Hi! You’re most welcome to ask!

Eileithuia is indeed a lesser-known deity and doesn’t play a major role in many myths, so information about her can be sparse. I’d wager that, like Hestia, her cult left little traces because it mainly took place privately in the household, and was transmitted orally from mother to daughter, instead of being written down by men.

That said, archeological evidence, as well as Pausanias’ Description of Greece, suggest that she was widely worshipped. A quick browse of her theoi.com page shows that she had temples all across southern Greece and down to Delos and Crete. In fact, she seems to have a strong link to Crete, which is said by Pausanias to be her birthplace. The Cave of Eileithuia at Amnisos, in Crete, was sacred to her. Interestingly, the cave was a place of worship since Neolithic times, though offerings became more numerous from the late Minoan Era (14th century BC) onwards. It also gets a mention in Homer’s Odyssey (Book XIX). The name Eleuthia (a variant of Eileithuia) is also recorded on a Linear B tablet from Knossos, in which she is given an amphora of honey at Amnisos.

So what does this mean? This means she is an incredibly ancient Goddess who may not be well-known now, but who was certainly honoured and called upon by women all over southern Greece. Pretty awesome, huh?

Now although she isn’t the protagonist of many myths, she does appear in several from which we can glean some information about her. She assisted in the birth of many Gods, heroes and mortals, including Herakles and Asklepios. Her most famous myth, however, is the birth of Apollon. Leto, his mother, was pregnant by Zeus, but out of jealousy Hera kept her daughter Eileithuia nearby, so Leto would suffer and give birth slowly. After nine days and nine nights, Eileithuia was finally warned and came down to the island of Delos, where Leto lay. As soon as Eileithuia set foot on the island, Apollon was born.

Artemis is also said to have assisted Leto in birthing her brother, so it’s no wonder that she and Eileithuia became closely associated as Goddesses of childbirth. In the Orphic Hymn to Prothuraia (OH 2), the pair are assimilated into one Goddess, Artemis Eileithuia. Elsewhere, Eileithuia was said to be the handmaiden of Artemis. That’s not to say that their approach is identical: Artemis is a protectress of young children, especially girls, and she is both helper and killer of women in birth (see the Orphic Hymn to Artemis, OH 36), while Eileithuia speeds up delivery and soothes the pain of childbirth, and is said to make it worse on women who wish for chastity (see Theocritus, Idylls 27). You may want to look into honouring the pair together.

Another Goddess closely associated with Eileithuia is Hera. As mother and daughter, they would be called upon together in situations related to marriage and the creation of a family. These were very important in Ancient Greece, because they meant carrying on the bloodline, the tradition and values; without both marriage and safe birthing conditions, you wouldn’t have children, and without children, your lineage would come to an end. So Eileithuia as daughter of Hera and protectress of the family is another aspect you could focus on.

Symbols of Eileithuia are hard to find, but I did come across two: the undone belt, and the torch. The belts of ancient Greek women were undone during childbirth so as to ease the birth, so Eileithuia (and Artemis) is sometimes called λυσίζωνη, she who undoes the belt, or she with the undone belt. Pausanias’ explanation for torches is that birth contractions burn like fire. Alternatively, he writes, Eileithuia carries torches because she brings children to the light. (It’s interesting to note that Artemis and Hekate, both very ancient maiden Goddesses like Eileithuia, also bear torches. I’m not quite sure what to make of that.)

Using all this as a starting point, you could think about devotional activities or ways in which you could involve her in your life and your job. Referring to any of the above myths and cult places could be a nice addition to your prayers!

As for concrete worship, like I said, it’s hard to know exactly what was done. Callimachus writes in his Epigrams (no. 54) that Eileithuia was called upon during childbirth. This makes Eileithuia one of the few deities deeply involved in miasmatic situations. I would argue that her domain stretches a little further, from late pregnancy to five or seven days after birth, when the household was purified. Rituals took place during this period, such as the Amphidromia (carrying the baby around the hearth and presenting it to the family and household Gods) and the hanging of an olive branch (for a boy) or a strip of wool (for a girl) above the front door. Though these were not directly in honour of Eileithuia, they were linked to her domain, and you might find ways to adapt and include them in your own practise.

Offerings could include honey - as was offered at Amnisos - and anything you associate with the birthing process. Natural painkilling herbs or oils might be an idea. After a successful birth, depending on the sex of the baby, you could even offer wool or olives to give thanks.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions. May Eileithuia bring you good luck and joy in your midwife studies! :)

Bibliography and recommended reading

Ancient sources

Homeric Hymn to Apollon: tells of Eileithuia’s role in the birth of Apollon

Orphic Hymn no. 2, to Prothuraia: the closest you will get to a hymn to Eileithuia, here Prothuraia is assimilated to her and to Artemis

Orphic Hymn no. 36, to Artemis: evokes Artemis’ role during birth

Pausanias, Description of Greece: not the most fascinating read, it mainly lists where Eileithuia’s temples were

Theocritus, Idylls, no. 27: discusses love, marriage, the fear of childbirth and the role of Artemis and Eileithuia

Modern sources

Walter Burkert, Greek Religion: has a small section devoted to Minoan/Mycenaean Eileithuia and her cave at Amnisos

The reference in Homer’s Odyssey (19.188–190) to the cave where the goddess was worshipped at Amnissos echoes the fame of the cult practiced there at least during the Late Minoan period. The initial association of the cave found at Amnissos by I. Hazzidakis in 1885 with Eileithyia was based on this particular passage in Homer (Marinatos 1929, 95). The excavations conducted subsequently by S. Marinatos between 1929 and 1938 confirmed the use of the cave from Neolithic into Late Minoan times, as well as during the Geometric, Hellenistic, and early Roman Imperial periods (Marinatos 1929, 97, 99, 103; 1930; Betancourt and Marinatos 2000). During historical times “mogostokos” Eileithyia, that is, the goddess who brought the pangs of childbirth, was worshipped all over Greece and was identified by various variations of her name in the local dialects: Eleuthyia in Crete, Eleuthia or Eleusia in Laconia, and Eleuthie in Ionia (Frisk 1960, 455). She was particularly popular, however, in many cities of Crete, including Lato, Inatos, Aptera, and Amnissos (Nosch 2009, 27). Although it has been maintained that during the first millennium b.c. a fusing of Eileithyia with Artemis took place (Antoniou 1980, 228–229), it is noteworthy that both deities are recorded independently in the Linear B tablets from Knossos and from Pylos, respectively. The question of the continuity of worship in the Amnissos Cave remains open (Schäfer, ed., 1992, 84); nevertheless, the reference in the Knossian documents to the sanctuary of the goddess advocates the origin of the late cult of Eileithyia from an earlier Minoan goddess of childbirth (Nilsson 1949, 30; Willetts 1962, 168–172).

The brief text incised on the Knossian tablet Gg(3) 705 by Scribe 140, from the Chamber of the Jewel Fresco (Olivier 1967, 85) provides a pretext for certain hypotheses relating to the nature of worship at the site. Honey played an important role in cult, as indicated by the large number of Knossian tablets recording this item. The quantity of honey offered is stated in tablet Gg(3) 705 by the logogram *209VAS, denoting a fixed unit, the precise capacity of which is not known (Ruipérez and Melena 1996, 187). Nonetheless, the attribution of a corresponding quantity “to all the gods” (pa-si te-o-i), in the second line of the tablet, allows us to assume that Eileithyia was the principal deity of Amnissos. Recorded in the third line also is an amphora of honey, which is offered to another deity, whose name is only preserved fragmentarily. Proposed is the restoration of the dative case e-ne-si-da-jo-ne of the possible name of a male divinity, Ένεσιδάhων (Enesidahon; Aura Jorro and Adrados 1985, 219), who is associated with Amnissos in tablet KN M 719 by the same scribe, from the same space. According to some researchers, this is an epithet qualifying Poseidon (Jorro and Adrados 1985, 219). . . .

Tablets KN Od(2) 714.b and Od(2) 715.a, by the specialist Scribe 103 from the Chamber of the Jewel Fresco (Olivier 1967, 44–50, 131–132), concern one other aspect of the economics of worship. Eileithyia receives from the Knossian bureaucrats one intact unit of wool, which is equivalent to 30 kilos of the product, while in tablet Od(2) 716.a she perhaps receives an additional four units of wool. The destination of these offerings is not stated, but it is perhaps related to craft-industrial activity, since the names a-*65-na and ta-wa-ko-to, recorded in these registers, are of persons in a weaving workshop (Enegren 2008, 98, 173). By analogy with the sources of historical times (Soph. OC, 461–493) regarding the dedication of offerings to the gods, it has been proposed that the wool was perhaps intended for the adornment with garlands of the amphorae of honey (Weilhartner 2005, 45).7.”

Although some scholars of religion class Eileithyia among the minor deities who did not acquire supra-local importance, her cult was widely disseminated throughout mainland and island Greece. Moreover, her presence in the Inatos Cave dates from at least 1900 b.c., according to the archaeological data published in the present volume. The goddess is mentioned in four Linear B tablets from Knossos, which record her name in relation to Amnissos (a-mi-ni-so, (a) e-re-u-ti-ja). Paul Faure linked her name with the toponyms Eleutherna and Eleusis, which he considered prehellenic, tracing worship in the Amnissos Cave back to Neolithic times. According to mythology, worship of Eileithyia initially went from Crete to Delos where the Hyperborean Maidens Hyperoche and Laodike made sacrifice to her and helped her to alleviate the birth pangs of Leto when she gave birth on the sacred isle, beneath the palm tree, to her splendid son Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. The Delians also chanted a hymn composed for Eileithyia by Olen of Lycia. From Delos the cult spread rapidly to Paros, Thera, Teos, Amorgos, Andros, Rhodes, and Attica. The goddess’s principal Athenian sanctuary was located between the Sarapeion and the Olympieion (Paus. 1.18.5), while sanctuaries of Eileithyia en Agrais and of Hera Eileithyia are noted in Attic inscriptions. Pausanias (op. cit.) notes among other things that “Only among the Athenians are the (three) wooden figures of Eileithyia draped to the feet. The women considered that two are Cretan, being offerings of Phaedra, and that the third, which is the oldest, Erysichthon brought from Delos.” The church of the Virgin Gorgoepikoos (swift-hearing), next to the Greek Orthodox cathedral (metropolis) of Athens, is known also as the church of St. Eleutherios, who succeeded Eileithyia as protector of childbirth and “liberator” (eleutherotes) of women from the pains of parturition.

Worship of Eileithyia is attested also at Boeotian Orchomenos, Argos, Voura, Hermione, Kleitoras, Corinth, and Aegion in Achaea, where the old wooden cult effigy of the goddess of childbirth was an acrolith that was clothed from head to foot with finely woven drapery, more or less in the same way as the dressed Athenian wooden sculptures (xoana) of the goddess mentioned above. On the Aegion statue the left hand was bent to the fore, while in the raised right one she held a torch, according to the description by Pausanias (7.23.5–6) and to the testimony of some copper coins of Roman imperial times, on which she is represented with these gestures. The ancient traveler Pausanias added his own interesting interpretation of the torch: “One might conjecture that torches are an attribute of Eileithyia because the pangs of women are just like fire. The torches might also be explained by the fact that it is Eileithyia who brings children to the light.”. . . . Sanctuaries of Eileithyia existed, of course, in many other Greek cities, such as Megara, Eretria, Tegea, at Olympia in relation to Sosipolis, at Delphi, Sparta, Megalopolis, and Messene.”

Hera herself has connections with the timing of giving birth, too. In Homer’s brief account of the birth of Herakles (Iliad 19.114–119), Hera is the one who delays the birth of the hero by holding back the “Eileithyias” (the plural is also found at Iliad 11.269–270), while causing another birth, that of Eurystheus, to occur prematurely. Traditionally, Eileithyia is the daughter of Hera and Zeus, and the sibling of Hebe and Ares (Hesiod Theogony 921–923); . . . Pausanias also reports that the Kretans considered the goddess a daughter of Hera (1.18.5). Krete, in fact, boasts of a very early worship of Eileithyia. Homer mentions a cave of Eileithyia at Amnisos, near Knossos (Odyssey 19.188), and this has been corroborated with a listing in a Linear B tablet from Knossos, which calls for an offering of honey for Eileithyia at Amnisos, as well as the archaeological record, which spans from Neolithic to Roman times. But Pausanias in the same passage mentions another account of Eileithyia, reporting the view that the goddess came to Delos from those famous mythological people from the far north, the Hyperboreans, in order to assist Leto in giving birth, presumably to Apollon and Artemis. The cult of Eileithyia was established on the island and thence spread to the rest of Greece. Pausanias also notes that the Delians sacrificed to Eileithyia and sang a hymn composed by Olen, a legendary poet and prophet—a figure very similar to Orpheus. Pausanias mentions the hymn of Olen in two other passages that suggest that this goddess might have been associated with an older cosmic power. At 9.27.2, Pausanias tells us that in Olen’s hymn Eileithyia is the mother of Eros. Elsewhere, Pausanias remarks that Olen called her “the good spinner” and surmises that Olen identified her with fate (8.21.3). We find a similar connection elsewhere. Both Pindar (Olympian Odes 6.41–42 and Nemean Odes 7.1–4) and Plato (Symposium 206d2)represent Eileithyia working in tandem with the Fates at birth. A story of Herakles’ birth similar to Ovid’s by the Greek poet Nikandros, summarized at Antoninus Liberalis 29, has the Fates assisting Eileithyia in preventing the birth; the serving girl who tricks the goddess is transformed by the Fates and receives some honor from Hekate and Herakles. Thus Eileithyia seems to have been imagined at times in the form of a personal Tyche or the individual Good Daimon (see OH 72i and OH 73i)."

Although EILEITHUIA is mentioned quite often in connection with her positive function in easing childbirth, she makes her most significant appearances in myth in two  stories in which Hera sets out to hinder the birth of illegitimate children of Zeus;  for Hera was said to have detained Eileithuia on Olympos when Leto was due to  give birth to Apollo and Artemis, and to have instructed her or the Eileithuiai to retard the birth of Herakles. At Olympia in the province of Elis, Eileithuia was honoured in conjunction with a divine child called Sosipolis. The origin of this cult was explained by the following legend. On a certain occasion long ago, as the Eleians were expecting a counter-attack from an invading army of Arcadians, a local woman approached the Eleian commanders with a baby, and told them that he was her own son and that a dream had ordered her to hand him over to fight for Elis. Taking her at her word, the authorities laid him naked in front of the army; and when the Arcadians advanced, he changed into a snake, causing them such alarm that they turned and fled. After their victory, the Eleians raised a temple to the child at the spot where they thought that the snake had disappeared into the ground. They called the new god-child Sosipolis (Saviour of the State), and decided to worship Eileithuia in conjunction with him because ‘she had brought him into the world’ (a lame explanation by any standards). There seems little doubt that Eileithuia, with her non-Greek name and Cretan origin, appears here as the divine mother of a divine child, quite on the Cretan model. Homer and subsequent authors sometimes refer to Eileithuiai in the plural. The name Eileithuia also appears as a title of Hera and Artemis, two major goddesses who concerned themselves with childbirth. The Romans equated Eileithuia with Lucina or Iuno Lucina, their goddess of childbirth.”