The fierce and powerful Freyja was the Norse goddess of many dueling aspects! While she was the goddess of love, sexuality, fertility and beauty, she was also a warrior goddess of death, strength, lust, and war itself. Freyja is also viewed as the Goddess of magick, because she was believed to be magick itself!! She was a force of untamed nature and desires. If there was something that Freya wanted, she was above no moral standard to obtain her desires. One of Freya’s most notable correspondences is a
Ostara, Ēostre who stemmed from Astarte is both an Ancient Germanic Goddess and one of the eight Neopagan Sabbats which make up the Pagan Wheel of the Year. The Sabbat, or Holiday celebrates the re-birth of Spring after the barren winter season. The face of the Goddess Ostara is the Virginal Maiden of Spring, the smiling celestial crescent, emerging in the sky from the black horizon of winter. One must imagine the ancient European Winters to truly appreciate the return of this gentle fertility Goddess. To get through the barren season, families would store grains, nuts, dried meats and herbs for their survival. This preserved prosperity directly from the land equated with the sustaining of life when external conditions i.e. weather did not support it. Ēostre emerges from the rich Pagan...
Shiva is a complex Hindu Deity whose identity is inseparable from the Hindu Trimurti (or trinity) of Gods, composed of Brahma as Creator, Vishnu as Preserver, and Shiva as Destroyer. In that they are a trinity, neither of them is exclusively bound to the actions their names would imply, and instead each acts as a mask of inertia upon the stage that is life. The role Shiva plays in the game of life is that of a juggler who effortlessly balances the opposing forces of creation and destruction, asceticism and procreation, stillness and dancing, order and chaos. There are myths that...
Hecate (or Hekate, and pronounced “he-KAH-tay” or “he-KAH-tee”) has many titles, most notably the Torchbearer, Goddess of the Underworld, and the Keeper of the Keys of the Universe. A relationship with her is one that confronts and engages with the darkness that resides in us all, rather than ignore or reject it. Hecate is present in the Under, Middle, and Upper worlds, so her ability to transition between these realms indicates she is a powerful force for change. Hecate is an ancient goddess with a modern tradition. Modern Hekatean Witchcraft emphasizes her role in modernity, and puts less stress on the particularities of rituals and ceremonies so that practitioners may interpret their relationship in a modern, personal way, so that everyone’s practice is at their strongest. As far as sobriquets go, the Goddess of the Underworld is about as cool as they come. Along with her connection to the serpent, her power is connotative of what is popularly considered to be evil and nefarious in mainstream religion, but a relationship with Hecate underscores the necessity of dark with light, life with death...
Her festival, called The Festival Of Torches, is celebrated on August 13th, and during ancient times this festival forbid the hunting or killing of any animal in all of Italy. During this time a truce between humans and all the natural world was made, and slaves and women were freed of their duties to celebrate the goddess. Men and masters could participate as well, but they were required to be equals of the women and slaves.