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“The Morrigan” by Antony Galbraith
You know, there is a lot of crap that I’ve been hearing often over the years, and it’s become a thorn in my heel. It’s actually a hell of a lot of more annoying to me than people claiming the dark gods are filled with light, love and fluffy kittens made of crystals and rainbows. (A good example of this is a website I read about KaliMa, where the OP claimed “Kali has earrings made form the corpses of children because she loves devotees with a child-like love.” You could head my head hitting the desk for miles around.)
A lot of people, especially people who purport themselves to be “hard-core” or “adult” pagans, like to make snap judgments on certain gods based on their own (often limited) knowledge of the god, and make these judgments going in the opposite direction. I begin to hear things such as, “the dark gods aren’t like the bright gods, they’ll chew you up, spit you out and toss you aside when they’re done with you” or “the dark gods are so dangerous that anyone with any kind of weakness at all should not worship them” or “The dark gods aren’t capable of love”. Or, even worse, when meeting someone who claims to worship a dark god and who doesn’t fit in with their opinion, not only is the person ridiculed, but I’ve heard the god ridiculed as well…online, on live radio, on podcasts…. There seems to be this idea going around that dark gods don’t love their devotees. That dark gods are black holes of pain and suffering and will do nothing but grind the initiate into pulp. There are certain gods you should never worship and if you do, you’re CRAZY (a favorite word of mine). And if you don’t listen to them (these people), then you obviously deserve every nasty thing you will inevitably get from a god who doesn’t give a crap for you.
Seriously, you guys that I am talking about that do this, fuck you. Stop being assholes and stop projecting your assholery onto the gods- it’s sickening. While there are people out there who claim to worship some gods and obviously don’t, that doesn’t give you the right to sit and pontificate on how the gods interact with their worshipers who aren’t you.
But you know, I’ve heard about this enough to say my piece on the matter. Why don’t we take a look at some of this and *I* can pontificate my own opinion. (Prepares kevlar for when people shoot at me.)
Please pardon me if I sound like a snot. I’ve had my panties in a twist over this for a long time now.
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“Hades and Persephone” by Yvonne Gilbert
Do the dark gods love? What do they even have to do with love?
The answer here, no matter what your point of view, is a resounding “YES”. There are several instances of gods with the “dark” reputation of experiencing some kind of love, wither or not it fits in with the traditional ideas regarding the subject. (IE, it usually doesn’t.) However subversive, strange and even transcendentally beautiful or awful the love of the dark gods can be, it is still love and often a very pure and accepting kind of love- provided you aren’t a willful fool or the type who regularly makes excuses to justify your wrongs, the dark gods can be very accepting of failure and personal flaws provided you are doing your best to either overcome or use it to your advantage. But we’ll touch more on that in a little while.
There are dark gods who even rule over love, in their own way. Of course, I’m going to cite some examples regarding Persephone, but there are others that come to mind as well (such as Osiris, for one). Persephone was cited (see Locrian cult practices and marriage) as being the “Aphrodite of the Underworld”, much in the same way Hades was termed “Zeus Khthonios”. (1) In fact, the cults of Aphrodite and Persephone were conflated together in Locri, where she was seen as the guardian of marriage and fertility within marriage much like the PanHellenic Hera. (2) There has been quite the study regarding Persephone and Aphrodite (3), some even going as far as to call them a “dual-goddess” (though this is based on some people’s UPG, or Peter Kingsley’s reputed assertions). According to Charles Stein, the love that falls under Persephone’s specific jurisdiction (in contrast to the ancient Locrian belief) is of a much darker vein: “The forms of eros to which she gives rise are compromised by being compounded with the ethos of death. One can imagine the succubus—the ghostly female that satisfies a dreamer’s lust only to drain him of his vitality; the vampire, who craves living blood like the ghost souls; or the dominatrix, who requires craven submission of her lovers, as declensions of Persephonean eros. The liberation OF Persephone in the Mysteries, would, presumably, relieve the ghastly tension in these forms and reveal their hidden spiritual dimension…Persephone’s beauty is precisely legendary—no one can find her to see her, thus she inspires powerful fantasies which may begin with the imagination of the Korê but lead inexorably to the willingness to enter into proximity to death to attain her. The two forms of Persephone’s nature share an inexpressible erotic core. The Korê in her innocence is not yet a maturely erotic woman, and the Queen of the Dead is accessible only to Death Himself as a Lover. To possess the Queen of the Dead is to engage with an identity that transcends the living. One must become Death to have Her. But to become Death is not the same thing as to die. It is to perform an operation that implies an acquaintance with a configuration of death that in complementing the living knows something beyond both. Beyond life and death—as beyond Day and Night—is the hint of Being itself that we took from Parmenides.” (4)
I cite the example of Persephone because, well, I love her. Obviously. But I also cite her example since she is a dark goddess (yes, a dark goddess, ask Homer and the Orphics before you bitch) who rules over love, both the culturally sanctioned love as it appears in the rigidly regulated Greek marriage mores and the begetting of legitimate children, as well as the kind of love that some may not call love- love conflated with death, domination/submission, abuse, consuming hunger. The kind of love that devours you whole because it wants oneness with you. The kind of love that destroys you and remakes you, or lifts you up again to liberate you, as Persephone does over and over again through the Mysteries of the Orphics and Eleusis. The kind of love that fucking hurts.
Persephone can bring the blessings of happy marriage and children to those who ask correctly, because she loves you and this is something she rules over…wither or not she has a happy marriage or children herself is up for argument.
Persephone, whose very name means “she who destroys the light” (we think, there’s a lot of conjecture on that one too, considering there’s thought that it was a Greek attempt to name a goddess who may not be originally Greecian (5)), brings you through her own alchemical process of dissolution and renewal, that painful annihilation and cyclical death that removes the Titanic lead from your Dionysian gold, because she loves you and this is who she is.
Persephone can teach you to find beauty in horror, love in hatred, meaning in suffering and she can not only teach you to survive anything, but rule over that which sought to conquer you by merging with the experience. She does this because she loves you, and this is who she is.
Persephone can liberate you, spiritually, because you are a child of earth and starry heaven, and part of her through her son, Zagreus. She can liberate you from your mortality. “Happy and blessed one, thou shalt be god instead of mortal. A kid I have fallen into milk.” (6) She does this because she loves you, and we are all (at least according to the Orphics) her spiritual children.
Persephone can do a hell of a lot more and it doesn’t take that much digging to see it. Because she loves you, and this is her nature.
If she didn’t love you, I doubt she’d bother with any of it.
They can, and do, love each other.
Of course, not all the gods are Persephone, who can be said to unite extremes when it comes to her attitudes towards mankind. (She tends to rule over the best of blessings and the most dire of curses, as well as being Mistress of the Eumenides wither or not she is their mother. As her Orphic hymn says, she can put you into life and she can take you out of it.)
However, we don’t have to go very far to see a god that was universally feared (though who also had a prominent and interesting place in the Orphic hymns), so much so that his name was rarely spoken aloud to avoid drawing his attention, and this is Persephone’s husband, Hades.
There are various versions of the rape of Persephone. There are some versions that say Hades asked Zeus merely for one of his daughters as a wife, and there are some that say he asked Zeus specifically for Persephone. However, keeping in mind the cult of Locri, it’s very likely (as in, I am more than certain of it) that Hades had fallen hard and fast in love with Persephone and no other would do for him. We all know the story, or at least the main tenets. Here’s some from the primary sources:
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 29 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Plouton [Haides] fell in love with Persephone, and with Zeus’ help secretly kidnapped her…When Zeus commanded Plouton to send Kore [Persephone] back up, Plouton gave her a pomegranate seed to eat, as assurance that she would not remain long with her mother.” (7)
Homeric Hymn 2 to Demeter (abridged) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th or 6th B.C.) : “So he said. And Aidoneus, ruler over the dead, smiled grimly and obeyed the behest of Zeus the king. For he straightway urged wise Persephone, saying : `Go now, Persephoneia, to your dark-robed mother, go, and feel kindly in your heart towards me: be not so exceedingly cast down; for I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless dods, that am own brother to father Zeus. And while you are here, you shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have the greatest rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore.’ When he said this, wise Persephoneia was filled with joy and hastily sprang up for gladness. But he on his part secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually with grave, dark-robed Demeter.” (Also 7)
Orphic Hymn 18 to Pluton (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
“[Haides] with Demeter’s girl [Persephone] captive, through grassy plains, drawn in a four-yoked car with loosened reins, rapt over the deep, impelled by love, you flew till Eleusinia’s city rose to view: there, in a wondrous cave obscure and deep, the sacred maid secure from search you keep, the cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display an entrance to the kingdoms void of day.”
So, let’s look at it this way. Hades, in fulfillment of his nature as a god of death, probably didn’t go about his wooing of Persephone the way mortals would. He kidnapped her, to be certain. He very likely raped her (as Philipus pointed out in his excellent article for the Persephone devotional Divine Rape Apologetics and the Story of Persephone, marriage by kidnapping most likely involved a literal rape). He still loved her. This love is evidenced by his obvious desire to have her, whatever the price, as well as ensuring to keep her with him by guile or by sincere offers to share all that he has to share with her. And while it is debatable (something I am also going to tackle) Persephone came to share in that love and in at least one cult center (Locri, again), they became the very picture of marital happiness.
And really, the myths are filled with examples of the dark gods loving each other. Another example I can cite is the myth of Ereshkigal and Nergal.
Nergal offends Ereshkigal during a banquet held by the gods- he refuses to bow to her vizier when he arrives to collect her share of the banquet food. In turn, Ereshkigal demands that Nergal come to Irkalla, the Underworld, for a visit. Nergal is told by Ea not to eat of the food in Irkalla, not to sit on the throne made for him, not to wash himself in the water and not to do what men and women do with Ereshkigal. Well, heh, he sticks to all but that last bit.
And when he leaves, Ereshkigal is NOT happy:
“Ereshkigal cried aloud, grievously,
Fell from the throne to the ground,
Then straightened up from the ground.
Her tears flowed down her cheeks.
“Erre, the lover of my delight-
I did not have enough delight with him before he left!
Erra, the love of my delight-
I did not have enough delight with him before he left.”
Namtar made his voice heard and spake, addressed his words to Ereshkigal,
“Send me to Anu your father, and let me arrest the god!
Let me take him to you, that he may kiss you again!”
Ereshkigal made her voice heard and spake,
Addressed her words to Namtar her vizier,
“Go, Namtar, you must speak to Anu, Ellil, and Ea!
Set your face towards the gate of Anu, Ellil, and Ea,
To say, ‘Ever since I was a child and a daughter,
I have not known the playing of other girls,
I have not known the romping of children.
That god whome you sent to me and who has impregnated me- let him sleep with me again!
Send that god to us, and let him spend the night with me as my lover!
I am unclean, and I am not pure enough to perform the judging of the great gods,
The great gods who dwell within Erkalla.
If you do not send that god to me
According to the rites of Erkalla and the great Earth
I shall raise up the dead, and they will eat the living.
I shall make the dead outnumber the living!’” (8)
At first, Nergal isn’t so sure of this. He asks his father to hide him from Ereshkigal, which he does…but eventually comes round.
“Erra took to heart the speech of Namtar.
He [ ] oiled his strap and slung his bow.
Nergal went down the long stairway of heaven.
When he arrived at the gate of Ereshkigal he said,
“Gatekeeper, open [ ]!”
He struck down Nedu, the doorman of the first gate, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the second doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the third doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the fourth doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the fifth doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the sixth doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He struck down the seventh doorman, and did not let him grapple with him.
He entered her wide courtyard,
And went up to her and laughed.
He seized her by her hairdo,
And pulled her from the throne.
He seized her by her tresses
[ ].
The two embraced each other
And went passionately to bed.” (Also 8)
There is another version of the myth where Nergal descends to Irkalla, intent on killing Ereshkigal and taking over the place for himself. Ereshkigal promises to make him her husband and king should he spare her life. His reaction is to take her by her hair and kiss her passionately. There are others, as well, that say the story is closer to a brutal rape.
Either way, I find the below to be a very true statement regarding the mythos:
“This is one of the deepest mysteries embedded in this great myth. Nergal and Ereshkigal need to come fully into themselves first and then to awaken to each other´s presence so that love can blossom in all levels. The impossibility to grasp the immensity of the implications of Nergal´s surrender to Ereshkigal are immense, as well as Ereshkigal´s acceptance of Nergal goes beyond words. Our soul ancestors knew of these truths, as we unconsciously grasp them. The moment Ereshkigal and Nergal become a presence to each other, they accept their own needs for the Beloved, and as such they honor and heal the soul-hurts of past loneliness and lack of connection both had endured to re-enchant the Underworld for the first time to the fullest in world religion by bringing love and fulfillment to it. The passionate dimension of their lovemaking sacralizes the Underworld, a major healing to the realm of the Dead and Ultimate Justice yet to be accomplished in the fundamentalist religions of our days, which see the Underworld as the realm of hellfires and suffering. It does not need to be always so if one is willing to make amends and bow to the designs of Ereshkigal and Nergal and connect to the Land of Memories of our own and heal them. I would add that coming into the body is just fully achieved when the Spirit ensouls matter. When Ereshkigal and Nergal fall for each other, it is the Spirit of Love that fills them up, and as such, they become an enduring Presence to last in Wholeness for time immemorial.” (9)
I’m not legitimizing rape, here. It’s horrible in ways I don’t want to get into. Rape committed by one or more human beings on another or others is a fucking crime that I think deserves the death penalty (yes, a liberal who believes in capital punishment here), with little to no exceptions.
However, I will say that one cannot judge the gods or their doings by mortal standards, if at all. We are not talking about the literal rape of human beings, but rape on a more cosmic scale and meaning- cosmological rapine, devastation, ravagement. The gods are personifications of the very forces that move every gross or subtle level of the world. Hades in the Rape of Persephone is fulfilling his role as a god of death, acting according to his nature- death takes as it wants, indiscriminately and with no respect to age. It alters, transforms and destroys by its very nature, so there is no question that the Rape of Persephone is a mystery that talks not only of a Heiros Gamos but also a traumatic, spiritual event, for the gods involved and the mortals who live out their mythos on a spiritual level. Nergal, as a god of war and pestilence, destroys and kills indiscriminately and violently, and he too loves as his nature dictates. As it plays out between gods and mortals, the rape can be a spiritual attack meant to test you, a kind of shamanic sickness, a brutal invasion of the god into every aspect of your life and being or even a loss of what you hold dear in sacrifice to a god that demands it. All of this is moved by love. Love isn’t always beautiful. Love isn’t always kind, or gentle. But it is still love. And as can be seen in the story of Hades and Persephone, as well as Ereshkigal and Nergal, it can become a love that gives you just as much happiness as it does pain…so long as one doesn’t base their mortal dealings on such a concept.
Please, don’t do that. In mortal life, rape and love never mix. Period.
But, I think I’ve illustrated this point. The dark gods, in their unique ways, do indeed love each other. It may not be desirable or even healthy by our standards, but then again, we can’t really judge them by our standards. They’re gods, we’re mortal- there just isn’t a comparison other than what we gain from the myths, and the myths are stories based in universal realities.
So, they love each other. But what about mankind overall?
In the Mystery Cults, for mankind overall…
“Alrighty, Melitta” you’re saying. “So the gods are capable of love. That doesn’t mean that they love US.”
Hades, Burial Rites, the Orphic and Eleusinian Cults
Hades isn’t usually the most, um, warm or forthcoming of the gods. He had a terrible reputation, even in his own time. People were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, wouldn’t even SAY his name for fear of attracting attention (same with Persephone and other gods of the Underworld) and even Sophocles was moved to say, “the gloomy Hades enriches himself with our sighs and our tears.” (10 also.) Agamemnon even said of him, “”Why do we loathe Hades more than any god, if not because he is so adamantine and unyielding?” (10 again…wiki is convenient…)
We’ve already established that Hades deeply loves Persephone. And while it’s true that Hades was gloomy, and unyielding, he was also just and had a care for those who entered his kingdom, and those who had yet to enter his kingdom. Example one: Hades defended the rights of dead for the due funeral rites that would put them to rest properly. To deny someone due funeral rites was a HUGE no-no in Ancient Greece, to the point of risking the wrath of Hades and a curse not only upon you, but upon your house or even your city- it wasn’t just the shades unburied that would become angry. When you denied the burial of the deceased, you not only put them at a horrible disadvantage (to wander the Underworld for at least 100 years) but you also denied Hades and Persephone their due offerings.
Sure, one could say the anger at the denial of burial rites is all about the “territory” of the gods being violated, but I tend to disagree. Buried or not, the dead are still part of the kingdom of Hades, seeing as I somehow doubt the shores of Styx are exempt from their influence, no matter which side of the Styx we’re talking about. He still gets the additions to his kingdom. It isn’t only that the due offerings to Hades and Persephone are violated, but also that the dead are not respected…
Okay, another example. Hades is also a god of the earth’s fertility. Yes, you heard me right- this isn’t UPG. Hades was known as the god of everything under the earth, and that didn’t only include minerals and gems, but also the richness of the soil that nourishes the seeds. Hades was seen as releasing the richness as he released Persephone each year (and that gives you a decent lead on Persephone’s nature, too). He was often depicted with a cornucopia or the sprouting grain. For example…
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 26 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
“The entire bulk and substance of the earth, was dedicated to father Dis [Haides] (that is, Dives, ‘the rich’, and so in Greek Plouton), because all things fall back into the earth and also arise from the earth. He is said to have married Proserpina (really a Greek name, for she is the same as the goddess called Persephone in Greek)–they think that she represents the seed of corn, and fable that she was hidden away, and sought for by her mother. The mother is Ceres [Demeter].”
AND
Plato, Cratylus 400d & 402d – 404b (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
“[Plato constructs philosophical etymologies for the names of the gods :] Sokrates : Let us inquire what thought men had in giving them [the gods] their names . . . The first men who gave names [to the gods] were no ordinary persons, but high thinkers and great talkers . . . Plouton, he was so named as the giver of wealth (ploutos), because wealth comes up from below out of the earth . . . [and] he also bestows such great blessings upon us who are on earth; such abundance surrounds him there below, and for this reason he is called Plouton.”
Hades releases the fertility of the earth to us because he cares for us, and it is through him, through Persephone and Demeter, that we are able to take the richness of the earth and utilize it, and feed not just our bodies, but our spiritual selves through the Mysteries.
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Set, can’t make out the artist’s name
Set
Set, Seth, Sutek. A BAD dude, to be sure, though not necessarily in a bad way. Set is a god who deserves and demands respect, and with good reason. We know him through a lot of his more negative traits which are related more to the Old Kingdom theology. We know that he was the husband of Neb-Het yet preferred either Isis or his foreign wives, including Astarte. We know that upon discovering Neb-Het’s affair with Osiris (which produced Anubis, which Neb-Het hid in the desert to prevent Set from finding and killing him), he and his friends had Osiris killed. After this, he usurped his kingdom and attempted to rape Isis, to claim her as his, though she managed to escape. He succeeded in raping Horus as an adult (and tried to have him killed as a child) to prove he was unfit to rule upon the throne of Egypt, and was considered a violent god in many respects. He was the god of sand storms, darkness, chaos and in many respects, evil. He ate the freaking moon each night! Surely, what good comes from SET?
How about the fact that he saves Ra, and so the world, every night? That he’s the only one who can defeat the evil serpent (whose name I don’t feel like typing) and make it possible for Ra to rise, renewed each morning. And so, saving the entire freaking world. Yeah, YOU’RE WELCOME! (I’m not citing that source since you can find it on Wiki.)
“Then Set, the strong one, the son of Nut, said “As for me, I am Set, the strongest of the Divine Company. Every day I slay the enemy of Ra when I stand at the helm of the Barque of Millions of Years, which no other god dare do.”— Somewhere in the Egyptian Book of the Dead
Set is bragging here and Re later throws him off the Barque, but that’s beside the point. *whistles*
Often thought to trick the dead, there are ancient sources who believed that Set was a friend to the dead:
In the Old and Middle Kingdoms there are depictions of these two gods together either leading the prisoners of the pharaoh or binding the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt together (as does the twin Hapi gods) to symbolize the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. He was regarded as an equal to the hawk god. This was Horus the Elder, a god of the day sky while Set was seen as a god of the night sky. When these two gods were linked, the two were said to be Horus-Set, a man with two heads – one of the hawk of Horus, the other of the Set animal.
“Homage to thee, O divine Ladder! Homage to thee O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven.”
“Pepi I In the Pyramid Texts he was believed to be a friend to the dead, and he helped Osiris ascend to heaven on a ladder. On one of Seti I’s reliefs, it shows Set and Horus offering the symbol of life to the pharaoh, with Set saying “I establish the crown upon thy head, even like the Disk on the head of Amen-Ra, and I will give thee all life, strength and health.” Thothmose III had a scene showing Set teaching him the use of the bow, while Horus taught him yet another weapon.
As for his role as a friend of the dead, it was believed that “Horus purifies and Set strengthens, and Set purifies and Horus strengthens” the deceased while the backbone of the deceased becomes the backbone of Set and Set has “joined together my neck and my back strongly, and they are even as they were in the time that is past; may nothing happen to break them apart.” (11)
The same website mentions the Pharaohs dedicated to Set counting on him for protection in battle. Together with his protection of Re in the Underworld, one could say that Set can uphold civilization and order just as often as he can tear it down.
So, maybe love is the right word here, maybe not. But you know, if he didn’t care about enough people, I don’t think Set would give a shit about wither or not he needs to do something to uphold what everyone else wants. Sure, it’s his nature (again, we can’t ever discount nature) to engage in war and conquest, and there’s a point he helps the dead- identified with Osiris- ascend to the heavens…which seems incongruous in a way, but not really if you look at it. Gods who are antipathetic to each other either have a very close, or a very opposite, relationship, and demonstrate a relationship between forces that are present in our Natural world, in our cosmos. Relationships between the gods are reflections of cosmic truths- cheesy as I put that, it’s true. We should pay attention to these relationships on multiple levels. Anyway, Set loves us enough to keep Apep from screwing us all, he loves us enough to protect us and he loves us enough to help us out in the Underworld here and there- even if he does some other things where we’re concerned which are, uh, harmful. As a god, he’s Perfect, but he isn’t perfect.
—
So here we can say that the dark gods have a definite interest in mankind, at least from time to time. You could possibly say, “Oh, this is their NATURE! They would do this without us anyway!”
That may be so. But then, why in the world would they be a part of the cults allowing man active participation in their sphere? Especially in mythos where the cult was specifically founded for the benefit of mankind, as it is with Osiris and the cults of Eleusis and the Orphics? What about where the god plays an individual role in giving us a leg up in a way that seems out of his or her character, but yes, appears in the myths?
They love us. Maybe not us as individuals, but us as a whole. Deal.
For individual mortals…
Okay, so we’ve established that there are dark gods who care for mankind, and who care for each other. What about individual people?
Do I REALLY need to get into that, for those of you who know the Greek myths? I will anyway! Because I can!
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Persephone, Aphrodite and Adonis
Whereas Aphrodite is not normally considered a dark goddess, Persephone in her role as goddess of the Underworld certainly is. (And if you doubt me, please click here.)
This is a story that we all know. After the demise of Myrrha (and the creation of the tree whose resin I love) and the birth of Adonis, Aphrodite was amazed at the beauty of the child and loved him. Wanting to keep him safe for her when he reached adulthood, she placed Adonis in a chest and gave it to Persephone, asking her to keep it safe and warning her never to open it.
I’ll quote the rest from the Wiki page:
“The popular Phoenician myth of the love of the goddess Ashtarte for Adon was adopted by the Greeks, who identified the goddesses of the tale with Aphrodite and Persepone.
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 184 – 185 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“Because of his [the infant Adonis] beauty, Aphrodite secreted him away in a chest, keeping it from the gods, and left him with Persephone. But when Persephone got a glimpse of Adonis, she refused to return him. When the matter was brought to Zeus for arbitration, he divided the year into three parts and decreed that Adonis would spend one third of the year by himself, one third with Persephone, and the rest with Aphrodite. But Adonis added his own portion to Aphrodite’s.”
Orphic Hymn 56 to Adonis (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
“[Adonis] sweet plant of Aphrodite, Eros’ (Love’s) delightful flower : descended from the secret bed divine of fair-haired Persephone, ‘tis thine to sink in Tartaros profound, and shine again through heavens illustrious round.” (12)
That isn’t the end of the story, though. After Persephone saw Adonis adding his own portion to Aphrodite’s, she jealously complained to Ares, who ensured that he was killed by a boar. (Some say that Ares came to Adonis in the form of a boar, and some say Ares sent the boar.) And so Adonis, the mortal man who inspired such appreciation of beauty and desire in two goddesses intimately connected to beauty and desire, died in Aphrodite’s arms. The anemone is said to have sprung from his blood.
While Adonis started out as a mortal man, the son of mortal parents (and incest, I might add), he was worshiped as a god similar to Tammuz and Attis, representing not just beauty and desire, but also life-death-and-rebirth and vegetation: taking on the qualities of both his lovers, Aphrodite and Persephone. This is supposed to be another explanation for the change of seasons, that Adonis rises up to Aphrodite and with him comes the world’s growth, and then sinks down into the Underworld to be with Persephone- Persephone, who loved him enough to ensure that she would have her time with him, even if it meant ending his life.
Remember what I said about nature? Persephone’s love for Adonis is jealous, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep him with her. However, it’s still love. The myths explicitly state it. Persephone, as a Nature goddess, as a Death goddess, brings him to her in an irrevocable way…I do believe that it was one of the greats (Burkert? Ogden? Garland?) that said sometimes, the utmost sign of favor of a god was death. Struck by lightning for the celestial gods, swallowed by the earth for the Khthonic gods. It isn’t acceptable to us, but we’re not the ones making decisions here.
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The Morrigan and Cuchulainn
So Cuchulainn (I’m going to have a time spelling that one consistently) by the time he met the Morrigan (goddess of sex, death, battle, birth and SCARY AWESOME), he had already had several exploits under his belt.
Cuchulainn saw a young woman coming towards him, with a dress of every colour on, and her form very excellent.
‘ Who are you? ‘ said Cuchulainn.
‘Daughter of Buan the king,’ said she. ‘I have come to you; I have loved you for your reputation, and I have brought my treasures and my cattle with me.’
‘The time at which you have come to us is not good. For our condition is evil, through hunger. It is not easy to me to meet a woman, while I am in this strife.’
‘I will be a help to you…. I shall be more troublesome to you,’ said she, ‘when I come against you when you are in combat against the men. I will come in the form of an eel about your feet in the ford, so that you shall fall.’
‘I think that likelier than the daughter of a king. I will take you,’ said he, ‘between my toes, till your ribs are broken, and you will be in this condition till a doom of blessing comes (?) on you.’
‘I will drive the cattle on the ford to you, in the form of a grey she-wolf.’
‘I will throw a stone at you from my sling, so that it shall break your eye in your head; and you will be in that state till a doom of blessing comes on you.’
‘ I will come to you in the form of a hornless red heifer before the cattle. They will rush on you on the plains (?), and on the fords, and on the pools, and you will not see me before you.’
‘ I will throw a stone at you,’ said he, ‘so that your leg shall break under you, and you will be in this state till a doom of blessing comes on you.’
Therewith she goes from him.
–Táin Bó Cualnge (13)
So in case you didn’t catch that, that’s Cuchulainn screwing up royally, telling this ravishing and mighty goddess to sod off because he isn’t interested. Wherein, she swears to bring him down.
Now before I get arguments, how many of you have been in the kind of relationship where you DID sincerely love the person, but often hurt them? Who here has NEVER hurt the one they love, who has never done it on purpose? Okay, none, that’s what I thought. Moving on…
Much of the story recounts the trickery of the Morrigan and her efforts to bring Cuchulainn down for rejecting her- rejecting her love, an incredibly painful thing that is likely fueling her efforts, as well as the fact that he very arrogantly paid some real disrespect to the goddess of death, war and fertility. (Seriously, dude, bad move.) I’m projecting humanity onto the goddess her, but we are talking about love and the ability of the dark gods to love. She even manages to get him to break his geas by eating dog meat, which leads to his undoing.
And yet the Morrigan, a goddess often linked to the Bean-Sidhe, allowed them to warn him of his impending death should he go through with the battle that would end his life.
Then he went on his way, and Cathbad, that had followed him, went with him. And presently they came to a ford, and there they saw a young girl, thin and white-skinned and having yellow hair, washing and ever washing, and wringing out clothing that was stained crimson red, and she crying and keening all the time. “Little Hound,” said Cathbad, “do you see what it is that young girl is doing? It is your red clothes she is washing, and crying as she washes, because she knows you are going to your death against Maeve’s great army. And take the warning now and turn back again.” “Dear master,” said Cuchulain, “you have followed me far enough; for I will not turn back from my vengeance on the men of Ireland that are come to burn and to destroy my house and my country. And what is it to me, the woman of the Sidhe to be washing red clothing for me? It is not long till there will be clothing enough, and armour and aims, lying soaked in pools of blood, by my own sword and my spear. And if you are sorry and loth to let me go into the fight, I am glad and ready enough myself to go into it, though I know as well as you yourself I must fall in it. Do not be hindering me any more, then,” he said, “for, if I stay or if I go, death will meet me all the same. But go now to Emain, to Conchubar and to Emer, and bring them life and health from me, for I will never go back to meet them again. It is my grief and my wound, I to part from them! And O Laeg!” he said, “we are going away under trouble and under darkness from Emer now, as it is often we came back to her with gladness out of strange places and far countries.”
Maeve, keep in mind, also being linked to the Morrigan (according to some). And even though she is working to avenge the wrong done to her, she still sees to it that Cuchulainn is warned. And what happens at his death could be analyzed, too…a Raven, a bird sacred to the Morrigan, lands on his shoulder. This could be interpreted as the Morrigan gloating over her victory, or it could be interpreted as the Morrigan coming to him at his death so that he doesn’t die alone, as no one else was brave enough to come near him. Admittedly, it is conjecture, see as the text only recounts a bird landing on his shoulder.
Anyway you look at it, however, the text states that the Morrigan *DID* fall in love with him, and her ferocity in fighting him as well as her warning to him and her presence at his death says to me that there was still some kind of love for him there, intertwined with her anger. This is a love that turned on itself into hatred, but it’s STILL an example of a god loving a mortal.
—
Are there any stories of dark gods and mortals loving each other with HAPPY endings? Death seems to be a common theme (in many contexts) concerning the favored of the gods generally, as a means of taking them into realms under their ruler-ship or striking down their mortal lives with something of their nature as a kind of union.
I notice that the happier stories turn out as, “And so-and-so bore this god children. The end.”
—
Anyway, here we see…the dark gods do love, in their way, individual mortals. It happens.
And yes, personal experience, both my own and observed.
I am not even talking about my own experiences here. I do with my friends, but I don’t wish to hold what I consider to be very sacred and holy up to potential ridicule. Needless to say, I have experienced a great deal of love and care from the dark gods. They have also bitch-slapped me when I needed it. Sometimes, tough love is the most effective form of love.
I’ve observed several individuals, online and in person, who claim to be loved by gods that others would give a very wide berth to…these include Thanatos, Loki, Set and even Apophis. I will get into this when I deal with these gods in particular. There are some who would claim these gods as their patrons that I would look askance at, the same as I would other dark gods which seem more popular, like Hekate or the Morrigan (and Set, if you count the Temple of Set). Some, however, do not have to prove their experiences and sometimes the relationship can be self-evident by the obvious hand of the god in question in their life. It may not be common, but it’s no one’s place to say it is impossible.
There are many kinds of love we’re talking here- romantic love is just one of them. And there are so many gods and so many people…do you really doubt a god would fail to find at least one person that resonates with them? Do you really think that just because a god doesn’t show you any affection, that the person they may be showing affection to is automatically a liar? Does the same god interact with all their devotees the same way?
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Thanatos as a winged and sword-girt youth. Sculptured marble column drum from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, c. 325–300 BC. Public domain pic found on Wikipedia.
Are the dark gods just, well…assholes?
Let me answer this. NO.
- The gods are who they are…
The gods are forces beyond our much smaller purview that encompass forces that shape us and our lives. They are anthropomorphized because they have evolved with us and for the end of interaction with us, when in reality their being is much more primal and independent of what we may think of them. And as such, there are very very very few gods that are wholly good or wholly evil, if any, because good and evil are terms and definitive conditions that WE have created, and really has no bearing on what anything actually is. Many of you will disagree with me, and you’re welcome to. The rain has its own spirit that has been given many names and many forms throughout human history- it has a value to the survival of the world beyond what value we give it and the importance it plays in fertilizing our fields or accumulating into a destructive flood. It’s effect on us is merely one part of what it does and likely a small part, at that. The primal force behind that rain, called by many names, chooses to interact with us and even bless us, but that doesn’t mean it won’t drown us if necessary, because that is its job.
The god of war is going to embody war, in several aspects. The goddess of death will embody death, in several aspects. The god of chaos…you get the picture. The gods may grow and evolve over time, not only according to what we make of them but especially as their roles change with the major shifts in culture and development of the world. The hunting and gathering gods had to make room for the agricultural gods, or perhaps one evolved out of the other. The gods behind communication have seen evolution that has been reflected in our development, seeing as we’re no longer painting on cave walls. Me? I’m a fan of process theology, as well as the idea that the gods exist independently from our ideas. And yet, we are still a part of them, and the movement of our lives attest to that: we’re born, we love, we learn, we eat, we work, we fight, we die. We are a part of the gods because we are constantly taking part in them, and they, in turn and though greater than we are, are a part of us. And how can you not love which is part of yourself?
There is nothing wholly good or wholly bad in the divine realm. That doesn’t mean all the gods are SAFE or that all the gods are touchy-feely-lovey, but that doesn’t make them necessarily good or evil.
- Some of the things that make up the universe aren’t soft and sweet, and the gods that make up the forces in question aren’t soft and sweet either.
I’m sure I don’t need to belabor this point. Some of the dark gods are vicious, aggressive, chaotic and malevolent (to some). Some of the dark gods are actually pretty kind, mellow and benevolent, but I don’t know any dark god that’s really “safe”. They can be protective, they can be instructive, they can be beautiful and they can absolutely blow you and everything you knew away…but even the ones who are soft, or sweet, have a side to them you don’t want to see directed your way. EVER. Does that go without saying? I hope so. It ties in with what I said above- the gods are who they are.
HOWEVER, if you are called to serve these gods, you shouldn’t let the fear stop you because these gods have so much wisdom to teach you, so much power to show you and so much love to give you. They walk in the shady areas on the boundaries of our consciousness and often are able to bring back what has been collectively or individually forgotten. They go where many other gods cannot because their very nature binds them in intimacy with what others avoid. To simply say “stay away from the dark gods” is idiocy because you’re denying not just half of objective reality, but also denying the dark places in yourself.
Approach with caution and respect. Don’t be a dick. Listen and learn. Pretty simple for the beginning.
- Some of the so-called “bright” gods can be pretty fucking scary.
We’ll get to this in more detail later, but there are several gods that have a sweet reputation that I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of. Every god as a creative and destructive aspect, almost without exception. The sun will burn you if you get too much. The moon is said to make you crazy. The water will drown you and the fire immolate you. Nothing is all sweetness and light. Nothing.
- Malevolent and Dangerous =/= Evil or Malevolent to Everyone
Just because YOU don’t get along well with a god doesn’t mean that everyone else will not get along with them. I know someone who doesn’t work well with Artemis, and I know others that work with Artemis just fine. I know some that can’t work with Ishtar or Innana at all, but obviously, there are others who do. I don’t see any reason why this can’t apply to dark gods! Just because Apophis hates nearly everyone doesn’t mean he actually hates everyone…because there is bound to be a creature or creatures on this world, humans included, close enough to his own nature that a relationship could be built. Just because one of the ancients said, “Thanatos, no no no, he hates mortals, don’t talk to him” doesn’t explain why Orpheus gave him a hymn (meant to be used) or so much of the other positive accounts concerning Thanatos in ancient literature. Just because working with the Morrigan had a negative impact on your life doesn’t mean it’ll be the same for others.
As I mentioned, it’s because of the compatibility of the nature of the worshiper and the divine. If you remember Plato’s Phaedrus, souls hitch themselves to the “chariot” (or what I think is the evolutionary momentum, the divine vehicle) of the god and follow that god in a rotation. Riffing on that idea, there are some that are just meant to serve certain gods, and it’s not our place to tell them they can’t do it. A god that is normally stand-offish, aggressive or unpredictable might have an easier time acclimating to someone who naturally resonates with them. Not everyone is meant to work with Loki. Or Hades. Or Hel. Conversely, not everyone is meant to work with Bast. It happens as the gods direct.
There are certain gods you just should never worship!
BULLSHIT.
Don’t get me wrong…there are gods I won’t worship. Respect, absolutely, since all gods for their natures should absolutely be respected and given due honor when the situation calls for it. However, I won’t be building shrines for them or praying to them personally, because it’s just not a part of what I do or who I am. No biggie.
But I have seen, over and over and over again, admonitions from other pagans, recons and even occultists that certain gods should never, ever be worshiped since they hate mankind, or they’re incredibly cruel and will do nothing but torment and hurt you, or are simply not interested in being worshiped. Some of this, I dealt with generally above.
Let’s take a look at some of these gods! We’re going to be very brief (as in, outline form), since this article is already TL:DR.
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Ereshkigal, by Kometani
Ares
God of war, battlelust, least favorite son of Zeus, adulterous with the wives of soldiers, delighted in the frenzy, rage and violence of battle, cowardice.
Also the god of manliness, courage, civil order/rebellion, a righter of wrongs/avenger against sexual assault, protector of life during peacetime, of life generally.
Sekhmet
Goddess of war, violence and rage, nearly destroys mankind until Re tricks her into getting drunk.
Goddess of Justice, protector of Ma’at (Truth), Lady of Inebriation, of Passion, of healing and bone-setting.
Thanatos
God of death, said to hate mortals. Described by Homer as iron-hearted and pitiless. And he wants no sacrifices or hymns.
He is non-violent death, Whose touch is described as gentle and similar to his brother, Hypnos. And he has an Orphic hymn, which proved he did accept hymns after all.
Loki
Jotun of mischief and chaos, slayer of Baldur, bringer of Ragnarok.
An early personification of the hearth and fire, both god and devil together. Helped the gods out of as many fixes as he caused.
The Morrigan
Goddess of death, battle and strife…
…and fertility, fate and sovereignty.
A few in detail…
Hera
Not a dark goddess per se, but a goddess much maligned and with a heck of a dark side. I recently ran into someone who advised that one maybe shouldn’t call on her for marital help, because of her jealousy. A goddess for whom marriage was one of her primary spheres of influence and who was petitioned by wives throughout the Greek world. (He was a nice guy overall, but he respectfully reminded me not to exclude Hera from this list.)
Hera is the Queen of the gods and the wife of Zeus, and is most often cited for her jealous, vengeful side. And it is very true and well-attested in mythology that Hera has a jealous, vengeful side, and don’t you forget it. Hera drove both Dionysus and Herakles to madness to disastrous results for both of them, routinely persecuted the lovers of Zeus, along with his children, sometimes securing their deaths. Hera was the one who incited the titans to murder the infant Zagreus:
“Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 150 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“After Juno [Hera] saw that Epaphus [or Zagreus, both were identified with the Egyptian Osiris], born of a concubine, ruled such a great kingdom, she saw to it that he should be killed while hunting, and encouraged the Titanes to drive Jove [Zeus] from the kingdom and restore it to Saturn [Kronos]. When they tried to mount to heaven, Jove with the help of Minerva [Athene], Apollo, and Diana [Artemis], cast them headlong into Tartarus. On Atlas, who had been their leader, he put the vault of the sky; even now he is said to hold up the sky on his shoulders.“ (15)
Hera is certainly a goddess you DO NOT want to mess with…
…but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t call on her ever, or that she doesn’t have a good side, or kindnesses to grant. As the wife of Zeus, she was also the Queen of Heaven, the air and the stars. She could be generous in her favors as can be seen in her assistance to the Argonauts. If it weren’t for her, they would not have made it past Skylla and Charibdis:
“Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 125 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“They [the Argonauts] watched until the [Clashing] Rocks drew apart and then, by dint of vigorous rowing and Hera’s help, they made it through, although the tip of the ship’s curved poop was trimmed off.”
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 136 :
“The ship [of the Argonauts] came successively to Kharybdis, Skylla, and the wandering rocks called Planktai . . . But Hera sent for Thetis and the Nereides, who escorted the ship through these hazards.”" (16)
Hera also oversaw all aspects of marriage, including the upholding of fidelity and oversight of the maiden’s honor, something we take for granted today that was of more importance to the ancient Greeks- what to us is a question of morality and preference, to them was about maintaining the family lines and ensuring that your name and estate would live beyond you. Supporting this, Hera was one of the goddesses of fertility and childbirth.
Beyond that, Hera was also a women’s goddess, doubtless petitioned by Greek women who wanted their statuses as wives respected by their wandering husbands. She was a goddess who represented a woman’s power when women had very little.
More so that that, Hera was a goddess of royalty: as she offered to make Paris a powerful king…
“Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E3. 2 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
“[At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis:] Eris tossed an apple to Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, in recognition of their beauty, and Zeus bade Hermes escort them to Alexandros [Paris] on Ide, to be judged by him. They offered Alexandros gifts: Hera said if she were chosen fairest of all women, she would make him king of all men; Athena promised him victory in war; and Aphrodite promised him Helene in marriage. So he chose Aphrodite.” (17)
…she rules over political power, kingship and empires. Hera is truly a goddess who can make you or break you.
Nephthys
Nephthys is the twin sister of Isis, and is often blamed or maligned for a lot of things. (Remember the cult-like group I talked about in New Orleans? They often paid her and Set and Anubis great disrespect. They taught me to do likewise and I was foolish enough to follow along.
You know what that makes me, for the record? An asshole. Moving on.)
Nephthys was the wife of Set, stuck in an infertile, perhaps abusive, marriage with a god she may not have loved. (The same could be said of Set, to be fair.) How exactly she became the lover of her sister’s husband varies: some say that she dressed as Isis to attract Set and ended up with Osiris. Some say she disguised herself as Isis purposefully and fooled Osiris (I believe nowadays they call that “rape by fraud”). Some say Osiris just found her beautiful for her own self, and lay with her out of desire. Anyway, popularly it is said that this is the reason Set murdered Osiris, after finding out the affair. On top of that, she found herself pregnant with Anubis and fearing Set would kill him, she birthed and hid him in the desert before confessing to Isis. Isis then searched for Anubis and found him, becoming his nurse and foster-mother. On top of this, Nephthys represents the death experience and the putrefaction of the corpse, nigredo if you will, as the opposite of her sister Isis, considered the Lady of Life.
“Ascend and descend; descend with Nephthys, sink into darkness with the Night-bark. Ascend and descend; ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-bark.”
—Pyramid Text Utterance 222 line 210. (18)
So all in all, one can assume that Nephthys is a goddess best avoided?
NO.
Why don’t we start with the death experience. Nephthys, as the goddess of the death experience, did not only or merely rule over the process of putrefaction- she was also Isis’ helper in funerary rites and was one of the primary mourning goddesses, as well as one of the goddesses associated with the Canopic Jars (she guarded Hapi, god of the North who protected the lungs). So, on top of helping one with the death experience and protecting one of the vital sets of organs needed for the deceased in the afterlife, she “represented the normal transitioning of life and death, she is related as a hawk, a falcon, a kite or a woman with wing outstretched for protection. She may also be seen on top of the funeral boat accompanying and assisting the dead in several stages of afterlife. Because of this, she was given the title “Friend of the Dead”…the wailing and crying mourners in those times were called the “hawks of Nephthys”. Like most funerary goddess, she is found in the ends of coffins, sarcophagus, and shrines for her protection of the contents together with Isis. She was also believed to be the protector of the pharaoh in life and death. She is pictured to release her fiery breath incinerating the enemies of the pharaoh. She also bestowed upon the pharaoh the ability to see beyond what is hidden by the moonlight making Nephthys the patron of witches and magicians.” (19) A bit more on that: “As a mortuary goddess (along with Isis, Neith, and Serqet), Nephthys was one of the protectresses of the Canopic jars of the Hapi. Hapi, one of the Sons of Horus, guarded the embalmed lungs. Thus we find Nephthys endowed with the epithet, “Nephthys of the Bed of Life,”[16] in direct reference to her regenerative priorities on the embalming table. In the city of Memphis, Nephthys was duly honored with the title “Queen of the Embalmer’s Shop,” and there associated with the jackal-headed god Anubis as patron.” (18 again)
So we can see that Nephthys is not only a guardian and a facilitator during the death experience itself, but she’s also a kind of psychopomp and protector as the soul moves through the Underworld. Through her regenerative powers, common to a goddess associated with Nigredo, Nephthys ensures along with her son, Anubis, that the deceased will carry on into the next world. The text also mentions her warlike aspects, when she releases her “fiery breath” to make crispy critters of the enemies of the pharaoh. Not only is this dark goddess a friend to man at his most vulnerable, but she’s fierce in his protection.
We come to the last bit, as well, talking about Nephthys as the patron of witches and magicians. Hmmm, very much like Isis, right? Actually, they were both associated with words of power. This concept, along with Nephthys’ associations with the embalming table, link back to the myth when Isis AND Nephthys used their magic to resurrect the murdered Osiris, whereupon Isis conceived her son, Horus. Did I mention that Nephthys also helped Isis look for the pieces of Osiris that Set chopped and scattered?
Nephtys is also one of the protectors of Re in the Underworld. Which means she assists Re in defeating his enemies and in making sure the sun rises every day and the world doesn’t end. As well as being a goddess of healing and nursing, since after Isis birthed Horus (known as the “birth-mother” of Horus), Nephthys was there to assist and provide her assistance as a wet-nurse, becoming Horus’ “nursing-mother” in a similar situation to earlier with the infant Anubis.
And about her marriage…
“Though it commonly has been assumed that Nepthys was married to Set and they have a son Anubis, recent Egyptological research has called this into question. Levai notes that while Plutarch’s De Iside et Osiride mentions the deity’s marriage, there is very little specifically linking Nephthys and Set in the original early Egyptian sources. She argues that the later evidence suggests that:
while Nephthys’s marriage to Set was a part of Egyptian mythology, it was not a part of the myth of the murder and resurrection of Osiris. She was not paired with Set the villain, but with Set’s other aspect, the benevolent figure who was the killer of Apophis. This was the aspect of Set worshiped in the western oases during the Roman period, where he is depicted with Nephthys as co-ruler.” (18, yet again)
Pretty important goddess with some strong benevolent aspects, wouldn’t you say?
Apophis
This is the god of primordial chaos that wishes to devour all life, or maybe more accurately, a deification of the outer dark beyond the light of the stars and sun waiting to swallow up life. He’s the opponent of Ma’at, order, and of Ra, the Sun god whom he tries to fight and defeat nightly. Everything that you can think of that is evil, everything you can think of that is wrong, everything that you can think of that goes against the grain of natural order, and this is the guy that would give Cthulhu a run for his money.
Honestly, I can’t think of or come up with anything good about him. Even *I* don’t like him. You’ll have to ask his few followers about this one. As far as I am concerned, though, this just goes to show that there is an exception to every rule.
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Quan-Yin, artist unknown
However, there are also gods that are always safe and answer everyone’s “phone calls”.
Again, BULLSHIT.
I don’t care what god you’re talking about, no matter how altruistic or “nice” they are, there are going to be people who can’t work with them. Isis, though she has the reputation of being the one to “take all phone calls” has some pretty stringent standards in some cases. Bast, known for being friendly and kind over all, also has people she won’t work much with. Persephone in her Kore aspect can be pretty open, as can Demeter, but they can also say, “thanks, but no thanks” under whatever circumstances they deem fit. THE GODS ARE NOT DOORMATS, ESPECIALLY NOT YOURS. Whatever their mythos says about them, whatever their reputation is mythically, I am in serious doubt that the gods would rush to you the minute you light a candle and say, “Yo! Get here pronto!” Just because a god WANTS to help you, and is generally more available to help, doesn’t necessarily mean they will.
It comes down to you. It comes down to respect. It comes down to relationship, essentially. The minute you call upon a god for assistance, you begin building a relationship with them and it’s the equivalent of making a first impression. Many magicians (ancient and modern) operate with this arrogant idea that you can constrain the gods into working your will…and I can’t help but feel that this is largely deluded. Gods are not lower daemons or spirits to be constrained (and IMHO, it’s rare you should constrain something anyway, it’s fucking rude)- as I said, they’re the powers that shape you. You work with them, not above them (as if you could.)
Bright gods shouldn’t be underestimated either.
Just as the good points concerning the dark gods shouldn’t be underestimated, the darker aspects of the bright gods should always be taken in mind. Let’s think about some specific examples…
Isis
Lady of Life and civilization, motherhood and mercy…
…also a goddess of the dead, of war and magic who made it very clear she would let Re die unless he gave her what she wanted.
Dionysus
Just read Sannion’s blog at House of Vines, especially the posts on Dionysus and savagery. He puts it better than I ever could.
Demeter
Bountiful goddess of the harvest, abundance, the Eleusinian Mysteries…
…also the goddess of famine, who was willing to let the world die unless she got her daughter back.
Bast
Goddess of happiness, fertility and joy…
…also a war goddess. Also sometimes said to slay Apophis in Set’s place.
Hathor
Goddess of beauty, femininity, music, dance, motherhood and love, friend of the dead…
…said to turn into Sekhmet when enraged.
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“Nemesis the Goddess of Divine Retribution” by Alfred Rethel
Overall…
Your relationship with a god won’t be the same as another’s relationship with a god.
You aren’t in any position to judge another’s relationship with the divine. Ever. You can make your own private assessment but you have no fucking right to tell another person that their relationship with their god is “all in their head”. I don’t care if they’re mentally ill. I don’t care if they’re obnoxious. I don’t care if you can’t stand them or if I can’t stand them. There is no way for you to know for sure, or even test for sure, if this person is or is not as involved with the god as they say.
You have every right to call out disruptive behavior, don’t get me wrong. But you are not the defining factor in another person’s relationship with their god.
You are not the end-all, be-all of wisdom about a god that you serve (or don’t serve)- the gods are endless and eternal.
We like to project our own judgments onto the gods. We all do it…and it’s wrong. We like to say, “Oh, regarding this, the gods would do this-that-and-the-other” when it’s the equivalent of a Christian telling another person, “God is going to send this person to Hell.” How the hell do you know? Are you that god? Are you their avatar, their prophet, and even if you were, did they pull up a chair with you, help themselves to a cup of tea and say, “You know, so-and-so, I’m really going to blast the shit out of that person on Facebook bothering you so much.”
Exceptions include stuff that goes directly against their myth and character. There is always UPG, but if someone were to tell me that Persephone said she was no longer the Spring Goddess, I would look at them funny and tell them they’re wrong. If they said something blatantly disrespectful against Persephone (such as, as I’ve mentioned before, “She’s not QUEEN of the Underworld, she’s the PRINCESS”), I would also tell them they’re wrong. However, I’ve had to bite my tongue on a lot of UPG I’ve heard that, while I don’t agree with, it isn’t my place to judge. Period. I love my goddess, and without her, there would be nothing worth striving for. However, I am NOT my goddess and it is not my place to evaluate what she tells her other devotees when I have enough of what she tells me to meditate over.
You cannot judge the gods by mortal standards. At all. I think I’ve already said that. A LOT.
As I mentioned before, the gods are primal and ultimately non-human forces that we experience by giving them human traits. It doesn’t make them human. It doesn’t make them anything remotely near what we are. While I definitely believe in the theurgic idea of developing a person’s inner god, we’re not there yet and I doubt its on the scale of what the gods are. Hades raped Persephone because death can come and take as it pleases, even the life the world. Zeus has many affairs because he is the father principle which germinates the world. Ares takes pleasure in killing because he is the spirit of strife, of aggression, of emotions and urges that have been with us before we walked upright. These are not squabbling, petty beings toying with the human race- these are beings beyond our understanding who wear a form we can best understand. This is why seeing behind the veil of Persephone or the mask of Dionysus is so important- to know the face of your god beyond not just your expectations, but what has been built and supposed for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years.
You have a right to your opinion based on another’s experience, but not to shove it down someone’s throat.
Do I really need to explain this one?
When people project their own fears, their own prejudices and their own arrogance onto the gods…
It’s hubris. Plain and simple. I hate to do it, but the remake of “Clash of the Titans” had a grain of something in it that I can quote.
“You are specks of dust beneath our fingernails. Your very breath is a gift from Olympus. You have insulted powers beyond your comprehension.” (Hades)
When you project your own crap onto the gods and say that this is how the god is, gospel truth, you’re committing a very arrogant, and very stupid, form of blasphemy. In my mind (*snrek* reliable place that that is), you’re lifting your ideas up, these ideas which are based in the worst (dare I say “Titanic”) parts of you and saying that they’re worthy to be placed on the level with the divinity in question. To project qualities that are all-to-human onto divine powers and labeling this as “truth” is the height of arrogance. Such things I’ve heard, “This god has no heart” or “this god is nothing but a whore” or “this god is soooo pathetic and co-dependent” or “this god would react in such and such a way that supports my views, and I know this for a FACT” or I’ve even heard “this god is nothing but a whiny little bitch who deserves what they got in the myth”…you are taking human judgments and applying them to divine powers, the powers that move the cosmos and have shaped YOU in every way you can think of. It’s a speck of dust screaming its insignificant judgments at the vast expanse of cosmos and demanding to be significant.
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See? Even Calvin thinks that’s dumb. (Bill Watterson)
To put it in a more human scale…if an insect chased after you making its insect noises and being generally obnoxious, what would you do?
For me, it would depend on my mood. If I was feeling nice and it wasn’t a poisonous or potentially harmful insect, I’d probably catch it and put it outside, and out of mind. If it was a poisonous insect or another kind of unsanitary pest, it would meet the firm sole of my shoe.
And, while I don’t want to make judgments on the actions of the gods, I will say that sometimes the dark gods have less patience. *IF* you even manage to get their attention, I might add.
I’ll leave you with the bug analogy.
[60] LX. TO NEMESIS
A Hymn.
Thee, Nemesis I call, almighty queen, by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen:
Eternal, much rever’d, of boundless sight, alone rejoicing in the just and right:
Changing the counsels of the human breast for ever various, rolling without rest.
To every mortal is thy influence known, and men beneath thy righteous bondage groan;
For ev’ry thought within the mind conceal’d is to thy fight perspicuously reveal’d.
The soul unwilling reason to obey by lawless passion rul’d, thy eyes survey.
All to see, hear, and rule, O pow’r divine whose nature Equity contains, is thine.
Come, blessed, holy Goddess, hear my pray’r, and make thy mystic’s life, thy constant care:
Give aid benignant in the needful hour, and strength abundant to the reas’ning pow’r;
And far avert the dire, unfriendly race of counsels impious, arrogant, and base.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locri and http://www.stoa.org/diotima/essays/fc04/Skinner.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone#Etymology
(See also “Narcissus and the Pomegranate” by Ann Suter.)
6. http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/171.html
7. http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/HaidesPersephone1.html
8. http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/classic/ereshner1.htm
9. http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/religion/nergalereshkigal2000.htm
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades
11. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/set.htm
12. http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html#Adonis
13. http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/Cooley/Faraday/Contents.html
14. http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cuch/lgc23.htm
15. http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Zagreus.html
16. http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HeraMyths.html#Argonauts
17. http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HeraMyths.html#Troy
18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys
19. http://egyptian-gods.org/egyptian-gods-nephthys/
My wiki rule: I’ve had some people spit at me for using Wiki as a source. Seeing that I understand wiki to be dubious, I will explain…if I’ve seen it before in a book and I’m too lazy to go looking for it, and it’s in wiki, I use it. I don’t use wiki if I find the information to be false or if I am unsure of its source. Hence, Persephone’s role in Locri is confirmed since I’ve got “Love and Death: The Locrian Maidens” or whatever the actual title of that book is called, and can confirm the wiki page to be accurate based on that.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
