Hephaestus/Vulcan

**Pantheon**: Greek/Roman

**Title**: Smith of the Gods

**Authority**: Fire

## Information

Hephaestus is the divine smith, Lord of Subterranean Fire. He may be the son of Zeus and Hera or the son of Hera alone. One legend suggests that, following Athena’s birth, Hera was so enraged that Zeus had appropriated women’s sacred right to give birth that she decided to give birth alone, too. Hephaestus was the result.

Of course, the problem with this myth is that Hephaestus, fully grown and an operational smith, is also the divine midwife who freed Athena from Zeus’ head with his moon-shaped axe. Myths of Athena and Hephaestus are intertwined and contradictory. They are alter egos, two halves of a whole. Both were apprenticed to smiths in childhood. Both their myths touch on traditional gender roles:

* Athena spent her girlhood hammering spears for male warriors.
* Hephaestus spent his boyhood crafting women’s jewelry.

Once upon a time, Athena and Hephaestus were a matched pair; in early legends they were wed. As Athena evolved and increasing emphasis was placed on her literal virginity, their myths became increasingly contradictory. Her past relationship with Hephaestus is among Athena’s deep secrets. However, the two continued to share shrines and may still be venerated together (although one may anticipate some fireworks).

Hephaestus is lame and misshapen, not the stereotypical gorgeous “Greek god” like Apollo or Adonis. Exactly what happened to Hephaestus, how he became crippled and misshapen, is the subject of various, contradictory myths:

* Zeus or Hera (reports differ) threw him from the Heavens because he was born misshapen.
* He was crippled when Zeus threw him from Olympus for daring to intervene when Zeus abused Hera.

He landed in the ocean, where he was raised by Thetis and mermaids. They gave him a workshop beneath the volcanic Mount Etna, in Sicily, and a child-sized forge, where he began crafting exquisite armour, weapons jewels and ornaments for the gods. When Hera and the other goddesses saw his handiwork, Hephaestus was invited to rejoin them in Olympus and as a reward was given Aphrodite as his unwilling bride. He was among the least charismatic of the gods, but his Roman counterpart, Vulcan, fashioned Jupiter’s thunderbolts. He spent most of his time in his smithies in volcanoes and on his sacred island of Lemnos.

Hephaestus was such an incredible visionary craftsman that his creations could breathe and move. He is credited with crafting the first woman (Pandora) in his forge from Earth and water. He fashioned living golden female robots to help him walk: the first femme-bots.

*A little-known myth suggests that Hephaestus never fell from the sky at all. Hera, his mother, fearing that Zeus would harm her son, spirited him away to Lemnos, apprenticing him to her ally, Kedalion the Master Smith. Allegedly the first piece Hephaestus ever crafted was a pair of prosthetic legs for himself.*

Hephaestus is a shamanic spirit presiding over a Mystery tradition. He is a guardian and healer. He is also a stubborn deity with sensitive emotions who will hold a grudge if offended.

Only Dionysus can propitiate him and lighten his mood (via copious quantities of wine).

**Favoured People:** Smiths, metalworkers, jewelers, potters, ceramicists, shamans, diviners

Hephaestus is patron of metal-workers in much of the Western world and in the Middle East from where his cult originated. He is effective in all rituals for craftsmanship, for the acquisition of wealth and treasures, for the development of skills and precision and for controlled power for a particular purpose.

**Manifestations:** Hephaestus is portrayed as a vigorous, powerful bearded man and also as a man whose body is bent and twisted. He moves like a crab, his mother’s emblem.

**Attributes:** Hammer; crescent-moon ax; cane

**Consorts:** Athena; Aphrodite; Aglaia the Glorious; Charis; Cabeiro and possibly Aetna

**Colour:** Red, black

**Mineral:** Lemnian Earth (Lemnia sphragis): clay dug from a cavern in Hephaestia on Lemnos allegedly possessed miraculous healing powers. It was considered an antidote against snakebite and plague.

**Animals:** Crab, snake

**Number:** 9

**Sacred Sites:** Lemnos and volcanic islands like Hiera, Imbros, Lipari, and Sicily. He and Athena shared a shrine in Athens, the Hephaesteum, which remains as the most complete surviving example of Doric temple architecture, as befitting the crafts deities it honors.

**Offerings:** Greek and Italian wine; smith’s tools; seashells; decorate his altar with snakes and the mermaids he adores.

**See Also:** Achilles; Adonis; Adrano; Aetna; Aphrodite; Apollo; Athena; Cabeiri; Cabeiro; Dionysus; Erichtonios; Hera; Kedalion; Mermaid; Pandora; Prometheus; Thetis; Zeus

## Appearances in Modern Media

From Blood of ZeusFrom Immortals Fenyx RisingFrom age of MythologyFrom Dawn of GodsFrom Monster StrikeFrom Kamihime ProjectFrom Age of Ishtaria

1. Smite Lore

When the Gods of Rome ride chariots across the sky, it is Vulcan that made them. When they reach for weapons to wield in battle, it is Vulcan that forged them. When the very earth rumbles and mountains erupt in searing flame, it is Vulcan’s rage that burns. Smith of the Gods, Vulcan crafts with fire and forge as an artist would with paint and brush.

As an infant, so hideous was Vulcan that his disgusted mother, Juno, cast him into the sea from the heights of Mount Olympus. So great was the fall, it smashed one of Vulcan’s legs, a wound from which he would never recover. Beneath the waves, a sea nymph, Thetis, rescued the child-god and raised him as her own. As Vulcan grew, he ventured to the surface and discovered fire and the art of smithing. His natural talents emerged and he forged wondrous jewels for his adopted mother.

Summoned to a gala on Mount Olympus, Thetis wore Vulcan’s glittering gifts, but when Juno discovered Vulcan had made them, she jealously demanded he return to Mount Olympus. Angrily, Vulcan refused. In his stead, he sent a magnificent throne of gold and gems that imprisoned Juno when she sat upon it.

For three days Juno was so entombed, and would have remained so had not Jupiter, Vulcan’s father, interjected. To Vulcan he offered an exchange, Juno’s freedom for the hand of Venus, the most beautiful Goddess of Love. Vulcan agreed.

Though his vengeance was served cold, the fire of spite still burns in Vulcan’s chest. Unable to truly forgive, he loses himself at the forge. None of the wondrous chariots, jewellery or weapons he crafts can ever fill the hurt in his heart, but each one is worthy of a God.

## Appearance in Modern Media

From SmiteCorbin Bernsen as Vulcan in American GodsFrom Blood BrothersFrom Shin Megami TenseiFrom Rangers of OblivionFrom Kamihime ProjectFrom Age of Ishtaria
## Information Source

A Guide to Occult Power of White Magic by Dr S.P. Bhagat

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses by Judika Illes