Gods and Goddesses: The rise and legends of divine mythologies (The Supernatural Series) - Hardcover

Marin, Gabiann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1925017478 ISBN 13: 9781925017472

Publisher: Rockpool Publishing, 2017

Synopsis

This book is an accessible and comprehensive primer to the main gods and goddesses from across the world--from Aztec to Greek, Celtic to African, and all the gods and goddesses in between--along with their myths, rituals, and influence on popular culture.

Discover the feuding goddesses of Babylon, witness the great love affair of the Egyptian creator gods, travel with the West African goddess from the shores of Nigeria to the new world of the Americas, and meet the divine forces that may still dwell in the heavens, mountains, rivers, oceans, and stars.

About this title

About the Author

Gabiann Marin is an award-winning author, screenwriter, editor, academic, and lover of all things supernatural. Her very first stage play won the Australian Bicentennial Premier's prize and her book, A True Person won the international White Raven Literary award for work of outstanding merit and importance.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Gods and Goddesses

The Rise of Divine Mythologies

By Gabiann Marin

Rockpool Publishing Pty Ltd

Copyright © 2017 Gabiann Marin
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-925017-47-2

Contents

Introduction, 
1. The Creation of the Gods The Sun, the Moon and the Earth, 
2. The Ancient Ones The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia, 
3. Divine Royalty The Gods and Goddesses of Egypt, 
4. Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before? The Greco-Roman Pantheon, 
5. Gods in a Rational World The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient China, 
6. The Warriors in the Sky The Norse Gods and Goddesses, 
7. Nature Spirits The Celtic Divinities, 
8. Don't Disappoint Us! The Gods and Goddesses of Pre-Columbian America, 
9. The Voodoo You Do So Well West Africa and the Voodoo Loa, 
10. Modern Gods, 

CHAPTER 1

The Creation of the Gods

The Sun, the Moon and the Earth

* * *

The Sun has been a centrepiece of many of the great ancient religions. It has been imagined as a mighty warrior, carrying a torch through the sky as it chased its lost love, the Moon goddess, destined never to catch her as it plunged into the waters of the horizon. Some saw it as a youth in a great chariot, pulled by fiery horses in a great race to beat time itself. Others saw it as a hard, weary worker, trudging its way homewards every day across the sky.

Whatever the stories, the Sun was seen as both benign and wrathful. It rarely thought of, or cared for, those who depended upon its light and warmth down on Earth. Yet it always had a purpose, a personality, a story to explain its endless cycles across the sky.

* * *

One of the earliest stories of the Sun god concerns the son of the Moon goddess, who was determined to make his own way in the world.

He did not heed his mother's warnings and left her side, leaving her world in darkest grief as he travelled across the heavens. Yet his way was harder than he imagined, and being young and impetuous, he decided to stop his travels and sit high in the sky, his great fire burning with immortal light.

With no respite from the heat of the Sun god's light the great rivers and lakes receded into the oceans to shelter from the heat. Without water and unable to protect themselves from the great heat the animals and people thirsted and burned.

The animals and people decided they must go to the great ocean and ask for its help, as the only thing that the young Sun god feared was the waters of life.

The ocean listened to the people and the animals and considered their request. Usually she was peaceful but she had grown angry from the attacks on her children of the inlands and so she mustered up a great storm, which swept the Sun god out of the sky and extinguished the fiery light of his soul.

The Sun god however, was not willing to give up his sky dominion so easily and although he retreated for a time, he returned and a great battle raged. The ocean sent up a huge storm of water into the sky, to be fought by the Sun with shafts of purest white light and deafening roars of thunder. Eventually the Sun triumphed and the storm would return back into the calm waters of the sea, and the people, also buffeted and decimated by the storm, would welcome back the Sun, forgetting the reason for the storm in the first place.

But the Sun again took up his position and the waters again receded and the people again suffered and the Ocean's wrath erupted with rain and thunder. The world was awash and then burned as the great Sun and the powerful Ocean fought on and on.

The people and the animals regretted their request to the ocean and worried at how to end the great war that now raged above them. Then a wise woman looked up into the sky and saw the Moon peeking through the clouds. 'Oh great goddess Moon, mother of the Sun, can you not help us end this terrible conflict?' The Moon looked down on the people and she took pity on them. She had seen how this conflict had ravaged the Earth, her great silent mother, and she knew she must do something to stop it.

She called a meeting with her child and the Ocean goddess and the three great deities sat down and presented their arguments.

'My home is the sky, you cannot keep me from it,' the Sun god declared.

'I do not wish to own the sky, but your great fire burns the land and my lakes and rivers cannot feed the Earth and those upon it', the Ocean goddess responded.

The Moon mother listened to the two sides and suggested a compromise.

'My son, if you stay in the sky forever the Earth will burn, the people will die and you will be alone. Instead move across the sky and spread your light. Then give the great Ocean your flame at the end of each journey for the Earth and you to rest.'

The Ocean agreed that she would accept this. But the Sun god was not convinced, 'if the water of the Ocean swallows me the great light will be extinguished, I will be lost and then who shall light the Earth and warm the sky?', he asked.

'I will,' his mother replied. 'I will come and watch over the earth during the times you are away. And I will keep a spark of your great light with me, to ensure that it cannot be completely extinguished by the great Ocean. Once the Earth has rested I will give you the spark and you can again light your great torch and move across the sky.'

And so it was decided and the Sun moved across the sky each day, and each night it was swallowed by the great ocean. The Moon, holding the sacred spark, travelled along the sky after her son, to relight his great light and rebirth him.

* * *

This story is a re-telling of several of the great Sun myths from multiple early religions — all of which feature different characters who undertake the same basic functions in order to help explain the dawning and setting of the Sun and the cycles of the seasons.

As early people were reliant on understanding the movement of the Sun and the timings of spring, winter, summer and autumn in order to prepare for times of deprivation and times of plenty, it is hardly surprising that they were so interested in the powers which might determine these cycles, and imagined they could be appealed to in times of extreme weather conditions.

The Sun God – The Son Of God

Theologians and scholars of comparative religion have made a strong case that the Christian story of Jesus Christ has many similarities with the ancient stories of the Sun gods. The focus on resurrection in the New Testament reflects the resurrection of the Sun and the explanation of changing seasons used across ancient and modern sun worship.

In all religions where a Sun god became a prime deity, their story incorporated some form of resurrection – including the stories of the Egyptian Sun god Osiris and the Mesopotamian Sun god, Mithras; both of them represent the death and rebirth of the Sun.

Brother Sun – Sister Moon?

Across most religions the Sun god was seen as a male deity, usually with a female consort or mother who represented the Moon or the Ocean. The female companion was usually instrumental in the resurrection of the Sun god and the connection to the emotional depth and compassion of the Moon and water was established quite early because of this association.

However there were a few notable female Sun goddesses even in the earliest religions. The Mesopotamian/Sumerian religion worshipped the goddess Arinna, who was herself based on the Hittite goddess of the Sun, Hepa.

In ancient Japanese mythology the most important deity was Amaterasu, a Sun goddess, and the Norse religion associated the warrior goddess Freya with the Sun and the heavens.

The Setting of the Sun

As civilisations became more conversant with the movement of the Sun and the changing of the seasons, the Sun gods and goddesses started to lose prevalence in their religions. In later religions the most important gods and goddesses would connect more closely with the main concern of the culture, many becoming gods and goddesses of the heavens or the Earth.

Mother Earth

As nature and the natural changes in the environment were such a strong source of religious worship and focus, it is hardly surprising that the Earth herself became an important deity in most civilisations. Yet for all her importance she was mainly a passive force in the mythologies of the different cultures. In personality she was seen as loving and nurturing, but essentially willing to sit back and allow the more extroverted gods and goddesses to play out their dramas on the stages she provided.

Called by many names: Gaia, Maya, Tonantzin, Antum, Panchamama; the concept of a deity that covered the entire planet was a later development. More commonly in individual worship the Earth mother was perceived as several different deities who governed over specific natural formations and cycles.

In Hawaii, the creator goddess Pele was signified by a volcano, in Nepal, Chomolungma, now commonly known as Mount Everest, was seen as a mother goddess to the Nepalese people. The Aztecs revered Panchamama, who personified earthquakes, and was represented as the Andes mountains. Other civilisations saw the Earth mother as more metaphorical, representing forests, harvests, spring, and oceans as well as specific rock and terrestrial formations.

Today the echoes of the Earth goddess can be found in our term Mother Nature which is a modern version of the Gaia, Mother Earth concept.

The traditional reference to land as female, such as Mother Land and Mother Country, as well as referring to the language of our origin country as our Mother Tongue is another way the concept of a mother goddess connected to the land is carried through into modern times.

CHAPTER 2

The Ancient Ones

The Gods and Goddesses of Mesopotamia

* * *

Long before all memory. Before the great Roman Empire rose under the gaze of Jupiter and Juno, or the Aztec gods demanded sacrifices from a blood ritual. Before even the Egyptian Pharaohs worshipped Nut and Ra as the universal sky and earth; there was a world overseen by two powerful female goddesses. Inanna and her elder sister Ereshkigal held the people of Sumer in their powerful grip.

* * *

The two sisters did not get along. Inanna found Eriskahal to be petty and jealous, and Ereshkigal thought Inanna proud and arrogant. For many years the other Sumerian gods tolerated the rivalry of the sisters, fearful of showing a favourite – for although, as different as night and day, both goddesses were equally fearsome.

But the two women could not live together in the divine realm and eventually it was decreed by the Sumerian gods that Inanna, as goddess of love and war, would rule the Earth and skies and Ereshkigal would reside over the misty realm of Irkallah, as the all-powerful queen of the underworld.

Ereshkigal was far from happy with this arrangement but was placated when she realised that there was no greater power than that of death and so she accepted the arrangement and took the title of 'The Lady of the Great Place'. She and her beloved husband, The Bull of the Heavens, took up residence in Irkallah, the underworld in the land of Kur, while her younger sister took up her position in the heavens.

The sisters remained quiet and content in their own realms, although occasionally they would hear word of one another and wonder if the other was happier or more celebrated than they.

Then one day the god of wisdom, Enki, decided to give Inanna the power of the universal laws. Ereshkigal, hearing of this, was furious. This was a clear sign that she had been forgotten in her underworld lair.

But before she could fully respond to this new development King Gilgamesh's henchman murdered Ereshkigal's husband, and her rage and grief overtook all else.

The force of her pain and anger caused earthquakes and landslides. The gods of Sumer were alarmed, as they remembered how dangerous the goddess Ereshkigal could be.

'She is in mourning,' Inanna told her servant, Ninshubar. 'Fetch me my armour and my jewels, for I should go down into the underworld and see my sister in her time of need.'

The maidservant, knowing how fierce the rivalry was between the two sisters, begged Inanna not to go, but Inanna would not listen and bade Ninshubar to get her ready for the journey.

Over her rich, royal robes Inanna layered gleaming armour, hammered out of the finest gold and heavy with jewels. She looked at her image in the mirror and, deciding she needed more finery, she decked herself in gold and diamond rings and beads of finest lapis. She picked up a jewel-encrusted staff and placed the great crown of heaven upon her head. Satisfied she turned to her maidservant and declared herself ready to journey to the Sumerian land of the dead.

'No one returns from the land of the Kur, m'lady,' Ninshubar cautioned. 'It is not wise to go there, even if the queen Ereshkigal is your sister.'

Inanna dismissed her servant's protests, throwing back her head arrogantly, her golden locks rippling across her shoulders. 'How can I rule over the universal laws of the universe if I have never seen death?' Inanna responded. 'Do not worry, my armour and robes are enchanted and no harm will come to me.' Ninshubar knew there was no point arguing with Inanna, so instead she insisted that her lady take all caution, then bade her farewell.

Inanna travelled down into the depths of the Earth, the pathway lit by a few spluttering torches. Once she saw the great gates of Kur she knew she had arrived.

The door opened a crack and a dark, shrouded face peered at her from beyond the gate. 'I cannot let you pass. This is a place for the dead, not the living,' declared the gatekeeper, Neti, slamming the gate shut in the goddess's face.

Inanna banged impatiently. 'I have come to see my sister Ereshkigal. I am Inanna, queen of the sky. She will see me.'

Through the door he called to her gruffly. 'Wait here. I shall see if the Queen is willing to allow you entrance.'

In the great cavern of Ereshkigal's underworld palace, Neti rushed to speak with the queen.

'Your sister comes, she is waiting at the first gateway.'

Ereshkigal, dressed in a sackcloth of mourning, her red eyes ringed with grief, looked at her servant in surprise. 'Why does she come? Is she here to try and comfort me? Mourn with me the death of my great love?'

Neti shook his head, 'she is not dressed in mourning clothes,she wears great jewels, golden armour and silken, colourful robes'.

Ereshkigal's anger rose, her sister was here in her finery, while Ereshkigal wore ashes and sackcloth? The arrogance!

'I can forbid her entrance,' Neti said, preparing to go back to the Sky goddess and refuse her request. Ereshkigal bit her lip and considered what to do. Denying her sister entry was her right as Queen of Irkallah, but perhaps it was better to allow her sister in. After all, once in the kingdom of the dead, it was Ereshkigal's power that was greater.

'No, no we cannot be so inhospitable to my dear sister. She wants to come and experience the world of the dead, we shall let her.'

Neti frowned, unsure what the queen was planning.

'However as she enters each gateway you must take one item from her, as a token of her reverence.'

Inanna had grown impatient by the time Neti returned and rapped on the gate imperiously. Neti smiled and bowed, opening the heavy door so Inanna could see the almost impenetrable abyss beyond.

'The great Ereshkigal has agreed to an audience,' he advised her. 'But in order to pass through these gates you must give me your crown.'

Inanna was surprised, but seeing no harm she handed the crown over to Neti, who expertly hid it away in the folds of his robe. They walked into the inky darkness until another gate appeared before them.

'I must ask for your beads,' Neti said. Inanna resisted, her beads were precious, a gift from her husband Dumazai.

'You must make an offering at every gate to enter the land of the dead,' Neti insisted. Inanna reluctantly removed the beads and they also disappeared within Neti's mysterious robe.

At each gate Neti took another item from Inanna, her rings, then her staff, her armour and finally her beautiful royal clothes.

They got to the last of the great gates and Inanna had nothing left to give. Neti just smiled at her darkly and allowed her entrance.

'What? There is no toll for this gate?' Inanna asked.

'There is always a price, m'lady'. Neti replied, ushering Inanna inside and through to where Ereshkigal sat in her mourning clothes.

Inanna, naked and vulnerable, still had her pride and stood up straight and regally in front of Ereshkigal.

'Why do you come here?' Ereshkigal asked.

Inanna shrugged. 'I heard you crying, and I thought I should see what could so upset the Queen of the Night.'

Ereshkigal frowned. 'I have lost my husband.'

'But surely you must be used to death, being surrounded by it,' Inanna remarked thoughtlessly.

A dark shadow clouded Ereshkigal's face and her lips pulled back into a snarl. Inanna, oblivious to the danger, looked around the cavern and shivered at the cold dankness.

'This really is an awful place ...'

But before she could finish her sentence Ereshkigal struck her down with the look of death, killing Inanna instantly.

'Now you too will know what it is like to be surrounded only by the dead,' Ereshkigal said as she gestured for her servants to gather up Inanna's corpse and hang it from some hooks and chains in the corner of the room.

In the heavenly kingdom Ninshubar awaited Inanna's return. Three days and three nights passed with not a word and the girl got increasingly worried. Eventually having heard nothing on the fourth day, Ninshubar sought out Dumazai, Inanna's husband, and told him of her concerns.

'I have no power in the underworld,' Dumazai replied. 'There is nothing I can do if she was so foolish as to venture there. It seems she is lost to us.' And then instead of mourning, as Ninshubar had expected, Dumazai drank deeply from his wine goblet and declared 'But life goes on.'

Ninshubar refused to give up and asked Nanna, the god of the Moon and Enil the god of the air, to help her retrieve Inanna from the underworld. But both gods refused, knowing that once one enters the underworld, it is forbidden to ever return.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Gods and Goddesses by Gabiann Marin. Copyright © 2017 Gabiann Marin. Excerpted by permission of Rockpool Publishing Pty Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rockpool Publishing
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1925017478
• ISBN 13: 9781925017472
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 172