At the rites of such lunar love and fertility goddesses as Atargatis, Ishtar, Derceto, Isis, and aphrodite, it was common for the initiates to eat sacred fish.  These fish which were kept in special ponds on the temple grounds, were served on Fridays, a day sacred to these goddesses, as well as to the northern, Freyja.  A mermaid form was taken by such goddesses as Atargatis, Aphrodite, and Derceto.  In Rome the sign of the fish was originally a symbol of the love deity, Venus.

 

The Ephesian Great Goddess often had a fish, or fish amulet hung over her genitals.  The pointed oval is a yoni sign and is called the vesica piscis, or Vessel of the Fish.  In Greek, delphos means both fish and womb.

 

In ancient Middle Eastern cultures, the fish was sometimes a personification of a deity.  Statues of the Philistine god Dagon show him as half-fish, half-man.  The Greek Poseidon was sometimes pictured with a fish-tail as a symbol of his dominion over the power of the seas.

 

The Middle Eastern goddess Atargatis had a shrine on the island of Delos.  Her temple there was surrounded by fish-filled ponds and trees of doves.  The sacred fish at Hieropolis in Egypt wore gold ornaments as a sign of their sacredness.  In the aspect of Hat-Mehit, Isis was the Great fish of the Abyss.  When she was shown with a fish as a crown, it meant victory over death.

 

Part of the Greek festival of Thesmophoria in honor of Demeter was the Haloa, a rite where fish were used as religious symbols.

 

Fish, particularly salmon and trout, had several mystical meanings to the Celts.  They were connected with sacred wells and springs.  The Celts believed that eating fish, especially salmon and trout, would give wisdom, healing and the ability to prophesy.

 

To the Chinese, the fish represented abundance and was a symbol of Kuan Yin, goddess of fertility and children.  It also meant wealth, harmony and regeneration.  Kwannon of Japan was connected with fish where the creature symbolized love.

 

 

 

Magical Attributes:  Abundance, prosperity, children. Harmony in your life.  A loving companion.  Divination and prophecy.  Getting pregnant.  Bringing a companion into your life.

 

 

 

From Animal Magick by D.J. Conway