Day of Ishtar

On this date, the annual Day of Ishtar ceremony takes place to honor the ancient Babylonian Mother Goddess. Her name means 'Star', the 'Light of the World'. She was the most popular goddess in Assyria and Babylon. Ishtar is a Mesopotamian goddess of air and sky, of vegetation in nature, as of fertility among mankind. She was the queen of the heavens, and also the goddess of war. Represented by the planet Venus, Her symbol is the the sacred star with eight points. She was said to march at the head of armies to lead and protect kings who had gained her favor. In this role she is usually pictured standing on a lion holding a bow or brandishing a curved dagger.

As the life-giving goddess, Ishtar was viewed also as the goddess of sexual love, and it would appear that priestesses were connected with the Ishtar cult who symbolized their devotion to her service by rites of an obscene prostituting themselves at her temple for Her. Furthermore, there was one old Babylonian custom that required that each woman, at least once during her lifetime, was to sit at the shrine of Ishtar and offer her body to a stranger. Accordingly, the man would enter the temple, make his choice, and then toss money into the lap of the women he selected. Afterward, having completed her 'duty' to Ishtar, the woman was then free to return to her home.

"Praise the Goddess, most awesome

of the Goddesses,

Let one revere the mistress of the

people, the greatest of the Gods.

Praise Ishtar, the most awesome of

the Goddesses,

Let one revere the Queen of Women,

the greatest of the Gods.

She is clothed with pleasure and

love.

She is laden with vitality, charm

and voluptuousness.

In lips she is sweet; life is in

her mouth.

At her appearance rejoicing

becomes full.

She is glorious; veils are thrown

over her head.

Her figure is beautiful; her eyes are brilliant."

-from a First Dynasty Babylon text, circa 1600 BCE -

Thorgerd

Thorgerd was a mighty warrior-goddess, charged with protecting her people from enemies.  Some say She was Finnish in origin.  Her name means Thor's protection. Her full name was Thorgerd Holgabrud.  She was originally a woman, half goddess, half witch, who was skilled in divinity and sorcery.  She is a fiercely protective goddess, and when Her people are attacked, She becomes larger than life and sharp arrows that are said to fly from each of Her fingers. 

In Her form as the goddess Thorgerd, She wept tears of gold as She rode Her golden boar through the forest. She was invoked for success in fishing and farming. She was also regarded as having power over nature, and used Her magic to call thunder, lightning, and hail when invoked to do so.

Later She became known as a troll. 

When from our ships we bounded, 

I heard, with fear astounded, 

The storm of Thorgerd's waking, 

From Northern vapours breaking; 

With flinty masses blended, 

Gigantic hail descended, 

And thick and fiercely rattled 

. Against us there embattled. 

To aid the hostile maces, 

It drifted in our faces; 

It drifted, dealing slaughter, 

And blood ran out like water— 

Ran reeking, red, and horrid, 

From batter'd cheek and forehead; 

We plied our swords, but no men 

Can stand 'gainst hail and foemen. 

And demon Thorgerd raging 

To see us still engaging, 

Shot, downward from the heaven, 

His shafts of flaming levin; 

Then sank our brave in numbers, 

To cold eternal slumbers; 

There lay the good and gallant, 

Renown'd for warlike talent. 

Our captain, this perceiving, 

The signal made for leaving, 

And with his ship departed, 

Downcast and broken-hearted; 

War, death, and consternation, 

Pursu'd our embarkation; 

We did our best, but no men 

Can stand 'gainst hail and foemen.

Hou Tu

In Chinese mythology,  She is the goddess of the earth and soil, and is the embodiment of fertility. The earth goddesss, Hou Tu, serves in a similar capacity as that of the goddess Gaia in that She represents the deification of the earth. As the patroness of fertility, her element is Earth.   Hou Tu's domain is all earth magic. She was worshiped by the burial of a yellow calf.

The worship of the goddess Hou-Tu is a little known cult of great antiquity.  Originally, Hou Tu was a god, the god of the soil and harvest. Offerings to him were usually buried. It was during the 14th century that, for no clear reason, Hou Tu’s cult mysteriously changed him into a female earth deity.  Many temples were dedicated to Her. As one of the four sovereigns, Her image is seen in many Daoist temples.  There are about 40 shrines still thriving today.  Its center is in the Houshan Mountain.  

Po Ino Nogar done

Po Ino Nogar, called the 'Great One' and the 'Mother of the Land', is the Cambodian goddess of fertility who rules over agriculture and fertility among its people. She is the Cambodian ruler of worlds, creator of the Earth, sandalwood,  and inventor of rice who was born amid the clouds. Po Ino Nogar  is associated with the sky, clouds and water; hence, She is said to  control the rainfall and protect the fields from drought and disease. She is a polyandrous goddess who has 97 husbands and 38 daughters 

As the most powerful female deity of the Cham peoples, She is still worshipped as the protectress of the city, In rural villages you will see food offerings in rice paddies as a prayer from farmers.

Kadru, the Serpent Goddess

Indian mythology tells of the serpent goddess Kadru, who gave birth to the Naga, a thousand beautiful serpent beings from Hindu myth.  The Nagas were guards of treasure of palaces under the sea and keepers of books of mystic knowledge.  Legend says that they still live today as snakes in human form. Kadru is the daughter of the god, Daksha, an early creator deity.  Many royal houses in ancient India claimed descent from Kadru's offspring.   She is invoked for fertility and wealth.

The Naga tribes in southern India, named for Kudru's mythical serpent children, retained matriarchal customs, practiced matrilineal inheritance, and put no sexual or marital restrictions on women. Supposedly, for their proper reverence for her the Goddess granted them with longevity.

 

Festival of the Muses

It is the Muses

who have caused me

to be honred: they

taught me their craft.

Sappho

Today is the Festival of the Muses, mythological beings believed to provide artistic inspiration to humans.   In Greek and Roman mythology, the Muses were the nine goddesses of all artistic, intellectual, and scientific pursuits. They were the daughters of Zeus (Jupiter) and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. Each year on this date, the invisible spirits that inspire and watch over all poets, musicians, and artists are honored and invoked with goddess inspired poetry, music, and dancing.

Whether on Ida's shady brow, 

Or in the chambers of the East,

The chambers of the sun, that now

From ancient melody have ceas'd;

Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair,

Or the green corners of the earth,

Or the blue regions of the air,

Where the melodious winds have birth;

Whether on crystal rocks ye rove,

Beneath the bosom of the sea

Wand'ring in many a coral grove,

Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry!

How have you left the ancient love

That bards of old enjoy'd in you!

The languid strings do scarcely move!

The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!

William Blake

January 21 done

This day of the year is sacred to Yngona, an ancient crone goddess who was worshipped by the Danish people in pre-Christian time. In the myths of the Saxons, she is a crone-like goddess of death. Her festival occurs when the sun moves into Aquarius.  The original goddess, Yngona, must have been potent for some say that the legend of Saint Agnes sprang from Her cult when She was later Christianized. 

On the eve of Saint Agnes' Day, according to ancient legend, an unmarried woman will see her future husband in a dream.

And on sweet St. Agnes' night, 

Please you with the promis'd sight, 

Some of husbands, some of lovers, 

Which an empty dream discovers.