Goddesses: Part One

Isis

The ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility and motherhood was believed to have a taste for carnal pleasure and to wield great supernatural powers. Daughter of the earth god and the sky goddess, she was both sister and wife to the god Osiris, who presided over the dead, as well as the mother of the god Horus, who’s domain was the day.

A cult formed around Isis, reaching its Egyptian peak during the thirteenth Dynasty in the fourth century BC. The goddess’s influence reached far beyond the borders of Egypt. She gained followers throughout ancient Greece and became identified with Demeter, the Greek goddess of fertility and the earth.

In ancient Rome, Isis became immensely popular and her worship extravagant to the point of debauchery. It wasn’t until Christianity appeared in the first century did her fortunes wane. Egyptians continued to worship Isis into the sixth century.

Kali

The Hindu goddess of time, her name is the Sanskrit word for time. Kali is omnipotent, with absolute power over all earthly things. She is also the mistress of the god Shiva, whose destructiveness she rivals if not outstrips.

Dark, grimacing and her teeth dripping with blood, Kali boasts four arms. Each arm has a symbolic meaning. One hold a sword and one a human head, while another obliterates fear and the fourth confers happiness.

Her followers seek these last two benefits through animal sacrifice. Tradition holds that devotees of Kali used to engage in human sacrifice.

Aphrodite

Also known as Venus, the goddess of love and beauty was said to have been born from the sea. Her presence brings light, laughter, pleasure and joy, but her absence results in misery and ugliness.

Aphrodite  is also the mother if Eros, also known as Cupid, the god of love, who could bring both ecstasy and pain to mortals. Ancient myth indirectly attributes to her the start of the Trojan War, for she caused Paris, the Trojan prince to kidnap Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Greece. Paris was asked by Zeus to decide which goddess was more beautiful– Aphrodite, Hera or Athena. Paris chose Aphrodite, who bribed him by promising him the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen.

Aphrodite probably came to classical mythology by way of religions from the East and still endures in Christianity. One of her priestesses, a sacred prostitute, became Saint Margaret pf Antioch, and Aphrodite shared many traits with early notions of the Virgin Mary. Today, love potions are known as aphrodisiacs.

Artemis

Twin sister to Apollo and daughter of Zeus and Leto, Artemis is also called Diana and Cynthia in classical mythology. She was the gods’ chief hunter and the goddess of the hunt, childbirth, nature and the harvest. She hunted with a bow and arrow, just as her brother did, sometimes turning her weapons upon offensive mortals.

The patron of youth and especially young women and wild animals, she was pure of heart and fair of figure. Artemis was associated with the moon, but she had a dark side as well in the form of Hecate, goddess of the underworld and of evil. Joining life and death, she could bless the dying with a quick and painless passing. She was said to be especially merciful to women who died in childbirth.

Other Historical essays about women:

Ancient Queens

Warrior Women

More Warrior Women

Wild West Women