with aging.
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* Divorce.
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* A regrouping of energies needed at the end of a cycle of activity or problem.
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* Rest and calmness before making new goals and plans.
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* When the garden or plants are ready for winter.
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* Harassment of any kind.
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* Retribution on rapists, murderers, abusers.
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* On the death of a person or pet; of any animal or human. Contemplation at the
end
of your own life cycle.
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* When moving from a dwelling or job.
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* When strong protection is needed for attacks on the physical or psychic
levels, or even annoyance by spirits.
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* To understand the deepest of mysteries.
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* Developing trance or communication with the guides or other spirits.

The Threefold Goddess

The Threefold Goddess


To understand the concept of Goddess requires more than the ability to visualize
God as a woman. The Goddess concept is built around the myth and mystery of the
relationship between God and Goddess, and beneath that, and part of it, Her
Threefold Aspect … Maiden, Mother and Crone.

One of the oldest recognized Goddess forms is the first Greek Goddess – Gaia,
the Earth Mother; the Universal Womb; Mother of All. The most ancient Goddesses
were most often Earth and Mother Goddesses. The were worshipped and revered as
bearers of life … fat, healthy, pregnant and fruitful. As the Goddess concept
developed, then came the Harvest Goddesses, who were also Earth Goddesses.
Understand that this was a time when people did not even understand the basic
mechanics of procreation.  Life was very sacred and mystical indeed!

Gradually, myth and mystery developed and revealed themselves, creating the
legend which we honor in the modern Wiccan Craft.

We recognize the Goddess as the mother of all, including her Mighty Consort, the
God.  To Her he is Lover and Son, and together they form the Ultimate, the
Omniverse, the Dragon, the Mystery.

Now that is a pretty tough concept all things considered. Especially in our
society as it sounds rather incestuous.  From a mundane perspective, it gets
worse as the Wheel of the Year Turns, and the Oak and Holly Kings battle …
eternal rivals and
sacrificial mates.

In the pages that follow, we will explore the Goddess foundation concepts and
try to reach an understanding of the basis of the Mystery.

I don’t want to get off into all the names of all the Goddesses in all the
mythology in all of history.  While that is certainly a noble endeavor, it is
not the objective here.  What I do want to do is look at the Goddess, in whole
and in part, and see just who and what she is.

First and foremost, the Goddess is the symbol of the Cycle of  Everlasting.  She
is constant, ever present, ever changing, and yet always the same.  She could be
compared in that respect to the oceans.

As a part of that, she is that from which we have come, and to which we will
return.  She is the Universal Mother, the Cosmic Womb. While those are largely
symbolic images, as opposed to literal ones, they are important to bear in mind
about any aspect of the Goddess. She never harms, she is Mother.

One of the most difficult throwback mentalities to dispel in a student is the
difference between “dark and light” and “bad and good”. Societally, and often
religiously, we are trained to see bad and dark and evil as being the same.
Hence, we are also taught to hate and fear our own mortality.  All too often I
see practicing Wiccans, who ought to *know* better, fall back on these concepts
when trying to explain or understand a concept.

The Goddess is dark, she is light, she is birth, she is death, and she rejoices
in all things.  With death comes joy, for with death comes renewal.  With life
comes joy, for with life comes promise. With growth comes joy for with growth
comes wisdom.  Sorrow and fear are not a part of her, not the way we feel those
emotions.  She is incapable of sorrow without joy, she fears nothing, because
fear is not real. It is a creation of the mind.

Whether you see the Goddess as a Warrior Queen, or like the Good Witch of the
North in the Wizard of Oz, she is the Goddess.  And she has many parts and
facets which defy comprehension as “One”.  She simply IS, and in that, can be
whatever you need her to be in order to establish a relationship with her.  But
none of that changes what she IS.

“I greet thee in the many names of the Threefold Goddess and her Mighty Consort.
Athe, malkuth, ve-guburah, ve-gedulah, le-olam, Amen. Blessed Be.”

So here, at the Circle Door, greeted by the High Priest or Priestess we first
see mentioned the Threefold Goddess.  Full-sized covens have three priestesses
who take the specific roles of Maiden, Mother and Crone, the High Priestess
being Mother.

The Threefold Goddess however is NOT three entities, she is one. Her aspects
represent Enchantment, Ripeness and Wisdom.

Taking first things first is usually best, so we shall start with a look at one
side of the Maiden.

Quoting “The Myth of the Goddess” as found in Gardenarian Wicca (Gerald B.
Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft, Aquarian Press, London, 1959.):

Now Aradia had never loved, but she would solve all the Mysteries, even the
Mystery of Death; and so she journeyed to the Nether Lands.

The Guardians of the Portals challenged her, “Strip off thy garments, lay aside
thy jewels; for naught may ye bring with ye into this our land.”

So she laid down her garments and her jewels and was bound, as were all who
enter the Realms of Death the Mighty One.  Such was her beauty that Death
himself knelt and kissed her feet, saying, “Blessed by thy feet that have
brought thee in these ways.  Abide with me, let me place my cold hand on thy
heart.”  She replied “I love thee not. Why dost thou cause all things that I
love and take delight in to fade and die?”

“Lady,” replied Death, “it is Age and Fate, against which I am helpless.  Age
causes all things to wither, but when men die at the end of time I give them
rest and peace, and strength so that they may return.  But thou, thou art
lovely.  Return not; abide with me.”

But she answered, “I love thee not.”

Then said Death, “An’ thou receive not my hand on thy heart thou must receive
Death’s scourge.”

“It is Fate; better so”, she said, and she knelt, and Death scourged her and she
cried “I feel the pangs of love.”

And Death said, “Blessed be” and gave her the Fivefold Kiss, saying “Thus only
may ye attain joy and knowledge.”

And he taught her all the Mysteries.  And they loved and were one, and he taught
her all the Magicks.

For there are three great events in the life of Man:  Love, Death and
Resurrection in a new body, and Magick controls them all. For to fulfill love
you must return again at the same time and place as the loved one, and you must
remember and love them again.  But to be reborn you must die, and be ready for a
new body; and to die you must be born; and without love you may not be born.
And these be all the Magicks.

So there in the Gardnerian Myth of the Goddess we have her Maiden aspect,
seeking, searching and opening herself to the mysteries.  But it is well to
remember that the Goddess herself is a mystery, and the primary gift of the
Goddess is intuitive Wisdom.

Beltaine (Bealtain) is the only Sabbat where the Goddess is entirely devoted to
the Maiden.  Here, she revels in the enchantment, in the joy of coming into
fullness and mating with the God.  Here, she is maiden bride and we can most
easily understand that facet of the Maiden aspect.  I should probably note here
that some see this festival as maiden turning into mother, with the maiden being
in full at Candlemas, but I do not agree with that.

Youth, newness, innocence and beauty are fundamental facets of  the Maiden
aspect.  But beneath those are seeking, and love, and love of  seeking.  There
is more to understand of the Maiden though. Enchantment does not end with
maidenhood, it is simply the beginning of the Mystery of Life, for that, above
all, is what the Goddess stands for.

In Circle, in the Balanced Universe, the Maiden takes her place in the East.  In
examining this most comfortable quarter, you learn more about the Maiden Aspect.
East (Air) rules the free mind and intellect.  It is the place to seek the
ability to learn and to open spiritually, to open your mind and find answers.
It is a masculine quarter, ruled by intellect, and analytical logic, but she
brings to it an intuition which is required to use these to best advantage.

“The river is flowing, flowing and growing, the river is flowing back to the
sea.  Mother carry me, a child I will always be.  Mother carry me, back to the
sea.”

This Circle chant, sung in joy, sung in sorrow, is a cry to the Mother Aspect
for comfort and warmth, a power chant calling upon the steady power and fullness
of the Mother and a plea for guidance. While the Earth Mother, and the fully
aspected Goddess are placed North in the Earth quarter, the Mother aspect alone
belongs in the west.

Comfort and love rule here.  Emotions, sorrow, joy, tears, these belong to the
ripeness of the Mother.  Caring and loving for all her children, watching in
pain and pride as they struggle to gain their own, knowing full well she could
reach out and do it for them, but being both bound and desirous to let them do
it for themselves.

There is a considerable difference, as you might have interpreted from the
above, between the Earth Mother and the Mother Aspect of the Goddess.  That is
why we’ve started with her quarter, because it  reveals the limitations of the
Aspect.

The Mother aspect is ripeness, the ancient bearing of fruit, child and grain.
She represents emotion and sexuality.  The Goddess in that aspect is most of the
altar (as discussed in the Great Rite lesson.)  It is interesting to note the
practice in numerous ancient cultures of lovemaking or outright sex magick in
cornfields to help make the corn grow.

The Dark Mother should also be placed here, although culturally, I have a
tendency to think of the Dark Mother as more in keeping the Crone Aspect.  It is
a bit of work to see the Dark Mother in the West, to separate Dark Mother from
Crone, but it is worthwhile.  If you have any background with the tarot I would
suggest you take it in that context, it is beyond the scope of this text.

Our exploration of the Goddess and her Aspects brings us now to the Crone.  For
me, the Crone is the most fascinating of the Aspects of the Goddess.  Partly I
suppose because she is the most mysterious and paradoxical.

“Blessed Goddess, old and wise, open mine, thy child’s, eyes. Speak to me in
whispered tones that I may know the rune of Crones.”

With life and growth comes age and wisdom, and the Crone is this in part.  She
holds fire and power, which wisely used can be of great benefit, but hold great
danger for the unaware.  Hers are the secrets of  death and of life, and the
mystery beyond the mystery.

Part of the pleasure in knowing the Crone aspect is that while, unlike the fully
aspected Goddess, she is not also Maiden and Mother, she does retain the
experiences of both those Aspects in order to be Crone.  The Crone, wizened
though she is, must still be able to reach into herself and recall the innocent
joys and high passions of the Maiden and the love and warmth of the Mother.  To
be Crone and to not have forgotten, to still be able to experience Maiden and
Mother is, to me, very appealing.  More importantly, to be comfortable in that
Aspect, where you have truth and knowledge but have left youth and physical
beauty behind, and to still _feel_ youth and beauty without being desirous of
them is an admirable quality.

Crone is the least paralleled Aspect of the Goddess to our human society.  We
discard our old and wise, not understanding their value as teachers and models,
and fearing their appearance as a reminder of  our own mortality.

Knowing Crone is a door we much each open for ourselves for to know and love her
is to cast aside a great many of our cultural and societal malteachings.

While the individual Aspects of Threefold Goddess are certainly valid concepts
and paths to knowing Goddess, I should caution that most mythological Goddess
figures are composite Goddesses.  Earth Mother Goddess figures are fully
aspected Goddess by definition because they represent the full cycle of the
Wheel.  Most other Goddess figures can be classified as having a dominant (or
operative) aspect and recessive (promised, or in some cases past) aspect.
Future and past should not be taken literally, mythological Goddess figures are
always whatever they are eternally, they do not tend to change (ie age).

Maiden Goddesses possessing their operative in the Huntress or Warrior aspects
most often have a promise of Crone. Maiden Goddesses expressing their dominance
in beauty and/or love usually have their recessive aspect as Mother.  For
example, Athena is a Maiden Goddess with Crone attributes (the combination
produces many Mother-type qualities, and this results in the Crone aspected
Maiden being the most complete of the Mythological Goddesses, with the exception
of  Earth Mother Goddesses.) Aphrodite is of course a Maiden Goddess with Mother
attributes.

Similarly, Dark Mother Goddess figures mostly find their promise in Crone and
Light Mother figures their recessive in Maiden. Crone recessives work the same
way, although sometimes it takes a bit of  close examination to find the
“hidden” aspect.

One should note that this is not a formula, rather a tool to assist in examining
and understanding Goddess figures and creating one’s own personal spiritual link
with Goddess.  It is also a useful consideration when invoking a specific
Goddess with purpose in ritual. The purpose of this course has been to open
avenues of approach in discovering and developing a relationship with Goddess.
For me personally, I do not “believe” in the reality of mythological Goddess
figures as they were presented, but I do believe they are a valid way to
establish communication with Goddess.  I also believe Goddess will appear in
whatever form we are most ready to accept.  The real Goddess, by my belief (and
this is personal, not trad) is an entity beyond my comprehension, perhaps
composed of light (could 5000 sci-fi films be wrong?), most assuredly unlike
anything I could ever imagine in true form.  However, I do find mythological
Goddess figures highly useful for ritual, and of some help in my personal
relationship with Goddess. I hope you will too.

The Goddess In The Kingdom Of Death

The Goddess In The Kingdom Of Death

In this world, the Goddess is seen in the moon, the light that shines in darkness, the rain bringer, mover of the tides, Mistress of mysteries. And as the moon waxes
and wanes, and walks three nights of its cycle in darkness, so, it is said, the
Goddess once spent three nights in the Kingdom of Death.

For in love She ever seeks Her other Self, and once, in the winter of the year, when
He had disappeared from the green earth, She followed Him and came at last to the
gates beyond which the living do not go.

The Guardian of the Gate challenged Her, and She stripped Herself of Her clothing
and jewels, for nothing may be brought into that land. For love, She was bound as
all who enter there must be and brought before Death Himself.

He loved Her, and knelt at Her feet, laying before Her His sword and crown, and gave
Her the fivefold kiss, and said,

“Do not return to the living world, but stay here with Me, and have peace and rest
and comfort.”

But She answered, “Why do you cause all things I love and delight in to die and
wither away?”

“Lady,” He said, “It is the fate of all that lives to die. Everything passes; all
fades away. I bring comfort and consolation to those who pass the gates, that they
may grow young again. But You are My heart’s desire — return not, but stay here
with Me.”

And She remained with Him three days and three nights, and at the end of the third
night She took up His crown, and it became a circlet that She placed around Her
neck, saying:

“Here is the circle of rebirth. Through You all passes out of life, but through Me
all may be born again. Everything passess; everything changes. Even death is not
eternal. Mine is the mystery of the womb, that is the cauldron of rebirth. Enter
into Me and know Me, and You will be free of all fear. For as life is but a journey
into death, so death is but a passage back to life, and in Me the circle is ever
turning.”

In love, He entered into Her, and so was reborn into life. Yet is He known as Lord
of Shadows, the comforter and consoler, opener of the gates, King of the Land of
Youth, the giver of peace and rest. But She is the gracious mother of all life;
from Her all things proceed and to Her they return again. In Her are the mysteries
of death and birth; in Her is the fulfillment of all love.

*Traditional Craft Myth

Blessing For Hearth-Keepers

Brighid of the Mantle, encompass us,
Lady of the Lambs, protect us,
Keeper of the Hearth, kindle us.
Beneath your mantle, gather us,
And restore us to memory.

Mothers of our mother,
Foremothers strong.
Guide our hands in yours,
Remind us how
To kindle the hearth.
To keep it bright,
To preserve the flame.
Your hands upon ours,
Our hands within yours,
To kindle the light,
Both day and night.

The Mantle of Brighid about us,
The Memory of Brighid within us, The Protection of Brighid keeping us
From harm, from ignorance, from heartlessness.
This day and night,
From dawn till dark,
From dark till dawn.

(Brighid is the Irish saint whose following draws strongly upon the Celtic goddess of the same name; as hearth-keeper, she is venerated throughout the Celtic world.)

Rhyming Charge of the Goddess

Rhyming Charge of the Goddess

 

I am the harmonious tune of the songbird And the laughter of a gleeful child.
I am the bubbling sound of the running brook
And the scent of the flowers wild.

I am the floating leaf upon the breeze
And the dancing fire in the forest glade.
I am the sweet smell of rains upon the soil.
And the rapture of passion when love is made.

I am the germination of seed in the Spring
And the ripening of wheat in the Sun.
I am the peaceful depth of the twilight
That soothes the soul when day is done.

I am found in the twinkling of an aged eye…
And found in the birth of a newborn pup…
Yes…Birth and Growth and Death, am I
I am the gracious Earth, on whom you sup.

I am your sister, your mother, the wise one.
I wrap you gently in the warmth of my love.
That which your seek you shall find within:
Not without…not below…not above!
Remember always, my children, be reverent.
Be gentle, loving and kind to each other
And hold sacred the Earth and its creatures:
For I am the Lady: Creatrix and Mother!

-Kalioppe-

The Morrigan, Phantom Queen

The Morrigan

The Phantom Queen

The Morrígan (“phantom queen”) or Mórrígan (“great queen”), also written as Morrígu or in the plural as Morrígna, and spelt Morríghan or Mór-ríoghain in Modern Irish, is a figure from Irish mythology who appears to have been considered a goddess, although she is not explicitly referred to as such in the texts.

The Morrígan is a goddess of battle, strife, and sovereignty. She sometimes appears in the form of a crow, flying above the warriors, and in the Ulster cycle she also takes the form of an eel, a wolf and a cow. She is generally considered a war deity comparable with the Germanic Valkyries, although her association with a cow may also suggest a role connected with wealth and the land.

She is often depicted as a trio of goddesses, all sisters, although membership of the triad varies; the most common combinations are Badb, Macha and Nemain, or Badb, Macha and Anand; Anand is also given as an alternate name for Morrigu.

There is some disagreement over the meaning of the Morrígan’s name. Mor may derive from an Indo-European root connoting terror or monstrousness, cognate with the Old English maere (which survives in the modern English word “nightmare”) and the Scandinavian mara and the Old Russian “mara” (“nightmare”); while rígan translates as ‘queen’. This can be reconstructed in Proto-Celtic as *Moro-rīganī-s. Accordingly, Morrígan is often translated as “Phantom Queen”. This is the derivation generally favoured in current scholarship.

In the Middle Irish period the name is often spelled Mórrígan with a lengthening diacritic over the ‘o’, seemingly intended to mean “Great Queen” (Old Irish mór, ‘great’; this would derive from a hypothetical Proto-Celtic *Māra Rīganī-s). Whitley Stokes believed this latter spelling was a due to a false etymology popular at the time. There have also been attempts by modern writers to link the Morrígan with the Welsh literary figure Morgan le Fay from Arthurian romance, in whose name ‘mor’ may derive from a Welsh word for ‘sea’, but the names are derived from different cultures and branches of the Celtic linguistic tree.

Invocation of Morrigan

Morrigan Morrigan Three times Three,

Hear the words I ask of Thee.

Grant me vision, Grant me power,

Cheer me in my darkest hour.

As the night overtakes the day,

Morrigan Morrigan Light my way.

Morrigan Morrigan Raven Queen

Round and round the Hawthorn Green.

Queen of beauty, Queen of Art,

Yours my body, Yours my heart.

All my trust I place in thee,

Morrigan Morrigan Be with me…

Morrigan As The Triple Goddesss

The Morrígan is often considered a triple goddess, but this triple nature is ambiguous and inconsistent. Sometimes she appears as one of three sisters, the daughters of Ernmas: Morrígan, Badb and Macha. Sometimes the trinity consists of Badb, Macha and Anann, collectively known as the Morrígna. Occasionally Nemain or Fea appear in the various combinations. However, the Morrígan can also appear alone, and her name is sometimes used interchangeably with Badb.

The Morrígan is usually interpreted as a “war goddess”; W. M. Hennessey’s “The Ancient Irish Goddess of War”, written in 1870, was influential in establishing this interpretation. Her role often involves premonitions of a particular warrior’s violent death, suggesting a link with the Banshee of later folklore. This connection is further noted by Patricia Lysaght: “In certain areas of Ireland this supernatural being is, in addition to the name banshee, also called the badhb“. Her role was to not only be a symbol of imminent death, but to also influence the outcome of war. Most often she did this by appearing as a crow flying overhead and would either inspire fear or courage in the hearts of the warriors. There are also a few rare accounts where she would join in the battle itself as a warrior and show her favoritism in a more direct manner.

It has also been suggested that she was closely tied to Irish männerbund groups (described as “bands of youthful warrior-hunters, living on the borders of civilized society and indulging in lawless activities for a time before inheriting property and taking their places as members of settled, landed communities”) and that these groups may have been in some way dedicated to her. If true, her worship may have resembled that of Perchta groups in Germanic areas.

However, Máire Herbert has argued that “war per se is not a primary aspect of the role of the goddess”, and that her association with cattle suggests her role was connected to the earth, fertility and sovereignty; she suggests that her association with war is a result of a confusion between her and the Badb, who she argues was originally a separate figure. She can be interpreted as providing political or military aid, or protection to the king—acting as a goddess of sovereignty, not necessarily a war goddess.

There is a burnt mound site in County Tipperary known as Fulacht na Mór Ríoghna (‘cooking pit of the Mórrígan’). The fulachtaí sites are found in wild areas, and usually associated with outsiders such as the Fianna and the above-mentioned männerbund groups, as well as with the hunting of deer. The cooking connection also suggests to some a connection with the three mythical hags who cook the meal of dogflesh that brings the hero Cúchulainn to his doom. The Dá Chich na Morrigna (‘two breasts of the Mórrígan’), a pair of hills in County Meath, suggest to some a role as a tutelary goddess, comparable to Anu, who has her own hills, Dá Chích Anann (‘the breasts of Anu’) in County Kerry. Other goddesses known to have similar hills are Áine and Grian of County Limerick who, in addition to a tutelary function, also have solar attributes.

Morrigan Poem

by Anne-Christine Johnson 

 When the crows shriek thier frightening warnings,       

When autumn ends, and Winter falls,  

You will see a Lady a wondering,

weeping through the saddened fields.       

She is turning the Silver Wheel of the seasons.


When the crows heed their endless calling,  

Look to the Moon to see a Lady, dancing in the blackened clouds,

And when at night you see her coming, fall in wonder of what  

beauty she possesses, and shed your tears.  

The Great Queen is walking her footsteps once again.    

Morrighan, Morrighan, you’ll call her by name.


When the old earth opens from beneath your feet,   

crows will catch you before you fall and place you in

Her cauldron,  where rebirth waits and death awakens,   

your prophecy you will find. What you see is Her,

walking the shadows and howling to the Universe,  

forewarning Her arrival.


Black hair falling to Her feet, fill the ocean and become the waves,

Her legs become the forest; Her breasts become the mountains.     

Her womb becomes your ancient home.

Morrigan

by Danielle Dee
The Morrigan is a goddess of battle, strife, and fertility. Her name translates as either “Great Queen” or “Phantom Queen,” and both epithets are entirely appropriate for her. The Morrigan appears as both a single goddess and a trio of goddesses. The other deities who form the trio are Badb (“Crow”), and either Macha (also connotes “Crow”) or Nemain (“Frenzy”). The Morrigan frequently appears in the ornithological guise of a hooded crow. She is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann (“Tribe of the goddess Danu”) and she helped defeat the Firbolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuireadh and the Fomorians at the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh.

Origin

The origins of the Morrigan seem to reach directly back to the megalithic cult of the Mothers. The Mothers (Matrones, Idises, Disir, etc.) usually appeared as triple goddesses and their cult was expressed through both battle ecstasy and regenerative ecstasy. It’s also interesting to note that later Celtic goddesses of sovereignty, such as the trio of Eriu, Banba, and Fotla, also appear as a trio of female deities who use magic in warfare. “Influence in the sphere of warfare, but by means of magic and incantation rather than through physical strength, is common to these beings.” (Ross 205)

Eriu, a goddess connected to the land in a fashion reminiscent of the Mothers, could appear as a beautiful woman or as a crow, as could the Morrigan. The Disir appeared in similar guises. In addition to being battle goddesses, they are significantly associated with fate as well as birth in many cases, along with appearing before a death or to escort the deceased.

There is certainly evidence that the concept of a raven goddess of battle was not limited to the Irish Celts. An inscription found in France which reads Cathubodva, ‘Battle Raven’, shows that a similar concept was at work among the Gaulish Celts.

Valkyries in Norse cosmology. Both use magic to cast fetters on warriors and choose who will die.

During the Second Battle, the Morrigan “said she would go and destroy Indech son of De Domnann and ‘deprive him of the blood of his heart and the kidneys of his valor’, and she gave two handfuls of that blood to the hosts. When Indech later appeared in the battle, he was already doomed.” (Rees 36)

Compare this to the Washer at the Ford, another guise of the Morrigan. The Washer is usually to be found washing the clothes of men about to die in battle. In effect, she is choosing who will die.

An early German spell found in Merseburg mentions the Indisi, who decided the fortunes of war and the fates of warriors. The Scandinavian “Song of the Spear”, quoted in “Njals Saga”, gives a detailed description of Valkyries as women weaving on a grisly loom, with severed heads for weights, arrows for shuttles, and entrails for the warp. As they worked, they exulted at the loss of life that would take place. “All is sinister now to see, a cloud of blood moves over the sky, the air is red with the blood of men, and the battle women chant their song.” (Davidson 94)

An Old English poem, “Exodus”, refers to ravens as choosers of the slain. In all these sources, ravens, choosing of the slain, casting fetters, and female beings are linked.

“As the Norse and English sources show them to us, the walkurjas are figures of awe an even terror, who delight in the deaths of men. As battlefield scavengers, they are very close to the ravens, who are described as waelceasega, “picking over the dead”…” (Our Troth)

“The function of the goddess [the Morrigan] here, it may be noted, is not to attack the hero [Cu Chulainn] with weapons but to render him helpless at a crucial point in the battle, like the valkyries who cast ‘fetters’ upon warriors … thus both in Irish and Scandinavian literature we have a conception of female beings associated with battle, both fierce and erotic.” (Davidson 97, 100)

The Morrigan and Cu Chulainn She appeared to the hero Cu Chulainn(son of the god Lugh) and offered her love to him. When he failed to recognize her and rejected her, she told him that she would hinder him when he was in battle. When Cu Chulainn was eventually killed, she settled on his shoulder in the form of a crow. Cu’s misfortune was that he never recognized the feminine power of sovereignty that she offered to him.

She appeared to him on at least four occasions and each time he failed to recognize her.

  1. When she appeared to him and declared her love for him.
  2. After he had wounded her, she appeared to him as an old hag and he offered his blessings to her, which caused her to be healed.
  3. On his way to his final battle, he saw the Washer at the Ford, who declared that she was washing the clothes and arms of Cu Chulainn, who would soon be dead.
  4. When he was forced by three hags (the Morrigan in her triple aspect) to break a taboo of eating dogflesh.

Encyclopedia Mythica™

The Morrigu

 by J. Laskey 

She haunts you in your dreams

When you wake you can’t even scream

You hear the wind in the midnight sky

Upon which the Morrigu shall fly

She is justice and everything right

Look out for more than dreams tonight…

Between both worlds the crow awaits

This perfect twist of fate Life or death, living or dead

You can’t escape the places you’ve tread

Mark my words, make no mistake

It’s only everything she will take…

Morrigan’s Image Representation

“The Mare-Queen” is often shown as a black raven or hooded crow, who feeds on the killed warriors after battle. She appears also as a caillech, one-eyed old woman. As a shape shifter, she would often appear as a raven or red cow. But sometimes when she is hot and looking for love she is also an attractive young lady.

Morrigan’s Role

The origins of the Morrígan seem to reach directly back to the megalithic cult of the Mothers. The Mothers (Matrones, Idises, Dísir, etc.) usually appeared as triple goddesses and their cult was expressed through both battle ecstasy and regenerative ecstasy.

The Morrigu is prophetess of all misfortune in battle and has knowledge of the fate of humanity. She is also the messenger of death as the dark lady/washer at the ford : Morrigan is seen washing bloody laundry prior to battle by those destined to die.

Her personality is associated with the sometimes frightening aspects of female energy.

As a protectress she empowers an individual to confront challenges with great personal strength, even against seemingly overwhelming odds. Roman chroniclers reported that Celts went into battle naked, exposing tattoos to summon their magical forces.

Morrigan’s Signs & Symbols

Sacred animal: Cow and Mare, Raven and Crow

Ford of a river

The Colors RED and BLACK.

Weapons like spears,swords and shields.

Blood

Blackthorn

Additional Information on Morrigan

Attributes: archetypal Goddess of war, death and passionate love.

Representation: as a black raven or crow, who feeds on the killed warriors after battle.

Relations: Wife or Lover of Dagda, Daughter of

Offerings: Blood sacrifice

“Shrine of the Forgotten Goddesses”

RHYMING CHARGE OF THE GODDESS

I am the harmonious tune of the songbirdAnd the laughter of a gleeful child. I am the bubbling sound of the running brook And the scent of the flowers wild.

 

I am the floating leaf upon the breeze And the dancing fire in the forest glade. I am the sweet smell of rains upon the soil. And the rapture of passion when love is made.

 

I am the germination of seed in the Spring And the ripening of wheat in the Sun. I am the peaceful depth of the twilight That soothes the soul when day is done.

 

I am found in the twinkling of an aged eye… And found in the birth of a newborn pup… Yes…Birth and Growth and Death, am I I am the gracious Earth, on whom you sup.

 

 

I am your sister, your mother, the wise one. I wrap you gently in the warmth of my love. That which your seek you shall find within: Not without…not below…not above! Remember always, my children, be reverent. Be gentle, loving and kind to each other And hold sacred the Earth and its creatures: For I am the Lady: Creatrix and Mother!

 

-Kalioppe-

Deities of the Witches

It is certain that the devils have

a profound knowledge of all things.

No theologian can interpret

the Holy Scriptures better than they can;

no lawyer has a more detailed knowledge

of testaments, contracts, and actions;

no physician or philosopher can better understand

the composition of the human body,

and the virtues of the heavens, the stars, birds and fishes,

trees and herbs, metals and stones.

 

A LIST OF DEITIES BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN WORSHIPPED BY ACCUSED WITCHES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES THROUGH THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD.

 
Aside from worshipping the Devil, witches were purported to have abased themselves to a bevy of other deities.  Many of these goddesses, gods, devils, and demons (the classic horned devil included) were simply familiar deities of antiquity, sometimes given different names.  Where an old god was deemed useful by the Church, it was simply converted into a saint.
The following did not make it into the Christians’ good books:
Abonde, Abundia, Aradia, Ashtaroth, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Belial, Cernunnos, Diana, Fraw Fenus, Fraw Holt, Fraw Selga, Gulfora,  Hecate, Herodias, Holda, Leonard, Lilith, Mephistopheles, Minerva, Perchta, Put Satanachia, Satan, Satia, Venus, Verdelet.    Abonde
Intrinsically linked with the classical goddess Diana, Abonde also went by the names Abundia, Perchta, and Satia.  Abonde led nocturnal hordes of witches through homes and cellars, eating and drinking all they could find.  If food and drink were left as offerings, Abonde would bestow prosperity upon the occupants of the home.  If nothing was left out for her and her followers, she would deny the denizens of her blessings and protection.
The Thesaurus pauperum of 1468 condemned “the idolatrous superstition of those who left food and drink at night in open view for Abundia and Satia, or, as the people said, Fraw Percht and her retinue, hoping thereby to gain abundance and riches.”  The same practice of offering drink, salt, and food to Perchta, “alias domine Habundie,” on certain days had been taken note of and subsequently condemned in 1439 by Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach in De decem praeceptis.
According to Roman de la Rose, written at the end of the thirteenth century, third born children were obligated to travel with Abonde three times a week to the homes of neighbors.  Nothing could stop these people, as they became incorporeal in the company of Abonde.  Only their souls would travel as their bodies remained behind immobile.  There was a downside to this astral projection:  if the body was turned over while the soul was elsewhere, the soul would never return. Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 40-42)

 

Abundia
See Abonde, Diana, or Perchta.

 

Aradia
A corruption of Herodias, Aradia was identified with Diana.  Herodias was directly responsible for the death of John the Baptist.  According to C. G. Leland, Aradia was worshipped by Italian witches.  Aradia is still worshipped today by some neopagans. Bibliography.  (King 25)

 

Ashtaroth
Also known as Astaroth, Ashtaroth was usually depicted as an ugly demon riding a dragon and carrying a viper in his left hand.  He was the Treasurer of Hell, and was also the Grand Duke of its western regions.  He encouraged sloth and idleness.
Ashtaroth was one of two demons prayed to in the Black Masses of Catherine Monvoisin, Madame de Montespan (mistress of Louis XIV), and a 67-year-old priest by the name of Guibourg.  (The other demon prayed to was Asmodeus.)
In 1678, Nicolas de la Reynie, Louis XIV’s Lieutenant-General of Police, arrested these people along with 215 priests, sorcerers, and fortune tellers who had dabbled in black magic.  110 of these people were tried and sentenced. Some were hanged, some were exiled, and some were imprisoned for life.  Of Guibourg, La Reynie said:      A libertine who has traveled a great deal…and is at present attached to       The Church of Saint Marcel.  For twenty years he has engaged continually in      The practice of poison, sacrilege and every evil business.  He has cut the      throats and sacrificed uncounted numbers of children on his infernal altar.       He has a mistress…by whom he has had several children, one or two of whom      he has sacrificed…. It is no ordinary man who thinks it a natural thing      to sacrifice infants by slitting their throats and to say Mass upon the      bodies of naked women.
It seems quite likely that Madame de Montespan was one of the living altars for Guibourg’s masses.  In one such mass, “at the moment of the bread and wine a child’s throat was cut and its blood drained into the chalice.  Simultaneously, a prayer was recited to the demons Ashtaroth and Asmodeus: ‘Prince of Love, I beseech you to accept the sacrifice of this child…that the love of the King may be continued…'”
Shortly before the arrest of Guibourg and his cohorts, a sorcerous attempt was made upon the life of Louis XIV.  An altered consecrated wine was prepared to be slipped into Louis XIV’s food.  In the wine was dried powdered bats, menstrual blood, semen, and, “to give consistency,” flour. Bibliography.  (Masello 26)         Bibliography.  (King 110, 111)

 

Asmodeus
Asmodeus was one of the busiest demons.  He was not only the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell, but the general spreader of dissipation.  On top of that, Asmodeus was the demon of lust, personally responsible for stirring up matrimonial trouble. Maybe it was because he came from the original dysfunctional family. According to Jewish legend, his mother was a mortal woman, Naamah, and his father was one of the fallen angels.  (Or, possibly, Adam before Eve came along.)  Characterized in The Testament of Solomon, the great manual of magic, as “furious and shouting,” Asmodeus routinely did everything he could to keep husbands and wives from having intercourse, while encouraging them at every turn to indulge their pent-up drives in adulterous and sinful affairs.  When he      condescended to appear before a mortal, he did so riding a dragon, armed with a spear; he had three heads–one a bull’s, one a ram’s, and one a man’s–as all three of these were considered lecherous creatures by nature.  His feet, on the same theory, were those of a cock.
For information on a black mass held for Asmodeus, see Ashtaroth. Bibliography.  (Masello 26)

 

Beelzebub
Part of the Christian mythos, Beelzebub was one of the powerful seraphim first recruited by Satan.  From his new home in Hell, Beelzebub discovered how to tempt people with pride.  He became associated with flies because he had sent a plague of the insects to Canaan.  He may also have become known as the “Lord of the Flies” because of the popular belief that decaying corpses generated flies.
Regardless, when summoned by sorcerers or witches, he would appear in the form of a fly. Bibliography.  (Masello 25)

 

Belial
Much has been made of Belial, one of the Devil’s most venerable demons.  As the demon of lies, he was immortalized in Milton’s Paradise Lost (Book II):      A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed      For dignity composed and high exploit:      But all was false and hollow; though his tongue      Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear      The better reason, to perplex and dash      Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low;      To vice industrious, but to noble deeds      Timorous and slothful.
Before Satan had been the established leader of the forces of evil, Belial had been the undisputed regent of darkness. This view is reinforced in The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness from one of the Dead Sea Scrolls: “But for corruption thou hast made Belial, an angel of hostility.  All his dominion is in darkness, and his purpose is to bring about wickedness and guilt.”
Magician and necromancer Gilles de Rais attempted to summon both Belial and Beelzebub by using the severed body parts of a murdered child. Bibliography.  (Masello 27, 28)

 

Cernunnos
A Celtic god whose physical attributes came to be applied to those of Satan. Known as the Horned God and as Hu Gadarn, Cernunnos was the god of nature, astral planes, virility, fertility, animals, sex, the underworld, reincarnation, and shamanism. Bibliography.  (van Hattem)

 

Diana
The classical moon goddess, Diana, is still worshipped by neopagans today. Long after Christianity’s triumph over classical paganism, her worship is still going strong.  St. Kilian, a Celtic missionary to the pagan Franks, was martyred when he attempted to persuaded the peasants to abandon their worship of this goddess.  A writing on the life of St. Caesarius offhandedly mentions “a demon whom simple folk call Diana.”
Diana was the personification of the positive aspects of lunar forces.  She was also believed to have led groups of nightriders (known as the “Wild Hunt” or the “Furious Horde”) who flew through the air.  The “Wild Hunt” was comprised of “people taken by death before their time, children snatched away at an early age, victims of a violent end.” The goddess would accompany her followers as they wandered at night among the houses of the well-to-do.  Whenever they would arrive at a home that was particularly well-kept, Diana would bestow her blessings upon it.
Many benandanti (from the Italian for “those who go well” or “good-doers”) were followers of Diana.  The benandanti were members of a fertility cult who were basically anti-witches and practicers of white magic. Nonetheless, they were tortured by the Inquisitors just the same as practicers of the black arts were.
Diana was intrinsically linked with several other witch deities, including Abonde, Abundia, Aradia, Hecate, Herodias, Holda, Perchta, Satia, and Venus. Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 40-46)                Bibliography.  (King 24)

 

Fraw Fenus
See Venus.

 

Fraw Holt
See Holda.

 

Fraw Selga
Fraw Selga is yet another goddess believed to have led the “Furious Horde.”  A Germanic deity, Fraw Selga was said to be the sister of Fraw Fenus (Venus), and like Venus and Diana, was referred to as “the mistress of the game.”  The processions following Fraw Selga “were composed of souls in purgatory, as well as of the damned who were suffering various punishments.”
Fraw Selga could impart wisdom to her followers.  She knew where buried treasure intended for the God-fearing could be found.
During Fraw Selga’s conventicles (which took place during the Ember Days), followers would partake in scrying.  They stared into a basin “in which the fires of hell appeared,” and they saw “likenesses of the members of the parish who were destined to die within the year.” Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 51)

 

Gulfora
Gulfora, also known as the Queen of the Sabbat, was another goddess in the same vein as Holda, Perchta, and Diana.  She led the Wild Hunt, which is also known as “the days of Jupiter.”
In 1519, Girolamo Folengo wrote Maccaronea, which says,      Not only do old hags bestride cats and goats and pigs, but many      dignitaries too, and civic officials and those who administer justice      to the people in the august senate range themselves to be governed      under Gulfora’s sway. They observe the days of Jupiter; they anoint      their limbs, hurrying to pay court to the Mistress, who is called      Gulfora. Bibliography.  (Wedeck 126)

 

Hecate
Perhaps the most notorious of all witch goddesses, Hecate was a dark manifestation of Diana.  Hecate is the patron goddess of witches and sorceresses because of her skill in the arts of black magic.  She is the queen of darkness, perverse sexuality, and death.  Classically, she is the goddess of “roads in general and crossroads in particular, the latter being considered the center of ghostly activities, particularly in the dead of night. . . . Offerings of food (known as Hecate’s suppers) were left to placate her, for she was terrible both in her powers and in her person–a veritable Fury, armed with a scourge and blazing torch and accompanied by terrifying hounds.”
The followers of Hecate were rumored to have strange powers, such as that of being able to draw down the moon in order to employ the averse aspects of lunar forces.  Followers could metamorphose into animals and birds, had insatiable sexual appetites, and had an intrinsic understanding of aphrodisiac and poisonous herbs.  Witches in the service of Hecate had intense scatological interests, and in one classical account, were known to have “pissed long and vigorously” on the face of a man they captured.  Indeed, one of the epithets of Hecate was “excrement-eating.”
According to Apuleius, (a classical author who once stood trial himself on charges of black magic), witches’ dens contained many questionable materials: incenses, the skulls of criminals who had been thrown to wild animals, metal discs engraved with occult signs, small vials of blood taken from the murdered victims of the witches, the beaks and claws of birds of ill omen, and various bits of human flesh, particularly the noses of crucifixion victims. Bibliography.  (Morford & Lenardon 182)         Bibliography.  (King 16, 17)

 

Herodias
See Aradia or Diana.

 

Holda
Also known as Fraw Holt, Holda became virtually synonymous with Abonde, Diana, and Perchta.  Originally, Holda had been a Germanic goddess of vegetation and fertility, much like Perchta.  Holda was also the goddess of spinning and weaving.
She, like her other manifestations, was the leader of the “Furious Horde” or “Wild Hunt” (Wütischend Heer, Wilde Jagd, Mesnie Sauvage)–“namely of the ranks of those who had died prematurely and passed through village streets at night, unrelenting and terrible, while the inhabitants barricaded their doors for protection.”
Holda had two forms, that of a beautiful girl dressed all in white, and that of a hideous crone with fangs, a hooked nose, and long, tangled gray hair.  In the latter form, she looked just like the stereotypical image of a witch or the evil stepmother of fairy tales.  As the White Lady, she was a fertility goddess who granted prosperity to home, family, and field.  As the Hag, she offered those who ignored or insulted her death, illness, and misfortune.  In this form, she was responsible for fog and snow.
Many animals were sacred to Holda:  birds of prey, bears, horses, goats, wolves, pigs, and hounds.  Along with her sometimes partner the Wood Man, she was the guardian of wild animals.
Holda may be part of the origin of the Santa Clause mythos as well.  She treated children ambivalently.      If they behaved themselves during the year then at Christmas she      rewarded them with gifts and good luck. If they had been naughty they      would be severely punished. Sometimes Holda was used as a bogey      figure and mothers threatened their children that if they did not      behave then she would come and take them off to the woods and teach      them good manners. Holda allegedly kept the children in a well,      endowing the good ones with abundant luck, health and wealth, and      turning the bad ones into Faerie changelings. Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 40)                   Bibliography.  (Hilton)

 

Leonard
Although he had a rather unlikely name for a demon, Leonard was a kind of quality control expert for black magic and sorcery.  He was also the master of sabbats, presiding over them in the form of an enormous three-horned black goat with the head of a fox. Bibliography.  (Masello 43)

 

Lilith
Lilith is a kabalistic demon who appealed more to magicians than to witches. According to legend, Lilith was the first wife of Adam, and the first social feminist.  Made from filth before the creation of Eve, Lilith believed herself to be Adam’s equal and objected to “missionary style” sex.  She believed that sexual relations should take place with the two of them lying side by side. Adam objected to this, so Lilith left him to mate with fallen angels.
Together with the fallen angels, Lilith parented a huge family of female demons called lilim.  Lilim are identical to succubi for all intents and purposes. Both seduce men and take away men’s strength in the night hours. Bibliography.  (King 95)

 

Mephistopheles
The name Mephistopheles comes from the Greek for “he who does not like light.” Mephistopheles is perhaps most famous for being the demon summoned by Faust. Faust had summoned Mephistopheles to teach him great knowledge and to grant him immense power.
Mephistopheles fulfilled all of Faust’s desires.  Nevertheless, at the end of the twenty-four year contract, it was Faust’s turn to please Mephistopheles. All that was left of Faust at the end of the contract was his torn and bloodied corpse.  The soul had been consigned to Mephistopheles in Hell. Bibliography.  (Marlowe)

 

Minerva
Minerva (known by the Greeks as Athena) is yet another goddess thought to have led the Wild Hunt.  Like Holda, Minerva was traditionally thought of as the goddess of weaving, spinning, and of women’s household arts in general.

 

Perchta
Perchta or Percht was yet another manifestation of Diana and was synonymous with Abonde as the leader of the host of the dead.  Perchta was originally a southern German goddess of vegetation and fertility.  She had many different names (and changed her sex) depending on the geographical region.  In “southern Austria, in Carintia, among the Slovenes, ‘Quantembermann’ (the man of the four Ember Days) or ‘Kwaternik’; in Baden, in Swabia, in Switzerland, and with the Slovenes again, ‘Frau Faste’ (the lady of the Ember Days) or similar names such as ‘Posterli,’ ‘Quatemberca,'” and ‘Fronfastenweiber.’ Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 189, 190)

 

Put Satanachia
Put Satanachia was the commander-in-chief of Satan’s army of darkness.  Aside from having profound power over mothers, Put Satanichia had an immense knowledge of the planets.  He also provided witches with their animal familiars. Bibliography.  (Masello 40)

 

Satan
Satan, of course, was the deity of choice during the witchcraze.  Witches’ sabbats, also known as “Synagogues of Satan,” were held in dedication to him. Physical adoration and submission to the Devil were necessary parts of every sabbat.  Satan most often appeared at these sabbats in the form of a black billy goat or tom cat and would copulate with almost everyone present.
This copulation was unappealing as the Devil’s genitals are not only unbearably huge, but also hard and scaly, with the semen being as cold as ice.  Sometimes Satan was represented as having a two-pronged member, a characterization that would certainly have stimulated the prurient imaginations of repressed Inquisitors.

 
Sabbats were basically prayer meetings for Satan.  At these congregations, the Devil would baptize new initiates with a smelly fluid which had, as a main ingredient, urine.  He would also issue forth black sacramental bread (probably dung) and fouled water.  At the Sabbat, witches would offer the osculum infame (the infamous kiss) by kissing Satan’s anus.
Another integral part of Satan worship was the trampling on of the cross and the desecration of the Holy Host.  Many witches purportedly retained the wafer in their mouths after Mass and would spit them on the ground in honor of the Devil.

 

Satia
See Abonde or Diana

 

.
Venus
Venus was originally the Roman goddess of love, but by the time of the witchcraze she was relegated to demon status. She became synonymous with Diana in terms of being followed at night by a retinue of women.  Witches knew her as Fraw Fenus, stating they visited her at night-time.
Venus could grant to these witches the power of astral projection.  Witches could fall into “swoons which rendered them insensible to pricks or scaldings.” When the women revived, they said they had been to heaven and “spoke of stolen or hidden objects.” Bibliography.  (Ginzburg 43, 44)
Verdelet

 
“Verdelet was something of a cross between a maitre d’ and a transportation coordinator.  He was master of ceremonies in Hell, and also shouldered the responsibility of making sure witches on Earth got to their sabbats safely and on time. Bibliography.  (Masello 44)

BEING CALLED TO A PARTICULAR DEITY

 

I recall someone talking about a feeling of being called to a given deity, and

how to know this was for real, and how to go about making it Signed and

Official(tm) and all that . . . I thought I’d give out with few (yeah, right)

words as to my own experiences this way.

I’m pretty much a believer in the notion that a person is best served by

following their natural inclinations on some ways.  I found my own Craft name

this way — I just sort of waited until I found the “right” name.  I waited

until I got a handle on what I was like at that time (it may change in the

future) and at that point, saw the name as the proper noun that described what I

was, the word for my inner nature.

It’s not a name in any but the most basic sense — a description of what I *am*.

It’s no more a “chosen” name that an apple “chooses” to be called an apple.

It’s simply the name we have for the thing.

Finding a deity figure is similar, and the one that fits you is often different

from time to time.  Don’t look for one that you like and say, “I want to

dedicate myself to that one.”  Look inside yourself and see what’s there — and

don’t lie or hide anything.  Honesty is needed here.  Know yourself, and then

see if you can find a deity matchup for what you see.  This is what I mean by

seeing what your own natural inclinations are and then going with them.

Oftentimes, the deity will just sort of fall into place with no effort, like a

dewdrop rolling off a leaf.  It just finds the proper time and bango — it

happens.  Very zen, actually.  This is similar — if you relax and just know

yourself, the deity will fall into place with no effort. Well, enough effort to

read books and research so that you’ll be able to know him or her when you see

them.  But research isn’t effort — it’s fun!

My own deities are a bit odd — the moirae from the Mycenean/Greek pantheon are

good, as is the Minoan god Kouros.  (Never let it be said that your deity has to

be the same gender!)

Anyway, the only advice I can give you is to know yourself and then when you see

your deity you’ll recognize him or her as the right one. Choosing one that isn’t

a good fit is a bad idea

BELIEFS OF GODDESS WORSHIP

Christianity teaches that God is transcendent, is separate from nature, and is represented to humankind through masculine imagery. Witchcraft holds a pantheistic view of God. God is nature, therefore God is in all things and all things are a part of God. However, this God is in actuality a goddess.
A fundamental belief in Goddess Worship is the idea that the goddess predates the male God. The goddess is the giver of all life and is found in all of creation. The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be overstressed. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, and our anger as purifying. Through the Goddess, we can discover our strength, enlighten our minds, own our bodies, and celebrate our emotions.

 
The modern Goddess movement is an attempt to integrate the feminine back into the world as we know it. This means bringing the Goddess out of the shadows and back into the limelight where she belongs. Part of most modern Goddess traditions is the idea that Goddess exists within and around everything in creation. Therefore, if Goddess is sacred, then so is the Earth, so our bodies, etc. Moreover, the relationship between all of these things is equally sacred. Therefore, not only do we need to revere the creations of the Goddess, we must revere the relationship and the systems that Goddess has created, for they each have their purpose. The problem is that we don’t always know what the true system is anymore because our society is so corrupted by the patriarchy. For example, if we only examine the system as it exists today, we might come to the conclusion that women’s place within the system is necessarily subservient to the men in the system. Naturally, eco-feminists would laugh at this idea. First of all, eco-feminism maintains that the natural order of things is not linked by hierarchical value, so the very notion of men governing women is absurd. The nature of things would require reciprocal communication and integral networking.

 
In light of this, then, Goddess religion asserts that Goddess and God cannot be viewed separately, but rather as a network of energies that work together to better the entire network.
Goddess Archetypes:

 
THE MAIDEN The Maiden is the first aspect of the Goddess, presented to us as a young woman, blossoming into womanhood, exploring her sexuality and learning of her beauty. She is most often depicted as a teenaged girl or a woman in her very early twenties.

 
Unlike the images of young women in many patrifocal religions, the Maiden is not necessarily depicted as a virgin in most Goddess traditions. In Catholicism, Mary is depicted not only as a virgin maiden, but continues to be a virgin throughout the duration of her lifetime, regardless of the fact that she was married and gave birth to a child. This has more to do with the taint patrifocal religions assign female sexuality than anything else. But because women’s sexuality is not denigrated in Goddess traditions, there is no need to associate virginity with the Maiden Goddess.

 
In fact, the Maiden Goddess is seen as a particularly sexual being. Because she has just bloomed into her womanly form, she is particularly interested in her body and what it can do. She is interested in her beauty, and she learns to manipulate the affections of other’s based upon her feminine wiles.

 
Some might take offense at my use of the word manipulate in the preceding sentence, but in fact, that is what sexuality is about, both on the part of the male and the female. Flirtation, courting and other manners of getting the attentions of the opposite sex is certainly a form of manipulation. It is not manipulation with malicious intent, to be sure, but when you attempt to curb the attitudes or thoughts of others through your own appearance or behavior, this is a form of manipulation, and by no means negative.

 
Because the Maiden is associated with the first blossoming of womanhood, adulthood and sexuality, she is associated with the Springtime. Just as her body develops breasts and she becomes sexually capable, so too does the Earth mimic her development. Flowers bloom, the Earth awakens from the deep sleep of winter and begins to procreate again. Animals lie with one another, flowers are pollinated. Spring is a time for new beginnings. It is the counterpart to the winter of Death.

 
Just as Spring is the counter to Winter, so too is the Maiden the counter to the Crone. The Crone is the embodiment of death, and subsequently rebirth, and it is through the aspect of the Maiden that the Crone is able to pass from this world and be reborn. As the young Goddess delves into her sexuality, and eventually becomes pregnant, the Elder Goddess may pass away and give her life that the Maiden may become Mother, and one day, Crone. The cycle is never ending.

 
The Maiden takes the Green Man (Horned Lord, many other names in many other cultures) as her consort. In some cultures, the Green Man may be her brother or even her son. At first glance, the courtship between the Maiden and the Sun God seems ripe with incest, because he is always somehow related to her. But if you read the myths associated with the Mother Goddess and how it came to pass that she became pregnant, you will usually find that she became pregnant by her husband, who has to give his life for one reason or another, and she agrees to bring him back into he world as the child in her womb. In essence, she gives birth to her husband, rather than taking her son as her lover. This is even true in the Catholic goddess vision: Jesus was the son of God, but he was also God. Because this idea is confusing and can lead to ideas of incest much like I discussed above, the Christian church left Mary a virgin, thus bypassing the whole sexual encounter, and thus the issue of incest altogether.

 
Maiden Goddess of Note include: Diana, Persephone, Kore, Bleudowedd, Artemis, Ariadne, Hestia, Athena, Aphrodite, Minerva, and Venus.
THE MOTHER The aspect of the Mother Goddess is probably the most widely known and most widely envisioned in most cultures. Because the Earth nourishes and replenishes us, most goddess cultures did pay reverence to the Earth as the Mother, and therefore the Goddesses that are most prominent and about whom stories are most prolific are the goddesses that are the representation of the Mother.

 
She is, in virtually every aspect, a divine or celestial representation of our earthly mothers. Everyone has an earthly mother, or at least did at one point, so we readily understand the relationship between mother and child. The mother is the protector, the care-giver, the kisser of wounds, and the disciplinarian. The Divine Mother is no different.

 
Many of the most ancient goddess figures that archeology has uncovered are goddesses depicted as round, pregnant women. They feature large breasts and full, meaty hips. Some archeologists (patriarchal, close minded fellows, to be sure) have written these goddess figures off as nothing more than prehistoric “porn” figures. However, the generally accepted opinion is that these figures, found in such places as France, modern day Turkey, and Egypt, are actually representations of a mother goddess. There is some speculation that perhaps these figures are not goddesses at all, but rather figures used in fertility rites to enable women to conceive children. This too is a possibility, but when combined with other information that we have (such as other evidence of prehistoric goddess worship, and the fact that the connection between sex and pregnancy was not made until much later than the dates associated with these figures) leads most scholars to believe that these statues are indeed goddess representations.

 
Although the depiction of the Mother Goddess as a pregnant woman is prominent, she is certainly not always seen that way. The Mother aspect may be seen with small child in tow (most often a boy, who later becomes her consort, as is discussed in the section on the Maiden). This aspect of the Mother Goddess plays on the care-giving, sweet, loving aspect of the Goddess. However, do not be fooled into thinking that the Goddess as Mother is a pussy cat. She can also be a warrior.

 
Like earthly mothers, the Goddess is fiercely protective of her children, and in order to provide that protection she will often don the face of the warrior. The Warrior Goddess most probably gained popularity among people who had begun to adopt a more patriarchal (or at least patrifocal) structure. It might be presumptuous to say that matrifocal cultures were not particularly warlike, but it is safe to say that patriarchal cultures were more so. In either case, the warrior Goddess did become popular. In this aspect she is Amazon, fierce and strong, and able to take on any man to protect what needs protection.

 
Just as the maiden is represented by the season of Spring, the Mother aspect is present in Summer. By summer, berries and fruits are ripe, ready for the plucking. Vegetable gardens are mature and harvest is close at hand. The sun is high in the sky, and even though the sun is typically seen as a Male Deity, some cultures did associate the sun with the Goddess, (most notably the early Egyptian culture) and thus the high sun of summer was associated with the Mother, who was also seen as the pinnacle of the cycle of life.

 
In western traditions, the Goddess remains pregnant until the Winter Solstice, at which time she gives birth to a sun god of some kind. (Note the adaptation of the Christian church …Christmas, anyone?) The Catholic Goddess Mary also falls into the category of the Mother Goddess, because she does give birth to King at Solstice. (At least this is how the Christians celebrate the holiday, even though biblical scholars suggest Jesus was very likely born during a warm month)

 
Mary is a curiosity though, because she is a Dual Goddess, and not a Triple Goddess as most multifaceted Goddesses are. She is a maiden because she remains a virgin (and though not all maidens are virgins, all virgin goddesses are maidens), and yet because she gives birth, she is also a Mother. However, there is no reference in the Catholic tradition of Mary as an older woman. Therefore, Mary’s development ended with her at the Mother phase.
Mother Goddesses of Note include: Demeter, Isis, Cerridwyn, Kali, Gaia, Oceana, Brigit, Nuit, Hera, Selene, Anu, Dana, Arianrhod, and Epona
THE CRONE The Crone is the final aspect of the Goddess. The Crone is most often depicted as a Grandmother, a SageWoman, or a Midwife. She is the keeper of Occult Knowledge, the Mysteries and the Queen of the Underworld. It is through the Crone that knowledge of magick, the Dark, and other secrets of the ages are passed down.

 
The Crone is, in some ways, a Triple Goddess herself. She has lived through the tender, sensual age of Maidenhood, suffered the birth pains of Motherhood, and now carries with her the memories of these passages into her old age. But though she has experienced these events, these are not the things she represents, and therefore she is not revered for these traits. Nevertheless, having endured these experiences makes her the wise woman that she is, and enables her to guide us through the dark.

 
Her role as Midwife is both symbolic as well as actual. Traditionally, it is always the older women of the tribe who facilitate the birth of children, most likely because they themselves had gone through, but also because the role of midwife was a sacred position, and thus suitable for an older tribeswoman. Certainly the Crone fulfills this aspect in that she is the midwife to the Queen of Heaven when she gives birth to the Oak King at Yule.

 
But symbolically she is the midwife in our lives as well, guiding us from one phase of life to the next. If you see progression from one phase of life to the next and can see it as a rebirth process, then envision the Crone as the aspect of the goddess that guides you through that time. Transition is very difficult, and for most people it is a time of darkness. It is a time where we have to rely on our intuition, because we are unfamiliar with the territory. But according to the myths and ancient lore, we receive our intuition from the Crone. It is she who guides us, and it is she who facilitates our birth.

 
The Crone Goddess is often times the least seen, because she does represent death, and with death comes fear: fear of the unknown, fear of losing our loved ones, and fear of being alone. But we must remember that with death always comes rebirth. The Crone always brings with her promises of the Maiden, and the cycle never ends

 

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The Mother aspect of the Goddess is discussed as being a Warrior Goddess, but the Crone can be a Warrior Goddess as well. Where the Mother Goddess is the blood of battle, the War Cry incarnate, the fighting Amazon, the Crone is the Strategy, the ability to see what cannot be seen. She is the seer, the General. The Crone Goddess does not don the face of the warrior to shed blood, but she will provide the courage to walk through the dark, the ability to seek and destroy the enemy, whether the enemy is actual, or internal.

 
In many respects, the Crone Goddess is the aspect of the Goddess that is most called upon to conquer inner demons. This is due to the fact that as the keeper of mysteries, the Crone is also the Keeper of the Underworld. With her help, we are able to travel into the Underworld and fight whatever demons haunt us. Likewise, once we are ready to be reborn, she again acts as the midwife and guides us once again into the light.

 
Crone Goddesses of Note include: Hecate, Kali, Cerridwyn, Badb, Cailleach, Macha, and the Morrigan

 
written by susan lucas

Invocation To Freyr

 Invocation To Freyr

“Freyr, Son of Njrd, Join us.
Freyr, Husband of Gerdr, Join us.
Freyr, Brother of Freyja, Join us.
Freyr, Father of kings, Join us.
Freyr, Whose sword would fight for itself, Join us.
Freyr, Who gave his sword for Gerdr, Join us.
Freyr, Patron of married couples, Join us.
Freyr, Most beautiful of Gods, Join us.
Freyr, Whose tooth-gift was Alfheimr, Join us.
Freyr, Master of Gullinbursti, Join us.
Freyr, Owner of Skidbladnir, Join us.
Freyr, Slayer of Beli, Join us.
Freyr, Master of Frodi’s Peace, Join us.
Freyr, Who directs Man’s good fortune, Join us.
Freyr, Who brings fruitful seasons, Join us. Freyr,
Your servant _______ calls you! Come to me NOW!”

WitchWay

Earth Goddesses – DEMETER

Earth Goddesses – DEMETER 

Demeter is the Greek goddess of the grains, agriculture, and fertility. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She is an Olympian.

Demeter is so prevalent in the Greek myths that she is even responsible for the changing of the seasons. In Homer’s Hymn to Demeter, he relates the tale. Demeter, whom Homer describes as a stately goddess, had a child with Zeus named Persephone. Unbeknown to Demeter, Zeus had planned with Hades to ensnare the young Persephone so that Hades would have a wife and therefore a queen of the Underworld. Zeus cunningly brought forth the brightly colored narcissus flower in an attempt to lure Persephone away while she was at play in the fields.

As Persephone set about gathering a bouquet of lovely irises, roses, hyacinths, violets and crocuses, she caught sight of the most magnificent flower in the field – the narcissus. Persephone, stunned by the flower’s beauty, reached out with both hands to pick it for her bouquet. As she did, the Earth opened wide and Hades, riding upon his golden chariot led by immortal horses, snatched the beautiful Persephone and took her wit him into the Underworld. Persephone cried out for her father to save her. Her cries echoed across the countryside, yet no one except Demeter heard her.

Demeter searched the Earth for nine days, grieving so desperately that she touched not a single drop of drink or bite of food. On the tenth day, at the crack of dawn, Hecate spoke with Demeter. She sent Demeter to speak with Helios, the sun god. Demeter begged Helios to tell her who had taken her beloved daughter. Helios replied that it was Zeus himself and explained the role of Hades in the plot.

Demeter was furious and grief stricken. She left Olympus and wandered to Eleusis. For a year she stilled the Earth from fruitfulness. In her grief, the flowers no longer bloomed and the gardens withered and died. The Earth was barren. Zeus sent Iris to try to persuade Demeter to come home, but Demeter would not budge. One by one, each of the gods tried to talk Demeter into returning to Olympus. She refused them all, saying that she would never return until she could lay eyes again on her beloved daughter.

Zeus upon hearing this, sent Hermes to speak with Hades and attempt to cajole him into releasing Persephone. Hades agreed and asked only that Persephone keep him in her heart fondly. With that he tricked her into eating three pomegranate seeds, thereby assuring that she had to return to him. Persephone happily ate the seeds and went on her way back to her mother. When Demeter was greeted by the sight of her daughter, the Earth was once again fruitful and the people rejoiced. Afraid, Demeter asked her daughter if she had eaten anything while in the Underworld, to which Persephone replied that she had eaten the seeds of a pomegranate. Demeter explained that she must live in the Underworld for one third of each year. She swore that while Persephone was on the Earth, she would hold it in bloom for her daughter’s pleasure., but that while Persephone was in the Underworld, it would be barren and cold. Thus, the season were born.

Demeter, with her somewhat ironic sense of humor, placed the poppy in the corn and barley fields. She put all of her sweetness into the fig, which grows alongside wild herbs. As the poppy and the fig grow around the base of her more substantial foodstuffs, they represent the dark side of Demeter. The dark side is the side that holds the life and death of mortals in her hands and carries the seeds of each in her womb. Demeter represents both hunger and abundance.

In one myth, Demeter condemns a man to eternal hunger for daring to attempt to chop down her sacred grove to make a roof for his hall from the wood. The man subsequently eats until there is only one thing left to eat – himself. He devours his own limbs.

Demeter was also a goddess of fertility and, in one myth, coupled with a human in the field. The pairing produced a child. Soon after Demeter became known as a goddess who guarded marriage and was included in ancient marriage rites. Concubines and the like were condemned to her stone gardens, where no plants could ripen and bloom. Demeter’s festival, held in late autumn was celebrate by legitimate wives and included a ritual sowing of the field. It was conducted with the hope of a harvest of beautiful children, a bounty borne from human seed.

Earth Gods – DAGDA

Earth Gods – DAGDA 

The Dagda is the Irish father god of Earth. He is the leader of the immortal race of the Tuatha De Danann. The Dagda is also known as the lord of abundance. He is the god of time and magick and the protector of crops. He is the son of Danu and Beli. His name means “good god,” meaning he is good at all of the things he does, not morally superior.

In Celtic mythology, it is the Dagda who is responsible for the changing of the seasons. It was said that he owned a magickal harp, Daurdabla, that made the seasons change when played. He acquired this harp on a trip to the Otherworld. On the same trip he obtained the Undry, a magickal cauldron said to never empty, along with the Sword of Nuada and the Lia Fail, which is also known as the Stone of Life. These three items, along with the Spear Luin, are thought to represent the four elements.

The Dagda is represented in a somewhat comical form. He is most often depicted as a large man with a paunch belly wearing a too short tunic that leaves his genitals bare and exposed, hauling around his magickal mallet in a cart. The mallet was said to kill nine men in a single blow and restore them to life with the handle. Although he was frequently the subject of jokes, the Dagda was held in the highest esteem. The Celts believed that even the highest being possessed a flaw or two.

While he was the main consort of Morrigan, the Dagda was known to have many other lovers. It was said that he was one of lusty appetites, and when he came upon the raven-haired Morrigan washing clothes in a stream, he walked up behind her and began having his way with her. The Morrigan found the interlude so satisfactory that she backed him in battle the next day.

In one tale, the Dagda was send by Lugh to spy on the Fomorians. He went to their camp and asked for a truce, which was granted. The Fomorians decided to mock the Dagda by making a porridge. The Dagda’s weakness for porridge was well-known. The Fomorians made a huge amount and proclaimed that unless the Dagda ate every bite he would be killed. He ate every bite and promptly fell asleep. When he awoke, he found the Fomorians laughing at him. The Dagda forced himself to leave, which was no easy feat considering his bloated, swollen belly. On his way, he chanced upon a girl who threw him into the mud and demanded she be returned to her father’s house. The Dagda asked who her father was, and she replied that he was the king of the Fomorians. The Dagda and the girl wrestled about and ended up making love. As she was smitten at this point, she helped the Dagda defeat the Fomorians in battle by singing spells against them.

The Dagda’s main consort was Boann, and they are the parents of the Celtic goddess Brigid. He is also the father of the fairy king Midir and many others.

The Dagda is said to rule today from the Otherworld, as his life on this plane was ended in battle by a woman named Cethlion. Once defeated, he led the Tuatha De Danann through a fairy mound to live underground in the Other world.

Earth Gods – THE GREEN MAN

Earth Gods – THE GREEN MAN

The Green Man is the vision of a face in the leaves – a face surrounded by or made from leaves. He embodies nature – wild, free, and primitive. He is known as Cernunnos, Herne, Pan, Faunus, Puck, John Barleycorn, and the Horned God, to name just a few. The Green Man is the male essence of nature. His face graces more churches and cathedrals than one can imagine, a unique feat for a pagan god.

Cernunnos is the Celtic god of nature. He is commonly seen as a horned god. The horn is a symbol of virility and fertility. As Cernunnos, his worship can be traced back to the Iron Age Celts through historical artifacts; however, very little is known about how he was regarded or worshipped.

In Britain, the nature god is known as Herne the Hunter. Herne was a favorite of King Richard II. He saved the king from a raging stag and was severely wounded. A stranger tied the antlers of the stag to Herne’s head, claiming his hunting talent as payment. Herne, devastated at this loss of talent, ran off into the woods. Later a man found his corpse hanging on a tree. Herne is said to appear in spectral form and to indulge in his favorite pastime – hunting. He is aid to lead the Wild Hunt.

Pan is the Greek nature god who watches over the shepherds and their flocks. He is known as Faunus in Roman mythology. Pan is consider to be older than the Olympians. He gave Apollo the secrets of prophecy and gifted Artemis with her hunting dogs.

Pan was originally an Arcadian god. He is described as a man with the legs, horns and hindquarters of a goat. Due to the Olympians disdain of Arcadians, they always treated Pan as a second-class god. However, his popularity among the primitive mountain people of Arcadia never lessened.

Pan was thought to inspire a type of sudden fear. In fact, the world panic is a derivation of his name. Pan was a lecherous god and was well-known for his indulgence in amorous affairs. One nymph name Pitys turned into a pine tree to escape his advances, while another, Syrinx, turned into river reeds. At the exact moment that Syrinx did so., the wind blew, creating a melodic sound. Pan much intrigued picked several of the reeds and turned them into his signature pan pipes.

All of the deities that are considered to be the male essence of nature are thought to follow a cycle of life, death and rebirth in sync with the seasons.

Earth Goddesses – CORN WOMAN

Earth Goddesses – CORN WOMAN 

In Native American lore, it is the Corn Woman who is known as the “first mother.” It is said that there was once a time of great famine. The Corn Woman went to her husband and asked that he kill her. The husband, distraught, went to the tribe’s teacher, who confirmed that he must do as his wife asked. With great reluctance, he complied. He dragged her body around a field and burned her in the center of it. In a few months, corn and tobacco filled the field, saving the tribe from starvation.

In the Pawnee tribe, Corn Woman held rule over the west, while Buffalo Woman held the east. Together they guaranteed that the tribe had both meat and corn.

In one of the earliest tales, we find that the Corn Woman emerged from an older world, one in which animals were not slaughtered for food and hides but rather were treated as kin. The old world had a greater respect for life, be it animal or human. The people began to lose balance and greed crept in. The deer set forth a punishment for any who would eat of its flesh – man’s first known disease. Corn Woman thought it was time to begin again and restore balance and harmony to the people.

She watched her grandsons preparing to go out to hunt and asked them to stay. She said she would cook the finest meal they had ever tasted. The grandsons replied that they were hunters and must hunt, Corn Woman nodded sadly and went about creating her meal, but not before she asked her grandsons to respect the animal life they came across in the forest. The grandsons laughed.

Corn Woman cooked, all the while singing and blessing the food. When her grandsons returned home, she saw that they had killed a wild pig. She said nothing. They sat down and began to eat of her feast. Loudly, the grandsons proclaimed the food the best they had ever tasted and proceeded to eat their fill. They asked her where she had gotten the corn, but she did not answer. She just listened to the compliments and smiled.

The next day, the young men again reached for their weapons. Corn Woman cooked again. The aromas from her kitchen reached them out in the woods as they hunted. That day, they brought home a slain deer. Corn Woman said nothing. The grandsons gifted her with the deer, and she recognized it as an honor and so returned it to the forest. She sang long into the night, invading the dreams of her grandsons.

When they awoke the next morning, instead of reaching for their weapons, the grandsons asked Corn Woman to make them breakfast. She did and they ate until they were sleepy again. When they awoke from their naps, they gathered their weapons and set about preparing to hunt. Corn Woman asked the not to go. She said, “we have so much food already.” The grandsons said they were hunters and set out toward the forest. Corn Woman called after them to respect animal life.

While on the hunt, one of the young men asked the other where Corn Woman got all the corn she was using to cook with. The other man replied that he did not care and the he knew Corn Woman would only give him what was good for him. They returned home with a turkey but once again sat down to a delightful meal of corn.

After many days of wondering, the younger of the two grandsons decided to sneak back to the home and find out where Corn Woman was getting all of the corn. As he watched, she slapped her sides and the corn fell out of her body and into a basket at her side. He ran to tell his older brother. The eldest grandson was upset. He said. “this is a bad thing, an unnatural thing. We cannot eat our grandmother. Something has taken hold of her.”

That night the grandsons returned home in fear. Corn Woman piled their plates high but the two could not eat. Her heart grew heavy as she realized that they knew her secret. She began to age rapidly before their eyes. The youngest started to cry and beg forgiveness. Corn Woman replied, “Listen well, child. For I have no long as I am to tell you all you need know. I am the Corn Mother. I a her for your abundance, harmony, health and peace. When I pass, you are to drag my body through the field and plant me in the center. I will come back to you as tall, glorious plant, with yellow hair at my fruit. Do not eat all of the seeds; save some for the planting again the next year, so that I might be with you forever.” The grandsons swore to do as she wished. Thereafter they refused to hunt unless they were on the verge of starvation. Hence, balance and harmony returned to the people.

In the Navajo tribe, we find variations of the Corn Woman. According to Navajo beliefs, there was a Corn Girl (yellow corn) and a Corn Boy (white corn) sent forth by the creator god to bring corn to the tribe. Corn was sacred and the main food of the people and was also used in religious ceremonies. Shaman’s masks were fed corn meal to “bring them into being,” or animate them.

The Aztecs have their own version of the Corn Woman in Chicomecoatl, the goddess of sustenance. It was thought that yearly sacrifices held in her honor assured a good crop. Each year a young girl was chosen to represent Chicomecoatl and was ritually decapitated. Her blood was poured over a statue of the goddess as an offering. She was skinned and her flesh was them worn by a priest.

The Hopi and Pueblo tribes have the Blue Corn Maiden as their representative of Corn Woman. On a cold winter day, the Blue Corn Maiden went out in search of firewood. Normally this was not a task for her. While she was out searching, she ran across Winter Katsina, the spirit of winter. When Winter Katsina saw the Blue Corn Maiden, he immediately feel in love. He took her back to his house, whereupon he blocked the door and windows with ice and snow. He was very kind to her, but she was sad. She wanted to go home and make the blue corn grow for her people.

While Winter Katsina was out one day going about his duties, Blue Corn Maiden sneaked out and found four blades of Yucca plant. She stated a fire. As she did, in walked Summer Katsina, carrying more yucca and blue corn. When Winter Katsina returned, the two fought. Seemingly getting nowhere, they sat down to talk. They agreed that Blue Corn Maiden would live half the year with her people, during the reign of Summer Katsina, and the people would have corn. During the other half of the year, she would live with Winter Katsina, and the people would have no corn.

Earth Goddesses – FAUNA

Earth Goddesses – FAUNA 

Fauna, the Roman goddess of nature and animals, was most often called Bona Dea (“the Good Goddess”), which is a title, not a name. Sometimes she was referred to as Bona Mater, which means “Good Mother.” To say the actual name of Fauna was taboo in ancient Roman society. Fauna was a Earth Goddess and was worshipped primarily by women. She was the daughter (sometimes represented as consort) of the nature god Faunus. It was said that after her marriage, she never laid eyes upon another man. This chastity. Improved her ranking among the gods. She was a country goddess, the protector of cattle and farmlands. She also presided over virginity and fertility in women. Today the word fauna is used to encompass all animal life.

Fauna is depicted as an old woman with pointed ears. She is represented holding the horn of plenty, and a snake is her symbol. It is said that the snake represents her phallic nature; however, men were not allowed at her temples or festivals. Her image is often found on Roman coins.

Bona Dea had two major festivals, one in May and the other on December 3 or 4. (This feast was moveable.) The festival held in December was a secret rite. It was unique because it was often held in the homes of high-ranking Roman magistrates as opposed to public temples. It was an invitation-only affair. Men were not allowed, nor was any depiction of a man welcome. Paintings and statues that included a male figure were covered up or removed. This festival was said to be a lesbian orgy; however, it has been suggested that it was actually a purification rite. It was forbidden to use the word “wine” or “myrtle,” because Fauna’s father had beaten her to death with a myrtle stick upon finding that she had gotten drunk. Wine was forbidden to women under Roman law. However, it was also her father who gifted her with her divinity, be repenting of her killing and bestowing divinity upon her. Wine was served at her festival but was called milk. It was traditionally kept in a jar covered with cloth. The jar was referred to as the honey pot.

Fauna’s May celebrations took place in her temple and was held on May 1. Wine was served in the same manner as in the December rites. The temple was decorated with vines, flowers, and plants, with the careful exclusion of myrtle. This celebration was public and open to all women. The festival was rumored to included the ritual sacrifice of a pregnant sow.

Fauna’s temple was built over a cave that housed consecrated serpents. Enslaved women were prominent among the worshippers. In fact, Fauna was the only Roman deity to allow freed slaves to serve among her priestesses. Her rites were unique because she allowed high-ranking Roman women, poor women, prostitutes, and slaves to worship together side by side.

Fauna was also seen as the mother of the fairies. In this role she was a prophetess and seer. In addition, Fauna was the female essence of wildlife. In this role she was the companion of Faunus, who served as the male essence.

Fauna was a healing goddess and her temple garden was filled with medicinal herbs. The sick were brought to her temple gardens to be healed.

Earth Goddesses – FLORA

Earth Goddesses – FLORA

Flora (“flourishing one”) in the Roman and Greek goddess of flowers, youth, fertility, and springtime. She is also identified with the Greek Goddess Chloris. It was said in the Greek myths that when Chloris (originally a nymph) was captured by Zephyrus, he gifted her with the realm of flowers in return for marrying him. So Chloris became known as the Roman Flora.

Flora was thought to give the charm to youth and the sweetness to honey and to protect the petals and give the fragrance to blossoms. She was particularly important in Roman society. Her cults are among the oldest found in Rome, and she was one of the few deities that had her own priests, who were known as the Flamen Floralis. Her bounty was the precursor of modern medicine, as Flora was not only responsible for flowers but was originally responsible for all crops. All gardens fell under her protection, and iron was strictly prohibited within them to allow the plant devas and nature spirits to prosper peacefully. Fairy folk are known for their aversion to iron.

Flora had a special garden of her own, which featured all of the mythological creatures that turned into flowers upon their deaths. Among the blossoms were Narcissus; Ajax, who became a larkspur; Clytie, who became a sunflower; Hyacinth, who had been Apollo’s lover; and Adonis, who became the anemone.

Greek myths also relate a tale where Flora was responsible for the rose. While on an early morning walk through the woods, she stumbled upon the dead body of a beautiful young girl. Saddened to see such a lovely creature dead, she decided to restore her life by transforming her into the most delicate and beautiful of all flowers. In order to accomplish this, she called upon her husband, Zephyrus, god of the western wind, to blow away all of the clouds from the sky. She then called upon Apollo to send his warm rays of sunlight down as blessings. She called upon Aphrodite to add beauty and grace and Dionysus for nectar and fragrance. Everyone agreed that this was the most beautiful of all the flowers.

Flora went to work gathering dewdrops to restore life to the flower and crowned her queen of all flowers. She then called upon Aurora and Iris in spread the word about this new flower. Iris borrowed just a touch of the flower’s color to spread among her rainbows, and Aurora painted the morning sky with the rose-tinted hue.

Aphrodite named the flower the rose in honor of her son Eros, the Greek god of love. Hence, roses are associated with love. Flora presented Eros with the rose as his own in the hope that it would maintain the romantic associations. Eros shared it with Harpocrates, the god of silence, as a bribe to keep secret the indiscretions of his mother, and the rose became associated with silence and secrets as well as love.

According to Roman legend, Flora also had a hand in the creation of Mars, the god of war. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was jealous that Jupiter had given life to Minerva on his own, so she enlisted the aid of Flora to help her create a son of her own. Flora reluctantly agreed after Juno swore by the river Styx to never tell Jupiter that Flora had taken part. Flora touched Juno with a magickal flower, and Mars began to grown in Juno’s womb. Mars was born and went on to sire Romulus and Remus, who became the founders of Rome.

There was an ancient and somewhat infamous, Roman festival held in Flora’s honor, called the Floralia. It was celebrated annually from the end of April through the beginning of May. The dates suggest that the original purpose of the festival was to beseech Flora to refrain from allowing mildew to fall upon the crops. It is further believed that the Floralia was the inspiration for the Maypole and Mayday celebrations known today as Beltane. The floralia featured chariot races, theater shows, games and lavish banquets. Altars and temples were decorated with every type of flower known to humankind. The participants wore wreaths of flowers in their hair and left offerings of milk and honey.

The Floralia was also a festival known for its unrestrained pleasures. During the celebrations, marriage vows were temporarily forgotten and the celebrants allowed themselves a wide range of a sexual partners. Prostitutes claimed Flora as their matron deity and celebrated her festival vigorously.

Later, as Beltane traditions evolved, Flora became known as a companion of the fairies. This eventually evolved into legends of Flora as a fairy herself. However, it is believed that was borne of some confusion between the Goddess Flora and the fairy Florelia, who is mentioned in tomes of old as a treasure of the Earth akin to Queen Mah.

The role of the flower, and therefore that of Flora, is as important today as it was in ancient times. Almost all holidays and customs include an appropriate flower. We often send flowers to cheer those who are sick, to say farewell to those who have passed, and to celebrate mile-marker events such as birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. We make use of the scents in perfumes and potpourris and bathing products. We make candles, jellies, wines, and salads from the petals. Flora’s bounty covers everything from poisonous to healing flowers. Chamomile, jasmine, and linden flowers are commonly added to herbal teas. The purple foxglove is the base of the medicine digitalis, which is used in the treatment of heart conditions.

Flowers also have magickal qualities, many of which are steeped in superstition. For instance, the daisy is often used as a divination tool in love matters by plucking the petals off while reciting, “He/she loves me, he/she loves me not.” The dandelion is often used as a tool to bring one’s wishes to fruition by flowing the seeds to the wind. As the wind carries the seeds, it carries one’s wishes to the Goddess as well.

In the Victorian era, flowers were given their own language. A certain type of flower had a specific meaning, which was further sub-divided into categories determined by the color of the flower. For instance, to send a red rose meant “I love you,” whereas to send a yellow rose meant friendship or jealousy. The number of flowers sent also had a specific meaning. It was said to be bad luck to send an even number of flowers.


When the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon landed in Florida, he looked around at all the many flowers and thought he had found the land containing the Fountain of Youth. He then name the state Florida in honor of Flora.

While we may not choose to celebrate Flora the same way the Romans did, we can honor her on her special days with simple things that remind us of her presence. We can drink flower teas, add flower petals to our baths, prepare meals with edible flowers, decorate our homes and altars with garland and wreaths, wear floral colors, or perform a ritual, or even simply take a walk through flower-strewn fields.