Artemis/Diana

*Mistress of Animals; She of the Wild; Most Beautiful; Lady of Many Shrines and Many Cities; Lady of the Wild Mountains; Opener of the Womb*

**Pantheon**: Greek/Roman

**Title**: Goddess of the Hunt

**Alignment**: Chaotic - Neutral

**Colours**: Silver and White

**Metal**: Silver

**Crystals and stones**: Moonstone labradorite and selenite.

**Herb**: mugwort also known as Artemisia.

**Authority**: Love and Passion, Moon

## Information

The maiden Goddess of the crescent moon and the hunt, Artemis leads the hunt with her wild women. Artemis can teach you to be brave and courageous no matter what gets thrown your way. She is known for acting quickly and decisively to protect and rescue those who call on her for aid. She is swift to punish offenders, even though she detests violence itself. She is a protector of women in childbirth and of mothers and their children.

Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, the young Greek Sun God, and is the goddess of chastity, virginity, the hunt, the Moon and nature. Although a virgin goddess, she also presides over childbirth. Because of her connection with the hunt, she is altogether a more active goddess than Aphrodite if you are seeking love or, perhaps, trying to encourage a reluctant lover of either sex or win love under difficult circumstances. She is perfect for outdoor love spells and for casting your love net wide to attract an as yet unknown lover.

Diana is the Roman counterpart of Artemis, and because of her strong association with the Moon in all its phases, is a goddess of fertility as well as love. Like Artemis, she is goddess of the hunt and a virgin goddess, but can be invoked in her role as an Earth goddess and as protector of women in childbirth. Her beauty and hunting skills make her a perfect focus for the pursuit of love, especially from afar.

Classical goddess of the Moon and the hunt and one of the most important aspects of the Goddess in Wicca. Diana (counterpart to he Greek Artemis) personifies the positive attributes of the moon, which is the source of Witches’ magical power, as well as independence, self-esteem and fierce aggressiveness. A virgin goddess and maiden warrior, she is the eternal feminist, owned by no man, beholden to none. As a moon goddess, Diana shares the lunar trinity with Selene and Hecate and serves as patron goddess of witches. In the trinity, she represents power over the earth.

Diana’s origins as Artemis comprise a rich mythology. Her cult flourished throughout the Mediterranean region during the Bronze Age. The Amazons build a beehive-shaped temple to her at Ephesus circa 900 b.c.e., and it is considered the Seventh Wonder of the ancient world. The temple contained a statue of Black Diana, on which was implanted a magical stone. Emperor Theodosius closed the temple in 380, allegedly because he despised the religion of women. Early Christians sought to destroy the cult as Devil-worshipers, and Black Diana was smashed ca. 400.

According to myth, Artemis was born of Zeus and Leto, a nature deity and the twin sister of Apollo, who became the god of oracles and of the Sun. As soon as she was born, Artemis was thrust into the role of protector and helper of women. Though Artemis was born without pain, Apollo caused Leto great suffering. Artemis served as midwife. As a result, women have traditionally prayed to her to ease childbirth. As a youth, Artemis exhibited a boyish taste for adventure and independence. At her request, Zeus granted her a bow and a quiver of arrows, a band of nymph maidens to follow her, a pack of hounds, a short tunic suitable for running and eternal chastity, so that she could run forever through the wilderness. She was quick to protect wildlife and animals, as well as humans who appealed to her for help, especially women who were raped and victimized by men.

She was equally quick to punish offending men. Actaeon, a hunter who spied Artemis and her nymphs bathing nude in a pool, was turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own hounds. She killed Orion, whom she loved, with an arrow shot to the head. In one version, she was tricked into killing Orion by Apollo, who did not like Orion; in another version, she killed him out of jealousy over his feelings for Dawn. She sent a boar to ravage the countryside of Calydon as punishment to King Oeneus, because he forgot to include her in the sacrifice of the first fruits of harvest. (None of the bravest male warriors of Greece could slay the boar. It took another woman, Atalanta, to do it.)

In British myth, Diana directed Prince Brutus of Troy to flee to Britain after the fall of that city. Brutus, who then founded Britain’s royalty, is said to have erected an altar to Diana at the site where St. Paul’s Cathedral is located today. A surviving remnant of that altar is the London Stone. Apollo and Diana (Albrecht Dürer, 1502)

As late as the fifth and sixth centuries, a Dianic cult flourished among European pagans. With the slow Christianization of Europe, Diana became associated with evil and Satan. In the early Middle Ages, she was believed to be the patroness of sorcery (an evil) and to lead witches’ processions and rites. Historian Jeffrey B. Russell notes that Dianic witches’ processions were not known in classical times but probably grew out of the Teutonic myth of the Wild Hunt, a nocturnal spree of ghosts who destroyed the countryside. Clerical scholars may have substituted Diana, a familiar deity, for the Teutonic goddesses, Holda and Berta, who sometimes led the Wild Hunt and who were identified by the church as followers of the Devil.

The Canon Episcopi, an ecclesiastical law written ca. 900, reinforced the portrayal of a Devil Diana who leads the witches: It is not to be omitted that some wicked women, perverted by the Devil, seduced by illusions and phantasms of demons, believe and profess themselves, in the hours of the night, to ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess of pagans, and an innumerable multitude of women, and in the silence of the dead of the night to traverse great spaces of earth, and to obey her commands as of their mistress, and to be summoned to her service on certain nights.

Diana also became associated with Herodias, wife of Herod, who was responsible for the execution of John the Baptist. Herodias took on the aspects of a demon, condemned to wander through the sky forever but allowed by God to rest in trees from midnight to dawn. In Italian lore, the name Herodias became Aradia. In the 19th century, Charles Godfrey Leland recorded oral legends told to him by witches of Etruscan heritage concerning Aradia, the daughter of Diana and her brother Lucifer. Diana dispatched Aradia to earth to teach witches their craft.

British anthropologist Margaret A. Murray erroneously believed that an organized Dianic cult of witches had existed throughout the Middle Ages and the witch hunt centuries, though no evidence survives to prove it. Murray relied heavily upon the Canon Episcopi in developing these ideas. They were adopted by Gerald B. Gardner, a key figure in the revival of witchcraft in the 1950s in Britain.

## Encyclopedia of Spirits

Artemis is among the most ancient indigenous spirits of Greece. Her earliest incarnation seems to have been as a bear goddess. By the Classical Era, Artemis was absorbed into the Olympian pantheon as the spirit most associated with wild nature, magecraft, and women’s mysteries. Artemis was venerated by both men and women. She is an initiatory spirit who presides over rites of initiation for both males and females.
According to the most popular version of her myth, Artemis was born on the island of Delos, daughter of Leto and Zeus. Her very first act upon drawing breath was to assist Leto in the long, difficult delivery of her brother, Apollo. He is her complement and alter ego: spirit of the sun and masculinity in contrast to her as spirit of the moon and femininity. Artemis is a good friend and ally of Persephone.

Zeus offered Artemis her deepest wish: she requests never to be forced to marry. This may be understood as a demand to maintain autonomy and independence. Emphasis is often placed on Artemis’ chastity but her temple rituals involved erotic dancing and masquerades by men and women, not necessarily separately. Artemis’ sexuality is not under anyone’s control but her own. Her emphasis on chastity may hark back to a primeval bear cult in which sexual abstinence precedes the hunt.

Artemis is Mistress of the Hunt: she protects the wilderness from excessive human encroachment and regulates sacred hunting rituals. Artemis influences, grants, and removes human, animal, and botanical fertility. She regulates menstrual cycles.

Artemis rules sexual energy and tension. She presides over mysteries involving sexual energy intended for magical rather than procreative use. Sexual energy is concentrated, rather than released, to serve as a source of esoteric power.

Artemis was both loved and feared. Her name may mean “bear” but may also derive from Artamos, “slaughterer” or “butcher.” She preserves, bestows, and takes the lives of animals and people. She was among the last Greek deities to reject human sacrifices. She grants fertility to those previously unable to conceive but also decides who survives childbirth (women and animals). She is the gatekeeper who determines who lives and who dies.

* Artemis can bestow or withhold health, wealth, life, and fertility.
* She can undo any mischief caused by Nymphs or Nereids.
* Artemis may be petitioned for a swift death.

Veneration of Artemis was never entirely suppressed, nor was she ever as closely associated with malefic witchcraft as her Italian counterpart, Diana. Instead her spiritual functions were officially redistributed to male saints, especially Saint Nicholas but also Saint Artemidos, who emerged to take her place. Artemis survives in modern Greek lore: she still wanders the wilderness, but rather than leading a band of Nymphs, she is now Lady Beautiful, Queen of the wild Neraida.

A Greek proverb asks, “Where has Artemis not danced?” Ecstatic, sometimes erotic dance was central to her rites. She is a shamanic spirit, so perhaps it is safe to venture that dance involved ritual possession, too. Drums have been found in many of her shrines. The kordax was danced in her temples. Described as a lewd rotation of abdomen and buttocks, the kordax, a masked dance, may derive from ancient snake dances and is possibly a precursor of modern belly dance.

**Favoured people:** Girls and women in general; lesbians; sailors and mariners; Amazons; women athletes, especially runners, swimmers, and archers

**Manifestations:** Artemis is a magician and shape-shifter who takes many forms. Her most common manifestation is as a youthful female athlete, usually accompanied by a stag and/or a pack of hunting hounds. She may wear a horned headdress or a headdress ornamented with a crescent moon. Artemis also manifests as a mermaid or in the form of any animal especially wolves, does, and bears.

**Iconography:** She was venerated in the form of a pillar or tree trunk; a statue in Arcadia depicted her as a mermaid. Some images depict her with a fish amulet over her genitalia.

**Attributes:** Silver bow and arrows; a shield bearing the image of a wolf

**Colour:** White, silver

**Metal:** Silver

**Planet:** The moon is Artemis’ spinning wheel, upon which she spins the fate of human beings; spindle whorls, shuttles, and assorted weaving tools have been found in nearly all her shrines; alternatively the crescent moon is her silver bow.

**Realm:** Wild groves and forests (not orchards or farmed trees); she is also closely associated with freshwater, including lakes, marshes, springs, streams, and rivers.

**Sacred sites:** Allegedly her very favourite place is the Arcadia region of Greece. The island of Leros in the Dodecanese is sacred to her, as is Delos, site of her first midwifery.

**Trees:** Walnut, willow, cedar, myrtle, fir, oak, wild fig, bay laurel

**Plants:** The Artemisia family of plants, named in her honor, includes mugwort, wormwood, southernwood, and tarragon.

**Bird:** Quail

**Sacred creatures:** She is the Lady of the Beasts: all wild animals are sacred to her but especially bees, bears, boars, deer, dogs, dolphins, goats, fish, wolves, and cats great and small. Her chariot is drawn by stags.

**Spirit allies:** Although Artemis is often described as a solitary spirit, she is often found in the company of others. In addition to her animal companions, she has a band of Nymphs who serve and accompany her. Her cousin, Hekate, is her favourite companion. She has a close alliance with Apollo and Leto.

**Number:** 6

**Sacred days:** Artemis is honoured on the sixth of each month (lunar or solar).

**Altars:** Artemis’ shrines were decorated with boars’ heads or tusks.

**Offerings:** Make them on behalf of wild nature (keeping it wild) and the animals she loves, especially bears, deer, and wolves. In Athens, she was honoured with round honey cakes. Offerings may be laid on household altars or left at a crossroads at midnight or noon.

**See also**: Adonis; Aphrodite; Apollo; Aristaeus; Artemis of Ephesus; Diana; Green Fairy; Hekate; Iphigenia; Lady of the Beasts; Leto; Neraida; Nymph; Persephone; Polyboea; Ragana; Selene; Zeus

## Smite Lore

Armed with a magical bow, Artemis is the unrivalled Goddess of the Hunt!

Daughter of Zeus and Leto, Artemis and her twin brother Apollo are products of Zeus' infidelity to his wife Hera. Insulted, Hera cursed Leto while she was pregnant, forbidding her to give birth on land or sea. Fortunately, she found an island that did not touch the ocean floor, so it was neither land nor sea, and thus bore her children. Artemis was born first, then miraculously aided as midwife in the birthing of her brother.

Artemis spent her childhood in the hills and forests, training with her bow and hunting beasts. As she grew older and more beautiful, she also grew proud and ruthless when slighted or dishonoured, especially against those that claimed to be better hunters than she. Adonis boasted this very thing and Artemis sent a wild boar to skewer him. The twin demigods Otos and Ephialtes, who could not be killed except by each other, threatened to kidnap Artemis and force her to marry one of them, but were tricked when Artemis, appearing as a doe, dashed between them. As they thrust with their spears they impaled each other. Finally, Actaeon, after peeping at Artemis while she bathed, was transformed into a stag and devoured by his own hunting dogs. Such is the wrath of Artemis.

Her name is invoked by hunters seeking prey and by midwives during childbirth. Sacrifices are made in her name before a new military campaign. Adolescent girls are sent to her shrine to serve for one year. Beautiful, deadly, and chaste, Artemis is a focused woman and a fearsome warrior.

## Fate Lore

Artemis was summoned while having Orion as an accessory. Correction, it's the opposite. Upon summoning Orion, a hero of Greek Mythology, for some reason the goddess Artemis also came along. To make matters worse, Orion completely changed into a strange creature (mascot character) that cannot be defined as either a person nor a beast.

**Height/Weight:** 165cm ・ 44kg

**Source:** Greek Mythology

**Region:** Greece

The height and weight belong to Artemis.

Famous as a winter representative constellation, but other than being a notorious hunter and lady-killer, it is not like a brilliant heroic tale about Orion is being transmitted. However, he is well known as the human for whom the virgin goddess Artemis fell in love with.

Harbouring uneasiness towards the abnormality of the present situation, Artemis trespassed by wedging herself into Orion's summoning. She is fulfilling the role of an Archer. Since her divinity has dropped to the limit, she has a power that is slightly stronger than your average Servant.

Orion is dumbfounded towards Artemis' passionate approach, and if there is a chance, he will make an attack on various women and female Servants, but sadly he is just a mascot character after all, so it is all futile. Furthermore, there is also the fact he is not cute enough to be called a mascot.

**Moon Goddess's Arrows of Love and Romance**

**Rank:** A+

**Type:** Anti-Unit

An arrow fired with Artemis' power of love towards Orion. Because it is shot together with exuberant love, it exerts tremendous damage and maximum confusion on the target.

## Appearances in Modern Media

From SmiteFrom HadesFrom Blood of ZeusFrom Dawn of GodsFrom Age of MythologyFrom Unison LeagueFrom Puzzle & DragonFrom DislyteFrom Reign of Dragons as DeliaFrom Rage of BahamutFrom Rangers of OblivionFrom Shin Megami TenseiFrom Fate/ Grand OrderFrom Monster StrikeFrom Kamihime ProjectFrom Force of WillFrom Aura Kingdom known as Cesela
## Diana

*The Luminous One; Holy Mother;Lady of the Grove; Mother of the Forest; Lady of the Wild Creatures; Opener of the Womb*

**Also known as:** Dea Jana

**Feast:** 13 August

Diana is an ancient spirit, indigenous to Italy, possibly Etruscan or Latin. She preceded the Romans in the region, then traveled with them through Europe, becoming well known all over that once heavily wooded continent. Diana has dominion over magic, witchcraft, women and children, wilderness, fertility, hunting, and wild animals. In addition, she is matron of slaves and outlaws, many of whom found refuge in her forest sanctuary. Her veneration may have begun at that sanctuary at Nemi at the foot of the Alban Hills. A temple was eventually dedicated to her on Rome’s Aventine Hill, most likely following the Roman victory over the Latins in the fifth century BCE.

Diana may initially have been the preeminent goddess in the Roman region, paired with such important male spirits as Janus and Jupiter. Some suggest she was the ruler of the night while Jupiter ruled the day. She is an anarchic goddess, however, a spirit of ecstasy and independence. Although the Romans incorporated her into their pantheon and venerated her, she was somewhat marginalized and diminished, associated with slaves, immigrants, and disreputable people while Juno became the official state goddess.

Diana was adored throughout Europe. Other versions of her name include:

* Jana, Tana (Italian)
* Debena, Devana (Czech)
* Diiwica (Serbian)
* Dziewona (Polish)
* Gana (Transylvanian)

Efforts to identify her with Artemis may have been part of this process of diminishment. Diana’s identity was subsumed by Artemis. Over the centuries Diana became intensely identified with Greek Artemis; their names are often used interchangeably, and it can be difficult to distinguish between the two although they were initially distinct spirits. The names Artemis of Ephesus and Diana of Ephesus are also used interchangeably.

Most surviving information regarding her worship and influence comes from her enemies, Saint Paul of Tarsus and other early Christian writers. Diana’s cult was so popular throughout Europe and Asia Minor that early Christians perceived it as among their major rivals. The subsequent destruction of Europe’s forests and wildlife, especially wolves, may have been a method of eradicating Diana’s power and influence.

When Christianity achieved political power, Diana was completely vilified. In 1487, Spanish Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada flatly stated, “Diana is the devil.” The Society of Diana was among the Inquisition’s terms for witchcraft. No deity was more associated with witchcraft during the Burning Times. Devotion to Diana survived the witch hunts and remains vital. She is among the most beloved of contemporary deities and is central to the Italian witchcraft tradition, Stregheria.

Though most Wiccans no longer believe in Murray’s medieval Dianic cult, they do revere Diana as a Pagan deity and an archetype. As part of the Triple Goddess aspect of the moon, Diana holds sway over the new and waxing moon, a two-week period that is auspicious for magic related to new beginnings, growth and achievement.

Diana is invoked as nurturer and protector. At the full moon, she turns her power over to Selene. As an archetype, Diana serves as a role model for feminist Witchcraft, called the Dianic tradition. She is a free spirit, an achiever, who knows what she wants and scores the mark with a single arrow shot. She is neither dependent upon nor subjugated by men. Though a lunar goddess, she walks the earth, and her domain is the wild; she is one with nature.

**Favored people:** Thieves; outlaws; slaves; shamans; witches; fortune-tellers; Diana has dominion over women but men worshipped her just as passionately: what are described as werewolves may really be male wolf-shamans or lunar priests dedicated to Diana.

**Manifestation:** Although usually envisioned as a beautiful young woman, in Celtic Europe, Diana was worshipped in the form of a log.

**Iconography:** Images of Diana and Artemis tend to be used interchangeably.

**Sacred sites:**

* Oak groves
* Forests in general
* The famous witches’ walnut tree in Benevento, Italy
* Lake Nemi and the entire Forest of Nemi: A stream flowed into the lake from a sacred grotto near Diana’s Temple. The Mirror of Diana names the volcanic lake surrounded on three sides by forested cliffs.
* Temple on Rome’s Aventine Hill
* The present Cathedral of Saint Etienne in Metz, France, built on the site of her temple

**Time:**

* The Festival of Torches was held annually in Diana’s honor beginning 13 August. Women carried torches to her temple at Nemi and elsewhere engaged in torchlit processions.
* On 15 August, women would journey to the Arician Woods to offer thanks and beseech Diana for future blessings. They were accompanied by crowned hunting dogs, leashed so as not to disturb Diana’s wild creatures.
* A Friday the 13th falling in the month of August is believed especially sacred to Diana.

**Consorts:** Virbius, Janus

**Spirit allies:** Egeria, Hekate

**Animals:** All wild creatures, but especially wolves, dogs, deer, and black cats

**Elements:** Fire and water

**Planet:** Moon, the light of the night

**Offerings:** Diana likes a drink. Strega liquore, allegedly inspired by an Italian witches’ recipe, is a favorite, but she’ll drink grappa, too. Cakes in the shape of the moon, topped with lit candles—the original birthday cake—are a traditional offering. At Diana’s ancient festival, the celebratory meal included wine, roasted young goat, cakes served hot on plates of leaves, and apples still hanging in clusters on their boughs. Offerings on behalf of wolves, wild creatures, and preservation of wilderness may also be appreciated.

### OFFERING BOWL FOR DIANA

* Pour a little Strega liquore in a fireproof bowl, preferably an iron cauldron.
* Stand back and set it aflame using a long fireplace match as an offering for Diana.
* Only use a little Strega. Do not fill the bowl all the way or even halfway! Be sure to stand away from the bowl: do not hover over it. There’s an old joke about Italian witches with singed eyebrows, but it’s no joke if you’re harmed. As soon as the Strega is lit, there is a tendency for high flames to shoot up, considered a sign of Diana’s favor, but not if you are burned or if the house catches fire. Exercise caution, and always be aware of fire safety.

**See Also:** Aradia; Artemis of Ephesus; Egeria; Gana; Hekate; Herodias; Irodeasa; Janus; Jupiter; Virbius

## Appearances in Modern Media

From Kamihime ProjectFrom Monster StrikeFrom Blood BrothersFrom Destiny ChildFrom Age of IshtariaFrom Rage of BahamutFrom Sid Story
## Information Source

The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca by Rosemary Guiley

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