The Dying God by Malek Chevalier

Quetzalcoatl In Pop Culture

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-26 22:10:31 UTC

There two stories of Quetzalcoatl's dying myth, the first one the god burns himself on a pyre and becomes the planet Venus. In the other version Quetz sales into the ocean on a raft of snakes. Above is a pop culture rendering of Quetz in the anime Fate Grand Order

Osiris

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-26 22:18:00 UTC

In this story Osiris is murdered by his brother seth who wants to rule over Egypt in his stead. However Seth does not count on Isis Osiris's wife who resurrects her husband, sadly Osiris cannot remain among the living so instead becomes ruler of the underworld.

Baldr

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-26 22:38:52 UTC

Unfortunately, Badr doesn't return from his untimely death caused by Loki. Loki tricks Hodr into killing Baldr with his one weakness mistletoe and when Baldr dies Odin sends to Hel asking her to return Baldr she agrees if every living thing will weep for Baldr and Thokk (believed to be Loki in disguise) refuses to weep causing Baldr's true death until Ragnarok

Adonis

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-26 23:08:23 UTC

In this story we see Adonis a beautiful child, grows into a handsome young man loved by many people unfortunately this beauty would actually lead to his demise. Aphrodite the goddess of beauty would have his heart unfortunately other gods Artemis/Ares/Persephone (depends on which version you use) grows jealous of their affections and decides to send a boar to kill Adonis. As he lays bleeding in Aphrodite's arms his blood becomes roses and creates a beautiful flower. Signifying the death and rebirth cycle.

Inanna Sumerian Goddess

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:29:04 UTC

The Annuna, the judges of the underworld, surrounded her
They passed judgment against her.
Then Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death
She spoke against her the word of wrath
She uttered against her the cry of guilt
She struck her.
Inanna was turned into a corpse
A piece of rotting meat
And was hung from a hook on the wall.
(Wolkstein and Kramer, 60)

Corn Mother

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:29:47 UTC

This week, we learned about the corn mother, who represents both the sacrificial dying god archetype and the great mother archetype. In this myth, we see the earth and humanity on the brink of starvation, so the corn mother sacrifices herself, having her two sons drag her body across the land to make it grow new vegetation and bury her bones, which produce tobacco.

Dionysus

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:29:54 UTC

"In Greek mythology, Dionysus, the son of Zeus, was a horned child who was torn to pieces by Titans who lured him with toys, then boiled and ate him.^[28]^[29] Zeus then destroyed the Titans by thunderbolt as a result of their action against Dionysus and from the ashes humans were formed.^[29] However, Dionysus' grandmother Rhea managed to put some of his pieces back together (principally from his heart that was spared) and brought him back to life"

This shows how the sacrifice of Dionysus lead to the destruction of the horrible Titans and birth f humanity.

Izanami

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:30:17 UTC

In the story of Izanami and Izanagi, we see a husband and wife (brother and sister) who marry and create the island nation of Japan. Izanami goes on to birth many other deities however on the birth of her final child Kurgotsuchi Izanami dies and ends up in Yomi the land of the dead. Izanagi is barieved at the death of his wife and travels to Yomi to retrieve her however just like Persephone in Greek mythology Izanami had already eaten of the fruit of the underworld preventing her from being able to return.

Izanagi convinces his wife to travel back to the land of the living with him however she asks that he not look at her until they escape. Of course, he looks back and sees her rotting corpse prompting Izanagi to run and fear and board up the entrance to Yomi, leading to Izanami cursing all of creation.

Jesus in pop culture

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:31:26 UTC

When it comes to dying god myths I believe the first one that comes to most people's minds would be Jesus, especially when you talk about the sacrificial trait that most dying gods share. The entire story of the crucifixion of Jesus is based on him sacrificing himself for all of humanity. At the beginning of the New Testament in the bible, we can read the first-hand account of the apostles traveling with Christ during his ministry until his death and subsequent resurrection. Here we see a depiction of this in pop culture in "The Passion Of The Christ". In this movie, we join Jesus through his last few days from his capture to his death and resurrection.

It truly is painful to see the struggles this God went through to sacrifice himself for all mankind's benefit.

Persephone

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 04:31:34 UTC

Persephone is the child of Demeter abducted by Hades in most representations of the myth. Demeter is an almost perfect representation of the Great mother archetype. She controls the harvest, all vegetation, wheat, and herbs grow and die at Demeter's will. So when her daughter is abducted by Hades Demeter struck with grief begins to travel the world searching for her neglecting her duties and leading to the starvation of many.

Attis

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 05:16:25 UTC

The story of Attis sees a young god of vegetation castrating himself leading to his subsequent death. After his death, Agtitis goes to Zeus begging that the young Attis's body never decay. The castration and rebirth of Attis were known to signal the changing of the seasons the death and rebirth of the vegetation as seasons changed

Baldur God Of War RAGNAROK

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 05:29:47 UTC

We spoke about Baldur when discussing the death and rebirth trait of the Dying god now here we are seeing a representation of Baldur as the child of the great mother Freya of Norse mythology.

In this short clip, we see Baldur coming face to face with his mother Freya though in this game he hates his mother for the "curse" she placed on him. Not a blessing of immunity from most pains but instead a curse to not feel anything at all.

Jesus & Mary

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 05:34:21 UTC

Jesus is not only a representation of sacrifice as we saw when discussing The Pasion Of The Christ movie from pop culture he is also a child of "the great mother" archetype.

The virgin Mary is seen as a saintly woman chosen by God himself to carry his child, she is not powerful like Demeter still, she carries the savior/prophet of the Abrahamic faiths not only in her womb but to his tomb. Truly a great mother.

Osiris American Gods

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 05:46:29 UTC

We discussed Osiris as a god of death and rebirth but did you know he had some time in the lime light? Yes, that's right the God of death and rebirth had a spot on American Gods the show on Prime Video.

What we're here to discuss is his relation to Nut his mother, the supreme goddess of the sky in Egyptian mythology. I suppose greatness is truly in the blood as Nut is considered a Great Mother Goddess of Egyptian Mythology.

Babalu-Aye

mchevalier23 — 2024-10-29 05:57:27 UTC

"There are several, sometimes contradictory, accounts of Babalú-Ayé's genealogical relationships to other orisha. Babalú-Ayé is often considered the son of Yemoja and the brother of Shango.^[15] However, some religious lineages maintain that he is the son of Nana Buluku, while others assert that he is her husband.^[16]^[17]^[18]

Some lineages of Candomblé relate myths that justify Babalú-Ayé being the child of both Yemoja and Nana Burukú. In these myths, Nana Burukú is Babalú-Ayé's true mother who abandons him to die of exposure on the beach where he is badly scarred by crabs. Yemoja discovers him there, takes him under her protection, nurses him back to health, and educates him on many secrets.^[19]"

^{Here we see Babalu-Aye as being the child of the great mother left for dead and then nursed back to health.}