American Pantheon of Gods?

[Auress]

I caught serious flak for that one, notably from Star Foster, who was really behind the whole Columbia idea and didn't much care to be debated on it. I think TC spoils me for interacting with pagandom at large.

You raise some very good points in that post. Having Cherokee ancestry as well, I hadn't really thought of it that way. Also, according to Wiki, some are equating Lady Liberty with Columbia, making them the same personification.

It seems to me that there are always aspects of certain pantheons that are not well tolerated and not venerated by all, Columbia could very well be that aspect for an American Pantheon.

[cigfran]

You raise some very good points in that post. Having Cherokee ancestry as well, I hadn't really thought of it that way. Also, according to Wiki, some are equating Lady Liberty with Columbia, making them the same personification.

It seems to me that there are always aspects of certain pantheons that are not well tolerated and not venerated by all, Columbia could very well be that aspect for an American Pantheon.

It all just feels like the Goddess of American Exceptionalism to me. I cringe.

[cigfran]

Not as Big Pantheon guys, definitely.   These might be more like lesser, local or regional divinities.  Akin to faeries, satyrs, sprites... but different as well.  I believe it was in ancient Japan that there were a bunch of little gods, tied to features of the land.  Hence a god of a remote woods spring was god of that spring only-- or a grove, or a pond.  Bunyan et al might be like that: tied to a given region or land, and at the same time being coloured by the folksy character of the people there.

 
That feels about right.

North American Heathen Shinto.

[MadZealot]

It all just feels like the Goddess of American Exceptionalism to me. I cringe.

 
I bet Limbaugh would dig it.

[MadZealot]

North American Heathen Shinto.

Hell yeah.  We're a melting pot, right?

[drekfletch]

I don't know if we'd have a Goddess of the Hearth as the hearth isn't important in most modern American lives. However I could certainly see deities of War, Peace, Coffee, the Internet, and Transportation. Oh, and Money.

 
I'd say the TV or the internet has taken the place of the Hearth.  TV as center of home life, Internet as center of community.

I have adopted Eric Burns' modern myths into my head cannon.  He decided to leave true Gods out of the equation, and deals with Genus Locii and various other entities, like the Attendant of What time is it?

Introduction and Coffee


Oh, and if we're including real people like Johnny Appleseed, we might as well include Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.  Even though his domain isn't as widespread as it once was.

[cigfran]

Oh, and if we're including real people like Johnny Appleseed, we might as well include Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.  Even though his domain isn't as widespread as it once was.

Absolutely. And Daniel Boone, as well.

In all seriousness, if there's a true American Mythology, then the figures of the Frontiersman and the Cowboy are among its essential avatars. I don't know that it's necessarily appropriate to name them, but their status as Spirit Principles is undeniable.

[Auress]

Absolutely. And Daniel Boone, as well.

In all seriousness, if there's a true American Mythology, then the figures of the Frontiersman and the Cowboy are among its essential avatars. I don't know that it's necessarily appropriate to name them, but their status as Spirit Principles is undeniable.

I agree with this one. Gunslingers. What about guys like Wyatt Earp?

[LiminalAuggie]

Absolutely. And Daniel Boone, as well.

In all seriousness, if there's a true American Mythology, then the figures of the Frontiersman and the Cowboy are among its essential avatars. I don't know that it's necessarily appropriate to name them, but their status as Spirit Principles is undeniable.

 
Absolutely, the Heroic archetypes in the U.S. narrative are all about exploring the unknown and supposedly bringing order to chaos. That's also all tangled up with Manifest Destiny issues though. Granted, if we're talking about eventual deification of these culture heroes at some point in the distant future, other civilizations might streamline the myths and perhaps leave out the uglier realities of the of the push westward.

Reading through this thread I've been having a lot of thoughts about the forces that connect people through this vast space of a nation, and I'm all about deifying places and principles. In this case I'd nominate (in rough chronological and alliterative order) Rivers, Railroads, and Route 66 as sort of...Unifying Principles. They're saturated with all this mythology about connection and communication and trade and striving to go faster and further.

[sailor]

I


Oh, and if we're including real people like Johnny Appleseed, we might as well include Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.  Even though his domain isn't as widespread as it once was.

 
http://www.anitra.net/commonwealth/alamo.html

The Death of Bowie Gizzard'sbane

Harsh that hearing for Houston the Raven:
Foes had enfeebled the fortress at Bexar,
Leaving it lacking and looted the while
Hordes were sweeping swift on the land,
Hell-bent to crush him. The cunning old prince
Did not, though, despair at danger's onrushing;
Hardy with peril, he held it, perused it,
Reading each rune of it. Reaching the facts,
He thumbed through his thanes and thought of the one
Whose guts and gray matter were grafted most neatly.
"Riders!" he rasped, "to race after Bowie!"
"Bowie," he barked when that bearcat of heroes
Bowed to his loved prince, "Bexar must be ours
Or no one must have it. So hightail, burn leather!
Hold me that fortress or fire it and raze it.
Do what you can or else do what you must."

Complete poem at the link above.

[MadHouseWitch]

Martha Stewart, perhaps...




Or more seriously, perhaps Dolly Madison. She's somewhat revered in that regard, I think.

 
Betty Crocker!!  yeah she is totally fiction but I think it still fits LOL

[SunflowerP]

http://www.anitra.net/commonwealth/alamo.html

The Death of Bowie Gizzard'sbane

Complete poem at the link above.

 
Peter, you're a subversive.

Sunflower, already an initiate of the Silverlockian Mysteries

[RandallS]

http://www.anitra.net/commonwealth/alamo.html

The Death of Bowie Gizzard'sbane

YES. Everyone should read Silverlock.

[Valentine]

But how do we know that the Gods of other pantheons didn't start out as politicians of their era? How about Zeus? He's the supreme God of the Greeks, and Hades is the ruler of the Underworld. Are rulers not politicians of sorts??

I think, in a way, we already are honoring politicians because they all stand for a certain something and are completely unique of one another.

 
I mean, Diodorus Siculus  would agree with you.  Two thousand years ago or so, he wrote a series of history books that suggested that all of the Gods were folklorized historical figures, and that the Olympians represented a real, historical human dynasty.  And about nine hundred years ago, Snorri Sturluson proposed something similar about the Aesir in his Prose Edda.  So there's precedent for ideas like yours.

For my part, it doesn't really matter to me.  The Gods are the Gods; They are Themselves, and I take Them at face value.

[Auress]

I mean, Diodorus Siculus  would agree with you.  Two thousand years ago or so, he wrote a series of history books that suggested that all of the Gods were folklorized historical figures, and that the Olympians represented a real, historical human dynasty.  And about nine hundred years ago, Snorri Sturluson proposed something similar about the Aesir in his Prose Edda.  So there's precedent for ideas like yours.

For my part, it doesn't really matter to me.  The Gods are the Gods; They are Themselves, and I take Them at face value.

Thanks for the head's up on those. I'm going to look into reading more about them.