forwarded from soc.religion.pagan
Death Gods & Goddesss
NAME: Anubis (Egyptian), Pluto (Roman), Hades (Greek), Hel (Norse), The
Morrigan (Celtic), Yama & Yami (Hindu God & Goddess), Yan Luo (Chinese),
Mitclantecuhtli (Aztec), Azrael (Christian / Islam), Izanami (Shinto),
Thanatos (Greek minor), Sidapa (Philippines), Samuel or Shemal, Shem-El
(Semitic), Othin (Norse), Tate (Sioux), Tellus (Roman), Fe'e
(Polynesian), Giltine (Lithuanian), Mot (Canaanite, Phoenician),
N'djambi (Namibian), Chamer, Cizin, Cum Hau, Hunhau, Ikal Ahau, Yum
Cimil (Mayan)
SYMBOLS: Many depending on the mythos, however recuring themes are,
skulls, sharp bladed objects (knifes, swords, scythes), bells,
hourglasses, gates, caves, towers, wings, ravens, vultures, owls.
USUAL IMAGE: Varies from mythos to mythos, however even the friendly
ones tend to be somewhat dark. Recuring themes are skull like & skeletal
forms, paleness, thinness, Greeks, Early Christians, and others
attribute him as him as having huge black wings, the Mayans said that
all their death gods & goddesses favored the colors black & yellow,
usually with the yellow as spots on their black bony bodies. To many
Pacific islanders their death god appeared as a giant cuttlefish. Death
deities appear both male & female, beautiful & horrid. In the Vedic
tradition there is a god & goddess of death.
HOLY BOOKS:The Egyptian Book of the Dead, or Reu nu pert em hru, The
Chapters of Coming Forth by Day and The Papyrus of Ani. / The Tibetan
Book of the dead, also known as the Bardo Thodol or to use it's full
title, The Great Liberation Upon Hearing in the Intermediate State. /
The Book of Azrael by Leilah Wendell.
HOLY DAYS: April 30, Festival of Hades (ancient Rome), / There were 9
festivals dedicated to Anubis in ancient Egypt, such as March 3,
Festival of Clothing Anubis. / El Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
November 1 & 2 (Mexico.)
FORM OF WORSHIP: "Alone of the Gods Death has no love for gifts,
Libation helps you not, nor sacrifice. He has no altar, and hears no
hymns; From him alone Persuasion stands apart."
Niobe by Aeschylus (525-465 B.C.)
SYNODEITIES: See names above
DETAILS: During our time on Earth no one is guarantied to know, love,
war, heroism, marriage, magic or might, but everyone who has ever drawn
a breath knows that someday they will draw their last. This knowledge is
one of the major things that set humans apart from animals.
This dire familiarity has led to our Gods & Goddesses of death down
though the years to be some of the more problematic and eccentric deity
forms.
With god/desses of the sky, war, love, sovereignty, wealth, weather,
water, fire, youth, illness, the home and even trickery you can more
often than not make a fairly good guess about what that being will be
represented as with just a little information about that society.
Even if you know next to nothing about the rest of their mythology, the
big ones. Sun, sovereignty, and life are, if not identical at least
close enough from mythos to mythos to be recognized as esoteric cousins,
so to speak, you can even guess, with a good change of being right,
whether they will be male or female.
This however does not seem to be the case with the different Gods and
Goddesses of Death.
They range from the horrid, such as the Norse Hel, who ruled the
unheroic dead in a world of freezing cold and darkness where the only
sound is that of grinding glaciers, all beds are straw, the only dish is
dust, and the goddess in charge is beautiful from the hips up and a
rotting corpse from below (or half & half in some tellings), to the
Philippine God of Death Sidapa, a handsome and friendly god, willing to
go out of his way to help those do him right, while not what you would
call sunny, he's not dark either, more a regular Joe, as Gods go.
Among some Polynesian Islanders we have Fe'e, a giant cuttlefish living
in but unrestrained by the waters of the ocean, a god whose black
tentacles grasp everyone eventually, while the Lithuanians of old
present us with Giltin, a beautiful white-haired Goddess who appears,
melting like smoke though doors and walls, wearing rich shinning white
finery to strangle us to death.
Some Gods of Death are, if not minor, seemingly so little concerned with
the other Gods & Goddesses, or even humans other than what is needed, so
as to seem minor, such as Pluto, Thanatos, or N'djambi.
Elsewhere you will find the head of the Gods, such as Tate of the Sioux,
or Wotan in his guise as Othin, as the God of Death.
Seems this most personal and most unavoidable of all the higher beings
will not let him or herself be pinned down, at times S/He makes
Trickster look like an amateur!
For the last few centuries however there has been, over a large part of
the world, a Death
God who has been given more iconography and thought than any others, he
of course is Azrael, the Angel of Death, the Grim Reaper of the Jewish /
Christian / Islamic mythos. A name that does not even appear in the
Bible.
Everybody knows him, Skeletal shown as skeleton outright, hooded robe,
sometimes with huge black wings, sometimes on a pale horse, carrying a
scythe and sometimes an hourglass.
While some of the other God/desses of Death had their worshippers
(though not many) it's doubtful that anyone every directed a prayer at
this one, other than "go away!"
Which, I think, says a lot about the current situation we found our
selfs in I think.
A society that can't, if not make friends, or at lease deal with the
deity that will someday come for everyone in that society, more than
likely has other things in their psychic they need to look at but are
too afraid to look at square in the eye, and that sort of thing never
leads to anything good.
However, there does seem to be some loosing up, small to be sure, but
here and there you see things, such as how some have embraced Neil
Gaiman's young attractive Death, and while not widely accepted, there is
artist & poet Leilah Wendell whose books on her long and personal
relationship with Azrael makes fascinating reading.
Still, in all, better than a giant flying cuttlefish I guess.
Then there are all those kids today who think Death has a Jamaican
accent and gets pushed around by a 7 year old girl.
Hmmmm?
I guess it's going to be a while before we wrap our heads around this in
anything like large numbers.
Quote, End Quote
"You might be a king or a little street sweeper, but sooner or later
you'll dance with the reaper." - Grim Reaper's rap from Bill & Teds
Bogus Journey.
"Death (or its allusion) makes men precious and pathetic. They are
moving because of their phantom condition; every act they execute may be
their last; there is not a face that is not on the verge of dissolving
like a face in a dream." - Jorge Luis Borges
"That is not dead which can eternal lie, yet with strange eons, even
Death may die." - H. P. Lovecraft
"For certain is death for the born And certain is birth for the dead;
Therefore over this Thou shouldst not grieve." - Bhagavad Gita
"Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who
transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not.
Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is." - Yoda
"Life is Hard, and then you Die." - A Coffee Cup
For images, Links and such see
Death: The Ultimate Egalitarian:
http://community-2.webtv.net/TheObsidianMask/DEATHGODS/
Terry McCombs
The God/dess Of The Month Club:
http://community-2.webtv.net/magentashadow/GOMC/
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop
uk
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