Samhain Myths
Egyptian Mythology
Bast
The Egyptian cat-headed goddess, Bast was once strictly a solar deity until the arrival of Greek influence on Egyptian society, when She took on several lunar goddess aspects; due to the Greeks associating Her with their Artemis. Dating from the 2nd Dynasty, Bast was originally portrayed as a wild desert cat or as a lioness, and only became associated with the domesticated feline around 1000 BCE. She was commonly paired with Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess of Memphis, and Hathor. Bast was the "Daughter of Ra", a designation that placed Her in the same ranks as such goddesses as Maat and Tefnut. Additionally, Bast was one of the "Eyes of Ra", the title of an "avenger" god who is sent out specifically to lay waste to the enemies of Egypt and Her gods.
Celtic/Welsh Mythology
Arawn
Ruler of the Underworld, Arawn is also another form of Herne the Hunter. He leads the Wild Hunt with his pack of white-red eared dogs (some myths even say that the dogs are really the Hounds of Hell). Arawn rules of Annwn, the Celtic Underworld, and the place where souls rest before being reborn
Caillech
The blue-faced lean hag of the Highlands who personifies the season of winter, seems one of the clearest cases of the supernatural creature who was once a primitive goddess, possibly among the ancient Britons before the Celts. We learn most about her, however, in the Highlands of Scotland. The variety of aspects in which she is presented is indicative of an ancient origin and a widespread cult. At first sight she seems the personification of winter. She is called 'the daughter of Grianan', the winter sun. There were two suns in the old Celtic calendar, 'the big sun' which shines from Beltane (May Day) to Hallowe'en, and 'the little sun' which shines from All Hallows to Beltane Eve. The Cailleach was reborn each All Hallows and went about smiting the earth to blight growth and calling down the snow. On May Eve she threw her staff under a holly tree or a gorse bush - both were her plants - and turned into a grey stone.
Cailleach is referred to as the "Mother of All" in parts of Scotland. Also known as Scotia, she is depicted as an old hag with the teeth of a wild bear and boar's tusks. She is believed to be a great sorceress.
One superstition regarding Caillech is that the farmer who is last to harvest his grain would be the person to "look after" Caillech for the rest of the year, until the next harvest. The first farmer who finishes harvesting would make a corn-dolly from the grain he has harvested. He would, then, pass it on to the next farmer who finishes. It would keep going until the corn-dolly ends up with the last farmer. That last farmer would be obligated to watch the "old woman".
She is also known to have created the earth.
"With her hammer she alternately splinters mountains, prevents the growth of grass, or raises storms. Numerous wild animals follow her..."
-- Encyclopedia of the Occult, 192o
The ancient mountain mother of the south-west of Ireland. South-west Munster was believed to be the abode of the dead and here the Cailleach had lived for countless ages so that her successive husbands died of old age while she enjoyed endless youth. She is almost identical with the Cailleach Bheur of the Highlands except that she is not so closely connected with winter nor with the wild beasts. She is a great mountain builder, and, like many other gigantic Hags, she carried loads of stone in her apron and dropped them when the string broke.
Cerridwen
The Barley Goddess, Cerridwen is famous as the keeper of the Cauldron of Wisdom. The myth of this crone Goddess is this:
Cerridwen has 2 children, a daughter more fair than any other in the land. Her son, is the ugliest of all who have ever lived. In order to compensate for this ugliness, Cerridwen decides to give him more wisdom than any other.
Her brew had to be stirred for a year and a day, so She chose Gwion, a young boy to stir for Her, and warned him not to taste any of the brew. At the end of the year and day period, Gwion had faithfully stirred the Cauldron, when 3 drops flew out and burned his finger. In reaction, young Gwion immediately placed his finger in his mouth to suck. He instantly became the wisest of all people.
Enraged, Cerridwen pursued Gwion, and he led her on a chase that involved changing shapes. In the end, Gwion turned himself into a single grain of wheat, and Cerridwen, in the form of a hen, ate him.
Soon, after, Cerridwen learned she was pregnant, and birth Gwion, now reborn as the great bard Taliesin.
Macha
Macha is an Irish Battle Goddess who is thought to feed on the heads of slain enemies. She is also the Patroness of Ulster, and the capitol city was named after Her (Emain Macha). One interesting legend about Macha has Her racing against the fastest horse in Ireland when She was pregnant. She died at the winning post after giving birth to twins.
Morrigan
A War Goddess of Ireland. She is sometimes seen as a triad with Badhbh, Nemain and Macha making up a Trinity of Fate Goddess collectively known as the Morrigan or Morrigu. She is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("Children of the goddess Danu") and She helped defeat the Firbolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuireadh and the Fomorians at the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh.
She appeared to the hero Cu Chulainn (son of the god Lugh) and offered Her love to him. When he failed to recognize Her and rejected Her, She told him that She would hinder him when he was in battle. When Cu Chulainn was eventually killed, She settled on his shoulder in the form of a crow. Cu's misfortune was that he never recognized the feminine power of sovereignty that She offered to him.
She appeared to him on at least four occasions and each time he failed to recognize Her. When She appeared to him and declared Her love for him.
After he had wounded Her, She appeared to him as an old hag and he offered his blessings to Her, which caused Her to be healed.
On his way to his final battle, he saw the Bean Sidhe, who declared that She was washing the clothes and arms of Cu Chulainn, who would soon be dead.
When he was forced by three hags (the Morrigan in Her triple aspect) to break a taboo of eating dogflesh.
Greek/Roman Mythology
Eris
Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife. She is the constant companion of Ares and follows him everywhere. Eris is sinister and mean, and Her greatest joy is to make trouble. She has a golden apple that is so bright and shiny everybody wants to have it. When She throws it among friends, their friendship come to a rapid end. When She throws it among enemies, war breaks out, for the golden apple of Eris is the Apple of Discord. She did this once during the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and this act brought about the Trojan War.
Hades
Hades is the lord of the dead and ruler of the nether world, which is referred to as the domain of Hades. He is the son of Cronus and Rhea. When the three sons of Cronus divided the world among each other, Hades was given the underworld, while his brothers Zeus and Poseidon took the Upperworld and the sea respectively. He ruled the underworld together with Persephone, whom he abducted from Demeter. Zeus ordered him to release Persephone back into the care of her mother Demeter, but before she left he gave her a pomegranate. When she ate it, it bound her to the underworld forever
Hades sits on a throne made of ebony, and carries a scepter. He also has a helmet, given to him by the Cyclopes, which makes him invisible. Hades rules the dead, assisted by various helpers, such as Thanatos and Hypnos, the ferryman Charon, and the hound Cerberus. Many heroes from Greek mythology have descended into the underworld, either to question the shades or trying to free them. Although Hades does not allow his subjects to leave his domain, on several occasions he has granted permission, such as the time Orpheus requested the return of his beloved Eurydice.
Hades possesses the riches of the earth, and is referred to as 'the Rich One'. Of all the gods, Hades is the one who is liked less and even the gods themselves have an aversion of him. People avoided speaking his name lest they attracted his unwanted attention. With their faces averted they sacrificed black sheep, whose blood they let drip into pits, and when they prayed to him, they would bang their hands on the ground. The narcissus and the cypress are sacred to him.
Hecate
Hecate is the Greek goddess of the crossroads. She is most often depicted as having three heads; one of a dog, one of a snake and one of a horse. She is usually seen with two ghost hounds that were said to serve her. Hecate is most often thought of as the goddess of witchcraft or evil, but she did some very good things in her time. One such deed was when she rescued Persephone, (Demeter's daughter, the queen of the Underworld and the maiden of spring), from the Underworld. Hecate is said to haunt a three-way crossroad, each of her heads facing in a certain direction. She is said to appear when the ebony moon shines.
Pluto
Pluto is the Roman counterpart of the Greek Hades, god of the underworld and the judge of the dead. Pluto was the son of Saturn. Pluto's wife was Proserpina (Greek name, Persephone) whom he had kidnapped and dragged into the underworld. His brothers were Jupiter and Neptune. People referred to Pluto as the rich one because he owned all the wealth in the ground. People were afraid to say his real name because they were afraid it might attract his attention. Black sheep were offered to him as sacrifices. Pluto was known as a pitiless god because if a mortal entered his Underworld they could never hope to return.
Norse Mythology
Hel
In Norse mythology, Hel is the ruler of Helheim, the realm of the dead. She is the youngest child of the trickster god Loki and the giantess Angrboda. She is usually described as a horrible hag, half alive and half dead, with a gloomy and grim expression. Her face and body are those of a living woman, but her thighs and legs are those of a corpse, mottled and moldering.
Loki
Loki is one of the major deities in the Norse pantheon. He is a son of the giant Farbauti ("cruel striker") and the giantess Laufey. He is regarded as one of Aesir, but is on occasion their enemy. He is connected with fire and magic, and can assume many different shapes (horse, falcon, fly). He is crafty and malicious, but is also heroic: in that aspect he can be compared with the trickster from North American myths. The ambivalent god grows progressively more unpleasent, and is directly responsible for the death of Balder, the god of light.
Loki's mistress is the giantess Angrboda, and with her he is the father of three monsters. His wife is Sigyn, who stayed loyal to him, even when the gods punished him for the death of Balder. He was chained to three large boulders; one under his shoulders, one under his loins and one under his knees. A poisonous snake was placed above his head. The dripping venom that lands on him is caught by Sigyn in a bowl. But every now and then, when the bowl is filled to the brim, she has to leave him to empty it. Then the poison that falls on Loki's face makes him twist in pain, causing earthquakes.
On the day of Ragnarok, Loki's chains will break and he will lead the giants into battle against the gods. Loki is often called the Sly One, the Trickster, the Shape Changer, and the Sky Traveler.
Sumerian Mythology
Lilith
A female demon of the night who supposedly flies around searching for newborn children either to kidnap or strangle them. Also, she is a succubus, a female demon who sleeps with men to seduce them into propagating demon sons. Legends told about Lilith are ancient. The Jewish myths of Lilith being Adam's first wife seem to relate to the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili. To the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady."
One story is that God created Adam and Lilith as twins joined together at the back. She demanded equality with Adam, failing to achieve it, she left him in anger. This is sometimes accompanied by a Muslim legend that after leaving Adam Lilith slept with Satan, thus creating the demonic Djinn.
In another version of the myth of Lilith, she was Adam's first wife before Eve. Adam married her because he became tired of coupling with animals, a common Middle-Eastern herdsmen practice, though the Old Testament declared it a sin (Deuteronomy 27:21). Adam tried to make Lilith lie beneath him during sexual intercourse. Lilith would not meet this demand of male dominance. She cursed Adam and hurried to her home by the Red Sea.
Adam complained to God who then sent three angels, Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf, to bring Lilith back to Eden. Lilith rebuffed the angels by cursing them. While by the Red Sea Lilith became a lover to demons and producing 100 babies a day. The angels said that God would take these demon children away from her unless she returned to Adam. When she did not return, she was punished accordingly. And, God also gave Adam the docile Eve.
According to some Lilith's lustiness and sexual preferences showed she was a Great Mother of settled agricultural tribes, who resisted the invasions of the nomadic herdsmen, represented by Adam. It is felt the early Hebrews disliked the Great Mother who drank the blood of Abel, the herdsman, after being slain by the elder god of agriculture and smith craft, Cain (Genesis 4:11). Lilith's Red Sea is but another version of Kali's Ocean of Blood, which gave birth to all things but needed periodic sacrificial replenishment.
Speculation is that perhaps there was a connection between Lilith and the Etruscan divinity Lenith, who possessed no face and waited at the gate of the underworld along with Eita and Persipnei (Hecate and Persephone) to receive the souls of the dead. The underworld gate was a yoni, and also a lily, which had "no face." Admission into the underworld was frequently mythologized as a sexual union. The lily or lilu (lotus) was the Great Mother's flower-yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.
Even though the story of Lilith disappeared from the canonical Bible, her daughters, the lilim, haunted men for over a thousand years. It was well into that Middle Ages that Jews still manufactured amulets to keep away the lilim. Supposedly they were lusty she-demons (succubi) who mated with men in all their dreams, causing nocturnal emissions.
The Greeks adopted the belief of the lilim, calling them Lamiae, , or Daughters of Hecate. Likewise the Christians adopted the belief, calling them harlots of hell, the succubi, and the counterpart of the incubi. Celebrant monks attempted to fend them off by sleeping with their hands over their genitals, clutching a crucifix.
Even though most of the Lilith legend is derived from Jewish folklore, descriptions of the Lilith demon appear in Iranian, Babylonian, Mexican, Greek, Arab, English, German, Oriental and Native American legends. Also, she sometimes has been associated with legendary and mythological characters such as the Queen of Sheba and Helen of Troy. In medieval Europe she was proclaimed to be the wife, concubine or grandmother of Satan.
Men who experienced nocturnal emissions during their sleep believed they had been seduced by Lilith and said certain incantations to prevent the offspring from becoming demons.
According to legend Lilith's attraction for children comes from the belief that God took her demon children from her when she did not return to Adam. It was believed that she launched a reign of terror against women in childbirth and newborn infants, especially boys. However, it also was believed that the three angels who were sent to fetch her by the Red Sea forced her to swear that whenever she saw their names or images on amulets that she would leave the infants and mothers alone.
These beliefs continued for centuries. As late as the 18th century, it was a common practice in many cultures to protect new mothers and their infants with amulets against Lilith. Males were most vulnerable during the first week of life, girls during the first three weeks. Sometimes a magic circle was drawn around the lying-in-bed, with a charm inscribed with the names of the three angels, Adam and Eve and the words "barring Lilith" or "protect this newborn child from all harm." Frequently amulets were place in the four corners and throughout the bed chamber. If a child laughed while sleeping, it was taken as a sign that Lilith was present. Tapping the child on the nose, it was believed, made her go away.
Hindu Mythology
Kali
Kali ("the black one") is the Hindu mother goddess, symbol of dissolution and destruction. She destroys ignorance, maintains the world order, and blesses and frees those who strive for the knowledge of God. In the Vedas the name is associated with Agni, the god of fire, who had seven flickering tongues of flame, of which Kali was the black, horrible tongue. This meaning of the word has meanwhile been replaced by the goddess Kali, the grim consort of Shiva.
Her appearance is fearsome: baleful eyes, a protruding tongue, and four arms. In her upper left hand she wields a bloody sword and in her lower left hand she holds the severed head of a demon. With her upper right hand she makes the gesture of fearlessness, while the lower right hand confers benefits. Draped around her is a chain of severed human heads and she wears a belt made of dismembered arms. As the Divine Mother she is often represented dancing or in sexual union with Shiva. As Bhavatarini, the redeemer of the universe, she stands upon the supine form of her spouse.
She is also known as Kalikamata ("black earth-mother") and Kalaratri ("black night"). Among the Tamils she is known as Kottavei. Kali is worshipped particularly in Bengal. |
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