Goddesses: the 9 most powerful female deities in mythology

During the history of humanity there have been several goddesses that we have worshiped and these have been quite diverse, especially in the first civilizations. The Greeks, Vikings, Celts or Egyptians were faithful believers who gave their lives to very powerful female deities.

The figure of the goddesses is an example of the importance of the role of women in different cultures, as well as how wonderful, strong and powerful we are. That is why we want to inspire you with the 9 female deities that we present below, so that you let your full potential come out and remember that you are also a goddess.

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The 9 most powerful goddesses in mythology

We hope that with this list of goddesses you will be inspired and identified to empower yourself and believe in the goddess that you are. Female deities of different cultures that make us see the importance of women in the creation of our world.

1. Ast or Isis

Ast is one of the main Egyptian goddesses though you've surely heard of her as Isis, her Greek name for hers. Ast or Isis is a very important female deity because she represents the Triple Goddess in one being, since she gathers all the attributes of the other Egyptian goddesses.

The Egyptians represented this goddess as a woman sitting on her knees, crowned with the sun disk bearing a hieroglyph with her name, Ast, and outstretched arms with the wings of milano. Ast or Isis was the daughter of Geb (creator god) and Nut (creator goddess of the universe), wife and sister of Osiris (god of resurrection).

Ast or Isis was a great goddess considered by the Egyptians as the "Queen of the gods", the "Great Magician" or the "Great Mother Goddess" and she is the deity of fertility, motherhood and birth. These nicknames she got because she managed to resurrect Osiris, her husband, and procreated with him her son Horus, after he was killed by her brother Seth.

As if that were not enough, Isis was also the one who created the magic of the first cobra, from which she extracted the poison to force Ra, god of the gods, to give her her name and defeat him. Thanks to this Isis receives the power to cure the diseases of the gods.

2. Nephthys

Another of the most powerful Egyptian goddesses was Nephthys, sister of Isis. Nephthys was considered the deity of fire and it symbolizes night, darkness, darkness and death, having a role that is more than opposite and complementary to that of her sister, Isis. It is curious in any case that her name means "mistress of the house" in ancient Egyptian.

Nephthys was Seth's wife and with him she lived in hostile places, wreaking havoc when the world was being created. However the role of Nephthys was very importanther, for she led travelers in the desert and led the dead to another life. With the help of Isis, she chanted sacred songs that facilitated this transition.

Unable to have children with her husband Seth, this goddess posed as her sister and had sexual relations with Osiris, who fathered her a illegitimate son whom we know as Anubis, the god of death and the ‘sacred land’, which was that place where the Egyptians went after the death.

3. Laksmi

This Hindu goddess, also known as Lakshmi, is supremely powerful. She is considered the goddess of beauty and good luck, but also as the goddess of prosperity, growth and procreation when she takes the name Shri. She is the Lotus-Goddess.

Laksmi is the wife of the god Vishnu and both he and she have 4 arms; in his case, these represent the forms of life that are love, ethics, wealth and liberation. She is a magical and divine woman with whom we can easily identify by the physical representation of her. When her husband comes down to earth, Laksmi comes with him in one of her avatars: Varaji, Dharani, Sita and Radha.

Laksmi represents love, beauty, good fortune, wealth, grace, happiness, purity and renewal, and she is one of the three main devís (woman-shaped goddesses) of the Hinduism.

4. Parvati

Parvarti or Uma is another of the three main goddesses that Hindus worship. Her name means ‘daughter of Mount Parvata’ and also ‘mountain stream’. She has as her husband the god Shiva (protector and regenerator of the universe) and with him she had hers two sons: Ganesh, who is the god of wisdom and has the head of an elephant, and Skanda, the god of war.

Parvati is a goddess who represents many aspects, or we could say, many facets of herself that take different names. Thus, Parvarti represents love, devotion, fertility, divine force and power. Together with her husband Shiva, they are a means of connection between beings and a means for them to free her spirit.

5. Selene

Greek mythology is full of great female deities that it is the most common that we have ever heard of. One of them is Selene, or as she was known in Roman mythology, the Moon goddess. Since her Greek name "selas" means light, she is often confused with Artemis.

Selene, goddess of the Moon, was the daughter of Hyperion and Tea, who were Titans and had two other children: Helios, the god of the Sun, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Helios is said to take a trip through the sky during the day and when he finishes, Selene begins her journey at night.

The representations we find of Selene are of a very beautiful woman with a pale face and who drives a silver carriage drawn by oxen through the night. On her head she has a crescent and sometimes she carries a torch in her hand.

6. Guan Yin

Guan Yin is one of the female deities most revered by Buddhists found in the eastern regions of Asia. She is the goddess of compassion and her name means "the one who hears the cry of the world", so she also takes the name of the goddess of mercy in the West.

Guan Yin understands our feelings of anguish and fear, which makes her so compassionate. They say that she has made a vow not to enter the heavenly realm of the gods until we have all gone through the cycle of birth, death and incarnation, culminating our enlightenment process.

7. Freyja

One of the most important female goddesses in Norse and Germanic mythology is Freyja, who is the deity of beauty, love and fertility. But this is not all, Freyja also represents magic, prophecy and wealth.

It was also considered that Freyja had influence over war and deathIn fact, she received half of the warriors killed in combat in her palace and Odin the other half. Within the sagas, it is said that Freyja cried tears of red gold every time her husband left journey, which is why they also called her the "Lady of the Vanir", "Beautiful Goddess in tears" and "Goddess of love".

8. Yemayá

Yemayá is the orisha deity of the salty waters and she is the mother of all orishas. In her story it is related that she was the most powerful of the orishas, ​​but she lost the hegemony of the world due to her impetuous character, so she began to dominate over the seas.

Yemayá is the goddess of water, especially of the sea, which represents in its waves the movement taken from right to left of this goddess.

9. Ixchel

Ixchel represented for the Mayan culture the goddess of the moon, fertility, pregnancy, love, textiles and medicine. She is usually represented as an old woman weaving on a loom or as an old woman who is emptying a jug of water on the ground. In some cases she is accompanied by a rabbit.

Her legend tells that the goddess Ixchel, deity of the moon, married Itzamná, an almighty god. Together they procreated her children, who were the god of corn, the god of the stars, the god of sacrifices, the goddess of water, the goddess of the night, and the goddess of paradise.

Ixchel is still venerated as the goddess of the moon and fertility not only in terms of pregnancy but also the fertility of the earth, since it is believed that the moon and the harvest are completely linked.

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