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Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

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    Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

    Or, used deities that are fictitious because they seem to have real-world significance? Would you think it valid to call upon Shar from the Forgotten Realms (a fictitious deity in a fantasy series) for a night goddess as opposed to a more established deity, like Nyx? Or even something that isn't established in literature but sourced from your own thoughts?

    The reason being is that a lot of the mythology is based upon geography (the Nile in Khemet, the Ganges in India, Mount Olympus, etc) and I tend to view polytheistic deities as 'going through the filter of human subjectivity' of a sort.
    There once was a man who said though,
    It seems that I know that I know,
    What I'd like to see,
    Is the I that knows me,
    When I know that I know that I know.

    #2
    Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

    I believe at least 1 person here references fictitious deities from a book series.....rafe....but I don't know much about her practice...I'll leave it to her to explain....
    Allow me to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket. ~ Captain Jack Sparrow

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      #3
      Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

      Generally*, I don't call upon direct literary constructs seriously. Should I become adequately annoyed, I reserve the right to delve enough into chaos magic to call Bugs Bunny down on a person but no one has pissed me off enough to sick toons on them yet. I'm a little curious how it would end actually.

      Past, I wouldn't call on Shar because Shar wants to destroy the sun, end life as we know it and generally complicate my day. Calling her seems counterproductive.

      * In one important manner this might be arguable but I'm not intending to explain or debate the issue.
      Last edited by MaskedOne; 30 Dec 2011, 12:47.
      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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        #4
        Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

        I think the answer to this question depends a lot on what an individual thinks deity *is*.

        It's one thing if you believe that all gods existed long before us mere mortals, that they are something above and beyond us.

        On the other hand, if you believe that they exist because of us, or possibly even that enough belief in something can, to one degree or another, generate it into actual being...why not?
        Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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          #5
          Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

          The belief in the power of egregores is a massive part of my spiritual experience, although for some reason, i seperate this (using an imaginary meditation 'world' in which to meet egregore beings), from my religious beliefs. I do not consider these to be deities, but just some strange consequence of the collective human consiousness. My experiences have been very real to me and the people who have witnessed them with me so I'll always take it seriously and would never completely rule out that deities could be nothing more than the exact same principle at work. (I have had these 'egregores' not only give me apparently accurate psychic insights on other people, but also physically affect the world around me). I wouldn't say this is central to my practices, but it was something I worked with a lot when I did some rather interesting 2 year training with a High Priestess from the Fellowship of Isis. It was 8 years ago now so my memory of it is foggy. There is still a lot of info in my BOS though, and I believe my teacher's notes are still at my mum's place somewhere.
          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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            #6
            Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

            Originally posted by Dez View Post
            I think the answer to this question depends a lot on what an individual thinks deity *is*.

            It's one thing if you believe that all gods existed long before us mere mortals, that they are something above and beyond us.

            On the other hand, if you believe that they exist because of us, or possibly even that enough belief in something can, to one degree or another, generate it into actual being...why not?
            Well, that's the magic question, isn't it?

            The way that I see Archetypes present themselves over and over again in humanity and the fact that all the poly-deities seem to be different yet similar leads me to believe that the stories and tales and myth we have are windows that allow us to see the Divine Mystery.

            The Divine would be hard for our minds to wrap around, so we're assisted by it being filtered through the collective unconscious. Thus, the deities are real but are dependent upon us for definition at the same time.

            That's why I asked about a fictional deity as opposed to a real deity (were real deities from someone's imagination once upon a time?).

            Then again, I could be completely wrong and just making up stuff.

            Originally posted by Jembru View Post
            The belief in the power of egregores is a massive part of my spiritual experience, although for some reason, i seperate this (using an imaginary meditation 'world' in which to meet egregore beings), from my religious beliefs. I do not consider these to be deities, but just some strange consequence of the collective human consiousness. My experiences have been very real to me and the people who have witnessed them with me so I'll always take it seriously and would never completely rule out that deities could be nothing more than the exact same principle at work. (I have had these 'egregores' not only give me apparently accurate psychic insights on other people, but also physically affect the world around me). I wouldn't say this is central to my practices, but it was something I worked with a lot when I did some rather interesting 2 year training with a High Priestess from the Fellowship of Isis. It was 8 years ago now so my memory of it is foggy. There is still a lot of info in my BOS though, and I believe my teacher's notes are still at my mum's place somewhere.
            Egregores.. that's from Chaos Magick, yes? Constructs infused with Will and Intent? It's been a hot minute since I looked into that.
            There once was a man who said though,
            It seems that I know that I know,
            What I'd like to see,
            Is the I that knows me,
            When I know that I know that I know.

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              #7
              Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

              Originally posted by GabrielWithoutWings View Post
              Egregores.. that's from Chaos Magick, yes? Constructs infused with Will and Intent? It's been a hot minute since I looked into that.
              As far as I know, not specifically, but I am cluless to be honest. It sounds like something they could get behind. My knowledge of chaos magic is limited to some quite creepy guy in a black cloak who used to show up to a moot my coven ran, and talk about subjects I do not believe represent the beliefs of most practitioners of chaos. Oh and a talk at a pagan conference I attended. I don't think attending a half hour lecture makes me an expert though, and I don't remember egregores being mentioned. I don't trust internet searches either, so I am basically clueless. I'd be interested to be enlightened though!

              The FOI course was bizzare, but nothing to do with chaos as far as I know. Well, it could have been, how would I have recognised it? I originally started on an Egypian recon course, but I found this had nothing to offer me spiritually, so changed to a more generic 'Goddess Mysteries' thingy. If chaos features in Egypian reconstruction, then I might have touched upon it.

              I personally wouldn't want to involve egregores in my rituals or spellwork though. Creating and/or commanding imaginary beings is not really my way of working. I keep my active meditation work and religious work more or less seperate.
              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


                #8
                Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                Originally posted by Dez View Post
                I think the answer to this question depends a lot on what an individual thinks deity *is*.

                It's one thing if you believe that all gods existed long before us mere mortals, that they are something above and beyond us.

                On the other hand, if you believe that they exist because of us, or possibly even that enough belief in something can, to one degree or another, generate it into actual being...why not?
                ^This. IMHO if deities only exist because of us and our belief in them then surely that makes us more powerful than they are. If that is the case what would be the point in worshipping them? Surely they should be worshipping me as I am directly responsible for their existence. This is however just my opinion as I say and if others see it differently, and it works for them, more power to them.
                http://thefeministpagan.blogspot.co.uk/

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                  #9
                  Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                  Originally posted by shadow1982 View Post
                  ^This. IMHO if deities only exist because of us and our belief in them then surely that makes us more powerful than they are. If that is the case what would be the point in worshipping them? Surely they should be worshipping me as I am directly responsible for their existence. This is however just my opinion as I say and if others see it differently, and it works for them, more power to them.
                  It's interesting that you bring that up. In Gnosticism, there is mentioned several times the belief that God's existence depends on us as much as our existence depends on God. Because humans have their origin in the Pleroma, we and God are the same being. Thus, in Gnosticism, acts of kindness and mercy are magnified because when you harm another human being, you're harming a Spark. And, because their Spark and your Spark have their origins in the same place, hurting someone else really means you're hurting yourself.

                  Originally posted by The Gospel of Philip
                  In the beginning God created humans. Now, however, humans are creating God. Such is the way of this world-humans invent gods and worship their creations. It would be better for such gods to worship humans.
                  There once was a man who said though,
                  It seems that I know that I know,
                  What I'd like to see,
                  Is the I that knows me,
                  When I know that I know that I know.

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                    #10
                    Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                    I was just about to make a post about this.

                    Reminds me of Neil Gaiman's American Gods a bit, highly recommend that book. From an attheistic viewpoint I see gods as representations of one thing or another, I.e the goddess being a frontwoman for the feminin aspect of nature as a whole. Variou deities like artemis become specific personality traits, so calling on Hestia I'm really calling on domesticity and a nurturing nature.

                    I think all gods are made up by humans in order to help us understand the world around us, so anything you call on could serve the same purpose. If I wanted strength to overcome obstacles and unyielding resolve I could call on my main man Harry Dresden and it wouldt make a lick of difference to me. It's what he represents that matters. But that's just me.
                    Please disregard typos in above post. I browse the web on a Nook and i suck at typing on touch screens.

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                      #11
                      Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                      Originally posted by Just_Wondering View Post
                      I was just about to make a post about this.

                      Reminds me of Neil Gaiman's American Gods a bit, highly recommend that book. From an attheistic viewpoint I see gods as representations of one thing or another, I.e the goddess being a frontwoman for the feminin aspect of nature as a whole. Variou deities like artemis become specific personality traits, so calling on Hestia I'm really calling on domesticity and a nurturing nature.

                      I think all gods are made up by humans in order to help us understand the world around us, so anything you call on could serve the same purpose. If I wanted strength to overcome obstacles and unyielding resolve I could call on my main man Harry Dresden and it wouldt make a lick of difference to me. It's what he represents that matters. But that's just me.
                      Harry Dresden would certainly be a useful ally. It'd be better if you called Bob, too.

                      There once was a man who said though,
                      It seems that I know that I know,
                      What I'd like to see,
                      Is the I that knows me,
                      When I know that I know that I know.

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                        #12
                        Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                        Eh, Bob is easily distracted. I can't be sending him out on 30 minute errands only to have him come back hours later piss drunk and reeking of perfume.
                        Please disregard typos in above post. I browse the web on a Nook and i suck at typing on touch screens.

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                          #13
                          Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                          Originally posted by Just_Wondering View Post
                          Eh, Bob is easily distracted. I can't be sending him out on 30 minute errands only to have him come back hours later piss drunk and reeking of perfume.
                          You just have to keep him on his leash... and not let him possess anyone... and not let him anywhere near boobies...

                          Maybe just Harry then.
                          There once was a man who said though,
                          It seems that I know that I know,
                          What I'd like to see,
                          Is the I that knows me,
                          When I know that I know that I know.

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                            #14
                            Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                            When I was younger, I attempted such things, but I think I was more influenced by fantasy books than anything else. Making up a pantheon is easy, but taking it at all seriously is impossible for me. The act of making it up implies a certain lack of seriousness, really. That's how I see it anyway.
                            If you want to be thought intelligent, just agree with everyone.

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                              #15
                              Re: Has anyone actually made up their own pantheon?

                              Originally posted by Yazichestvo View Post
                              When I was younger, I attempted such things, but I think I was more influenced by fantasy books than anything else. Making up a pantheon is easy, but taking it at all seriously is impossible for me. The act of making it up implies a certain lack of seriousness, really. That's how I see it anyway.
                              That's just it, though. Even classic pantheons were made up by someone once upon a time. Is one less or more valuable than the other?

                              I don't know the answer to that, so I try to think in archetypes rather than specific deities.
                              There once was a man who said though,
                              It seems that I know that I know,
                              What I'd like to see,
                              Is the I that knows me,
                              When I know that I know that I know.

                              Comment

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