Demeter: Greek Goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, and the Harvest

    Since it is Fall, and it is almost Thanksgiving, I'd like to write about a deity that connects to the season.  As a goddess of the harvest Demeter is the perfect fit, don't you think?  She was a very important goddess to the Greeks because she controlled the crops, like corn and grain.  Each year, she was offered the first loaf of bread of the harvest season.  Not only did her domain over crops make her an important goddess, but she was also one of the main 12 Olympian gods, which means she was very popular. 
    This popularity of hers is shown through her multiple myths.  The most known myth about Demeter is the story of Persephone, her daughter.  One day, Persephone was abducted by Hades to be his wife, which made Demeter a not-so-happy goddess.  She demanded that Hades release her daughter, which he refuses.  She is so ticked off that she curses the world the withering of plants and crops.  Seeing this, Zeus commands Hades to let Persephone go.  Hades tricks Persephone into eating a pomegranate from the Underworld, which means she has to stay with Hades.  They end up agreeing that Persephone will stay with Hades with four months of the year.  This time becomes what we know as winter.  When Hades gives her back to Demeter, spring begins.
    Another myth of Demeter is when Poseidon lusts for her.  In the story, Demeter is looking for Persephone when Poseidon sees her and lusts for her.  She avoids him by turning herself into a horse, but Poseidon catches on.  He turns himself into a stallion, and rapes her.  She gives birth to an unnamed girl and a horse named Arion.  Arion is known as the fastest horse in Greek Mythology.  He is so fast that he is known to run across seas.

Symbols: corn, pig, torch, snake
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Major Temple: Eleusis

 

Janus: Roman God of Gates, Doorways, Transitions, Beginnings, and Endings.

    I know, I know.  God of doorways and transitions seems really boring and unimportant.  You'd be surprised how important he may be.  In fact, Janus was proposed to be the most important god, sometimes replacing Jupiter as top god.  Why would a over-dignified doorman be important?  Because as god of transition, he rules over many things, such as: light, the sun, the moon, change, time, movement, the year, and all other things that have anything to do with transitions.
    Even though he was sometimes seen as top god, he wasn't involved in many myths.  The ones he was in weren't important, either.  One of these myths is when he had raped the nymph Crane.  The only worthy outcome of these myths is the fact that he had a daughter, Cardia, goddess of hinges.  Fitting for a daughter of the god of doors, right?  Another myth of his is when Romulus and his men captured the Sabine women.  In Roman mythology, Romulus was the founder of Rome.  He and his followers needed wives, so they captured the Sabine women.  When the Sabine king, Tatius, and his men attacked Rome, Janus caused a volcanic spring to erupt, burying them.
    Janus is often depicted as having faces, one looking to the future and one to the past.  He is often presiding over the beginnings and endings of conflicts, therefore over war and peace.  In fact, his temples were open during times of war and closed during times of peace.  While many Roman gods had specialized priests looking after their temples, Janus had the King of of the Sacred Rites to look after this temple.

Symbols: Key and Scepter
Offerings: Ram, Incense, Wine, Barley, and Cakes
Coins: Janus appeared on the earliest coins in Rome
Meals: Every meal began with a request for blessings from Janus

Hel: Norse Goddess of the Underworld

    She is one hel of a goddess.  Literally.  Her name is Hel, and, ironically, that is what she rules.  Hel is the Norse goddess of the underworld.  In Norse Mythology, the underworld is located in one of the nine worlds--Helheim.  If the name brings you down, don't feel bad.  Helheim is a pretty gloomy place.  It's cold and damp, and filled up with gloomy spirits.  In Norse myths, Hel receives only a portion of the spirits of those who die.  While the brave, pillaging warriors go to Valhalla or Folkvangr, criminals and those who were not warriors went to Helheim.  So if you were a goody-two-shoes but did not fight, too bad.  You get to spend the rest of eternity in the cold with Hel herself.
    The story of Hel goes back to the all-famous Loki, God of Trickery and Mischief.  You see, Loki is her daddy.  That didn't really help her reputation with the other gods.  It didn't help that half of her face looked dead and rotting.  To get rid of her, Odin sent her to Helheim to take care of the dishonorably dead.
    She's not known to be in very many myths.  One of her main myths is that of Baldr's death.  Baldr is the son of Odin and Frigga, and he is the god of light, peace, and forgiveness.  When he had a prophetic dream of his death, his mom made everything in the nine worlds promise not to harm him.  However, she had forgotten mistletoe.  When Hel's dad, Loki, found out, he tricked Baldr's blind brother Hodr into killing him during a party.  This party included throwing things at Baldr, and Loki gave Hodr an arrow made of mistletoe, which killed baldr instantly.  The messenger of the gods, Hermod, was sent to beg Hel to release Baldr.  She promised to let him go back.  However, every living and dead creature has to cry for Baldr, which almost happened.  The only creature not to cry was a giantess, who was Loki in disguise.
    Just like any other god, Hel is destined to fight on Ragnarok, the doomsday of Norse Mythology.  She, with her dad, will join the giants and monsters to destroy the gods and the world.

Symbols: Plate and knife
Sacred Colors: black and white
Offerings: bones, coffee beans, wine, onyx
Siblings: Fenrir, Jormangandr, Sleipnir

Hou Yi: Chinese God of archery

      Forget Green Arrow or Robin Hood!  The real hero with the bow and arrow is Hou Yi, Chinese God of Archery and hero of mankind!  Although most gods of mythology demand respect, Hou Yi is a pretty chill guy.  He's always calm and clearheaded.  There's only one time he lost his cool, but we'll talk about that in a minute.  He's known as a hero who aids mankind, so obviously he's loved by the people.  He loves humans, and does a lot of good for them, including scaring off bad water gods and killing monsters for them.  He would stop at nothing to assist his precious people, even shooting down the suns.
      Remember when I said Hou Yi lost his cool once?  Well this ties in with the story of him and the 10 suns.  In Chinese Mythology, there were originally 10 suns, who are all represented by three-legged crows called sunbirds.  These sunbirds were the suns of the god Di Jun.  At first, the sunbirds did their duty: travel around the world to warm the land.  Eventually, the birds were tired of the routine, so they became a little naughty.  All 10 birds rose at the same time, heating up the earth.  It got way too hot, and the emperor begged Di Jun to stop them.  Di Jun sent Hou Yi to stop them by scaring them off.  Hou Yi agreed, as he wanted to end the problem peacefully.  But with one sight of the burnt land, Hou Yi wasn't too happy.  He decided to kill them.  he killed nine of them, and he was about to kill the last one when the emperor reminded him that they still needed one.  The last sunbird was completely scared, so he did his job correctly from then on.
      You'd think that Hou Yi would be praised for his accomplishment.  He was praised by the humans, but Du Jun was angry that Hou Yi killed his sons.  He decided to banish him from heavens, thinking that since Hou Yi loved the humans so much, he will live like them.  Hou Yi didn't hold a grudge, though.  In fact, he set off to save China.  On one of his adventures, he met his wife Chang'e.  But Chang'e unknowingly drank immortality elixirs and became the goddess of the moon.  After his loss, he became a tyrant.  He was then killed by an apprentice of his out of jealousy.

Symbols: bow and arrow
Title: Defender of the Earth
Alt Versions: In some versions, he isn't a tyrant.  He is a wonderful king who ruled the land he saved.

Coyolxauhqui: Aztec Goddess of the Moon

            This week, I will be talking about the moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui.  I know, I know, the name's hard to pronounce, but you get used to it.  Anyway, she is the goddess of the moon, and is the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas.  The  Centzon Huitznahuas are the gods of the southern stars.  Plus, some scholars believe that she was the goddess of the Milky Way galaxy.
            She is not known in many myths, in fact, she is only known for how she became the goddess of the moon.  In this myth, she had a big fight with her mom, Coatlicue.  Like most mom and daughter fights, it was about pregnancy.  Though, it wasn't Coyoxauhqui's, it was Coatlicue's.  Coatlique became pregnant when a ball of hummingbird feathers fell on her chest while sleeping.  Coyoxauhqui and her other 400 brothers were ashamed of the weird pregancy and planned to kill her.  Huitzilopochtli, god of of the sun and war, sprang out of Coatlique's womb and killed Coyoxauhqui and many of her brothers.  The remaining brothers ran away and are known as the stars we see in the sky.  Huitzilopochtli cut off Cooyoxauhqui's limbs and threw her head into the sky, where it became the moon.

Symbols: bells on her cheeks, severed head
Parents: Coatlicue and Mixcoatl
Sacrifice: cut off heads, cut out hearts, and throw body down the temple of Coyoxauhqui
Name Meaning: woman with copper bells on her cheeks

Freyr: Norse God of Spring, Summer, Sun, Rain, Harvest, Abundance, Fertility, Growth, and Vitality

         In light of the recent release of Rick Riordan's book, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, I decided to do this week's god on a Norse god.  And what better god to do than Magnus's father.  Oh, spoiler alert for those who have not read the book yet.  Anyway, this week I will be taking about the Norse god Freyr.  In Norse Mythology, Freyr is quite popular and very important.  In fact, everyone loves him, if you don't count Surt, lord of the fire giants in the realm of fire, Muspelheim.  But other than him, Freyr was on everyone's good list.  Now why would Surt hate him if he's so good?  It may be the fact that they were pretty much destined to kill each other.  In Ragnorok, the Norse doomsday, Surt is said to charge into battle against the Asgardian and Vanir gods.  Wielding a sword of fire, Surt will fight against and kill Freyr, and in turn, he will be slain by Freyr.
         In Norse myths, he is known as the lord of one of the 9 worlds, which lie on the world tree, Yggdrasil.  He is the king of Alfheim, the realm of the light elves.  Just like his realm, Freyr is considered a great beauty among the male deities.
         One of his most famous legends is when he tried to marry the giantess, Gerðr.  In the legend, Freyr sees Gerðr in the distance and sends his servant Skirnir to get her to marry him.  She refuses at first, even with gifts that included Freyr's magic sword that fought by itself.  She finally accepts after threats were made by Skirnir.

Symbols: sword, Gullinborsti-- his golden boar, Skídblaðnir-- his ship that could hold all the gods and could become small enough to fit in a pocket.
Parents: Njord and unknown mother
Siblings: Freya
Type of Deity: Aesir and Vanir (the Aesir were war-like, while Vanir were associated with nature and fertility)

Sekhmet: Egyptian Goddess of fire, war, destruction, plagues, healing, and the sun

                Just like last week, we have another feisty goddess of destruction.  Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Egypt, is known as the goddess of destruction, fire, the sun, plagues, and strangely healing.  In ancient Egypt, she was widely feared for her destructive nature, especially those who pose a threat to Egypt and her father Ra.  She unleashes plagues, scorching flames and heat, and diseases to those who have wronged her father and kingdom.  Though she is the cause of plagues and diseases, she also brings cures to those she deems as worthy of protection.  Because of this protection and life-giving side of hers, she is often shown with the ankh—the symbol for life.  I guess this is what attracted her husband, Ptah, to her in the first place, unless he is into the bloodthirsty, ruthless babes of Egypt.  Not only is she split between healing and destruction, she also has a whole different personality named Hathor.  It is sometimes shown that Hathor turns into Sekhmet when she turns angry. Just think of her as the ancient Egyptian womanly version of the Hulk.

                Sekhmet is one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian mythology.  She is also known as one of the most powerful.  In fact, in her most famous legend, she almost destroyed the whole human race.  It started with her birth.  In some variations, she was born from Ra’s eye when he looked at the ground.  I know, I know.  Weird way to be born, but that’s mythology for ya.  Anyways, she was born from his eye, and is mainly a protector of him as the first pharaoh.  When humans were being a little bit too chaotic, Ra got mad and sent Sekhmet to take care of the situation.  The problem?  She was too destructive and almost took out the whole human race.  To stop her, Ra poured 7000 jugs of beer and red dye into the Nile to look like blood.  She drank from the river, and ended up wasted and passed out for 3 days.  When she woke up, returned to Ra nice and calm.

Symbols: lion, sun disk, red dress

Major city: Memphis, Leontopolis

Parents: Ra or Nut and Geb

Titles: Powerful One, Destroyer of Rebellion, Lady of Terror, Lady of Life

Children: Maahes, Nefertem

Kali: Hindu Goddess of Time, Destruction, Creation, Change, Preservation, and Empowerment

       Ah, the great Kali, the fierce Hindu goddess.  She is feared by many for her terrifying personality.  Though, she's not always destructive.  In fact, she has a split personality: half dark and scary,while the other pure.  Originally, she was the goddess, Durga.  She was the goddess of victory of good vs. evil.  Unlike her other self, Kali lives up to her title of goddess of destruction.  She is usually shown with a demon head, necklace of heads, a bloodied sword, and a girdle of hands.  Creepy, right?
       She has two main legends that she is a part of.  The first talks of her origin.  Her original form, Durga, was fighting the demon, Raktabija.  But, every time she cut him, a clone of Raktabija would pop up.  Well, as anyone would, she got pretty ticked off.  She then changed to Kali to fight the demon and his clones.  Knowing she couldn't fight them like before, she decided to eat them.  Yup, she. Ate. Them.  But, like any death and destruction goddess would,she left enough of their corpses to dance on.  Remind me not to go to any clubs with her anytime soon.
       Her other major legend is of her most famous pose.  Legends say that Kali was drunk on the blood of her victims.  She was about to destroy the whole universe.  Her husband, Shiva, was urged by the other gods to stop her.  He laid down at her feet, and she steps on his chest.  When she realized it was her husband, she calmed.  Ashamed that she kept her husband at her feet, she stuck her tongue out in shame.

Symbols: Sword, Severed head, Necklace of heads, Girdle of hands
Worship: Human sacrifices were made, Usually worshiped by thugs
Depiction: Blue skin, naked or with tiger skin, tongue out, standing on Shiva, Four arms
Weapons: Scimitar, Trident

Fujin: Japanese God of Wind

       What a blowhard! Literally!  As a god of wind, it's Fujin's job.  Though, he's not exactly what you would expect a god would look like.  He's not some handsome, masculine hunk, he's a monster.  An ogre, or oni, to be exact.  But he's a nice ogre, I promise.  OK, maybe he used to be evil, but he's changed--kinda. He still gets grumpy from time to time and creates hurricanes and other storms related to wind. In one of his most important myths, it explains how he was changed from an evil being to one that is forced to be not so evil.  And what changed him?  Buddha. Yup, that's right. Even a demon can take inspiration from such a happy guy.  Fujin started as a Buddhist demon, then a Japanese Shinto God.  You see,  Fujin and his best bud Raijin, god of thunder and lightning, went against Buddha.  Buddha then ordered their capture.  When the two were defeated, they were forced to serve heaven as good little demon gods. 

      Now onto Japanese Shinto mythology, Fujin was apart of the most important part of any mythology--creation.  Though in Buddhist mythology, he was a demon turned god, in Japan he was always a god.  He still kept his demonic look though.  In Japanese Folklore, Fujin was born from two gods named Izanagi and Izanami.  It's said that his breath was so powerful that at the moment of his birth, all of the clouds and mists of the earth immediately dispersed and the world was full of brightness.  Though he is commonly known as Fujin, he has a nickname: Shina-tsu-hiki.

Symbols: big bag of winds, disheveled appearance, sometimes wears leopard skin
Parents: Izanagi and Izanami
Siblings: Raijin, Ryujin, Oyamatsumi

Depiction: dark demon carrying bag, usually with Raijin

Thanatos:Greek God of Death

      To start off my blog, I'd like to start with one of my favorites.  Today I will be talking about the original grim reaper, Death himself--Thanatos.  Contrary to popular belief, Thanatos isn't evil or violent.  In fact, he is often known to the Greeks as the god of peaceful death.  In some versions he's even got a pet butterfly he takes with him to take the souls of the peacefully dead.  If that doesn't spell out peaceful, I don't know what does.
      For obvious reasons, he was hated by both mortals and gods alike, as he was merciless and indiscriminate.  He was so unpopular that the Greeks didn't bother to put him into many myths.  The ones that he was in, he spent captured.  And for what? For doing his job.  That's right folks, a hardworking death god just wants to earn his living and what does he get?  Captured.  By some King named Sisyphus who doesn't want to die and the one and only Heracles (who was tricked to do so).  But don't worry, Thanatos made sure not to be captured ever again.

Roman Counterpart: Mors
Symbols: Theta, Poppy, Butterfly, Sword, Inverted Torch
Home: the Underworld
Parents: Nyx and Erebus
Siblings: Hypnos, Nemesis, Eris, Keres, Oneiroi, and many others

Welcome to God of the week, a blog focused on the various deities of different world mythologies.