TOP 10 GIRLS OF MYTHOLOGY (SPECIAL MENTION)

 

That’s right – I can find Fantasy Girls in anything.

I’ve ranked my Top 10 Girls of Mythology but there’s always more goddesses and mythic female figures – certainly more than enough for my usual twenty special mentions for each top ten.

Of course, this continues to be something of a personal novelty list, as my Girls of Mythology don’t tend to have the same art or cosplay as my usual Fantasy Girls in popular culture, but they still have surprisingly more name recognition or adaptations in popular culture than those from other areas of culture. And perhaps even more surprisingly, since some of them do pop up in popular culture – even in comics or video games – they do feature in art and cosplay. Of course, it helps to have video games in which gods and goddesses are playable characters, such as the game Smite.

And they also continue to be reasonably diverse – mostly goddesses of course, but a few mortal girls or at least semi-mortal, as well as from a range of my favorite mythologies.

Anyway, here are the special mentions for my Top 10 Girls of Mythology.

 

 

 

 

(1) TRIPLE GODDESS (HECATE)

 

She is the triple goddess –

maiden, mother, crone

grace, fate, fury

lover, mother, bitch

 

The Triple Goddess – maiden, mother, and crone – of modern neopaganism, usually depicted as the Goddess, or dare I say it, holy trinity.

As TV Tropes notes, this Triple Goddess “has the unusual distinction of being either older than feudalism or newer than they think” – in that it is usually seen as a modern adaptation (particularly through Robert Graves) but one which claims ancient heritage, adapting divine female figures into an uber-goddess or Goddess, a supreme female divine figure with three manifestations, albeit overlapping.

Each of those three manifestations – maiden, mother, and crone – are essentially condensations of the distinctive roles or facets of goddesses or divine female figures throughout mythology.  Some goddesses or divine female figures in mythology may combine all three manifestations and hence be triple goddesses (or the Triple Goddess) of themselves, while others may lean more to one manifestation than another – for example, goddesses of love and beauty lean more towards the maiden.

A major inspiration and source for the Triple Goddess is Hecate, so much so that TV Tropes named their trope for the Triple Goddess as the Hecate Sisters. Although the earliest known images of Hecate were singular in nature, she came to be generally represented as a three-formed goddess (often triple bodied or triple headed). Of course, Hecate’s triple form tended to be of the same age and appearance, as opposed to the three ages and appearances of the Hecate sisters or Triple Goddess – young and beautiful maiden, mother (of maternal age obviously, but varying in appearance), and crone.

Hecate or Hekate – chthonic classical Greek goddess of night, magic and witchcraft.

Liminal goddess of borders and crossroads of all kinds, including those with realms outside or beyond the world of the living, and as such, also a chthonic or underworld goddess, closely associated with (if not an aspect of) Persephone, the queen of the underworld. She was also an apotropaic goddess, protecting from or warding off dangerous or destructive spirits.

Also, dogs were closely associated with and sacred to her, which combined with her otherworldly role as a liminal goddess of magic, would be more than enough to earn her special mention.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GODDESS TIER)

 

 

 

 

(2) NYMPHS

 

I’m into classical mythology for the nymphs!

Special mention has to go to those definitive female figures of classical mythology – nymphs.

Nymphs were divine female spirits of nature, most notably trees (dryads) and water (naiads and nereids), but there were myriad others. Some have seen them as originating from animistic goddesses or even sacred priestesses.

Of course, something of their sensual nature is suggested by their modern derivation of nymphomania, although that does somewhat cheapen their classical stature. I’m still hanging out for a modern derivation of nymphocracy as an ideology I could get behind.

Personally, I was enamored of them upon reading Bulfinch’s Mythology, which I fortunately read at the same time as the Bible in my childhood days – so that paganism won out as visions of angels could never compete with dreams of nymphs. Even Christian writer C. S. Lewis was so enamored from his original classicism that he populated his fantasy Narnia with nymphs, earning his place in my ranks of pagan saints. Hot damn – he even had Dionysus and his maenads, albeit toned down.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GODDESS TIER)

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(3) TAROT – THE HIGH PRIESTESS & THE WORLD

 

The Tarot may have its mystique and even its mythos, but does it have its girls of Tarot?

O yes – hence this special mention, drawn from the archetypal characters of individual cards, particularly those of the more iconic Major Arcana or “trumps” of the Tarot.

As I pointed out in my complete equal rites rankings for mythologies, the cards don’t lie as to the Tarot’s goddess-tier ranking. The Major Arcana – the 22 major cards of any Tarot deck – isn’t quite evenly balanced between its male and female figures but it comes close with ten of its cards as female figures and arguably they make up that slight deficit in quantity with better quality in positive aspects or meanings.

The Minor Arcana are also balanced, with two of its suits traditionally seen as female – the suit of Cups (often identified with Hearts in modern decks and associated with the ‘female’ element of water) and the suit of Coins or Pentacles (often identified with Diamonds in modern decks and associated with the ‘female’ element of earth). The court cards are also balanced in some decks, with jacks or pages often converted to princesses or otherwise seen as female to add a second female court card to the queens.

As for my top girl of Tarot, I have to go with the card that is the supreme or ultimate culmination of the Major Arcana – the World. The World is the Tarot’s vision of the world as the eternal feminine or goddess – as cosmic dance and dancer, the goddess dancing with the stars.

The World is arguably the cosmic counterpart of the High Priestess, hence her inclusion in this special mention entry – although it was a close call with the Empress, a similar card in many ways including as counterpart of the World goddess, but in the end, the Empress flaunts herself where I prefer the coy feminine mystery of the High Priestess.

The High Priestess is also similar to – and female counterpart – of the Magician. She represents a guiding influence, female source of magic or imagination, intuition or wisdom, hidden or occult knowledge…and initiation into her mysteries. O yes!

Typically, she is presented as a veiled woman, crowned with a crescent moon at her feet, evoking the moon (or the Moon as yet another counterpart card) and underworld goddesses, such as Persephone or Hecate (with more than a touch of Hecate’s triple goddess aspect of the latter)

Are you worthy to see beyond the veil, for revelation – to taste her secrets and mysteries?

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GODDESS TIER)

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(4) LOVE & LUST DEITIES

 

“Goddess on a mountain top

Was burning like a silver flame

The summit of beauty and love…

She’s got it

Yeah, baby, she’s got it”

 

She is the goddess and this is her body –

O yes!

 

Special mention has to go to all the female love and lust deities of the world. To quote the Flight of the Conchords, I want to get next to you, show you some gratitude, by making love to you – it’s the least we could do-o-o!

Ain’t no goddess like the proverbial love goddess! A goddess to get down on your knees for – and pray to with every tongue known to man or woman.

Of course, not all love and lust deities are female – some are male, often emphatically phallic-ly so, and we just may feature those in my special mentions for the Top 10 Heroes of Mythology. And some are more fluid yet.

But I have a special place in my heart and loins for a love goddess, as it does many a pantheon. Of course, that can be seen in that four entries in my Top 10 Girls of Mythology are love or lust goddesses – our top girl of mythology Aphrodite or Venus, as well as Ishtar or Inanna, Freya and Erzulie. To those might be added so many more from pantheons around the world, such that they deserve their own top ten.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

S-TIER (GODDESS TIER)

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(5) EARTH MOTHER / MOTHER EARTH – GAIA

 

“A divine female figure personifying the Earth, representing creation, nature, fertility, and sustenance” – “the deification of the Earth associated with a figure with chthonic or terrestrial attributes”.

There is a recurring tendency in mythology for deifying or personifying the Earth by a divine female figure, usually maternal at least in part – one that continues even in popular culture and imagination with Mother Nature.

That tendency often involves pairing the divine earth mother with a divine sky father, particularly in mythologies originating from Indo-European mythology but not limited to them as there are parallels in other mythologies.

It is by no means a universal tendency, particularly when one moves beyond Indo-European mythology – Egyptian mythology for example had an earth god (Geb) and a sky goddess (Nut).

As noted, an earth goddess or earth mother represents creation, nature, fertility, and sustenance – usually in a maternal way or representing motherhood. However, that can involve surprising ramifications. Perhaps least surprising is the earth mother as “cosmic foundation” or as representing “the bedrock of existence”, preceding other deities. More surprising is earth goddesses often being identified with chthonic attributes, if not outright as a chthonic deity, or at least being “associated with the chthonic deities of the underworld”. They can be dual figures – the earth mother gives (in fertility or harvests) and the earth mother takes away (in disasters or famine). Finally, they are often associated with prophecy or oaths.

The earth mother is one of four archetypal “pagan goddesses” in Christian Europe that historian Richard Hutton identified in his book Queens of the Wild – two of the others are the subject of my next two special mention entries.

The archetypal earth goddess or mother is Gaia in classical Greek mythology, although the Olympian goddess Demeter assumed many of her attributes as earth goddess. Indeed, Gaia has continued to have a resonance as a figure representing earth or nature in philosophy or science. However, there are enough earth mother or earth goddess figures for their own top ten list.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

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(6) MOON & STAR GODDESS (LADY OF THE NIGHT)

 

“A moon goddess is a deity personifying the Moon…embodying lunar power, beauty, mystery, and cycles”.

Similarly to the recurring concept of earth mothers or earth goddesses, there is a recurring tendency in mythology for deifying or personifying the moon by a divine female figure – albeit not with the same maternal symbolism or as enduring in popular culture and imagination with the female personification of Mother Nature.

And again similarly to earth mothers paired with sky fathers, the tendency for lunar goddesses often involves pairing lunar goddesses with solar gods, albeit by no means universal as there are solar goddesses and lunar gods.

As noted, moon goddesses embody lunar power, beauty, mystery and cycles.

 

“Cycles & Transformation: Representing phases of the moon, tides, fertility, and feminine power.

Night & Mystery: Governing the darkness, often linked with magic, dreams, and the underworld.”

 

I’ve expanded this entry to the concept of star or stellar goddesses because I like the image of the goddess dancing with stars – but I have to concede that it’s not a concept as prolific as that of the moon or lunar goddess, except to the extent that the sphere of moon or lunar goddesses usually extends to the night or nights, or that there are night goddesses like Nyx.

Along with the earth mother, the lady or mistress of the night is one of four archetypal “pagan goddesses” in Christian Europe that historian Richard Hutton identified in his book Queens of the Wild – a third is the subject of my next special mention entry.

There is no archetypal goddess of the moon or night with the same enduring resonance as that of Gaea as earth mother. The strongest contenders are similarly those of classical mythology – Selene and Artemis (or Diana) as moon goddess or Nyx as goddess of the night. Once again, goddesses of moon, night or stars are prolific enough for their own top ten list.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(7) FAIRY QUEEN (QUEEN MAB & TITANIA)

 

“In folklore and literature, the Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a female ruler of the fairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed; Titania and Mab are two frequently used names. Numerous characters, goddesses or folkloric spirits worldwide have been labelled as Fairy Queens.”

There’s the fairy queen figures of the Tuatha De Danann and Daoine Sidhe of Irish mythology, including Oonagh, Una or Nuala as the wife of Finvarra or Fionnbharr, the fairy king of western Ireland.

There’s Morgan le Fey of Arthurian legend, who “ruled the supernatural island of Avalon and was sometimes depicted as a fairy queen” (or one of nine such queens).

There are the fairy queens of ballads – the fairy queen as antagonist (paying a tithe to Hell) in the ballad of Tam Lin and the more benevolent one in Thomas the Rhymer (as his lover who gave him prophetic abilities).

And then there are the fairy queens in literature, such as Gloriana, daughter of King Oberon and allegorical depiction of Queen Elizabeth, as “the titular character of the allegorical epic poem The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. However, the most prominent fairy queens of literature are those of Shakespeare, who “referred multiple times to the figure of a fairy queen”.

“The Merry Wives of Windsor makes reference to the concept. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania is the queen of the fairies and wife of King Oberon. Her name is derived from Ovid as an epithet of the Roman goddess Diana. In Romeo and Juliet, the character of Queen Mab does not appear but is described; she is the fairies’ midwife, who rides in a tiny chariot and brings dreams to humans.”

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(8) AMAZONS & VALKYRIES

 

What would the girls of mythology be without special mention for the warrior women of mythology – of which Amazons and Valkyries are easily the most prominent, although the latter are distinguished by their supernatural nature.

The Amazons of classical mythology were human women – “female warriors and hunters, known for their physical agility, strength, archery, riding skills, and the arts of combat” – and somewhat exclusive about it, an exclusive gynocentric society closed to men except for brief liaisons to reproduce daughters, with sons being returned to their fathers.

The Amazons had quite the prolific popularity, with notable individual Amazons involved with some of the greatest heroes and heroic events in classical mythology – and that’s even before we get to their ongoing popularity in adaptations in popular culture, foremost among them Wonder Woman and her fellow Amazons in DC Comics.

Of course, most adaptations omit the “folk etymology” of Amazon as breastless, attributed to the Amazons cutting or burning off their right breast to aid with archery. In this, however, adaptations may be truer to the original mythology, as there is “no indication of such a practice in ancient works of art” and the origin of the name Amazon may be less clear.

As for the Amazons themselves, they are usually identified as originating from the female warriors of the horse cultures contemporary to the ancient Greeks, particularly Scythians. And in a case of art imitating life and back again, the name of the Amazon River originated from reports of native female warriors by Francisco de Orellana.

As noted, the Valkyries were warrior women to rival the Amazons but were supernatural in nature – Norse mythology’s version of battle angels, or more precisely, psychopomps carrying “the souls of worthy warriors who died in battle to Valhalla, where they are destined to fight alongside Odin when Ragnarok happens”. Hence their name, derived from choosers of the slain.

Again, the Valkyries were prolific in Norse mythology, both collectively and with notable individual Valkyries – as well as adaptations in popular culture, including opera or music with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries, as well as the name of the Marvel Comics character.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(9) MERMAIDS & SIRENS

 

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.”

Mermaids and sirens – sea or water nymphs, tritons, selkies, merrows, nixies, Lorelei or Melusine, Rhinemaidens, rusalkas, and undines.

Perhaps the most famous female legendary creatures, although there are male counterparts in some legends or folklore – to quote Zoolander, “Mer-MAN! Mer-MAN!” – but those male counterparts have nowhere near the same prominence as mermaids or sirens.

As such, they need little introduction – or perhaps they do, given their prolific variety in mythology and their various adaptations in artistic and popular culture or imagination. Mermaids and similar water spirits may not be quite as universal in myth and folklore as, say, dragons, but they are widely prevalent. Even limiting mermaids or sirens to the common denominator of an upper human body with the tail of a fish, there is still such a variety that TV Tropes not only has their trope page Our Mermaids are Different, but also an analysis page for that trope as to all the permutations of how mermaids function – in appearance, locomotion, respiration and metabolism, diet – as well as how they might function on land (if they do) or whether they are good or evil.

For that matter, even the original sirens in the Odyssey were bird-like but have subsequently been adapted as and conflated with the conventional half-fishlike mermaids, the latter frequently sharing the traits of the former as seductive singers “associated with perilous events such as storms, shipwrecks, and drownings”.

Mermaids and sirens could well the subject of their own top ten list, not only for individual mermaids or for similar water spirits, but also for their various elements, tropes and types.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

(10) WITCHES & SUCCUBI

 

“I got a black magic woman

Got me so blind I can’t see

That she’s a black magic woman

She’s trying to make a devil out of me”

 

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

Just a girl and her goat. Or in the case of European witch folklore, of many girls and their great goat

Witchcraft – traditionally defined as the malevolent “use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others” – is something that seems well-nigh universal in mythologies or beliefs throughout the world. Hence, witches as users of such magic are equally as prolific in mythology or folklore – usually female but not exclusively so, even at the height of early modern European witchcraft hunts or trials.

Indeed witches are so prolific in mythology and popular culture that TV Tropes has their usual Our Monsters are Different trope for their variety, of course under the title Our Witches are Different.

The predominant image of witches is of course what TV Tropes dubs the Witch Classic, originating in European witch folklore – “traditionally witchy attire”, flying on broomsticks, animal familiars, and so on – and largely overlapping with that of the Wicked Witch, although also adapted in popular culture or imagination as cute or hot witches.

Witches overlap with succubi, or similar “hot as hell” female figures such as the archetypal devil girls of popular culture or imagination.

Witches and succubi could well the subject of their own top ten list, not only for individual witches or succubi, but also for their various elements, tropes and types.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(11) LILITH

 

“A figure associated with Jewish and early Christian folklore” – “said to be the very incarnation of Lust” and hence easily earns special mention in my girls of mythology.

Her origin is multiple choice, with the most popular choice being that she was the first wife of Adam before Eve but refused to be subservient and essentially defected to Hell or at least from Paradise, becoming a demoness and mother of demons – which you have to admit was something of a glamorous glow up, albeit infernal, compared to the more mundane Eve.

The reason her origin is multiple choice is because none of it is in the Bible, except that Genesis literally repeats the story of creation (and hence allows for various interpretations including that of Lilith in the “first” creation) and there was a singular reference to a “lilith” or “lilit” with other animals in Isaiah, usually interpreted as a reference to owls.

However, that hasn’t stopped folklore – and subsequent popular culture – picking up Lilith as Biblical bad girl, dark counterpart of Eve, and the original sinner before original sin. Indeed, some versions even conflated or identified her with the Serpent of Eden.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(12) PANDORA

 

The Eve of classical mythology, with original sin in a box – almost as famous as her counterpart in Biblical mythology, with the myth of each influencing or being conflated with the other.

Similarly to Eve, Pandora was the first human woman – created by the gods, with each god and goddess contributing a gift to make her irresistible, such as beauty and grace from Aphrodite. Indeed, the etymology of her name is from gift.

However, beware of Greek gods bringing gifts – “The Pandora myth is a kind of theodicy, addressing the question of why there is evil in the world, according to which, Pandora opened a jar (pithos; commonly referred to as “Pandora’s box”), releasing all the evils of humanity.”. Needless to say, Pandora’s box has lent itself to endless adolescent humor based on the slang meaning of box.

It’s not just adolescent humor – “Pandora’s story went on to influence both Jewish and Christian theology and so perpetuated her bad reputation into the Renaissance. Later poets, dramatists, painters and sculptors made her their subject.”

“An additional element is the Jar’s final occupant” — Hope, in some versions a salve to humanity but in others adding insult to injury through false comfort.

 

RATING:

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(13) GRENDEL’S MOTHER

 

Yes – one of three antagonists in Beowulf (with the other two being Grendel himself and the dragon towards the end of the poem), Grendel’s mother earns her special mention from her appearance voiced by Angelina Jolie in the 2007 Beowulf film (and depicted with the visage of Jolie, although her body model was apparently swimsuit calendar model Rachel Bernstein).

In other words – phwoah! Golden skin – and she even gives herself high heels! The Order of the Stick webcomic even has its Oracle wisecrack a gag about getting a date with Grendel’s hot mom.

Apparently, such a golden glamorous appearance may not be too far from the legend – that’s literally glamorous by the way, since the film her attractive appearance seems to be a glamor she casts over her true form. While usually depicted as monstrous in form – to match Grendel – there may be alternative interpretations for something more glamorous, such as a Valkyrie or divine female figure.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(14) LADY GODIVA

 

The most famous nudist of legendary history.

And yes – that’s legendary history, as Lady Godiva was an “Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries.”

However, it’s her legend that eclipses her history. “She is mainly remembered for a legend dating back to at least the 13th century, in which she rode naked – covered only by her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband, Leofric, imposed on his tenants.”

Phwoah! And I mean phwoah – Lady Godiva has some of the hottest art or sculpture of any mythological or legendary female character.

Her legend has another layer with the addition of Peeping Tom – “a man named Thomas watched her ride and was struck blind or dead.”

I have a soft spot for interpretations of the legend that see elements of fertility ritual, perhaps even a pagan goddess, in it. Less so for interpretations that propose degrees of nudity, such as that she rode in a shift or something similar – I prefer my Lady Godiva gloriously nude!

 

RATING:

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(15) MAID MARIAN

 

Now seen as an integral part of Robin Hood’s legendarium – “Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore” – she does not feature in earlier medieval versions but only pops up later, much to the improvement of the legend in my eyes, making those Merry Men much less of a sausage party.

Even better, there definitely seem to be elements of fertility ritual or pagan goddess figures to her – “She appears to have been a character in May Games festivities… and is sometimes associated with the Queen or Lady of May or May Day”. On the other hand, she has also been suggested as “originally a personification of the Virgin Mary – who featured much more prominently in medieval legends of Robin Hood.

I found this reference particularly intriguing, and frankly one which has forever reshaped my mental images of the Robin Hood legend – “By the mid 16th century the May Games had become increasingly bawdy, and in one play Robin even gives Marian to Friar Tuck as a concubine”.

 

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

 

 

 

(16) XOCHIQUETZAL

 

The Aztec Aphrodite!

No, seriously, the Aztec goddess “associated with fertility, beauty, and love, serving as a protector of young mothers and a patroness of pregnancy, childbirth, and the crafts practiced by women such as weaving and embroidery” – and hence my choice to represent her pantheon among my girls of mythology.

Her name is poetic too – a compound of flower and feather.

“Unlike several other figures in the complex of Aztec female earth deities connected with agricultural and sexual fecundity, Xochiquetzal is always depicted as an alluring and youthful woman, richly attired and symbolically associated with vegetation and in particular flowers. By connotation, Xochiquetzal is also representative of human desire, pleasure, and excess”.

Refreshingly for the Aztec pantheon, her worship was characterized by wearing animal and flower masks at the festival held in her honor every eight years. She was also apparently honored by “flower offerings, drinking and fornications”. Phew! I thought there was going to be the usual human sacrifice of the Aztec pantheon and…oh no! Yeah, there’s the usual human sacrifice, albeit on much smaller scale than that for other Aztec deities. “A young woman was chosen to be a ixiptlatli ” – a name of the goddess in her representation as maiden – “which impersonated the goddess and was decapitated, flayed and her skin was worn by a selected man”.

Sigh – I prefer to regard that as not canon.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

 

 

(17) MARIE LAVEAU

 

“Marie (Marie) La-Voodoo-Veau

She’ll put a spell on you

Marie (Marie) La-Voodoo-Veau

She’s the witch queen, ah

Of New Orleans, of New Orleans”

 

A historical figure who transcended history to become legend – “Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881) was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of voodoo…renowned in New Orleans”.

Like any legendary or mythic figure, death was only a temporary inconvenience to her legend, which elevated her to the status of a pseudo-loa or demi-god – “oral tradition states that she was seen by some people in town after her supposed demise…tourists continue to visit her tomb following a decades-old belief in which those seeking a wish from Laveau would draw three Xs on the surface, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, and then call out their wish”.

And her legend has persisted with depictions in art and popular culture, the latter including more than one song, such as The Witch Queen of New Orleans by Redbone that I quoted at the outset.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

 

(18) MARIA LIONZA

 

Yeah – she would have earned special mention on her statue alone, although her status as a love deity scores bonus points.

“María Lionza is the central figure in one of the most widespread new religious movements in Venezuela. The cult of María Lionza began in the 20th century as a blend of African, indigenous, and Catholic beliefs. She is revered as a goddess of nature, love, peace, and harmony. She has followers throughout Venezuelan society, from small rural villages to Caracas, where a monumental statue stands in her honor. The Cerro Maria Lionza Natural Monument (also known as Sorte mountain), where an important pilgrimage takes place every October, was renamed in her honour.”

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

 

 

(19) ERIS DISCORDIA

 

Hail Eris!

Or how I found Goddess and what I did to Her when I found Her.

 

I’d probably have included Eris – or Discordia as she is in her Roman adaptation from Greek mythology – merely from her role in classical mythology.

That might seem strange for a minor divine personification of chaos, strife and discord – but for a minor deity, she sure plays a major role for classical mythology’s greatest epic, initiating the quarrel between the three goddesses “which led to the Judgement of Paris and ultimately the Trojan War”.

In the Iliad, she “personifies strife, particularly the strife associated with war” – although she doesn’t get down and dirty like other deities participating in active combat or taking sides, but instead is “the rouser of armies, urging both armies to fight each other”.

However, it is as the supreme goddess of Discordianism, the religion invented as an “absurdist joke” (or is that the other way around?), that she wins special mention here.

Also, she is one of the select deities of classical mythology that has lent her name to a descriptive term, like Aphrodite to aphrodisiac – “in philosophy and rhetoric, eristic…refers to an argument that aims to successfully dispute another’s argument, rather than searching for truth”.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

(20) L.A. WOMAN

 

“Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light

Or just another lost angel?”

 

The L.A. Woman to my Mr Mojo Risin’ – here it is, the divine female figure for my wildest special mention where I adapt my own personal Morrison-esque mythology, as I did for Mr Mojo Risin’ in my heroes of mythology.

Just as Mr Mojo Risin’, that iconic incantation by Jim Morrison in the bridge of The Doors single L.A. Woman, encapsulates much of the essence of the mythic hero, so too the titular female figure encapsulates much of the essence of the divine female figure, particularly in the archetypal Meeting with the Goddess – and perhaps Woman as the Temptress – in the hero’s journey.

And also just like Mr Mojo Risin’, L.A. Woman embodies my usual kinky or kinkier entry as final twentieth special mention – my mythology is a s€xual mythology, Mr Mojo Risin’ looking for his L.A. Woman, as is evident in the rhythm of the bridge from the song.

 

RATING:

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

 

 

 

GIRLS OF MYTHOLOGY: TOP 10

 

That’s right – I can find Fantasy Girls in anything.

Of course, this is something of a personal novelty top ten list, as my Girls of Mythology don’t tend to have the same art or cosplay as my usual Fantasy Girls in popular culture – the holy trinity of comics, video games and anime of course, but also animation or fantasy and SF.

Although you may be surprised – my Girls of Mythology probably have more name recognition or adaptations in popular culture than those from other areas of culture (which I’ll similarly feature in novelty top ten lists – such as my Girls of History or my Girls of Poetry and Literature). And perhaps even more surprisingly, since some of them do pop up in popular culture – even in comics or video games – they do feature in art and cosplay. Of course, it helps to have video games in which gods and goddesses are playable characters, such as the game Smite.

And they’re reasonably diverse – mostly goddesses of course, but a few mortal girls or at least semi-mortal. You know how mythology is – sometimes the lines of the divine feminine are blurry. Also, they come from a range of my favorite mythologies. My classical mythology girls get top billing of course (and potentially their own top ten) – after all, I’m in it for the nymphs. However, the top ten is reasonably spread throughout different mythologies – including a surprisingly high billing for Biblical mythology, which reflects a surprisingly high prevalence of high profile Biblical bad girls (who will also potentially get their own top ten).

Anyway, counting down my Top 10 Girls of Mythology.

 

 

(10) AFRO-AMERICAN (VOODOO): ERZULIE FREDA DAHOMEY

 

Erzulie (or Ezili) Freda Dahomey is the voodoo love goddess, or more precisely, loa – and one of the few female figures in our top ten who is the subject of actual worship by substantial numbers of people today. Like many mythologies, voodoo gets a little messy with its pantheon- the Erzulie are apparently a family of loa associated with femininity and fluidity (or water), or perhaps different aspects of the same loa. Here we are concerned with Erzulie Freda, often titled more expansively as Maitres (also Metres or Mistress) Mambo Erzulie Freda Dahomey (or Daome) – goddess of love, but also beauty, dancing, flowers, jewelry, luck, luxury and more.

She is very much the flirtatious and sensuous party girl, so much so that she has three husbands and one ring for each of them, but can also be coquettish, vain or prone to jealousy and other flaws. In Catholic iconography – usually important in Haitian voodoo due to its history of camouflage for their deities – she is identified with the Mater Dolorossa, which reflects her characteristic depiction of never being able to attain her heart’s desire and prone to tears of longing or regret.

 

RATING:

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(9) NATIVE AMERICAN (LAKOTA): WHITE BUFFALO CALF WOMAN

 

White Buffalo Woman is the sacred or ‘wakan’ woman of the native American Lakota nation. She came to the Lakota in a time of famine, appearing as a beautiful young woman in white, teaching them their sacred rituals and promising to return. Hers will be an apocalyptic return or ghost dance, in which evil will be swept from the world, and all the buffalo, ancestors and lost tribes will return.

 

RATING:

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*

 

 

(8) HINDU: KALI

 

Kali is the original bad girl goddess – and as a goddess of Hinduism, one with more actual live worshippers than any other female figure in my top ten.

In general, female figures in Hinduism are some of the few which appear attractive to modern eyes in their traditional artistic depictions, most notably their voluptuous temple sculpture (some of which would not look out of place in Playboy, or even an adult film in the more steamy temples). Indeed, there’s pinup style art by Elias Chatzoudis – inspired by Kali – would not be out of place there.

Good girl goddesses such as Lakshmi and Parvati might seem sweeter, but ultimately Kali is more iconic, although she is traditionally depicted as a fearsome or terrifying black or blue-skinned destructive figure (yet still often naked and voluptuous). Although Kali is sometimes identified as an aspect of Parvati as divine mother goddess – Hindu mythology can get convoluted in its polytheism. It’s complicated – and so is Kali.

Like Shiva – who tends to be identified as her consort – Kali is the destroyer (within the cycle of creation, preservation and destruction), but hers is a righteous destruction. Again like Shiva, she tends to destroy demonic or evil forces – “she destroys evil to protect the innocent” or as divine protector to bestow liberation. Even her image as destroyer can be seen as merely a form of a supreme goddess figure and mother of the universe (devi) or divine feminine force (shakti) – who is herself creator, preserver and destroyer

 

RATING:

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(7) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN): MORGAN LE FAY

 

Morgan or Morgana Le Fay (there are other variants) is characteristically the bad girl of Arthurian legend – an enchantress who seduces Arthur’s knights away from Camelot (such that they are mostly dead or lost or compromised) and plots to overthrow the kingdom.

Or not. Her early appearances in Arthurian legend “do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a goddess, a fay (or fairy), a witch, or a sorceress, generally benevolent and related to King Arthur as his magical savior and protector”. Her prominence increased over time, as did her moral ambivalence or outright villainy, particularly in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which was in many ways the codification of Arthurian legend.

She is variously portrayed as Arthur’s sister (or more precisely half-sister), even conflating her with another traditional character (and her sister) Morgause as his lover and mother by him to Mordred, usurper and adversary to Arthur in his fatal last battle (as in the film Excalibur, which remains my favorite cinematic adaptation of Arthurian legend). Yet she moves in mysterious ways and is one of the retinue of maidens who take Arthur to Avalon after his final battle.

 

RATING:

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(6) NORSE: FREYA

 

Freya (or Freyja or Freja) is the Nordic love goddess, blonde and blue-eyed, most beautiful of the goddesses and ogled lustfully by the giants – more than one Norse myth has a giant unsuccessfully claim Freya as their prize. She was also goddess of war and queen of the Valkyries, taking half of all heroes slain in battle into her heavenly field in Asgard (the other half going of course to Odin’s hall in Valhalla).

More broadly, she was the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, s€x, war, gold and magic – goddess of the golden necklace or torc Brisingamen, goddess of the falcon-feathered flying cloak and goddess of the cat-pulled chariot.

Above all, she was the lady of Friday, the day named for her. All hail Lady Friday, goddess of the weekend!

 

RATING:

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(5) BABYLO-SUMERIAN: ISHTAR INANNA

 

Babylonian goddess Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) is the sensual goddess of love and war, personification of the morning star, and mistress of the mysteries of death and rebirth. Her most famous myth is her descent into the underworld for her lover Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi), where she had to take off one of her seven veils at each of the seven gates of the underworld (the dance of the seven veils) so that she came naked to the heart of hell.

Ishtar was above all associated with s€xuality – the rites of the sacred marriage (hieros gamos) and her cult of temple pr0stitution. As such, she may have been the original model for the Biblical Wh0re of Babylon. Certainly, she and her sister goddesses repeatedly seduce the Israelites away from their Biblical faith – the prophet Ezekiel lamented her rituals of “the women weeping for Tammuz” at the very “door of the gate of the Lord’s house” in Jerusalem. Yet she has also been seen as the model for Esther, the beautiful and virtuous Biblical heroine of the Babylonian exile. Such are the mysterious ways of this good and bad girl goddess, who dances with stars and descends into the underworld.

Her counterpart in the pagan borderlands of Biblical Israel was Astarte or Asherah, who recurs through the Old Testament as a constant temptress of the Israelites – even worshipped as the pagan goddess of Israel, the consort of Yahweh and Queen of Heaven. Her sacred figures or asherim – poles, trees or groves – were found throughout Israel and her worship maddened the prophet Jeremiah as the people of Jerusalem gathered “to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her”. (Those Biblical prophets sure knew how to spoil a good party)

 

RATING:

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(4) EGYPTIAN: ISIS

 

Outside of Hinduism, ancient Egyptian female figures are perhaps the other female figures that appear attractive to modern eyes in their traditional artistic depictions, particularly their monumental statues and paintings. Lithe and svelte in their tight, form-fitting dresses, with their golden skin and painted eyes, they would not look out of place as supermodels on a modern catwalk.

Isis is the most iconic and famous of Egyptian goddesses – throne goddess of the pharaoh, goddess of magic who seduced the secret name from the sun god Ra, lover of Osiris who resurrected him after he was dismembered by his evil adversary Set and mother of the divine hero Horus. She enchanted the Greek and Roman conquerors of Egypt, so much so that that she loomed as a goddess of the Roman Empire to rival even Christianity and it is tempting to think how the empire could have gone the way of the ankh and not the cross. In the words of her apostle, Lucius Apuleius:

“You see me here, Lucius, in answer to your prayer. I am nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are…Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names … the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship call me by my true name…Queen Isis.”

 

RATING:

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(3) BIBLICAL: EVE

 

“When the apple reddens

Never pry

Lest we lose our Edens –

Eve and I”

 

Few mythic female figures are as iconic, as evocative as Eve – the original Biblical bad girl and primal woman. And few have as many faces. She has posed as the definitive femme fatale and temptress of Western art and literature, the Bible’s original sinner and siren of paradise lost. As such, she has been the focus and symbol of much misogyny – although without her role in it, there’d be no Bible. The words Margaret Atwood gave her fairy tale villainess could well be said by Eve – “I’m the plot, babe, and don’t ever forget it.”

Of course, as the iconoclastic Camille Paglia has noted, the Biblical story of Eden at least gave her a male accomplice in the serpent. However, even this has been reversed in Western art (notably during the Renaissance), which has even given the serpent Eve’s face – and breasts! That’s some deep Freudian kind of mixed-up right there. Although there’s something else equally as mixed up (albeit not quite so much in the Freudian sense) that’s easily overlooked which is implicit in the very bible narrative itself – the serpent had legs! (God curses it to crawl on its belly as punishment for its crime). If I came across a walking talking snake, I’d listen to whatever it said too – and quite frankly, the whole Garden of Eden set up smacks of a classic two-man con played by God and the serpent.

She has also posed as s€xual temptress, the naked woman for all seasons. Religious tradition saw Eve and Adam as models of physical perfection, befitting those shaped by God’s hand as opposed to those born into this world (or the reality of our ancestral African hominids). And although the Garden of Eden is a tangled jungle of symbolism (that deserves its own list), let’s not forget the steamy sexual symbolism of original sin. There is the temptation itself – Eve is tempted by the phallic serpent and Adam is tempted by the lush fruit offered to him by Eve (in the words of John Milton, “emparadis’d in each other’s arms”). And then there are the consequences – consciousness of their naked state of nature, Eve is punished by the pains of labor, and Adam is punished by the pains of a different labor, working the earth to feed his family. To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, it all smells of apple juice…

Finally, she has posed for those who would reclaim her as a figure of female power or even divinity – Promethean heroine plucking the knowledge of humanity from divinely imposed ignorance or goddess of paradise and mother of life. Some have seen the myth of a fall from paradise as an echo of each of our own experience of prenatal bliss (or at least childhood) – we all fall from the womb into the world. All hail Eve, God the Mother! She is the goddess and this is her body.

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

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(2) CLASSICAL: HELEN OF TROY

 

When it comes to girls of mythology, for me every other mythology is simply outgunned by classical mythology – and foremost among the female figures of classical mythology is Helen of Troy. I mean, come on – they fought a war for her! Greece’s greatest heroes fought the Trojan War for ten years – and in the end Troy burned – for her. Also, as an acronym, she’s H.o.T.

Apart from Eve, she is the other definitive femme fatale of Western art and literature – without her, there would be no Iliad or Odyssey, the epic heart of classical literature and rosy-fingered dawn of Western literature. And at the end of the war, when her husband Menelaus went with sword in hand to kill her for ten years of adultery, he had only to gaze at her as she dropped the robe from her shoulder and the sword fell from his hand.

Her legend has continued to enrapture throughout history, even occasionally tempting Christianity. The apostles had to compete with the cult of Simon Magus, who toured with his showgirl Helen of Troy, posing as an incarnation of the eternal feminine. And Christopher Marlowe’s Faust famously marveled at his Helen of Troy, one of hell’s temptations to seal the demonic pact for his soul – “Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?” Of course, he burned for her as well. Such is Helen of Troy

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

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(1) CLASSICAL: APHRODITE VENUS

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Is there any contest? Greek Aphrodite (Roman Venus) is the archetypal goddess of love and beauty – born of the morning star, the sea’s foam and the world’s desire. Her very name gives us aphrodisiac and her planetary sign for Venus is the universal symbol for the female sex. And there’s a reason that female figures in art are often labeled Venus – and that Aphrodite or Venus herself has been the predominant female figure in art, particularly for nudes, with perhaps the most iconic being that by Botticelli.

The Olympian goddesses Athena and Hera were foolish enough to compete against her for the prize of the golden apple inscribed “to the most beautiful”. No contest – the gods appointed Trojan prince Paris as the judge and he awarded it to Aphrodite. (He then took Helen as his reward and the rest is mythic history – the Trojan War).

In addition, Aphrodite and her Roman counterpart Venus had a plethora of aspects denoted by epithets which could well be a top ten all of their own – with the dualism of the ‘higher’ Aphrodite Ourania and the ‘lower’ (or dirtier) Aphrodite Pandemos being perhaps the most well known. Although I’ll always have a soft spot for Aphrodite or Venus Kallipygos – the Aphrodite or Venus “of the beautiful buttocks”. Baby got back!

Mighty Aphrodite! She is the goddess!

 

RATING: 5 STARS*****

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