APHRODiTE - aka Goddess of the Western Corner. Greek Goddess of love, beauty, sex, passion, fertility. A firm believer in women's rights. Mother of Eros, Agape, and in some versions of the FI univese, Ariel.
ATHENA - Greek Goddess of Wisdom, Weaving, and War. She taught the domestic arts (weaving is considered a sign of civilization). In her War aspect, she is the Goddess of strategic battle, as opposed to Ares' berserker warfare. These two are frequently on opposite sides in a fight.
ARES - Greek God of War. Son of Zeus and Hera. Tough, insensitive, very concerned with his male image. Brute strength, untamed passions.
CiRCE - Greek. "She-Falcon", Circe of the Braided Tresses, fate-spinner, weaver of destinies. She lived on an island in the Aegean Sea. When Odyseus and his crew landed on her island, she took Odyseus to her bed, and turned his crew into animals so they wouldn't keep bugging him to leave...
DEMETER - most recently Greek. "Grain Mother" Wheat is her thing, she gave it to humans, taught them how to grow it, harvest it, bake with it, brew it. Goddess of fertility, agriculture.
DiSCORD - Roman. Her domain is pretty much obvious from her name. The Greeks called her ERiS. She is the embodiment of Murphey's Law.
The FATES - AKA the MOERAE, the Fates are the three sisters who decide on human fate. They sing in unison with the music of the Sirens. Lachesis sings of the things that were, Clotho those that are, and Atropos the things that are to be. They are most honored among the gods because they distribute justly and have a share in every home. They give men at their birth their share of evil and good, and they punish the transgressions of both men and of gods.
Clotho is the "spinner" and Lachesis weaves the threads of Fate, and Atropos cuts the threads.
GAiA - Mother Earth. She owned the Delphic oracle before that upstart Apollo took over.
HADES - "The invisible one". Brother of Zeus, son of Kronos, ruler of the Underworld and wealth (the ancient Greeks counted their wealth in grain, which was stored underground, later, precious jewels, found underground, replaced the grain thing). He has a helmet of invisibility.
HECATE - Daughter of the starry night, she was the Queen of the Night, ruler of the Underworld (before Hades), associated with the Moon, magic, snakes (fertility - snakes are always fertility symbols), and the Wild Hunt. A shape-shifter with a chariot pulled by Dragons. Goddess of storms, cross-roads.
HERA - Mother of the Gods, Queen of Heaven. Zeus' fifth wife. Her sacred bird was the peacock. A noble woman, she held a scepter and pomegranate; wild marjoram, the cow, the Milky Way, and lilies were sacred to her. Goddess of home protection, fidelity, children, all phases of female life cycle. Her children by Zeus are Hebe, Ilithyia, Ares, and Hephaestus.
HERMES - messenger of the Greek gods, he led the souls of the dead to the Underworld. God of luck, profit (legal or not), theives, liars, medicine, occult wisdom, communications and travel. A businessman's best friend...
KRONOS - Greek. "Father Time". Titan son of Gaea and Uranus; inventor of arts and magick. Father of Zeus, the rest of the Olympians, and, for our purposes, Roarke.
LiLiTH - aka Lilitu, Lilithu. Ancient Sumerian goddess of night, wisdom, fertility, eroticism. Her sacred animal is the Owl. The folk-tale of about her letting down her hair to bring on the night is a figment of Lady Griddlebone's imagination.
MERLiN - Wales, Britian. Great sorcerer, Druid, magician. Wild man of the woods with prophetic skills. Illusion, herbs, healing, woodlands. Taught by the Lady of the Lake, he helped Arthur become High King, uniting the land against the Saxon invaders. He took up with a pretty young thing named Niniane, Nimue, or Vivian, depending which story you read, and she learned all his magic then sealed him inside an Oak tree...
MNEMOSYNE - Titan goddess of Memory, Zeus' third wife, mother of the Muses.
MORGANSTERN - the name means 'Morning Star', and in times long past, the morning star was the herald of dawn. The Light Bringer, which coincidentally is what LUCIFER means. Morganstern is a word game...
the MUSES - nine companions of Apollo. Zeus's kids from his marriage to Mnemosyne Clio [history], Euterpe [flute playing], Thaleia [comedy], Melpomene [tragedy], Terpsichore [dancing and lyric poetry], Erato [love poetry], Polyhymnia [mime], Urania [astronomy], Calliope [epic poetry]. Their music was based on the seven-tone musical scale, which came from the music of the seven spheres (planets)
PERSEPHONE - Greek. "Destroyer". Queen of the Underworld, daughter of Demeter. Before Hades kidnapped her to be his bride, she was known as KORE ("maiden"). Goddess of the Seasons. She holds the keys to the Underworld. And Hades thinks he's in charge.
POSEiDON - Greek. Supreme Lord of everything that lives in the water, god of seas, earthquakes and 'tempests'. He has two wives - Amphitrite, a shape-shifting nereid, and Cleito.
SCATHACH - Ireland/Scotland. "The Shadowy One", a warrior woman and prophetess who lived on the Isle of Skye and taught martial arts.
THEMiS - most recently Greek. Titaness daughter of Uranus and Gaia. Zeus' second wife, they are the parents of the Hours and Seasons. Law and Order personified. Goddess of social consciousness, courts and judges.
ZEUS - Greek, King of the Gods. Thunder god, god of mountains and high places, lofty ideals. A little weak on the concept of 'fidelity'.
The Greek Underworld - Shades of the dead entered the Underworld by crossing the River Styx on the ferry, with Charon, the ferryman collecting his fee. They had to cross four more rivers. When they got to the River Lethé (Forgetfulness), they drank to forget their lives on Earth. The three headed hound Cerberus allowed everyone to come in but no-one to leave. Everyone who commited 'unnatural' crimes were punished eternally by the Erinyes. If you were just generally bad, you got to swim in the rivers of Woe, Wailing, or Flame, in Tartarus. If you were so-so, you got walk around Asphodel, huge plains filled with black lilies. If you were good, you went to the Elysian Fields.
Is there a mythological reference we missed? Email Giddydoll and we'll see what we can do.
Don't get chocolate fingerprints
on the forms...
©1999 LunaC