Dionysus / Bacchus
Dionysus is the son of Zeus and Selene, the only mortal to have been made a God after Zeus had an affair with her. Selene knew Zeus was a God but she didn’t know which one as it was simply his divine presence she loved. Hera, Zeus’s wife, found out, disguised herself and went to see Selene. She told Selene that she needed to see the God she was in love with and only then could make her a Goddess. Zeus agreed to this and showed himself after they made love, but Selene was burnt to a crisp by the light of him. Zeus stitched Dionysus to his thigh and took him to the heavens where he was born, and because he was born of Zeus he became a God. Granted the title and power of God of Wine and of the Grape Harvest, Dionysus, perhaps understandably given the story surrounding his birth, is an unpredictable God. He can bring joy and ecstasy but can also be full of rage and violence.
Persephone / Proserpina
Persephone is the Goddess of Spring and Flowers and also of the Underworld. Homer describes her as the formidable, venerable majestic Queen of the Underworld, who carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead. One day, while out tending flowers, she was abducted by Hades, taken to the underworld and forced to marry him. Having fallen in love with him, she agreed to spend half her time on earth, because it was the only way her mother Demeter would allow crops and flowers to grow once more.
Aradia
Although strictly not a Roman Goddess, Aradia should be mentioned as she was said to be the daughter of the Roman Goddess Diana, and was sent down to earth as a messiah to set slaves free and teach witchcraft. When she had taught all she could she ascended back up into the heavens. To many witches Aradia is the divine Goddess of Witchcraft, as is her mother Diana. “Go to earth below / To be a teacher unto women and men / Who fain would study witchcraft,” said Diana to her messiah daughter Aradia, according to ‘The Gospel of the Witches’ by Charles Leland, a text translated from the 14th century. Aradia then said unto the Coven, “Ye shall all be freed from slavery / And so ye shall be free in everything.”
Egyptian Gods and Goddesses
Egyptians believed that at the beginning of time there was only blackness and chaos. The first God was Atum-Ra who sneezed and gave birth to Shu, the God of Water, and Tefnut, Goddess of the Air. Tefnut and Shu bore children, Nut the Goddess of Sky and Geb, God of the Earth. Shu and Tefnut went walking one day and became lost. Fearing something awful had happened to them Atum-Ra sent his all seeing eye to go and find them. His tears of joy then turned into humans.
Ra
Ra was the first God of the Sun, and of the Earth and Underworld. He sailed across the skies in his boat called Barque of Million Years. He died every day but left enough light to keep the Moon Goddess alive when he was in the underworld. He then sailed back to rise again every morning. Ra, who fought his worst enemy every day, a snake called Apep, was the greatest of all the Gods but could be cruel and unjust because when his power was so strong the sun was too hot for people to live and for crops to grow. At times rain dried before even reaching the ground. The loving Goddess Isis despaired seeing mankind suffer so she used magic to make a snake which she made from saliva from Ra and clay from the earth. She hid the snake where she knew Ra was going. When the snake bit Ra he screamed in agony which caused massive earthquakes on earth. Isis, as Goddess of Healing, told him she would be able to stop his pain but only if he spoke his real name to her, for Isis knew Ra’s powers came from his secret name. Ra was in so much pain he had little option. And so, when he revealed his real name, Isis was able to claim the same powers that Ra had, making her an equal ruler. She then forced Ra to shine less brightly and eventually, because he was an aging God, he gave rule of the Sun to Horus and retired as a sky God to watch over mankind.
Isis
Isis, the first daughter of Geb and Nut, is the Goddess of Fertility, Mothers, Love and the Moon. She loves the people of earth and is said to walk among them to teach agriculture and crafting as well as showing women how to tame men enough to live with them. Isis became the most powerful Goddess by tricking Ra to stop him doing harm to mankind. She married her brother Osiris and made him God of all Earth. Osiris ruled with love and compassion, but the other brother Set was jealous and had Osiris killed so he could take his place as the lover of Isis and the Earth God. Isis, desperate with grief, ripped up her clothes and tore out her hair. She searched earth and eventually discovered Osiris’s body hidden in a fragrant tree and carried it home. But Set was furious and ordered his brother’s body chopped into fourteen segments and thrown in every direction, hoping they would be eaten by crocodiles. Isis then searched with the help of seven scorpions that protected her. She put Osiris’s body back together as she found each piece, though she couldn’t find his penis so fashioned one from gold and wax. Then, helped by Anubis and inventing mummification and embalming, she brought Osiris back to life and conceived a child with him named Horus. Now that Osiris had given Isis a child she allowed him to descend into the underworld. Horus became God of the Sun and Isis once again became a Moon Goddess.
Horus
Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, is the God of the Sun and Sky. He is the God of Protection and Magic too, and was God of all Pharaohs of Egypt. He has the head of a falcon and the body of man. In revenge for his father’s murder by his Uncle Set, Horus ascended to be the Sun God and attacked him. Set gauged out Horus’s eye but his mother Isis gave him a magical replacement that could see evil at all times. Set knew he could not win this battle though, so the two came to a truce with Horus ruling over day and Set ruling at night. This gave us the term Sun Set. The Eye of Horus is a magical symbol that can protect you against ill-will and evil.
Hathor
Hathor is the Goddess of Joy, Love and Motherhood. She is the wife of Horus and Goddess of the Sun. Hathor was one of the most beloved Goddesses in Ancient Egypt and was said to be mother to the pharaohs.
Bast
Bast is the Goddess of Cats, which were held in very high regard in Ancient Egypt. She is depicted with the head of a cat or lioness and is a protection Goddess as well as holder of the Eye of Horus and a sworn protector of the Sun Gods. Because of her protection status her statues can be placed in areas of the household where you feel the need to be protected.
Anubis
Anubis, God of the Dead, helped Isis embalm and mummify Osiris and lead him into the underworld after he finally died. He has the head of a jackal and the body of man and lies in wait for you in the ‘Hall of the Dead’ where he weighs your heart against the Goddess Ma’at’s feather. Ma’at is the Goddess of justice and if your heart is lighter than her feather then you will live forever in the afterlife. But if your heart weighs more than the feather, it is eaten by a demon called Ammit which has the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion and the bottom quarters of a hippopotamus. Thoth the God of Words and Wisdom records everything that happens here.
Ma’at
Ma’at is the Goddess of Honour, Justice, Truth and Wisdom. She is the wife of Thoth and together they help Anubis in the underworld. Ma’at’s feather is an ostrich feather which is used to weigh your heart before you are allowed into the underworld.
Thoth
Thoth, the God of Wisdom, invented writing and the hieroglyphs. Depicted with the head of an Ibis bird, he is a recorder of knowledge, recording every star that is born and dies and every human that is born and dies. There is said to be a ‘Book of Thoth’, containing two spells. If you read the first spell aloud you will understand every animal on earth and control all life of the sea. If you read aloud the second spell you will have the power to bring people back from the dead.
Tawaret
Tawaret is the Goddess of Childbirth and protects women in labour. She is depicted with the head of a hippopotamus, arms and legs of a lion, the back and tail of a crocodile and the breast and stomach of a pregnant woman. People wear her as an amulet to protect them when pregnant and to protect their children from harm.