Witchcraft For Teens

What is a Pantheon? And why do I need to chose one?

Good questions. And I bet you've all asked them at least once.

A Pantheon is a set of Gods, and you don't have to pick one. No really you don't, though it can help to associate with only one set. Examples of Pantheons are Greek, Roman and Norse, but there are many many more.

On this page I'll list some of the major Pantheons and their main Gods and Goddesses.

The reason I recommend picking a Pantheon is because that during your rituals you will call on the Gods, and that while you can use more than one set, it is generally a bad idea to mix them up in the same ritual. Also many witches prefer to use only one for their whole life and base their work and life on that section of witchcraft. For example I use the Celtic (mainly Irish) gods in my rituals, but I'm studying Egyptian, or Kemetic magic.

Anyways, on to the list...

There are several different sets of Celtic Gods, and if I listed them all I'd need a new site. So I'm going to put the major ones here.

• Arawn - A Welsh God. Lord of Annwn, the underworld.
• Arianrhod(ari-an-rod) - Welsh. She is the Great Goddess, the Mother. Goddess of beauty, fertility and reincarnation.
• Bran - (means raven, crow). Irish. A master of the Isle of Britain, he is a cauldron-God, associated with a cauldron of life (belonging to Badb). A God of prophecy, arts, war, music and writing. 
• Badb (Bibe) - The Irish Great Goddess aspect of the Mother. Goddess of life, wisdom, inspiration and enlightenment.
• Bel - (means shining) Irish Great God, Sun and Fire God. Very important to the Druids. Science, healing, fire, success, purification, fertility.
• Blodeuwedd (blod-oo-eeth) - Welsh Maiden aspect. Her symbol is the owl. She is the Goddess of the Earth in bloom, so springtime. She's also an initiation Goddess.
• Branwen (bran-oo-en) - A Welsh Goddess. The Lady of the Lake, and Goddess of love and beauty.
• Brigit - Brigit is known in Ireland, Wales, France, Spain and England. A great Goddess in her own right, often seen as a triple Goddess (has three parts) Goddess of fire, fertility, healing, learning, poetry, divination, looking after animals, love, witchcraft and occult knowledge.
• Cernunnos - From everywhere. He is The Great God, the Horned God. God of fertility, animals, sex, nature, woodlands, reincarnation, wealth, warriors.
• Cerridwen - Wales. Another Great Mother Goddess. Stands for Death, inspiration, magic, astrology, herbs, spells and knowledge.
• The Dagda - Irish. A Great God. He is meant to be the father of all Gods and men, and the lord of Life and Death. The God of magic, death and rebirth, all knowledge, protection, weather, music, the Sun.
• Dana (thana) - Irish major Mother Goddess, Mother of the Gods and a part of the Morrigu. Goddess of witches rivers, wells, water, magic and wisdom.
• Diancecht - Irish God of healing, medicine, magic and silver-work.
• Dylan - Welsh. THe God of the Sea. His symbol is a silver fish.
• Elaine - The Welsh Maiden aspect, as well as Blodeuwedd.
• Gwydion (gwi-dee-on) - A welsh wizard and bard. A God of many skills. He is a Prince of Air, a shape-shifter. His symbol is a white horse. He is the greatest of enchanters, a warrior-magician. God of illusion, changes, magic, the sky and healing.
• Llyr (thleer) - Irish and Welsh. God of the Sea, and possibly the underworld.
• Luga (looga) - An Irish and Welsh Sun God, a hero God. In Wales his symbol is a white stag. War, magic, reincarnation, lightning, water, art, journeys, martial arts, poets musicians, sorcerers, healing, initiation, prophecy and revenge.
• Merlin - Merlin can be called on to help in magic, though he is not a God.
• The Morrigu (moor-rig-oo) - From England, Ireland and Wales. The Crone part of the Goddess, she was Queen of the Fairies. A shape-shifter. Goddess of water, rivers, lakes, priestesses, witches, night, magic and prophecy.

That is only a few of the many many Celtic Gods. If you need anymore there's a forum page dedicated to Gods, here http://www.freewebs.com/witchcraftforteens/forums.htm

Ok, so you probably know the basics of this one, but I'll put them here anyway.

• Aphrodite - Goddess of sex, romance and physical beauty.

• Apollo - A Sun God. A bringer of justice, patron of musicians. 

• Ares - God of War

• Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt. A protector of wild animals and women. Ruler of Nymphs, and Goddess of Childbirth.

• Athene - Goddess of War and Wisdom. Patron of Politics and Cities. Justice and law. Her symbol is an owl.

• Atropos - The third of the Fates, the one who cuts the tread of a souls life.

• Boreas - The North Wind

• Chaos - Creator of everything, the first being

• Dionysious - God of Wine and Celebration

• Eos - The Goddess of Dawn and Beginnings

• Eros - Cupid! Yep, the Cupid, he's the God of Love, he can make people love or hate.

• Hades - Lord of the Underworld, and the Dead.

• Hekate (Hecate) - Goddess of Witchcraft, night and hard choices.

• Hera - Great Goddess, Mother, Queen of the Universe. Protector of women.

• Hermes - Messenger of the Gods, as well fertility God, a Lord of fortune and fate, and a patron of both merchants and thieves. Music and dreams. A protector of travellers.

• Klotho -  The first of the Fates, she spins the threads of life.

• Lachesis -  The Second Fate. She measures the lengths of lives. Deciding whether they are long or short.

• Notus - The South Wind

• Pheobus - God of the Sun. Drags the sun across the sky in his chariot.

• Poseidon - God of the Sea.

• Selene - Goddess of the Moon. Associated with Hekate

• Zeus - The Great God, the All-Father. King of the Universe.

This one is difficult to list. Mainly because I want to list them all, but I'll never finish that way. So here are a few of the Egyptian Gods. In brackets I'll put the old names of as many Gods as I can.

• Amon - (Amun) Creater God. A Sun God, The Great God. Sometimes combined with Ra to become Amon-Ra The Sun.
• Ammut - The Eater of souls. A crocodile who eats the souls of those who will not enter the afterlife.
• Anubis - (Inupu) The protector of Isis, as well as the guide and guardian of the Dead. The overseer at of judgment in Death.
• Bastet - Goddes of Cats, Home, Fire and pregnant women. The Lady of the East.
• Geb - God of the Earth. He helps guide the Dead to Heaven and feeds them on their journey.
• Horus - Sun God, but in many forms (up to 15 different Horus's have been recorded)
• Isis - Great Goddess. The Greatest of all Goddess in Egypt, ever. Goddess of magic and Life and Mothering.
• Mut - Mother Goddess. The Mother of all things
• Nut - Goddess of the Sky and Air
• Osiris - Lord of the Dead and Destiny. Once King of all Egypt.
• Re - The Creator God of the Sun
• Shu - God of Air
• Selket - Goddess of Magic
• Thoth - The God of Wisdom and the Moon
• Tefnut - Goddess of water and rain

I'm sorry there's so little information on the Gods here. It hard to get much with out having to go into long details.

Ok, so there's three of the pantheons, just to give you an idea. As I said above there is a forum for the Gods, so if there's anything you want to add, ask or say then please do so there.

Of course you don't even need to use pantheons at all, you could just stick with the God and the Goddess, but I would recommend using a pantheon. Mainly because it makes it simpler, as you can pick which God has the right qualities for whatever you are doing.

Anyway, that pantheons finished, on to the next bit.