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WORD LIST HOME - DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
THE MYSTICAL AND MAGICAL
DIRECTORY OF MYSTIC WORD LISTS
Mystical and Magical - Home
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
Mystical and Magical - Home
- Mysterious Magic of the Mystical
- Supernatural Spirituality of the Occult
- Practicing the Art of Divination
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
- Mythology and a Duality of Darkness
THE DARK GODDESSES AND GODDESSES OF THE DARK
A deity is a supernatural considered to be divine or sacred to a culture or religion. They are said to have powers greater than those of ordinary people. In the English language, a male deity is referred to as a god, while a female deity is referred to as a goddess.
The English language word "deity" derives from Old French ‘deité’, the Latin ‘deitatem’ or "divine nature", coined by Augustine of Hippo from ‘deus’ meaning “god.” Deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European origin to ‘deiwos’. This root is formed by the ancient Indian word ‘Deva’ meaning "to gleam, a shining one", from *div- "to shine", as well as Greek ‘dios’ meaning "divine.” Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is ‘devi’ and the cognates of Devi are the Latin ‘dea’ and Greek ‘thea’. In Old Persian, ‘daiva’ means "demon, evil god", while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, "heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones".
THE GODDESS
Goddesses are said to embody virtues such as love, fertility, beauty, sexuality, and motherhood. They have also been associated with darker ideas such as war, creation, and death.
The noun goddess is a secondary formation that combines the Germanic ‘god’ with the Latin -ess suffix. It first appeared in Middle English around the year 1350. The English word follows the linguistic precedent of adding a feminine ending to the language's word for god. This is seen in the Egyptian, Classical Greek, and many Semitic languages.
To the ancient Greeks, sexuality, love and sex were inextricably connected with the creation of the earth, the heavens and the underworld. Greek myth was a full of incest, murder, polygamy and intermarriage in which eroticism and fertility were elemental; they were there right from the start of the cosmos, demonstrating woman’s essential reproductive roles in securing the cosmos, extending the human race.
Many of the Dark Goddesses are creators and destroyers – they hold sway over the most powerful moments in human lives: childbirth, initiation, death, dreams.
MEET THE GODDESSES
APATE: the goddess of deceit, deception, guile and fraud. She was the daughter of Erebos, the god of darkness, and Nyx, the goddess of night. Her siblings were Moros, personification of doom, Nemesis, personification of retribution, and the Keres, who represented violent death.
She was cunning and deceitful and could twist any situation to work in her interest. She could also be very cruel and would take great pleasure in destroying people’s lives. Apate and many of her siblings were said to be the evil spirits that escaped from Pandora’s box.
ATROPOS: or Aisa (Ἄτροπος meaning "without turn"), was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as "the Inflexible one.” Atropos chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their threads. She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length. The scientific name of a venomous snake, Bitis atropos, refers to Atropos.
CIRCE: goddess of sorcery, transformation, and witchcraft. Her expertise is in helpful and baneful herbs that she uses to heal and harm. Mandrake is her plant, and it was named the Drug of Circe. Her father was said to be Helios, a sun god, and her mother, a Perse, or nymph of the ocean. She is associated with two other dark goddesses, Hecate and Medea. Circe was immortalized by Homer for giving men of Odysseus’ ship wine that turned them into swine Circe’s gift is the ability to see through the façade and see a person’s true form. The men she turned into pigs were pigs - they were gluttons who over-indulged and drank excessively.
HECATE: goddess of the crossroads.
Hecate is known as one of the most ancient goddesses. Hecate supersedes the most-ancient Greek civilizations and was present before the Olympians. Hecate is the goddess of the crossroads, which means she is the force present during any major life changing event such as birth, death, and rebirth. She is seen as a dark goddess because she is a psychopomp or one who guides souls to the other side. However, she is also a goddess of childbirth and maternity. And because of this duality she is both darkness and light and represents both birth and death. Hecate is also said to be the goddess of witchcraft, ruling over and aiding in the practice of witches from the past as well as the present. She is both a necromancer and a healer. This is another duality of light and dark. She is associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, witchcraft, herbology, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. Hecate is also connected to plants and the concoction of medicines and poisons. She is tied to aconite (also called hecateis), belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. She is as a chthonic (underworld) goddess. She is the holder of the keys to unlock the gates between realms. As such, she can unlock the gates of death In art and myth, she is shown guiding Persephone back from the underworld with her torches. She is the daughter of Perses and Asteria. In later accounts, she was said to be the daughter of Zeus and Asteria, the daughter of Nyx, and in Orphic literature, she was said to be the daughter of Demeter.
KERES: the Keres (Κῆρες meaning, "Keres of death") according to Homer and the singular Ker (Κήρ meaning "death" or "doom.”) The Keres are female death-spirits. They were goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battlefields. Although they were present during death and dying, they did not have the power to kill. They feasted on the dead.
They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth and claws and with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying and wounded men.The term Keres has also been cautiously used to describe a person's fate. They were the daughters of Nyx, the goddess of night, and sisters of the Moirai, who controlled the fate of souls.
MELINOEM: is a chthonic goddess who is the bringer of nightmares and madness and also the goddess of propitiation. The offerings made to the deceased by family and friends. She is said to wander the earth every night scaring people with a train of ghosts. She brings night terrors to mortals by manifesting in strange forms and can drive them insane. Melinoë is also the goddess of the restless undead; those whose bodies were never buried, were never given proper funerary rites, or who were cursed to wander the earth and being unable to find peace. Melinoë is the daughter of Persephone and was fathered by both Zeus and Hades in a Orphic dual-god role.
NYX: (nýks meaning 'night') is the primordial goddess (or personification) of the night. She is the daughter of Chaos and was born at the beginning of creation. She depicted the literal concept of night and is seen as a catalyst to the darkest desires and actions. Her appearances are rare in mythology, but she is revealed as a figure of exceptional power and beauty and she is feared even by Zeus himself. Nyx casts a shadowy figure, and was depicted either winged, charioteer, or crowned with an aureole of dark mists. Nyx lived in Tartarus, a place of torment, suffering, and darkness but she is not the personification of evil. It’s her mysterious and dark nature that suggests a villain figure. Nyx is often portrayed in symbolism as a moon or stars, in accordance with her ending the daytime and bringing the night. Nyx was married to Erebus, the God of darkness. She gave birth to Hypnos (the personification of sleep), Moros (god of impending doom), Nemesis (goddess of retribution), Thanatos (death), Hemera (day) and Aither (light). Nyx also created her own dark spirits including the Fates, Strife, and Pain, Geras, the Keres, and the Oneiroi. Nyx brought the dark veil over the night, while Hemera chased the dark mists away each morning.
PERSEPHONE: also called Kore or Kora (Greek: Κόρη; meaning "the maiden"), is the queen of the underworld and a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She contains a dualistic nature and is both the goddess of spring (and renewal and life), but cyclically resided with her husband Hades in the underworld. Her absence on Earth brings the seasonal “death” of Autumn and Winter. She is the queen of the underworld. In mythology and literature she is often called dread(ed) Tradition says it is forbidden to speak her name.
OTHER DARK FIGURES
Achlys: (Ἀχλύς meaning "mist" or "darkness") is the goddess who symbolizes the mist of death. According to some ancient cosmogonies, Achlys was the eternal night before Chaos. She may also have been the goddess of deadly poisons.
Artemis: goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, and wild animals, who was commonly associated with the moon
Asteria: Titaness goddess of nocturnal oracles and the stars
Eris: the goddess of conflict, strife, discord and contention is the daughter of Zeus and Hera and the twin sister of Ares, the god of war. She haunted the battlefield and took pleasure in the act of war. She was often involved in conflict, family arguments, blood feuds and wars over territory. She was despised by many of the other gods and they often wouldn’t choose to interact much with her.
Nemesis: also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia is the goddess of retribution against those who succumb to hubris or arrogance before the gods.
Melaina: ("The Black One") is a chthonic deity or one who dwells in the underworld. She is said to bring nightmares.
Selene: Titaness goddess and personification of the moon.
See Also:
Greek Origins of Erotic Language
Greek Mythology Reference
The English language word "deity" derives from Old French ‘deité’, the Latin ‘deitatem’ or "divine nature", coined by Augustine of Hippo from ‘deus’ meaning “god.” Deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European origin to ‘deiwos’. This root is formed by the ancient Indian word ‘Deva’ meaning "to gleam, a shining one", from *div- "to shine", as well as Greek ‘dios’ meaning "divine.” Deva is masculine, and the related feminine equivalent is ‘devi’ and the cognates of Devi are the Latin ‘dea’ and Greek ‘thea’. In Old Persian, ‘daiva’ means "demon, evil god", while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, "heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones".
THE GODDESS
Goddesses are said to embody virtues such as love, fertility, beauty, sexuality, and motherhood. They have also been associated with darker ideas such as war, creation, and death.
The noun goddess is a secondary formation that combines the Germanic ‘god’ with the Latin -ess suffix. It first appeared in Middle English around the year 1350. The English word follows the linguistic precedent of adding a feminine ending to the language's word for god. This is seen in the Egyptian, Classical Greek, and many Semitic languages.
To the ancient Greeks, sexuality, love and sex were inextricably connected with the creation of the earth, the heavens and the underworld. Greek myth was a full of incest, murder, polygamy and intermarriage in which eroticism and fertility were elemental; they were there right from the start of the cosmos, demonstrating woman’s essential reproductive roles in securing the cosmos, extending the human race.
Many of the Dark Goddesses are creators and destroyers – they hold sway over the most powerful moments in human lives: childbirth, initiation, death, dreams.
MEET THE GODDESSES
APATE: the goddess of deceit, deception, guile and fraud. She was the daughter of Erebos, the god of darkness, and Nyx, the goddess of night. Her siblings were Moros, personification of doom, Nemesis, personification of retribution, and the Keres, who represented violent death.
She was cunning and deceitful and could twist any situation to work in her interest. She could also be very cruel and would take great pleasure in destroying people’s lives. Apate and many of her siblings were said to be the evil spirits that escaped from Pandora’s box.
ATROPOS: or Aisa (Ἄτροπος meaning "without turn"), was one of the three Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was the oldest of the Three Fates, and was known as "the Inflexible one.” Atropos chose the mechanism of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their threads. She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length. The scientific name of a venomous snake, Bitis atropos, refers to Atropos.
CIRCE: goddess of sorcery, transformation, and witchcraft. Her expertise is in helpful and baneful herbs that she uses to heal and harm. Mandrake is her plant, and it was named the Drug of Circe. Her father was said to be Helios, a sun god, and her mother, a Perse, or nymph of the ocean. She is associated with two other dark goddesses, Hecate and Medea. Circe was immortalized by Homer for giving men of Odysseus’ ship wine that turned them into swine Circe’s gift is the ability to see through the façade and see a person’s true form. The men she turned into pigs were pigs - they were gluttons who over-indulged and drank excessively.
HECATE: goddess of the crossroads.
Hecate is known as one of the most ancient goddesses. Hecate supersedes the most-ancient Greek civilizations and was present before the Olympians. Hecate is the goddess of the crossroads, which means she is the force present during any major life changing event such as birth, death, and rebirth. She is seen as a dark goddess because she is a psychopomp or one who guides souls to the other side. However, she is also a goddess of childbirth and maternity. And because of this duality she is both darkness and light and represents both birth and death. Hecate is also said to be the goddess of witchcraft, ruling over and aiding in the practice of witches from the past as well as the present. She is both a necromancer and a healer. This is another duality of light and dark. She is associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, night, light, magic, witchcraft, herbology, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. Hecate is also connected to plants and the concoction of medicines and poisons. She is tied to aconite (also called hecateis), belladonna, dittany, and mandrake. She is as a chthonic (underworld) goddess. She is the holder of the keys to unlock the gates between realms. As such, she can unlock the gates of death In art and myth, she is shown guiding Persephone back from the underworld with her torches. She is the daughter of Perses and Asteria. In later accounts, she was said to be the daughter of Zeus and Asteria, the daughter of Nyx, and in Orphic literature, she was said to be the daughter of Demeter.
KERES: the Keres (Κῆρες meaning, "Keres of death") according to Homer and the singular Ker (Κήρ meaning "death" or "doom.”) The Keres are female death-spirits. They were goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battlefields. Although they were present during death and dying, they did not have the power to kill. They feasted on the dead.
They were described as dark beings with gnashing teeth and claws and with a thirst for human blood. They would hover over the battlefield and search for dying and wounded men.The term Keres has also been cautiously used to describe a person's fate. They were the daughters of Nyx, the goddess of night, and sisters of the Moirai, who controlled the fate of souls.
MELINOEM: is a chthonic goddess who is the bringer of nightmares and madness and also the goddess of propitiation. The offerings made to the deceased by family and friends. She is said to wander the earth every night scaring people with a train of ghosts. She brings night terrors to mortals by manifesting in strange forms and can drive them insane. Melinoë is also the goddess of the restless undead; those whose bodies were never buried, were never given proper funerary rites, or who were cursed to wander the earth and being unable to find peace. Melinoë is the daughter of Persephone and was fathered by both Zeus and Hades in a Orphic dual-god role.
NYX: (nýks meaning 'night') is the primordial goddess (or personification) of the night. She is the daughter of Chaos and was born at the beginning of creation. She depicted the literal concept of night and is seen as a catalyst to the darkest desires and actions. Her appearances are rare in mythology, but she is revealed as a figure of exceptional power and beauty and she is feared even by Zeus himself. Nyx casts a shadowy figure, and was depicted either winged, charioteer, or crowned with an aureole of dark mists. Nyx lived in Tartarus, a place of torment, suffering, and darkness but she is not the personification of evil. It’s her mysterious and dark nature that suggests a villain figure. Nyx is often portrayed in symbolism as a moon or stars, in accordance with her ending the daytime and bringing the night. Nyx was married to Erebus, the God of darkness. She gave birth to Hypnos (the personification of sleep), Moros (god of impending doom), Nemesis (goddess of retribution), Thanatos (death), Hemera (day) and Aither (light). Nyx also created her own dark spirits including the Fates, Strife, and Pain, Geras, the Keres, and the Oneiroi. Nyx brought the dark veil over the night, while Hemera chased the dark mists away each morning.
PERSEPHONE: also called Kore or Kora (Greek: Κόρη; meaning "the maiden"), is the queen of the underworld and a daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She contains a dualistic nature and is both the goddess of spring (and renewal and life), but cyclically resided with her husband Hades in the underworld. Her absence on Earth brings the seasonal “death” of Autumn and Winter. She is the queen of the underworld. In mythology and literature she is often called dread(ed) Tradition says it is forbidden to speak her name.
OTHER DARK FIGURES
Achlys: (Ἀχλύς meaning "mist" or "darkness") is the goddess who symbolizes the mist of death. According to some ancient cosmogonies, Achlys was the eternal night before Chaos. She may also have been the goddess of deadly poisons.
Artemis: goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, and wild animals, who was commonly associated with the moon
Asteria: Titaness goddess of nocturnal oracles and the stars
Eris: the goddess of conflict, strife, discord and contention is the daughter of Zeus and Hera and the twin sister of Ares, the god of war. She haunted the battlefield and took pleasure in the act of war. She was often involved in conflict, family arguments, blood feuds and wars over territory. She was despised by many of the other gods and they often wouldn’t choose to interact much with her.
Nemesis: also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia is the goddess of retribution against those who succumb to hubris or arrogance before the gods.
Melaina: ("The Black One") is a chthonic deity or one who dwells in the underworld. She is said to bring nightmares.
Selene: Titaness goddess and personification of the moon.
See Also:
Greek Origins of Erotic Language
Greek Mythology Reference
DIRECTORY OF MYSTIC WORD LISTS
Mystical and Magical - Home
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
Mystical and Magical - Home
- Mysterious Magic of the Mystical
- Supernatural Spirituality of the Occult
- Practicing the Art of Divination
SEE ALSO
Feature: Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World
Feature: A History of Time
Syzygy - The Alignment of the Universe
Cosmic Order of the Universe
The Sun, the Moon and the Star
A BEAUTIFUL WORD ... a vocabulary site for logophiles, writers and word lovers that is part of
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Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
Collection of Vocabulary Books, Sites and Resources
Series Homepage | View Sites | Download Books
Words are also posted on twitter under the hashtags #beautifulwords and #wordoftheday and shared visually on pinterest bulletin boards
ABOUT SITE | SITEMAPS | SEARCH | FEEDBACK
Content by Kairos ~ @kairosoflife
Homepage | Portfolio | Contact
Original content © 2021 Copyright, Kairos
