Mazu

Mazu is the goddess of the sea. Closely associated with the goddess of mercy, Guanyin, Mazu is the patron goddess of sailors, fishermen, and travelers. She is especially popular in coastal communities. It’s not uncommon to see Mazu temples or shrines every few miles along Middlelandian coastal roads.

Physical Description

Body Features

In art, Mazu is often depicted wearing bright red robes laced with shining jewels that help her be more easily seen by travelers at sea. Mazu is frequently depicted holding a ceremonial tablet that symbolizes her spiritual knowledge and wearing an imperial headdress that represents her godly nature.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Even as a human, Mazu was blessed with supernatural abilities and could accurately forecast the weather and predict the future. As a goddess, Mazu vowed that she would remain on Shijie until all beings achieved enlightenment. Mazu is thought to have been born to a poor family of fisherman. When she was born, she didn’t cry or a shed a single tear. Despite being mute, Lin Mo was blessed with a number of amazing gifts. She could accurately predict the weather. She would fall into deep trances and would experience divine visions. She also developed a fascination with medicine and became a healer in her hometown. In her free time, she completely devoted herself to the Goddess of Compassion, Guanyin, and vowed, like her idol, never to marry. One day Mazus father and four brothers were fishing of the coast, when a hurricane formed. At the same time, while she was weaving at her loom, Mazu fell into a deep trance. In her pure spiritual form, she projected herself to her father and brothers’s boat, saw what had happened, and managed to get her brothers to land. Her mother didn’t realize what the young girl was trying to do and shook Mazu awake before she was able to save her father. In her grief, Lin Mo climbed to the top of a high cliff and threw herself into the sea. Before she hit the water, her body transformed into a pure beam of celestial light and ascended to Heaven where she became the goddess Mazu.

Social

Family Ties

Very little is known about Mazu’s life except that she was born to a poor family of fishermen. She was the youngest and only girl of the family and had four older brothers.