An Archive for the Study of Human Beliefs

Egyptian Gods - The Complete List

The gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt were an integral part of the people’s everyday lives for over 3,000 years. There were over 2,000 deities in the Egyptian pantheon, many whose names are well known - Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor, Bastet, Thoth, Anubis, and Ptah among others - but many more less so who were also important.

Mesopotamian Religion

Mesopotamian religion was central to the people’s lives. Humans were created as co-laborers with their gods to hold off the forces of chaos and to keep the world running smoothly. As in ancient Egypt, the gods were honored daily for providing humanity with life and sustenance, and people were expected to give back through works that honored the gods.

It was understood that, in the beginning, the world was undifferentiated chaos and that order was established by the gods. The gods had separated the sky from the earth, the land from the water, saltwater from freshwater, plants from animals, and this order needed to be maintained. As the gods had many different responsibilities, humans were created to help them in the operation of the world. The meaning of life, therefore, was to live in accordance with this understanding, and so one’s daily life would be a form of worship.

Eris

Eris is the Greek goddess and personification of discord and strife. She is an unpopular figure in Greek mythology due to her problematic behaviour and her ability to stir up trouble wherever she goes. Eris is most famous for her Golden Apple of Discord, which played a key role in the cause of the Trojan War.

Eris is the daughter of Nyx, or Zeus and Hera, and the sister of Ares, the Greek god of war, who she often accompanied into battle, riding alongside him in his chariot.

Etruscan Bust of Juno

Sonofabitch.

Zagreus

In ancient Greek mythology, Zagreus is a god closely associated with the wine god Dionysus, the underworld, and hunting. A son of Zeus and Persephone, he is known in the Orphic tradition as the first incarnation of Dionysus, whilst other stories identify him as the son of Hades or even as Hades himself.

Kabbalistic symbols for Saturn and Jupiter. Amulets and superstitions. 1930.

Nephthys, Horus, and Isis Amulet, 664–30 B.C., Metropolitan Museum of Art: Egyptian Art

Gift of George and Florence Blumenthal, 1935 Size: H. 3 × W. 2 cm (1 3/16 × 13/16 in.) Medium: Faience

I’ve already posted about how you should paint your mailbox yellow and your porch haint blue, but I wanted to share some Southern folk beliefs that I’ve heard throughout my life. By no means exhaustive, will hopefully add more later. 

Speak your sorrows to a weeping willow. The breeze in the branches will make it whisper them away. 

Willow bark is also good for inflammation remedies. 

Never gift someone a knife or scissors lest it cause a deep cut between the two of you.

Plant your garden on Good Friday.

Plant lavender by the front door. 

For remembered dreams, put a mugwort leaf in your pillowcase

To tell the gender of a baby, use a needle and thread pendulum over the pregnant woman’s stomach. Up and down is a boy. Side to side is a girl.

Only fertilize watermelon on the side where the dirt is highest.

MICTLANTECUHTLI (pron. Mict-lan-te-cuht-li) or ‘Lord of the Land of the Dead’ was the Aztec god of death and worshipped across Mesoamerica. He ruled the underworld (Mictlán) with his wife Mictecacíhuatl.

The god was the ruler of the 10th day Itzcuintli (Dog), the 5th Lord of the Night and the 6th (or 11th) Lord of the Day. He was the equivalent of the Maya god Yum Cimil, the Zapotec god Kedo and the Tarascan god Tihuime. Mictlantecuhtli was closely associated with owls, spiders and bats and the direction south.

ODIN (Old Norse: Óðinn) is the main god in Norse mythology. Described as an immensely wise, one-eyed old man, Odin has by far the most varied characteristics of any of the gods and is not only the deity to call upon when war was being prepared but is also the god of poetry, of the dead, of runes, and of magic.

He also exists in Germanic mythology as Woden (in Old English), Wodan (in Old Franconian), and Wutan or Wuotan (in Old High German). The modern English weekday name Wednesday traces its origins to “day of Woden”, wōdnesdæg in Old English, and is still seen in the Dutch name woensdag.