“The truth of Lucifer and Sophia is the world’s biggest secret,” said Joe. “To get this story right, you basically have to retell the history of reality itself.” That’s what Joe, Mike, and Ronald, pals since childhood and now in their late sixties, set out to do. Lucifer and Sophia were the first two archangels ever created, but their reputations today are in ruins or obscurity. They want to find out why. After much travelling and on-site investigation, they discover that the true story of these two primary archangels is not what people have thought. It is the key that unlocks the purpose and destiny of the Earth. The final outcome of humanity is implicated too. Many diverse cultures maintain cultural images of these two figures, and in many cases, their images are positive, uplifting, even comic. This trio of geomythic researchers take the Greek icon of Prometheus bound on Mount Caucasus for defying Zeus as their rallying point and seek to probe its true meaning. Mythic images, especially old ones, need to be decoded for the modern mind. They tend to have layers of meaning and you shortchange yourself if you either dismiss them or take them only on a literal basis. You have to jump into them psychically, put them on like clothes, and get mythopoeic about these old stories. Along the way, as they visit sites in America, the British Isles, Japan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Chile, Mexico, and other far-flung locales, they’re assisted by angels, Ray Masters, and the genius loci of the many sites that preserve a myth of these two archangels. Foremost among the places visited is Ireland, the legendary Emerald Isle, and it turns out this island nation, anciently called Ériu-Land after its presiding landscape goddess, has a pivotal world role to play in the restitution of these mythic figures and the future well-being of the planet and its humanity.

In this study, which is first of all a folk-lore study, we pursue principally an anthropo-psychological method of interpreting the Celtic belief in fairies, though we do not hesitate now and then to call in the aid of philology; and we make good use of the evidence offered by mythologies, religions, metaphysics, and physical sciences.

Presents brief entries describing the gods and goddesses from the mythology and religion of a wide variety of cultures throughout history.

Throughout history, humans have pondered the question of their existence. In nearly every society, part of the answer has included some form of god or goddess. For the Mayans, one such deity was Ajtzak, who tried to create humans from wood; for the Yorubas of Africa, Shango controlled the thunder and lightning. The Chinese of the Shang dynasty era worshipped Shang Ti. Evil deities were also part of the answer, as in the case of the Kuvera, the Hindu chief of evil in the Vedic period, and Tu, the Persian or Islamic demon of fatal accidents. All of the known ancient gods, many heretofore obscure or known only from mythological literature, are included in this exhaustive reference work. The focus is on their origins, histories, and functions. The people who believed in each deity are identified, along with alternate names or spellings both old and modern. The descriptions that follow are of the functions, origins and physical nature of the deities. Extensive cross references are provided for alternate spellings and names.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1994.