First I'll just cop-outedly comment on a few sidelines...
> I've always had the idea that each volcano has its own god or goddess who
> lives within the volcano...
I certainly agree. Creating minor volcano gods is immense fun!
Simon:
> The Fiery warlike female, Earthy peaceful male is one of the interesting
> things about the C&A cult, in my opinion. It breaks the stereotypes quite
> nicely.
That is very true. Pele of Hawaiian myth is one of the most violent of our world's volcano deities, replacing the older, more peaceful male 'Aila'au. It's quite refreshingly different from a mythic viewpoint to have overall fertility aspects concentrated in the masculine in such a level.
> Lodril is worshipped throughout Caladraland, but as the Source, the First
> Volcano...
A good point; a useful, almost abstract viewpoint as opposed to the other option, to (literally) familiarize him.
David:
> > What's with everyone picking on this poor guy...
>
> That one's easy: there are a lot fewer active volcanoes today than in
> the mythic past.
Sigh. And the world is no doubt poorer for it...
Julian:
An aside: the majority of volcanic deities and spirits in our own world are male, with the ironic exception of the most generally famous one to us in America and Europe: Pele. Although the phallic imagery of certain volcanoes, and their (sometimes) fertility bringing effusions, there are surprisingly few direct allusions of the form volcano=ahem. The correspondences vary, from slumbering, once quarreling warriors to a simple mound of earth which is transported to dampen some primordial terror. Quite an interesting range.
> > I think a problem is that there are a great many answers.
> Actually, that looks more like a _solution_.
True, very true. :o)
Another little aside. Volcanoes generate a wide variety of eruptive phenomena, from slow, relatively placid lava flows to surging torrents; from explosively generated pyroclastic flows to huge eruption columns that surge miles into the air and deposit blankets of pumice and ash. Car TV adverts aside, even though a scientist I've no personal objection in the slightest to these varying phenomena originating from the same volcano, though often 'geologically impossible'!
Eruptive phenomena themselves easily mimic certain mythic events. Effusive 'Hawaiian-style' flows destroy existing vegetation (some of which may perhaps be fire-seeded?) and deposit fertile regolith, ready for colonization and cultivation. It's not too hard to see parallels here with the Osirian flood myths, where the fertility bringing flood and drain represents Osiris getting all Onalingi on us.
Picturesque fire-fountaining episodes, like at Caladra's Mouth is a more vivid representation of the god's majesty. I've always wondered why, in Peter's evocative write-up, the priests were 'lava-scarred'? Perhaps the faithful or those who seek to be initiated into the cult ring the caldera/crater/vent, arms aloft. They wait for the god's favour, and the true are caught by small pieces of volcanic splatter, and scarred so. The pain is fleeting, the joy of the blessing eternal.
And the most violent phenomenon? A huge eruption column that blasts into the sky, echoing Thera ofour own world ages past. This is why on some levels I actually like the idea of Lodril/Caladril or an imprisoned god of some form being identified with the Vent - the major volcano of Genertela. For me, this form of eruption is nothing more than an all-out attempt by the imprisoned Lodril to reclaim his place in the heavens. These are vents are rare, one very half-a-dozen generations at the most. Lodril gathers human sacrifices, and the blood and souls of the lost feed him power. He can easily manifest small eruptions on the surface, but he is still trapped. Slowly he builds his strength, from the lives of hideously sacrificed thousands.
Eventually the omens indicate that the time will come soon, the time when Lodril will be released. Great tremmors strike the land, foreboding a greater cataclysm to come. The seas boil by the coast, and the woods wilt. The rituals reach their natural climax and Lodril makes a great attempt to surge forth from his subterranean prison. He shatters part of the vent and surges countless miles into the sky, his body a form of primordial, glowing, gaseous divinity. He blackens out the light of his arrogant brother in a fit of rage. But he is too weak. He falters, and cannot reach high enough. The Storm Gods work against him. The column wains, and at times collapses, blanketing the land in posionous ash and burning pumice, destroying land and faithful alike as a callous consequence of their god's failure and vanity.
And so the rituals begin again, and aim to come to a conclusion soon...
Stu.
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