Gods and alternate religions

November 17, 2002 6:54 AM

God of the Month Club- unsure of your belief system yet yearn for some spirituality? Why limit yourself to one - sample a different God or Goddess every month. Learn about the belief and worship systems surrounding White Buffalo Woman, the Horned God, Green Men, Morpheus, Hecate, Vulcan, Freya or the ever-popular Venus, just to name a few.
posted by madamjujujive (22 comments total)

i think i'll wait for the gods of guilt and consumerism. Actually i'm a bit sad that this site appears to be at least a bit of a farce.
posted by NGnerd at 7:32 AM on November 17, 2002

There are some Weird Gods in there.
I'm glad they included Inari. His/her page even includes a link on how to make my favourite kind of sushi.
posted by Fabulon7 at 7:52 AM on November 17, 2002

How worthless is spirituality on a random and shallow level.
posted by Hall at 9:32 AM on November 17, 2002

So that's where they got it from, madamjujujive - thanks! You see, I know quite a few subscribers. Every month or so they come up with a new reason to believe in something different. It's all harmless; probably beneficial, as it keep their spirits up.

Me, I'd go for Coyote every time.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:49 AM on November 17, 2002

Thanks for a great site!
posted by kate_fairfax at 10:11 AM on November 17, 2002

Well, since November is "fictional gods" month, I nominate "she who must be obeyed".
posted by taz at 10:26 AM on November 17, 2002

Miguel, I like the Trickster, too. Although the site says he doesn't have a place of worship, there is a site in Zion Canyon National Park in Utah called the 'Temple of Sinawava', Sinawava being the Coyote god in the language of the Paiute Indians. I don't know whether the site was actually a Paiute holy place, or whether it was named whimsically by white settlers, as were many other landmarks in Zion Canyon.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 10:56 AM on November 17, 2002

Here's an entertaining article about the Horned God in India and Europe, though as medievalist pointed out, the scholarship is dubious.
posted by homunculus at 11:08 AM on November 17, 2002

taz, just because I posted the thread, you didn't have to pick me to deify this month, but hey, far be it from me to play coy, thanks!

I will be a benevolent goddess...wine and chocolate for everyone...take the rest of the year off from work and enjoy some seasonal bacchanalia...I dispense with the need for worship or ritual on my behalf, an occasional bit of abject adoration should suffice.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:29 PM on November 17, 2002

Great site, that. And good to see that both the Green Man and Kuan Yin made it.
posted by plep at 1:31 PM on November 17, 2002

It is our pleasure to obey, madam!
posted by taz at 2:13 PM on November 17, 2002

er.... arent the months named after gods mostly anyways?
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:15 PM on November 17, 2002

sgt.serenity, that's true... January is named for Janus, March after Mars; July and August after the two Caesars, self-appointed deities. And I think June is for Juno and May for Maia, tho I am not certain about those last two. After that I am lost and we need languagehat, Miguel or some classical scholar since I am too lazy to look it up at this late hour.
posted by madamjujujive at 8:12 PM on November 17, 2002

Hey!!- they haven't covered MOLOCH yet.....
posted by troutfishing at 8:48 PM on November 17, 2002

*robotically following the madam's orders, murmuring "Must...obey...madam...must...obey...*

Sarge: here's a purty little site that'll tell you all you need to know and a great deal more. Scroll down to Months Of The Year - How They Got Their Names. Do not waste time playing with the little birthday gadget. Do not respond with long, indented rattlesnake of a comment that looks like a poem but ain't. Finally, do self and the MetaFilter community a favour by installing Google toolbar immediately and add bottle of Macallan to the standing Cardoso debt column. ,)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:18 PM on November 17, 2002

Thanks Miguel - maybe Google should be nominated for God of the month one of these months.

troutfishing, moloch sounds a bit malevolent to me. I am more inclined along the lines of kokopelli, a wonderful spirit who is in desperate need of being rehabilitated from kitsch-hood. Or perhaps tlaloc, the mushroom god.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:06 PM on November 17, 2002

Or perhaps tlaloc, the mushroom god.

Is that Tlaloc making a cameo in Flashback?
posted by homunculus at 11:45 PM on November 17, 2002

haha, homunculus, that's the one.
I had completely forgotten about Gomez and his brilliant creations - thanks for that!
posted by madamjujujive at 3:54 AM on November 18, 2002

cheers miguel
i prefer a gentle meandering stream of sun dappled wit myself.
i wanna play with the birthday toy!!! why wont you let me!!!????
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:25 AM on November 18, 2002

Okay, I officially have to bite my thumb at this page. :P

The entry on Bast is 80% flat wrong, having gotten its information from Milo, the nutball who espouses Bast as goddess of sex, lesbians and hemp, who thinks that while performing erotic dance it is possible for a woman's head to turn into a cat's head. That "Mau Bast" prayer in fake Egyptian is something he made up.

The entry on Anubis is almost equally stupid -- the "black and white ox hide splattered with blood and hanging from a pole" is a leopard skin, and it's called an Ut.


Yeah, it's neat that they feature relatively obscure gods from various cultures... but if they can't get the information right on the gods I do know about, I'm not going to trust them about the ones I don't.
posted by Foosnark at 8:01 AM on November 18, 2002

Perhaps not a scholarly effort worthy of the gods and goddesses themselves, Foosnark, but still fun. Tlaloc's totem, by the way, is the toad; a fact I find fascinating because long before I ever heard of the god, toad-people were part of certain Tlaloc-related experiences I once had. Other favorites of mine are Cybele and Ganesha.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:55 AM on November 18, 2002

OK, if anyone would like to have a hand in selecting future deities, cavil about past selections, or take the site to task for inaccuracies, you can join the God of the Month message board.

I have no affiliation with this group, btw, but if anyone insists, I will accept donations for the Save Madam fund. I'll even tithe the great St. Matt.
posted by madamjujujive at 2:56 PM on November 18, 2002