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What might gods be?

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    #16
    Re: What might gods be?

    Originally posted by Briton View Post
    Sorry, I will ignore trolling questions in future, or try to. You're right, creating is not relevant. Ignore that.

    However whatever is the source of life in my opinion is just as much a creation of the universe as us. I don't see any reason to worship it on that basis, I also don't think wishing it will change anything.
    I suggest you do more than 'try'. If you feel that a post is inappropriate then report it and I'll assess and respond.

    I also suggest that if you wish people to treat your beliefs with respect then you start treating theirs with respect. Some of us hold beliefs different to yours. No one is wrong here because the reality is that you can't prove or disprove jack about gods. It's ALL personal hypothesis.

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      #17
      Re: What might gods be?

      Originally posted by Rae'ya View Post
      I suggest you do more than 'try'. If you feel that a post is inappropriate then report it and I'll assess and respond.
      This bears repeating. 95% of reports are made by staff for staff. While that works, we will be faster and more responsive (at least in areas where we agree that a problem exists if members report problem posts to us instead of attempting to answer on their own and near inevitably making more problem posts when they do so. Not all reports will get visible answers (there are a few currently pending because while I understand why they were made, I don't consider the evidence conclusive enough to act on) but at least one and frequently all the staff do read every report.
      life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

      Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

      "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

      John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

      "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

      Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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        #18
        Re: What might gods be?

        Originally posted by Optimistic discord View Post
        Any force that can influence you could be venerated in someway.
        And therefore can be harnessed or used. Or ignored/tolerated. Depending on your over all outlook.

        What type of belief structure/tradition do you have?( if you don't mind me asking?)
        I'm not going to venerate the Conservative party, a force that definitely influences my life!

        For the record, I see a difference between veneration and worship. To me, veneration is merely thanks for the good things done by others you deeply respect, but in the order of things they have equal value to you. Worship is the praise given to something or someone you consider to be greater than you.

        I have not been on this path long, and I am still working on my rites. I believe that the fundamental difference between that which is living and that which is dead, the animate and inanimate, is the giveaway to there being more to reality than the natural world. I believe our ancestors have returned to the earth and joined the consciousness they were a part of before they were born, but now they have a distinct individual personality. I believe some stick around to work, the world is amoral itself, and does what it wants, and we can't change it, but our ancestors, who have passed on, may influence the elements to our benefit. However, nature must go on, and I accept that whilst I may well want sunny weather, the world knows better and will fulfill its needs if petitions clash with them. I am animistic, but this is not something I have worked on to figure out how it works.

        - - - Updated - - -

        Originally posted by Spiny Norman View Post
        Intriguing - could you say more about this?
        I'm not one to ever pray for mercy
        Or to wish on pennies in the fountain or the shrine
        But that day you know I left my money
        And I thought of you only
        All that copper glowing fine

        Comment


          #19
          Re: What might gods be?

          I... erm...

          When I was reaching out to the spirits of the Pow Burn, a river that used to run through my hometown, and large enough for ships to sail along it, but is now an underground stream, I met 3 entities. One was a man with a boar's head, another was gender fluid (this was the only one of them representing the river itself), and the third was a tortoise.

          Not going to lie. I'm feeling just a little spooked right now!
          夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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            #20
            Re: What might gods be?

            Originally posted by Jembru View Post
            I... erm...

            When I was reaching out to the spirits of the Pow Burn, a river that used to run through my hometown, and large enough for ships to sail along it, but is now an underground stream, I met 3 entities. One was a man with a boar's head, another was gender fluid (this was the only one of them representing the river itself), and the third was a tortoise.

            Not going to lie. I'm feeling just a little spooked right now!
            That is pretty strange! I don't really know where to take this from here, particularly if someone else has come across similar... whatever they were.
            I'm not one to ever pray for mercy
            Or to wish on pennies in the fountain or the shrine
            But that day you know I left my money
            And I thought of you only
            All that copper glowing fine

            Comment


              #21
              Re: What might gods be?

              We're both in former Brigantia (I mean, the areas where Brigantia was supposedly worshipped as a principle deity) too. Although the Pow Burn was a tributary of the River Tyne so it's unlikely the beings you saw were geographically linked.

              It could be something as mundane as us both hearing a similar story in our childhood, or reading something in passing while researching various mythologies, so our subconscious drew on similar images. Also, you can't rule out the possibility that I'm lying. I'm not, but unless I can find an older post where I reference these beings, I can't prove that I had the thought first (and even if I could find such a post, and trust me, I'm digging, we could argue that you just read it and forgot about it!).

              From where I'm sitting though, this is very uncanny!

              - - - Updated - - -

              Update: Just did several searches and checked posts I made from around the time I recorded my experience in my journal (last August), but can't find any reference to back up my story.
              Last edited by Jembru; 11 Jan 2016, 02:46.
              夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

              Comment


                #22
                Re: What might gods be?

                I think we could reason: what benefit would you have from lying? Furthermore, I haven't read your journal here as far as I'm aware, reading people's journals isn't something I do generally.

                I can't really imagine a scenario where, as a child, my deeply Christian parents told me stories of a pig-man and a hermaphrodite, but I may be mistaken :P

                Did the Atrebates worship Brigantia? I previously asked my German pagan friend who knows a little about Iron Age deities and he only knew of four worshiped by them: Ancasta, Britannia, Saegontios, Epona. Maybe what we experienced were more primeval still? After all, we only really know of a few Iron Age deities and Britain has been a close knit island since the stone age. Just a thought. Sex and ambition are as old as the hills when it comes to human instinct.
                I'm not one to ever pray for mercy
                Or to wish on pennies in the fountain or the shrine
                But that day you know I left my money
                And I thought of you only
                All that copper glowing fine

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: What might gods be?

                  Originally posted by Briton View Post
                  Did the Atrebates worship Brigantia? I previously asked my German pagan friend who knows a little about Iron Age deities and he only knew of four worshiped by them: Ancasta, Britannia, Saegontios, Epona. Maybe what we experienced were more primeval still? After all, we only really know of a few Iron Age deities and Britain has been a close knit island since the stone age. Just a thought. Sex and ambition are as old as the hills when it comes to human instinct.
                  Epona? I didn't know that one. I thought she was Welsh. ^^ As for Brigantia, I couldn't say I'm afraid because there's a lot of speculation over similar sounding names and whether or not they're the same deity. Some writers have suggested the goddess originates from a region around the Austrian alps. In England though, there seems to have been evidence of her worship throughout most of the eastern and central side of the country, but I don't know how far south she spread.

                  Mind you, it's a good few years since I was researching Brigantia (I actually did a project that was posted on the old forum before the crash, where you spent a year getting to know your patron deities, so that'll tell you know long ago it was). I do have notes in my BOS, but I picked and chose what went in, and don't remember much else.
                  夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: What might gods be?

                    Boar have long been part of our heritage in the UK. .

                    Boars go hand in hand with two very sexual and passionate saxon/norse deities.
                    Freyja used to swap her battle-boar for lovers turned into boars to ride into battle ( Loki taunted her for being so obvious as to publicly ride her lovers )

                    The Saxons loved boar, as symbols of power, emotion, fertility, passion .
                    Warriors wore boar decorations, and mothers used boar talismans to protect their families.

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                      #25
                      Re: What might gods be?

                      A computer geniuis playing a VERY long game of SIMS and probably getting very bored by this point. - or so says Simulation Theory


                      Comment


                        #26
                        Re: What might gods be?

                        Originally posted by Briton View Post
                        What other ways might deities exist, and how might they be served or worshiped in these instances?
                        In my belief, there are various kinds of gods and spirits. Not all of whom have discrete form and character, or at least personality.

                        The Romans did not often ascribe anthropomorphic form and personality to many of their gods, until Greek influences reached a tipping point. Even the Greeks didn't ascribe such to some of their deities--the 'good god' of the household called the Agathos Daimon, or daimones in general, or even many nymphs and other spirits-of-place. Myth indicates some of these, but many more go unnamed and unformed. Parts of Greek myth imply some sort of archaic animism that was present well into the Hellenistic period, despite Classical attempts at formalism. The Romans were even more ingrained in that tradition of animism, with many deities unnamed other than as a general classification--the lares, manes, and genii--and even named gods not being ascribed a very discrete personality or anthropomorphic shape--Janus and Vesta most prominently, and many primordial deities were not described with much in the way of personality or character. Function was more important than personality.

                        So, as a consequence, I tend to believe that there are many spirits--even gods--that can be worshipped as a force or function, rather than as a person. Their presence or spirit, numen, can be tapped into and interacted with.

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