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Creating one's own pantheon.

I'm curious as to whether many people here have created their own pantheon, by this I mean that rather than picking deities from existing religious traditions, you've instead built your own?

For example you notice a particular kind of phenomena, force or energy which is highly influential in your life, but you cant seem to find, or don't find appealing any existing deities which cover it, and so after meditating on the qualities of that phenomena/force/whatsit, you give it character and develop it into a deity with associated imagery, myth and even rites. 

Anybody tried anything like that?

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Permalink Reply by Firespinner on August 3, 2012 at 11:06pm

I have not tried it, but it sounds like an interesting exercise.  It might lead to a very intensely personal faith system, which is a concept I find absolutely fascinating.

Permalink Reply by Tesla Graywords on August 4, 2012 at 2:26am

You can try, but I don't think you'd be able to go very far with it. 

Permalink Reply by Micky-P on August 4, 2012 at 5:53am

In what sense?

Permalink Reply by Lilitu Xoc on August 4, 2012 at 6:57am

I think he means that a lot of deities are unique to specific people and cultures, and may not like other deities.

Permalink Reply by Tesla Graywords on August 4, 2012 at 8:15am

I'm just not sure you can really work with something that's sort of a creation and not already established. It may not work out. It all depends on what you want out of it though. I may also be missing the point. If it's creating a pantheon of assorted, established gods, then they may not get along as Xoc said and that could cause problems.

Permalink Reply by Micky-P on August 4, 2012 at 8:52am

I said in the original post "by this I mean that rather than picking deities from existing religious traditions, you've instead built your own?"

 

 

Permalink Reply by Micky-P on August 4, 2012 at 5:52am

Though its worth considering that since deities are mostly based on certain archetypes the tend to feed into one another. If for example you were to create a deity that in energy was very similar to the masculine paternal energy of Zeus, Jupiter or Odin, but had a different name and image which better appealed to you, would you be still be drawing upon the energy of those gods through the shared archetype?

Permalink Reply by Maris Hellfaerie (Maire) on August 4, 2012 at 7:23am

To be frank, the only occasion I have seen this actually working, was with mixed couples, and each partner bringing their culture with them. Such a mixed pantheon is based on how cultured each partner - and how harmonic their relationship is.

I do not believe in just making pantheons like stuffing assorted dolls in a dollhouse. Not that I am accusing you of wanting or doing that. It is just that I have seen some *godawful* cultural appropriations of the gods of my own native area, reading the books hardly suffices.

Permalink Reply by Micky-P on August 4, 2012 at 8:54am

I didn't mean mixed pantheons, in my original post I stated

"by this I mean that rather than picking deities from existing religious traditions, you've instead built your own?

For example you notice a particular kind of phenomena, force or energy which is highly influential in your life, but you cant seem to find, or don't find appealing any existing deities which cover it, and so after meditating on the qualities of that phenomena/force/whatsit, you give it character and develop it into a deity with associated imagery, myth and even rites. "

Permalink Reply by Maris Hellfaerie (Maire) on August 4, 2012 at 9:05am

For what you mentioned now, I have to say that these forces/energies/laws are covered by the Runes. I don't need to invent gods if I have the patterns to literally everything + then some. Worship is not required, you need to be able to use it, avoid it, or go with the flow etc (depending on the force and the situation). Not saying it is not difficult O_o

Permalink Reply by Minstrel_Davyn the Fluffy Bunny on August 4, 2012 at 9:21am

Interesting concept. I wonder how many people have actually done this and haven't even realized it. We can give power and energy to anything we create, why not a Deity? Look at what the Christians created.

Permalink Reply by Zombie_Mom on August 4, 2012 at 10:44am

I personally haven't, but I have seen it done, in a manner of speaking. In the book 'Urban Primitive', the God and Goddess were renamed to fit a more urban Pagan sensibility.

The triple God: Slick, Screw and Sarge

The triple Goddess: Squat, Skor and Skram

I wasn't able to relate to much that was in the book, but this is the only example I can remember of having happened upon information about renaming or creating your own deities.

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