Guide to the Gods 1.0
Oa... to Oz...
Oannes
(Uan)
Greek form of a Mesopotamian god (otherwise unidentified).
Obassi Osaw
High god of the Hausa of the Niger.
Obatala
Yoruba sky god.
Oceanids
See Okeanides.
Oceanus
See Okeanos.
Od
Norse husband of Freyja.
Odin
(Othinn, Woden, Wotan)
Norse high god, god of wisdom, battle, death, inspiration. He was the chief god of the Aesir and the husband of Frigg. He lived in the hall of Valhalla in Asgard with the Valkyries and a host of warriors chosen from among those slain in battle. Odin is something of a shamanic figure, having pierced himself with his own spear and hung himself from the world tree Yggdrasill in an effort to attain occult knowledge. He sacrificed one of his eyes, giving it to the god Mimir in return for permission to drink from the well of knowledge beneath Yggdrasill. Among the knowledge he thus obtained was a knowledge of occult rune reading. He is generally portrayed as a one-eyed warrior bearing a spear, or as a wanderer wearing a blue cloak and a large floppy hat. According to Nordic myth, Odin was destined to be swallowed by the giant wolf Fenrir at Ragnarok (the end of the world).
Odomankoma
The Ashanti creator of the universe.
Odqan
Mongolian fire-spirit.
Oduduwa
(Odudua)
Yoruba earth goddess and creator deity.
Oengus
(Oengus Mac Oc, Angus)
Irish god, lord of the land of youth.
Ogdoad
A group of eight Egyptian deities representing the primeval chaos that existed before the creation of the sun god. They are divided into four parings of male and female deities: Nun and Naunet representing the primordial abyss, Kek and Kauket darkness, Heh and Hauhet infinity, and Amun and Amaunet representing hidden power. They created out of themselves the mound upon which lay the egg from which the sun god emerged. Their cult centered on the town of Khemnu (Greek Hermopolis) in Middle Egypt. They also had a sanctuary at Medinet Habu in western Thebes.
Ogma
Chief Irish god, patron of eloquence and learning, inventor of Ogham letters. The son of Dagda. He is credited with inventing the Ogham alphabet. He is equivalent to the Gallic Ogmios.
Ogmios
(Ogma)
Gaulish god of eloquence, inspiration and eloquence.
Ogoun
Haitian god of war, politics, fire, iron and thunderbolts.
Ogun
(Ogoun)
God of iron and warfare of the Nago and Yoruba peoples of West Africa.
Okeanides
(Oceanids)
Minor Greek sea goddesses, or sea nymphs. Daughters of Okeanos and Tethys. Also the name given to the river gods said to be the offspring of Okeanos.
Okeanos
(Oceanus)
Greek god who personified the waters surrounding the earth. In Hesiod's Theogony, he is the son of Ouranos (heaven) and Gaia (earth). Consort of Tethys. Father of the Okeanides. His name later came to be associated with the Atlantic Ocean.
Okeus
(Oke)
Evil god of peoples in Virginia area.
O-Kuni-Nushi
(Okuninushi)
Japanese god of medicine and sorcery.
Olelbis
Creator-god of the Wintun Pacific coast peoples.
Olifat
Micronesian trickster god.
Olle
A god of the Tuleyone people who saved the world and humanity from a fire sent by the evil god Sahte. Olle extinguished the flames by sending a great flood.
Olmai
(Olmay)
Lapp word denoting divine properties.
Olokun
Yoruba god of wealth and the sea.
Olorun
Supreme god of the Yoruba people. Olorun is considered so remote from human affairs that he is not worshipped, for such worship would gain no response. Olorun is the son of Olokun.
Omacatl
"Two Reeds". Aztec god of feasts and joy. Maize effigies of the god were eaten at his festival. Considered an aspect of Tezcatlipoca.
Omecihuatl
Aztec creator goddess. She was the wife of Ometecuhtli.
Ometecuhtli
"Two Lord". Aztec creator god and androgynous master of duality and of the unity of opposites. His wife was Ometecuhtli.
Ometeotl
(Ometecutli, Tloque Nahuaque, Citlatonac)
"Two God". Aztec primordial creator god, often depicted as androgynous in nature. He had no formal cult and no cult centre, but he was deemed to be present in every ritual and in all things in this world.
Omichle
(Omicle)
Phoenician (Hellenic period) primordial principle. The element of darkness in the chaos which combined with Pothos (desire) to create everything in the cosmos.
O-Mi-T'o Fo
Chinese name of Amitabha.
Omiwa
Japanese god worshipped by O-Kuni-Nushi as his protective deity.
Omumbo-Rombonga
The tree of life among the Herero Bushmen of South West Africa. Believed to be the progenitor of men and cattle.
Onamuji
Japanese earth god. The son of Susano-Wo.
Onatha
Iroquois goddess of wheat.
Oneiroi
"Dreams". Minor Greek deities considered to be the source or active agents of dreams. Children of Hypnos or Nyx. Their names were Ikelos (Phobetor), Morpheus and Phantasos.
Oni
Japanese demons who seized wicked men when they died.
Onniont
Huron snake deity.
Ono
The name given to the Polynesian god Rongo in the Marquesas Islands.
Onuris
Greek form of the Egyptian god Anhur (qv).
Oonawieh Unggi
"The Oldest Wind". Cherokee wind god.
Opochtli
Aztec god of fishing and hunting.
Ops
Roman goddess of the harvest. She also governs the proper growth of the seed. Consort of Saturn. Equated with the Greek goddess Rhea. Her festival was the harvest festival of the Opiconsivia, observed on August 25.
Ora
Albanian female protective spirit.
Orahan
God of Canary isalnd of Gomera.
Orcus
Roman god of the underworld. Equivalent to the Greek Hades. In many respects, he is also interchangeable with the Roman gods Dis Pater and Pluto.
Ordog
Hungarian god of dark forces.
Oreads
(Oreades)
Greek nymphs of mountains and caves.
Orion
Greek hunter-constellation.
Orisa Nla
Yoruba sky god and creator god. He was sent by the supreme god Olorun to create the earth, the other gods, and all living things.
Orishako
Yoruba god of agriculture. Consort of Odudua.
Orko
Basque thunder god.
Ormazd
(Ormuzd, Ahura Mazda)
Zoroastrian god of light.
Oro
Tahitian war god. Son of Tangaroa.
Orotal
(Orotalt)
Ancient Arabian god.
Orunjan
Yoruba god of the midday sun.
Orunmila
Yoruba god of destiny and compassion.
Oshadagea
'Big eagle of the dew', the Iroquois guardian of the west.
Oshalla
Minor Yoruba god, son of the sun and husband of the earth goddess.
Osiris
(Usire)
Egyptian god of the underworld and of vegetation. Son of Nut and Geb. His birthplace was said to be Rosetau in the necropolis west of Memphis. Brother of Nephthys and Seth, and the brother and husband of Isis. Isis gave birth to Horus after his death, having impregnated herself with semen from his corpse. Osiris was depicted in human form wrapped up as a mummy, holding the crook and flail. He was often depicted with green skin, alluding to his role as a god of vegetation. He wore a crown known as the 'atef', composed of the tall conical white crown of Upper Egypt with red plumes on each side. Osiris had many cult centers, but the most important were at Abydos (Ibdju) in Upper Egypt, where the god's legend was reenacted in an annual festival, and at Busiris (Djedu) in the Nile delta.
One of the so-called "dying gods", he was the focus of a famous legend in which he was killed by the rival god Seth. At a banquet of the gods, Seth fooled Osiris into stepping into a coffin, which he promptly slammed shut and cast into the Nile. The coffin was born by the Nile to the delta town of Byblos, where it became enclosed in a tamarisk tree. Isis, the wife of Osiris, discovered the coffin and brought it back. (The story to this point is attested only by the Greek writer Plutarch, although Seth was identified as his murderer as early as the Pyramid era of the Old Kingdom.)
Seth took advantage of Isis's temporary absence on one occasion, cut the body to pieces, and cast them into the Nile. (In the Egyptian texts this incident alone accounts for the murder of Osiris.) Isis searched the land for the body parts of Osiris, and was eventually able to piece together his body, whole save for the penis, which had been swallowed by a crocodile (according to Plutarch) or a fish (according to Egyptian texts). In some Egyptian texts, the penis is buried at Memphis. Isis replaced the penis with a reasonable facsimile, and she was often portrayed in the form of a kite being impregnated by the ithyphallic corpse of Osiris. In some Egyptian texts, the scattering of the body parts is likened to the scattering of grain in the fields, a reference to Osiris's role as a vegetation god. 'Osiris gardens' - wood-framed barley seedbeds in the shape of the god, were sometimes placed in tombs - and the plants which sprouted from these beds symbolized the resurrection of life after death.
It was this legend that accounted for Osiris's role as a god of the dead and ruler of the Egyptian underworld. He was associated with funerary rituals, at first only with those of the Egyptian monarch, later with those of the populace in general. The pharaoh was believed to become Osiris after his death. Although he was regarded as a guarantor of continued existence in the afterlife, Osiris also had a darker, demonic aspect associated with the physiological processes of death and decay, and reflecting the fear Egyptians had of death in spite of their belief in an afterlife. Osiris was also a judge of the dead, referred to as the 'lord of Maat' (i.e. of divine law).
Ostara
(Eostra, Eostre)
Germanic goddess who gave her name to Easter.
Otos
See Aloades.
Ouiot
See Owiot.
Ouranos
(Uranus)
"Heaven" or "Sky". Greek god of the heavens or of the sky. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Ouranos was one of the first 'children' of Gaia, along with the Mountains and the Sea. He then became Gaia's consort, which union produced the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Hekatoncheiroi. Ouranos hurled his offspring into the underworld (Tartaros) and kept them imprisoned there, either out of hatred or of fear. At the urging of Gaia, Kronos castrated Ouranos with a sickle (thus separating heaven and earth) and overthrew him. The blood of Ouranos fell to earth (Gaia), giving rise to the Giants, the Erinyes and the Meliai (ash-tree nymphs). Kronos threw his severed testicles fell the sea, where, according to some versions, they gave rise to the goddess Aphrodite.
O-Wata-Tsumi
Japanese sea god.
Owiot
(Ouiot)
Moon god and tribal ancestor of the Luiseno people of California.
Oya
Yoruba mother goddess, goddess of Niger river.
O-Yama-Tsu-Mi
(O-yama-tsuni)
Japanese mountain god.
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