Re: Good Tricksters, Hare?

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_sNQdmw6kUydv2AIN2WiGStQ3NXjmM_mbPWUHanYhVbdrJqn2ZU3FlBcOLy4xrAQ6E6W>
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:44:08 -0800


"John Galloway" <yuskim1_at_325xhSofqNE1O1XGCDBP47gkVt4kXXHcOhLAwJX_Enck4wbl_CR8zHAym90pNmyVcdAJRqvt9dlb.yahoo.invalid>

>> > Hermes.
>>
>> See, he's a god who is far removed from the cosmic.
>>
>
> Excuse me, but what does this last statement *mean*?

Based on Greg's response to me, I think that was a typo--Greg meant to write that Hermes is far removed from the role of a cosmic Trickster. He has cosmic functions, as befits a god (the guide of the souls of the dead, the messenger of Heaven), but he isn't fundamentally a force of disorder.

Greg, is that a fair rephrasing?

> Are gods with a close cosmic connection ones who only embody/encompass
> a single, simple concept like Growth or Fire or Vengance?
>
> Are there any 'cosmic' gods to be found in the pantheons of the
> Greeks/Romans? the Egyptians? Norse? (etc) Or do we have to look to
> more 'primitive' cultures for examples?

I don't grok all this golden-boughery. But in Greg's response, he agreed that Hermes had a cosmic link/function, just not the "Trickster" function. So evidently, a god doesn't need to have a "single, simple" link--he doesn't have to be *just* "Growth".            

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