Goddesses of the Witches

Some things I have been playing around with for various books.  Didn't fit with anything I am working on now, but I don't want to go to waste.

Names of the Goddess
The Goddess is known by many names, but each is but an aspect of the true goddess.  What follows is a listing of Goddesses from Earth’s mythologies.  In each case a possible or likely alignment is included as well as areas of domains for clerics and witch coven spells. Descriptions of that Goddess’ coven might also be included.

Artemis
Witches who worship the Artemis aspect of the Goddess are on good terms with druids.  These witches are common in amazon societies. As a witch of Artemis a woman pledges never to copulate with a man.  These witches are both chaste and celibate.  These witches may also choose to take the bow and arrow as their weapon.
She is part of a trinity of Artemis (maiden), Hestia (mother), and Hecate (crone).
Alignment: N or CG
Areas of Influence:Hunting, Moon, Women

Astartë
Astartë (Ah-star TAY) is the goddess of love, fertility as well as war and lasciviousness (lust) to the ancient peoples of Canaan and Phoenicia, she was worshiped as far West as Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus.  Her name and cult were derived from Babylonia, where as Ishtar, she represented the evening and morning stars and was accordingly androgynous in origin. Under Semitic influence, however, she became solely female, although retaining a trace of her original character by standing on equal footing with the male divinities. She represents the productive power of nature. She is also a moon goddess. Her symbol is the crescent moon with “horns” turned up.
She is related to the devil Astoroth, some say that she is now this devil, others say that that Astoroth is her son/consort.  Astoroth has also been associated with the Canaanite god of Thamudzi/Damuz.
Alignment: N or LN
Areas of Influence:Fertility, Magic

Athena
The Goddess of War and Wisdom sprang fully grown and armored from Zeus’, her father, head. She represents wisdom in matters of life and war.
Her worshippers are normally generals fighting just causes. The witches of this sect are usually on good terms with those of Artemis. This witch is favored in the Craft of the Wise tradition because of Athena’s renowned wisdom. They may choose the spear as their weapon.
Alignment: LG
Areas of Influence: War, Wisdom, Women

Bast
Bast is an ancient Goddess and the mistress of all cats.  Nearly every Find Familiar spell known invokes her name. Witches of Bast, few as they are, live a cat-like life style.  They prefer the comforts and leisure life that cats enjoy.  Then spend long afternoons lying in the sun and enjoying the sensuous side of life. Regardless, do not confuse leisure with laziness.  Witches of Bast are dedicated fighters of evil, in particular the workings of the minions of Set. Witches of Bast may choose weapon mastry in one edged weapon at the loss of one feat.  They also gain a +1 to hit and damage when fighting snakes.
Her consort is Aelurus, who appears as a tanned human male with a cat’s or lion’s head.
Alignment: NG or N
Areas of Influence: Cats, Good, Hunting

Brigit
Brigit, also known as Brigantia, Bridget, or Brigid, is the Celtic Goddess of the rivers and rural life. She is also the Goddess of Healing, Midwifery and Wisdom. She was raised on the milk creature of the other-world, a white, red-eared cow. Brigit is one of the great Triple Goddesses of the Celtic people. She appeared as Brigit to the Irish, Brigantia in Northern England, Bride in Scotland, and Brigandu in Brittany. Many legends are told about Brigit. Some say that there are three Brigits: one sister in charge of poetry and inspiration who invented the Ogham alphabet, one in charge of healing and midwifery, and the third in charge of the hearth fire, smithies and other crafts. This actually indicates the separate aspects of her Threefold nature and is a neat division of labor for a hard-working Goddess. Indeed, various interpretations of her name exist including, “Bright Arrow,” “The Bright One,” “the Powerful One” and “The High One,” depending upon the region and the dialect.
Her coven is known as the Daughters of the Flame.  These lawful good witches keep a holy flame burning at all times.
Part of a trinity of Brigit (maiden) and Danu (mother), Morigann is the crone.
Alignment: NG or LG
Areas of Influence: Fire, Healing, Wisdom

Cardea
Often called the Roman Hecate, Cardea is the goddess of doors and the knowledge behind those doors.  Cardea is a capricious Goddess, often requiring her witches to memorize a section of poetry or building a center of learning in exchange for Her gifts of knowledge.  Cardea is open to all who wish to seek her out, but she makes no guarantees that her knowledge will be helpful to the seeker.
Alignment: CN or CG
Areas of Influence: Knowledge, Paths, Wisdom

Cerridwen
Celtic Goddess of wisdom, intelligence, magic, divination and enchantment. She is the Goddess of the cauldron. Popular among the Celtic Classical and Craft of the Wise Traditions.
Cerridwen’s cauldron has the power to return the dead to life.
Alignment: N
Areas of Influence: Intelligence, Magic, Wisdom

Danu
The Celtic Mother-goddess known as Danu to the Irish and Don to the Welsh (and simlar to the Greek Demeter below).  The race of the Tuatha deDannan means “The Children of Danu”. She is also the mother of many Irish Celtic gods Diancecht, Lir, Lugh, Oghma and others.  Dagda is alternately mentioned as her son or father.  She is fierce protector of home and hearth.
She is part of a trinity of Brigit (maiden), Danu (mother), and Morigann (crone).
Alignment: N
Areas of Influence: Earth, Fertility, Nature

Demeter
Also known as Kore. The great Greek Earth Goddess. She is the Goddess of grain and of the harvest. Her witch cults are among the oldest known. She goes down to the underworld to retrieve her daughter.  During this time winter covers the land. Origin of most of the “Descent of the Goddess” legends.
Alignment: NG
Areas of Influence: Earth, Fertility, Nature

Diana
Diana is the Roman Goddess of fertility, the hunt and forests. She is the roman equivalent of the Greek Goddess of Artemis.  But unlike Artemis, the witches of Diana are not required to be chaste or celibate. In the celebration of Beletane the witch copulates with a druid priest in order to bring fertility back to the earth.  Some have even become Tantric witches.  Obviously these witches are on very good terms with Druids.  Their religious practices are very similar to Druids and to that Artemis.
The covens of Diana are often very old and very popular. The Amazon tradition is often known as the Cult of Diana because of their fervent devotion to the Goddess.
Alignment: N or CG
Areas of Influence: Hunting, Moon, Women

Eir
Eir is the Scandinavian Goddess of Healing, and handmaiden of Frigg.  No one is Her equal when it comes to healing.  Her worshipers are all healers, either clerical or as herbal healers.  Her clerics and witches must never pick up a weapon in anger or vengeance.
She is depicted as been a slight woman with reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes. Her arms are muscular.  She commonly wears blue and red. Fires always light her temples and covens, which are known as centers of healing and succor.  She is known for her patience.
All her worshipers must take the healing and profession (herbalist) skills.
Alignment: NG
Areas of Influence: Healing, Peace

Gaea
Gaea (Gaia) is an Earth Goddess of Greek origin.  It is she who is ultimately responsible for all life. It is claimed that she emerged from darkness and mated with Uranus (the Sky god) and bore the twelve titans.
Alignment: N
Areas of Influence: Earth, Fertility, Nature

Hathor
Egyptian fertility Goddess.  She is the celestial cow who created the earth and the sun. As a cow goddess she ruled love, joy, merriment, music and dance.  She nourished the living with her milk , suckling Pharaoh and all others.  She is also known as the Goddess of love, music, song, and pleasure. In this aspect She has many followers among Lorelei and Tantric witches. She was one of the Egyptian gods that help guide the dead to the other side.
She is a Goddess that represents life, thus all her witches must be forces of life.  While some celebrate life, like the Lorelei and Tantric witches, others actively pursue careers to destroy those that threaten or mock life, such as the followers of Set or undead.
Alignment: CG
Areas of Influence: Creation, Fertility, Life, Magic

Hecate
Hecate is, in Greek mythology, the Goddess of darkness, magic and witchcraft.  She is the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria. Unlike Artemis, who represented the moonlight and splendor of the night, Hecate represented its darkness and its terrors. On moonless nights she was believed to roam the earth with a pack of ghostly, howling dogs. She was the Goddess of sorcery and witchcraft and was especially worshiped by magicians and witches, who sacrificed black lambs and black dogs to her. As Goddess of the crossroads, Hecate and her pack of dogs were believed to haunt these remote spots, which seemed evil and ghostly places to travelers. In art Hecate is often represented with either three bodies or three heads and with serpents entwined about her neck.
Of all the deities who have covens, Hecate’s covens are the most widespread and well known. Hecate was once a fairly benign goddess in early Greek times. She later became the dread Greco-Roman Goddess of ghosts, a close confidante of Persephone and a patron of witches. The brutally wronged Hecuba of Troy was reincarnated as one of Hecate’s black dogs, which accompanied her on her night walks. When Hades kidnapped Persephone in the later Greek myth, farseeing Hecate was the only one who witnessed it. Hecate was worshiped at three-way crossroads at night even by ordinary Greek families and could ward off ghosts if properly propitiated. But Romans also believed She had more sinister worshipers; the witches and sorceresses who could coerce even the gods to do their will.
Alignment: LE or LN
Areas of Influence: Ghosts, Magic, Moon, The Crossroads

Hel
One side of Hel’s face was that of a beautiful woman. The other half was that of a rotting corpse, green and black, or of a skull.  She ruled the realm of Niflheim, a huge black canyon in icy mountains, where those who did not die gloriously in battle went when their span of life was up. Niflheim was not burning but icy cold, filled with sleet, icy slush, cold mud and snow. Garm, the horrible hound whose breast was splattered with the blood of the dead, guarded the entrance. Her hall was called Damp-With-Sleet. Her plate was Hunger, Her knife Famine; Her two servants were both called Slow-Moving. Her bed was Sick-Bed, the stone at the entrance to her hall Drop-to-Destruction. So the Vikings described Her and Her home. Though the Vikings regarded her with horror, the common people worshiped her.
Alignment: NE
Areas of Influence: Death, Destruction, Evil

Hestia
Hestia is one of the Grecian hearth goddesses.  The Romans later called her Vesta.  Hestia was said to preside over all sacrifices.  One of the prohibitions was that should her fire ever go it, it could not be rekindled by an ordinary fire but only by the sun’s rays or by the friction of two pieces of wood.  As Vesta, the leaders of her cult were the Vestal Virgins (these were six girls from ages six to ten) who entered her college and stayed there for thirty years. Those breaking their vow of chastity were whipped to death or entombed.  Her witches will be the older women who have completed their temple service.
She is part of a trinity of Artemis (maiden), Hestia (mother), and Hecate (crone).
Alignment: LG
Areas of Influence: Hearth, Healing, Home

Holda
Holda, or Frau Holt, is the Goddess of Teutonic witches and Hags.  She is seen as both a caring mother and a frightening hag—a witch that calms children’s fears or eats them.  These polar opposites are common in many of the guises of the Goddess.  Classic witches typically honor her “good” side and Hags her “evil” one.  Holda is often depicted as riding a broom or a giant flying goose.  She can appear as a kindly old mother, a small child wearing all white or a viscous hag-like monster. She is the goddess of spinning, vegetation and children.  She is also a fertility goddess and her consort is known as the Wood Man.
The Oskorei, or the Furious Horde, a legion of fallen heroes and others, who have died before their time, similar to the Wild Hunt of the Celts or the Valkeries of the Norse, follow her on her nightly rides.
It is also believed that Frau Holt is the model for the children’s storybook character “Mother Goose”.
Alignment: CG or CE
Areas of Influence: Night, Mysteries, Witches and Hags

Ishtar
Ishtar of the Babylonians, and alternately Inanna of the Sumerians, represent the duality approach to the female deity, both are to be considered Nature deities; that is, human nature.  Both are the chief goddesses of their pathos, both are the goddesses of love, and therefore sexuality.  Also both are the goddesses of War, and therefore violence.  Their witches tend to have mercurial, almost chaotic personalities.  Covens tend to be very ancient and set in their ways.  Rituals will usually be consisted of old, lengthy litanies and sacrifices.  Ishtar’s witches are also as likely to pick up a weapon, as they are to use magic.
Alignment: CN
Areas of Influence: Love, Nature, War

Isis
Covens of Isis are old and represent ancient powers of the universe.  These witches are in tune with the fundamental powers and forces of the universe.  Isis’ name is called in rights of fertility.  She is also the patron Goddess of Magic.  There is much rivalry between Hecate and Isis in this category.  All of Isis’ covens are the paramount of good.  Isis is also a feminine ideal. With Osiris, Isis and Horus (the divine child) made up a Holy Trinity. She is the Goddess of marriage, motherhood, fertility, magic, healing, reincarnation and divination, to name but a few. Isis is the patroness of priestesses. One myth has Isis poisoning the Sun God Ra, offering to save him only if he would reveal his secret name. At last, at the brink of destruction, Ra gives Isis his heart, with the secret name it held, and his two eyes (the Sun and the Moon).  Isis quells the poison and ends up with Ra’s supreme power. In time the great Eye was passed along to her son Horus.  Proclus mentions a statue of her which bore the inscription “I am that which is, has been and shall be. My veil no one has lifted”. Hence, to lift the veil of Isis is to pierce the heart of a great mystery.
Alignment: NG or LG
Areas of Influence: Healing, Magic, Women

Kali
Kali is the supreme Dark Goddesses. It has been claimed that Her name is derived from the Hindu word for Time, yet also means, “black”. She is also called Durga.
Her very appearance is meant to terrify. She is black and emaciated, with fangs and claws. She wears a girdle of severed arms, a necklace of skulls or severed heads, earrings of children’s corpses, cobras as bracelets or garlands. Her mouth is smeared with blood.   Often She is shown standing or dancing on the corpse of the god Shiva; here, She feasts on his intestines.
Yet even Kali is not always dark. She also is a loving mother, and especially in that aspect is worshipped by millions of Hindus and her witches.
Her witches also see Kali as an Earth-Fertility Goddess, is thus worshiped by many Tantric witches. There are many parallels between the witch’s view of Kali and that of Ishtar.  Kali’s regular priests (Thuggee) see her as the destroyer and a Goddess of death.  Her witches, however, view Kali as the Force of Nature, a mother who can give life and take it away.  Witches of Kali generally have several Thuggee males in their covens as their strong arms.  Slaves are kept and human sacrifice is common.  Kali’s holiest nights are on the new moon and Wednesdays.
Alignment: CE
Areas of Influence: Death, Destruction, Fertility

Lilith
Lilith is many things, first woman, wife, mother of demons, consort to men, demons, devils and gods, witch, demon and Goddess.
Lilith was the first wife of Adam, the first man. Adam and Lilith never found peace together, for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent position he demanded. “Why must I lie beneath you?” she asked. “I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal”. She became proud and refused to lie beneath him during intercourse. This violated the command to be fruitful and multiply, since she was not being impregnated. Some traditions hold that she was impregnated and bore demons from him. Others claim She had two daughters with Adam. Naamah and Tubal are referred to as Cain’s sisters.  Naamah is the mother of many devils. He pushed the issue of her submission, and she uttered the Holy Name of God and flew away.
It is said that soon after Lilith left Adam he stood in prayer before his creator and said: “God of the World, the woman that you gave me has run away from me”. God tried to force her to return to Adam and sent therefore the death-angel Azrafil to her in the desert at the Red Sea, where she dwelled with the djinns, giving birth to countless demons.  Then God dispatched the three angels, Sanvai, Sansanvai, and Semangelof to bring her back. They caught up with her in the desert near the Red Sea, a region abounding in lascivious demons, to which she bore Lilim at the rate of more than one hundred a day. “Return to Adam without delay,” the angels said, “or we will drown you!” Lilith asked: “How can I return to Adam and be his woman, after my stay beside the Red Sea?” “It would be death to refuse!” they answered. “How can I die,” Lilith asked again, “when God has ordered me to take charge of all newborn children: boys up to the eighth day of life, that of circumcision; girls up to the twentieth day? Nevertheless,” she said, “I swear to you in the name of God who is living and exists, that if ever I see your three names or likenesses displayed in an amulet above a newborn child, I promise to spare it”. To this day they agreed; however, God punished Lilith by making one hundred of her demon children perish daily, and if Lilith could not destroy a human infant, because of the angelic amulet, she would spitefully turn against her own.  As late as the 18th century, mothers and children across many cultures took advantage of the protection offered by these amulets. Charms and rituals accompanied the use of the amulets, protecting mothers and infants from the retribution of Lilith. Baby girls were considered vulnerable in their first three weeks of life. Boys, on the other hand, were believed to be vulnerable for longer periods of time. Any boy under the age of eight was possible prey.
Alignment: CE
Areas of Influence: Evil, Moon, Women

Lovitar
Of the Finnish, “the people who ran from the woods,” few Goddesses are as evil and sadistic as Lovitar, Maiden of Pain.  Witches of Lovitar dispense pain to all of their enemies. Typical garb is white and all kinds of daggers are allowed as weapons.  Her coven spells deal primarily with pain and cold.
Alignment: NE
Areas of Influence: Cold, Evil, Pain

Mabd
The Queen of the Sidhe. Mabd is the prototypical elven Goddess of Celtic lore.  Her high time is the Summer Solstice. She is also known as Mab, Meave and to the Briton Celts, Titania. She is a mercurial Goddess that reflects the nature of the forest; life giving to some, deadly to others.
Witches of the Faerie Tradition honor Mabd and many of the Classical Traditions also pay her honor.
Alignment: CG or CN
Areas of Influence: Elves (Sidhe), Mysteries

Morigann
The Raven, the Celtic goddess of war.  Known as The Morigann, Morigan, Macha and Morigu.  She is the Goddess of war, battle and death, but not evil.
Part of a trinity of Brigit (maiden) and Danu (mother), Morigann is the crone.
Alignment: CN or CE
Areas of Influence: Chaos, War

Rhiannon
This Welsh Goddess is well known for her appearance in the Mabinagion.  In penance for a crime that she did not commit, she sat for seven years outside Pwyll’s palace and offered to carry any visitor on her back like a horse.  The singing of her three magic birds could be heard over the sea, could wake the dead and could lull the living to sleep.  She was also identified with Epona (a horse cult).  The Roman Calvary favored Epona and her shrines were covered with roses.
Alignment: CG
Areas of Influence: Horses, Fertility, Women

Tiamat
Tiamat is the great creation Goddess of water and chaos to the Sumerians.  She gave birth to all of the Sumerian (Babylonian) gods and ruled them all, until the god Marduk defeated her.  He used Her body to create the sky and earth.  She was described as a great dragon or a being of chaos. Like so many other destructive Goddesses, Tiamat is a Goddess of creation.  It is believed by the Sumerians that she created the world.  In Babylonian myths, Tiamat is a huge, bloated female dragon that personifies the saltwater ocean, the water of Chaos. She is also the primordial mother of all that exists, including the gods themselves.
The Cult of Tiamat is extremely far reaching.  The primary duties of her witches are to venerate Tiamat and destruction in any way they can and to spread the word of the cult.  Often “spreading the word” implies random acts of violence and attributing them to Tiamat herself.  It is her capacity as the dark Goddess of chaos and creation that attracts so many witches to her cult.
Her witches tend to belong to the Malefic or dark Tantric Traditions.
Alignment: CE
Areas of Influence: Chaos, Creation, Dragons, Water

Tlazolteol
Aztec witches who worship Tlazolteol, the Goddess of vice, are often tantric or malefic witches.  They spend a great amount of time on their appearance and try to look as desirable as possible. Once they have someone alone they will attempt to corrupt or kill them. Most prefer to corrupt others. Bards speak of a particularly successful witch of Tlazolteol who had been in the bedrooms of many of a particular country’s politicians.  Single handedly she had very nearly toppled the government through jealousy and deceit.
Tlazoteol is also seen as a necessary evil. She takes in filth and sin so it may be disposed of.   It is this aspect that she is most often worshiped and served by her witches.  Confessing ones sins to her or to her witches, one would be purified of those sins.  Mothers in childbirth often called on her aid. Her witches, learned in all manners sexual, are also skilled midwives and nursemaids, after all birth is a natural consequence of sex. Her witches are believed to be adulterous and women born under her sign (The Ocelot) were believed to become her witches.
She is seen as lustful maiden, mother or priestess and crone, devourer of youth, depending on her mood.  She is always depicted nude in all of her aspects, as the Mother she is seen having just given birth.  She wears a gold and turquoise necklace and her temples are adorned with gold bells.  Of note she is also sometimes depicted as wearing a conical “witch’s” hat.
Alignment: CE or CN
Areas of Influence: Chaos, Fertility, Trickery, Vice