Guide to the Gods 1.0
Ma... to Md...
Ma
"Mother". Cappadocian earth and mother goddess.
Maahiset
Finnish dwarf-like beings.
Maat
(Ma'at, Mayet)
"Straight": i.e. law and order. Egyptian goddess of cosmic harmony and of truth and justice. Maat was depicted as a woman with an ostrich feather on her head. She was sometimes represented by the feather alone. Maat was closely associated with Re from the beginning and eventually became known as the 'daughter of Re'. Thoth was sometimes given as her consort. The pharaohs were said to derive their authority from Maat and claimed to uphold the cosmic order embodied in her. In the funerary papyri of the New Kingdom it was Maat who sat in judgment at the weighing of the heart ceremony in the Hall of the Two Truths. The heart of the deceased person was weighed against the image of Maat, often represented simply by the ostrich feather. Her only known sanctuary was at Karnak.
Macardit
Demon spirit of the Dinka peoples of the Sudan.
Mac Greine
Irish kingly god.
Macha
Celtic goddess of war, one aspect of the triple Morrigan.
Macuilxochitl
"Five Flower". An alternative name for Xochipilli, the Aztec god of music and dancing.
Ma-Enyo
Anatolian mother goddess. See Comana, city.
Mafdet
Egyptian goddess in feline form, possibly that of a panther. She was noted principally as a destroyer of snakes and scorpions.
Magni
Son of Norse god Thor.
Mah (1)
Iranian moon-god.
Mah (2)
Assyrian earth goddess.
Mahadeo
Supreme god of tribes in central India.
Mahadeva
"The great god", a name of Shiva.
Mahakala
"Great Time". One of the destructive aspects of Shiva in Vedic Hinduism, time being seen as the destroyer of all things.
Mahaprabhu
Chief god of Bondo people in Orissa.
Mahapurusha
'The great spirit', a name of Vishnu.
Mahasthamaprata
A bodhisattva popular in China.
Mahatala
(Mahataral)
God of Ngadju Dayak people of Borneo.
Mahavira
Honorific for Vardhamana.
Mahendra
A name of Indra.
Mahes
An Egyptian sun god in the form of a lion. He was principally worshipped in the area of the Nile delta.
Mahr
Slavic and Germanic word for a demonic being.
Mahrem
Chief god of the Axumite (Old Ethiopic) empire.
Mahui-Ike
(Mahuike)
Polynesian goddess of fire and of the Underworld>
Maia (1)
Greek mother of Hermes.
Maia (2)
Roman goddess of fertility, associated with Fauna.
Maidere
See Ulgan.
Maiestas
Roman goddess of honour and reverence.
Maira Ata
Tupinamba (Brazil) hero god.
Maire
(Maira)
An abstract deity of the Brazilian Tupi-Guarani which caused a great flood from which only a few humans survived to become the ancestors of modern humans.
Maire-Monan
Tupinamba (Brazil) god of agriculture and law.
Maiso
The Stone Woman of the Paressi tribe of Arawaks living in the Matto Grosso region of South America. Maiso was a primordial mother goddess from whom all living things emerged.
Mait' Carrefour
Haitian 'lord of the crossroads'; god of magicians.
Maitreya
Name of future Buddha.
Maju
Basque divine spirit.
Makara
Hindu sea-monster, mount of Varuna.
Makemake
Creator god of Easter Island; patron of the bird cult.
Makonaima
Orinoco creator-god.
Mal
Old Dravidian pastoral god.
Malah
Malakbel
North Arabian solar deity.
Malek
(Mlk, Malik)
A Semitic term meaning king which was routinely applied to Semitic gods.
Mali
Australian Bat.
Malik
Pre-Islamic god of north Arabia.
Mama
(Mami)
Mesopotamian goddess.
Mama Allpa
Inca harvest and earth goddess. She was portrayed with many breasts, indicative of fertility and the nourishing powers of the earth.
Mama Cocha
Inca mother goddess and sea goddess. She was the mother of all mankind and the provider of fish from the sea.
Mamandabari
Dreamtime spirits of the Walbiri of Australia.
Mama Nono
Earth mother goddess of the Carib people who onced inhabited the Antilles in the Caribbean. She created the human race by sowing stones in the soil from which the first people sprang.
Mama Pacha
Inca earth mother goddess. Pachacamac, the primordial creative spirit, emerged from her.
Mama Quilla
Inca goddess of the moon.
Ma-Mien
Chinese bureaucrat of the underworld.
Mamitu
(Mammitu, Mammetu)
Akkadian goddess of oaths.
Manabozo
(Manibozo, Nena-bu-shu)
Redeemer of Menomeni people of North America.
Manannan mac Lir
Irish god of the sea and of fertility. He was the son of Lir and the husband of Fand. His Welsh equivalent was Manawydan ap Llyr.
Manasa-Devi
Hindu serpent goddess.
Manat
"Fate". Palmyrene Nemesis.
Manawydan ap Llyr
Welsh version of the Celtic sea god, known to the Irish as Manannan mac Lir.
Manco Capac
Inca [solar god?] and progenitor of the Inca race.
Manda
Indian divine regent of planet Saturn.
Manda d-Hiia
(Manda D'Hayye)
Gnostic saviour god of Mandean sect.
Mandah (Mundhi)
Pre-Islamic category of gods.
Mandulis
Nubian sky-god.
Manes
Di Manes
Roman collective name for the spirits of the dead, who inhabited the Underworld. The Manes were honoured in the festival of the Parentalia, from February 13 to February 21. All temples were closed during the festival.
Mangala
Indian stellar deity.
Mani
Nordic moon god.
Mania (1)
With Mantus, a guardian of the Etruscan underworld.
Mania (2)
Roman goddess of the dead.
Manitou
(Manitu)
Algonquin name for the spirit of divinity inherent in every created thing.
Manjughosa
Form of bodhisattva in Nepal and Bengal.
Manjusri
A bodhisattva.
Mantis
Bushman creator god.
Mantus
See Mania.
Manu
Indian, Iranian & Germanic progenitor of the human race.
Manuzi
See Liluri.
Manzasiri
Kalmyk primeval being.
Mao
Persian moon god.
Maou
See Mawu.
Maponos
Celtic god of youth.
Mara
Buddhist evil principle.
Marama
Maori moon-goddess.
Marassa
Haitian twin gods of Voodoo.
Marawa
Melanesian spider god responsible for the introduction of death.
Marchocias
Medieval devil.
Marduk
(Sumerian Amar-utuk)
Great god of Babylon, a god of agriculture and of the fertilizing powers of water. He was the oldest son of Ea. His cult centre was at the city of Babylon, with whose fortunes his own prominence rose until he became the pre-eminent Babylonian god. Marduk led the forces of good to victory over Tiamat and the forces of evil. He then set the universe in order and created mankind from the blood of Kingu.
Mari (1)
Dravidian mother-goddess.
Mari (2)
Basque supreme deity.
Marici
Buddhist goddess with solar traits.
Marid
In pre-Islamic myth, the most powerful class of jinn.
Marinette
Haitian earth goddess.
Markandeya
Marnas
The god of Gaza in Palestine until Christian times.
Marruni
Melanesian god of earthquakes.
Mars
(Marspiter, Mamers, Marmar, Mavors)
Roman god of war and, at least in early Roman history, a god of agriculture. Equated with the Greek Ares. Son of Jupiter and Juno. He was the father of Romulus and Remus by the vestal Ilia. As a result, Romans styled themselves 'sons of Mars'. He was typically depicted as a warrior in full battle regalia wearing a crested helmet and bearing a shield (the sacred Ancile) and lance. He is often linked with the goddess Bellona, who drove his chariot.
The main sanctuaries of Mars were the temple in the Campus Martius ("Field of Mars") in Rome and the temple of Mars Ultor ("Mars the Avenger") built under Augustus. The month of March was named after him, and he had a festival on March 1 called the Feriae Marti, which was the New Year's Day in the old Roman calendar. Another festival at which Mars was honoured was the Armilustrium on October 19, when military arms were ritually purified and put in storage for winter.
Mars, Gallic
Gallic war-god.
Marsyas
Phrygian demon.
Martanda
See Adityas.
Martu
Canaanite storm god, equivalent to the Babylonian Adad.
Marumda
A creator god of the Pomo people of California. He created the world with his brother Kuksu, but the two then tried to destroy the world on two occasions, once by fire and once by flood. On both occasions the world was saved by the mother goddess Ragno.
Marunogere
Melanesian god who created the female sex; he also taught the Papuans to make longhouses.
Maruts
Eleven Vedic (Hindu) storm and air deities. They were the sons of the storm god Rudra by Prisni. Other accounts give their mother as Diti.
Masaya
Niquiran (Nicaragua) goddess of volcanoes.
Maslum
(Malsum)
The evil twin brother of Gluskap in the Algonkian Creation Legend. He repeatedly attempted to ruin the good deeds of Gluskap, who repeatedly defeated him, and finally forced him to flee.
Massim-Biambe
Omnipotent creator god of the Mundang people of the Congo.
Mataras
Indian goddesses.
Matarisvan
Vedic messenger of the gods.
Mate
Latvian word for 'mother', used for several goddesses.
Mater Matuta
Old Italic goddess of the dawn. She later developed into a goddess of women and childbirth. Furthermore, in her later equation with the Greek goddess Ino, she came to be regarded as a tutelary goddess of seafarers. Her festival was the Matralia, observed on June 11.
Math Mathonwy
Welsh god of sorcery.
Mati Syra Zemlya
Slavonic goddess of the earth.
Matres
(Matronae)
Celtic mother goddess of Gaul.
Matsya
The first avatar of Vishnu, in the form of a fish. In this form he saved the world ruler Manu Vaivasvata from the Deluge, and destroyed the demon Hayagriva in his underwater lair.
Matuku Tago Tago
In Polynesian myth the shark who bit off the head of Wahieroa.
Maui
Polynesian culture hero and sun god. He was also something of a trickster figure whose many adventures are recorded in Polynesian legend. His sister was the moon goddess Sina.
Mawu
(Maou)
Creator god of the Fon people of Benin (Dahomey). He formed a divine trinity with his sister Lisa and their son Gou.
Mawu
Sky-god of Ewe people of Togo.
Mawu-Lisa
Ewe great god and goddess.
Maya
Vedic "power", later "deception"; form of Devi.
Mayahuel
(Mayauel)
Mexican goddess of pulque, a fermented drink.
Mayin
Supreme god of Siberian Tungus.
Mayon
A Tamil version of the Hindu god Krishna.
Mazikeen
(Mazzikin)
Evil spirits mentioned in the Talmud.
Ma-zu
Goddess of south-east China.
Mbotumbo
God of the Baule negritos of Ivory Coast.
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