The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

As a birder, I'm in the midst of the spring songbird migration madness--my equivalent of a holy month of Ramadan. Probably because I'm in total birding immersion right now, on a lark (so to speak) I decided that birders need their own patron deity.

Thus, Avia, goddess of feathered bliss, was born! She's a bird-related goddess, yes, but more specifically she is the goddess of birdwatching: incredibly beautiful but sometimes cruel (as when we birders miss that sought-after sighting), and thus she must be appeased by human sacrifice (a nod to the common locution among us birders of referring to the guy who leaves right before the best bird appears as the "sacrificial birder").

What all this playful musing got me thinking is...when does a deity become a full-fledged deity? Is Avia "real"? Can she ever become "real"? I suspect the answer is going to hinge greatly on the hardness or softness of one's polytheism, but I'm curious to hear others' opinions.

My own thinking on this, as a Carvel polytheist (semi-soft, with a twist), is that right now there's potential in Avia...but she can't become a full-fledged (pun intended) goddess until she exists in story. Right now, she's kind of a placeholder; a loose metaphorical construction. She has to exist in a myth, her flesh filled out by her deeds and relationships, before she can fully take flight.

Your thoughts?

Your thoughts?

Cool question. I think a myth would flesh/feather her out more personality wise as myths do, but with most it seems like the myth must withstand the test of time and be told by several people and documented.

You know, there may be a shortcut. To coin a word it must fulfill certain requirements. I forget what they all are, but I was involved with a project to coin a word once. There were several requirements but my team had only one of them to accomplish: to use the word appropriately so often and in different contexts so that it would be in print frequently enough for it to be seen and accepted as a word. The project head could then submit links and other evidence that the word was used to mean the definition he had written and submitted. Here is one site with a simple six step process. (I think the process our project head used was similar. Though, come to think of it, I not only don't remember the word, I don't know if he ever got it coined. It sure was fun participating though!)

Anyway, if you write her definition as the proper noun goddess of feathered bliss, and get it recognized enough, she may be acknowledged as the deity that way. Time saved: thousands of years perhaps.

And you already have a built in population that might be apt to use the word all over. You could totally make her fly. There are birders all over the globe!

Time saved: thousands of years perhaps.

Ethnocultural shortcuts! Excellent!

Your idea of mirroring word creation techniques is intriguing. I'll check out the link.

And in the spirit of your usage-in-context suggestion: The past two days in Central Park have been Avia-blessed; the weather has been crappy, but great birds have been dripping from the trees.

I read an interesting story on another forum recently. Basically, this person and her husband were having trouble conceiving. She's a fan of the Kushiel's Legacy series, and it suddenly occurred to her to light a candle to Eisheth (in the books, D'Angeline women can only become pregnant after lighting a candle and praying to the goddess). Well, I think you can guess what happened!

I should mention here that Eisheth is a succubus-like figure in Jewish folklore: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisheth but she's not Jacqueline Carey's Eisheth, who is a goddess of healing and the arts (especially music and storytelling). So is book!Eisheth "real"? Maybe, maybe not, the point is that performing that ritual worked when nothing else did.

 I think for your birder diety to gain myth and solidify,you'll need to spread the news of her,then release her to the world and see how she grows/evolves.
lol

As a birder, I'm in the midst of the spring songbird migration madness--my equivalent of a holy month of Ramadan. Probably because I'm in total birding immersion right now, on a lark (so to speak) I decided that birders need their own patron deity.

Thus, Avia, goddess of feathered bliss, was born! She's a bird-related goddess, yes, but more specifically she is the goddess of birdwatching: incredibly beautiful but sometimes cruel (as when we birders miss that sought-after sighting), and thus she must be appeased by human sacrifice (a nod to the common locution among us birders of referring to the guy who leaves right before the best bird appears as the "sacrificial birder").

What all this playful musing got me thinking is...when does a deity become a full-fledged deity? Is Avia "real"? Can she ever become "real"? I suspect the answer is going to hinge greatly on the hardness or softness of one's polytheism, but I'm curious to hear others' opinions.

My own thinking on this, as a Carvel polytheist (semi-soft, with a twist), is that right now there's potential in Avia...but she can't become a full-fledged (pun intended) goddess until she exists in story. Right now, she's kind of a placeholder; a loose metaphorical construction. She has to exist in a myth, her flesh filled out by her deeds and relationships, before she can fully take flight.

Your thoughts?

 
This is a fascinating question.

I think everyone here makes terrific points, but something else that occurred to me was the concept of the Tibetan Thought Form. Basically, it's the idea that if enough people concentrate on the same thought/idea long and hard enough, they can will it into existence.

Perhaps in some cases the same can be said for the Gods. Part of it comes down to the old chicken and egg question, I think. Maybe the Gods came first in some cases and then their followers; but, in other cases, maybe the people came first and the god was born second.

Like I said, it's truly a fascinating question to think about.