In Shinto, kegare (汚れ) is ritual impurity, almost like sin, that comes from environmental pollutants. Those include menstruation, childbirth, exposure to dead bodies, and other select regular activities. Purity comes through misogi, ritual water cleansing. #MythologyMonday

In Shinto, kegare (汚れ) is ritual impurity, almost like sin, that comes from environmental pollutants. Those include menstruation, childbirth, exposure to dead bodies, and other select regular activities. Purity comes through misogi, ritual water cleansing. #MythologyMonday

Some of the earliest magic wands were used in Egypt, made of hippo ivory and used to assist in child birth, invoking the goddess Tawaret, the hippo-headed goddess of childbirth and fertility. Dating to the 1800s BCE, others were used as knives to ward off evil. #MythologyMonday

Some of the earliest magic wands were used in Egypt, made of hippo ivory and used to assist in child birth, invoking the goddess Tawaret, the hippo-headed goddess of childbirth and fertility. Dating to the 1800s BCE, others were used as knives to ward off evil. #MythologyMonday

Childbirth is on the same level as war in Aztec society, so these women who die in childbirth, called Cihuateteo, ascend to the Sun, where they guide it on its journey each day and protect it like their child through the Underworld until morning. #MythologyMonday

Childbirth is on the same level as war in Aztec society, so these women who die in childbirth, called Cihuateteo, ascend to the Sun, where they guide it on its journey each day and protect it like their child through the Underworld until morning. #MythologyMonday

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the much-maligned Hera is the goddess of women, of mothers, and particularly of mothers while pregnant and in childbirth. She maintains the family, in spite of everything, and protects it. #MythologyMonday

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the much-maligned Hera is the goddess of women, of mothers, and particularly of mothers while pregnant and in childbirth. She maintains the family, in spite of everything, and protects it. #MythologyMonday

Three of the most important deities in Japanese mythology had a very unusual birth. The god Izanagi created his three famous offspring while washing himself after returning from yomi, the land of the dead, where he had been trying to retrieve his wife Izanami. His daughter,... #MythologyMonday 1/2