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Mayan Goddesses
Akhushtal
A goddess of childbirth.
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Akna
(Acna) A Goddess of motherhood and birthing, She is associated with the
moon and with the Bacabs (the four canpoic gods who stand at the four
corners of the world, supporting the heavens).
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Alaghom
Naom
(Alaghom Naum, Ixtat Ix) The Maya mother goddess. She is especially associated
with thought and intellect, and is known as "Mother of Mind".
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Alaghom
Naom Tzentel
An ancient Maya goddess of thought and intellect.
Chiberias
A Maya earth goddess.
Chimalmat
A Mayan virgin who conceived a child after the Lord of Existence breathed
on her.
Ch'en
Goddess of the Moon, and the first female entity to experience intercourse.
Chirakan
A creator Goddess who was formed when the four gods responsible for creation
of the world split, and became eight.
Colel
Cab
A Mayan earth goddess.
"I"
A Goddess whose name is believed to be something like "Ixik",
but it is uncertain. She is an early Goddess of water - springs, wells,
and perhaps the sea.
Ixazalvoh
(Ixalvoh) ('water') She is the consort of Hunab-Ku (the sun god Kinich
Ajaw, in some stories), and the inventor and goddess of weaving. She is
also a goddess of female sexuality and childbirth with healing and oracular
powers.
Ix
Chebel Yax
The Maya goddess of weaving, and consort of Itzamna (benevolent god of
the sky and father of the gods).
Ixchel
("rainbow") The Weaver or Creatrix, consort of Itzamna (god
of the sky). She is the goddess of pregnancy, childbirth, medecine, healing,
weaving and domestic arts, worshipped throughout the Mayan Yucatan as
the life-giving queen. She embodies the healing power that ancient cultures
attributed to wise elder women. The rite of passage into womanhood required
fashioning a clay image of Ixchel, traveling to her temple on the sacred
Isle of Women (Isla Mujeres) and performing a ritualistic breaking of
the image.
Ixchel (the moon) was the lover of the Sun, but he became jealous of his
brother, the morning star, accusing them of being lovers. He threw Ixchel
out of the heavens and she took refuge with the vulture divinity. The
Sun followed her and lured her back home once more, only to become jealous
again. Ixchel, understandably tired of the sun's actions, left him and
wandered through the heavens as she wished, becoming invisible if the
sun came near her.
Ixchel is identical with Spider Woman, the Creatrix worshiped widely by
North American native peoples and shows many similarities with the Aztec
goddess Chalchihuitlicue. She is normally represented as a gnarled, somewhat
ominous old woman, with a medusa-like hairdo and a bone skirt. She is
portrayed with a snake as a head-band and her skirt is embroidered with
crossbones.
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Ix
Ch'up
A Maya goddess of the moon.
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Ixmucane
She is among the thirteen divinities who attempted a new creation.
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Ixzaluoh
A Maya water goddess.
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Ixtab
A goddes of death , of the noose and the gallows. She is the patroness
of those who die by hanging or by suicide. It was believed by the Maya
that suicides, slain warriors, sacrificial victims, priests, women who
died in childbirth or those who die by hanging were immediately gathered
by Ixtab and brought to the eternal paradise. She is depicted with a noose
around her neck, hanging from a tree, her eyes closed in death and her
body partly decomposed.
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Mayahuel
The Maya goddess who discovered pulque, a fermented drink which
was the forerunner of tequila.
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Xmucane
The Maya goddess of childbirth. She was the consort of Xpiyacoc (god of
marriage), and the mother of One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu (mighty warriors).
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Xpuch
and Xtah
Two maidens of the Vuc Amag tribe who were forced to offer themselves
to the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz, who would leave the tribe alone
if the maidens returned with proof they had been violated by the gods.
This tale appears in the Popol Vuh, an ancient Maya manuscript
combining mythological characters and history.
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Xquiq
("blood") Another tale from the Popol Vuh. One day Xquiq
passed by a tree of forbidden fruits, and picked one of the fruits. The
gourd she chose was the head of Hunhun-Apu. He told her not to fear him
for she would bear a child soon. When her father heard of this, he sent
four owls to slay her and bring her heart back to him in a vase. She convinced
the owls not to harm her, but instead to bring not her heart, but the
coagulated sap of the bloodwort plant, back to her father. Xquiq went
to Xmucane, the mother of Hunhun-Apu, for protection. At first Xmucane
did not believe the girl's story but the two women soon grew close, and
it was not long until Xquiq gave birth to Hun-Apu and Xbalanque. Thus,
She is a fertility and motherhood divinity.
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