Māori goddesses

thumb|Māui attempting to enter Hine-nui-te-pō. Carving by Tene Waitere in the meeting house Rauru (opened in 1900). thumb|Hinenuitepo meeting house at Te Whaiti in 1930

Whaitiri is a female atua and personification of thunder in Māori mythology. She is the grandmother of Tāwhaki and Karihi. Whaitiri is the granddaughter of Te Kanapu, son of Te Uira, both of whom are personified forms of lightning (Reed 1963:158). Another more primary atua of thunder, a male, is Tāwhirimātea.

In Māori mythology, Ikaroa is the long fish that gave birth to all the stars in the Milky Way or the Mother Goddess of all the stars – ornaments of the Sky God. Ika-Roa is also an alternative name for the Milky Way.