god(s) and gods

Lee Berman · 30 Nov 2010, 03:32 · from 2010-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:32:12 -0500
Subject: (urth) god(s) and gods
Message-ID: <SNT123-W24B2E159C1B1DF1B0D44D4CF250 at phx.gbl>

>James Wynn:  I really don't understand why some people have a problem with Pan = Pas. 
>I supposed it is because people have come to think of him as a minor woodland deity 
>dancing around with wooly pants and goat feet. 

Yes, that was my problem with it, on first reading. But if Pan is conflated with Dionysus
and his thousands of years of gnostic global religious influence the problem disappears. I 
don't find the Pas for Pazuzu shortening as implausible as you- for me that disguising nickname 
is reminiscent of Wolfe using Cas for Dorcas. But, in Dionysian light, I am quite willing to 
grant Pazuzu second banana status.

Pas is dead at the beginning of Long Sun. And "The Great God Pan Is Dead!" is certainly an 
important heraldic cry in the history of Christianity. (Though my understanding is that the 
Wiccans feel their Dionysian goat god, Green Man, Lord of the Vine, etc. came before the 
Olympians and outlasted them and will return to outlast the temporary ascension of the patriarchal, 
monotheistic, Middle East religions.) I had long thought the Sun series was meant to depict a 
universe fumbling toward Christianity. Lately I have some doubts (but only some).

James your Quezal article is chock-full of interesting associations. For some reason, in the 
description of the inhuma bird and its horn-like head crest I was reminded of the godling who
wears "a peaked hat that was in fact a claw". Well, maybe a connection. If not, I suppose we
must at least think of Severian a little.

>Hound asks about the reason Silk is sometimes referred to as Silver Silk and Silent Silk. My
> guess is that this is an allusion to a couple satyrs/fauns who are associated with the Dionysus
> cult, Silvanus and Silenus.

>I think you are on to something here. I don't know what. But I smell game.

Yeah, about the same here. There seems to be some connection between Father Inire and Typhon/Pas
and The Outsider. But it is hard to pin down.  With the current exploration of gnostic religion 
I am trying to find a connecting role in regards to Dionysus and the Demiurge.

Where does Inire go after Severian leaves Urth? Where was Inire before Ymar? Did Typhon have a
mystical vizier during his reign? (Ceryx perhaps?). Are vertical pupil goat eyes the reason
Father Inire's various incarnations must keep their eyes hidden? The extreme female beautification
trend in The Commonwealth keeps me thinking of fallen angel Azazel as he was known for bringing that. 
He was also goat-associated...

Well, a bunch of puzzle pieces. But not quite fitting together yet.

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