| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "AEGIR (water)" | Icelandic / Nordic | God of the ocean. A lesser known AESIR god of Asgard concerned with the moods of the sea and their implications for mariners. The river Eider was known to the Vikings as Aegir's Door. Aegir is also depicted in some poetry as the ale brewer, perhaps an allusion to the caldrons of mead which were thought to come from under the sea (see also the Celtic deities DAGDA and GOBNIU). There are references in literature to Saxons sacrificing captives, probably to Aegir, before setting sail for home. Linked in uncertain manner to the goddess RAN he was believed to have sired nine children, the waves of the sea, who were possibly giantesses.... |
| Spirit name "Bali Penyalong" | Borneo | The beneficent supreme being who is never addressed without the slaughter of one or more pigs, and also that no domestic pig is ever slaughtered without being charged beforehand with some message or prayer to him, which its spirit may carry up to him. But the most important function of the pig is the giving of information as to the future course of events by means of the markings on its liverHe is also god of war. The Kenyahs, Borneo |
| God name "Bheem or Bhima" | Indian | One of the five Pandoos, or brotherhoods of Indian demi-gods, famous for his strength. He slew the giant Kinchick, and dragged his body from the hills, thereby making the Kinchick ravine. |
| God name "Chang Hs'iien" | Chinese | Guardian god of children. According to tradition he was the mortal king of Szechuan killed by the founder of the Sung dynasty. His wife was captured and forced to become a concubine in the imperial palace. She was discovered by the emperor kneeling before a picture of her deceased husband which she identified as a local deity, the immortal Chang who gives children. This triggered the cult which began locally in Szechuan circa AD 100. Chang Hs'ien is depicted holding a bow made of mulberry wood and either aiming an arrow at the star Tien Kou, the socalled celestial dog which threatens the earth, or aiming the empty bow at a rat (see ERH LANG).... |
| King name "Erh Lang (master)" | Chinese | Tutelary deity. Associated with a celestial dog, Erh Lang was once honored with a sanctuary in Beijing (Peking). According to tradition he and the dog saved the city from flooding. His attributes include a bow which he is depicted drawing, and arrows. The dog may be replaced by a rat, in which case the arrows are not included. The rat is a sign of impending wealth and therefore the drawing of an empty bow at the rat is a sign which invokes wealth of children.... |
| Planet name "Paradise Lost" | Milton | Satan rouses the panic-stricken host of fallen angels to tell them about a rumour current in heaven of a new world about to be created. He calls a council to deliberate what should be done, and they agree to send Satan to search out for the new world. Satan, påśśing the gulf between Hell and heaven and the limbo of Vanity, enters the orb of the Sun (in the guise of an angel) to make inquiries as to the new planet's whereabouts; and, having obtained the necessary information, alights on Mount Niphates, and goes to Paradise in the form of a cormorant. Seating himself on the Tree of Life, he overhears Adam and Eve talking about the prohibition made by God, and at once resolves upon the nature of his attack. Gabriel sends two angels to watch over the bower of Paradise, and Satan flees. Raphael is sent to warn Adam of his danger, and tells him the story of Satan's revolt and expulsion out of heaven, and why and how this world was made. After a time Satan returns to Paradise in the form of a mist, and, entering the serpent, induces Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam eats "that he may perish with the woman whom he loved." Satan returns to Hell to tell his triumph, and Michael is sent to lead the guilty pair out of the garden. Milton |
| God name "Willow Pattern" | s | The tradition. The mandarin had an only daughter named Li-chi, who fell in love with Chang, a young man who lived in the island home represented at the top of the pattern, and who had been her father's secretary. The father overheard them one day making vows of love under the orange-tree, and sternly forbade the unequal match; but the lovers contrived to elope, lay concealed for a while in the gardener's cottage, and thence made their escape in a boat to the island home of the young lover. The enraged mandarin pursued them with a whip, and would have beaten them to death had not the gods rewarded their fidelity by changing them both into turtle-doves. The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred "when the willow begins to shed its leaves." |
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