Ushas

Ushas is the goddess of the dawn from the Rigveda, the oldest holy book of the Hindu religion, estimated by linguists to be written around 1500 BCE. Forty of the hymns in the Rigveda are dedicated to Ushas. According to Wikipedia, "She is portrayed as a beautifully adorned young woman riding in a golden chariot or a hundred chariots, drawn by golden red horses or cows, on her path across the sky, making way for the Vedic sun god Surya, who is referred either as her husband or her son. Her sister is Ratri, or the night."

She is a member of the same family of Indo European dawn goddesses as Eostre (from whom Easter takes its name), Ausrine, Eos, Auseklis, and Aurora. As these dawn goddesses are associated with the morning star, Venus, I would surmise that one could also include Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, and Venus in their extended family.

According to Vedicfeed.com, "Goddess Usha is generally associated with light and wealth. She reveals herself with the daily coming of the light to the world. She passes forth light and is accompanied by the sun. She alone leads the Sun and discloses her excellence and fire to her world. She is honored by the worshippers for driving away oppressive darkness and chases away evil spirits. She sets all the things in motion and also sends off people from their duties after the completion of the day. She carries not just light to the sleeping mankind, but hope, happiness, riches, and all the good things. She has the magic of looking at everybody at the same time."

My painting of Ushas is available through the shop link above or via Redbubble Redbubble or Fine Art America.

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Asherah

An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East. From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah. Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna. Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles. Asherah original painting available through Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America. All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...

Hannahanna

Hannahanna is an enigmatic goddess. She is the Great Mother Goddess worshipped by the Hittites of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), circa 1800–1180 B.C.E. (Source: Brooklyn Museum ). The word for grandmother in Turkey derives from her name. She may be a grandmother of Artemis of Ephesus and Demeter. All three share a bee connection. Hannahanna is known for saving the world by sending one of her bees to awaken a depressed Telepino, sulky god of agriculture. Another myth tells of how Hannahanna herself disappeared in a fit of anger, causing all the crops to die and parents to abandon their children until, her anger absorbed by the dark side of the Earth (the underworld), she returned. This, combined with the myth of waking the god of agriculture, presents a close parallel to the myths of Demeter and Persephone. Additionally, the priestesses of Persephone and Demeter were known as Melissai or “bees.” Persephone’s nickname among the ancient Greeks was Melit...

Al-Lat

Al-Lat was the Great Mother Goddess of pre-Islamic Arabia. She was worshipped at the Kaaba in Mecca until the city was conquered in 630 AD by Muhammed. ( source ) Yes...that Kaaba, where Allah is now worshipped. She was rewritten as a daughter of Allah and a djinn, but was also considered to be Allah's wife, consort, or feminine aspect. Or...is she the root from which Allah evolved? In the Quran, Allah is not referred to by gendered pronouns. Is Allah a Great Mother Goddess? insert shrug emoji here. Al-Lat original painting based on a bas relief from Palmyra. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . J ohanna-Hypatia Cybeleia offers the following evidence. "Although the word ka‘bah itself means 'cube', it is very close to the word ku‘b meaning 'woman's breast' which is derived from the same three-letter root. This turns out to be an appropriate metaphor, as the Ka‘bah nu...

Medusa

Who was Medusa before the invading sea god supposedly defiled her? According to Marija Gimbutas, she dates at least as far back as 6000 BCE, based on a mask found at Sesklo. More recently, Medusa appears on the pediment of Artemis's Temple at Corfu, built around 580 BCE. On the pediment, Medusa is flanked by leopards. Large cats, like those associated with Artemis of Ephesus , the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia, are sometimes considered to be guardians between worlds. Medusa's snakes are a symbol of rebirth. I've read that she may be a chthonic aspect of Artemis, much like Ereshkiga l was the underworld aspect of Inanna. Medusa original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Pediment from Artemis's Temple at Corfu ( source ) Or perhaps Medusa was a Moon Goddess. Robert Graves in The Greek Myths writes, "The Gorgons' names--Sth...

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...

Ajysyt, or the Birch Goddess

This week I read about Ajysyt, "literally 'birthgiver'. The mother goddess of the Yakuts, a Turkic people living near the Lena River in Siberia." She is part of a myth involving a "white youth who encountered a calm 'lake of milk' near the cosmic tree. Having besought the blessing of the tree, the white youth felt a warm breeze, heard the tree creak, and observed a female divinity arise from the roots. She proferred him milk from her full breasts, and having satisfied his thirst, he felt how his strength had increased a hundredfold. The milk breasted mother goddess and the tree of life are thus combined" ( source ). I wanted to know what kind of tree this was. After research, the birch seemed most likely. Sacred to Freya, Frigg, Nerthus, Holda, Eostre, Brigid, Kupala, and other Goddesses of the North, the birch is a pioneer species and would have been one of the first to recolonize as the glaciers of the ice age receded. Ajysyt, or B...

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