Contemporary Visions of the Divine

I thought it might be cool to do a contemporary version of a previous post I did that has proved to be pretty popular (Imagining the Gods) - I was super impressed with some of the images I found, especially the ones (below) of Mercury, Faunus, Venus ... actually most of the them are pretty fabulous. I acknowledge that the majority of the images used in this post are sourced from deviantart.com - a very addictive website, which I spend far too much time on:p

Click on images to enlarge

Apollo, God of light and the sun, healing (or disease), music (especially stringed instruments), archery, poetry and prophecy

"Invictus" by ceruleanvii.deviantart.com

Bacchus (Dionysus), God of grapes, fruitfulness, vegetation, wine, ecstasy and madness

"Bacchus" by theloymachine.deviantart.com

Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) Twin Gods of sailors and horsemanship; associated with camaraderie 

"Castor and Pollux" by 3feathers.deviantart.com

Ceres (Demeter), Goddess of agriculture, plant growth and crop fertility

"Demeter" by iizzard.deviantart.com

Diana (Artemis), chaste Goddess of the hunt, animals (esp. wild), woodlands, childbirth and the moon 

"Artemis" by honeyjadecrab.deviantart.com

Faunus (Pan), woodland God who brings fertility to fields and flocks; associated with pleasure-seeking

Detail of "Pan and Selene" by dianeozdamar.over-blog.com

Flora (Chloris), Goddess of flowering plants; associated with spring, fertility and sexual licentiousness

"Flora" by iizzard.deviantart.com

Fortuna (Tyche), Goddess of increasing prosperity, good fortune, ill fortune, chance and luck

Model posing as Lady Luck for store.vivcore.com

Freyja (Germanic equivalent of Venus), Goddess of love, life and fertility*

"Freyja" by evelmiina.deviantart.com

Freyr (Germanic equivalent of Faunus), powerful fertility God, associated with good times, peace and plenty

"Freyr, Lord of the Vanir" by marisvision.deviantart.com

Hercules (Herakles), God of heroism, strength and perseverance

"Hercules vs Hydra" by kenbarthelmey.deviantart.com

Janus, God of beginnings, transitions, openings, closings and entrance-ways

"Janus" by novalyyn.deviantart.com

Juno (Hera), Goddess of women, marriage and motherhood

"Hera" by Soa Lee on soanala.cgsociety.org

Jupiter (Zeus), protecting God of the sky and weather, esp. rain and storms; associated with oaths

"Zeus" by laether-mad.deviantart.com

Magna Mater (Cybele), Earth Goddess, great mother of the Gods and all beings

"The Lion Rider" presumed to be by N Boonham (b. 1953). Source unavailable.

Mars (Ares), God of war, valour and virility

"Greek God: Ares" by gypsy-love.deviantart.com

Mercury (Hermes), God of financial gain, trade, travel, writing, language, communication, cunning and psychopomp

"Mercury Rising" by Heidi Taillefer @ heiditaillefer.com

Minerva (Athena), Goddess of wisdom, skilled workmanship and strategy

"Minerva" by blingblingbabe.deviantart.com

Neptune (Poseidon), God of water, the sea and horses

"Neptune" by starxgemini.deviantart.com

Odin (Germanic equivalent of Mercury), God of writing, wisdom, cunning, eloquence, prosperity, travel and psychopomp 

"The Grey God, Odin" by mlpeters.deviantart.com

Pluto (Hades) & Proserpina (Persephone), Deities of death, the underworld and mineral wealth

"Hades and Persephone" by fabilua.deviantart.com

Saturn (Kronos), God of agricultural abundance, sowing, seeds; ruler of a past golden age

"The Planets - Saturn" by inertiak.deviantart.com

Thor (Germanic equivalent of Jupiter), protecting God of the sky, thunder, lightning and rain

"Romanesque Thor" by thorskegga.deviantart.com

Trivia (Hekate), Goddess of crossroads (usually three-way), ghosts, the undead and witchcraft

"Hecate" by mari-na.deviantart.com

Tyr (Germanic equivalent of Mars), God of war and bravery

"Tyr" by laether-mad.deviantart.com

Venus (Aphrodite), Goddess of love, relationships, passion, pleasure, beauty, charm and fertility

"Venus reclining on furs" by terryt68.deviantart.com

Vesta (Hestia), Goddess of the hearth-fire and home; associated with purity and virginity

"Fire" by rickydeviant.deviantart.com

Victoria (Nike), Goddess of victory, especially military victory

"Nike" by taepanda.deviantart.com

Vulcan (Hephaestus), God of potent fire, the forge and blacksmithing

"Fire God" by ezak.deviantart.com

* It is possible that Freyja and Frigg are in fact different names for the same great fertility Goddess of the Germanic tribes. Note that among the western German tribes "Frija" became the consort of Woden and was equated with Venus, hence "Freitag" (lit. Frija's day, or Friday) was used in place of the Latin name for the day the Romans called "dies Veneris" (lit. the day of Venus). Freyja-Frigg may even be the same deity as the great Earth-Mother Goddess whom Tacitus called "Nerthus" - who seems to have been associated, like Freyja, with boars. Alternately, as there were many Germanic tribes, perhaps they each worshipped distinct Goddesses whose myths eventually converged over time, as tribes melted away into kingdoms.