Goddesses and Legends

Amaterasu

Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess, the principal deity in the Shinto pantheon. (And yes, we know she's the ancestor of the Emperor of Japan.  So don't wear this costume if you're going to a ...

Artemis

Ah, Artemis! Goddess of the wilderness, mistress of the moon, patron of untrammeled womanhood. She races through the hills with her beloved animals, fleet-footed and shining. Artemis is one of the ...

Asase Yaa

Asase Yaa is the earth goddess of the Asante people in Ghana. She created human beings and receives them back into her body when they die; she is also the mother of the gods. There are no temples ...

Athena

Athena is easily the best-known and most popular Greek goddess. Yet none of the so-called "Athena" costumes for sale out there look remotely like her. Come on, people! She's Athena! Helmet! ...

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is the legendary witch of Slavic folklore, particularly Russian fairy tales. She lives on the edge of the forest in a hut that stands and moves on chicken legs. Baba Yaga herself fills the ...

Bila

Some sun goddesses are motherly types. They shed their nurturing light on the earth, helping the plants grow and the people thrive. Not Bila. She preferred to burn people up. Every day she would ...

Brighid

Brighid was one of the most prominent Irish goddesses in the pre-Christian era. Fundamentally a fire-and-sun goddess, she was also associated with springtime and fertility; with poetry, healing, and ...

Chalchiuhtlicue

Chalchiuhtlicue, whose name means "She of the Jade Skirt," is the Aztec goddess of rivers, lakes, seas, springs, and all running water. She is traditionally depicted as an elegant woman in ...

Demeter

Related post: Last-minute Demeter (sheets, some leaves, and grocery store produce) Demeter is the Greek goddess of agriculture and the bountiful earth. It is she who makes the crops ...

Freyja

Poor Freyja! More than any other goddess, she's been subjected to the strippers-with-swords treatment in contemporary art. But those deformed creatures with giant implants and chainmail bikinis ...

Hecate

When we first decided to do a costume for Hecate---the goddess of witchcraft, the night, and crossroads---we thought we would do a classic Greek look, the way the ancients saw her. But we ran into ...

Inanna-Ishtar

Long ago, before Venus or Aphrodite, before Artemis or Athena, before Demeter or Persephone, there was Inanna. She was the great Mesopotamian Queen of Heaven and Earth, the goddess of love, ...