Minoan Goddess

It can be argued that Minoans took part in sacrifices as part of religious rituals, for instance this sarcophagus depicts a procession which ends in a bull sacrifice
2 Tree Shrine Seal
This seal displays two priestesses holding a double-axe in front of a tree-shrine of a goddess. It helps us to understand that holding tree shrine was a common religious observance in the daily lives of the Minoans. The double-axe features in other Minoan artefacts, commonly in sacrifices, suggesting that the priestesses sacrificed something to the goddess under the shrine.
3 Mistress of the Animals Seal
This seal shows the Mistress of the Animals, or Minoan Mother Goddess. She is depicted in many other representations of Minoan religious observances as the receiver
The figurine of the younger snake goddess from the palace of Knossos depicts a bare-breasted woman holding a snake in each of her hands, which can be thought of as a threatening position. She wears what looks like a sitting lion on her headpiece. The most popular interpretation of this figurine is that it depicts a snake goddess, one of the most popular goddesses of Minoan times; the statuettes were found in house sanctuaries suggesting that they were kept in households and worshipped as part of daily Minoan rituals. The snake goddesses are often associated as symbols of the renewal of life, as serpents shed their skin periodically, and this interpretation is also present amongst other ancient civilisations. However, W. Burkert noticed that snakes were represented as the protectors of the house, which later appears in Greek religion. This links back to the fact that these figurines were found in houses, making the interpretation of the snake goddesses being protectors of the house more
A gold ring displayed in the Ashmolean Museum depicts a priestess (judging by her dress) standing next to a naked woman kneeling – perhaps praying or succumbing – upon boulders. Both the women have sacral knots on their necks, the priestess touching hers. A smaller person, possibly an epiphany of a god, stands above the naked woman, holding a dagger which is prepared to strike her. Whilst it was a common practice for women to bare their breasts when worshipping, it is uncommon to find one completely naked, ruling out the analysis that she may be praying. The evidence concludes that this could be a “rare depiction of human sacrifice” , as argued by Rodney Castleden. Since there is no picture of the original source available, the reliability of this is quite dubious, especially as historians have doubted the Minoans’s sacrifice of humans for religious purposes . However, a source similarly depicting a woman about to be stabbed is a sealstone found at Khania . The seated woman, maybe a goddess judging by her exaggerated breasts, is poised to stab a girl with a sword, once again hinting at human sacrifice, and increasing the accuracy of the ring as well since the content is typical to another