I didn't notice at the time that the image included a regnant being, but sure enough here's the God of Chard:
I didn't notice at the time that the image included a regnant being, but sure enough here's the God of Chard:
Why do supernatural beings so often show up splayed or spatchcocked, staring right out at you from screen or page? It has partly to do with the hominid proclivity for the symmetrical, which must be at least partially a defensive adaptation: if eyes are or a fanged mouth is aimed directly at you, evasive action may be necessary. And these symmetrical beings are 'super-natural' because they are not exactly real, but emerge from a graphic transformation of unfolding or mirroring of something that is real, or approximately so. They are there and immanent, but only spring to what appears to be life once the transformation is executed; they seem, after the fact, to have been awaiting liberation from their folded form. Or so I can readily convince myself each time I free another one.
On the face of it, this image doesn't seem to contain anything especially puissant:
Many of these mirror creatures seem as if they might be gods of something or other. I've been working on a typology of gods and their believers, a legacy of speculation that goes back at least to our 1962-1964 employment as research assistants to Robert B. Textor, working on his A Cross-Cultural Summary (HRAF 1964). The version of the moment:
But really I'm most interested in the small gods, of whom there are many. They (like gods in general) grow in scope and importance as they accrue believers, and wane as their believers drift elsewhere. Their provinces may be narrow and specific (e.g., Anoia, goddess of things that get stuck in drawers) or may expand to Imperial pretensions. Terry Pratchett is the authority on these beings, and his Small Gods is a good place to begin the quest:
- MONO: Hairy Thunderer: major mode is Thou Shalt Not; Shame and Guilt as moieties for devotees
- POLY: pantheon: major mode is Let's Make a Deal; a lot of propitiating on the part of believers, a lot of hanky-panky on the part of divinities
- a-gnostic: major mode is Let Us Define Our Terms; a lot of degrees of gnosis and endless committee meetings
- a-theist: the null set; no-one to blame but self and each other when things go pear-shaped
- animist: rock on
- mystical: whatever, man
- ...and so on
There are billions of gods in the world. They swarm as thick as herring roe. Many of them are too small to see and never get worshipped, at least by anything bigger than bacteria, who never say their prayers and don't demand much in the way of miracles.The spiritual entities of Pratchett's Discworld are many and various, and point the way toward the possibility of finding analogs all around us on Earth.They are small gods—the spirits of places where two ant trails cross. The gods of microclimates down between the grass roots. And most of them stay that way.
Because what they lack is belief.
A handful, though, go on to greater things. Anything may trigger it. A shepherd, seeking a lost lamb, finds it among the briars and takes a minute or two to build a small cairn of stones in general thanks to whatever spirits might be around the place. Or a peculiarly shaped tree becomes associated with a cure for disease. Or someone carves a spiral on an isolated stone. Because what gods need is belief, and what humans want is gods.
Often it stops there. But sometimes it goes further. More rocks are added, more stones are raised, a temple is built on the site where the tree once stood. The god grows in strength, the belief of its worshippers raising it upwards like a thousand tons of rocket fuel. For a very few, the sky's the limit. (pg. 11)
...
gods come into being and grow and flourish because they are believed in. Belief itself is the food of the gods. Initially, when mankind lived in small primitive tribes, there were probably millions of gods. Now there tended to be only a few very important ones—local gods of thunder and love, for example, tended to run together like pools of mercury as the small primitive tribes joined up and became huge, powerful primitive tribes with more sophisticated weapons. But any god could join. Any god could start small. Any god could grow in stature as its believers increased. And dwindle as they decreased. It was like a great big game of snakes and ladders. (pg. 118)
...
Gods became what people believed they ought to be. So the Goddess of Wisdom carried a penguin. It could have happened to any god. It should have been an owl. Everyone knew that. But one bad sculptor who had only ever had an owl described to him makes a mess of a statue, belief steps in, next thing you know the Goddess of Wisdom is lumbered with a bird that wears evening dress the whole time and smells of fish. (pg. 248)
Here's a collection of candidates, still to be sorted and organized and marshalled into some sort of overall narrative presentation. I have provisional names for some, skeletal descriptions for others, and nothing at all, yet, for a few. And more will be added, as I discover them in my photostream.
vengeful deity
large-eared bat god
ho hum another cosmic manifestation
god of the tidal margins
funhouse pantheon
voracious blue-eyed goddess
??, but note two praying dudes at bottom center
Curious George promoted to godlet
?? but something very Shinto
wrathful Big Daddy god
the gold lamé suit
kangaroo god
pharaonic
insect horror
the Sleeper awakens
"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"
??
?? (Nick suggests god of pissed-off hornets)
??
looming
Grandvillesque
Goreyesque
the Jewel and its guardian
allegory
?? but pretty Tibetan
?? (Nick suggests "miffed stone idol")
god of shaggy dogs
bulb-nosed basilisk
feline, and not too pleased
ice owl
lobster god
squatting godlet
goddess of benign moggies
acolytes of a frost godlet
god of expanding mucilage
god of opened passages
god of excessive ornamentation
muddy crocodile god
reducing Bears' Ears NOT a good idea
Tibetan louse god
evidence in support of Coulrophobia
god of antler'd Cervidae
under water sci-fi dream
full frontal disapproving feline
female avatar of Poseidon
Kaidan figure
wookie wings
quite possibly Great A'Tuin (the Four Elephants Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon, and Jerakeen not shown)
Owls Head lichen vixen
god of dimwit linebackers
crocodile god with priestly howdah
blue toad god
Levi, god of indigo
hope it's a mask
a darker angel models a broad spread of wingage
tutelary spirit
multistory Kachina
Oneiros
??
??
incoming
totemic maelstrom
??
archangelic
godlet, hoping to become a salad dressing
migraine god
jovial god
elder god
mesomorphic god
monkey god
angel of woe
enthroned
god of headaches
godlet of the vortex
god of the waters
the god of stripes adjusts his crown
Kali wants your homage
chelonian deity
royalty under glass
night terrors
grinning tyger
a Sage of the Bamboo Grove
Kali with her myrmidons
Elder tree god
water sprite
sand god
??
hauteur (Princess Leia as an Afghan hound)
Buddha in flames
expired and melting turbaned dude, on the lap of a Goddess
hostilities
the Green Man
the Green Man's dog
garden sprite
rocky Bruin
dark angel
??
??
??
wings in motion
the god of kale
??
a well-pleased god of something odious
a very minor godlet of something beneath notice
Mr. Belaker
god of too many sessions at the gym: cross-eyed and horny
gingko godlet
kachina with arms akimbo
disapproval
several small gods, stacked
??
??
Cartmanesque bellicose boy, backed up by a large dragon
souls of the damned
??
the god of West Highland terriers
???
??
??
??
frumious bandersnatch
??
?? (Kentlee: "Don't shake the mustard if the cap is loose"
god of scorch