For my full list of Norse deities click here: https://glitternight.com/2011/04/10/the-eleven-most-neglected-deities-in-teutono-norse-mythology/
AEGIR – The god of the sea who brewed the ale that he would share with the other Teutono-Norse deities when they would get together at his hall on the island of Hlesey. Many poetic references are made to Continue reading
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Here are two goddesses of the Tupari people in what is now Brazil. FOR THE FULL LIST OF TUPARI GODS CLICK HERE
ANATBA and KOLUBEH – The twin goddesses of childbirth, who began gracing humanity with children after they left the underground world. In Tupari myths the only way women can become pregnant is for these two deities to visit them at night and place a baby in the woman’s womb. Before the baby’s presence in the body of the mother it forms from the otherworldly “flesh” of Anatba and Kolubeh, sometimes linking them like the joints that link Siamese twins.
It is speculated that Continue reading
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And remember, for my full list of neglected Norse deities click HERE
FORSETI – The god of the laws for men and gods alike who acted as the judge and moderator for disputes among the deities of the Teutono-Norse pantheon. His powers of arbitration and unquestioned fairness were necessary for settling conflicts involving his hot-blooded and temperamental fellow divinities. It is unknown, but doubtful, if Forseti’s rulings were at all binding on Odin. He was the son of the god Baldur through his wife Nanna and lived in a Continue reading
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Cry havoc and let slip the gods of war! Had to be said. (And yes, I know it’s supposed to be dogs of war.) The Greek god of war Ares and his Roman counterpart Mars get most of the attention in pop culture. Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at some of the neglected war gods from around the world.
AIRESKOI
Pantheon: Iroquois
Lore: Aireskoi was identified with the Aurora Borealis. While other Iroquois souls would go to the conventional afterlife warriors slain in battle got to reside with Aireskoi in the heavens, their souls glowing with the grandeur of their battlefield heroics, thus accounting for the brightness of the Aurora Borealis.
Aireskoi was one of the gods who tried to woo the goddess Iagentci when she was carrying her Marriage Bread to the chief deity Hawenneyu. Aireskoi was also associated with fire since the Iroquois used fire to torture captives taken in wartime. Continue reading
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Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I consider all religions to be mythology, which people are usually fine with unless it’s their own personal religion I’m examining. At any rate En No Ozunu is revered as the founder and most active mythical figure in the belief system called Shugendo, and in some offshoot cults of Shugendo as a virtual patron deity of ninja practices and ancient weather forecasting.
Practitioners of the Shugendo faith are called Yamabushi and their belief system fuses elements of Shinto, Ainu, Buddhism and Taoism along with features of shamanism and the ancient Japanese reverence for mountains, all of which are considered sacred ground in Shugendo.
The ninja connection is very big in popular culture but actually the Ainu are more technically the originators of many ninjutsu practices. For an even bigger pop culture tie-in there are versions of the En No Ozunu myth in which he is the father of Sadako (Neil Sadako?), the female figure in the Ringu novel plus its Japanese and American film adaptations.
En No Ozunu supposedly began his existence on Earth when he was born to a mortal woman who was Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.
PART FIVE
The morning after their battle with Pana-Ea and its legion of monsters Hi’iaka, Pa’u’o’pala’e and Wahine resumed their journey. Around mid-day the path they were following suddenly ended at a precipice. Wahine suggested they all descend the cliffside to reach the base, where the waves pounded the jagged stones and from there swim across to the other side. Continue reading
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As a followup to my earlier list of The Top 12 Deities in Choctaw Mythology here’s a look at two additional figures from that same pantheon.
IMMA – The Choctaw goddess of war. Unlike most war deities Imma did not participate in actual combat herself, but was the idealized woman to whom Choctaw warriors dedicated all their battlefield heroics. She was the most beautiful goddess in the Choctaw pantheon and, like her husband, the hunting god Hatakachafa, Imma was originally a mortal raised to godhood in the afterlife by the supreme deity Nanishta. He did this after Imma died from grief after Hatakachafa was given up for dead during his year-long struggle to return home to her. When Imma’s true love at last returned home astride his giant white wolf and learned she was dead he too died of grief. The two were reunited in the afterlife as husband and wife.
OKLATABAHSHIH – The patron god of Continue reading
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FOR MY FULL LIST OF AZTEC GODS CLICK HERE: https://glitternight.com/2011/05/10/the-top-eleven-deities-in-aztec-mythology/
XIUHTECUHTLI – The god of fire who was also considered the god of time, which puts you in mind of the expression “time is the fire in which we are burning”. In addition Xiuhtecuhtli was also the patron deity of the nobility. Continue reading
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As promised here is Balladeer’s Blog’s examination of the second of two different versions of the ancient myth about the Hittite storm god Tarhun battling the supreme serpent Illuyanka. Both versions tie in with the Purulli Festival.
VERSION TWO – Illuyanka, a miles- long serpent, emerged from his lair in the depths of the sea (NOT the Netherworld like in the first version) and unleashed havoc and disorder. Tarhun the storm god clashed with Illuyanka in Kiskilussa and, unexpectedly, the serpent was triumphant. Illuyanka plucked out Tarhun’s eyes and his heart and left him to live blind and helpless (yes, even though he had no heart).
The difference in the two versions centers around the way in which Tarhun eventually gets revenge on Illuyanka. In this version the defeated, blind and “heartless” storm god, seemingly living in exile from his heavenly kingdom following his defeat, marries “the daughter of a poor man”. Neither the name of the daughter or the father is mentioned in the surviving fragments of the myth. Continue reading
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Tarhun and his vizier Suwaliyut confronting Illuyanka
The readers of Balladeer’s Blog have spoken! You want more Hittite mythology! I’m always responsive to my readers so I will now examine two different versions of the ancient myth about the Hittite storm god Tarhun battling the supreme serpent Illuyanka. Both versions tie in with the Purulli Festival.
VERSION ONE – Illuyanka, a miles- long serpent, emerges from his lair in the Netherworld (making him another ally and possible son of the god Kumarbi) and unleashes havoc and disorder. Tarhun the storm god clashes with Illuyanka in Kiskilussa and, unexpectedly, the serpent is triumphant. Illuyanka plucks out Tarhun’s eyes and his heart and leaves him to live blind and helpless (yes, even though he has no heart now). Continue reading
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