Ancestral myths are not literal truths.
Different Gods represent a single Being just as different words represent a single thing or different aspects of a thing.
Gods, like languages, change over time according to Their worshipers' needs.
In the Beginning, Tiamat, the Serpent of Chaos, threatened to destroy Creation but Taranis killed Her. Therefore, Her son, Lir, killed Taranis. All was darkness until Belisama descended into the underworld, returned with Taranis and made peace between Him and Lir on condition that Taranis should die and return cyclically until the End.
Ys enacts this mystery. The King dies in battle, is resurrected in the victor and begets new life on the Goddess's chosen.
Some Ysan families claim descent from other deities, the Ferriers of the Dead from Lir. The Ferriers somehow carry the souls of the dead to the island of Sena while the bodies are buried at sea. No one knows where souls go in the Beyond.
Gratillonius thinks that Christ is a better deity for women than Cybele.
Source: Roma Mater, pp. 326-328. See also here.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And Gratillonius disliked the cult of Cybele. I think because it practiced castrating of Cybele's priests? Because it was a Dionysiac, "hysterical" religion?
Sean
Sean,
Yes. He cites those reasons.
Hysteria is sub-, not trans-, rational.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Re Gratillonius, thought so! And "hysterical" is a valid term for cults like that of Cybele, it was a sub-rational religion.
Sean
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