Bixia Yuanjin (pronounced BEE-cha you-on-JEEN) is the Chinese Taoist Goddess of the dawn, childbirth, and destiny. As Goddess of dawn, she attends the birth of each new day from her home high in the clouds. As Goddess of childbirth, she attends the birth of children, fixing their destiny and bringing good fortune. Bixia Yuanjin is venerated in the Temple of the Purple Dawn at the summit of the holy mountain, Tai Shan, where women wishing to conceive come to ask for her help. Her father, Tai Shan Wang, is the God of the mountain and judge of the underworld. Her name is also seen as Bixia Yuanjun, Bixia Yuan Jun, Pi Hsia Yuan Chun, and T’ien Hsien Niang Niang, and epithets for her include Princess of the Rosy Clouds, Princess of the Azure Clouds, and the Jade Woman.

Ame-no-Uzume is the Japanese Goddess of merrymaking and dance. She is the one who lured the sun Goddess Amaterasu to come out of her self-imposed exile in a cave, returning sunlight to the world. She overturned a washtub and began to dance on it, to the delight of the surrounding Gods and Goddesses. Their laughter at her antics made Amaterasu curious enough to step out of her cave. Ame-no-Uzume’s dances have been carried down to modern times as the kagura.

Ame-no-Uzume also accompanied Amaterasu’s grandson Ninigi to earth, where he was to become the first emperor of Japan. When he was about to descend, a large monster appeared in his path, so Ninigi sent the fearless Ame-no-Uzume ahead to investigate. She approached the monster with bare breasts and a mocking laugh, asking who he was to stand in Ninigi’s way. He turned out to be Saruta-Hiko, God of the crossroads, and he was only there to welcome Ninigi. Ame-no-Uzume eventually married Saruta-Hiko.

Ame-no-Uzume’s name means “whirling heavenly woman” and is also seen as Uzume, Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, and Ame-no-Uzume-no-Kami. Epithets for her include The Great Persuader, Terrible Female of Heaven, Daughter of Heaven, Heaven’s Forthright Female, and The Heavenly Alarming Female.

Sipe Gyalmo is the Tibetan Bon Goddess of exorcism and protection. She is frightening in appearance, which helps her ward off evil. Her skin is blue and she has three faces and six arms. One of her faces is white, one is red, and the other is blue. In her arms she holds a banner, a sword, a dagger, a mirror, a hook, and a cup full of blood. The sword symbolizes her ability to defeat evil forces, and the cup of blood represents the lifeforce which she can give or take away. Sipe Gyalmo is called upon to rid the world of evil and to protect her worshippers from all negativity. Epithets for her include Queen of the World, Queen of Existence, and Queen of the Universe, and her name is also seen as Sidpa Gyalmo, Sipai Gyalmo, or Srid-pa’i Gyal-mo.

Shui-mu Niang-niang is the Chinese Goddess of water, also known as the Old Mother of the Waters. The floods that she caused every year led the Lord of the Skies, Yu Huang, to send troops to capture her. She routinely avoided them, until one day she went too far. Shui-mu Niang-niang carried two magical buckets, which contained the sources of the five great lakes, enough water to flood all of China. One of her pursuers brought a donkey to drink the water from the buckets, but it could not drink it all, and left some water behind. Shui-mu Niang-niang, realizing that this was yet another attempt to capture her, knocked over one of the buckets with her foot, flooding the nearby town of Ssu-Chou with what is now the Lake of Hung-tsê.

Guan Yin herself stepped in at this point. Disguised as a noodle-seller, she sold a bowl of noodles to Shui-mu Niang-niang, who was hungry and tired after being chased. When she had eaten half the noodles, they turned into iron chains in her stomach and wrapped around her intestines. The end of the chain came out of her mouth and attached itself to the noodles in the bowl, which also turned to chains. Guan Yin had Shui-mu Niang-niang taken away to a deep well and fastened by her chains to the bottom. The people say that, when the water of the well is low enough, the end of her chain can be seen.

Xi Shi (pronounced SHE shur) is the Chinese Goddess of face creams and perfumes. She is one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, and was so beautiful that fish forgot to swim and birds forgot to fly when they saw her. Her beauty was used as a state weapon by the deposed King of Yue. He had been defeated by the King of Wu in a war and imprisoned. His advisors trained Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, another beauty, and then sent them to the King of Wu. He was so distracted by the beautiful women that he neglected the kingdom and was overthrown by the deposed King. The Queen of Yue then had Xi Shi drowned so that her husband would not be tempted by her. She is also known as Hsi Shih.

Janguli is the Tibetan Goddess of snakes and poisoning. She is usually depicted as yellow-skinned, with three faces (one blue and one white) and six arms. She carries both snakes and lotus flowers, and her powers can be used to cause or to prevent snakebites. As a yellow form of the Goddess Tara, she is also called Jangulitara.

Ch’ang-O is the Chinese Goddess of the moon. She and her husband Houyi, God of archery, lived in the heavens with the other immortals. Their fall from grace came about after the Jade Emperor’s ten sons turned themselves into ten suns. Their combined power was too much for the earth, and it began to scorch. The Jade Emperor could not persuade his sons to stop, and he asked Houyi to help. Houyi was only supposed to scare the sons with his arrows, but he was so angry with the destruction that they were causing that he shot nine of them down. The Jade Emperor was furious and banished Houyi and Ch’ang-O to the earth to live as mortals.

Seeing how the loss of immortality saddened Ch’ang-O, Houyi set out to find Hsi Wang Mu, the Goddess of immortality. She agreed to give him the elixir of immortality and warned him that there was just enough for himself and Ch’ang-O. Houyi returned home with the elixir, but was called away before he had a chance to take any or to tell Ch’ang-O what it was. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she drank the potion to see what it would do. Just as Houyi was returning home, Ch’ang-O started to float up to the heavens. Houyi tried to reach to her, but she had floated too far. She continued upwards until she landed on the moon, and there she stays. Her only companion is a jade rabbit, who works to make another immortality elixir for Houyi, so that they can be reunited.

Ch’ang-O’s name is also seen as Chang’e, Chang-O, and Heng-O.

Palden Lhamo is the Tibetan Goddess of protection. In particular, she protects the Dalai Lama. She is a very fierce Goddess, as her appearance shows. Her skin is dark blue, she has three eyes, and her eyebrows and hair are flaming red. She holds a small sack made of the skin of a mongoose, which holds diseases. She rides a white mule through a sea of blood.

The myths surrounding Palden Lhamo are equally horrific. At one time, she was married to the King of Sri Lanka, who was a bloodthirsty barbarian, bent on destroying the Buddhists in his country. Palden Lhamo thought that she could persuade him to change, but he would not. She threatened to kill their son if the King continued his persecutions, and she was forced to carry out her threat. She skinned the boy and used his skull to drink his blood. She then put the skin on her mule and rode away. When the King saw what she had done, he shot an arrow at her to stop her, but the arrow hit the mule instead. When Palden Lhamo pulled it out, the wound became an eye, with which she was able to see all of the Buddhist regions and thus protect her followers.

Izanami is the Shinto Goddess of creation and death. She personifes the Earth and darkness. She and her brother/husband Izanagi were the first beings on earth. When they wanted to be married, they built a pillar called Ame-no-mihashira (pillar of heaven). They walked around the pillar from opposite directions, and when they met, Izanami was the first to speak. Izanagi did not think this was proper, but they married anyway. Izanami bore two children, but they were both deformed. The Gods advised that this was because Izanami had spoken first when they met around the pillar. They tried again, and this time Izanagi spoke first. The children that followed this second union became the eight islands of the Japanese chain.

Izanami was burned to death giving birth to Kagu-Tsuchi, the incarnation of fire. In anger, Izanagi killed the child and cut his body into eight pieces, which each turned into volcanoes. Izanagi then tried to retrieve his wife from the underworld, but Izanami had already partaken of the food of the dead and could no longer leave. Izanagi did not want to leave her, but he saw that she had been claimed by death and had begun to rot. He turned and ran, barricading the entrance to the underworld. Izanami was enraged at her husband’s sudden betrayal, and vowed to kill 1000 of his subjects (the living) every day. Izanagi, in return, vowed to create 1500 new subjects every day, so that there would always be more living than dead.

Izanami’s name means “she who invites”, and she is also known as Izanami-no-mikoto or Izanami-no-kami.

Hsi Wang Mu is the Chinese Goddess of immortality. In her magic orchard, she grows peaches whose fragrance can be smelled from miles away. The fragrance has the power to bring peace to those who smell it. One of Hsi Wang Mu’s peach trees only bears fruit every 3000 years, and these peaches (which take another 3000 years to ripen) grant immortality. When they are ready, Hsi Wang Mu invites all of the Gods to share her peaches, renewing their spirits.

Hsi Wang Mu is also the personification of the concept of yin; her husband Mu Kung is the embodiment of yang. She was formed from the Western Air, he from the Eastern, and together they created all things. They live with the other immortals in a magnificent palace made of jade, surrounded by a wall of gold. Hsi Wang Mu is attended by the Jade Maidens, and keeps cranes, peacocks, and a phoenix. Her name is also seen as Xi Wang Mu or Si Wang Mu, and her titles include Spirit Mother of the West, Lady Queen of the West, Queen Mother of the West, Mother of the Golden Tortoise, Golden Mother of the Shining Lake, and Queen of the Heavens.