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August 4, 2006

Egyptian Gods and Your Family – Part 1: Aset (Isis)

by Eric Cooper

Egypt was a magnificent city of power a few thousand years ago.  A merchant’s paradise and a traveler’s dream, it should come at no surprise that when the tourists returned to their homelands, they brought with them the Egyptian Gods.  Aset (Isis) was the most prominent goddess throughout the ancient world and the beginning of the first six or so centuries.  Aset found her home in temples throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and as far away as the British Isles.  She is known as The Goddess of 10,000 names, The Queen of Heaven, and many more.  “Aset” literally translates to “Queen of the Throne” – depicted by the throne she wears on her head.  Her hieroglyph, on the other hand, translates to “Female of the Flesh” – indicating she could have been mortal (a godly form for the Queens) and then deified. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Goddess Studies, Grimoire, Ritual
July 5, 2006

Kuan Yin, Chinese Goddess of Compassion

By Susanna Duffy

Everyone knows how to chant Amitabha Buddha, and every household worships Kuan Yin
– Chinese saying

Women everywhere have prayed to her as the Tibetan Tara, the Christian Madonna or as the African Yemaya and, as Kuan Yin, she is one of the most universally beloved of deities in the Buddhist tradition. Kuan Yin is invoked for healing of a sick child, relief from pain and help in all times of trouble. Like Artemis, she is a virgin Goddess who protects women, offers them an alternative to marriage, and grants children to those who desire them.

She is said to be a bodhisattva, one qualified to enter Nirvana but who chooses to remain in the earthly realms and not enter the heavenly worlds until all other living things have completed their own enlightenment and liberated from the pain-filled cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. “I am cultivating this method of great compassion and hope to save all living beings,” Kuan Yin said. “Any living being who calls my name or sees me will be free from all fear and danger.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Buddhism, Goddess Studies
July 5, 2006

Anahita – Persian Goddess

Copyright © 2005 Anna Franklin & Wade White
reprinted by permission

Sustaining Waters

ANĀHITĀ [“Immaculate One”(1) ]: A pre-Zoroastrian Water-Goddess of Persia whom the occupying Greeks identified with ARTEMIS [Fox 2004: 141], and was associated with the Moon [Farrar 1987: 195]. She was also known by the epithet, Arēdvī Sūrā Anāhitā, “the Moist One, the Strong One, the Pure One,” and invoked as the personification of water:

“Hither flowed Arēdvī Sūrā Anāhitā . . .
she causes some waters to stand still,
she lets others flow, suitably,
she makes free a dry passage
through the Vanghuī [Vaŋhuī]
and the Vītanghvaitī [Vītaŋhvaitī]
rivers.”
Avesta, Yasht V.78;
5th to 1st century BCE.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Goddess Studies