What is your creation story?

[Domtar]

I know many different cultures have a creation story- that one or more of their deities created the universe, the earth, humans, and more. I am curious how different people interpret this among those who think there is some kind of spiritual force/entities behind creation and involved in earth.

Are the deities regional, or is there a belief that some of the gods may in fact be all over earth with regional representations.... ? For those who believe a regional deity created the whole universe or the whole earth, does that mean they see their deity as a deity for all people of earth- or perhaps the same deity in other regions with different names?

I imagine there are a lot of ideas, I am just curious about people's different ideas on this!

[thalassa]

Re: What is your creation story?

I don't believe that deities created the Earth (or the Universe). Gods are a product of the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system, the formation of the Earth and the evolution of life and humanity....just as we are.

[Rae'ya]

Re: What is your creation story?

I know many different cultures have a creation story- that one or more of their deities created the universe, the earth, humans, and more. I am curious how different people interpret this among those who think there is some kind of spiritual force/entities behind creation and involved in earth.

Are the deities regional, or is there a belief that some of the gods may in fact be all over earth with regional representations.... ? For those who believe a regional deity created the whole universe or the whole earth, does that mean they see their deity as a deity for all people of earth- or perhaps the same deity in other regions with different names?

I imagine there are a lot of ideas, I am just curious about people's different ideas on this!

My creation story is the Big Bang. I do believe that there was a sort of panentheistic Divine Force 'behind' the event, but I don't count this force as a deity... more as an immanent and inherent divine animating force.

As far as the traditional creation stories of various faiths and paths... I am a had polytheistic shamanist who believes that the Otherworlds exist as separate planes of existence. I think creation stories are more likely to reflect the creation of the Otherworlds than of Thisworld. For example, in the Northern faiths there is a clear creation story behind the Nine Worlds... which I think relates specifically to the Nine Worlds of the Northern gods, NOT Thisworld (or any other world, for that matter).

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: What is your creation story?

If you think about it, many creation stories have at least some resemblance to current scientific theory, the Big Bang. Since I'm most familiar with the Nordic stories, I'll use that as an example. Now, bear with me as I totally paraphrase and dumb down everything for the sake of both brevity and ease of understanding.

In Norse myth, there was a whole big great mass of nothing, with the stuff of pure elemental energies going about their own business on either side of it. All of a sudden, those energies interacted and from that point everything just went crazy. Now, the story goes that there were all of these cosmic giants, and gods, and cows that formed out of these expanding and combining energies, until after conflict and violence and all sorts of rough housing, the planet was created. Then from there, as things grew and changed on the surface, humankind was cast from trees and from there, we get to here.

So Big Bang wise, all sorts of cosmic stuff is just floating about, doing it's own thing then all of a sudden, BANG! It starts to interact, respond, react, and all sorts of chaos and creation ensues. Then we've got evolution and all that good stuff as well, and it's ever changing, always adjusting.

On the very most basic level, both theories pretty much say the exact same thing. Nothingness ---> stuff interacts ---> whoah, creation!

[Domtar]

Re: What is your creation story?

I appreciate your answers. I am coming from agnostic atheist leaning to having a lot of experiences leading me to feel there at least may be a great deal more to consciousness within and without our universe and planet. I sort of found my way to the pagan from there but I'm still trying to figure out how my lived experience fits into it... like... I have experiences where I felt like the sun and some spirits in the sky where perhaps conscious....

From there I started learning more about the sun and discovering it has a solar heartbeat (that's actually the scientific term for the rhythm) and feeling like if anything... isn't it at least possible that if consciousness can arise in a bunch of atoms that make humans it could also be present in other forms of energy or matter in ways we don't understand? I know many subscribe to the living universe idea- if we add the multiverse idea what if there are whole families of universi and like there's parent universes looking over ours? I do wonder if in the past, since animism was the norm, if people weren't actually communicating with the universe- if anything beings with more sentience than us could find a way to match our thought patterns to communicate albeit within the limits of our understanding.

I'm just kind of rambling-- I've been pondering all this stuff for a long time while living in a conservative town with very few people who like to just brainstorm or wonder about things... so I'm just glad to hear ideas and ramble lol..... glad to hear the ideas of others on these matters!

[AntonBRaxas]

Re: What is your creation story?

Before time, there was The Void.

From The Void came a cacophony of Chaos called Existence.

Existence gave birth to Matter and Aether. Matter cannot exist without the Aether.

The Aether is where all Existence manipulates all ideas, visions, creations both seen and unseen and transforms these into Matter.

Chaos has a name, and her name is Eris.
Out of Eris, all Existence sprang forth from The Void.

[Jembru]

Re: What is your creation story?

I have a creation myth! It seems to be very wiccan in flavour, but I think it originated within Anderson Fery and probably made its way into wiccan groups via the likes of Starhawk. It's claimed to be Celtic in origin but I don't buy that at all. It's a nice mythology though that gives you lots of powerful imagery to work with.

In the beginning there was nothing but void. The goddess, who was the void, looked into the nothingness and saw herself reflected back at her. She felt a strong desire for her reflection, and her desire became power enough for the first magic. She breathed life into her reflection, and then there were two.

They embraced one another in sexual union and this created a great explosion. From this, tiny particles scattered across what had been the void, gradually forming the many starts and planets of many galaxies.

But the new god, created in the goddess's exact image, began to move away from her, caught up in the force of the explosion. She began to change, first appearing as an androgynous child-like being, the blue god, before changing to the green god, echoing the leaves and balk of a future world, finally appearing as a horned hunter. Reaching out their hands, they were soon too far apart to grab onto one another. The Goddess proclaimed that they will be reunited one day. From their first union, life will eventually be born, and through that life, they will find one another and be whole again. Their spiral dance of courtship will create great seasons wherever it happens, they will live within all creation and in all of their children, and these children will themselves have the power of creation.

And thus the universe and life within it was created, everything made up of those tiny particles that were created from the Goddess's desire in the beginning, and the seasons roll by in a procession of death and rebirth, to the rhythm of the courtship of the gods!

Like I say, it's doubtful that this story is from a time before the big bang was understood, but I know there are people here better read on Celtic mythology than I am, so if you can correct me, please do.

NB: I was originally going to open with, 'no doubt it was just another of Victor's herb-fueled faery visions' in my intro, but just as I was thinking it, a piece of pringle (left over party food), bounced up and into my eye. It was agony. I called my mum in a panic, asking how much salt I need for an eye bath. I can feel the piece in the lower sinuses now, but at least it's not in my eye anymore.. I don't think I'll be insulting Victor again in a hurry. ^^ (Victor Anderson was blind btw, for those who missed the irony there).

[Domtar]

Re: What is your creation story?

I like that Jembru!!

[Gleb]

Re: What is your creation story?

When it comes to Kemetism, the story is a bit, just a bit reminds the monotheistic creation story.

In the very beginning, the universe didn't have a form. It was just void. Even Ra or Amun-Ra didn't have form, but He existed. I can't explain how. It's beyond of what the human mind can understand, in my opinion.
He decided to give himself form. Apep, the giant snake was protecting Ra from everything that was present in the universe, anything that could harm Him.

Ra created Shu - god of wind and Tefnut - goddess of rain. Both of them gave birth to Geb and Nut. At some point, Geb and Nut created Ausar, Aset, Set and Nephthys. The rest is what we all now. The birth of Heru, death of Ausar, the battle between Heru and Set and so on.

There is one thing I don't remember correctly. I know that Djehuty was self created through the power of word. But there was a goddess who needed time to give birth to her children and asked Djehuty for help, though Ra forbid her to give birth. I can't remember whether it was Nut or Aset.... I DO remember, though, that Djehuty managed to buy 5 whole days in a Senet game against Khonsu, the moon god. And that was enough for the goddess to give birth to her children. One child in each day.

But after the creation of our planet, Apep lost his title of Ra's protector and decided to un-create the created so he'll get his title back and keep on protecting Ra from the created.

I can't remember whether it was Nut or Aset....

^ Help, someone? Pleaz?

[LearningMan]

Re: What is your creation story?

When it comes to Kemetism, the story is a bit, just a bit reminds the monotheistic creation story.

In the very beginning, the universe didn't have a form. It was just void. Even Ra or Amun-Ra didn't have form, but He existed. I can't explain how. It's beyond of what the human mind can understand, in my opinion.
He decided to give himself form. Apep, the giant snake was protecting Ra from everything that was present in the universe, anything that could harm Him.

Ra created Shu - god of wind and Tefnut - goddess of rain. Both of them gave birth to Geb and Nut. At some point, Geb and Nut created Ausar, Aset, Set and Nephthys. The rest is what we all now. The birth of Heru, death of Ausar, the battle between Heru and Set and so on.

There is one thing I don't remember correctly. I know that Djehuty was self created through the power of word. But there was a goddess who needed time to give birth to her children and asked Djehuty for help, though Ra forbid her to give birth. I can't remember whether it was Nut or Aset.... I DO remember, though, that Djehuty managed to buy 5 whole days in a Senet game against Khonsu, the moon god. And that was enough for the goddess to give birth to her children. One child in each day.

But after the creation of our planet, Apep lost his title of Ra's protector and decided to un-create the created so he'll get his title back and keep on protecting Ra from the created.



^ Help, someone? Pleaz?

It was Nut.

[thalassa]

Re: What is your creation story?

Okay, since I'm not at work now, I had a bit more time to do this right...this is a family myth, if you will, the kids and I have been telling and retelling

Here goes round 3 (round 2 was closed out by Minion 2):



In the beginning was Nothing.

But Nothing was lonely and sad. Nothing thought very, very hard about what to do so he wouldn't be lonely any more.

He thought, thought, thought, and thought some more. So hard that all of the sudden Something burst forth and exploded into billions upon billions upon billions of pieces of Song where there had been only Nothing before.

Now, Something was very different from Nothing. She was loud and hot and fast and just plain chaotic. She was so different that that Nothing was afraid and tried to hide. Something's Song seemed to chase Nothing, it was was so expansive and it echoed and vibrated everywhere that Nothing tried to go.

But there wasn't anywhere that Nothing could escape to.

Over time, Nothing got used to Something. And in the places where Something and Nothing met, she taught him a little bit about being Something and he taught her a little bit about being Nothing. Something learned to move more slowly, to quiet down, and to cool off and Nothing learned not to be afraid.

Eventually, Something and Nothing learned that they could be Together, but he could still be himself and she could still be herself. And in all of the places that they came together, magic happened.

The smallest of these magics were called Atoms, but we can talk about these on another day. The biggest (maybe not absolute biggest, but in the top 5) became the Galaxia.

Now, there are many Galixia, but since I'm no astronomer, I can only tell you a story about one of them...

You see, in one of these places where many of the pieces of Something came together with Nothing, the Song of Something began to change. And from this new tempo, the pieces of something began to dance to a new beat. They whirled and twirled until they became the Galaxia that we call the Milky Way--according to Chickadee, her name is really Kaias.

Kaias coralled the currents of Nothing to gather the pieces of Something together. She sorted and arranged them, planting them like seeds in a garden.

The largest pieces of Something were planted in the center, forming the heart of Kaias, so part of Something's Song could stay as true to her original form as possible. Between the smaller pieces of something, she let Nothing freely, so he could be as true to his original form as possible. And in these smaller (but not the smallest) places where they met (not just here, but in every Galaxia), the magic continued to happen.

One of the song-seeds of Something danced itself into being as Sol, our sun. And as he danced, he couldn't hold all of the Song. Some of it broke off and became what the Greeks called the Astra Planeta (Phainon--the planet of Kronos; aka Saturn, Phaethon--the planet of Zeus, aka Jupiter; Pyroeis--the planet of Ares, aka Mars; Eosphoros--the planet of Aphrodite, akaVenus); and Stilbon--the planet of Hermes, aka Mercury), as well as our Astra Planta, Earth and her Moon (which Chickadee calles Terra and Luna), the other planets, asteroids, comets, and other bodies in our solar system.

[Jembru]

Re: What is your creation story?

Your story is somewhat similar to mine Thal, save for the genders. I may have to steel some of the details to pad mine out! What's interesting though, is that for many years I've refered to beings of the spirit realms as 'singers', and beings of the physical realm, like us, as dancers... I thought I'd made this up, inspired by the Killers song, but maybe I'd heard the concept somewhere before. I must remember to add this as a footnote to my BoS when I get home..

[Domtar]

Re: What is your creation story?

Thalassa that was so beautiful! I remember I had one out of body experience and I felt like I was uniting with this expansive universal self... but it felt... horrible it a way I can't describe. It felt like being ONE.... so much ONE rather than many all connected that it felt like absolute aloneness.

From a psychological perspective it certainly reflected a lot of pain I was in at the time, but it also made be feel a lot less fond of the idea of the one self I had previously thought fondly of. Now what I hope for is not to all be one self but many different selves, united by common threads and connected in different ways. I delight in the existence of beings who are so totally not me, think their own thoughts,have their own selves. It's for this reason too, I rather hope if there is a "god" or existences beyond this one, that it's NOT in the form of a one soul-- plus think of the terrible burden of being the ONE god? I don't think any being should carry such a burden, it seems something that could be carried by many. It ads to my feeling that every single being is so precious. Maybe sometimes the many powerful wise beings like to take a break, take off the heavy burden of knowledge and power, and rest as a small tiny being that knows very little. And get a chance to be carried in the arms of beings who are stronger and wiser.And then to offer the same experience to others.

[Jembru]

Re: What is your creation story?

Thalassa that was so beautiful! I remember I had one out of body experience and I felt like I was uniting with this expansive universal self... but it felt... horrible it a way I can't describe. It felt like being ONE.... so much ONE rather than many all connected that it felt like absolute aloneness.

From a psychological perspective it certainly reflected a lot of pain I was in at the time, but it also made be feel a lot less fond of the idea of the one self I had previously thought fondly of. Now what I hope for is not to all be one self but many different selves, united by common threads and connected in different ways. I delight in the existence of beings who are so totally not me, think their own thoughts,have their own selves. It's for this reason too, I rather hope if there is a "god" or existences beyond this one, that it's NOT in the form of a one soul-- plus think of the terrible burden of being the ONE god? I don't think any being should carry such a burden, it seems something that could be carried by many. It ads to my feeling that every single being is so precious. Maybe sometimes the many powerful wise beings like to take a break, take off the heavy burden of knowledge and power, and rest as a small tiny being that knows very little. And get a chance to be carried in the arms of beings who are stronger and wiser.And then to offer the same experience to others.

That's a very interesting experience. I've recently come to the conclusion that god is not a separate being, or lots of separate beings, but rather a single energy that flows through all of creation. I'm calling this energy 'unity', because it is everything at once. I attribute the human mind's ability to interract with this energy, for the appearance of many different gods and spiritual beings with apparent individual personalites. It is on this more personal level that I choose to know this god energy, although I also work with the energy in its pure form. I never thought of unity as being lonely before. But perhaps it is this loneliness that makes it so ready and willing to take conscious forms in order to be in our company. Very interesting indeed. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I'm loving this thread.

[Medusa]

Re: What is your creation story?

Everyone has such great stories. Only if they were true. I'd totally dig it.

My story: There was nothing. Then something. Soon there will be nothing. Hold on to the ride.

This is probably why I'm an atheist.

and lazy.