The world’s love goddesses

It seemed stingy to share just one love goddess with you, so we asked Wikipedia to give us the works! Clearly, there’s plenty to love!

A love deity is a deity in mythology associated with sexual love, lust or sexuality. Love deities are common in mythology and may be found in many polytheistic religions.

Albanian folklore

• Prende, goddess of love

Armenian mythology

• Astghik, goddess of fertility and love

Aztec mythology

• Xochiquetzal, goddess of fertility, beauty, female sexual power, protection of young mothers, pregnancy, childbirth, and women's crafts • Xochipilli, god of love, art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, fertility, and song • Tlazolteotl, goddess of lust, carnality, sexual misdeeds • Ixcuiname, goddess of the carnality. • Tiacapan, goddess of sexual passion. • Teicu, goddess of sexual appetite. • Tlaco, goddess of sexual longing. • Xocotzin, goddess of sexual desire.

Buddhism

• Aizen Myō-ō or Rāgarāja, a deity who transforms worldly lust into spiritual awakening; his red-skinned appearance represents suppressed lust and passion

Canaanite mythology

• Astarte, goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare • Qetesh, goddess of love, beauty and sex

Celtic mythology

• Aine, Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth and sovereignty • Cliodhna Irish goddess, sometimes identified as a goddess of love and beauty

Chinese mythology

• Yue-Lao, a god of love, who binds two people together with an invisible red string. • Tu Er Shen, a deity who oversees the love between homosexual men. • White Peony (Bai Mudan or Pai Mu-Tan), a goddess who tempts men, especially ascetics.

Egyptian mythology

• Bes, god of music, dance, and sexual pleasure • Hathor, goddess of the sky, love, beauty, and music • Bastet, goddess of felines, love, sexuality, protection, beauty, and dance

Etruscan mythology

• Albina, goddess of the dawn and protector of ill-fated lovers • Turan, goddess of love and vitality

Greek mythology

• Aphrodite, goddess of love, lust and beauty. • Philotes, personification of affection, sexual intercourse and friendship. • Hera, goddess of marriage.

• The Erotes • Anteros, god of requited love. • Eros, god of love,sexual passion and naughty thoughts. • Himeros, god of sexual desire. • Hedylogos, god of sweet talk and flattery. • Hymen, god of weddings and bawdy wedding songs. • Pothos, god of sexual longing, yearning and desire. • Peitho, personification of persuasion and seduction.

Guaraní mythology

• Kurupi, god of sexuality and fertility

Hindu mythology

• Kamadeva or Manmadhan or Kama, god of love • Rati, goddess of passion and lust

Lithuanian mythology

• Milda, goddess of love and freedom

Mesopotamian mythology

• Inanna or Ishtar, goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare

Moroccan mythology

• Qandisa, goddess of lust who first seduces men then drives them insane

Norse and Germanic mythology

• Frigg, goddess of romance, marriage, sex and reproduction, married women, household duty, and divination. • Freyja, goddess associated with magic, shamanism, seiðr, sacrifice, war, death, and sexuality. • Freyr, worshipped as a phallic fertility god, he was said to "[bestow] peace and pleasure on mortals" • Sjöfn, goddess associated with love • Cupid, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Eros • Venus, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite • Suadela, the Roman equivalent of the

Greek goddess Peitho

Slavic mythology

• Dogoda, Polish spirit of the west wind, associated with love and gentleness • Dzydzilelya, Polish goddess of love and marriage and of sexuality and fertility • Lada, fakeloric goddess of harmony, merriment, youth, love and beauty • Siebog, god of love and marriage • Živa, goddess of love and fertility

Vodou

• Baron La Croix, loa of the dead and sexuality • Baron Samedi, loa of the dead, sex and resurrection • Erzulie Freda Dahomey, loa of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers

Yoruba mythology

• Mami Wata, a pantheon of water deities sometimes associated with love and lust • Oshun, goddess of love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy

For the story of a modern living love goddess, see our following post on entertainer & jewelry designer Alev Johnson

Background image: Nascita di Venere, painting by Sandro Botticelli, 1486