#deitytober2020

3° Morrigan Morrigan is one of the most important Irish deities, one of the “warrior rages” of Irish myths, goddess of war, death and fate. Morrigan is part of the Túatha Dé Danann, she is the daughter of Fiacha mac Delbaíth and Ernmas and sister of Badb and Macha. She is described as a shapeshifter, who especially likes to assume the shape of a crow, so flies over the battlefields and devours corpses. Sometimes she shows herself as an old woman calling warriors prepare to death. She also occurs as an eel, a red-eared white cow, a gray-red wolf, or a woman or giantess washing bloody clothes near battlefields, and she is able to age or rejuvenate at will too. Her shape-shifting characteristic brings her closer to the figure of the druid as a bard-sorcerer, a role she takes on in some stories, singing songs to bring victory, practicing divination and predicting the future. She is also linked to fertility and sexuality, and some stories attribute to it an insatiable sexual desire; she seduce soldiers before battle, and lead her lovers to victory.

19° Jarylo Jarylo is a Slavic god of vegetation, fertility and springtime. The only historic source that mentions this deity is a 12th-century biography of the proselytizing German bishop Otto of Bamberg, who, during his expeditions to convert the pagan tribes of Wendish and Polabian Slavs, encountered festivals in honor of the war-god Gerovit in the cities of Wolgast and Havelberg. Gerovit is most likely a German derivation of the Slavic name Jarovit. Up until the 19th century in Russia, Belarus and Serbia, folk festivals called Jarilo were celebrated in late spring or early summer. All of these spring festivals were a processions of villagers would go around for a walk in the country or through villages.

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5° Brigid Brigid, or Bríg, is a goddess of pre-Christian Ireland. She appears in Irish mythology as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the daughter of the Dagda and wife of Bres, with whom she had a son named Ruadán. She is associated with the spring season, fertility, healing, poetry and smithcraft. Saint Brigid shares many of the goddess's attributes and her feast day on 1 February was originally a pagan festival (Imbolc) marking the beginning of spring. It's almost certain that saint is a Christianization of the goddess.

4° Macha Macha was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland, counted as one of the three Morrigan. Several figures called Macha appear in Irish mythology and folklore, all believed to derive from the same goddess. Macha is associated with the land, fertility, kingship, war and horses.

11° Loki Loki is a god in Norse mythology and king of jotunheim In some sources the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. But him have other sons with her wife Sigyn and the stallion Svaðilfari. Loki has at times been associated with the Old Norse word logi ('flame'), but also with a germanic word luk-, which denoted things to do with rings or knots. Loki is described with a benevolent character, prone to jokes. He will play a decisive role in Ragnarok, but he is often alongside the Gods of Asgard and helps them.

18° Chernobog Chernobog, also spelled as Czernobog, is a Slavic deity, whose name means black god, about whom much has been speculated, but little can be said definitively. The only historical sources, which are Christian ones, interpret him as a dark, accursed god, but it is questionable how important (or evil) he was really considered to be by ancient Slavs.

2° Cernunnos The horned god, was the deified spirit of horned male animals, especially deer, a god of fecundity, virility, hunting, warfare, abundance, animals, wilderness and even death and the afterlife. From archaeological sources it-s known that Cernunnos was worshiped in Gaul, in northern Italy (Gallia cisalpina) and on the southern coast of Britain. It seems that the "horned" god was however a pre-Celtic deity of shamanic origin worshiped throughout the Indo-European continent. The oldest image of Cernunnos is found among the rock engravings of Val Camonica, in Italy, and dates back to the 4th century BC.