I have a question that requires a lot of thought. Do Gods die?
Gods can and have been erased by neglect or persicution. I looked up a few of the oldest gods and found these, the oldest was → Anu (3500 BC - 500 BC), Shangdi (1600 BC - 1046 BC ), Itzamná (2600 BC - 900 AD), Nun (3150 BC - 30 BC) and, Shiva (3300 BC - 1900 BC).
Christian doctrine tells us that God is eternal and cannot die. Yet, Christ was God’s only son (But, are we all not God’s children?) and he was crucified by the Jews. The early christians, like children needed to know why? Who is to blame?
Man is vengeful and, after Christ was exicuted, they wanted a reckoning. Who better than the Romans (who had persicuted the population for centuries.) to blame.
Rome was corrupt and declining rapidly, it wasn’t hard to give them a new enemy, given hope, but filled with hate and vengence.
Thus began a war that still rages today. Men don’t need much reason to rebel.
The female version of God Asherah, She is mentioned in the early Hebrew Bible some forty separate times, although most often as an object of derision.
That was a light history (really light) of early Christianity.
I believe that instead of dying, they are forgotton, whether by Persicution by invaders, or internal strife in a ruling religion or ecological trauma, or failure
Garnet wondered
Bless you all
I don’t know where I got the idea, if it was fanfiction or a book or whatever, but it was that the Gods died as they were forgotten. The more they are remembered and worshiped, the more power they had. But if everyone forget their name, forgot them, they would fade away.
Maybe it was a Star Trek episode? Original Series, of course. But what I’m saying is that, that makes sense to me. The Greek, Egyptian, and Norse gods had good publicists. Thanks to the Christian Monks, the Irish Gods may have been turned into the Fae, but they didn’t completely fade away, especially Brigid.
But sadly, I’ve never heard of Shangdi or Nun. I hope that now there are more people looking into the Old Gods, they will be remembered.
This is actually a pretty common viewpoint among some pagans who view the gods as egregores or thought forms. An egregore only has power so long as someone (or a group of people) continue to give it power. If the gods are egregores, then it would stand to reason that the more they were forgotten, the more they would fade away.
It’s also interesting to note that some deities exist in multiple faiths! Take Brigid, for example. She began as a Celtic deity – I’m not sure if it was Ireland, Scotland, or another who “had her” first – and has since become a Catholic Saint in the Irish Catholic Church. She also potentially exists as a Loa in Haitian Vodou (Maman Brigitte), syncretized with Saint Brigid to avoid persecution.
So, is a deity an egregore, or do they have some control over where they go, so to speak? Both options make sense for the question, because if the Irish didn’t want to give up their Goddess Brigid, it only makes sense that they would see her as a Saint in their new religion, thus keeping her around. The same is true for the loa. If the people see Maman Brigitte in another holy figure, it makes sense that she would stick around!
Thanks for sharing this topic, @Garnet It’s always fascinating to explore!
In the early days of Christianity the church took pagan Gods, usually minor and made them saints. This was a way of indoctrinating the pagans.
Summary
Plus reading of the bible was forbidden to all but the clergy. That way the common man kept his nose on his fields and out of bible interpretation.
When you think about confused and frightened people, whose very Gods were being erased looked to their clergy for guidance. Goddess became synonyms’ with Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Interpretation between languages wasn’t always right. The word in Aramaic used to describe Mary as virgin, if you were able to go back to original language (Aramaic),
the word was not virgin, but 'a good woman".
We really lost alot over the past few millenia. Politics, greed or just money, who knows what we might have learned.
Garnet
@Garnet I think for me I’d have to say no they don’t die. As I learn more and more about the runes, they work within the realm of quantum physics where everything is energy, the gods are also energy all encompassed in our vast universe, if anything it expands, shifts and grows, as also it changes over time. The gods are intelligent energies that work within the scientific theory of intelligent design. Physical things die but energy shifts and changes. For example the runes were formed in a place the old Norse called Ginnungagap, that in effect is the big bang. Loki is chaos energy, Odin order, Thor nature, etc. If we look at the bible, man made in God’s image, it may explain why we shift our energy (soul) when we die and become spirit.
It’s another way at looking at things, and I’m sure the more I study the runes, the more they’ll blow this theory out the water. They are chaos sigils at the end of the day.
Very cool! I was being deep without knowing it! I think that idea sort of came up in the Shirley Temple movie The Blue Bird. The dead only was awake when someone they loved remembered them, or something like that. It’s been decades since I’ve watched it.
Yeah, it’s one of the things that has given Brigid her power, I think. The ability to change to fit the people’s needs.
tracyS
I found your point of view very profound. I’ve always thought that death isn’t the end.
All life on earth has a time limit. The power, if you prefer, is energy, pure energy.
It propels us, moves us and helps us change. When the form you inhabit wears out, ceases to function, the “spirit” ( in the form of energy) leaves us to move on.
You cannot stop energy, like flipping a switch. It continues until it is given purpose (another person) and the cycle or circle continues.
I’m not thinking good today so I’ll ponder more…
Love and blessings
Garnet
This fits well with what I learned about spirit guides, how they are formed. A spirit guide is assigned to us at birth, they are usually not family that have died, but are normally a person who’s personality and life experiences will be what we need, a person becomes a spirit guide after multiple deaths and re-births over a long time. For example my spirit guide is a 12 century French Nun. That’s a lot of life times, why a nun for me I dont know, but the poor things got her work cut out guiding me that’s for sure
I know the subject of colonization and religious persecution is a complicated one. When we talk about Christianity taking over pagan religions, I do think it’s important to differentiate those moments. For example, in Ireland, the Christian religion was slowly integrated into everyday life. It wasn’t like Christianity came to Ireland and wiped out pagan beliefs overnight. It was a slow process of introduction to the people, and it wasn’t always done by force.
Don’t get me wrong, there were absolutely moments of conflict and periods of war and systematic oppression all over the world from the Christian people in power at the time, but I think it’s disingenuous to generalize all of Christianity as the sole reason ancient paganism was replaced.
This is a very balanced view, Iceland too had an aggreable transition from Heathen to Christian, and I know a Volva (Heathen Seer) who is a member of the Asatru Temple and also sits on the Christian council.
My studies of the runes this time round is taking me into the realm of Christian Mysticism which is all about the 5 principles of spirit
Prayer
Meditation
Study
Song/chant/Mantra
Work (as in the day to day of life) this is the basics of spirit before religion came along.
Keeping it on topic (after all every world power has colonised from Persian, Greece, Rome, Britain and whoever comes next ), the gods (spirit) continue and if we connect direct in whatever way we are drawn, the experience is divine and spirit/gods/energy will continue long after these discussions are over, it’s infinite.
MeganB
Yes, I have to agree. I didn’t use time in my explaination and I should have. Sometimes
as I ramble, I kind of lose sight of my point by not including other points.
It’s like nothing is black and white. Each question has a thousand answers,
thanks for your input.
Be Blessed
GArnet
No but I really feel drawn to Lord Shiva ! For many reasons! Shiva can be the protector and the destroyer! I guess we all have a little bit of that in us too, huh?!
Fascinating discussion! Thanks to @Garnet for getting it started, and to @Amethyst, @tracyS, @Jeannie1, and @MeganB for sharing their knowledge and insights.
Somehow I learn something new every time I come into this site. Blessed be!
Yassss SIS! This is the ticket here! I completely agree with you !
@Garnet - For me, they are not dead at all! They are very much alive! I talk to them every single day in fact and during all of my Magickal Rituals! They are here and ALIVEEEEE! Very much ALIVE TOO! I know because they speak to me through the candle flames! It is really quite fascinating actually. Bri gs me to the point of tears! I also agree with @Amethyst when people continue to worship them, they are still alive too! But to me, they are as alive as they could ever be! I talk to them as if they are in the room with me because very often times, they are! I can feel their presence. The flickering of a lightbulb. I say okay which one of you is here! Welcome! Stay as long as you like! I try to guess who it is, but I could be wrong! It makes me happy that the Gods and Goddesses visit little me! I am getting tears as I type this. This may seem silly to all of you and you may think I am bat sh*t crazy .
It’s always fascinating to explore!
They are chaos sigils at the end of the day.
), the gods (spirit) continue and if we connect direct in whatever way we are drawn, the experience is divine and spirit/gods/energy will continue long after these discussions are over, it’s infinite. 
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