Monday, December 1, 2008

Mythology Synchroblog--Postmodern Monsters In My Meta-Pantheon


One of the distinctive features of a Neo-Pagan world view is the willingness and ability to cobble together meta-pantheons using elements from non-traditional, often popular culture, sources.

Neo-Pagans take a figure or a creature from a book, a movie, a notion circulating through the infosphere, a movement originating in therapy or spirituality or sportive play or eroticism. They fool around with these elements and refine their enthusiasms for them, combine them together in different ways, then combine those innovative elements with more traditional sources. Out of this activity emerge meta-pantheons that mix and match deities, guardians, entities, monsters, and powers across historical periods and cultures and domains of fandom.

Preparing for this synchroblog post, I looked around my house to review the images, items, and figures that I deploy on the altars and special locales that support my Neo-Pagan Craft practice. I thought that I kept few monsters around. Somewhat to my surprise, I realized that, in fact, I keep plenty of monsters around. And that most of them are postmodern monsters.

Each of my mountain bikes, for instance carries a little Devil Ducky figure ziptied to the handlebars. Horned red rubber duck mojo figures.

Plus, here and there in front of me on my computer desk are three different Devil Ducky figures--cammo, black eye-patched pirate, and glow-in-the-dark. In my office, site of my main altar, several other Devil Ducky figures sit in various niches and crannies. Back on my computer desk, in addition, sits a rubber duck wearing a peaked with hat.

At the base of my computer view screen are two figures dedicated to destroying obstacles--a little brass Ganesha and a Wile E. Coyote figure standing over a pile of TNT and round black bombs, detonator in paw, poised to blow himself up.

Also lending some additional mojo is a little stuffed Azrael the Cat figure from The Smurfs. And an enameled metal Mele Kalikimaka Xmas wreath of hibiscus flowers.

Overlooking the room from the top of a bookshelf are a Mickey Mouse figure and my favorite muppet, Fozzie Bear.

On my main altar there's a small cobra figure commemorating Shesha Naga and a Dragon's egg from the Harry Potter movies.

Also in the office sit three figures of Nazgul, including The Witch-King of Angmar. From the moment I read The Lord of the Rings as a young teenager, I've been fascinated by the evil ways of the Nazgul.

And, yes, there's more stuff scattered around the office. A figure of the Evil Queen from Snow White, for example. And a print of Darth Vader.

Back in the day, I had a rare opportunity to get some Japanese robot toys. So various good guy and bad guy mecha figures stand protectively or menacingly on my bookshelves. And a few little Space Cruiser Yamoto spaceships fly around the books.

Oh yeah, safeguarding the kitchen and front of the house stand several different figures of Godzilla.

Finally, hanging on the bathroom wall is a 3-D Cthulhu plaque. Now I have been a Mythos fan just about as long as I've been a Tolkien fan, so Cthulhu works for me on that account. But one of the Craft Trads I'm affiliated with has, for better or worse, linked with the Mythos pantheon in one of those sideways, squinty, witchy ways that Craft Trads sometimes do.

So I find that I've surrounded myself with mostly postmodern monsters, which at the same time, I don't regard as all that monstrous. They're just members of my Neo-Pagan meta-pantheon, something that, going by my own experience, works magic for me.

Note: I've blogged about postmodern monsters earlier. Here's some links:

Gremlins--

http://pitch313.blogspot.com/2008/10/are-gremlins-messing-with-tales-of.html

http://pitch313.blogspot.com/2008/10/gremlins-new-function-for-faery-beings.html

Godzilla--

http://people.tribe.net/5fbb51bb-3018-493a-a3f9-9b7630bb59bb/blog/b592b7c2-970a-402c-a39b-493ef02d5ecf

Cthulhu & the MAD Nuclear Physicist--

http://people.tribe.net/5fbb51bb-3018-493a-a3f9-9b7630bb59bb/blog/a09a9d55-5f1d-46b9-9649-82b78f12430f

Here's the posts in this synchroblog so far--

Our Gods, Our Monsters (Aquila ka Hecate)
Mythical Monsters (Khanya)
The Multi-Headed Serpent (Between Old and New Moons)
scary monsters (Druid’s Apprentice)
Lamia nas maaos da Sibila/Lamia in the hands of the Sibyl (Magna Mater)
Postmodern Monsters In My Meta-Pantheon (Pitch313)
Paleothea: the Ancient Goddess
The Dance of the Elements
Bubo’s Blog
When Isis Rises

http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/2008/12/01/the-multi-headed-serpent-mythology-synchroblog-5/#synchro

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4 comments:

Steve Hayes said...

That worked, why didn't my initial comment appear?

Try again:

What does Cthulhu look like?

Someof the others ounds like the dordolets found on Albanian houses -- Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pink Panther etc -- used to ward off the evil eye.

Pitch313 said...

The Cthulhu plaque is the one done by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart. There are, of course, all sorts of depictions of Cthulhu. Probably none are based on eyewitnesses.
Cthulhu Ftaghn! Heh! Heh!

Here's a link with photo--

http://www.13moons.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7448

Mahud said...

Thanks for Participating again Pitch, I really appreciate it :)

I like the idea of Wile E. Coyote as remover of obstacles, hehe.

Meta-Pantheons, I'm not too familiar with. do you have any links within your blog (or elsewhere) relating to this idea?

Sorry I didn't respond to your email. It was put in my junk folder and as I failed to receive any notification, I only discovered your email yesterday.

If you check out my post you'll find a list of all those who took part: http://mythology.ourgardenpath.com/2008/12/01/the-multi-headed-serpent-mythology-synchroblog-5/#synchro

Just copy the source.

Thanks Pitch!

Mahud said...

You have been nominated for the Happiness Tree Award :D