PHAETON (1): Greek. Son of HELIOS and Clymene, who tried to drive his father's Sun-chariot but failed to control it, and set fire to the Earth. ZEUS killed him to prevent the fire destroying everything. His mourning Sisters became poplars, weeping amber tears into the River Po (southern end of the overland amber-trade route from the Baltic).
PHAETON (2): Greek. Son of Cephalus and the dawn goddess Eos. Carried off as a child by Aphrodite to be 'the nocturnal guardian of her sacred temples' .
PHANES: ('Light', 'He Who Appears') Greek. In the Orphic tradition, first being to be born from the Cosmic Egg. By union with Night, he created Heaven and Earth and engendered ZEUS. Described as having golden wings and the heads of ram, bull, snake and lion.
PHEBELE: Congo, Mundang tribe. Male member of the triad MASSIM-BIAMBE (omnipotent, immaterial creator), Phebele (god) and Mebeli (goddess). Phebele and Mebeli gave birth to Man, and Massim-Biamba gave him a soul and the breath of life.
PHOBOS: ('Fright') Greek. One of the sons of ARES who accompanied him to battle, the other being Deimos ('Fear').
PHOEBUS: ('Shining') Another name for APOLLO.
PHORCYS: Greek. An early sea god, son of PONTUS (this page, below) and Gaia. Father by his sister Ceto of the Gorgons, the Graeae, the dragon Ladon and perhaps the Hesperides; and by Hecate of Scylla, who was turned by Circe into one of the two deadly monsters guarding the Straits of Messina. (Scylla lived by a rock, as the other monster, Charybdis, did in a whirlpool, both of which were a danger to boats.) These awesome offspring suggest that Phorcys represented the sea in its threatening aspect.
PHOSPHORUS: Greek. Son of ASTREUS and the dawn goddess Eos. Personification of the planet Venus as Morning Star. Envisaged as a winged spirit with a torch in his hand, flying in the sky before his mother's chariot. His Evening Star brother was HESPERUS.
PICUNNUS: Roman. With his twin brother, Pilumnus, protective gods of the newborn. A bed was made for them in the conjugal chamber.
PICUS: ('Woodpecker') Roman. Son of SATURN and father by Canente of FAUNUS.
PIGUERAO: ('White Bird') Inca. Twin brother of APOCATEQUIL. Because of them, twins were regarded as sacred.
PIHUECHENYI: Chilean, Araucanian Indian. A vampire sucking the blood of those who sleep in the forest overnight. Portrayed as a winged snake.
PILAN, PILLAN: ('Supreme Essence') Chilean, Araucanian Indian. Supreme god and thunder god. Lightning and earthquakes were caused by him. Tribal chiefs and warriors went to him after death and became respectively volcanoes and clouds. He commanded spirits called Huecuvus, who could bring disaster and disease, and others called Cherruve, who caused comets and shooting stars, omens of calamity. He gradually became abstract and invoked only in extreme emergencies.
PILTZINECUHTLI - see TONATIUH.
PILUMNUS - see PICUNNUS (this page, above).
PINGA: Eskimo. Watches over hunting and game animals, the caribou especially. One of the deities supervising the souls of the dead.
PINON: Brazilian, Tupi-Guarani tribes, Uapes branch. Born girdled with a star serpent, he became the constellation Orion, and his sister, born with seven stars, became the Pleiades.
PLOUGHING, GOD OF: Chinese. An impersonal god, without myths, but invoked at the appropriate time. At his festival, the emperor himself put his hand to a plough.
PLUTO: Roman equivalent of the Greek HADES. The Romans had no great Underworld divinities of their own, so his mythology was essentially that of Hades. 777: Wheel of Fortune, Judgement, (Wands) Kings or Knights; gems: amethyst, lapis lazuli, fire opal; plants: hyssop, oak, poplar, fig, red poppy, hibiscus, nettle; animals: eagle, lion (Cherub of Fire); mineral: nitrates; perfumes: saffron, all generous odours, olibanum, all fiery odours; magical weapons: Sceptre, Wand or Lamp, Pyramid of Fire.
PLUTUS: Greek. Son of IASION and Demeter. God of wealth. ZEUS was said to have blinded him so that his gifts would go to the deserving and the undeserving alike.
PO: Polynesian. The original Void, without light, heat, sound, form or movement; all these materialized gradually from it, and finally Father Sky and Mother Earth, parents of the gods and of mankind and Nature.
POLEVIK: Slavonic. A field spirit; every field had its own. Could be mischievous or helpful. Placated with offerings, in a ditch, of two eggs and an old cockerel who could no longer crow. In northern Russia, sometimes replaced by the Poludnitsa, a beautiful girl spirit.
POLLUX, POL YDEUCES - see CASTOR and POLLUX.
PONTUS: ('Sea') Greek, originally Phoenician. An early sea god. He and his brother URANUS ('Heaven') were the parthenogenic sons of Earth Mother goddess Gaia; in another version, Pontus was the son of Gaia by Uranus.
POOKA, THE: Irish. A pre-Celtic god who degenerated into a mere malicious spirit, taking many forms - especially that of a black horse. Origin of the English Puck.
PORENTIUS, POREVIT: Slavonic. Five-headed god of the island of Rügen. He had one head at each of the cardinal points and one on his chest. Similar to RUGIEVIT, SLANTOVIT and TRIGLAV.
POSEIDON: Greek. The most important god of the sea, and one of the twelve OLYMPIANS. Son of CRONUS and Rhea. He lived at the bottom of the sea with his wife, Amphitrite. Father by her of TRITON, and by other mothers of THESEUS, Polymephus, ORION and ANTAEUS: and by the Gorgon Medusa of the winged horse Pegasus. A rival of ZEUS on many occasions. Favoured the Greeks in the Trojan War. Believed to cause earthquakes, and thus called 'the Earth-Shaker'. Rode the sea in a horse-drawn chariot; the horse and the dolphin were sacred to him. He (offering the horse) and Athene (offering the olive tree) competed for the patronage of Athens; Athene won, but the Athenians placated Poseidon by building him a temple on nearby Cape Sounion, the remains of which still stand. Roman equivalent NEPTUNE: 777: Tarot: Fours, Hanged Man, (Cups) Queens, Moon; gems: amethyst, sapphire, beryl or aquamarine, pearl; animals: unicorn, eagle-snake-scorpion (Cherub of Water), fish, dolphin; mineral: sulphates; perfumes: cedar, onycha, myrrh, ambergris; magical weapons: Wand, Sceptre or Crook, Cup and Cross of Suffering, Wine, Twilight of the Place and Magic Mirror.
POSHAIYANKAYA: Amerindian, Pueblo, Zuni. Hero of the Deluge legend, who led the survivors out of the caves in which they had taken refuge.
POTOS: ('Desire') In one of the four main Phoenician creation legends, the goddess Omicle was mother of all things by Potos. May just be a way of saying that she created all things out of her own desire.
