Distributing Godesses and Other Deities in The Sorceress of the Northern Seas

The religious world I created for my novel The Sorceress of the Northern Seas was mix and match. It takes place on Earth, in, say about 400—but if you’re God you can alter the world as you see fit, and I did. The religions got shuffled around too.

 

First off is Christianity, which was starting to really catch on at that time. In the village Lybecca, the main character, hails from there is a church, but most of the people in the settlement still worship Eostre. Lybecca does as well. Her boyfriend, Ander, doesn’t have much time for religion.

 The ancient Britons—the Anglo-Saxons and the remnant of the Celts—worshiped her. She was a goddess of dawn and of fertility. Her symbols were the bunnies that appear when the earth begins to warm with spring, and eggs, which were symbols of birth and fertility. The ancient people used to paint them. They celebrated a holiday to their goddess in the spring called . . .  Eostre . . . sort of like Easter, isn’t it?

So this is one goddess who becomes widely worshipped in my book. In the section narrated by Terra, we meet her mentor, Amelia, who is a priestess of Eostre. Terra, though, is a worshiper of Ardwinna.

 We don’t know a lot about Ardwinna other than she was a Celtic goddess and associated with animals. No problem we don’t know a lot about her. In fact, as the Dutch say, Um zo besser. So much the better! That gives us a lot of space to fill in. I’ve used Ardwinna in several stories. In my book, she a widely worshiped chaste goddess, a little like Artemis, but not a huntress. Her priestesses take vows of virginity (Terra’s sister Sky gets into trouble when she violates this vow). Ardwinna is kind, equitable—unlike her sister, Morrigan, who is her opposite.

I notice that I like goddesses better than gods. Hmmm. Maybe need to get a few gods in volume two of the novel. 

Hecate, goddess of witches, makes an appearance in the novel. Other deities as well. In Star Wars film number three, 3CPO says “It is not in my programming to impersonate a deity.” It is in mine and in yours as well. Do a little research. There are a lot of fascinating pantheons out there. Shop around. Pick and choose and come up with your own pantheon for your fantasy and sci-fi worlds.

 Check out the various deities. Pick up a copy of The Sorceress of the Northern Seas.