Deity

[Zenon]

How do you make a difference between a God and a lesser divine creature, such as a spirit or "demon"?  "Higher" deities from "lower" deities?

[NachtSorcier]

This one requires some thought.  The first thing that came to mind was how they are described in their myths.  Meaning, if their myths call them gods, then they're gods.  If they're called demi-gods, then they're demi-gods, etc.  But I think a second way would be to, again when reading their myths, to think about what they're famous for.  Think about the difference between, say, Gaia and Mnene.  Gaia is the Goddess of the Earth, Mnene is the Muse of Remembering.  Which is more worthy of being considered a goddess, being the mother of all things, or remembering?

I've also noticed that a lot of times when two gods have a child, their offspring are more often than not a lower rank than a god.  Zeus and Hera bore Heracles, who was a demi-god.  Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory, bore the nine (or twelve) Muses, who, as stated, ranked one rung lower than the gods on the hierarchy.

Take also for example Yahweh and Raphael.  Yahweh is the name of God in Judaism, Raphael is the Archangel of love and healing.  Since in Jewish thought God created everything, including angels, and there is only one God, angels would not rank as a god then.

[Gryphon]

I've also noticed that a lot of times when two gods have a child, their offspring are more often than not a lower rank than a god.  Zeus and Hera bore Heracles, who was a demi-god.  Zeus and Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory, bore the nine (or twelve) Muses, who, as stated, ranked one rung lower than the gods on the hierarchy.

Heracles' mother was a mortal woman. Hera cursed him because she was jealous of Zeus' philandering ways.

http://www.mythome.org/bfchaxix.html Zeus is Jupiter and Hera is Juno in this retelling of the story.

[NachtSorcier]

Thanks, Gryphon.  That's actually very interesting.  I'm delighted to know that Hera actually did something to punish her man-whore of a husband.

[Sebbi]

She's always punishing her man-whore of a husband. Half of the Greek myths are borne out of just this.

[NachtSorcier]

She's always punishing her man-whore of a husband. Half of the Greek myths are borne out of just this.

I've noticed that, too.  Athena, being born out of Zeus' head immediately comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

I immediately think of the God's/demi-God's circle of influence and how important that particular sphere is to the worshippers as being the difference between a "Higher God" and a "Lesser God or Divine Being".

For example, Aries being God of War (generically) this was/is a VERY important "something" for a God to be in control of making him very powerful and worthy of worship by many people from many different economic and social backrounds.  Whereas Divine Beings, such as the Muses and to a lesser extent the "heros", have spheres of influence which are important to specific individuals not to the society as a whole.  Epic poetry is a wonderful, important thing and worthy of a divine patron, but when war breaks out everyone and their Grandmother is going to pay tribute to Aries, thereby making Him a greater power.

As for "demons" and "spirits", well, a God is a God and they are not.  The way I look at it Gods create reality... everyone else just bends it.

Blessings,
Aukert

[Anonymous]

how do you know if a presence you feel is a deity or a spirit?benevolent, or malevolent?

[Rowan CedarWolf]

For me I can tell by  the feeling I get when they are near. If I feel threatened or uncomfortable I know it is not the deity I was trying to connect with. Sometimes I get the p****ly feeling on the back of my neck or I will get really cold. It time you will learn your own personal alarm system.

[Sebbi]

For me it was Dionysus being born out of Zeuses thigh.

[NachtSorcier]

I guess that would explain Dionysus' effeminate nature as well as the lesbian vibe I always got from Athena.

[Sebbi]

I have a feeling this line of conversation is going to be cut off in a second but now I'm curious - please explain. I think I might post something on topic to this thread just to balance things out.

You have a very strange mind.

Take that as a compliment.

[Sebbi]

OK - my beliefs on this are slightly strange seeing as I am actually not theistic.

Basically I believe that everything in the universe has a sort of soul - I'm not going to philosiphise as to the nature of this soul but it has one. In a tree this is the Dryad for example.

Similar to how the soul of any given object is made up of the soul of it's parts, the tree god would be the cumilatiion of all the Dryads.

Now factor in for there being more than just the physical realm. You get various spirits running around and then add them alltogether you get a Diety.

Make sense?

Much Love
Sebbi

[NachtSorcier]

I have a feeling this line of conversation is going to be cut off in a second but now I'm curious - please explain. I think I might post something on topic to this thread just to balance things out.

You have a very strange mind.

Take that as a compliment.

Who are you speaking to?

[Sebbi]

Who are you speaking to?

You my dear Nachty.

What's with this effeminate Dionysus/lesbian Athene thing you've got going on? That's what I want to know?