From tyagi@bjt.net Wed Nov 27 07:23:04 1996 Return-Path: tyagi@bjt.net Received: from kudonet.com ([165.227.52.1]) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.7.4/8.7.3) with SMTP id GAA29473 for ; Wed, 27 Nov 1996 06:03:01 -0500 Received: by kudonet.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id CAA06752; Wed, 27 Nov 1996 02:49:52 -0800 Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 02:49:52 -0800 Message-Id: <199611271049.CAA06752@kudonet.com> To: tyagi@hollyfeld.org Subject: Neopaganism/9611.godreal.ab From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) Reply-To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) Status: O >Path: kudonet.com!news.scruz.net!miwok!hsnx.wco.com!news.walltech.com!newsfeed1.aimnet.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.brewich.com!robomod!srp-submit >From: "Ashley Branchfeather" >Newsgroups: soc.religion.paganism >Subject: Re: William Blake's Pantheon >Date: 19 Nov 1996 19:24:51 -0600 >Organization: BW Internet Services -- bwis.com -- Houston's UUCP Provider >Lines: 41 >Sender: srpbot@news.brewich.com >Approved: SRP Approval Key >Message-ID: >References: >NNTP-Posting-Host: brewich.com >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit >X-SRP-Homepage: http://www.brewich.com/org/srp/index.html >X-SRP-Info-1: Send submissions to srpbot@brewich.com >X-SRP-Info-2: Send technical complaints to srp-admin@brewich.com >X-SRP-Info-3: Send complaints about policy to srp-modkin@brewich.com >X-Robomod-Written-By: ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov) >X-Auth: PGPMoose V1.1 PGP soc.religion.paganism > iQBVAwUBMpJd3lzemumcYbkZAQHMiQH/SldZMb8b9g+FSrz5tlPDfbGQQX3bhJu9 > jjSK4jhYwkobhYknONNOG/GlpZ+SPleCnPyACERLxA0XLXlUeBI0bg== > =cwQe Felis Uncia wrote: > : In article , "Ashley Branchfeather" > : wrote: > > : > We're really just defining them. It's like, we didn't bake the cake, > : > but we do get to cut our own pieces. > > A matter of opinion, I expect. 'Truth' in this case being nothing more > than one's individual opinion, as we've no empirical data on the subject. Hmm... I adduce: 1. Some people worship deities straight out of popular works of fiction. 2. Examining historical religious beliefs show deities change over time, to adapt to the changing circumstances of their worshippers. Some start out as nature gods, others perhaps as tutelary deities, but they might up as having a particular domains within a pantheon. Are they still the same deity? 3. Many aspects of deities can be traced to particular sources: for instance, while triple goddesses are old, the 'Maiden, Mother, Crone' idea was an invention of Robert Graves (see other thread). It's now a defining property of the Wiccan Goddess... for most Wiccans, anyway... which bring us to 4. Different people have different ideas about nominally the same deity, such as the Goddess of the various threads and branches of Wicca. If the Goddess has an independent existence as a Goddess, how come no-one can agree on Her properties? Indeed, some would say She's a fourfold goddess, not a triple one. Some would say She 'contains' the God, others would say the God and Goddess are equal, or perhaps each contains the other. Surely this is a matter of how you look at them? Ultimately, it's a matter of how you look at the _entire sacred universe_ and which aspects of It you care to deal with. -- Ashley Branchfeather