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When their son Horus, the Sky God, became a youth, he fought to avenge his father
against Seth. The divine judges, including Thoth, god of wisdom, met in the Great
Hall of Judgment and decided that Osiris should become not a living king once more,
but eternal King and Judge of the Underworld.
Osiris was also god of vegetation, the fertile, flooding Nile and the corn, and so
represented the annual dying of the land and rebirth with the flood. He is normally
pictured as a man, bound in mummy wrappings.
Osiris is an important icon of the annual cycle of sacrifice and resurrection but,
as with all the sacrifice gods, it is the female power that causes the
resurrection. Like other sacrificed and restored gods, Osiris thereby represents
the integration of animus and anima and sacred sex magick. He can be used in
rituals for the balance of male/female energies or where the female in the High
Priestess role takes the lead. He is also good for any magick that relies on a
cycle of regeneration following a natural ending.
Deities of fire
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Agni
Agni, the Hindu god of fire, is said to be manifest as the vital spark in mankind,
birds, animals, plants and life itself. He appeared in lightning, in celestial sun
flares, in the sacred blaze rising from the altar and in household fires.
Agni was the divine priest and acted as messenger to the gods, interceding with
them on behalf of mankind. The priest would chant:
'Agni, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice,
the great bestower of treasure.
May one obtain through Agni,
wealth and welfare.'
Agni is still important as the god of domestic and ritual fire and for spells for
the increase of wealth, material goods, creativity and domestic protection.
Hephaestus
Hephaestus, Greek god of fire and metal-work, was thrown from Mount Olympus by his
father Zeus because he took the part of his mother Hera in a quarrel; as a result
of the fall, he became lame. He created armour, weapons and jewels for the gods in
his workshop beneath the volcanic Mount Etna, in Sicily, and as a reward was given
Aphrodite as his unwilling bride. He was among the least charismatic of the gods,
but his Roman counterpart, Vulcan, fashioned Jupiter's thunderbolts.
Hephaestus is patron of metal-workers in much of the Western world and in the
Middle East from where his cult originated. He is effective in all rituals for
craftsmanship, for the acquisition of wealth and treasures, for the development of
skills and precision and for controlled power for a particular purpose.
Deities Of Healing
Aesculapius
Aesculapius was a healer, son of Apollo and the mortal Corona, who lived during the
eleventh century BC, and became a god after Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt for
raising the dead.
The first shrine dedicated to Aesculapius was built in Athens in the fifth century
BC by Sophocles. Other shrines followed in rapid succession, the most famous at
Epidaurus, which became a major healing centre. Many were sited at sacred wells and
springs. These shrines were dedicated to healing and dreams, and were the principle
vehicle for obtaining relief or cure of illness of all kinds.
When Aesculapius appeared to the dreamers, he would tell them the medicine they
should use and any treatment that should be followed. He can be invoked for healing
and meaningful dreams, for good health and for divination.
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Ganga
Ganga is the Hindu water goddess who is manifest as the sacred river Ganges,
daughter of the mountain Himalaya. She is a natural focus for healing rituals, as
well as for happiness, fertility and prosperity, and for Water magick.
Iduna
Iduna is the Viking goddess of eternal youthfulness, health and long life. As
goddess of spring, she possessed a store of golden apples that endowed immortality,
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fertility and healing and so she can form a focus for healing rituals, and for
spells for beauty, health and the granting of wishes, especially those using apples
as a symbol.
Panacea
Panacea is the Roman goddess of healing, who takes away pain. Daughter of
Aesculapius, she and her sister Hygeia assisted in healing the sick in their dreams
at the dream temples.
She is good for healing rituals for women, children and especially teenage girls.
Sulis
Sulis, or Sulevia, is the Celtic goddess of healing and especially of healing
waters. Her name is derived from the Celtic word for the Sun and her most famous
site is the hot mineral springs that have for at least 10,000 years poured from the
ground in Bath, in south-west England. From Celtic times, perhaps even earlier, the
springs became a formal centre of healing.
Sulis became Sulis Minerva under the Roman occupation and she maintained her role
as a healing deity. The significance of the sacred springs continued and Edgar, the
first king of England, was crowned there in AD 973. In medieval times, the springs
were still a focus for healing pilgrimages and in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries Bath became a fashionable resort where the wealthy would come to
socialise and take the waters.
Sulis is potent for all healing water rituals. Because curse tablets as well as
offerings have been retrieved from the waters, she is also associated with justice
through karma and the banishing of sorrows.
Deities of wisdom
As well as wisdom, these gods and goddesses are for knowledge, truth and justice.
Athena
Athena, or Athene, daughter of Zeus, is goddess of wise counsel, both in peace and
war, of intelligence, reason, negotiation and all forms of the arts and literature.
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