Swerving the direction of my research, Ravi Hindu Goddess of destruction enticed me with her immense power she harnessed feeding off the blood of the demon Raktabeech that enabled her to almost destroy the universe. She was stopped by husband Shiva by allowing her to step on him, so her iconography is just the epitome of fierce, bloodshot hungry eyes tongue hanging from her mouth with fangs, wearing a skirt of human arms, a necklace of skulls, stepping on a man. I love it.
I really want to explore different religions or cultural depictations of Goddesses of destruction, I want my outcome to convey the strength of women, their wrath perfectly understandable.
Anat
Ugaritic/Ancient Semitic Mythology
"Anat appears as a fierce, wild and furious warrior in a battle, wading knee-deep in blood, striking off heads, cutting off hands, binding the heads to her torso and the hands in her sash, driving out the old men and townsfolk with her arrows, her heart filled with joy." - A section from the Ugarit, the modern Ras Shamra an ancient port city in North Syria covered in carved Ugaritic texts.
Hel
Norse Mythology
Hel the goddess of death ruled the land of Helheim. Hel Death Goddess was the daughter of Loki the trickster and Angrboda Giantess, sister of two monstrous villains. They were respectively Jormungandr the Midgard Serpent and Wolf Fenrir the God of Destruction. Not only was Hel the queen of Helheim but she was also the queen of greed, cruelty, and harshness. Hel held the highest power, even the most powerful God Odin could not rival her as once the souls of the dead were in her possession nobody could reclaim them without her permission. Ironically it was Odin who sent Hel to the underworld, separating her and her siblings; he ordered Hel to look after the souls that had died of old age or sickness.
Ruler of the eponymous underworld of Norse mythology, Hel had a crucial role to play in judging the dead and Norse Eschatology (a part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as the "end of the world" or "end times"). The legend of Ragnarok goes that at the time of the apocolypse Hel must lead an army of the dead in a ship made of corpses fingernails.The only myth she features in prominently is that of the Death of the beloved God Baldur. She refused to give back his soul and release him from the underworld after her father Loki killed him. The God's sent Hermod as their representative in hopes of retrieving him; despite his pleading she wouldn't give him up easily. Her conditions for his release were that every living soul wept for him, everybody but one person (it's suspected this was Loki in disguise), so she kept his soul. She guards the gates of hell alongside the hound Garm.
Tefnut
Ancient Egyptain Mythology
Tefnut was the ancient Egyptian goddess of moisture, rain and dew, a significant role over a desert country. Tefnut is the daughter of the sun God Ra, her iconography is that of a lion headed goddess, occasionally with the head of a serpent.
She always wears a solar disk and Uraeus, carrying with her a spectre (representative of her power) and the ankh (the breath of life). She took on the aspect of the "Eye of Ra", protector of the sun god.
Tefnut once fell out with her father, her rage caused droughts; upon her return there were great celebrations amongst her people. Her return brought with her renewal of life.
Princess Liễu Hạnh
Vietnamese Folk Faith
Princess Liễu Hạnh, daughter of the Jade Emperor, was portrayed as a strong willed intellectual lady who challenged men intellectually and dominated them. She has been incarnated on Earth multiple times, one instance she fell in love with mortal man. She was an emancipated feminist, one of the first ever in Vietnam that excelled in poetry, who refused to get married for the sake of it, despite her multitude of admirers that she drove insane. She finally married aged 37 and died shortly after. Although she was not a model goddess of perfection, she alleviated the hardships of women in the fifteenth-century crisis era. A cult worshipping Liễu Hạnh arose from the need for a mother-figure deity as well as a "potent spirit protector" (Nghia M. Vo, pg 30, Legends of Vietnam: An Analysis and Retelling of 88 Tales).
Louhi
Finnish Mythology
Louhi/ Lovatar take on many forms and has many names as told my the Finnish epic the Kalevala. She is described as a powerful evil witch queen ruling over the northern realm of Pohjola. The blind daughter of the God of Death, Lovatar gave birth to nine diseases including plague, cancer and sterility. In the Kalevala Lovatar takes the form of the powerful Louhi; a shape-shifting witch who fiercely battles the epic's protagonists for the Sampo, a magical artefact (as pictured). It brought fortune and good riches to its owner, it was constructed by Ilmainen. Legend has it therefore when it is stolen Ilmarinen's homeland fell upon hard tines, however during the battle it was smashed and lost at sea. Later in the tale, Louhi attempts to steal the sun, moon and stars. Nowadays she's beloved by Finnish black metal musicians.
Mami Wata is venerated throughout Africa and the African diaspora of the Atlantic. An embodiment of the spirit of water she is often depicted as having a mermaid body accompanied by a snake which serves as a symbol of divinity. It is said that Mami is a cult figure head, she brings more destruction to her followers often then good, manipulating people is her forte. Her volatile temperament is threatening, suiting her to her water symbol. Followers of traditional African religions, Santeria, and Voodoo comprise Mami Wata's devotees. Her worship is therefore as diverse as her worshippers, though there are many parallels. Groups of people may gather in her name, but the goddess is much more prone to interacting with followers on a one-on-one basis. She thus has many priests and mediums in both Africa and the Caribbean who are specifically devoted to her.
As her name would imply, the goddess is closely associated with water. Traditions on both sides of the Atlantic tell of the goddess abducting her followers or random people whilst they are swimming or boating. She brings them to her paradisiacal realm, which may be underwater, in the spirit world, or both. The captives' release often hinges on some sort of demand, ranging from sexual fidelity to the goddess to something as simple as a promise that they do not eat fish. Should she allow them to leave, the travellers usually returns in dry clothing and with a new spiritual understanding reflected in their gaze. These returnees often grow wealthier, more attractive, and more easygoing after the encounter.
Mami wears clothes so fashionable no human could have designed them, flaunting her unimaginable wealth she is always depicted wearing the most fashionable garments and jewels that blind those who look upon them. She wears a snake around her, symbolic across much of Africa as a sign of divinity.
Mami Wata's association with sex is paradoxically linked to one with fidelity as well as lust; male followers are seduced by her as she appears to them as a goddess " in the guise of a beautiful, sexually promiscuous woman, such as a prostitute. If the men have sex with her they contract a venereal disease, she then demands sexual faithfulness and secrecy about their relationship, if this is rejected his family will be in ruin, as will his finances and job. Her strong sexual power is even phallic, female followers report sexual relations in their dreams with the goddess.
John Goba, Sierra Leona. Headdress for the Mami Wata Jolly masquerade.
It employed multiple elements from Indian and Hindu culture. 1980s
Documentary with real life testimonies
Tiamat
Babylonian Mythology
In Babylonian mythology, primeval Goddess of saltwater Tiamat is depicted as a feathered dragon. Also known as 'chaos monster' or 'glistening one', Tiamat gave birth to the Gods of Babylon in the Enuma Elish (the Babylonian creation epic) and formed the world along with her partner Apsu, the primeval Babylonian god of freshwater.
Apsu correctly assumes this first generation of deities plan to overthrow Apsu and rule in his place, Apsu is indeed defeated and killed and Tiamat seeks revenge. Taking on the form of a massive sea dragon and brought forth the monsters of the Mesopotamian pantheon, these include the first dragons, whose bodies she filled with poison instead of blood. Tiamat is then slain by the storm-god Marduk, slicing her in two, with her divided body Marduk forms the heavens and Earth.
And the lord stood upon Tiamat's hinder parts,
And with his merciless club he smashed her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood,
And he made the North wind bear it away into secret places
And with his merciless club he smashed her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood,
And he made the North wind bear it away into secret places
From the 1970s popular visual representations of Tiamat was changed to that of a multi-headed dragon, popularised through the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons.
Circe
Greek Mythology
According to Homer's Epigrams XIV Circe is known as daimona (spirit) of magic, as she invented magic. Her name is derived from the Greek kirko: to secure with rings/ hoop around, a reference to her binding spells. Circe was known most famously for demanding Odysseus live with her on her home island of Aeaea after falling in love with him, he landed on the island where Circe transformed his crew into animals. She often did this, leaving their minds intact so they were aware of their predicament as some form of torture. In order to free Odysseus, the god Hermes had to defeat her spells. Another famous tale goes that a lady named Scylla sparked Circe's jealousy unknowingly, Circe used a potion to change her into a hideous sea monster as revenge.
Sources
https://snakespirit.webs.com/mamiwata.htm
https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/hel/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlYpgmaP0HA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/18/awesome-goddesses-mythology_n_6881434.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_cs=McNDS8OLQ3OzB2nFsLplGg#gallery/410618/5
http://listverse.com/2014/10/19/10-witch-gods-and-goddesses-from-around-the-world/
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