Extracts from De Natura Deorum

by "Orides" (Levi ben Isaac of Carthage, writing as ben 'Or, "Son of Light"), 11th-century Kerdean
with commentary by Ivan O'Shaunessey ("Professor Keje") of the Kerdeans, 1987

The gods of the gentiles are all false, but they are not merely vain imaginings, as some believe. Rather, the tales of gods among the gentiles are rumors and re-tellings, greatly distorted, of encounters between men and various mighty spirits. Some of these spirits claim to be gods; other do not but were taken as gods by the gentiles.

The truest of the false gods are the shelihim, the deputies, daimons, or emanations of the Intelligences of the heavenly spheres. But these distribute their influence on Earth and take no notice of men, save as objects of their work.

[Oridies presumably refers to some of the adhene. – Keje]

Human worship does not sway these gods, but where people pour out prayer and sacrifice and hymns, there they also pour out vis [= chi, prana, mana, numen – Keje], and other spirits are drawn to this as flies to the blood at the altar. These spirits include ghosts, elementals, daimons of the air [djinn], and straying eidoloi [ka'u] of daimons, the eidoloi and emanations of angels, and even fallen angels. Visions and manifestations of these have aided in keeping rumors of the gods alive among the nations.

The shelihim, the emanations of the heavenly spheres, put forth their own eideloi to distribute their influence. Lesser spirits sometimes seize these eideloi and use them as foundations of power, according to the species of influence found in the eidelon. Such a lesser spirit may then become known as a mighty god in the reckoning of the gentile nations.

[In other words, a spirit can acquire godlike power by mastering the ka of an angel. The angel itself, fallen, unfallen, or neutral, would be quite beyond the power of the djinni or other creature to overcome, but partial ka'u, or exhausted ones, can sometimes be acquired. In the rest of this excerpt, Oridies classifies old gods according to the astrological aspect of the ka they use for their power. Modern Kerdeans do not generally follow him in this, since the discrediting of the old astrology, though it is clear that the old gods dealt in various qualities of strongly aspected prana. In place of planet names, Oridies uses the names of the corresponding sephiroth from the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. – Keje]

The nations reckon their gods immortal. In truth, they can die, and the greatest of them have already died. Zeus of the Olympians died shortly after the Trojan War was fought. Zeus was a demi-angelic daimon [ifrit] bearing an emanation of the order of Chesed [Jupiter]

As is well known, Zeus displaced his father Kronos, who bore an emanation of Binah [Saturn] and succeeded Ouranos, who bore an emanation of Chokhmah [the stars].

The Kerdeans have discovered that Zeus died at the hands of Typhon, another demi-angelic daimon [ifrit], at the time of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. Many others of his pantheon died or abdicated in the following centuries. The last Olympian to die was Pan, a daimon of the orders of Yesod and Netzach [Luna and Venus], who died the year the Nazarene was born. [Modern Kerdeans dispute Oridies' dates for the Exodus and the Typhonomachy.]

Like the Olympians, the gods of Canaan and Babylon were ruled by a king of the order of Chesed, i.e. the Marduk, not an individual but a dynasty. But the last Marduk was dead or deposed by the time of the Captivity of Israel in Babylon.

The gods of the Indians and the Slavs are likewise ruled by kings of the order of Chesed [Jupiter], and these rule to this day. [These gods, Indra and Perun, or djinn bearing these titles, still live in the twentieth century. – Keje]

The gods of the Celts and the Teutons are ruled by kings of the order of Hod [Mercury]. These gods are, for the most part, not daimons, but Hyperboreans [elves]. [The Celtic king god, the Dagda, is still living. Odin is believed deceased shortly after Oridies' time.]

The Egyptian gods have at all times been ruled by kings of the order of Tiphereth [Sol], of at least three different houses, Ra, Amon, and Horus. The house of the Ra is the oldest, and the house of the Horus is youngest, but all three have coexisted, forming alliances more often than not.

Sun gods also rule beyond Cathay [China], in the great island of Nippan [Japan; please note the extent of the Kerdean network, even in the 11th century]. It is said that, traditionally, these gods are ruled by a sun queen. Many of them are elementals.

[Jonathan Fane, a sixteenth-century Kerdean, disciple and commentator of Oridies, classifies the gods of Mesoamerica as "genii" (djinn) ruled by a dynasty of sun-kings, whom he characterized as "divine vampyres."]

The gods of Cathay [China] are ruled by a king of the order of Chokhmah [the stars]. These gods are, for the most part, not daimons, but ghosts. [The king god is Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor.]

The spread of the religions of the Nazarene and Mohammed has diminished traffic between men and the old gods. It is a separate question how much this has diminished the power of the old gods themselves. It is true that they no longer receive service or vis from men, but they always received the much greater part of their power from their eidoloi, so that they do not need the offerings of men.

However, the lesser spirits of their courts often depended on human offerings, and fought back and sued their patrons when the offerings fell away. The greater gods would sometimes heed the suits of their clients, either of necessity or for pride's sake, and were always offended when their worshippers fell away.

But the new monotheists were heavily protected by the angels, and by the Sundering. The wise among the old gods and their followers have swallowed their anger and gone new ways. The unwise still seek to return to their old estate, and sometimes ally with devils in their efforts.

[Below is a table summarizing Orides' list of king gods.]

Designer notes: [corrections in brackets].

King God Pantheon Race Sphere
Yu Huang Chinese human ghost   Fixed Stars
Ouranos (†) Uranian ifrit Fixed Stars
Kronos (†) Titanic ifrit Saturn
Zeus (†) Olympian ifrit Jupiter
Indra Hindu djinni Jupiter
Perun Slavic djinni [actually fay] Jupiter
Marduk (†) Mesopotamian   ifrit Jupiter
Ra, Amon, Horus   Egyptian djinn [actually yaoguai] Sun
Tezcatlipoca   Aztec djinni Sun
Amaterasu Japanese djinni Sun
The Dagda Celtic fay Mercury
Odin (†) Norse fay Mercury

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Copyright © Earl Wajenberg, 2018