Fantasy Gods and religion?

[LadyShade]

Can you belive in Fantasy Gods or Religion? Like LOTR? Or Eldest? Or even from a Video game like FFX? I am a strong beliver that, the more thought put into somthing, the more energy it recieves, the more energy, the more real it becomes. So.....dose that mean that If I trully belive in Varda? The star goddess if LOTR...will that make her real?

randome fact by the way, LOTR books out sold the bible!

[RunningRiot]

Sure. I pray to Raiden, god of thunder an lightening, from Mortal Kombat.

I see NOTHING wrong with it. Infact, I'm absolutely positive that all the other older deities were made up, just as the "fantasy" ones. No difference.

[Vincent Verthaine]

In a way,didn't all gods/goddesses start off as the product of someomes imagination.

[Toby Stimpson]

The interesting thing with a lot of fantasy myths and religions is they are somehow modeled after already existing ones...so in affect they are just mere manifestations and archetypes...

[Toriach]

While I agree with the responses given by other forum members I would like to offer a question for consideration. Why give away your personal power to any deity? Instead why not embrace that it is the divinity within yourself that is the source of your gifts and manifest your will directly rather than beseeching an externalized entity?

Peace
And
Long
Life

Toriach

[Myrr]

People give names to Gods. The forces the names represent have always been there, but the names are just symbols we create for them.

[Infinite Grey]

Sure. I pray to Raiden, god of thunder an lightening, from Mortal Kombat.

I see NOTHING wrong with it. Infact, I'm absolutely positive that all the other older deities were made up, just as the "fantasy" ones. No difference.


Ummmm Raiden the mortal kombat character was based off of Raiden/Raijin the Japanese god of thunder and Lightning... so he isn't all that new.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/Raijin.jpg


sorry :hahugh:

[Infinite Grey]

I suppose if you believe enough anything is possible...

[RakliDipity]

There was a kind of discussion on this on one podcast I listened to recently, its called Shadowdance, if you have iTunes, google them up and listen to the 'Fantasy and Religion' episode, (I can't say much more, because it was about 2:00am when I listened to it :D)

[Myrr]

Joseph Campbell's Myths and Mask of God is some very good reading on the subject.

[LadyShade]

I really enjoy all the responses to this thread. I Really think it is possible.
this subject is somthing I have wondered about for a long time....

[Theres]

Can you belive in Fantasy Gods or Religion? Like LOTR? Or Eldest? Or even from a Video game like FFX?

because there just aren't enough 'real' gods out there?

[LadyShade]

no, the reason I ask is some people feel more conected to " Fantasy gods" Then "real" gods...it is not a matter of how many there are

[Toby Stimpson]

I think ti certainly is interesting looking at what could be or might be...however no matter what you do even the most perfect writer cannot completly mnake up for hundreds or even thouands of years of history on the character of gods and Pantheons and religions..JRR Tolkien tried to but even then he based a lot of what eh was writing off of christianity and Ancient Norse beliefs. The problem with actually adopting any 'fantasy' religion or god is that the distinction must be made between one's lessons, the moral code we ascribe to 9which a lot of us, not all dervice from religion) and what the fantasy writer just negelects to see...which make his characters and fantasy creations flawed. Thats why I say it's interesting to study them...but not necessarily worship them.

Namaste

Tobias

[David19]

I think it may be possible for some of them, you may also want to look into Kenneth Grant's work, a British occultist, i haven't read his books, but apparantly, he said that the necromicon(sp) and H.P. Lovecraft's works (at least the ones to do with Chulthu, etc) are based on events in other realities/dimensions, and that while, the necromicon in the shops may be fictional, it has a 'astral echo' of events in other realities/dimensions/planes/etc, so if you're talking about the necromicon deities, i'd say it's possible, as for Lord of the Rings, maybe, i think there's a book called the Real Middle Earth, i can't remember the author, but it looks at how the Lord of the Ring has a lot of Heathen stuff in it (e.g. Norse stuff) so maybe look into that.

[Amelserru_halqu]

too bad I missed this thread first time round... anyways I worship the great and mighty god Ario, who is lord of black and white, balance, and cookies... some people tell me my god doesn't exist because I made him up but I get better results drawing the power of Ario into me (by ingestion of course, after all who ever said god couldn't be tasty?) than most lay christians ever get through prayer so I say it is absolutely possible. I've also heard of people using Mr. Spock or other fantasy objects too... so basically I suppose all you have to do is believe, which makes belief the means to an end rather than the end in and of itself but that's neither here nor there

[StarEyedShelly]

So.....dose that mean that If I trully belive in Varda? The star goddess if LOTR...will that make her real?

Oh, it's great to finally find someone else who worships Varda! :D I often include her, and occasionally other Tolkien gods/esses in my daily worship. I believe that if even just one person believes in a deity, that makes them real enough. After all (in my belief), different gods and goddesses are just an individual interpretation of the Divine. So, as an active worshipper of deities not established by centuries of worship...my answer to your question is yes. :D

[Agaliha]

I see NOTHING wrong with it. Infact, I'm absolutely positive that all the other older deities were made up, just as the "fantasy" ones. No difference.

Just what I was going to say. I believe all deities were created by people to explain the world and life (*cuts out long babbling*) I see them as symbols and metaphors and things like that.
I see "fantasy/fictional" ones to be no different really.
I'm not theistic--I don't care how people honor and view deities. My way is not everyone's way.
On a slightly related note, here is a thread about people how have made up their own deity: Personal dieties (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=25589)
And a thread about a newly created goddess--The Hinbdue AIDS-Goddess... (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=131078)

There are a lot of people out there that won't understand why someone would honor a non-traditonal deity...but to me there's no difference between traditional and non-traditional-- both are made up, in my belief.

Anyway...

[AussiePagan]

I guess it depends on your views on what the divine is. If you believe the Gods are their own unique and individual entities, like people just not human, then no. But if ya view em just as a metaphore for energy then sure why not.

[-Sky-]

My answer is also yes!I definately agree with LadyShade and StarEyedShelly.Because:

The interesting thing with a lot of fantasy myths and religions is they are somehow modeled after already existing ones...so in affect they are just mere manifestations and archetypes...


1) ^^ This is true.All Gods and Goddesses are the manifestation of the Divine power.Even Fantasy ones have this Divine power in them.They are different faces of the Divine for me.

2)For me there is a thin line between Fantasy and Reality.And since from personal experience i know that some stories can be just the written record of a past life or something existing i say:"Why can't the fantasy Gods be real?"

3)As StarEyedShelly said,even if one person worships a God that gives him the essence to exist.I strongly believe that.

One fantasy Goddess that i worship and comes to my mind now is Mother Caratra,the Goddess from Marion Zimmer Bradley's book "Fall of Atlantis".

[shuvanilu]

This is a very interesting thread. In *some* ways, it makes me think about the Neil Gaiman book "American Gods", where the 'new gods' were basically technology---in a very broad sense. Not exactly the same thing you're talking about, but I highly recommend the book nonetheless. As to your question, if you feel close in your soul to this idea as your god (or part of a pantheon), I say go for it. As I always tell me friends, 'if you truly feel in your heart that you should worship grapefruit, then get your butt down to the produce isle and kneel before the large golden orbs.' It's nobody else's business who/what you worship.----shuvanilu

[David19]

I guess it depends on your views on what the divine is. If you believe the Gods are their own unique and individual entities, like people just not human, then no. But if ya view em just as a metaphore for energy then sure why not.

I thought i should mention that it's also possible for someone who is 'hard' polytheist to view certain 'fantasy' gods as real (e.g. like i mentioned, Kenneth Grant and the necromicon, i haven't read any of his books, but some of the sites that i've read, seem to say Kenneth Grant says that the necromicon deities do exist, but on another plane/realm or something like that).

I'm not sure about others, but, as a 'hard' polytheist, i think i do believe that the necromicon deities could exist as individual beings.

Anyway, just adding that :).