The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian
Home Latest Posts Forums Maps Help
Browse Sites News Blog Contributors The Books
Head To Head   The Modern Antiquarian   General Discussion Forum Start a topic | Search
The Modern Antiquarian
when is an elf more than an elf?
173 messages
Select a forum:
(and how many angels can dance on a pin-head?)

Sorry FW! I wasn't trying to be picky. And no, I wouldn't have asked you about the camel, though perhaps it's as good a suggestion as any for how to define the divine!

I still feel confused, though.

Let's assume that there was no personification in the earliest times. I think its a big assumption but let's make it nevertheless. I can certainly imagine how an offering could be made to a place without personifying that place. The next stage in the development of these matters is, if I understand you rightly, the development of animistic personifications of the place - nature spirits, faeries and elves. Eventually one of those nature spirits becomes dominant and ends up being considered the god of that place.

A deity fulfils a certain role in the lives of those who believe in it, I'm sure you'll agree. What I'm saying (I think, bear with me - like I say I'm confused!) is that the faeries/elves performed the same role for those who believed in them, and before that the place itself did. Why I keep plagueing you with these annoying questions is that I'd like to know exactly what it is that makes a deity different from, say, an elf. At what point does the elf become a deity - what is it that makes it cross that line? Is it simply the fact that people have taken it to be the "top elf"? Because this begs the question of why they should hone in on that particular spirit of place and not one of the others - what qualities inherent in the mytheme itself made it stand out in that way?

I disagree with you when you say that the earliest peoples had no gods because every culture that has left evidence enough for us to know with certainty has had gods. All pre-literate peoples in the world today have gods, including those who are hunter-gatherers (ie. pre-agriculture). I wonder why the ancients should be the exception to this...


Reply | with quote
TomBo
Posted by TomBo
25th September 2003ce
00:31

In reply to:

Re: you don't have to! (FourWinds)

1 reply:

Re: when is an elf more than an elf? (FourWinds)

Messages in this topic:

Terms & Conditions  |  Home  |  Julian Cope presents Head Heritage Top of page