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Origins of the animal gods...

11:23 / 27.11.01

New Scientist on the first representational art, animal-headed beings from South Africa.
quote:New research suggests that minotaurs, satyrs, the werewolves beloved of Hollywood and even Egypt's animal-headed gods are latecomers to the art scene compared with the "therianthropes" carved by the earliest artists on bone and painted on stone.

Anybody else into the animal scene? Worshipping gods with an elephant head?

What's with THAT?

[ 27-11-2001: Message edited by: grant ]

13:35 / 27.11.01

quote:Originally posted by grant:
Anybody else into the animal scene? Worshipping gods with an elephant head?

What's with THAT?

Animal scene - that sounds vaguely pornographic!

Yep, it's no surprise to me that such images were being drawn early on. After all, people had a far more intimate (eh, eh?) relationship with animals.

Plus, many tribal societies believe that we are descended from one Father or Mother animal, and thus we are intrinsically related to them.

13:40 / 27.11.01

Yeah but this still doesn't answer the origin of the animal gods. I mean why people with animal parts?

There are a lot of possible explanations but which one of them is correct?

14:14 / 27.11.01

Who the hell can really claim to have the 'correct' answer?

Here's a paraphrasing from folklorist Harry Senn on the origins of such beliefs in Romania:

'They are not totally 'humanized' beings, but bear the mark of the other world. They can utilize the power of wild animals because they are supernatural beings intermediate between human society, nature and the magical cthonic realm of the spirits and the dead.'

The above can also have as much to do with the humans 'marked' by the animal gods in Senn's view as it does the gods themselves (strigoi, vukodlak, etc.)

21:21 / 27.11.01

From my study and application of shamanic techniques I feel that I have a theory to offer.
The perspective that humans have on the animal kingdom, with the 'divine' difference between the two, was not necessarily true to form in the time of the shaman. If one looks at the aboriginal names for animals in australia one will see what I mean. (Kangaroo means approx. 'Him over there')
The shaman acknowledged pure animal spirits, and their form was adopted by humans during celebrations. For me it was the human mind defining its characteristics and psychology through the observation of other creatures. Their traits became ours and their abilities that humans could not adopt, such as flight, were honoured. many rituals in tribal form acknowledge flight as one of the most powerful magick abilities to be mimiced.
Shape changing also became popular within myth systems, with deities (agian deities become a form of psychological map) adopting animalistic forms and traits. In teh Norse myths Loki adopts the form of a female horse, he then mates in this form and gives birth.
The Egyptian animal headed gods, to me, represent the transition point between fully humanised deities and older animal spirirt worship.
Im Asia the Elephant would have been one hell of a creature to meet as a primitive human, and one to be honoured.

To summerise, early spirit worship took the form of observation psychology involving animals, as humans progressed the animal traits were slowly adopted onto human forms, that later became totally humanised, a la Greek and Roman deities with animal familiars.

21:44 / 27.11.01

doesn't it have quite a bit to do with early hunting techniques? eg. wearing a stag's hide and horns to smell/look more like the stags they were hunting might well have led to the whole horned god/herne the hunter imagery...?

not sure how this works with animals like the elephant -- it's not something we see much information about on tv documentaries/in museums etc over here, but maybe in india they might have more information...

11:03 / 28.11.01

The Hunter gatherer human would of course had their attention drawn towards other animals, either to hunt and kill for foood, thus the rites of passage developed through the stalking and taking down of creatures, such as bufallo, elk etc. Plus there would have been the adoption of techniques from the observation of animals hunting and gathering food themselves, 'If it can eat it then maybe so can I' and 'I see how that animal gets that food, I will use that technique'
Is it not from these survival interplays that spiritual and psychological developments occured?

13:15 / 28.11.01

Ganesh is a bit different than most animal gods since he started off as a human child (divine mind you but still with a human head).

It's important that his attribute as the lord of obstacles was bestowed upon him after his elephant head was given to him.

Here's what the excellent Heinrich Zimmer says about Ganesh:

"Their son, the elephant-headed god Ganesha, 'The Lord and Leader of the Hosts of Shiva,' called also 'The Lord and Master of Obstacles' (vighnesvara), sits above a rat, (figure 53.) Ganesha forges ahead through obstacles as an elephant through the jungle, but the rat, too, is an overcomer of obstacles, and as such, an appropriate, even though physically incongruous, mount for the gigantic pot-bellied divinity of the elephant head. The elephant passes through the wilderness, treading shrubs, bending and uprooting trees, fording rivers and lakes easily; the rat can gain access to the bolted granary. The two represent the power of the god to vanquish every obstacle of the Way."

In this way, Ganesh may not have started off as a god with animal attributes, he may have evolved along with his societal function over time. The rat specifically (as are the rest of the divinity vehicles of the Hindu pantheon) is theorized as having been a Mesopotamian influence.