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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Shakok Shakok is the god of winter of the Northern Mountain, according to Native American mythology. The story goes that Acoma’s chief’s daughter, Co-chin-ne-na-ko, married the winter spirit. After he came to live with them, the winters became colder, snow fell harder, the world stayed frozen longer, crops no longer matured, and food became scarce. One miserable winter day as Co-chin-ne-na-ko was searching for food, she met Miochin, the spirit of summer. He was wearing a yellow shirt woven of corn silk; leggings made of green moss; a tall pointed hat, and moccasins decorated with butterflies and flowers. Upon learning her people were eating cactus leaves,…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Coyote Brother One of the gods associated with Samhain is Coyote Brother, a well-known figure in the myths and legends of many indigenous peoples in North America. Many tribes credit Coyote with gifting fire to humans and teaching them useful skills. Coyote Brother is most often considered “the trickster god.” He can be fearsome or funny, foolish or cunning. Many believe he brings winter, death, and all things evil. In northern California, he is portrayed as greedy, reckless, and deceitful. While that causes problems for those around him, his impulsive, often foolish behavior creates suffering for him, too, and sometimes even death, although afterwards he always manages…
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Good God!
Meet: Liber Liber may well have originated as a native Italian god of fertility, vegetation, and wine. He is also associated with intoxication and was known for throwing wicked parties. The Romans later merged his identity with that of the Greek god Dionysus. Like Dionysus, Liber represented uninhibited freedom and the subversion of the powerful. He was a patron deity of Rome’s plebeians – the largest, least powerful class of citizens – who rejected the civil and religious authority of the ruling class elite. Before being adopted as a Roman deity, Liber was a phallic deity and a companion to two different goddesses in two different archaic Italian fertility…
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Good God!
Meet: Prometheus Prometheus is the Greek god of fire, intellect, and champion of mankind. He and Epimetheus, brothers and both Titans, were tasked with creating man. “Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay figure,” according to greekmythology.com. The Olympians banished most of Prometheus’ family to Tartarus, leading Prometheus to love man more than the twelve Olympians – so much so that he tricked Zeus who had demanded man sacrifice a portion of all foods to the gods. The story is told that Prometheus wrapped bones in fat, and hid the best meats inside a hide. By choosing the bones, Zeus had to…
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Good God!
Meet the Gods: Attis One of the gods associated with Ostara is Attis (also spelled Atys, Attis, Attin), the mythical consort of Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods. The two, most likely indigenous to Asia Minor, were worshipped annually upon the return of spring. While there are several different myths, all end with Attis castrating himself and either dying under a tree or being transformed into a fir tree. Zeus is said to have granted that his youthful body never decay. In some of the many tales, Cybele is Attis’ mother; in others Attis is a young, handsome, human shepherd whom Cybele loved and made her priest,…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Saturn Merry meet. In case you don’t have enough holiday activities in December, you can add the 17th to your calendar and observe Saturnalia, one of the most popular ancient Roman festivals. It occurred around the time of Yule. Though originally a one-day event that ignored the distinction between masters and slaves, the activities came to fill an entire week, making for much merry-making and lechery. Saturn was the son of Caelus, Father Sky, and Terra, Mother Earth. (In Greek mythology they were Cronus, Uranus, and Gaia, respectively.) To prevent a prophecy from coming true – that a son would dethrone him –…
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As Above, So Below (How the Stars Became Our Hearts)
Everything, Everywhere, For all Time A fool thinks he knows everything. A wise man knows he knows nothing. But… what is everything? Well. We don’t know much as a species. Our whole existence is a grab bag of unanswerable questions and paradoxes. Like the Fermi paradox, which is the absence of obvious evidence for alien life, despite the clear logical prediction that they should be there. Religion and science have struggled to understand everything, both as individual pieces and as an all inclusive collective. Throughout all time of collective human history, the closer we get to the answer, the further away it seems to be. Religion, and science,…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Triton The son of the God and Goddess of the sea, Poseidon and Amphitrite, Triton (“try-ton”) is a demigod of the sea. A mighty merman, stories tell of him living with his parents in a golden palace deep in the sea. Because Poseidon fathered many children outside of marriage with both mortals and goddesses, Triton has as many as fifty half-siblings. Triton is said to be the father and leader of three thousand mermaids and three thousand tritons – creatures who were male or female with matted green hair who escorted the marine divinities wherever they wanted to go. “Their entire body was covered with…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Hephaestus Hephaestus (prounounced heh-fay-stus) was the Greek god of fire, metalworking, stone masonry, forges, and sculptures. He was the blacksmith for the gods, and made all Olympus’ weapons. His Roman counter part is Vulcan. He was said to be the son of Zeus and Hera, and it’s said his deformity and ugliness disgusted one or both his parents enough to throw him off Mount Olympus. He landed in the sea and was rescued by sea nymphs who raised him in an underwater cave. It’s there he began to craft metal. Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus where he invented methods of automatons of metal…
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GoodGod!
Meet the Gods: Krishna Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism, one of the most popular and widely revered. He is worshipped as the eighth incarnation or avatar of Lord Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of love, compassion and tenderness. Hindu mythology portrays him as a prankster, gentle lover, universal supreme being and child-like God. People consider Krishna their leader, hero, protector, philosopher, teacher and friend all in one. He’s influenced Indian life and culture – not only its religion and philosophy, but also its folklore, painting, sculptures, literature, music, dance, poetry, and mysticism. He is…