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Learning to Think Pantheonically

Och, I still cringe to think of it.

Back when I still knew everything, I made the mistake of arguing theology with a Hellene elder.

I was talking gods.

He was talking pantheons.

“Oh, pantheons,” I opined, as if I had even the slightest idea of what I was talking about. “I just put together my own.”

(In defense of my callowness, I can only say that this was the prevailing attitude of the day.)

“If you take a head from one statue,” he said, “and a torso from another, and an arm from yet another, and a leg from somewhere else, and you put them all together: the result may be a sculpture, but it isn't a statue.”

For the ancestors, tribal people all, the concept of a “personal pantheon” would have been unthinkable, a contradiction in terms, even a betrayal.

Polytheism ≠ serial monotheism.

Individuation is problematic. That's the unofficial Ariadne's Tribe motto.

It's sort of a joke, a witty response to difficult questions about divinity. But it's also very serious.

Some time ago I wrote about the possibility that Minos, who is a god and not a mythical king, is a Moon god. It turns out, that's only one of his many fascinating aspects.

There's precious little about him in the garbled fragments of Minoan myth that survived into classical times. The stories mostly talk about him being a king, and a horrid one at that. But the tidbits of information that led us to view him as a Moon god also point to his connection with the Minoan sacred calendar. More on both of those aspects shortly.

What is a micropantheon, you ask? (Of course you do, because you're the inquisitive type!)

Sorry, but it has nothing to do with small gods, of the Terry Pratchett variety or otherwise.

Divination has many different forms and is a popular practice. You don't have to formally involve a deity to do divination; many of us throw down Tarot cards, runes, or bones in a somewhat casual way when we feel the need.

But there are times when you need to do something more formal, and when you need some help. The word "divination" includes the divine, after all. That's when you invite the appropriate deity and ask for their assistance. (Note that in MMP we never invoke deities, only invite them and then welcome them when they appear.)

Just like a lot of people, toward the end of December I like to look back over the previous year and review all that has happened. Part of that process involves looking at my blog posts here to see what turned out to be popular and what didn't. That helps me know what people are interested in and where I should put my energy when I'm writing future blog posts. So here's my 2020 Top Ten List.

It's no surprise that my most popular blog post this year is the one that lists the full MMP pantheon. Popular culture leads a lot of people to think that Minoan spirituality is just about the Snake Goddess (those fabulous figurines!) or Ariadne and the Minotaur. But really, there's so much more, and I'm thrilled that folx are checking out all the deities in our pantheon.