Norse Gods and Popular Culture

This is another synchronisitc post for both my journey and the Pagan Blog Project. I had been having trouble finding an N to write about, then this happened...

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about comic books and characters and who created who etc etc, when he stated that Thor was created by Marvel Comics. I cleared my throat, all lady like and said "Well, the truth is that Thor has been around much longer than that. The Vikings 'created' Thor, not some writer with a good imagination!" Obviously, because he is a grown man and quite intelligent he knew this to be true and his comment was merely a slip of the tongue or perhaps he was differentiating the two characters, the real Norse God and the comic book hero. Which is fine, but it got me wondering... How many other people out there, kids especially, look at the comic version of Thor and Loki and whoever else is in it (I have as yet not ready any myself) and see them as 'make believe'? See them as characters some genius made up and decided to write stories about? I wonder how many people out there do not understand who Thor and Loki (etc) really are?
 

It also got me wondering, how much else in popular culture has been taken from the ancients and adapted to suit their purposes. I know Anne Rice uses the name Akasha (which i only recently learned is the sanscrit word for ether...), and the gods and goddesses in Supernatural are based upon deities from a plethora of pantheons, but exactly how deep does it go? Are people picking random symbols from a book they picked up at an occult store and running with it? How many other TV series' have the myths of the ancients interlaced with modern world ideas? It is intriguing to me, and what it means is that there is a lot more reading and viewing in store for me in the future. I don't think I'll make it my life's passion to discover them all, after all I have other things I need to do, but it might be something else I draw on when viewing new series and movies...
 

It is interesting to me that the knowledge of the ancients is right there for the next generation to access, should they decide to make the connections and dig a little deeper into the name of their favourite comic book character...

F is for (Janet and Stewart) Farrar!

This instantly piqued my interest when I read it on the prompts for The Pagan Blog Project! I thought I'd just swing by and see what the prompts were, as I again felt like writing something - the spiders in my house always remind me to 'write creatively without limitation' so here I go!!

I was first directed to these authors when my questions about Deity were deeper than 'who does what and in which era or country/continent?' Unfortunately, I purchased my editions of The Witches' God and The Witches Goddess via kindle, which does not mean I enjoyed it any less, it just means that it was more difficult to take notes etc!!

Anyway, my questions about deity had become of a more serious nature, as I have said. I wanted to know where they came from, if and how they were real. I had purchased both the God and Goddess book, but for some reason I chose the God one first, even though it was written second and referred to the Goddess one in the introduction - for a split second I thought I had made the wrong choice. I decided to read ahead, as I had chosen to do it this way for a reason... well, let's just say all of my questions were answered shortly after!! I realised that, yes they are real, they too come from the creation source and my current understanding (although I am well aware it may change any day now) is that they are manifestations of the creation energy out of it's own desire to see itself objectively through the eyes of another. Carl Jung mentions the collective consciousness in his works, and I feel it applies here. To me, the Gods and Goddesses are just ONE manifestation of the creation source. It does not mean that we created the Gods, I would never be so bold, all it means is that there are a variety of ways to get to deity, and none are any less valid than any other (excepting those that use force, coercion, murder or general lies in order to reach deity - but this is just my opinion!). And this was all before I had finished the introduction!

These books also provided a logical (and I am a ruling number 4, I need some level of logic and rationality in my studies!) explanation of the development of both the God and Goddess through time, which helped me to deepen my understanding of the various aspects of deity in it's male/female aspect. I also loved the list of the Gods and Goddesses throughout the world and I have come back to it time and time again to introduce myself to certain deities! I would have liked a deeper description of them, however, the scope of the books just did not allow for this - it would after all have to be larger than an encyclopedia in order to meet this need of mine! It is a good introduction though, to both the concept of the God and Goddess and provides some examples of deities to turn to or to research deeper for your own spiritual nourishment!

Definitely a book for the beginner and expert alike!!!