OMACATL: ('Two Reeds') Aztec. God of happiness and festivity. At his feasts, maize paste images of his bones were made and eaten.

OMETECUCHTLI, OMETEOTL, TLOQUE NAHUAQUE: Aztec creator god. His wife, creator goddess Omeciuatl, may be a deity earlier than he. Sometimes they are regarded as male and female aspects of the same deity.

OMONGA: Indonesian, Celebes, Tomori tribe. A rice spirit who dwells in the Moon. If he is not treated with respect, he will come and eat twice as much rice in the barn as its owners take out of it.

ONAMUJI: Japanese. Earth god, son of SUSANOWO. Forced to abdicate in favour of NINIGL.

ONI, THE:  Japanese Buddhist. Spirits who bring diseases. They are dressed in red. Not unduly dangerous and may even be converted to Buddhism.

ONNIONI: Amerindian, Huron. A horned snake god, whose horn could pierce mountains and rocks. Warriors carried pieces of 'Onnioni's horn' into battle to give them courage.

ONO: Polynesian, Marquesas Islands. Local name for RONGO.

ONURIS, ANHUR, ANHURT: ('The One Who Leads Back the Distant One') Egyptian. Warrior and hunter god originating at This near Abydos. His name (Anhur in Egyptian) refers to the legend of his journey south to capture the lion goddess Mekhit who became his consort.

OONAWIEH UNGGI: ('The Oldest Wind') Amerindian, Cherokee. Wind god.

OOY ARRAUY AMITOK: Eskimo. Lives sometimes on Earth, sometimes in Heaven. Helps hunters to find meat.

OPHION: Greek. The Cosmic Snake. The Pelasgians claimed to descend from his mating with the Oceanid Euronyme.

OPOCHTLI: Aztec. God of fishermen and bird-snarers.

ORCUS: Roman. God of death, who took the living by force and carried them off to the Underworld. Identified with DIS, PLUTO and the Greek HADES. Also a name for the Underworld itself.

ORION: Greek. A hunter who fell in love with seven daughters of ATLAS and the oceanid Pleione. ZEUS placed them in the heavens to help them escape him, where they became the Pleiades. The dawn goddess Eos fell in love with him and carried him away, but he was accidentally killed by Artemis. He too became a constellation in the sky, where he still pursues the Pleiades. (The Australian Aborigines have an almost identical story about these two constellations.) The Egyptians associated the Orion constellation with OSIRIS (this page, below).

ORISHAKO: Nigerian, Yoruba tribe. Agricultural god. Sometimes named as the husband of Earth goddess Odudua (see OBA TALA).

ORKO: Basque thunder god. Orkeguna is the Basque name for Thursday.

ORMAZD - see AHURA MAZDA.

ORO: Polynesian war god. Son of creator god TAAROA by Hina-of-the-Land, wife of Sea-for-Swimming-in, who adopted him as his son. In Tahiti the king was regarded as his human manifestation.

ORONGO - see RONGO.

ORUNJAN: Nigerian, Yoruba tribe, and Brazilian voodoo. Midday Sun god, son of AGANJU and Yemaja. Orunjan raped his mother, and she gave birth to eleven gods and goddesses, plus the Sun and Moon, and two streams of water came from her breasts to form a great lake.

ORVANDIL, EGIL - see AURVANDIL.

OSGAR - see OISIN (this page, above).

OSHALLA: Nigerian, Yoruba tribe. A secondary god, son of the Sun god and husband of the Earth goddess.

OSIRIS: Egyptian. God of vegetation, fertility and the afterlife. 777: Tarot: Tens, Empresses or Princesses, Hierophant; gems: rock crystal, topaz; plants: willow, lily, ivy, mallow; animals: sphinx, bull (Cherub of Earth); mineral: magnesium sulphate; perfumes: dittany of Crete, storax; magical weapons: Magical Circle and Triangle, Labour of Preparation.

OTOS: ('Reason') Phoenician. In the Damascius creation legend, son of Air and Aura.

OULOMUS: Phoenician. In the Mochus creation legend, son of Ether and Air. From him sprang the primeval egg from which came URANUS and Gaia.

OURANOS - see URANUS.

OUSOOS: Phoenician. In the Philo Byblos creation legend, giant son of Fire. He was the first to make garments from skins, in conflict with his brother Hyposouranios, first builder of cities. Probably a memory of country / town friction.

OVINNIK: Slavonic. God of barns.

O-WATA-TSU-MI: Japanese. Chief sea god. Also known as Shio-Zuchi ('Old Man of the Tide').

O-YAMA-TSU-MI: Japanese. Chief god of mountains.