Moon Deities

A (also, Sirdu, Sirrida)
Moon goddess of Chaldeans. *Depicted as a disk with eight rays.

Annit
Northern Babylonian goddess who was superseded by Ishtar. Originally the
Ruler of the moon, Annit is portrayed as a disk with eight rays. She and Sin
A male god, come to the aid of mortals.

Arianrhod
Welsh moon goddess and one of several children of the mother goddess Don.
Her home is in the constellation Corona Borealis.

Atremis
Moon goddess to both the Greeks and the legendary Amazons. Worshippers paid
Homage to her on nights of the full moon by revelling in the forest under
The moon's light. She is associated with the waxing moon,

Artimpaasa
Scythian moon goddess

Athenesic
Native American moon goddess

Auchimaigen
Chilean moon goddess who served as protector of the Auracanians

Britomaris
Originally a Cretan moon goddess, later assimilated by the conquering Greeks
Britomaris would appear in the night sky to aid sea-going navigators.

Candi
The female counterpart to Chandra, ancient Hindu lord of the moon. The two
Were said to take turns: one month the moon would be Candi, the next Chandra


Caotlicue
Aztec moon goddess and wife of the sun god. Sometimes called the lunar
Counterpart to the earth goddess Coatlicue.

Chandra (also Chandraprabha)
Hindu lord of the moon, born after his mother swallowed the moon. Chandra is
Often shown with multiple heads, or holding a hare, which is sacred to him.
He is the ancestor of the Chandra-vansa, the lunar race, from which Krishna,
The eighth avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu was descended. Chandra is
Associated with soma, the magical drink of the gods.

Chang-o (also Chang-wo, Heng-E, Heng-O)
Chinese moon goddess. According to legend, she is the wife of a famous
Archer to whom the gods had promised immortality. Chang-o stole her husband
S magical potion, drank it and was forced to escape his wrath by fleeing to
The moon in the shape of a frog. She is represented in the dark spots of the
Moon as a three-legged frog.

Dea-Soon
Korean moon goddess

Diana
Roman assimilation of the Greek moon goddess Artemis. Diana was often
Portrayed riding the moon, with a bow in her hands. She was frequently
Worshipped out in the open so she could look down at her faithful.

Europa
A Cretan goddess who had lunar attributes; her consort animal is a bull.
Europe takes its name from her.

Gnatoo
Moon goddess of the Friendly Islands. Her portrayal, as a woman pounding out
Tapa, is a motif in Polynesian woman-in-the-moon myths.

God D
Mayan good of the moon and night sky, referred to in ancient manuscripts but
Given no name. Numerous Mayan 'letter gods', as the nameless are called,
Have been assigned letters by scholar Paul Schell. God D was portrayed as an
Old man with sunken cheeks, wearing a serpent headdress. He is sometimes
Identified with Kukulcan, god of mighty speech, or Itzamma, sky god and
Mayan cultural hero.

Gwaten
Japanese Buddhist lunar goddess, one of the twelve Buddhist deities called
Jiu No O, adopted from Hindu mythology. Gwaten is derived from the Hindu god
Soma and is portrayed as a woman holding in her right hand a disk
Symbolising the moon.

Hanwi
Oglala moon goddess who lived with the sun god Wi. She was tricked by a
Woman into giving up her seat next to Wi and was shamed. She left Wi's home
And went her own way, and as punishment she was forced to give up her
Rulership of dawn and twilight, and to hide her face when near the sun.

Hecate
Greek moon goddess who comes out at night carrying a torch and accompanied
By dogs. She is said to frequent crossroads, where statues to her were
Erected. A triple goddess, she was sometimes pictured as having three heads
Of dogs, a horse and a serpent. Worshippers paid tribute on nights of the
Full moon by leaving offerings at her statues. As queen of the night, Hecate
Rules spirits, ghosts and infernal creatures such as ghouls. She is the
Patroness of witchcraft.

Hina (also Ina)
Polynesian moon goddess. In Hawaiian mythology, her full name is
Hina-hanaia-I-ka-malama, which means 'the woman who worked in the moon'.
Various stories tell how she went there. In one story, she sailed her canoe
To the moon. In another, her brother, angered by noise she making after a
Night of heavy drinking, threw her into the heavens. In Tahitian and
Hawaiian myths she grew weary of beating out tapa and escaped her drudgery
By felling to the moon. In another Hawaiian myth, a chief lured her up from
a land under the seas, and from her gourd came the moon and the stars.
Another myth credits her with creating the first coconuts with Te Tuna 'the
Eel'.

Huitaca (also Chia)
Moon goddess to ancient Chibcha Native Americans who lived in what is now
Columbia. Huitaca is depicted as an owl. Representing the spirit of joy and
pleasure, she is constantly at odds with the male Bochica, who stand for
hard work and a solemn approach to daily living. In some legends, Huitaca
was the wife of Bochica, whom she had tried to ruin by destroying his
believers by unleashing a great flood. He took vengeance on her by hurtling
her into the sky and turning her into the moon.

Ishtar (also Ashdar, Astar, Istar, Istaru)
Babylonian goddess who rules the moon, derived in part from the Sumerian
goddess, Inanna. In some accounts Ishtar is the daughter of the moon god Sin
and sister of Shamash the sun god Sin and sister of Shamash the sun god.
According to legend, on a trip to the underworld to find Tammuz, her dead
lover, she had to shed her clothes, which caused the moon to darken. On her
return trip, as she regained her clothes, the moon brightened again.

Isis
Egyptian goddess who is both the moon and the mother of the sun. She is
depicted holding a papyrus sceptre and the ankh, which represents life.

IX Chel
Mayan goddess of the moon. Ix Chel and the sun were lovers, but because the
sun was always jealous, it was a stormy relationship. The sun would
routinely tell her to leave heaven, only to set off to find her again.
Travelling the night sky, Ix Chel would make herself invisible whenever the
sun approached.

Ix-huyne
Mayan moon goddess

Juno
Roman sky and moon goddess. The appearance of a new moon would bring out her
women worshippers.

Khonsu
Egyptian moon god, the son of Amun, god of air, and Mut, a mother goddess.
Khonsu, whose name means 'He-who-traverses-(the sky)', is depicted as a
mummified youth holding a crook, a flail and a sceptre. On his head are
representations of crescent and full moons. As a lunar god, he helped the
god Thoth reckon time. Because of his influence, women conceived and
multiplied their young. Khonsu was also an important god of healing, and is
said to have healed Ptolemy IV of serious illness. Khonsu's principal temple
was at Thebes.

Kuu
Finno-Ugric moon god.

Lalal (also Losna, Lucna)
Etrusvan moon goddess

Mah
Persian moon goddess, whose light makes plants grow.

Mama Quilla
Incan moon goddess who protected married women. Her most famous temple
erected at Cuzco, seat of the Inca empire. She was portrayed as a silver
disk with feminine features. It was said eclipses resulted when mama Quilla
was eaten by a heavenly jaguar.

Mawa
African moon goddess, who ruled the heavens with her twin brother, Lisa.

Metztil
Aztec moon goddess. According to mythology, Metztli would leap into a
blazing fire to give birth to the sun in the morning sky.

Pandia
Greek goddess associated with Selene, the Greek goddess of the full moon.

Perse (also Persea, Perseis)
Early Greek moon goddess

Pheraia
Little is known about this Thessalian goddess. Possibly, she was associated
with the moon because she was depicted carrying a torch and riding a bull, a
lunar animal.

Rabie
Indonesian moon goddess

Ri (also Re)
Phoenician moon goddess

Sardarnuna
Sumerian goddess of the new moon

Selene (also Mene, Selena)
Greek goddess of the full moon. Wearing wings and a crescent crown, Selene
rode in a chariot pulled by two white horses.

Sin
The Sumerian Nanna, the moon. The chief astral deity, sometimes regarded as
the son of Enlil and Ninlil; father of Utu-Shamash, the sun, and of Ishtar.
He is lord of the calendar, fixing the seasons, and also a vegetation-deity
and patron of fertility. With Shamash and Hadad he makes up the second triad
of Mesopotamian gods. His chief temple was in Ur.

Soma
Soma is a very difficult deity for many outside of India to comprehend. He
works on numerous levels, all of which are tied together rather strangely.
Soma is firstly a plant. He is also an intoxicating drink which was brewed
from that plant. As the blood of animals and the sap of plants, Soma courses
through all living things. He is Inspiration to those who seek it, and so is
the god of poets. He is also the god of the moon. He is the dwelling place
of the venerated dead, as well as the divine cure for evil. The ancient
Hindus did not differentiate between these divergent aspects; all were the
god Soma.

Tapa
The Polynesian goddess of light, wife of the moon-god Marama. She is the
daughter of the old, blind earth-god Kui. She lives in the sky in daytime,
when her husband is rarely visible. Ina makes tapa (bark cloth) from the
trees that grow on earth. As soon as a piece of bark cloth is well beaten
she hangs it out on the blue sky where it sits like a cloud, white and grey.
The pieces are fixed with large stones and when she removes a piece the
stones roll away, causing thunder. She also taught the women the art of
plaiting baskets. Her daughter is Aroture. On Samoa she is called Sina.

Tecciztecatl
'Old moon god'. An Aztec moon god who represents the male form on the planet
even its rising from the ocean. Tecciztecatl is an old man who carries a
large white seashell on his back.

Teczistecatal
Ancient Mexican moon goddess.

Thoth
Thoth was also a lunar deity, and whatever form he took he wore a lunar
crescent on his head. Some Egyptologists think that the Egyptians identified
the crescent moon with the curved beak of the ibis. It is also suggested
that the Egyptians observed that baboon was a nocturnal (i.e. lunar) animal
who would greet the sun with chattering noises each morning.

As he was messenger of the gods Thoth was identified by the Greeks with
their own god Hermes. For this reason Thoth's centre of worship is still
known to us today as Hermopolis.

Thoth is the name given by the Greeks to the Egyptian god Djeheuty. Thoth
was the god of wisdom, inventor of writing, patron of scribes and the divine
mediator. He is most often represented as a man with the head of an ibis,
holding a scribal palette and reed pen. He could also be shown completely as
an ibis or a baboon.

Titania
Epithet for Diana, Roman moon goddess

Tlazolteotl (also Tiaculteutl)
The Aztec earth and mother-goddess, and goddess of sex. may have had lunar
associations. Tlazolteotl was also called "the eater of filth", and she got
this name from the legend that at the end of a man's life she comes to him
and he more or less confesses and she cleanses his soul, eating it's filth.
She was also the mother of childbirth.

Tsuki-Yomi
Japanese Shinto moon god, born when the primeval creator god, Izanagi,
washed his right eye. Tsuki means moon and Yomi means counter of the months;
thus Tsuki-Yomi is a time-keeping god. At his shrines all Ise and Kadono are
mirrors in which the god is said to manifest himself.

Ursula (also Horsel, Orsel)
Slavic moon goddess, who was feasted on October 21. Later she became St
Ursla.

Yellow Woman
Huntress goddess of the Keres, a Pueblo tribe. Yellow Woman is similar to
the Romans' Diana and also appears to have lunar associations; her name is
evocative of moonlight. In myths that seem to explain phases and the moon's
occasional daytime appearances, Yellow Woman is killed at night and her
brother Arrow Youth, searches for her with the help of Great Star. Arrow
Youth wants her to be alive during the day. He is told by the chief of
spirits that she will stay away four days. He is to search for her among
melon rinds, symbols of her crescent moon. Then her heart is found, and head
is washed. She puts on a dress and is seen during the day.

Yemanja
Ocean goddess of Brazilian Macumba. Yemanja also has lunar associations. She
is portrayed as the crescent moon.

Yohuaticeti
Moon goddess of ancient Mexicans

Yolkai Estsan
Navajo moon goddess. made from abalone shell, Yolkai was the sister of the
sky goddess Estsatlehi.

Zarpandit
Babylonian goddess worshipped nightly at the appearance of the moon

Zirna
Etruscan moon goddess. She was depicted wearing a half moon around her neck.
Author Unknown