When you think of gods and goddess, you tend to think of Western deities such as Brigid and Gaia.
As you would expect, Chinese mythology is also full of deities from Guan Yin to Zhu Rong. In this sections, I'll attempt to introduce you to some of the deities associated with Fire and the Sun in Chinese mythology.
One of my favourite deities of Chinese mythology.
Guan Yin is one of the most beloved and popular Eastern divinities. A physically and spiritually beautiful Chinese goddess of mercy, compassion, and protection, her name means "she who hears prayers." Guan Yin does, apparently, hear and answer every prayer sent her way.
She is both a goddess and a bodhisattva, which means "enlightened being." Bodhisattvas can become Buddhas; however, Guan Yin has such a deep love for humanity that after she attained enlightenment, instead of ascending to Buddhahood, she chose to remain in human form until every one of us becomes enlightened. She's devoted to helping us fully open up to our spiritual gifts, attain profound knowledge and enlightenment, and reduce world suffering. It's said that the mere uttering of her name affords guaranteed protection from harm.
Guan Yin is often called "the Mother Mary of the East," because she represents feminine divinity and goddess energy in the Buddhist religion, in the same way that Mary radiates sweet loving femininity within Christianity. She teaches us to practice a life of harmlessness, using great care to ease suffering in the world and not add to it in any way. You may see the color red when she's around, such as red sparkles of light or a red mist that appears from out of nowhere.
As a Fire witch, I thought it best to learn about the Chinese god of fire, Zhu Rong. There’s not too much on the internet about him but here’s what I’ve found out so far.
Zhu Rong is the god of fire and the south, who taught mankind about fire. He commands the heavenly ministry of fire and serves as its Lord of Fire. Having waged a destructive battle, Zhu Rong defeated the god of water Gong Gong. This had caused the destruction of the world pillar (Mount Buzhou), which covered the land with rising floods and raging flames, so Nuwa (the mother goddess) intervened to restore the balance within the cosmos. As a deity so uncompromising, he once executed lord Gun, who stole xirang (a self-renewing soil belonging to the gods) to save the people from the great flood.
As a child, I was told the story of Xi He, the sun goddess and her ten suns.
Xi He was the wife of the Emperor Jun, who was the most mighty God of them all. They had ten Suns together, and lived near a mulberry tree. The child-Suns slept in the lower branches of the tree. However, every morning Xi He bathed one of her children in the river and then let him/her fly on the back a crow to the top of the mulberry tree. Then the child-Sun would fly up into the sky, and be the Sun for the day. Each of the child-Suns took turns doing this so that there would be light everyday.
One day, though, the child-Suns all went into the sky at the same time. The heat was too much, and it scorched the earth so that many people died of hunger. Yi was an archer and he tried to talk the child-Suns into coming home to no avail. Yi decided to shoot the child-Suns out of the sky, one by one. Only one escaped, and now it has to be the Sun everyday so that the world has light.
Xi He was one of the two wives of Di Jun - the other being Chang Xi, the moon goddess.