THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.magick.chaos
From: magentashadow@webtv.net (Terry McCombs)
Subject: The God(s) of the Month for November.
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 08:45:25 -0600 (CST)

This Month the God of the month are the "Fictional" Gods.

Crom, Yog-Sothoth, Elbereth, Kal-El, Belldaddy. They're gods and
goddesses and there are some people who are very impressed with them. 

More people than are followers of many of the formerly most powerful and
widely worshipped deities in history, and yet they are without a doubt
fictional. Their creators and origins are well known, in some cases down
to the day when they were birthed from the mind of a single individual. 

Does that really make them any less a God of Goddess? Well...... Yes, it
does, but that does not mean they are without worth as a diety. After
all what is it that makes a god? 

Unless you are dogmatically devoted to a particular God-Form surely you
have to admit that at some point there was a time when even the most
powerful and well known diety was championed only by one person, or was
just a man or woman who's eminence mixed with more than a touch of
fiction and exaggeration turned them into a god. 

Even if you belive in the separate physical or 'trans-physical'
existence of an Apollo, Freya or Jehovah I think you have to admit even
they did not really "become" the deity we know today until they were
expressed by someone at sometime in someway and the images and beliefs
taken and added to by generations after that. 

In that case, if Thor why not Superman? If the Fates why not Kirk, Spock
& MaCoy? If Jesus why not Lastat? The latter named thought forms..
beings.. gods.. have thousands and in some cases millions of adherents
who have devoted unknown brain-watts of thoughts about them. 

People have changed their whole lives because of their perceived notions
about these "fictional" gods and goddesses. 

Then there are our friends the Chaotes (Chaos Magicians) who create and
use their own gods or those borrowed from literature, film and even
video games with more regularity than Madonna changes her style. It is
for these reason that this month there is not just one God/dess of the
Month, instead November will be the month of the so-called Fictional
Gods & Goddesses. 

Just because I made up my God does not mean S/He is any less real then
yours. 

13 Possible Sources for Modern Mythos:

Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
Star Trekism.
Duneism. 
Moorcock's Multiverse. Law / Chaos, Melnibone Mythos. Zelazny's Amber
Mythos. 
Sandman & the Endless.
Baum's Oz Mythos.
Tolkien's Middle-Earth Mythos. 
John Wayne and the Cult of the "Real" Man. The Modern Vampire Mythos. 
Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar Mythos.
UFOology.
The First Church of Elvis 
-----------------------------------------------

Ozma of Oz 

Created by L. Frank Baum in the early part of the 20th century as part
of his fourteen Oz books. 

Baum, who had been a member of the Theosophy Society for over ten years,
was also interested in other mystic traditions, had as his goal the
creation of fairy tales for America distinct from those of Europe. Along
with his rather pagan take on Santa Claus he did this manly with his Oz
books. 

Ozma was the supreme ruler of the realm of Oz. Of unknown origins she
was the wielder of considerable magical power. 

Kidnapped at a young age by a rivel sorceress Mombi who feared her power
to me. She cast a spell on ;her that turned her into a boy whom she
raided as the very put upon Pip. 

His adventures are chronicled in The Land Of Oz which ends with the very
surprised Pip being turned back into Ozma and taking her thrown, while
still remembering her life as Pip. 

Making Ozma, I would think, a worthy candidate as the goddess of
transsexuals. 
--------------------------------------------------

                             Dracula 

Perhaps Lestat would be a more appropriate candidate for Dark god of the
modern day 'Children of the Night' as my guess is that far more of them
were drawn into the present day Sect of Blood because of Ann Rice's hero
than the Transyivanian Count. 

However Dracula has been around for more than 100 years now, and I'm
guessing there is hardly a country on the planet where he is not known. 

With that much thought being put into him for so long by such devoted
disciples, then if such a thing is the coin of the realm where the gods
live then he would have to be a very wealthy being indeed. From the
simple fan, to the full tilt `I am a vampire=B4 folks this image has
more than it=B4s share of adherents. 

I say that this manifestation is a "new god" because while the idea of
vampires has been around for a very long time, the idea of the critters
as anything other than grotesque is very resent. 
____________________________________ 

No doubt about it, a lot of different realities out there these days.
There are so many modern myths that can be considered. Are Kirk, Spock,
McCoy & Scotty manifestations of our collative Will, Intelligence,
Emotions & Body? 

Was H. P. Lovecraft in touch with more than just his own inner fears
when he turned his dreams into what has come to be called the Cthulhu
Mythos? 

Has Adam Smith's metaphor of the Invisible Hand that moves the economy
along become more; an emotion kami (Japanese word for a higher being
ether good or evil) of greed with a will of it's own? 

In the end, if thoughts have wings then how broad a wing spread does a
thought that has a million thinkers have? 

And if, as so many authors say, so many of their characters have taken
on a life of their own, then what thoughts might they think? What
actions might they attempt on their own? 
________________________________ 
                            
                              Hate 

Well now that's a horrid thing to put forth as a New God! You're right
it would be, fortunately that not what I mean. I am just using this as
an example. Hate came from the story The Cloud of Hate by Fritz Leiber. 

Leiber was one of the premier and under appreciated fantasists of the
20th century who came up with many original ideas. In the story in
question the heroes Fafard and the Grey Mouser have to deal with a cult
that worships the emotion of hate as a thing itself. 

Things are complicated by the fact they it is able to manifest itself as
writhing red tendrils of fog in a mind of it's own. Others have used
this idea of roving "things" that live off emotions that they help bring
about. 

Step back however and consider the idea. Free ranging human thoughts and
emotions as the "fuel" for free ranging higher beings. Might the being
behind the non-hoax crop circles (assuming there are such things) be a
new god that feeds off the sense of wonder created by them? Something to
consider.

Terry 

For images, and links go to: 

The God/dess Of The Month Club:

http://community-2.webtv.net/magentashadow/GOMC/