Introduction and links to related topics Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Goddess - Definitions differ but Generally the universal mother of all who created the universe with the god. Often associated with the Moon, ocean, earth, fertility, birth and death.
Nanna - Nanna The Norse goddess of the now-dead moon, wife of the sun god Balder. When Balder was slain by his blind brother Hodur with the fateful mistletoe twig, Nanna died of a broken heart and was placed beside her husband on his pyreship.
Her half-sister is Idun, the present earth goddess Corresponding to the Greek Gaia. Idun continues to carry out Nanna''s task of supplying the gods with the apples of immortality of which they must partake daily to preserve their youth.
Aurora - Roman Goddess of the Dawn. (Greek-Eos)
root or mother of philosophy
Midsummer - the Sabbat observed at the Summer solstice which honors the Sun God at the height of his power and the Goddess as the pregnant mother to be. This was not a Sabbat celebrated by the old Celts until they were influenced by the Norse. (CMM)
All-power - ALL-POWER - A term which is used when reffering to the great power, or life source, of which the Goddess and God are both a part.
Frey - Frey, Freyr, Fro (Icelandic, Scandinavian) (from fro seed; Anglo-Saxon frea; Swedish frojda rejoice)
The Norse god associated with the earth: in theosophy he represents the planetary chain whose soul-world (Alfhem) was his "teething gift in the morning of time." Frey and his sister Freya, goddess of the planet Venus, are the children of Njord, the Norse Saturn-Chronos.
At the formation of the globe earth, in which Frey embodied, the dwarfs fashioned for Frey the magic ship Skidbladnir (from skida ski + blad blade)
which contains the seeds of all living things but which can be folded up like a kerchief when its lifetime has elapsed. Frey is also owner of the magic sword (spiritual will) which is invincible in battle against giants (matter) provided the wielder is pure and resourceful. He is the god of sunshine and fertility.
Orphism - Orphism, Orphic Mysteries [from Greek orphikos]
Orphism originally taught of the Causeless Cause on which all speculation is impossible; the periodical appearance and disappearance of all things, from atom to universe; reimbodiment; cyclic law; the essential divinity of all beings and things; and the duality in manifestation of the universe. It postulated seven emanations from the Boundless: aether (spirit) and chaos (matter), from which two spring the world egg, out of which is born Phanes, the First Logos; then Uranus (and Gaia) the Second Logos, with Kronos (and Rhea, mother of the Olympian gods) a later phase of the Second Logos; and Zeus, the Third Logos or Demiurge -- who starts a minor sevenfold hierarchy of emanation by begetting Zagreus-Dionysos the god-man, the divine son.
Characteristic of Orphic cosmogony is the important place given to the number seven. "The rise of the Orphic worship of Dionysos is the most important fact in the history of Greek religion, and marks a great spiritual awakening. Its three great ideas are (1) a belief in the essential Divinity of humanity and the complete immortality or eternity of the soul, its pre-existence and its post-existence; (2) the necessity for individual responsibility and righteousness; and (3) the regeneration or redemption of man''s lower nature by his own higher Self" (F. S. Darrow).
The Orphic teachings were kept intact by the Golden or Hermetic Chain of Succession down to the days of the Neoplatonists after which (as symbolically told in the archaic story of Eurydice) they were killed -- obscured or lost, so far as the public was concerned. Their keynote was consecration to the mandates of the god within: perfect purity, perfect impersonal love, perfect understanding, and devotion to the interests of humanity.
The three Orphic mystery-gods were Zeus, the divine All-father; Demeter-Kore, the earth goddess as both mother and maid; and Zagreus-Dionysos, the divine son. This trinity finds its counterpart in Egyptian, Indian, Chaldean, Christian, and other religions. There were two forms of baptism, one purification by water, later adopted into the Christian ritual; and the other a ceremony in which the face of the neophyte was cleansed with a mixture of earth and bran, symbolizing the washing away of stains from the soul.
The ceremony of the Eucharist was also adopted by the Christians and as Orphic ritual forbade the use of wine (substituting for it a mead of honey and milk), in the rite as adopted by the primitive Christians the neophyte drank not only wine but also milk and honey. Under Orphism, the honey symbolized not only purification and preservation, or endless life and bliss, but the secret knowledge obtained during initiation. Bees, the gatherers of honey, were emblems of the reincarnating soul, as was the butterfly; and as the bees gathered the nectar from flowers and made it into honey, so the human soul in its various peregrinations gathers from the beings and things of life the mystic experience and stores it away in the chambers of the soul. Milk symbolized knowledge, which fed the inner man, as a child of eternity, just as milk feeds the human child.
Orphism flourished from before the 14th until the 6th century BC, and again, after some five centuries of obscuration, during the first four centuries of the Christian era. Plato, Empedocles, the Pythagorean teachings, some of the Greek dramatists and poets are our main source material for the earlier period, as well as the various Orphic fragments including the Orphic Tablets.
These Tablets, with the Orphic Hymns, consist of eight gold plates containing inscriptions, dating from about the 4th century BC. They consist of instructions given to the soul for its journey through the afterdeath worlds or states very reminiscent of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The keynote is spoken by the soul: "I am a child of earth and of starry Heaven, but my race is of Heaven (alone). . . . Lo, I am parched with thirst . . ." For the later period we have the writings of the Neoplatonists and their opponents, the early Christian Fathers.
That the entire Orphic mythogony is intentionally allegorical does not invalidate that a great prehistoric religious reformer named Orpheus lived, worked, taught, and founded a religion as the outgrowth of a genuine Mystery school.
Canon Episcopi - an important document in the history of witchcraft from before the 15th C. AD. For centuries it was the official teaching of the Christian Curch about Witchcraft. It describes withces as deluded heretics, who worship "Diana, the goddess of the pagans."
Anouki - Anouki (Egypt, Egyptian). A form of Isis; the goddess of life, from which name the Hebrew Ank, life. (See "Anuki.")
Minerva - Minerva (Latin) Italian goddess of intelligence, inventiveness, arts practiced by women, and of school children, physicians, poets, etc. Her oldest sanctuaries were in Rome, and her chief festival was the Quinquatrus, celebrated on March 19. Later identified with the Greek Pallas Athena.
See also ATHENA
Durga - One of the wives of Shiva. She is the goddess of retribution and justice. She is both beautiful and fierce, and usually appears with eight arms carrying weapons and riding upon a tiger or a lion.
Tammuz - Babylonian equivalent of Osiris, God of spring, whose wife, Ishtar, descended into Hades in order to bring him back to life. It was Ishtar who was compelled to remove her garments (i.e., facets of her soul), one by one, in order to enter Hades completely naked. The idea being that we may take none of our soul''s crowns or accomplishments with us into death but have to meet it solely with original, untried nature. Also called "Sataran" or "Serpent Goddess," by the Sumerians (according to Riland).
Zarpanitu - Zarpanitu, Sarpanit (Babylonian) Also Zer-banit; Zirat-banit. The shining one, its ideographs suggest the words zer seed, banit producing. A Babylonian goddess consort of Marduk or Merodach. In later Babylonian times (after 1200 BC) when Marduk was elevated to the position of chief deity of the pantheon in place of the older Chaldean deities, Zarpanitu was regarded as the great nature goddess, replacing Belit (consort of Bel). A triad was formed by the addition of Nebo, the god of wisdom, equivalent to the Hindu Budha and the Greek Hermes. "As Budha was the Son of Soma (the Moon) in India, and of the wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter), so Nebo was the son of Zarpa-nitu (the Moon Deity) and of Merodach, who had become Jupiter, after having been a Sun God" (SD 2:456). Herodotus called Zarpanitu "Zeus-Belos."
Ank - Ank, Ankh (Egyptian) The symbol of life in ancient Egypt, represented as the tau-cross surmounted by a circle, and often called crux ansata (cross with a handle). Usually placed in the hand of every representation of god or goddess; likewise in the hand of the initiant, and again on the mummy. Also the present astronomical planetary sign for Venus; and the ansated cross reversed is the sign of the earth.
One meaning of the ankh is "esoterically, that mankind and all animal life had stepped out of the divine spiritual circle and fallen into physical male and female generation. This sign, from the end of the Third Race, has the same phallic significance as the ''tree of life'' in Eden" (SD 2:30-1).
Ized - Ized, Izad (Pahlavi, Pers) A class of ancient Zoroastrian deities subordinate to Ahura Mazda and carriers of his will. In the Avesta, the Yashts are addressed to the izeds. In the Bundahish, Neryosengh, the messenger of the gods, is referred to as an ized, as is Anahita, the goddess of the waters.
In later Zoroastrianism, a class of 33 divine beings or ancient Aryan deities are known as izeds.
Fana - Goddess of the forests & wildlife. (WOTS)
Horchia - Horchia (Chaldean) A goddess of fire, and hence of the hearth, whether of the State or the family, and thus equivalent in some respects to the Roman Vesta. Also known under the name Titea Aretia and associated with the Earth Mother or the womb of planetary fire which brought the earth forth as one of the globes of the chain.
Drawing Down The Moon - An ancient Pagan ritual enacted at the Esbats to draw the power of the full moon. Commonly to empower yourself and unite with a particular deity usually a moon Goddess.
Allat - Ancient tribal Bedouin goddess whom Muhammad drove out of the Ka''aba.
Bell - BELL::
1) An altar tool, symbol of the Goddess and rung during ritual to invoke Her. Also rung to ward off negative or evil and to evoke good energies.
2) to signal the beginning and, or end of a spell. Can symbolize the motion of the Elements and its swinging to and fro, represent the extremes of good and evil; positive and negative.
Nerthus - Nerthus A mother goddess. {BCW 10:323&n}
Selene - Selene (Greek) Moon goddess, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios (the sun) and Eos (dawn). She shed a mild light as her car was drawn through the sky by two milk-white horses. Later identified with Artemis or Hecate and Persephone, and therefore called Phoebe. She was worshiped on the days of the new and full moon. {BCW 11:97}
Triple Goddess - Refer to MOTHER, MAIDEN, CRONE
Goddess - Feminine aspect of deity.
Kundalini - Sex power (Hindu serpent). The goddess in the form of a fire-serpent, who lies sleeping at the base of the spine. It is the supreme power of magic in man.
Ma - Ma (Sanskrit) In Hindu mythology a name of Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, goddess of prosperity, welfare, and happiness.
Devi Upanishad - (Sanskrit) A Shakta Upanishad dealing with the nature and worship of the Goddess.
See: Shaktism.
Mimameid - Mimameid (Icelandic) [from Mimir a giant + meid tree]
The Norse Tree of Knowledge, belonging to the "wise giant" Mimir, owner of the well of wisdom from which Odin, Allfather of gods and men, daily drinks. Mimir represents basic matter from which all worlds are formed, corresponding to Mulaprakriti.
Mimameid is said to spread its branches over the land where Menglad (the goddess Freya) dwells. None may know of what root it is sprung but it "falls not for fire or iron." In its topmost branches perches a golden bird named Wideopener, and in the Underworld a magic brew is secreted in an iron caldron secured with nine strong locks and guarded by the dread hag Sinmara.
According to the tale of Svipdag, a postulant undertaking initiatory trials, he must wrest from Sinmara the magic potion which alone can give him access to the Wideopener but, in order to get the potion he must bring her a feather from the golden bird! This impossible task illustrates how thorough a familiarity with all aspects of the Tree of Knowledge is demanded of one seeking union with his higher self, represented by Menglad, the principle of spiritual intelligence.
Bird Goddess - Neolithic Goddess appearing with wings, a beak or a bird’s body.
Athena - The Greek Goddess of Wisdom who held back the dawn for Odysseus and Penelope.
A feminine archetype expressed by a women interested in a kind of male power, philosophy and consciousness
High Priestess - HIGH PRIESTESS, HPS: a high statused, female practitioner. One who has passed several tests and initiations. Female co-ruler of the coven and female representative of the goddess.
Minerva - Roman Goddess of Wisdom who filled the souls of the heavenly ship as Dante and Beatrice ascended to the sphere of the Moon. (NAD)
Incarnations - Incarnations (Divine) or Avatars. The Immaculate Conception is as pre-eminently Egyptian as it is Indian. As the author of Egyptian Belief has it: "It is not the vulgar, coarse and sensual story as in Greek mythology, but refined, moral and spiritual "; and again the incarnation idea was found revealed on the wall of a Theban temple by Samuel Sharpe, who thus analyzes it: "First the god Thoth . . . as the messenger of the gods, like the Mercury of the Greeks (or the Gabriel of the first Gospel), tells the maiden queen Mautmes, that she is to give birth to a son, who is to be king Amunotaph III. Secondly, the god Kneph, the Spirit . . . . and the goddess Hathor (Nature) both take hold of the queen by the hands and put into her mouth the character for life, a cross, which is to be the life of the coming child", etc., etc. Truly divine incarnation, or the avatar doctrine, constituted the grandest mystery of every old religious system!
Iconoclasm - ICONOCLASM: first, icon is like a statue of a Goddess; ''OCLASM'' is the act of breaking icons, or religious images. It can also refer to the act of attacking the beliefs of another; such as those we call the Christian Right, Fundis or Thumpers.
Amphitrite - Amphitrite (Greek) Daughter of the sea god Nereus by Doris, wife of Poseidon and queen of the sea, mother of Triton. Identified with the Roman Salacia, goddess of the salt waves. (SD 2:578-9, 775).
Shakti - Hindu notion of creative power, associated with the Goddess Devi, wife of Shiva.
Isis -
1. Egyptian Goddess of the Nile, sister wife of Osiris, mother of Horus.
2. trans neptunian planet ruling asperation; situated at the galactic center in 26.5 degrees Sagittarius. (NAD)
Celtic Witan Church - The legally incorporated church and religious organization formed for the study and practice of the goddess-oriented nature-based religion of the ancient Celtic peoples called Wita. This is a fertility religion concerned with all aspects of prosperity, growth, abundance, creativity, and healing. The Church honors the Celtic deities with full moon rituals and sabbat festivals. There are many open rituals and training programs.
Bast - (Egytptian, Bastet)
Ancient Egyptian cat goddess.
Mut - Mut, Mout (Egyptian) Mother; the second member of the triad of Thebean deities, generally known as the Lady of Thebes, and holding with Amen-Ra (Ammon-Ra) the principal position among the gods of the New Empire. Although mother of Khensu (or Khonsu -- the third member of the triad) and wife of Amen-Ra, she is often called his mother.
Her attributes are those of the world-mother, the inscriptions upon the ruins of her temple at Thebes address her as "Lady of Heaven, Queen of the Gods, she who giveth birth, but was herself not born." Sometimes she is represented with androgynous aspects (with the head of a man and with the phallus). She is associated with Isis and Nekhebet, although more often made equivalent to Nut, goddess of the watery deep, mother of the gods, and of all that is. Mut also in many respects has the characteristics that were attributed to Hathor.
From these attributes of cosmic fecundity, Mut came to be associated on a smaller scale with the moon, the mother of earth and giver of material life.
See also NEKHEBET
Hare - Hare Many mythologies have featured the hare, especially the Egyptian. Thus the symbol of the hare frequently occurs in the hieroglyph, as well as a hare-headed deity named Unnu, with his consort Unnut -- ancient divinities of Hermopolis, the latter being closely associated with Sekhet.
A striking similarity is present in the mythology of the Algonquin Indians of North America; their chief deity was a mighty hare known as Menabosho or Michabo, to whom they went at death. One account places him in the east, another in the west.
The ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples used the hare as a symbol, being sacred to the nature goddess Freyja; likewise to the Anglo-Saxon Ostara, goddess of springtime. This is believed to be the basis for the present-day association of the rabbit or hare with Easter. The anthropomorphic idea is found also among other races, very frequently among the Mongolians, Chinese, Japanese, and other Far Eastern peoples. It was considered to be androgynous, thus typifying an attribute of the creative Logos.
Eros, god of sexual love, is represented as carrying a hare. The hare was sacred to Osiris and was also a symbol of the moon.
Polytheistic - POLYTHEISTIC: the belief of honoring the Divine through various God and Goddess forms or aspects.
Bast - 1. (Bastet) Egyptian Cat Goddess.
2. (l.c) spiritual expansion (Arabic) (NAD)
Aradia - The Italian daughter of the goddess Diana and Lucifer (Roman Sun God), considered Queen of the Witches.
A book, Aradia, Gospel of the Witches" written in the 19th Century by Leland about Aradia and the Italian practice of witchcraft.
A female Christ figure in Italy who taught around 1353. She was imprisoned more than once, escaped and eventually disappeared.
Hecate - The ancient Greek goddess of pathways and crossroads and associated with sorcery and the moon.
Old Religion - Italian Witchcraft, founded in the mid-14th century with the teachings of Aradia, the Holy Strega, and based upon the pre-Estruscian Italian belief system. The Old Religion is a worship of the "Source of All Things", through the personification of the Goddess and God. Also known as Strega, Stregheria, and La Vecchia Religione.
Gaia - (Greek name for goddess Terra) The uninitiated Earth
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