The pre-Columbian pantheons may have been dominated by males but there were plenty of female deities, usually confined to such feminine pursuits as spinning, weaving and medicine, or simply as helpmates to the more powerful gods. They were often patronesses of childbirth and many were honored as mothers of the gods, but any further resemblance to the compassionate mother of Christ is purely nonexistent. So is any resemblance to Venus de Milo.
     More often than not they were so ghastly to look upon they inspired more fear than adoration. Many of them doubled as goddesses of war who led their warriors into battle and gloried in bloody scenes of carnage. Only a few, especially those associated with such important aspects of contemporary life as the phases of the moon, fertility, agriculture, running water and the underworld, were powerful enough to command their own temples and rites.

More......