Love goddesses

art by Greg Spalenka
for Roxanna Illuminated Perfume

A love deity is a deity in mythology associated with sexual love, lust or sexuality. Love deities are common in mythology and may be found in many polytheistic religions.

Albanian folklore 

• Prende, goddess of love

Armenian mythology 

• Astghik, goddess of fertility and love

Aztec mythology 

• Xochiquetzal, goddess of fertility, beauty, female sexual power, protection of young mothers, pregnancy, childbirth, and women's crafts
• Xochipilli, god of love, art, games, beauty, dance, flowers, maize, fertility, and song
• Tlazolteotl, goddess of lust, carnality, sexual misdeeds

• Ixcuiname, goddess of the carnality.

• Tiacapan, goddess of sexual passion.
• Teicu, goddess of sexual appetite.
• Tlaco, goddess of sexual longing.
• Xocotzin, goddess of sexual desire.

Buddhism 

• Aizen Myō-ō or Rāgarāja, a deity who transforms worldly lust into spiritual awakening; his red-skinned appearance represents suppressed lust and passion

Canaanite mythology 

• Astarte, goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare
• Qetesh, goddess of love, beauty and sex

Celtic mythology 

• Aine, Irish goddess of love, summer, wealth and sovereignty
• Cliodhna Irish goddess, sometimes identified as a goddess of love and beauty

Chinese mythology 

• Yue-Lao, a god of love, who binds two people together with an invisible red string.
• Tu Er Shen, a deity who oversees the love between homosexual men.
• White Peony (Bai Mudan or Pai Mu-Tan), a goddess who tempts men, especially ascetics.

Egyptian mythology 

• Bes, god of music, dance, and sexual pleasure
• Hathor, goddess of the sky, love, beauty, and music
• Bastet, goddess of felines, love, sexuality, protection, beauty, and dance

Etruscan mythology 

• Albina, goddess of the dawn and protector of ill-fated lovers
• Turan, goddess of love and vitality

Greek mythology 

• Aphrodite, goddess of love, lust and beauty.
• Philotes, personification of affection, sexual intercourse and friendship.
• Hera, goddess of marriage.

• The Erotes

• Anteros, god of requited love.
• Eros, god of love,sexual passion and naughty thoughts.
• Himeros, god of sexual desire.
• Hedylogos, god of sweet talk and flattery.
• Hymen, god of weddings and bawdy wedding songs.
• Pothos, god of sexual longing, yearning and desire.

• Peitho, personification of persuasion and seduction.

Guaraní mythology 

• Kurupi, god of sexuality and fertility

Hindu mythology 

• Kamadeva or Manmadhan or Kama, god of love
• Rati, goddess of passion and lust

Lithuanian mythology 

• Milda, goddess of love and freedom

Mesopotamian mythology 

• Inanna or Ishtar, goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare

Moroccan mythology 

• Qandisa, goddess of lust who first seduces men then drives them insane

Norse and Germanic mythology 

• Frigg, goddess of romance, marriage, sex and reproduction, married women, household duty, and divination.
• Freyja, goddess associated with magic, shamanism, seiðr, sacrifice, war, death, and sexuality.
• Freyr, worshipped as a phallic fertility god, he was said to "[bestow] peace and pleasure on mortals"
• Sjöfn, goddess associated with love

Roman mythology 

• Cupid, the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Eros
• Venus, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite
• Suadela, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Peitho

Slavic mythology 

• Dogoda, Polish spirit of the west wind, associated with love and gentleness
• Dzydzilelya, Polish goddess of love and marriage and of sexuality and fertility
• Lada, fakeloric goddess of harmony, merriment, youth, love and beauty
• Siebog, god of love and marriage
• Živa, goddess of love and fertility

Vodou 

• Baron La Croix, loa of the dead and sexuality
• Baron Samedi, loa of the dead, sex and resurrection
• Erzulie Freda Dahomey, loa of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers

Yoruba mythology 

• Mami Wata, a pantheon of water deities sometimes associated with love and lust
• Oshun, goddess of love, intimacy, beauty, wealth and diplomacy