Also called Eleuthia, Lucina (Roman).
Their story
Eileithyia is the daughter of Zeus and Hera, and the Iliad speaks of several Eileithyiai who bring the bitter pangs of labour. In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, jealous Hera kept her on Olympus so that Leto laboured for nine days on Delos, until Iris bribed her with a great necklace. Her ancient cave at Amnisos on Crete was used for worship from very early times.
Best times to give to them
- During pregnancy and labour
- After a safe birth, in thanks
- On a child's birthday
What they like being given
- Honey
- Incense
- A small lamp or torch-light
- Wool or loosened thread
How to honour them
- Untie knots and loosen hair or ties in the room of a woman in labour, as folk custom long did.
- Pray for safe hands for mother, midwife and child.
- Give thanks after the birth with a lit candle.
How they can help you
- Pregnancy and birth
- Midwives and birth workers
- Beginnings that are hard
Symbols
- torch
- raised hand
- knot untied
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 922
- Homer, Iliad 11.269-272
- Homeric Hymn 3, to Apollo 97-119
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.18.5
More Greek goddesses
- Hera Queen of heaven and guardian of marriage
- Athena Grey-eyed goddess of wisdom and craft
- Artemis Lady of wild things and the hunt
- Aphrodite Foam-born goddess of love and beauty
- Hestia Goddess of the hearth and the home fire
- Demeter Mother of the grain and the harvest
- Persephone Queen of the underworld and the returning spring
- Hecate Keeper of crossroads and keys