From: Dave Harper <dharper_at_g...>
Date: Mon Jun 4, 2001 6:44 am
Subject: Pantheon & Gods
Some months ago, I was working on a list of all the gods in various real-life pantheons in order to determine which were the world-wide human constants in religion. The idea was to create a truly universal pantheon. I thought some of you might be interested in my conclusions. Note that all of this was unscientific and not terribly well researched, but DID involve over a thousand gods from a dozen pantheons.
In making a list of gods, I amalgamated a lot of portfolios that just didn't make the cut on their own. Some of the results were quite surprising; I was expecting Love goddesses to be quite common, but they barely made the cut. I ended up making a lot of arbitary decisions when combining attributes (listed as aspects). Take it as you will.
In order of appearance, the gods:
Fertility (126)
Major Aspects: Agriculture, Cattle
Minor Aspects: Maize, Corn, Potato, Yams, Farmers, Fruit, Goats,
Pumpkin, Food, Generosity
Suggestions: Generosity could be played up here. Fish or Children
could easily be added to make this deity more powerful.
the Creator (111)
Major Aspects: None
Minor Aspects: None
Suggestions: None
Water (101)
Major Aspects: Rivers, Oceans, Seas
Minor Aspects: Fish, Fishermen, Harbors, Sea Monsters, Floods, Whales
Suggestions: Weather and Water could be put together to make a very
powerful god; alternatively, weather could be split between Sky and
Water to make two powerful elemental gods.
Weather (100)
Major Aspects: Wind, Rain, Thunder, Storm
Minor Aspects: Hail, Lightning, Tornado, Drought, Fog
Suggestions: See Water.
Animals (79)
Major Aspects: None
Minor Aspects: Dragon, Thunderbird, Bear, Wolf, Lizard, Spider,
Coyote, Hare, Shark, Tiger, Caterpillar, Jaguar, Lynx, Leopard,
Opossum, Muskrat, Mouse, Monkey, Unicorn, Turtle, Dog, Fox, Frog
Suggestions: Many animals have symbolic meanings (e.g. Trickster -
Fox, Wisdom - Owl, War - Raven) that could not only enhance other
portfolios but could also give the deities easy manifestations and
avatars. To make this deity more powerful, bring birds, fish, farm
animals and hunting into it.
the Mother (76)
Major Aspects: Birth, Children
Minor Aspects: Hearth, Motherhood, Compassion, Forgiveness, Sacrifice
Suggestions: By adding Women (8) or Love, this could be enhanced and
made more powerful. Alternatively, by adding the Father, it could be
turned into a Family god.
Death (72)
Major Aspects: The Underworld, The Dead
Minor Aspects: Killing
Suggestions: Death is often the Judge and sometimes the Adversary.
Power (70) - This special category includes gods with no actual portfolio. They are described as children, consorts or spouses of existing gods and seem to have no real powers per se.
Night (69)
Major Aspects: Moon, Stars
Minor Aspects: Secrecy, Silence, Comets, Darkness
Suggestions: Could be combined with the Adversary (darkness is often
associated with evil) or Trickster (the moon is often associated with
illusions), or even the Sun, the Seasons (8) and Time (2) to make a
god of time, night and day and the seasons.
Knowledge (63)
Major Aspects: the Teacher, Magic, Wisdom
Minor Aspects: Truth, Mind, Writing
Suggestions: None
Sky (61)
Major Aspects: Birds, Raven
Minor Aspects: Blue Jays, Hawks, Ravens, Owls, Crows
Suggestions: See Water.
Sun (59)
Major Aspects: Light
Minor Aspects: Day
Suggestion: Sun gods are often fertility, war or justice gods.
Healing (52)
Major Aspects: Life
Minor Aspects: Good, Hope
Suggestions: None
War (45)
Major Aspects: Victory
Minor Aspects: Warriors, Retreat
Suggestions: War could be given to Death to make a powerful but
worshipped deity.
Nature (43)
Major Aspects: Forest
Minor Aspects: Earthquakes, Volcanos, Cliffs, Trees, Elements, Jungle,
Icebergs, Planet, Mountains
Suggestions: Nature could be combined with Earth, Creator or Fertility
to make an uber-nature goddess.
Trickster (43)
Major Aspects: None.
Minor Aspects: Lies, Thieves, Illusions, Mirages, Disorder, Insanity,
Persuasion, Acting
Suggestions: The Trickster could be combined with the Adversary, Death
and War to make a catch-all god of evil.
Luck (43)
Major Aspects: Fate, Destiny
Minor Aspects: Divination, Future, Thresholds, Crossroads, Doorways,
Forethought, Risks, Games
Suggestions: Divination and its related aspects could be given to
Knowledge, and luck to the Trickster to enhance both portfolios.
Beauty (37)
Major Aspects: Youth
Minor Aspects: Music, Art, Poetry, Song, Painters, Joy
Suggestions: Could be combined with Love or Knowledge. May also be
god of Inspiration (ala the Muses) or combined with Trickster to make
a god of youthful indiscretions and childhood pranks.
Love (35)
Major Aspects: Marriage
Minor Aspects: Sex, Passion, Lust
Suggestions: None.
Justice (31)
Major Aspects: The Judge
Minor Aspects: Law, Order, Stability, Punishment, Vengeance, Treaties,
Contracts, Fair Bargaining
Suggestions: None.
King of the Gods (30)
Major Aspects: Spirits
Minor Aspects: None
Suggestions: Can be combined with the Father or Judge to make a
reasonably powerful ruler of the gods.
Wealth (24)
Major Aspects: Commerce
Minor Aspects: Shops
Suggestions: None
Hunting (23)
Major Aspects: None.
Minor Aspects: Deer, Boar, Buffalo
Suggestions: None
Fire (22)
Major Aspects: None.
Minor Aspects: None.
Suggestions: Volcanos and Lightning could be taken from other
portfolios to make this slightly more powerful.
the Adversary (21)
Major Aspects: Evil
Minor Aspects: Discontent, Demons, Treachery, Disease, Jealousy,
Strife
Suggestions: This was a catch-all of bad things that didn't fit easily
somewhere else. It could easily include others that are considered
bad by people such as bad luck, murder, death, war, deception, and
Napster (Order of Metallica).
Ancestors (17)
Major Aspects: None
Minor Aspects: None
Suggestions: Could have the Dead added to it, making it more powerful.
Divination and Spirits are also likely possibilities.
Crafts (17)
Major Aspects: Forge
Minor Aspects: None
Suggestions: Could have Art and related aspects added to it to make it
about as powerful as Wealth (which could also be added).
Messenger (16)
Major Aspects: None.
Minor Aspects: None.
Suggestions: I'm sure this could be added to another portfolio.
Really. I just can't think of it.
the Father (13)
Major Aspects: None
Minor Aspects: Household, Duty, Obedience
Suggestions: None
The remainder are unassigned deities who came up more than a few times:
Place (8) - this is a category roughly meaning 'local gods', or gods who are attached to a particular place and are venerated specifically only by people in that region, such as a single village or tribe (but not including animal totems or river spirits).
Women (8)
Flowers (5)
Peace (5)
Protection (5)
That gives me a total of 28 major portfolios; since I want 24 gods, I'll just combine a few and try to make it all work out.
Comments welcome. Criticism can go jump in the lake. =)
Dave Harper
Powered by hypermail