Goddesses and Gods Love and Sexuality

There are countless deities associated with love and/or sexuality in every culture throughout history, here are some..

The Etruscan goddess of love and the underworld. She belongs to the Lasas and is usually portrayed naked.

In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods) was castrated by his son Cronus . Cronus threw the severed genitals into the ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam") arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Hence she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus and Dione. After her birth, Zeus was afraid that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's hand in marriage so he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus the steadiest of the gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all his skills to make the most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of finely wrought gold and wove magic into the filigree work. That was not very wise of him, for when she wore her magic girdle no one could resist her, and she was all too irresistible already. She loved gaiety and glamour and was not at all pleased at being the wife of sooty, hard-working Hephaestus. Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis . Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises. She is accompanied by the Graces. Her festival is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of Greece and especially in Athens and Corinth.

Her priestesses were not prostitutes but women who represented the goddess and sexual intercourse with them was considered just one of the methods of worship.

Aphrodite was originally an old-Asian goddess, similar to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Syro-Palestinian goddess Ashtart. Her attributes are a.o. the dolphin, the dove, the swan, the pomegranate and the lime tree. In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid is love's messenger.

The Phoenician goddess of love and war. She was also the sister and co-consort to the god Baal. Once she slayed all his enemies at a feast.

The Armenian goddess of love and fertility. With the sun god Vahagn and the moon goddess Anahit she forms an astral trinity. She is similar to the Greek Aphrodite and the Mesopotamian Ishtar. Her name means "little star".

Antheia was the Greek goddess called “the blooming”, or “friend of the flowers.” Her surname was Hera. Antheia had a temple at Argos. She was used by Cnossis as a surname of Aphrodite. She was considered to be in the form of a goddess as a flower-like adolescent. Also, in Crete, she was the goddess of vegetation, lowlands, gardens, blossoms, the budding earth, and human love.

In Norse mythology, Astrild is the goddess of love.

The Celtic goddess of love and beauty. Also of Manx and Wales. She is the sister of Bran the Blessed and Manannan mac Lir, daughter of Lir, and wife of the Irish king Matholwch. She is similar to the Greek goddess Aphrodite and the Roman goddess Venus. After the death of her brother Bran, due to a war caused by Matholwch, Branwen died of a broken heart.

After Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, was born out of the sea, the Zaratysts, or wind spirits, carried her to the coast of Cyprus where she was prepared for her introduction to the other gods. On the way to Cyprus they stopped briefly on Cythera, and that island became sacred to the goddess. The planet Venus, which bears the goddess' Roman name, is also identified with Aphrodite, and therefore with love.

The Greek god of love and sexual desire. He was one of the first gods to emerge from primeval Chaos and is considered to be one of the eldest gods. In more recent mythology, Eros is the son of Aphrodite and Ares, and one of the younger deities. He is represented as a playful, winged boy with a bow and arrows. He wounds both gods and men with his unerring and irresistible arrows of desire. His arrows come in two sets: golden arrows with dove feathers for love, and leaden arrows with owl feathers for indifference. Eros' brother is Anteros ("returner of love") and his wife is the mortal Psyche. In the Dionysian Mysteries, Eros is the most ancient deity and referred to as protagonus ("the first-born") who emerged from the cosmic egg of Nyx, the goddess of night. According to Plato, Eros is the striving of mankind to the pure, the good, the beautiful. Eros' Roman counterpart is Amor / Cupid.
Related informationPronunciation {air'-ohs} Meaning of name "Desire"

In Norse mythology, Freya is a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the goddesses. She is the patron goddess of crops and birth, the symbol of sensuality and was called upon at matters of love. She loves music, spring and flowers, and is particularly fond of the elves (fairies). Freya is one of the foremost goddesses of the Vanir. Related information Other names Frøya Pronunciation {fray'-ah} Images Freya Other Printable copy She is the daughter of the god Njord , and the sister of Freyr. Later she married the mysterious god Od (probably another form Odin). He disappeared and when she mourned for her lost husband, her tears changed into gold. Her attributes are the precious necklace of the Brisings, which she obtained by sleeping with four dwarfs, a cloak (or skin) of bird feathers, which allows its wearer to change into a falcon, and a chariot pulled by two cats. She owns Hildesvini ("battle boar") which is actually her human lover Ottar in disguise. Her chambermaid is Fulla. Freya lives in the beautiful palace Folkvang ("field of folk"), a place where always love songs are played, and her hall is Sessrumnir. She divides the slain warriors with Odin: one half goes to her palace, while the other half goes to Valhalla. Women also go to her hall. Old Norse: Freyja, Friia

Inanna is the most important goddess of the Sumerian pantheon in ancient Mesopotamia. She is a goddess of love, fertility, and war. Inanna figures prominently in various myths, such as 'Inanna's descent to the underworld'. In this particular myth she travels to the realm of the dead and claims its ruling.

However, her sister Ereshkigal , who rules the place, sentences her to death. With Inanna's death, however, nature died with her and nothing would grow anymore. Through the intervention of the god Enki she could be reborn if another person took her place. She choose her beloved consort Dumuzi, who would from then on rule the underworld every half year.
Related information Other names Inannu

A Babylonian goddess of love, priestess of Ishtar

Ishtar was the ancient Sumero-Babylonian goddess of love and fertility. She is often described as the daughter of Anu , the god of the air. In most of the myths concerning her, she is described as an evil, heartless, women who destroyed her mates and lovers. Her greatest lover was the farm god Tammuz, who is similar to the Greek Adonis. After he died she went into the underworld to retrieve him but her efforts were vain and she returned to the living world alone. Later, in the great epic of Gilgamesh, she tried to make Gilgamesh her husband, but he refused her and reminded her of her former lovers, whom she mercilessly killed or left injured. She reported this to her father, Anu, and he gave her the mystical bull of heaven to avenge herself. Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu stopped and killed the mighty creature and threw its headless body at her feet. They also insulted her, and she responded by sending disease to kill Gilgamesh's best friend Enkidu. She is one of Aphrodite's counterparts.

A popular Tibetan goddess of love and wealth who enchants gods and humans to serve her. In her hands she often holds the lotus flower, as well as a bow and arrow. She is portrayed in the lotus position, sitting on the god of love Kama and his partner.

In Norse myth, Lofn is the goddess of forbidden love. She smiles upon illicit unions.

by Ryan Tuccinardi
The Greek personification of affection. She is usually ascribed as the daughter of Nyx and sister of Apate ("deceit"), Geras ("old age"), and Eris.

Goddess of love worshipped by the ancient Illyrians and, later, the Albanians. The wife of Perendi, the Illyrian thunder-god, Prende is referred to in folktales and legends as the "queen of beauty" (zoja e bukuris). After the Catholicization of the region, Prende was absorbed into the new church as a minor saint; as in pre-Christian days, her holy day always falls on a Friday

The Syrian goddess of sacred love and sensual pleasure. Qetesh. Originally a Syrian goddess who was later she worshipped in Egypt as a goddess of love. Possibly she is one of the forms of the mother-goddess Hathor.

The Hindu goddess of sexual desire. She was the daughter of the sun god Daksha and the wife of Kama, the god of love.

In Norse myth, Sjofn is the goddess who inspired human passion, she was also a goddess concerned with causing men and women to think of love. It was her duty to stop fights between married couples.

The goddess of persuasion, and especially in love. She is a follower of Venus.

The Etruscan goddess of love, health, and fertility, and the patroness of the city Vulci (in the current Italian province Viterbo). Turan is usually portrayed as a young woman with wings on her back. The pigeon and black swan are her symbolic animals and she is accompanied by the Lasas. Her Roman equivalent is Venus

The Hindu goddess of success in love affairs; an apsara , or heavenly nymph.

The Roman goddess of love and beauty, but originally a vegetation goddess and patroness of gardens and vineyards. Later, under Greek influence, she was equated with Aphrodite and assumed many of her aspects. Her cult originated from Ardea and Lavinium in Latium. The oldest temple known of Venus dates back to 293 BC, and was inaugurated on August 18. Later, on this date the Vinalia Rustica was observed. A second festival, that of the Veneralia, was celebrated on April 1 in honor of Venus Verticordia, who later became the protector against vice. Her temple was built in 114 BC. After the Roman defeat near Lake Trasum in 215 BC, a temple was built on the Capitol for Venus Erycina. This temple was officially opened on April 23, and a festival, the Vinalia Priora, was instituted to celebrate the occasion. Related information Venus is the daughter of Jupiter, and some of her lovers include Mars and Vulcan, modeled on the affairs of Aphrodite. Venus' importance rose, and that of her cult, through the influence of several Roman political leaders. The dictator Sulla made her his patroness, and both Julius Caesar and the emperor Augustus named her the ancestor of their (Julian) family: the 'gens Julia' was Aeneas , son of Venus and the mortal Anchises . Ceasar introduced the cult of Venus Genetrix, the goddess of motherhood and marriage, and built a temple for her in 46 BC. She was also honored in the temple of Mars Ultor. The last great temple of Venus was built by the emperor Hadrianus near the Colusseum in 135 AD. Roman statues and portraits of Venus are usually identical to the Greek representations of Aphrodite. The story of Venus and Adonis, as told by Thomas Bulfinch.

The Aztec goddess of the earth, flowers, plants, games and dance, but mainly she is a goddess of love. She is also the patroness of artisans, prostitutes, pregnant women and birth. Originally Xochiquetzal ("Flower Feather") was associated with the moon. This goddess is the most charming of the Aztec pantheon and her retinue consists of butterflies and birds. Every eight years a feast was held in her honor where the celebrants wore animal and flowers masks. She is the twin sister of the flower prince Xochipilli and sometimes mentioned as the wife of the rain god Tlaloc. Related informationMeaning of name "Flower Feather"