Deities Of The Sun
Since we are at the height of summer we thought that the topic of sun deities would be an interesting one to cover!
You may remember our blog post about moon deities during Lunar Month (and if you don’t, we recommend you give that post a read as well), and we wanted to balance the scales by paying our respects to those who help bring light and warmth to our world. There are many different sun deities, of many different origins.; every culture has its own that they worship and we encourage you to dig more into them and check them out. For this blog post, we’ll be keeping it simple and discuss just a few of the more common deities.
Helios, often depicted as young, handsome, and the controller of the reins to the Chariot of the Sun, is a minor God in Greek mythology.
He is not only seen as the personification of the Sun itself but also the inspired power behind it. Even the horses pulling his chariot have fire-related names; Pyrois (The Fiery One), Aeos (He Who Turns The Sky), Aethon (Blazing), and Phlegon (Burning). Some have even worshipped Helios as the god of life and creation and ancient texts have also characterized him as gracious for his regenerative and life-giving powers.
The Egyptian counterpart to Helios is Ra.
It is believed that all forms of life were created by Ra, and some even believe that the sweat and tears of Ra created humankind. The Egyptians also worshipped the sun itself and saw the fiery sphere as a god, since it had the power to give life to crops they worked hard to harvest. A big difference between Helios and Ra, however, is that Ra is also said to rule the sky, the Earth, and the underworld as well.
In Norse mythology, the sun and moon deities are a brother and sister pair. The sun is female – Sól – while the moon is male – Måni.
Sól is said to drive a chariot of the sun across the sky every day, pulled by her two horses Allsvinn (Very Fast) and Arvak (Early Rising). It is said that the chariot is in constant pursuit by the wolf Skoll, and now and then it gets close enough to take a bite out of the sun, causing an eclipse. At Ragnarok – the end of the world – it’s believed that Skoll will finally catch and swallow the sun and thus destroy the world. The new world that will be reborn will be one of love, peace, and contentment.