The preceding paragraph reads:
"Mindful of thanks he owed, he raised an altar to Nehalennia, where after each voyage he made generous offering; and whenever he saw the evening star or the morning star shine forth, he bowed low, for they too are Nehalennia's."
-Poul Anderson, "Star of the Sea" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 467-640 AT III, p. 628.
As I said in one of the posts linked above, I value this goddess without believing in her literal existence. Thus, my position is intermediate between that of pagans who believe that the gods literally exist and that of secularists who think that the gods are not only nonexistent but also valueless or even harmful. Maybe the Ysans can help. See Lir II.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But I see no NEED for any pagan gods, because I don't believe them to have ever existed, that they are literally non-entities. So I agree with secularists on that point, while disagreeing with them about the true God being similarly non-existent.
Your mentioning of the morning/evening star, Venus, reminded me of how Tolkien used it in his Middle Earth legendarium, where it was called Earendil, from the Silmrils borne by the Mariner after the Valar raised him to the stars. To become a sign of hope to the peoples of Middle Earth, when oppressed by the Great Enemy or his servants.
Sean
Sean,
But we agree on the need for fictional characters and I see the gods as an extension of that. Myths permeate a culture in a way that any single work of fiction does not. Some fictional characters, like Holmes, become myths. Beyond all the fictional warriors and soldiers, there are Mars, Ares, Tyr and St Michael.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but I simply can't take any pagan gods seriously. They mean nothing to me. And I do believe St. Michael to be a real being, but not a god.
Yes, some fictional characters, like Sherlock Holmes, have indeed achieved legendary, even mythical status. And many passionate fans of Tolkien feel the same way about the characters he created (the Valar, Beren and Luthien, Earendil the Mariner, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Aragorn, Gandalf, etc.). Truthfully, these characters mean or speak more to me than than those "children" on Olympus, as one character in Anderson's THE GOLDEN SLAVE, called them.
Sean
Sean,
Then for some people Gandalf etc replace Zeus etc. We would not be human without myths.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And a certain Astrid Larssen was a really passionate fan of Tolkien in S.M. Stirling's Emberverse series! Altho I thought her adopting neo-pagan beliefs as well to be a contradiction, given the resolute monotheism of THE SILMARILLION.
Sean
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