How did gods and goddesses interact

[Alienist]

Bythey, I mean the gods and goddesses of any religion. They don't seem to mention each other very much, but I always wondered that despite the fact that many gods and goddesses inhabited the planet they don't seem to mention each other very often. I haven't heard Yahweh mention Ganesha or Jesus mentioning Thor. I always wondered if they had any relation to each other. Despite the fact they had good intentions some must have been competitive i.e. Yahweh commanding everyone to worship no one except him which therefore proves that there are multiple deities because if there was one God and one creator, why would he bother making a commandment saying" Worship no one but me?" but I'm getting off topic. Sometimes I wonder if wars were fought because deities commanded them to war, or that humans said "God commanded me to fight this country" and just use that as an excuse to fight them.

I ask did any gods be they Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Norse, Abrahamic, Aztec, Hindu, ect. interact with each other? Each pantheon seemed to have their own terriroty where one group or deity would own the middle east, a pantheon owning Europe, the Americas, India and Asia. I figure they must have conversed with each other at some point. Did perhaps they have something in common since they pretty much all have peaceful goals, or did they despise each other due to different traditions and were therefore competitive? Or were only some of them like that? I just wondered if any of them talked about each other and commented each other or maybe even met each other.

[WinterTraditions]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

Well, it's my belief that no, the gods do not interact with each other within their own realms. Interaction while working with a practitioner is different, however. My belief centers around the concept that every religion is right, and all Gods and Goddesses exist (Even those that are made up on the spot, if they are given enough REAL worship and energy). They all control their own realms outside our own, and if you believe in Summerland, you go to Summerland. If you believe in Heaven, you go to heaven. If you believe in reincarnation, you will reincarnate. Gods from other realms that you do not worship cannot influence your life. Yahweh cannot influence a Buddhist, and Zeus cannot influence a Roman Catholic.

Interaction... They only interact with one another when working as a sort of 'team' with a human. Like, a Pagan worshipping and doing a spell in the name of Zeus and Mercury. Jesus and Odin. Hecate and Enki.

[wisp]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I don't know of any literature stating such cross-overs, but then the literature is largely culturally-focused and is entirely written by humans, so they relate what they know. It could very well be that deities have spoken and warred and loved or just crashed on each others' couches, for all we know.
I -have- heard of individuals having interactions with deities that involve deities outside of their pantheons. Things like "No, no, you're getting me confused with such and such from that other culture." or "Hey, I think you should really also work with such and such. It'd be good for all of us." So, from anecdotes, I'd say they're very aware of one another and do interact, it's just that not everyone sees or experiences them interacting.

[Heka]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

Aren't some god/desses essentially the same, or at least similar? (And I know I'm wrong here with names but) Isis, Ishtar, Venus, Aphrodite... They all share similar traits etc.

[WinterTraditions]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

Aren't some god/desses essentially the same, or at least similar? (And I know I'm wrong here with names but) Isis, Ishtar, Venus, Aphrodite... They all share similar traits etc.

All Gods and Goddesses essentially have to be similar, as there are only so many traits a human can understand. Can you think up a new subject for a deity to reign over? Technology, Wealth, Death, Heaven... Those are all taken. You could say that there is a God of Ipods, but... Isn't that simply a God of Technology? Of course there would be similarities.

However, I must agree that the Roman Gods and Goddesses are basically copies of the Greek deities with different names. Literally. When Romans took over the Greeks, they claimed the deities as their own and switched the names. Aphrodite to Venus, for example. Personally, I do believe that if someone worships a Goddess named Venus or a God named Neptune.. Any deity from Rome... They are just worshipping the Greek deities with a name they prefer. Us humans are picky like that. A name can mean a lot to us. We like unique, old, and attractive names like Hera or Hades. Would you worship a deity that had a common name to your specific culture? Jason, Sarah, Betty?

[Heka]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I know Greek and Roman gods are essentially the same, but there are similarities between other nearby pantheons too.. Though you're probably right in saying it's just cos there is only so many traits...

lots of thought going on now..

[Yrja]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I think they do, yes - but only if they have something to say. I doubt that for example Cernunnos and Jehovah chat about last night's football match; at least when they're not "companions" (the way I see it).

Would you worship a deity that had a common name to your specific culture? Jason, Sarah, Betty?

Many of the names of the Gods in Norse Mythology are still popular today in my country. But I suppose "Odin" is quite different compared to "Jason".

[Malflick]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

All Gods and Goddesses essentially have to be similar, as there are only so many traits a human can understand. Can you think up a new subject for a deity to reign over? Technology, Wealth, Death, Heaven... Those are all taken. You could say that there is a God of Ipods, but... Isn't that simply a God of Technology? Of course there would be similarities.

However, I must agree that the Roman Gods and Goddesses are basically copies of the Greek deities with different names. Literally. When Romans took over the Greeks, they claimed the deities as their own and switched the names. Aphrodite to Venus, for example. Personally, I do believe that if someone worships a Goddess named Venus or a God named Neptune.. Any deity from Rome... They are just worshipping the Greek deities with a name they prefer. Us humans are picky like that. A name can mean a lot to us. We like unique, old, and attractive names like Hera or Hades. Would you worship a deity that had a common name to your specific culture? Jason, Sarah, Betty?

There are differences in them though, though all the Roman Gods have the same stories, something that gets lost in modern retellings is that the Roman's took those stories and put their own very different slant on them, changing the meaning of the stories quite a bit, usually to have a more "you should follow the state and the culture over individuality" mantra, so the perception of who those Gods were was different in Rome, even though they were also the same.

Though its not a tale of a God, my favorite example is that to the Greek's Odysseus was a hero, while to the Romans Ulysses was a cautionary tale.

[Alienist]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I do agree with some points here. I thought that they must have just focused on their own affairs but to have SO many deities on the planet, they MUST have interacted with each other at some point. I always thought that all of them were created and sent by "The Source" the all creating force and were sent here to make humans more sophisticated wise and powerful and help them reach the after life. I think that's why there are some similiarties in personality becuase I think they were all on the same team at one point. But because there were disagreements on how to do things, they fought each other, which is why I think why I think deities tell you to worship them and no other and why certain civilizations like Atlantis was lost where entire cities or even continents were lost due to constant infighting and the deities were so powerful, their infighting caused much devastation And so being remoreseful, they stopped fighting each other and split up, the first to split would be the Sumerian deities, like Anu, Inanna and so forth, and each deity and pantheon divided the planet apart, which might explain why certain deities were worshipped in certain areas, like the Greek and Norse having Europe, Yahweh having Israel, Sumerian deities having Iraq, Egyptian deities having Egypt, Hindu deities having India and Aztec and Mayan deities having the Americas.

I think all of the after life realms are real. Of course one must be a good person to reach it but the way I see it, since Heaven is Yahweh's home, you wouldn't just be a good person, you must follow their rules of course no matter what they be. After all when you let a stranger enter your house, you'd want them to follow your rules right? Same thing with the deities. I don't believe in just the only 2 after lifes one being good and the other being bad. It's too black and white for me. To me one must follow the Asgardian rules in order to enter Asgard, just like one must enter the Summerland rules to enter Summerland, like WinterTraditions said.

[Shahaku]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I believe that the gods get their power through worship. The more people who worship them and the more fervently they are worshipped, the stronger they are. And the geographic area of their influence is somewhat controlled by the proportion of people to worship them there. Furthermore, I believe that if a diety has the ability to move between their realm and ours, it likely has the ability to some extent to move between its own realm and the realms of other dieties, provided the other diety doesn't put up some sort of road block, per se, or is somewhat weaker. So I believe that yes, they are aware of each other for the most part and able to communicate. Their willingness to do so on the other hand is quite up for debate.

Now, I also believe there is an original divine of some kind, which is quite honestly beyond our comprehension. I see this entity as a source, creator, all-powerful type, but also somewhat indifferent. I do believe to an extent that the other dieties exist outside of this original divine, but I see them as less powerful and I'm not exactly sure where they fit in or how they came to be. It's something I'm working on thinking through... quite honestly, my response to this question could change in a week or a month depending on whether my outlook changes so...

[wisp]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

As a note on gods/goddesses being similar to each other, it all boils down to your personal view on them. Being a hard polytheist, I believe they're individuals and the similarities are like saying some people are similar but that doesn't make them the same person. Ask someone who is a soft polytheist or a monotheist or even an atheist and they'll have different views. Hell, even hard polytheists won't always agree.
It's the same with beliefs on whether or not the gods interract and it's heavily affected by what you believe about the gods in general. My personal preference is to see the gods as powerful but fallible beings who would enjoy a good social event or who would fight or who would rib one another.
In short: I think this question and its answers are an interesting insight to what people believe in general.

[Sarkana night]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

As a note on gods/goddesses being similar to each other, it all boils down to your personal view on them. Being a hard polytheist, I believe they're individuals and the similarities are like saying some people are similar but that doesn't make them the same person.

I am with you at this.
Also, I tend to find the gods and goddesses to interact alot with each other within their pantheon, escpecially in the pantheon I'm following. But whether they are interacting and crisscrossing pantheons, I can't tell. Though it's not my intention that they do so, and that's also why I like to keep their worship seperate. Not that I'm against Eclectism, but to worship gods and goddesses from different pantheons would just be too confusing for me, due to that I feel that if I were to make a ritual, no matter how big or small it might be, I'd like to do it in a proper way, thus in a way that fits with the right does and don'ts of that pantheon's ritual "outlines".

[Heka]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

I think there is some validity on the 'location' aspect of certain religions. For example, my husband is most solidly a Christian. In some ways I've come to agree that sure, perhaps God is real, perhaps some of his stories are real, but only to the areas he dominates. Big flood? Sure! But to his own area.

[Louisvillian]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

Aren't some god/desses essentially the same, or at least similar? (And I know I'm wrong here with names but) Isis, Ishtar, Venus, Aphrodite... They all share similar traits etc.

They have similar traits, but that has as much to with human cultures and religions having certain narrative roles in their mythologies, as it has to do with the gods' own personalities.

They don't seem to mention each other very much, but I always wondered that despite the fact that many gods and goddesses inhabited the planet they don't seem to mention each other very often.

Again, it has a large part to do with the cultures that wrote down their collective experiences with the gods. Things get misunderstood, messages are lost or garbled, and of course things are viewed through the filter of the viewer. A deity might reference another god, but the person listening might not quite understand whom they're speaking of, or assume they're talking about a deity they already have described.

I ask did any gods...interact with each other?

I think so, but with a bit more complexity than just "oh, yeah". I believe that the gods are simultaneously immaterial beings on a spiritual plane, and are the entirety of the universe when in the physical plane. So as spiritual beings, I think that they interact and intertwine in a continuous way, since there'd be no 'material' to separate them except through force of will; physically, the natural world is constantly interacting with itself, so that covers that part. Where the gods do separate themselves into individual forces, I still think they interact in some fashion.

[Volniy]

Re: How did gods and goddesses interact

Each time, some gods are replaced by other gods. There are new religious movements. The priests, the spiritual guru leaders. Usually people tend to talk about - what they have no idea.