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Mother Deities

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Mother goddess. Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents and/or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth.

Mother goddess

When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. Many different goddesses have represented motherhood in one way or another, and some have been associated with the birth of humanity as a whole, along with the universe and everything in it. Anann. In Irish mythology, Anann (Anu, Ana, Anand) was a goddess. 'Anann' is identified as the personal name of the Morrígan in many MSS of Lebor Gabála Érenn.

Anann

With Badb and Macha, she is sometimes part of a triple goddess or a triad of war goddesses.[1] As such, she may be a Celtic personification of death, and is depicted as predicting death in battle. As a goddess of cattle, she is responsible for culling the weak. She is therefore often referred to as "Gentle Annie", in an effort to avoid offense, a tactic which is similar to referring to the fairies as "The Good People".[2]

Anatolia. Coordinates: Definition[edit] The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey[2][3] The Anatolian peninsula, also called Asia Minor, is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, and the Sea of Marmara to the northwest, which separates Anatolia from Thrace in Europe.

Anatolia

However, following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, Anatolia was defined by the Turkish government as being effectively co-terminous with Asian Turkey. Artemis. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis (Ancient Greek: Ἄρτεμις) was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo.

Artemis

She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.[6] The deer and the cypress were sacred to her. In later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia in aiding childbirth. Etymology Didrachm from Ephesus, Ionia, representing the goddess Artemis. Asherah. Astarte. Astarte riding in a chariot with four branches protruding from roof, on the reverse of a Julia Maesa coin from Sidon Astarte /æˈstɑrti/ (Ancient Greek: Ἀστάρτη, "Astártē") is the Greek name of the Mesopotamian (i.e.

Astarte

Assyrian, Akkadian, Babylonian) Semitic goddess Ishtar known throughout the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean from the early Bronze Age to Classical times. Cybele. Cybele (/ˈsɪbɨliː/; Phrygian: Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya "Kubeleyan Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Turkish Kibele; Lydian Kuvava; Greek: Κυβέλη Kybele, Κυβήβη Kybebe, Κύβελις Kybelis) was an originally Anatolian mother goddess; she has a possible precursor in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük (in the Konya region) where the statue of a pregnant goddess seated on a lion throne was found in a granary.

Cybele

She is Phrygia's only known goddess, and was probably its state deity. Her Phrygian cult was adopted and adapted by Greek colonists of Asia Minor and spread from there to mainland Greece and its more distant western colonies from around the 6th century BCE. In Rome, Cybele was known as Magna Mater ("Great Mother"). The Roman State adopted and developed a particular form of her cult after the Sibylline oracle recommended her conscription as a key religious component in Rome's second war against Carthage. Cult origins and development[edit] Danu (Irish goddess) In Irish mythology, Danu ([ˈdanu]; modern Irish Dana [ˈd̪ˠanˠə]) is the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann (Old Irish: "The peoples of the goddess Danu").

Danu (Irish goddess)

Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land.[1] The genitive form of Old Irish Danu is Danann, and the dative Danainn. Irish Danu is not identical with Vedic Dānu but rather descends from a Proto-Celtic *Danona, which may contain the suffix -on- also found in other theonyms such as Matrona, Maqonos/Maponos and Catona.[5][6] As the mother of the gods, Danu has strong parallels with the Welsh literary figure (or goddess) Dôn, who is the mother figure of the medieval tales in the Mabinogion.[7] Demeter. In ancient Greek religion and myth, Demeter (/diˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́tēr) is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains and the fertility of the earth.

Demeter

Her cult titles include Sito (Σιτώ), "she of the Grain",[1] as the giver of food or grain[2] and Thesmophoros (θεσμός, thesmos: divine order, unwritten law; "phoros": bringer, bearer), "Law-Bringer," as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society.[3] Etymology[edit] Demeter's character as mother-goddess is identified in the second element of her name meter (μήτηρ) derived from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (mother).[11] In antiquity, different explanations were already proffered for the first element of her name.

Devi. Devi is, quintessentially, the core form of every Hindu Goddess.

Devi

As the female manifestation of the supreme lord, she is also called Prakriti, as she balances out the male aspect of the divine addressed Purusha.[2] Devi is the supreme Being in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, while in the Smartha tradition, she is one of the five primary forms of God.[3][4] In other Hindu traditions of Shaivism and Vaishnavism, Devi embodies the active energy and power of male deities (Purushas), such as Vishnu in Vaishnavism or Shiva in Shaivism. Dôn. This theonym appears to be derived from Proto-Celtic *Dānu meaning "fluvial water".[2] The House of Dôn[edit] In astronomy[edit] See also[edit]

Dôn

Durga. Goddess Durga (Hindustani pronunciation: [ˈd̪uːrɡaː]; Sanskrit: दुर्गा), meaning "the inaccessible"[1] or "the invincible"; durga) is the most popular incarnation of Devi and one of the main forms of the Goddess Shakti in the Hindu pantheon. Durga is the original manifested form of Mother Adi-Parashakti. She is Adi- Parashakti herself. The Devi Gita also known as Parvati Gita declares her to be the greatest Goddess. Thus, She is considered the supreme Goddess and primary deity in Shaktism, occupying a place similar to Lord Krishna in Vaishnavism. According to Skanda Purana, Goddess Parvati accounted the name 'Durga' after she killed the demon Durgamaasura. Gayatri. Illustration by Raja Ravi Verma. Hathor. Hathor (/ˈhæθɔr/ or /ˈhæθər/;[2] Egyptian: ḥwt-ḥr and from Greek: Άθωρ, "mansion of Horus")[1] is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood.[3] She was one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt.

Hathor was worshiped by Royalty and common people alike in whose tombs she is depicted as "Mistress of the West" welcoming the dead into the next life.[4] In other roles she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and fertility who helped women in childbirth,[4] as well as the patron goddess of miners.[5] The cult of Hathor predates the historic period, and the roots of devotion to her are therefore difficult to trace, though it may be a development of predynastic cults which venerated fertility, and nature in general, represented by cows.[6] Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with Uraeus. Early depictions[edit] Temples[edit]

Heavenly Mother (Mormonism) The Heavenly Mother doctrine is mainly taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church),[1] the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ,[2][3] and branches of Mormon fundamentalism, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. [citation needed] The doctrine is not generally recognized by other faiths within the broader Latter Day Saint movement, such as the Community of Christ, where trinitarianism is predominant. In the LDS Church, the Heavenly Mother is sung about in church hymns and briefly discussed in church teaching manuals and sermons.[4] Hera. Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses), Hera may bear a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy.[2] A scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos.

"[3] Etymology[edit] The cult of Hera[edit] Hludana. Isis. Juno (mythology) Magna Dea. Mami (goddess) Mami is a goddess in the Babylonian epic Atra-Hasis and in other creation legends. She was probably synonymous with Ninhursag. She was involved in the creation of humankind from clay and blood. [1] As Nintu legends states she pinched off fourteen pieces of primordial clay which she formed into womb deities, seven on the left and seven on the right with a brick between them, who produced the first seven pairs of human embryos. She may have become Belet Ili ("Mistress of the Gods") when, at Enki's suggestion, the gods slew one amongst themselves and used that god's blood and flesh, mixed with clay, to create humankind. Also known as Belet-ili, or Nintu. Alternative forms of her name include Mama and Mammitum.

Jump up ^ Dalley, Stephanie (2009). Mat Zemlya. Mat Zemlya, also Matka Ziemia, and Mati Syra Zemlya (literally Damp Mother Earth), is the oldest deity in Slavic mythology, her identity later blended into that of Mokosh.[1] She shares characteristics with Indo-Iranian Ardvi Sura Anahita “Humid Mother of the Earth.” In the early Middle Ages, Mati Syra Zemlya was one of the most important deities in the Slavic world. Oaths were made binding by touching the Earth and sins were confessed into a hole in the Earth before death. She was worshipped in her natural form and was not given a human personage or likeness. Since the adoption of Christianity in all Slavic lands, she has been identified with Mary, the mother of Jesus. An example of her importance is seen in this traditional invocation to Matka Ziema, made with a jar of hemp oil: East – "Mother Earth, subdue every evil and unclean being so that he may not cast a spell on us nor do us any harm.

" See also[edit] Notes[edit] Jump up ^ [Encyclopedia Mythica by John McCannon] Matres and Matronae. The Matres (Latin "mothers"[1]) and Matronae (Latin "matrons"[1]) were female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD. They are depicted on votive objects and altars that bear images of goddesses, depicted almost entirely in groups of three, that feature inscriptions (about half of which feature Celtic names, and half of which feature Germanic names), that were venerated in regions of Germania, Eastern Gaul, and upper Italy (with a small distribution elsewhere) that were occupied by the Roman army from the first to the fifth century AD.[2]

Minerva. Etruscan Menrva[edit] Stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā ('She who measures'), the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. Mokosh. Nammu. Nerthus. Ninhursag. Ninsun. Ops. Phra Mae Thorani. Rhea (mythology) Spider Grandmother. Thelema. Theotokos. Toci. Triple Goddess (Neopaganism) Veneration of Mary in Roman Catholicism. Venus (mythology)