Fortuna

Fortuna is the Roman Goddess of Luck, Fate, and Fortune, as Her name implies. She was a very popular Goddess, and was worshipped under many epithets depending on the type of luck one wished to invoke or the circumstances in play. She had many temples in Rome itself, as well as having important cult-centers in Antium (the modern Anzio), a city on the west coast of Italy about 30 miles south of Rome, and Praeneste (modern Palestrina), about 20 miles south-east of Rome, both of which were cities of Latium, the land of the Latini tribes. Her many temples in Rome, and the various aspects of Her worship are a reflection of the manners in which She was honored: from personal Goddess, overseeing the fate of the individual mother, young man, or soldier, to a Goddess of the State, ensuring the fortune of the populace, the luck of the Emperor, or the glorious fate of the entire Roman Empire.

Fortuna was usually depicted holding in one hand a cornucopia, or a horn of plenty, from which all good things flowed in abundance, representing Her ability to bestow prosperity; in the other She generally has a ship's rudder, to indicate that She is the one who controls how lives and fates are steered. She could also be shown enthroned, with the same attributes of rudder and cornucopia, but with a small wheel built into the chair, representing the cycles of fate and the ups and downs of fortune.

Sometimes She is blind, as an acknowledgment that good luck does not always come to those who seem to most deserve it; at other times She is described as having wings, much like many Etruscan Goddesses—and indeed She was equated with the old Etruscan Fate Goddess Nortia, who was often shown winged.

The name Fortuna finds its root in the Latin fero, meaning "to bring, win, receive, or get". She may have originally been a Goddess of Fertility, Who brought prosperity and success in the form of abundant harvests and offspring. Her worship in Rome traditionally goes back to the time of Ancus Martius, the 4th King of Rome, who is said to have reigned from 640-616 BCE. According to the propaganda of the time (and the Romans invented an awful lot of it to make it seem that their city had always been destined for greatness, and wasn't just some upstart town founded by a bunch of sheep herders on some hills surrounded by malaria-infested swampland, which it was), when Fortuna first came to Rome, She immediately threw off Her shoes and discarded Her wings, announcing that She'd found Her true home and intended to never leave it.

Alternatively, Fortuna's name may derive from that of the Etruscan Goddess Veltha or Voltumna, whose name encompasses ideas of turning and the alternating seasons. Voltumna in turn may be related to the Roman Goddess Volumna, Who watched over and protected children; and both of these themes are found with Fortuna, who was often depicted with a wheel, and who was said to predict the fates of children at their births. As a Goddess of Fate Fortuna naturally had the power to foretell the future; and under Her aspect of Fortuna Primigenia in Praeneste She had an oracle, in which tablets inscribed with messages were chosen from a jar. She also had an oracular shrine at Her cult-center in Antium.

Fortuna had a very old temple in Rome on a hill between the Forum Romanum (the Roman Forum) and the Forum Boarium (supposedly the old cattle-market), near to the temple of Mater Matuta. Both temples had the same dedication day, the 10th of June, and each had a horseshoe-shaped altar before it of the earliest type. Fortuna's temple had a very old statue of gilded wood inside, also of an archaic type; and the altar and statue indicate that Her worship dates at least to the earliest days of Rome, if She is not an earlier Goddess of the Latins.

The Emperor Trajan (97-117 CE) dedicated a temple to Fortuna, at which offerings were made to the Goddess on the 1st day of January, at the start of the New Year, probably to ensure good luck and success for the coming year. This temple was dedicated to Fortuna in all of Her aspects.

With Greek influence, Fortuna was equated to Tykhe, their Goddess of Luck and Fortune. Under the title Dame Fortune, Fortuna never lost Her power as an allegorical figure—She makes an appearance on card 10 of the Tarot Major Arcana, the Wheel of Fortune, and She is still to some extent honored today, for She features in gamblers' prayers to "Lady Luck".
She is associated with the Goddess Felicitas, the personification of happiness, and Spes, the Goddess of Hope.

From http://www.thaliatook.com

Lakshmi

Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, both material and spiritual. The word ''Lakshmi'' is derived from the Sanskrit word Laksme, meaning "goal." Lakshmi, therefore, represents the goal of life, which includes worldly as well as spiritual prosperity. In Hindu mythology, Goddess Lakshmi, also called Shri, is the divine spouse of Lord Vishnu and provides Him with wealth for the maintenance and preservation of the creation.

In Her images and pictures, Lakshmi is depicted in a female form with four arms and four hands. She wears red clothes with a golden lining and is standing on a lotus. She has golden coins and lotuses in her hands. Two elephants (some pictures show four) are shown next to the Goddess. This symbolism conveys the following spiritual theme:

The four arms represent the four directions in space and thus symbolize omnipresence and omnipotence of the Goddess. The red color syinbolizes activity. The golden lining (embroidery) on Her red dress denotes prosperity. The idea conveyed here is that the Goddess is always busy distributing wealth and prosperity to the devotees. The lotus seat, which Lakshmi is standing upon, signifies that while living in this world, one should enjoy its wealth, but not become obsessed with it. Such a living is analogous to a lotus that grows in water but is not wetted by water.

The four hands represent the four ends of human life: dharma (righteousness), kama (genuine desires), artha (wealth), and moksha (liberation from birth and death). The front hands represent the activity in the physical world and the back hands indicate the spiritual activities that lead to spiritual perfection.

Since the right side of the body symbolizes activity, a lotus in the back right hand conveys the idea that one must perform all duties in the world in accordance with dharma. This leads to moksha (liberation), which is symbolized by a lotus in the back left hand of Lakshmi. The golden coins falling on the ground from the front left hand of Lakshmi illustrate that She provides wealth and prosperity to Her devotees. Her front right hand is shown bestowing blessings upon the devotees.

The two elephants standing next to the Goddess symbolize the name and fame associated with worldly wealth. The idea conveyed here is that a true devotee should not earn wealth merely to acquire name and fame or only to satisfy his own material desires, but should share it with others in order to bring happiness to others in addition to himself.

Some pictures show four elephants spraying water from golden vessels onto Goddess Lakshmi. The four elephants represent the four ends of human life as discussed above. The spraying of water denotes activity. The golden vessels denote wisdom and purity. The four elephants spraying water from the golden vessels on the Goddess illustrate the theme that continuous self-effort, in accordance with one's dharma and govemed by wisdom and purity, leads to both material and spiritual prosperity. Goddess Lakshmi is regularly worshipped in home shrines and temples by Her devotees. A special worship is offered to Her annually on the auspicious day of Diwali, with religious rituals and colorful ceremonies specifically devoted to Her.

- Bansi Pandit

Sedna

Sedna is the Inuit (or "Eskimo", though the word is an insult) Goddess of the animals of the Sea, who is considered malevolent to humans, and greatly feared. Offerings are made to Her in an effort to win Her over and ensure plentiful hunting. The word Inuit is often translated simply as "the People"; however the singular form, inua, is the word for "soul" or "spirit", giving it a far richer meaning.

Sedna's legend is quite sad:

She was the beautiful daughter of a widower and had many suitors, all of whom She refused. Then a handsome hunter came and succeeded in winning Her over, and took Her away to his Land of Birds--for he was actually a Kokksaut or petrel-spirit in disguise as a man. When Sedna found out his true nature, She was inconsolable that Her husband was not what he had seemed.

In the meantime, Sedna's father, missing Her, made his way to Her new home, and finding Her husband away took his weeping daughter back. Together they set out to their home back across the Sea. But the petrel-husband followed them demanding his wife back. The father refused, and the Kokksaut changed into his bird-form, summoning a great storm. In horror and blind panic at having offended the bird-spirit, Sedna's father came to the conclusion that to save himself he must give Sedna as a sacrifice. So he threw his own daughter into the raging Sea. In desperation She grabbed the side of the kayak, but he took an axe and cut Her fingers off to the first knuckles. She clutched the kayak a second and third time, and Her father further mutilated Her hands. Finally She sank beneath the surface and the storm abated.

Later the father's tent was swept away by a rare high tide, and he joined his daughter beneath the Sea. Sedna's mutilated hands became the Sea animals--the joints of Her fingers became the salmon, seals and walruses and the rest of Her hands the whales.

Sedna is believed to live under the Sea in a house of whale-bones and stones, and rule the realm of Adliden or Adlivin, where the Dead go to cleanse themselves of the sins of their lives.

Inuit Shamans sometimes journey to Her. In the ritual they bring a comb and use it to brush out Her long tangled hair, which She can't do Herself as She no longer has any hands. By soothing Her and treating Her with compassion, they hope to calm Her and gain wisdom. Her Iglulik Inuit equivilant, Takanakapsaluk, like Sedna, receives the dead and causes misfortune, but is known also as a healer who helps hunters.

Sedna in a reading indicates deep, buried anger and a feeling of powerlessness. Unacknowledged or disowned anger can lead to depression. However, this anger or buried emotion is in fact very powerful and needs to be accessed, acknowledged or released in a safe manner. Take your cue from the Shaman's journey and treat this inner angry person with compassion and soothing gestures. Above all, listen.

Sedna is widely worshipped among the Inuit peoples of the polar regions and has many forms and names: Ai-Willi-Ay-O or Aiviliajog; Kannakapfaluk, Arnakapfaluk ("Big Bad Woman") of the Copper Inuit; Idiragijenget for the Central Inuit. She is called Ikalu nappa in Her form as half-woman, half-fish; Meghetaghna in Siberia; Nerchevik in Labrador; and Nerrivik ("Food Dish") or Nivikkaa ("Woman Thrown Backward Over The Edge") in Greenland. For the Iglulik Inuit of Baffin Island She is Uiniyumayuituq or Unigumisuitok, "The One Who Did Not Want a Husband".

From: http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/sedna.html

Heket

Frog headed Goddess of creation, childbirth.

She is the moon which since earliest times was understood to be linked with the ebb and flow of water and of fertility. Thus, she is associated with the germination of grain.

Heqet is one of eight deities associated with creation; she is the consort of Khnum, the ram-headed god. Heqet is the one who instills the spark of life into the body that Khnum molds out of clay.

During childbirth, women wore her amulets.

Heqet (Heket) was a goddess of childbirth, creation and grain germination. She was depicted as a frog, or a woman with the head of a frog, betraying her connection with water. As a water goddess, she was also a goddess of fertility where she was particularly associated with the later stages of labour. In this way, the title of "Servants of Heqet" may have been a title applied to her priestesses who were trained as midwives.

The ancient Egyptians saw thousands of frogs appear all along the Nile at certain times of the year. This appearance of the reptile came to symbolise fruitfulness and coming life.

She was thought to be the wife of Khnum, the god who creates men on his potter's wheel, and she gave the newly created being the breath of life before the child was placed to grow in the mother's womb.

In the story of the triplets who would be pharaohs, she was the goddess of magically "hastens the birth", in an unspecified manner.

In Hatshepsut's birth colonnade, it is Heqet, with Khnum, who led Ahmose to the birthing room. She also was depicted as the goddess who held the ankh sign of life to Hatshepsut and her ka, fulfilling her job as the giver of life to the newly created child.

She originally appears in the pyramid texts where she helps the pharaoh ascend into the sky. She is also connected with the Osiris myth in the "Funeral of Osiris" at Dendera:

Osiris, ithyphallic and bearded, in mummied form, lying upon his bier; over his feet and his body hover the hawks. At the head kneels Hathor, "Mistress of Amentet, who weepeth for 'her brother'," and at the foot is a frog symbol of the goddess Heqet, beneath the bier are an ibis-headed god holding the Utchat, two serpents, and the god Bes. As such, she was not only a goddess of birth, but of rebirth, because of her life-giving powers.

Amulets of Heqet were worn by women to protect them while they gave birth. During the Middle Kingdom ritual ivory knives and clappers (a type of percussional musical instrument) bore her name or image as protection for inside the home.

There was a Ptolemaic temple to Heqet at Qus, of which only a pylon remains. She was also known as "Lady of Her-wer": A tomb at Tuna el-Gebel has text speaks about a procession in her honor where she asks that the temple of Heqet at Her-wer be restored and protected from inundation, but this temple has not been found, yet.

Reference: Caroline Seawright

Sheila Na Gig

Sheila Na Gig grins at you provocatively and invites you to join her in opening. Now is the time to open to new experiences, people, places, and things. Now is the time to begin new projects, forge new directions, venture out boldly. The universe invites you to come out and play. Perhaps you've had to contract your enery to deal with a wounding, grieving, an ending. Or you haven't felt it was safe to open up. You may have needed a time of seclusion, sorting out, and focusing inward. The Goddess is here to remind you that a period of contraction is followed by expansion and opening. It is time to nurture wholeness by integrating what the stretching, expanding, and opening will bring.