Below is a list compiled from various sources listing deities in different cultures that are associated with spinning and the fiber arts. This is a work in progress – if you have any additions that you don’t see listed here, please forward them to siobhanspinning@hotmail.com.

GREEK

• Anake - Goddess of fate, also known as Necessitae. Although she is not a spinning Goddess, Plato had a vision of her spinning the universe; the sun, moon and planets were her spindle whorls; sirens sang throught he webs of tie and fate she wove; souls endlessly moved through the strands on their way to and from death and rebirth.
• Athena - Goddess of art, architecture, crafts, spinning, horses, intellect, oxen, purity, reason, science, war, weaving and wisdom. Also associated with Minerva – Roman Goddess of spinning, weaving, cities, industry, war, wisdo and the arts.
• Lina - Goddess of flax weaving
• Klothes - Goddess of spinning
• The Fates - Also called the Moerae or Parcae – Goddesses who determined when life began and ended, and what happened inbetween. They were daughters of Zeus and Nox (or Themis) but in most myths were eternal and conisdered more powerful than most of the Gods.
• Clotho “The Spinner” - Maiden - spun the Thread of Life
• Lachesis “Caster of Lots” - Matron - measured the Thread of Life
• Atropos, or Astropos “Unbending” - Crone - cut the Thread of Life

EGYPTIAN

• Isis – teacher of spinning
• Neith – Goddess of crafts, spinning, hunting, war and wisdom. Also called Net or Neit.
• Tayet – Goddess of spinning and weaving

NATIVE AMERICAN

• Grandmother Spider Woman

BALTIC

• Saule – solstice Goddess of the sun, spinning and weaving

GERMANIC

• Holda – patron Goddess of spinners and weavers who teaches, encourages, inspires and rewards the hard workers. Also mentioned in the tale “Fru Holda” by the Brothers Grimm.

JAPANEESE

• Amaterasu – Goddess who spins and weaves sunbeams

SLAVIC

• Mokosh – Goddess who gives and takes life, spinner of the thread of life, giver of the water of life. Also known as Mokysha, Mokush. She later evolved into Paraskeva-Piatnitsa – a Goddess of spinning, water, fertility, and health with marriage.

BRITISH

• Habetrot – Goddess of healing and spinning

CHINESE

• Chih-Nii – Goddess of spinning
• Chih Nu – Goddess of weaving

NORSE

• Frigg – spinning Goddess who knows the fate of all men. In Scandinavia, the constellation Orion’s Belt is known as Frigga’s Distaff.
• Bertha – Goddess of spinning
• Norns, Nornir- The Norse fates. Three spirits who spin the Thread of Life for all living beings, gods, men, giants and dwarves. They are three sisters who live near the Well of Urd at the foot of Yggdrasil. The names of the three sisters are Urd, Verdande, and Skuld. Urd is the oldest of the sisters, and is associated with the past. Verdande is associated with the present and Skuld is associated with possible futures. More often in Norse mythology they are associated with what was, what is and what could come to be. Currently, however, most mythologists believe that Urd means Fate, referring to those actions that have already taken place; Verdandi means Becoming, referring to those actions in the process of taking place; and Skuld means Necessity, referring to those necessary actions that drive the whole process.