Adi-Buddha
Adi-Buddha – appeared as a flame when he first revealed himself on Mount Sumeru
Agni – Indian personification of fire; the eater of sacrifices on the altar which were consumed by fire; consort of Destroyer Kali; god of fire, sun, and lightning
Aither – Greek deities of light
Allah – illuminates the world; effulgent light; the manifestation of Divine Knowledge
Anchises – Greek light deity, son of Capys and Hieromneme
Angiras – Indian and Hindu descendants of the fire god Agni; celestial bodies who are deities of fire and light, often seen as meteors
Aos – Sumerian god of light, also known as Aa, Hoa, Oannes
Apollo – Greek god of light
Artemis – Greek goddess of light
Aten – Egyptian god of light and the sun; also known as Horace, Ra
Atthar – ancient Arabian Goddess of Enlightenment; also known as Golden Mother, One Born to Gold, The Glory
Brhaspati – Hindu, Indian Lord of Devotion who brought light to the world
Bridgit
Bridgit – Celtic goddess associated with a light festival at the beginning of February, also called Bridgid
Bura-penu – Indian god of light; mate of Tari-penu, the goddess of darkness
Byelobog – Slavic god of light whose name means White God; his evil counterpart is Chernobog, or Black God; Byelobog is a benevolent god who shows travelers the way
Christ – the Light of the World; “the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning“ (James 1, 17)
Cuchulain – Celtic god of heat and light; son of Lugh, the sun god
Demeter – Greek goddess of corn and the harvest; the torch is her attribute
Devi – Hindu Great Mother; as Uma, the wife of Shiva, her skin is golden and she personifies light and beauty
Fire – Phoenician; child of Genos & Genea from the creation legend; his siblings were Flame and Light
Gerd – Scandinavian frost goddess of the frozen earth and of light; daughter of Gymer and Aurbods, wife of Freyr
Heracles – carried a torch as the weapon against Hydra, Greek mythological monster with nine heads
Hestia – Greek goddess of the hearth; symbol of the religious center of the family; modern Greeks still honor Hestia by pouring oil and wine through the center of a ring-shaped cake onto the hearth fire (Walker, 1998)
Jupiter – brightness, god of the bright sky
Khou – Egyptian god of light; similar to Ka or Ba which is the essence of the soul; depicted as a crested bird
Krishna – light was the manifestation of Krishna, Lord of Light
Leto – Greek goddess of light, daughter of Ceos and Phoebe; mother by Zeus of the twins Apollo and Artemis
Lucina – Mother of the Light; pagan feminine interpretation of the symbol of the lighted candle; she governed the sun, moon, and stars; gave newborn creatures the “light“ of their vision; her festival of light became the Christian feast of St. Lucy (Walker); also known as the Roman Juno
Mihr – Armenia, Iranian god of light; an underworld or fire deity, child of Ormazd
Nusku – Assyro-Babylonian, Sumerian god of light; his symbol is the lamp; a messenger of the gods
Ormazd – Zoroastrianism‘s Lord of the Light, the power of truth; sacred to the Magi
Parvati – Hindu, Indian aspect of Uma as goddess of light
Phanes – Greek; Light or light god from the Orphic Creation Legend; he emerged from the silver egg protected in the womb of darkness to create earth, sky, sun, and moon
Pistis Sophia – Post-Christian Gnostic Virgin of Light
Silik-mulu-khi – Akkadian, Mesopotamian god of light and protector of immortals; son of Ea, a creator deity, god of the earth and waters
Svarog – Slavic sun god, used a torch to represent the rebirth of the sun
Tenshodaijin – Japanese goddess who rules the realm of light on heaven and earth
Vesta – Roman goddess associated with the hearth; at the center of Vesta’s temple, tended by sacred women, the fire was never allowed to go out