Momma Goddesses

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I've been holding off on the agricultural aspect as of yet. Or at least not directly, just finished reading some stuff on women as heads of the household. Rings of keys and so forth.

Also, always been fascinated by the brewmistress phenomena of Summeria.

What do you guys think of queenly aspects? From what I know of Isis she doesn't muck around too much.

 

[BangBangChicken]

Agree with you there AuldGrump.

You may want to try and find some material on Earth Goddesses (celtic mythos). I particuarly remember an Old 'Slaine' graphic novels series where Danu the earth mother was a diety of the natural order, shunning man made creations and the defiling of the earth etc... She was an unfair fickle goddess at times, coming in three genereal forms a Mother (hag) to guide you, A woman / sister (warrior) to befriend you or a Maiden (lover) to entise you and maybe stab you in the back. She was of a 'thunder thigh' persuasion. I think Alan Mills was the creator.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I would take a look into ancient Minoan art for inspiration-- lots of female goddesses there on pots and walls and seals and the like. From beautiful mother goddesses to female bull goddesses: they're got 'em all. *puts on her history teacher cap* These goddesses could have all combined throughout history to influenced the creation Greek goddess Athena...

 

[Farganger]

That's because she wasn't really the goddess of childbirth and motherhood. More like the goddess of sex and killing things. Of course, in the mother department you have Ninhursag, who wasn't exactly all baking cookies and lullabyes either...

Queen of the dead, in Babylonian circles, was Ereshkigal ('lady of the great below'). She and Ishtar got into a tiff, and there's a whole Orpheus story in there too, but that's kind of off-topic.

Good point! Although given geographic variances and millennia-long run of the "Babylonian" pantheon (which are gleaned from thousands of tablets and fragments), the aspects of Inanna/Ishtar and her relationship to the other gods underwent a number of changes. Sometimes she was An's daughter, sometimes Enlil's, sometimes even Enki's.

The "love and war" theme is pretty constant though . . . her "ultraviolent" aspect is nicely pointed up by the fact that the Assyrians (an imperialist power that seem to have been the first to dominate their neighbors through a systematic program of terror) named one of their regiments after her. As far as I can recall, we only know the names of three regiments - Ashur (after the cheif god of the Assyrian pantheon), Nergal (often identified as the god of pestilence) and Ishtar (here obviously in her war aspect) - and their roles in battles and campaigns are mentioned frequently in the annals of the Assyrian kings.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

All right since we're going that way:

I also have to stat out a goddess of pleasure, orphans, illegitimate children, and immortality who's supposed to be inspired by Bast and Innana.

The only thing I know about her is that she's neutral evil and the masculine counterpart for that alignment is a group of seven snake tatooed men who are in charge of health and disease.

The way I'm doing the evil deities is that they all have really attractive domains but very little morality in terms of how they use them.

So the seven snakes are in charge of health and disease, very nice want to be healthy don't want to get disease, but they really don't care who gets what, enjoy making the healthy sick now and again, and really love killing off the weak and letting evil people enjoy excellent health and long lives.

And I'd like that kind of classical perversity for the Innana type but it's difficult for me to frame that in terms of pleasure. I do know that she loves followers who don't really have strong attachments save mayber too her. Thus the orphans.

 

[Knightfall]

All right since we're going that way:

I also have to stat out a goddess of pleasure, orphans, illegitimate children, and immortality who's supposed to be inspired by Bast and Innana.

Ah Bast, another favorite of mine. Also converted for my world. Here's a link to it, in case you didn't see it on my thread.

Bast
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1489747#post1489747

It was on a previous page to where Inanna was posted. Plus, I just finished posting another goddess you might find interesting. this one is completely a homebrewed one.

Larea
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1822603#post1822603

Larea has some interesting mother and sister aspects, aw well protecting children. Plus, she is known as the Huntress and has animals, hunting, the wilderness, and wild animals in her portfolio.

Cheers!

KF72

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Interesting, where does Larea come from?

I'm on the lookout for good inspirations for godlike names.

Low Key Liesmith from American Gods impressed the hell out of me. Not in the clever riddle there, but just in how amazingly appropriate the name was to a god in the sense in which think of and adapt them to our fantasy.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Others Artegartis, and Echidna - the mother of all monsters. Coatlcue and Chalchihuitlcue weren't that friendly either, but the Aztec pantheon was a bloody bunch.

Something to bear in mind that to the ancient mind set there was nothing wrong with human sacrifice - gods that declined the feast were few and notable. (Arwwyn - a god of death in the celtic pantheon took no sacrifices, he got you eventually anyway.) Even Dianchect the Celtic god of medicine took sacrifices, and commited murder upon his own son.

A very good reference for gaming purposes is Frazer's The Golden Bough *GOOGLE* http://www.bartleby.com/196/

The Auld Grump

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

The Greek pantheon occasionally takes human sacrifices but it's always transgressive where it occurs.

I know the Babylonians killed people for burial purposes, but I don't know of it occuring under other circumstances.

I was thinking that these gods would be personally murderous and vengeful ala fairy tales. Also lusty. Though I don't know what you would sacrafice to the mother goddes type I have in mind.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

A less murderous blood sacrifice for a corn mother type might be the village smith and a virgin in the newly ploughed fields. A symbolic 'planting of the seed'.

The Auld Grump, and as part of a religious ceremony the seed would be quite likely to take root... the offspring marked as sacred to the goddess.

The Auld Grump