Mother / Father Earth. In Honour of Earth Day...
Mother Earth Pagan Prayer Beads by Cauldron Crafts
Akka ('Old Woman') or MaderAkka ('Mother Woman') - Finnish and Saami Goddess of Fertility and Nature. She is the wife of Ukko, the Thunder and Sky God, and when they make love, thunder rolls. In Scandinavia thunder and its associated rain is often said in legends to make the earth fertile. Akka gives life to the body. Akka is associated with mountains such as the Ahkka massif in Sweden that still bears her name.
Ceres ('To Feed') - Roman Mother Goddess of Agriculture, especially Grain, and Fertility. Ceres is said to have discovered spelt wheat, created the art of pastoral agriculture and created law and order. Our word cereal comes from her name, as do our words creativity, creation and increase. Ceres was honoured at a seven day festival in April called the Cerealia festival and in May at the Ambarvalia festival, and during harvest. She was offered seed before sowing and offered a portion of crops at harvest.
Dana / Danu / Dôn ('Flowing') - Celtic Mother of the Gods, hence their name of Tuatha Dé Danann ('People of the Goddess Dana/Danu') in Ireland or the Children of Dôn in Wales, who is also associated with the Land, especially in more recent times. She is a shadowy figure about whom very little is known. She may be connected to the Hindu Goddess Danu who was the personification of the Primeval Waters and lent her name to many rivers across Europe such as the Danuble, Dneiper, Don and Danu River.
Demeter ('Earth Mother') - Greek Goddess of Agriculture who gifted it to mankind. Demeter watched over the fertility of the earth and its crops and sorted the wheat from the chaff. She ruled over life and death, was the Mother of Persephone by Zeus, and her sacred symbol was the poppy of the field.
Gaia ('Land' or 'Earth') - Personification of the Earth in Greek Mythology. She is a Primordial Goddess who is the Mother of All Life as well as Mother of the Gods. Often depicted as a giver of abundance, she was also worshipped under the name Anesidora, which means 'giver of gifts'. Oaths sworn in her name were held the most sacred.
Geb - Ancient Egyptian Earth God, sometimes depicted with the head of a snake as he is also the Father of Snakes, or with the head of a bull, a ram, or a crocodile, or even with a goose on his head - the goose being the one that laid the egg the earth was made from in Egyptian Mythology
. Geb is God of both the barren desert and the fertile fields, it is he who causes the crops to grow. Earthquakes are apparently caused by Geb laughing!
Jishin ('Earth Goddess') aka Teojushin - A surprisingly greedy Korean Goddess of the Earth, Luck and Wealth who commanded the deities that oversee the four cardinal directions. She was often devoutly worshipped by those who sought wealth or good fortune. Jishin embodies the pots that hold peas, beans and rice and are buried or placed at the corners of the back yard. Each year their contents are used to make lucky ricecakes that are never eaten and the pots are refilled with fresh goods.
Jorð ('Earth') - Norse Goddess and Giantess who is a personification of the Earth. Her name is used in skaldic poetry to refer to the land. She is the Mother of the Thunder God Thor. Jorð is still honoured as the name given to the earth in Icelandic (Jörð), Faroese (Jørð), and in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (Jord). Our English word Earth derives from Jorð via the old English eorðe.
Kaltashch-ekva - Mother Earth Goddess
and Ancestress of the Mos or Mansi people. She became the earth itself with
skin and hair after her brother and consort, Torum, unceremoniously chucked her
from the heavens down to earth after she made him angry. Her sacred animals are
the butterfly, the goose or rabbit. As a Mother Goddess she assists at
childbirth, gives the child its soul and determines its destiny.
Ki ('Earth') - Sumerian Earth Goddess, consort and sister of the Sky God (as many Earth Goddesses are). Ki is the daughter of another set of Sky God and Earth Mother, Anshar and Kishar.
Maa-Emo ('Mother Earth') - The Estonian Mother Earth Goddess who is one with the soil and everything that grows from the earth. She conceives the crops in her earth body during the Spring thunderstorms and grows them in her earthy womb.
Mastorava ('Earth Woman') - Mordvin Mother Earth who is literally the Earth personified. She lends her name to an epic poem and to the Mordvin native religion. Her features change from 'ugly' when she is barren in winter or gets too dry in summer to 'pretty' after rain and as nature grows in summer and spring.
Mastoron Kirdi ('Earth Ruler') - Mordvin Earth God who hatched from the Cosmic Egg.
Mat Zemlya ('Mother Earth') also known as Mokoš/Mokosh ('Damp Mother Earth') - Ancient Slavic Mother Goddess of Fate, Spinning, Weaving, Fertility and Motherhood. Breast shaped stones or boulders were considered sacred to her and used in her worship. To this day hills, rivers and villages still bear her name and she is still a popular symbol in modern Eastern European embroidery, where she is shown with fruit, birds and/or horses.
Nerthus - A very mysterious, shadowy and sinister Earth Mother Goddess from Germanic and Scandinavian mythology. She rules over the fertility of the land and a sacred image of her was taken on a cart around the land, possibly to bless it. At the end of the journey, the cart and idol were washed in a lake by slaves who were then drowned. Sister/Wife of the Sea God Njord and Mother of Frey and Freyja who were also both linked with fertility.
Ninhursag ('Lady of the Sacred Mountain') - Sumerian Fertility Goddess known alternatively as Ninmah ('Great Queen') or Mamma ('Mother'). She is literally the Mother of Greenery and plants, for by Enki she gave birth to a daughter called Ninsar ('Lady Greenery') and the first plants grew after she planted Enki's seed in the soil of the earth. Her sacred symbol is very like the Greek Omega, a shape she is often shown to wear her hair in.
Pachamama ('World Mother') - Incan Goddess who was the Mother of Earth and of Time. Pachamama is a Goddess of Fertility who oversees the planting, growing and harvesting of the crops. She literally sustains all life on earth and embodies both Mother Earth and Mother Nature. Her body is the soil and the mountains, and she is the cause of earthquakes and mudlsides. Pachamama teaches us to appreciate her gifts and to offer her gifts in return/as thanks, but not to take too much from her or we cause her and ourselves problems when we do. Pachamama is still very actively worshipped across South America today.
Pṛthvī ('The Vast One') or Pṛthvī Mātā ('Mother Earth') - Hindu and Buddhist Goddess of the Earth whose name is still used in the Sanskrit language for the Earth itself. Consort of Dyaus Pita ('Father Sky'). Her sacred animal is the cow and she is considered the source of life and producer of everything that grows. Pṛthvī is known by many wonderful names such as Bhūmi ('Soil'), Medini ('Nurturer') and Prshni ('Mother of Plants') showing her strong links with birth, life, nature, plants, fertility and abundance.
Terra Mater ('Mother Earth') or Tellus - Personification of the Earth in Roman Mythology. Her sacred symbols are the cornucopia, bunches of flowers or baskets of fruit as she was a Goddess very much of the fertility of the Earth. She was one of the Principal Deities of Ancient Rome and of Agriculture. Even today in many Romance languages the word for earth is still her name, e.g. French Terre and Italian, Catalan and Portuguese Terra.
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