Juras Mate and Jurate

Marija Gimbutas is from the Baltics. She writes about how her homeland is watched over by the Mates, the Mother Goddesses. There are over 60 known Mates, for different parts of nature, even after centuries of Christian suppression. Juras Mate is the Lithuanian Goddess of the Sea. Mate means mother.

Jurate is her Latvian counterpart, her maiden aspect who falls in love with a fisherman. She brings him to her amber palace beneath the waves, making the thunder god jealous. The thunder god retaliates by destroying her amber palace, killing her love. The amber that continues to wash up on the shores of the Baltic Sea is the detritus of her former castle, and tear shaped droplets are a testament to her broken heart.

Juras Mate Consoles Jurate original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

Baltic amber washes up on the shore to this day. (source)

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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...

Angrboda

In December of 2020, I took part in a Goddess painting challenge. One Goddess per day to Instagram. I am grateful to that challenge, for sending me down this rabbit hole of research into the divine feminine. On Instagram on December 8, 2020, I wrote: "Hel was today's prompt. In the Eddas , she is the daughter of Angrboda and Loki . She is alternately described as half blue, half black, or half skeletal. I went with blue. " Here, she is a baby, in a family portrait. Mother Angrboda with her darling children in the Ironwood forest of Jotunheim . Baby G oddess Hel, Jormungandr the baby serpent, and cute little Fenris wolf puppy. How would they have grown up if Odin hadn't separated them from their mother and flung them out to the farthest and most desolate corners of the nine worlds? Would they all still crave...

Nuwa

Nuwa is the great mother goddess of Chinese mythology, credited with creating humanity. She molded the first people out of clay by hand. Then she got tired, dipped a rope in the mud, and swung it around her head to make more. Thus were made the nobles and the peasantry. She has the body of a serpent. Nuwa, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art .

Ophanim

The Ophanim are listed by ancient Jewish scholar Maimonides as the highest of God's angels. In the Bible, the Ophanim are described as sets of nested wheels, covered in eyes, that move next to the Cherubim angels, beneath the throne of God. They never sleep, but along with the Seraphim and Cherubim, guard the throne. The Ophanim See All. Original painting, prints, and merch available via shop link above, or RedBubble or Fine Art America . Ezekiel, in the Bible, describes the Ophanim as sparkling like topaz, high and awesome, full of eyes all around. Sources: Wikipedia The Bible

According to Wikipedia, " Demogorgon is a deity or demon associated with the underworld . Although often ascribed to Greek mythology , the name probably arises from an unknown copyist's misreading of a commentary by a fourth-century scholar, Lactantius Placidus . The concept itself can be traced back to the original misread term demiurge . An ancient Byzantine source cites the demogorgon is the antecedent of all the gods. Stranger Things stole the demogorgon from D&D, which stole it from mythology. Here, the demogorgons chill out, stop causing chaos for a moment, and dance with a polar bear while an octopus spins some sick beats. Polar Bear Dances with Demogorgons, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art .

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 ...

Echoing Multiverse

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