“All things manifesting in the lower worlds exist first in
the intangible rings of the upper spheres,
so that creation is, in truth,
the process of making tangible the intangible
by extending the intangible into various vibratory rates.”

― Manly P. Hall

The Qabbalah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel

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Welcome Traveler,


It's been a whirlwind of a month, I can't say thank you enough for your support, starting next month I'll be putting out a monthly magazine about topics related to that month.


So what's new

I've added a new section that covers meals of the ancient world and a section about herbal remedies will be coming soon.


As always may your travels be light and your path be pleasant to you and your family, blessings.


Magus

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Yeah I know its been 3 years since I've posted anything new. I burnt out from everything I was putting into this. and tbh what made me come back was the fact that even after 3 years this is still popular. I can't thank you enough for your continued support.

So what's new well I have a new address and with covid I've had a bit of free time. so maybe its time I got back into the captains chair and got to setting a course to places undiscovered. A part of me is happy while a part isn't because he know what's up and he doesn't like doing the hard long hours of labor.

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Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Greek primordial deities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Greek mythology, the primordial deities are the first gods and goddesses born from primordial Chaos or from Chronos and Ananke (depending on the source). Hesiod's first are Chaos, Gaia, Tartarus, Eros, Erebus and Nyx. The primordial deities Gaia and Uranus give birth to the Titans. The Titan god Cronus and Rhea give birth to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera and Demeter who overthrow the Titans. The warring of the gods ends with the reign of Zeus.

Hesiod's primordial genealogy


Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC) tells the story of the genesis of the gods. After invoking the Muses (II.1-116), he tells of the generation of the first four primordial deities:

"First Chaos came to be, but next... Earth... and dim Tartarus in the depth of the... Earth, and Eros..."

According to Hesiod, the next primordial gods that come to be are: 

Darkness and Night (born of Chaos);
Light and Day (born of Night and Darkness);
Heaven and Ocean (virginally born of Earth) 

Genealogical tree 

Chaos (Void) (none)
Gaia (Earth) (female)
Uranus (Sky) (male)
Ourea (Mountains) (male)
Pontus (Sea) (male)
Tartarus (Tartarus) (male)
Erebus (Darkness) (male) and Nyx (Night) (female)
Aether (Light) (male)
Hemera (Day) (female) 

Other sources 

Achlys (Misery) (female)
Physis (Genesis) (female)
Ananke (Compulsion) (female)
Chronos (Time) (male)
Aion (Eternity) (male)
Himeros (Tension) (male)
Phusis (Nature) (female)
Phanes (Appearance) (male)
Nesoi (Islands) (female)
Thalassa (Sea) (female)
Ophion (Life) (male)
Eros (Procreation) (male)
Moirai (Fate) (female)
Moros (Doom) (male) 

Non-Hesiodic Theogony

The ancient Greeks entertained different versions of the origin of primordial deities. Some of these stories were possibly inherited from the pre-Greek Aegean cultures.
Homeric primordial theogony

The Iliad, an epic poem attributed to Homer about the Trojan War (an oral tradition of 700 or 600 BC), states that Oceanus (and possibly Tethys, too) is the parent of all the deities.

Other Greek Theogony

Alcman (fl. 7th century BC) made the water-nymph Thetis the first goddess, producing poros (path), tekmor (marker) and skotos (darkness) on the pathless, featureless void.
Orphic poetry (c. 530 BC) made Nyx the first principle, Night, and her offspring were many. Also, in the Orphic tradition, Phanes (a mystic Orphic deity of light and procreation, sometimes identified with the Elder Eros) is the original ruler of the universe, who hatched from the cosmic egg.
Aristophanes (c. 446 BC – c. 386 BC) wrote in his Birds, that Nyx is the first deity also, and that she produced Eros from an egg. 

Philosophical Cosmogonies

Philosophers of Classical Greece also constructed their own metaphysical cosmogonies, with their own primordial deities: 

  • Pherecydes of Syros (c. 600 – c. 550 BC) made Chronos (time) the first deity in his Heptamychia. 
  • Empedocles (c. 490 – 430 BC) wrote that Philotes ("Love") and Neikos ("Hate") were the first principles, who wove the universe out of the four elements with their powers of love and strife. 
  • Plato (c. 428/427 – 348/347 BC) introduced the concept in Timaeus, of the demiurge, who modeled the universe on the Ideas. 

Interpretation of primordial deities
Scholars dispute the meaning of the primordial deities in the poems of Homer and Hesiod. Since the primordials give birth to the Titans, and the Titans give birth to the Olympians, one way of interpreting the primordial gods is as the deepest and most fundamental nature of the cosmos.

For example, Jenny Strauss Clay argues that Homer's poetic vision centers on the reign of Zeus, but that Hesiod's vision of the primordials put Zeus and the Olympians in context. Likewise, Vernant argues that the Olympic pantheon is a "system of classification, a particular way of ordering and conceptualizing the universe by distinguishing within it various types of powers and forces." But even before the Olympic pantheon were the Titans and primordial gods. Homer alludes to a more tumultuous past before Zeus was the undisputed King and Father.

Mitchell Miller argues that the first four primordial deities arise in a highly significant relationship. He argues that Chaos represents differentiation, since Chaos differentiates (separates, divides) Tartarus and Earth. Even though Chaos is "first of all" for Hesiod, Miller argues that Tartarus represents the primacy of the undifferentiated, or the unlimited. Since undifferentiation is unthinkable, Chaos is the "first of all" in that he is the first thinkable being. In this way, Chaos (the principle of division) is the natural opposite of Eros (the principle of unification). Earth (light, day, waking, life) is the natural opposite of Tartarus (darkness, night, sleep, death). These four are the parents of all the other Titans.

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