What are the Gods? Throughout the years I have asked many figures, including Isaac Bonewits and Amber K how they defined the gods. I asked if these were figures outside ourselves, or aspects of our inner power, I asked if they were repositories of energy that we could draw on, or if they were actually metaphors through which we accessed channeled energy that was stored, are they archetypes, or transcendent? Most people say, “Yes. All of the above, none of the above.”
Our Gods are a combination of all that we need from them. In the Jungian philosophy, Karl Jung talks of the Collective Unconscious - this amounts to a racial mind which holds all the information, energy and patterns we use to view our world, and create social communities. This has many implications - and although not an accurate picture perhaps of what is happening, it is a solid start.
Imagine many centuries ago, it is a quiet calm day. You were out walking. it was early afternoon, the sun became obscured by clouds rolling in. You were on the side of a mountain in the early foothills. Suddenly, there was a great, loud, CRACK of thunder. It was so near, so powerful, that you almost weren't frightened so much as in complete awe. So you went home, and you spoke to your friend and told him about the experience. He says, “Yeah! I know what you mean, that happened to me once. It's incredible!” And together you find a reference in common to explain the awe and wonder that the experience held for you - Thor - God of Thunder. And Thor contains within its definition all the meaning that the experience held: Power, Male, Overwhelming, Strength, all the hidden and apparent meaning that went with the experience. Now every time you mention Thor, you are calling on that common definition and all its ramifications, to convey your meaning to another. It has become a shorthand for those values and emotions. It does not mean that there is a broad shouldered male standing up in the clouds somewhere, it is a way to call upon that experience to convey the experience verbally. Now, that does not mean that Thor does not exist, either. Based on the common experience, the acceptance of Thor as a God and a force within our lives, and the power we grant and call on through His name, Thor becomes a repository and a source for energy working within our lives. Through our use of this reference to Thor, we have created an archetype, a symbol for this power, and that symbol is now part of the Collective Unconscious and all the race can access it as a common referent point for their needs. Their name for it may differ, but there is no doubt that even among far distributed cultures, there are very similar gods, religious beliefs, and mythology.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Eliphas Levi - The Key Of The Mysteries
Valentina Izmirlieva - All The Names Of The Lord
Frater Achad - The Anatomy Of The Body Of God
Ea Wallis Budge - Legends Of The Gods
Albert Pike - The Book Of The Words
