My newest deity shrine

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I agree, let's keep the focus on the gods themselves.

Agreed! Sun is my favorite God. We also have here ( ex-YU) megalithic tomb stones with very interesting inscriptions and symbols from pre-Christian era. They are spaced all over the Dinaric Alps and are mysterious in a sense that it is not clear how they were built on the mountains tops where there were no such stones. Official history trace them back in medieval times, but I think they are much older, according to the symbols and the state those stones are. Official scholars connect them with Bogumils, which is probably true. It's a huge and interesting story, at least for me, but I don't know if it belongs here. Let me know. Tomorrow I can write a little bit about that if you agree. Or we can open another thread...

Btw one thing I'd like to point out, you guys probably have not noticed this but I arranged the 7 Lucky Gods in the order of the days of the week based on the 7 planets of classic astrology that I have personally compared to each deity by my own decision (because they actually each fit the 7 classic planets so well )

From left to right:

Jurojin: Sunday/The Sun

Ebisu: Monday/The Moon

Bishamoten: Tuesday/Mars

Daikokuten: Wednesday/Mercury

Hotei: Thursday/Jupiter

Benzaiten: Friday/Venus

Fukurokuju: Saturday/Saturn

I didn't get yet so close to getting to know really well their characters, but I believe you did and that you know why did you choose to arrange them that way.

Yeah I don't mind you sharing that here. I think that's really interesting too!

Honestly my fav deities tend to be Cthonic ones linked to the concept of death and the Underworld. Izanami was mentioned in that animated video as the Japanese Goddess who rules over Yomi, then there's Enma, Hades & Persephone, Ereshkigal, Lilith, etc.

But I also tend to admire many types of goddesses. Inanna is one of my favorites as she is sometimes referred to as "The First Goddess" in Mesopotamian Folklore.

I know you don't like war but she was regarded as the Goddess of both Love AND War. To the Mesopotamians these two concepts weren't inseperable. Inanna like many ancient goddesses could be a compassionate person to those she favored but also a destructive force to those who offended her for any reason.

I think you'll find this video about her interesting too.

https://youtu.be/1OnQ3p3a-_U?si=4ZWSa55BzZylBkyl

I guess you could say it "felt right" to me.

For example Ebisu in place of The Moon because as the God of Fishing that makes him a sea god, and the tides are controlled by the moon.

Bishamoten as Mars because they are both associated with war.

Benzaiten as Venus because they are both associated with art, beauty, and femininity in general.

Just a few examples that make sense when you think about it.

Edit: I'm gonna list all the reasons I selected each deity to represent a corresponding planet.

Ebisu in place of The Moon because as the God of Fishing that makes him a sea god, and the tides are controlled by the moon.

Bishamoten as Mars because they are both associated with war.

Daikokuten as Mercury because not only are both gods said to be linked to thieves, but both the Greek God Hermes and the Japanese God Daikokuten are said to be able to change genders at will and are both male aswell as female.

Hotei as Jupiter because of his huge size.

Benzaiten as Venus because they are both associated with art, beauty, and femininity in general.

And Fukurokuju as Saturn because he is associated with old age and longivity (Saturn is also recognized as a sort of "Father Time" figure"), also he is the only god with the power to bring the dead back to life, Saturn was also the planet originally linked with life/death/rebirth cycles in ancient times before the discovery of Pluto.

Jurojin was a bit harder, but the Sun is all that is left of the original 7 "planets". He too is associated with old age and wisdom like his father/twin Fukurokuju, but does not have the power to bring the dead back to life. His animal symbol is also The Crane, which is depicted in Hanafuda cards with The Rising Sun. So I'm sure there's some sort of connection between the sun and long life.

^^^ I guess you could've do that because you are equally knowledgeable both about each of the deities and of the symbolic meaning of the planets. And it is really amazing that in many cultures planets are attributed to different Gods. I don't even know how ancient people have been able to identify each planet by simple eye-observation and what made them giving them certain characteristics that will be later tied to various deitis.

Honestly I think they did it by observing the stars. Before they didn't actually know what "planets" really were in the modern sense, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn would appear to early humans as what looked like stars they could see with the naked eye, but they started to notice how these "stars" never stood in the same location like the other ones and slowly moved around the world. Also the Moon and Sun were also considered planets because of how they moved across the sky, but the earth itself wasn't really considered a planet in ancient times. They tbought the world was not only flat but the center of the whole universe. Also the other three planets we know of today, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, weren't seen by early humans until thousands of years later with the invention of telescopes and other new technologies.

Speaking of Inanna, here's a video explaining some of her most fascinating myths.

https://youtu.be/9tjaZy4gAb8?si=yBv17vEzBXdN1ixp



My favorites were the myth involving her punishing a mortal who tried to rape her, the one where she enlists the help of a mortal hero named Gilgamash to rid her sacred tree of three demons (a snake, bird, and a "Lilitu" which were spirits that inspired Lilith) so that she could build herself a throne someday, and the one where she travels to the Underworld to visit her sister and rival Ereshkigal the Queen of the Underworld (Inanna was the Queen of Heaven & Earth).

Inanna is awesome.

^^^ Another one amazing video, both in terms of the story itself and the beauty of animation and illustration. And it was interesting to see the Goddess who seems to have a kind of..complex personality. She is naive and innocent, but at the same time she's revengefull and a sex-Goddess. It was also interesting to hear about concept of sacred prostitution (..!??), but they didn't elaborate it further in this video, although I'd like to know more about it.

I also find amazing the fact that people worshipped Gods like her that were not so consistent and reliable, one never knows how is she going to react, is she going to be merciful, sensitive, vulnerable or full of rage, mean and revengefull. She destroyed the mountain because she was jealous of its' beauty. She overtakes power from other Gods, wants to rule worlds that are given to other deities, like her sister's one, even when she knows that she may be punished. Yeah, like, she seems to be very intensive. An awesome Goddess, indeed.

And just a small digression, I just came across this video on FB, about Geishas, we were mentioning them in this thread. I like so much their traditional make-up, especially the one on neck and back of their shoulders, and also the contrast of red and black on white..And the fan dancing is amazing to, full of symbolics and so gracious and delicate.

https://www.facebook.com/HerStudio.KeliNetwork/videos/801933581957343/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Thanks for sharing that Geisha video! It was really interesting to watch.

And yes I agree with very much everything you summed up about Inanna. I believe what made her the most popular Mesopotamian Goddess to her people was not really what she did for her people, but because like a heroine in a story book who shows traits of bravery, vulnerability, sensuality, and flaws in her personality she draws people in to root for her in her conquest.

Plus many scholars believe that she was the inspiration for countless similar goddesses around the ancient world. One of the most likely examples being Aphrodite aka Venus the Greco-Roman Goddess of Love.

^^^ Yes, she seems to be very realistic, almost like us mortals, not perfect but yet still lovable. Didn't know she was the inspiration for the creation of other Goddesses, like Venus. Great to know, that's why I like your posts. I was really reading and learning a lot these days, mostly from links you provided.