# Oh my Goddess
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 7, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518 "2015-05-07T20:52:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/1 "2015-05-07T20:52:05Z")
Are there any supernatural entities in the Judeo-Christian pantheon that are female in name and/or nature?
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/2 "2015-05-07T20:54:24Z")
Lilith, maybe? First wife of Adam. Possibly derived from demons in more ancient religions. Don’t know if the biblical version had any actual demonic powers.
And I assume Mary, given that she’s prayed to an awful lot, but I’m not an expert on that area. There are other female saints. I assume saints are supernatural entities, at least after they’ve been canonized.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/3 "2015-05-07T20:57:07Z")
I should have said “excluding saints”-too many of them.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/4 "2015-05-07T21:07:18Z")
> [@Finagle](#):
>
> I assume saints are supernatural entities, at least after they’ve been canonized.
Depends what you mean by a “supernatural entity”. They are souls, but all of us have souls. Canonization doesn’t change their essence; it just affirms that as best we know, this person is in heaven. So are many non-canonized souls.
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### Author:  [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/5 "2015-05-07T21:11:37Z")
Not in mainstream christianity.
I vaguely recall something about the Gnostics believing God was four parts, not three, and they’re collectively a family - YHVH the Father, the Holy Sophia the Mother, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost the Daughter.
Hm. On reflection, this article may have some information for you: [Sophia (wisdom) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(wisdom)) and [Sophiology - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophiology)
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/6 "2015-05-07T21:19:01Z")
> [@gigi](#):
>
> Depends what you mean by a “supernatural entity”. They are souls, but all of us have souls. Canonization doesn’t change their essence; it just affirms that as best we know, this person is in heaven. So are many non-canonized souls.
I mean not being so vague that everybody and everything could possibly apply, things like angels, demi-gods, demons, devils etc.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/7 "2015-05-07T21:28:16Z")
> [@Finagle](#):
>
> And I assume Mary, given that she’s prayed to an awful lot, but I’m not an expert on that area.
By Catholics, in particular; most Protestant denominations don’t venerate her. Catholics believe that she not only gave birth to Jesus while still a virgin, but was, herself, free from original sin (the term “Immaculate Conception” actually refers to Mary’s conception, not Jesus’s). One of the titles which the Catholic Church gives to her is “the Mother of God”.
The concept of Mary’s role as a “supernatural being” in Catholic belief is complex, but in short, she is seen as an mediator / intercessor for believers with Jesus, which is why Catholics pray to her.
More info than you probably wanted:
> **[Veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneration_of_Mary_in_Roman_Catholicism)**
>
> The veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church encompasses various devotions which include prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music devoted to her. Popes have encouraged it, while also taking steps to reform some manifestations of it.\[note 1\] The Holy See has insisted on the importance of distinguishing "true from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its deformations by excess or defect". There are significantly more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian practices among R Belief...
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/8 "2015-05-07T21:44:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> I mean not being so vague that everybody and everything could possibly apply, things like angels, demi-gods, demons, devils etc.
Do you count prophets? Miriam (Moses and Aaron’s sister) was considered a prophet in her own right. Plus, she carried Miriam’s Well which provided water to the Hebrews as they wandered through the desert.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/9 "2015-05-07T21:51:45Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> Do you count prophets? Miriam (Moses and Aaron’s sister) was considered a prophet in her own right. Plus, she carried Miriam’s Well which provided water to the Hebrews as they wandered through the desert.
Gods, goddesses, demigods and demigoddesses, demons, devils, demiurges etc.
Supernatural entities themselves-not humans that may have been given gifts by them.
NO HUMANS.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/10 "2015-05-07T22:02:43Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Gods, goddesses, demigods and demigoddesses, demons, devils, demiurges etc.
> Supernatural entities themselves-not humans that may have been given gifts by them.
>
> NO HUMANS.
Gee, sorry. When you excluded saints because there were too many of them and not because they were human, I thought people with supernatural abilities were fair game.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/11 "2015-05-07T22:08:12Z")
The J-C pantheon consists of precisely one entity-- God. No? Let’s not get into a debate about the Trinity, and just accept that it’s “God in 3 persons” as we (I) learned in school. In fact, the term “Judeo-Christian Pantheon” is an oxymoron.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/12 "2015-05-07T22:18:36Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Are there any supernatural entities in the Judeo-Christian pantheon that are female in name and/or nature?
God has been sometimes given female attributes.
ADAM (as I am using this name as opposed to Adam), the first person was made in the likeness of God, then afterwords divided into male (Adam) and female (Eve).
ADAM (the undivided person), made in the image of God, was then divided into male and female, thus reflecting a division of God into male and female.
There is also the entity that gives birth to the Christ Child in Revelation (Rev 12), this is Jesus’ birth in the heavens, and is not Mary. A angelic female being.
Mary has also been considered to be a female Chirst.
But remember Judaism and Christianity are patriarchal religions, we can not expect much but hi
ts of female divinity thru them.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/13 "2015-05-07T22:19:47Z")
Isn’t there an angel named Muriel?
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/14 "2015-05-07T22:58:39Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> The concept of Mary’s role as a “supernatural being” in Catholic belief is complex, but in short, she is seen as an mediator / intercessor for believers with Jesus, which is why Catholics pray to her.
Let’s change that to “pray with her” to avoid some religious disputation.
In general, Christianity doesn’t specifically assign sexual characteristics to anything which wasn’t an actual person. An artist might depict them that way, theologians might ponder, and folkways might just assume it, but there’s no real agreement that the question would even mean anything.
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### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/15 "2015-05-07T23:03:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Isn’t there an angel named Muriel?
There is no reference in the Bible to any female angel.
Most of the well-known names of angels come from tradition, rather than the Bible.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/16 "2015-05-07T23:12:45Z")
Asherah. Yahweh’s wife.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/17 "2015-05-07T23:14:56Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> There is no reference in the Bible to any female angel.
As I posted above: Rev 12
(yes there is)
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/18 "2015-05-07T23:15:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> Isn’t there an angel named Muriel?
Not to mention Skuld and Verdandi!
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/19 "2015-05-07T23:46:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> In fact, the term “Judeo-Christian Pantheon” is an oxymoron.
This was my first reaction to the OP. However, a “pantheon” need not be limited to gods (big or little-g) in the strictest sense; it could include things like angels, which are a fairly mainstream Christian belief. However, once you get beyond what’s in the Bible, you get beyond what most (Judeo-)Christians would acknowledge as standard or commonly shared (Judeo-)Christianity. And (as already been said) there’s no reference in the Bible to female angels.
And, in fact, it remains an open and controversial question whether/how terms like “female” or “male” could apply to spiritual entities.
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-my-goddess/719518/20 "2015-05-07T23:54:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> And, in fact, it remains an open and controversial question whether/how terms like “female” or “male” could apply to spiritual entities.
Gen 6, Rev 12, No question male and female.
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