ISˇTAR (star of heaven)

ORIGIN Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian) [Iraq]. Goddess of fertility and war.

KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 2500 BC until circa AD 200.

SYNONYMS INANA [Sumerian].

INANA (queen of heaven)

ORIGIN Mesopotamian (Sumerian) [Iraq]. Goddess of fertility and war.

KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 3500 BC to 1750 BC.

SYNONYMS Inninna; IS ˇ TAR [Akkadian]; Nin-mesar-ra (lady of a myriad offices)

CENTER(S) OF CULT Unug [Warka]; also Erbil and Nineveh.

Gunnodoyak

Iroquois (North American Indian). A youthful heroic deity who was once mortal. He was empowered by the spirit of thunder, Hino, to conquer the Great Water Snake, enemy of humankind. The serpent devoured Gunnodoyak but was then slain by Hino, who cut open the snake, recovered the body of Gunnodoyak and returned him to his rightful place in heaven.

Gaunab

Malevolent god of darkness. Khoi (Hottentot) [Namibia, southern Africa]. The chief adversary of the creator god TSUNIGOAB. He was engaged in a primordial struggle for supremacy during which Tsunigoab was wounded but eventually triumphed, consigning Gaunab to the so-called “black heaven.”

 

Atarsˇamain (morning star of heaven)

Astral deity of uncertain gender. Pre-Islamic northern and central Arabian. Worshiped particularly by the Isˇamme tribe, but revered widely among other Arabs. Known from circa 800 BC and identified in letters of the Assyrian kings Esˇarhaddon and Assurbanipal. May be synonymous with the Arab goddess ALLAT whose cult was centered on Palmyra.

 

Chang Tao Ling

God of the afterlife. Taoist (Chinese). The head of the heavenly Ministry of Exorcism, and allegedly the first head of the Taoist church. By tradition he vanquished the five poisonous animals— the centipede, scorpion, snake, spider and toad—placing their venom in a flask in which he concocted the elixir of life. Having drunk the contents at the age of 123, he ascended to heaven. He is depicted riding upon a tiger and brandishing a sword. Before the communist takeover of China, the gods of exorcism lived in a sanctuary on the Dragon Tiger mountain in Kiangsi province. Exorcised spirits were trapped in jars which were stored in the cellars.

Anu

Anu (1)

Creator god. Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian). Consort of ANTU(m). Derived from the older Sumerian god AN. Anu features strongly in the akitu festival in Babylon, Uruk and other cities until the Hellenic period and possibly as late as 200 BC. Some of his later pre-eminence may be attributable to identification with the Greek god of heaven, ZEUS, and with OURANOS.

Egyptian Temples, part I: A Reflection of Heaven by Mirjam

Introduction
The Egyptian religion can be seen as a system of thought, a means of structuring the world, and of maintaining it so as to make it possible for Creation to persist. It reflected both life on earth among the humans and life on a higher plane among the gods.

Anunnaki

Children and courtiers of the god of heaven.

Ame-No-Toko-Tachi-No-Kami (deity standing eternally in heaven)

Primordial being. Shinto [Japan]. The fifth of the deities to emerge in the heavens, named in both the sacred texts of Shintoism, the Kojiki and Nihongi, but probably strongly influenced by Chinese religion. Born from a reed floating in the primeval waters.