Queer Positive Gods
By Christopher Penczak
Adapted from Gay Witchcraft: Empowering the Tribe (Weiser 2003).
Who are the gods? Who are the goddesses? I am asked these questions frequently, and they are the hardest to answer, because individual witches have personal definitions of witchcraft, so everyone involved in the pagan religions embodies a personal view of the deities and
their spiritual worlds.
We are fascinated with the deities of ages past, and the resurgence of Wicca is a testament to the belief that the wisdom of our past contains the seeds of our future, but as modern thinkers, most of us feel somewhat restricted from trying to return to a worldview from
the ancient times. The world of the gods and goddesses is not outmoded or archaic in the 21st century. Their very nature cannot be defined. We cannot pigeonhole the forces of nature into what we surmise was our ancestors' belief system. The nature of the gods and goddesses is eternal, yet ever changing and adapting, like life. Most important, our view of them changes, prompting a personal relationship with them.
The archetypes associated with homosexuality and gender variance are the gods of magick, creation, healing, inspiration, and the arts. The cliché of every gay man being a dancer, actor, painter, author, or designer is not far from the truth because these arts lead to the discovery of spirit. They are sacred. Those involved in medicine, as doctors, nurses, and counselors of all kinds, are embodying the healer archetype, through the acceptable forms of healing found in the modern society. Images of the butch lesbian resonate with the ancient warrior priestesses, strong in body and spirit. Even the stereotype of the gay construction worker falls under the builder-creator archetype. As you explore the divine images with gay themes, you find the archetypes of artist, shaman, divine child,
warrior, ruler, parent, and sacred lover.
The following deities are those gods of homoerotic magick. Since modern witchcraft borrows from many time periods and locations, this listing is not restricted to the typical Celtic, or even European, influences, although they are the most popular. Though the names may
be familiar, parts of their story may not.
We may never know which myths are true, figuratively or historically, but such uncertainties should not prevent us from working with new images, myths, and truths to take us into the next century. As you build a relationship with the goddesses and gods, you can ask them
directly and get the answers most suited for you.
Adonis/Tammuz (Phoenician/Greco-Roman/Mesopotamian): The name "Adonis" now refers to a strikingly beautiful male, but the original Adonis is a cross-cultural deity, showing up in Phoenician and Greco-Roman mythology. Adonis is often equated with the Mesopotamian
Tammuz, with whom he shares many attributes and stories. Most noted for his relationships with goddesses, including Astarte, Aphrodite, and Persephone, Adonis was also the beloved of the god Dionysus. Adonis and Tammuz are fertility gods, representing the vegetation of
the land, in a constant state of life, death, and resurrection. Adonis died from a boar's attack, which mutilated his genitals. Adonis is seen not as a king, but as a lover, somewhat effeminate or homoerotic. His priests in Athens were homoerotically inclined, and, along with priestesses, they celebrated his life and death by planting gardens of Adonis, and then uprooted them only a few days after sprouting.
Apollo and Hyacinth (Greek): Apollo was initially the Greek god of light and later was associated with the Sun. His twin sister is Artemis. As the god of music, dance, divination, healing, and artistic inspiration, he can grant these gifts to others. Apollo is known for taking many male lovers, most notably, Hyacinthus, or Hyacinth, a mortal youth. When he was tossing the discus with Apollo, it struck Hyacinth with a mortal blow. The western wind god Zephyrus,
who desired Hyacinth and was angry and jealous of Apollo, caused the accident with his winds. The Sun god could not save his beloved, but from his wound Apollo created the Hyacinth flowers, a symbol of youth cut too short. Hyacinth later became a divine patron to those
pursuing same-sex love.
Artemis/Diana (Greco-Roman): Artemis is the huntress, the goddess of wild things, the protector of women and children, and the maiden aspect of the Moon. From her bow, she fires silver arrows, the shafts of moonlight to illuminate her path. In many versions of her myths,
she is the archetype of the strong, independent woman, goddess of Amazons. Artemis rejects many traditional roles, such as marriage and conventional society, and feels kinship to those beyond traditional roles. Her festivals included same-sex eroticism
involving both females and males.
Astarte (Phoenician/Canaanite): Astarte is a manifestation of the Great Mother Goddess of the Paleolithic cultures, identified with the earlier goddesses Ishtar and Inanna, and later the Greco-Roman.
Aphrodite/Venus. Versions of Astarte were worshiped throughout the Middle East, Egypt, and even across Europe, with the spread of the Roman Empire. She is a Queen of Heaven, and patron of love and war. Though usually remembered in feminine form, like other goddesses, she does have mixed gender incarnations, sometimes depicted as a hermaphrodite, and later the Phoenician records mention King Astarte. Astarte's temples were served by the kelabim gender variant priests and possibly an order of Amazonian women.
Baron Samedi (Vodoun):The Voodoo loa (law) named Baron Samedi is a
god of the dead and magick, but is also evoked for help in daily life. His place is the cemetery and his symbol, a skull. Samedi is often depicted as transgendered, wearing a combination of men's and women's clothing of black and purple, possibly representing his walk between two worlds, the living and the dead, in the same way that his sunglasses, with only one lens, do. He sees in both worlds. The Baron is known for his sexually suggestive movements indicating a desire for anal intercourse.
Dionysus/Bacchus (Thracian/Greco-Roman): Dionysus is the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Semele. Myths paint Zeus's immortal wife, Hera, as the villain, tricking Semele to her death while she was still pregnant. Zeus could not save her, but saved his child, and
implanted the unborn child in his thigh, carrying him to term. Thus, in this myth, Dionysus is "twice born" and associated with immortality and Zeus is transgendered and associated with birth. Hera, Zeus’ wife, plagued him after his birth, so to disguise himself, he learned the art of shape shifting and dressed in women's clothing to avoid detection. Depicted as soft and feminine, yet virile and strong, Dionysus is a balance of extremes. Dionysus was less well known for his love affairs with men, including Adonis and Hermaphrodite.
Ereshkigal (Sumerian): Sister to Inanna, and Queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal is the dark goddess of the dead. She is like the crone, and associated with the power of transformation and destruction. In Egypt, Ereshkigal was petitioned for gay male love spells.
Eros (Greek): Like Dionysus, Eros contains a mixture of feminine and masculine energies, being soft, gentle, loving, effeminate, and childlike on one hand, and ancient, wise, aggressive, and masculine on the other. Eros is the patron and protector of homosexual love.
Freyja and Freyr (Norse): Freyja is the good goddess of these ancient people who would become the Norse. She is the goddess of the land, fertility, eroticism, and magick. She
specialized in a shamanic magick called Seidr, the practice of inducing shamanic states through shivering and shaking, and sex magick acts are also attributed to her. Freyja taught her magick to the god Odin, the all-father of the Aseir. Her brother, the god Freyr, also embodies the earth, like a vegetation king, growing, dying, and then resurrecting. Sharing attributes with the traditional Wiccan horned and green gods, Freyr is sometimes depicted with an erect penis, and fertility icons are present as part of his worship. He is also a patron of magick, shamanism, water, eroticism, love, peace, boars, horses, and stags. His priest may have been homoerotic or transgendered, and well versed in his sister's form of shamanic magick.
Ganesha (Hindu): Ganesha, the breaker of obstacles and binder of evil, is usually depicted as a four-armed, plump, elephant-headed man, riding a rat. Ganesha is a benefactor, a wise, gentle, and loving god, acting as an aide and intermediary for other deities of
the Hindu faith. He is the son of the goddess Parvati. Ganesha protects the inner chambers of Parvati. The inner chambers of the goddess represent the inner, sacred power, and the power of sexuality, as he is said to guard the root chakra, and kundalini. The gates to the kundalini energy are the vagina and anus, and the elephant-headed god has been linked to homoerotic forms of worship involving anal sex. Ganesha is mixed in terms of sexuality, masculine in gender, and as represented with the elephant's trunk, but also is soft, tender, and portrayed with breasts.
Ganymede (Greek): The most famous male lover of the Olympian god-king Zeus, Ganymede was a prince whom Zeus coveted. Taking the shape of an eagle, Zeus snatched Ganymede up to Mount Olympus to be his lover and his cupbearer, pourer of the golden ambrosia, the nectar of the gods. Ambrosia, like other sacred liquids, is associated with semen. The sign of Aquarius is associated with Ganymede.
Hecate (Greco-Roman): The archetypal goddess of the witches, Hecate is the triple goddess of magick, justice, travel, the night, and the crossroads. She guards the roads of travel, sailors, horses, dogs, and wealth. As a handmaiden to Aphrodite and Persephone, she is a goddess of love, evoked for gay male love spells going back to the 3rd century c.e. She was honored by gender-variant male priests called semnotatoi.
Hermaphrodite (Greek): Hermaphrodite is a deity of both genders, having a penis and breasts. One myth states Hermaphrodite is the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, hence the name, and contained the best attributes of them both. Another myth states a nymph named Salmacis
pursued a mortal man who spurned her. She asked that she and the mortal be joined forever, and the gods did just that, fulfilling her exact words, and not her intention. The gods melted the two together into one being with both masculine and feminine attributes.
Hermes/Mercury (Greco-Roman): Although called the messenger god of the Olympians, Hermes has a much greater sphere of influence. True, he is the god of travel, but he is not restricted to any place or role. As one not bound by traditional roles and obligations, he
is free to go and do as he pleases. Hermes took male and female lovers as he desired. With Hercules and Eros, he is part of a homoerotic trinity. His son is the god Pan. Although a male deity, Hermes is androgynous, and carries a lot of boyish charm. Called
"Mercury" by the Romans, and associated with Thoth of the Egyptians,
Hermes was evoked during the 3rd century in Egypt for gay and lesbian
love spells in Hellenistic magick.
Isis (Egyptian): The most beloved of goddesses, Isis is the Great Mother goddess of the Egyptians, the mother of gods and pharaohs. As the goddess of the land, agriculture, Moon, heaven, the underworld, healing, and magick, she is essentially the goddess of life. Isis, like
other goddesses of her time and place, is served in ancient times, and today, by gay and transgendered priests and priestesses. Priests of the ancient world grew out their hair and nails, wore skirts, engaged in ritual sex, fertility rites, and possibly ritual castration, all to the dismay of later Christian observers. As the Great Mother, she welcomes all genders, orientations, races, and classes to her worship, and is considered one of the most popular and
well-known goddesses in the modern pagan movement.
Kali Ma (Hindu): Known in Hindu myth as the destroyer, the warrior goddess, and devouring mother is Kali. She is a dark goddess of magick, tantra, thieves, warriors, and death, with many arms carrying weapons, skin like ebony, and wearing a necklace of human heads. Male worshipers sometimes dress as Kali, with fright wigs, masks, and dresses, or ritually cut themselves with swords, as a symbolic castration.
Loki (Norse/Scandinavian/Germanic): As a shape-shifter, Loki is associated with transgenderism. To help Thor recover his hammer, stolen by the giants, he dresses Thor as Freyja and disguises himself as "her" handmaiden. Later disguised as the giantess Thokk, he prevented Balder's resurrection by refusing to cry for Balder and defying the goddess Hel's vow to release Balder from the land of the dead if all would shed a tear for him. Loki also assumed Freyja's form and cloak, indicating magical and shamanic associations with the goddess,
although it appears Loki never had a cult or priesthood exclusively his own. He transforms to a mare, gets pregnant, and gives birth to Odin's eight-legged magical steed Sleipnir.
Odin/Wotan (Norse/German/Scandinavian): Known as Wotan the Wanderer in Germanic myth, Odin is the all fatherand king of the Aseir, the warrior gods of the Norse pantheon. Credited with creating, with his brothers, the nine worlds of the Norse cosmology Odin, is a god king
and mercurial figure, a traveler, binder, and inspirer. Odin is known to have assumed feminine dress and identity when it suited his purpose. Freyja initiated him into Seidr shamanic magick, a form traditionally reserved for women and transgendered/homosexual men. He is blood brother to Loki, and their bonding has homoerotic overtones, much like the process of warriors bonding in the rites of Freyja.
Pan/Faunus (Greco-Roman): The horned god Pan incarnates the power of the land and animals, the power of wild things, into an archetype of immense power. Often viewed as the primary representation of the Wiccan godforce, Pan is the goat-legged god of music, creativity,
poetry, nature, animals, sexuality, and even terror. He is the god of life and death, though not often portrayed as a lord or king, but somewhat as a trickster or nature spirit, cavorting with nymphs and satyrs. Originating the term "pansexual," Pan loves both men and
women. Artwork depicts him playing the panpipes, penis erect and chasing after men and maidens, particularly shepherds and young men to whom he is teaching music.
Quan Yin (Asian): Quan Yin, or Kuan Yin, is the Chinese goddess of compassion. She sits on an island and listens to the prayers of the world, particularly those of women, children, and sailors. In Buddhists terms, she is a bodhisattva, one who forsakes her own union with divinity to remain behind on a spiritual plane, to guide and help the people of the world. She could be thought of as an ascended master or saint. Quite possibly Quan Yin was once depicted as male,
from Indian origin, as Avalokiteshvara, and later viewed as a female figure, since union with the divine reconciles the female and male aspects. Quan Yin is seen as beyond this world's concept of gender, and can change gender at will, as needed.
Tezcatlipoca (Aztec): As the Father of Witches, Tezcatlipoca walks the jungles in many forms, including a jaguar, coyote, monkey, or woman. He is the patron of sorcery and divination, often depicted holding his namesake, a black obsidian, or "smoking," mirror. Seen as a dark solar figure at times, he is the mirror image of Quetzalcoatl, with whom he battled often. As a magician and shaman, Tezcatlipoca grants miraculous healings, although he is associated with death and sacrifice. Tezcatlipoca and his priests are associated with transgenderism, homosexuality, and ritual prostitution similar to the cults of the Middle Eastern goddesses.
Tlazoteotl (Aztec): Tlazoteotl is the "Eater of Filth," "Dirt Goddess," or the "Shit Goddess" who takes all the darkness of the world, all the horrors, pain, and suffering and transforms it to
purest gold. With these attributes in mind, Tlazoteotl can be viewed as an underworld, dark goddess figure, bringing the wisdom of the shadow to her people. She is a powerful goddess of life and death. Viewed as the archetypal witch, even in the Americas, she is seen partially nude, with either horns or a conical hat, holding a snake and riding a broom. The rabbit is her animal. Along with Xochiquetzal, she is mother and protector of the huastecs, transgendered, lesbian priestess. She is also linked with male homosexuality in her form as "Goddess of the Anus." In most recent times, in a pop-culture, graphic story called The Invisibles by Grant
Morrison (Vertigo/DC), she is associated with a shamanic drag queen named Lord Fanny.
Xochilpilli (Aztec): Known as "the prince of flowers," Xochilpilli is the Aztec patron god of flowers, physical pleasure, fine food, dancing, singing, games, entertaining, and perfumes. Although he is a giver of curses as well as blessings, his festivals are known for their lack of human sacrifice. He is a patron of gay men, gender variance, and male prostitution. As a form of the god Naxcit-Xuchitl, he is said to have introduced homosexuality to his people.
Yemaya (Santeria): Yemaya is the orisha of oceans, rivers, and water, a divine mother. The orisha are like the loa of Voodoo, but Santeria practices have a particularly Spanish flair. Yemaya is a great sorceress, a powerful patron of magick, and is known to shape-shift
into a man at times. As a warrior woman, Yemaya is linked to transgendered and lesbian women. Water is generally associated with healing, cleansing, and emotion, so Yemaya is appealed to for healing, particularly now, to wash away HIV/AIDS, as she is also seen
as a patron to gay, bisexual, and transgendered men.
Zeus/Jupiter (Greco-Roman): Zeus is a sky and storm god, the carrier of lightning and rain, and the leader of the Olympians. Zeus led his siblings to victory against the Titans. His wife is the sky goddess Hera, although he is known for his liaisons with both men and women, siring numerous offspring. Zeus is a shape-shifter and often uses the ability to seduce unsuspecting young men and women. In the Orphic mythology, he is transgendered as Zeus Arrhenothelus, being both mother and father. Later myths completely abandon Zeus's transgendered aspects, but he retains some motherly attributes. Zeus gave birth to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, directly from his brow, as he did Dionysus from his thigh. This ability to carry a child to term echoes Zeus's older attributes and we should not forget them.
If you want a wonderfully detailed and well-researched overview of queer gods, goddesses, heroes, and their cultures, I highly recommend Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit by Randy P. Conner, David Hatfield Sparks, and Mariya Sparks. It is the most
comprehensive and convincing work on this hidden mythology. I also suggest you explore other deities from these mythic cultures, and learn about those that do not have any known queer themes, to have a balanced view of the divine myths.Ultimately, the true origins of the gods are unknown, but the gods themselves are knowable. By studying myths and history, we as modern individuals can connect to these divine facets of the diamond of spirit, and gather a wisdom and personal connection to the forces of the universe. Through the mystics, artists, musicians, and witches will reveal the new tales of wisdom for all to share.