On at least a weekly basis I see people asking which Celtic god is like Zeus or who is the Irish equivalent of Loki. No. Just stop it. Also, why? How would answering this make your life, or your relationship with a deity, better?

...It’s easy to play this game between Greek and Roman gods, because the Romans took on the Greek system almost wholesale, and simply renamed everyone. Zeus became Jupiter, Demeter was named Ceres, etc. but their stories and functions didn’t change very much. Maybe that’s why people want to do this. Because somewhere in a mythology book they saw it done with the Greek and Roman deities. Undoubtedly, the Celtic gods came from somewhere, but they weren’t borrowed and copied from another culture like a set of chess pieces.

Maybe it’s a legacy of the narcissistic Romans doing the same thing with the deities of other cultures. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t work! It didn’t work for the Romans – who busily pounded round pegs into square holes and called it “close enough”, and it doesn’t work now. Yes, there is some cross-pollination between Celtic and Roman, or Celtic and Norse, culture. Most of it happened after their systems of deities were already formed, though. Do they have common antecedents further back in time? Of course, and this means there are connections to Hindu religion, too. But that doesn’t mean that by the Iron Age there was still much commonality. There’s interesting material here for academic study, but I’m struggling to see a practical use as far as honouring the gods.

Look at it from their point of view. I don’t know about you, but I would get frustrated with someone who constantly tried to reach my cousin by dialing my phone number. I wouldn’t appreciate someone thinking that because the bus driver in the last town they lived in was called Linda, that they should call me Linda because I drive a bus. I don’t appreciate men expecting me to be like their last partner.

Deities are individuals. They are not primarily academic exercises, or potential characters for your fantasies. If you are trying to find your Pagan path or trying to build a relationship with a deity, then look at that deity. Read their myths if any survive. Consider their attributes as they are understood in their own culture. Don’t worry about comparative mythology....

Celtic myths are often weird and convoluted, resulting in deities with surprising collections of attributes. Their relationships to one another are shadowy, depending on which story, or version of a story, you read. And that’s okay....

Not that there aren’t complex characters and convoluted plotlines in the mythology of other cultures. Of course, there are. But surely that’s even more reason to stop playing the game of trying to make them all line up according to rank, or height, or days of the week!

[b]Sometimes, we ask questions that mask what we really want to know. I’m not sure what’s behind this kind of question, which is why I can only say – what purpose would it serve, if I could give you an answer? [/b]

Sometimes, we ask questions that mask what we really want to know. I’m not sure what’s behind this kind of question, which is why I can only say – what purpose would it serve, if I could give you an answer?

On at least a weekly basis I see people asking which Celtic god is like Zeus or who is the Irish equivalent of Loki. No. Just stop it. Also, why? How would answering this make your life, or your relationship with a deity, better?

Maybe it’s a legacy of the narcissistic Romans doing the same thing with the deities of other cultures.

Alys-RaccoonReadings wrote:Yep. I've tied her with Aphrodite and Venus on this board too. Anthropologically, they are connected. And that tells us something about ourselves and maybe (but not necessarily) about Her. But that definitely doesn't make them interchangeable.

I think there's a balance to be struck. Cross-cultural comparison and historical tracking can make wonderful complementary information and can be part of an entire picture. It can also be used to disprove this kind of interchangeability--which is a much clearer and easier use. But it should stop short of interchangeability and denying Someone their unique Identity and Agency.

Regholdain wrote: I am amused by the philosophy of some of my monotheistic friends (I will not specify the religion) that all the other gods in the world's cultures are just "other faces" of the one god under their religion, even when their own religion does not recognize that view. They seem to adopt this view as a way to "accept" someone else's non-monotheistic belief and to "rationalize" it according to their religion. This is how they recognize themselves as being "open and inclusive" or "non-judgmental", but in fact they are strongly riding rough-shod over the other person's beliefs by trying to explain it away for their own benefit.

Regholdain wrote: So really, based on their perspective, anyone working with multiple deities is just interacting with the same grandiose egomaniacal deity that has a huge case of dissociative identity disorder (no disrespect intended to any suffering this). Insulting at best.

darkwing dook wrote:

Regholdain wrote: I am amused by the philosophy of some of my monotheistic friends (I will not specify the religion) that all the other gods in the world's cultures are just "other faces" of the one god under their religion, even when their own religion does not recognize that view. They seem to adopt this view as a way to "accept" someone else's non-monotheistic belief and to "rationalize" it according to their religion. This is how they recognize themselves as being "open and inclusive" or "non-judgmental", but in fact they are strongly riding rough-shod over the other person's beliefs by trying to explain it away for their own benefit.

Some Hinduists and Taoists do believe that deities are emanations of the Source, Brahman or Tao. This includes deities from other religions or belief systems. If this concept is embraced by monotheists as their personal belief, what's the problem?

If it is their personal gnosis, they don't judge others or force it to others, and they are open to criticism and agree-to-disagree conclusion, why do you think they are "strongly riding rough-shod over the other person's beliefs by trying to explain it away for their own benefit"? Is it better for you if they stay with the dogma of rejecting and demonizing other belief systems?

darkwing dook wrote:

Regholdain wrote: So really, based on their perspective, anyone working with multiple deities is just interacting with the same grandiose egomaniacal deity that has a huge case of dissociative identity disorder (no disrespect intended to any suffering this). Insulting at best.

Your remark is actually insulting the abovementioned Hinduists and Taoists.