Anat

### Occupation

Canaanite Goddess of Archery, War, and Sacrifice | Syrian Goddess of Love, Fertility, and Sex

## Biographical Information

### Offspring

Belos | Tallay | Pidray

**Anat**, also known as **Anath**, **Anant**, **Anit**, **Anti**, **Anthat** or **Antit**, is the Canaanite archer and warrior goddess of war and sacrifice along with being the Syrian goddess that is associated with love, fertility and sex.

## Overview

She is the older sister and wife of the Canaanite deity Baal Hadad. She is known for constantly avenging her brother by killing Mot and bringing him back from the land of the dead. The continuous cycle signifies the changing of seasons.

## Description

She is famous for having a violent temperament and for taking joy in slaughter. Anat represents necessary endings, sacrifices to be made to serve a greater purpose, or old habits that may no longer work and need to be let go. In this way the field of growth grows green again.

In the *Baal Cycle* texts, Anat appears as a war-goddess, initially called upon by her father El to set the stage for the coronation of Yam; Anat, however, agitates for her younger brother and lover Baal. Text fragments describe her appearance in battle in a fragmentary passage from Ugarit ‘Anat appears as a fierce, wild and furious warrior in a battle, wading knee-deep in blood, striking off heads, cutting off hands, binding the heads to her torso and the hands in her sash, driving out the old men and townsfolk with her arrows, her heart filled with joy. "Her character in this passage anticipates her subsequent warlike role against the enemies of Baal". She is later described ritually re-enacting battle, and then purifying herself, in her temple, where she receives a message from Baal asking her to establish peace on terms favorable to him.

## History

### Background

Though she is the daughter of El, the patriarch of the Gods, she does not hesitate to threaten him when she feels Ba'al is being treated unfairly. If El does not grant Ba'al a splendid palace like all the other gods have, *"I shall surely drag him [El} like a lamb to the ground, I shall make his grey hairs run with blood, the grey hairs of his beard [thick] with gore."*

### Epic of Ba'al

In the 14th century BCE Ugartic text *The Epic of Ba'al*, she defends her brother Baal Hadad, called by his title Ayelin, "Mightiest," against Mot or Mavet, the force of sterility and death who represents the intense heat of the dry season which causes the crops to wither.

But Mot triumphs against Ba'al and sends him to the land of the dead; Anat, with help from the sun goddess Shapash, who has access to the Underworld, brings him back to life. Anat then takes revenge on Mot, cutting him up into tiny pieces, winnowing Him like grain, grinding him up, and then sowing him in the fields. Ba'al and Mot are symbolic of the alternating seasons of rain and drought, of life and death, and by grinding Mot up and scattering him like grain, Anat allows for the season of plenty to come again and the wheat to be reborn another year.

Before Anat goes into battle she prepares herself by anointing herself with henna and ambergris, and dressing in saffron (gold) and murex (purple) dyed clothing, both of which are famously expensive, and royal colors. She then proceeds to slaughter the enemies of Ba'al, across the west and the east, hanging severed heads from her back, and affixing hands to her belt. Laughing and rejoicing, She wades to her knees in the blood of soldiers, *"to her thighs in the gore of quick warriors."* When the slaughter slowly subsides, she then washes herself in the rain-water of her brother Ba'al, and again adorns herself with ambergris.

### Extended Worship

Her worship was also known in Egypt, where she was considered the consort of the chaos god Seth, and her sexual aspects led her to be associated with Min, who is a fertility god. She was especially popular in the New Kingdom, and she was one of Ramses II's patron deities, who watched over him in battle.

Though often called "virgin," Anat also has a strong sexual aspect, much like the war and sex goddess of the Irish the Morrigan, and though she is not usually considered the consort of Ba'al, was said to have had seventy-seven children by him, after they had copulated in the forms of cow and bull. Given this, calling Anat a "virgin" probably should to be taken to mean "independent young woman."

## Quotes

*"Yahweh is dead. As it shall be." - Anat.*

## Powers and Abilities

**Anger Empowerment:** Anat becomes stronger, faster, more durable, etc. through anger/rage whether their own or others, possibly unlocking abilities related to the affinity and enhancing their existing powers and as a bonus Anat can suppress pain to great lengths. Anat may be able to draw sustenance from the anger. If angry enough Anat can also negate another's abilities/powers.

**Blood Empowerment:** Anat becomes stronger, faster, more durable, etc. when they come into contact with or are near blood, possibly unlocking abilities related to the affinity and enhancing their existing powers. Anat may be able to draw sustenance from the blood or even slow or stop aging. Medically, blood is a valuable fluid for the right properties can heal and strengthen the terminally ill. Anat with this ability, would not only gain greater sustenance from blood, but be compatible with types outside their own category or even species.

**Divine Combat:** Anat when possessing Divine Force Manipulation or its sub-powers have learned to infuse their preexisting combat styles with the divine powers they control.

**Famine Inducement:** Anat can cause famine on any scale including; a region, country, continent, planet or as extreme as a universe. Even if used on a miniscule scale, it can ultimately cause global disruption.

**Fear Inducement:** Anat can evoke and increase fear and horror in others causing the target’s brain to release fear-inducing chemicals. The target’s perception may be altered, causing them to see their environment as ominous and Anat as dark and foreboding, or even as a monster.

**Feral Mind:** Anat can tap into a primal instinctive state of mind, which can release an unstoppable rage that allows them to perform in vastly increased capacity, taking and inflicting damage that they couldn't or wouldn't in their normal state. In some cases, Anat's mind descends so far into the feral state that, mentally, they are little more than wild animals.

**Hunting Deity:** Anat with this ability either is or can transform into a hunting deity, a god or goddess in mythology associated with the hunting of animals and the skills and equipment involved. They are a common feature of polytheistic religions.

**Rage Manipulation:** Anat can sense and manipulate the rage, aggression, and anger of themselves, people, animals, and other creatures, whether by increasing, decreasing, causing or otherwise channeling rage, even manifesting the emotional energy to a physical level.

**Super-Strength:** Anat possesses a supernatural strength. This incredible strength allows them to effortlessly lift massive vehicles, large airplanes, boulders, and even locomotives.

**Queen of Heaven:** Anat fits into the archetype of the Queen of Heaven. Queen of Heaven was a title given to a number of ancient sky goddesses worshipped throughout various mythologies.

**Virgin Goddess:** As an archetype, a virgin Deity is always a goddess/goddess-like being/entity/figure who represents or is associated with virginity and chastity, purity, virtue and maidenhood. Virgin Deities are fairly common in mythology and were important among ancient civilizations. Virgin Goddesses are naturally always female; males virgin Gods have yet to be discovered in known mythologies.

**War Deity Physiology:** Anat is either, or can transform into, a War Deity, a god/goddess who represents or is associated with war and the terms to achieve it. It is a common cult characteristic of polytheistic religions.

**Weapon Manipulation:** Anat can create, summon, shape, manipulate and use any kind of weapons with perfect skill, whether pre-modern, modern or even futuristic using laser, plasma, antimatter or even more exotic ammunition/attacks. If it is a weapon or could be improvised as one, they are completely proficient with it.

**Love Deity:** As an archetype, a love deity is a god/goddess who represents and is associated with the love, lust, desire, passion, pleasure and romance, as well as attraction, fertility and sexuality, and all their aspects. This grants them absolute knowledge and power over them, their concepts and principles. Love deities are a common feature of worship in polytheistic religions and can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.

**Love Manipulation:** Anat manipulates and can sense of all the aspects of love, of themselves, people, animals and other creatures, whether by increasing, decreasing, causing or otherwise channeling love, even manifesting the emotional energy to a physical level.

**Fertility Manipulation:** Anat can create, shape and manipulate fertility, the natural capability for living beings to reproduce (in terms of animals) or grow (in terms of plants). They can make land, living beings or plants fertile, allowing them to reproduce or grow, or make things infertile, making them unable to reproduce or grow.

**Fertility Deity:** As an archetype of a Fertility Deity, a god/goddess who represents or is associated with fertility, virility, sex, sexual health, reproduction, procreation, pregnancy, birth, nature, vegetation and crops. Fertility deities are common in mythology and were important among ancient and current civilizations. In most cases these deities are directly associated with these experiences.

**Guardian Mode:** Anat is able to adopt a mode that is optimized for the protection of people, places, or things. Due to possessing Exclusive Powers to their guardian line, they can assume a specialized form only available to those who share the same guardian line.