Gods and Goddesses of Free Will
October 8, 2023 1:27 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to find a God or Goddess of choices. Janus is close, but he's more about transitions than deciding on one of many possibilities. There are also plenty of wisdom deities out there, but they're about making the right choice as opposed to choosing in general. Any pantheon is fine.
Hermes is coming to mind, but more as being helpful in keeping options open or finding lucky ways to proceed. So about choices, rather than choosing, if that makes sense.
From Theoi.com:
posted by lapis at 1:50 PM on October 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
From Theoi.com:
The idea of his being the herald and messenger of the gods, of his travelling from place to place and concluding treaties, necessarily implied the notion that he was the promoter of social intercourse and of commerce among men, and that he was friendly towards man. (Od. xix. 135, Il. xxiv. 333.) In this capacity he was regarded as the maintainer of peace, and as the god of roads, who protected travellers, and punished those who refused to assist travellers who had mistaken their way. (Il. vii. 277, &c.; Theocrit. xxv. 5; Aristoph. Plut. 1159.) Hence the Athenian generals, on setting out on an expedition, offered sacrifices to Hermas, surnamed Hegemonius, or Agetor; and numerous statues of the god were erected on roads, at doors and gates, from which circumstance he derived a variety of surnames and epithets.The combo of roads/travel, social discourse/messages, commerce, and dice/chance has a feel of "choices" to me. Like setting out on a road trip with an intention but no fixed map.
As the god of commerce, he was called diemporos, empolaios, palinkapêlos, kerdemporos, agoraios, &c. (Aristoph. Plut. 1155; Pollux, vii. 15; Orph. Hymn. xxvii. 6; Paus. i. 15. § 1, ii. 9. §. 7, iii. 11. § 8, &c.); and as commerce is the source of wealth, Hermes is also the god of gain and riches, especially of sudden and unexpected riches, such as are acquired by commerce. As the giver of wealth and good luck (ploutodotês), he also presided over the game of dice, and those who played it threw an olive leaf upon the dice, and first drew this leaf. (Hom. Il. vii. 183; Aristoph. Pax, 365; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 675.)
posted by lapis at 1:50 PM on October 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Gods of Thelema come to mind, in particular Nuit, who represents "the ultimate source of possibilities".
posted by heatherlogan at 2:18 PM on October 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by heatherlogan at 2:18 PM on October 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'd suggest Ganesha, the Hindu god of new beginnings and remover of obstacles. If you'd like to leave offerings for him, he likes sweets.
posted by ananci at 2:46 PM on October 8, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by ananci at 2:46 PM on October 8, 2023 [14 favorites]
There's an argument that Lucifer Morningstar represents free will, at least to the extent that he was able to rebel against God.
posted by SPrintF at 3:05 PM on October 8, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 3:05 PM on October 8, 2023 [6 favorites]
Trivia, she who stands at the crossroads.
(Roman; folded into an aspect of Diana)
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:02 PM on October 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
(Roman; folded into an aspect of Diana)
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:02 PM on October 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Esu Elegba, one of the Yoruba Orisa. Esu is the god of crossroads which is the node where choices are made. Eshu is essentially ambivalent, neutral since there is no way to determine what a choice will lead to. Searching Santeria or Candomble should get you a few sources about Elegba, it is a god that crossed the Atlantic with slavery.
Elegba is one of the trickster gods, like Loki. It's seen as being in charge of fate, or in Spanish, the path one takes (caminos.) It's also seen as causing deliberate confusion. In Ifa, if one is about to make a sacrifice to one of the Orisa, an offering will first be made to Elegba. Elegba is represented by a clay sculpture of a head at the crossroads or sometimes just a heap of earth there. If there are statues, they are conspicuously well-endowed.
There is a work by Marta Maria Perez Bravo that speaks to me about the ambiguity of choice as a power in our lives: in picture no. 2 here she is planted in it, she chooses the shifting ground as her bedrock, or perhaps she is confined in it? Just before the moment of choice all possibilities are viable, and infinitely so.
There's a lot of sense of chaos and ambivalence around the concept of this deity. To many people that neutrality seems quite discomfiting. In Vodun (disguised syncretic version of Ifa practiced in the Americas) Elegba is represented by the devil. Currently in Nigerian Christian Yoruba terms Eshu (which is Elegba) is what the devil, or evil, is called.
posted by glasseyes at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
Elegba is one of the trickster gods, like Loki. It's seen as being in charge of fate, or in Spanish, the path one takes (caminos.) It's also seen as causing deliberate confusion. In Ifa, if one is about to make a sacrifice to one of the Orisa, an offering will first be made to Elegba. Elegba is represented by a clay sculpture of a head at the crossroads or sometimes just a heap of earth there. If there are statues, they are conspicuously well-endowed.
There is a work by Marta Maria Perez Bravo that speaks to me about the ambiguity of choice as a power in our lives: in picture no. 2 here she is planted in it, she chooses the shifting ground as her bedrock, or perhaps she is confined in it? Just before the moment of choice all possibilities are viable, and infinitely so.
There's a lot of sense of chaos and ambivalence around the concept of this deity. To many people that neutrality seems quite discomfiting. In Vodun (disguised syncretic version of Ifa practiced in the Americas) Elegba is represented by the devil. Currently in Nigerian Christian Yoruba terms Eshu (which is Elegba) is what the devil, or evil, is called.
posted by glasseyes at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2023 [4 favorites]
Seconding Lucifer. If a mythological entity is not strictly required, how about the spirit of Monty Hall?
posted by zaixfeep at 5:38 PM on October 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by zaixfeep at 5:38 PM on October 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Kairos was the god of the "fleeting moment"; "a favorable opportunity opposing the fate of man". Such a moment must be grasped (by the tuft of hair on the personified forehead of the fleeting opportunity); otherwise the moment is gone and can not be re-captured (personified by the back of head being bald).
posted by dum spiro spero at 8:45 AM on October 9, 2023
posted by dum spiro spero at 8:45 AM on October 9, 2023
Response by poster: After some further reading about him I think Esu Elegba is who I'm looking for. He interacts directly with the choosing process and "...can sometimes make things even more complicated. At a whim he can turn a simple choice into a vast conundrum of paradox."
zaixfeep, Monty Hall is a perfect avatar of choice and I will keep him in my pocket for later.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:46 PM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
zaixfeep, Monty Hall is a perfect avatar of choice and I will keep him in my pocket for later.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:46 PM on October 9, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just go careful Tell Me No Lies. Lots of research is also good. The notions around Elegba are psychologically powerful and complicated.
posted by glasseyes at 4:04 AM on October 10, 2023
posted by glasseyes at 4:04 AM on October 10, 2023
Don’t forget Pallas Athena, goddess of Wisdom!
posted by whuppy at 5:33 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by whuppy at 5:33 AM on October 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
« Older Hardie Board installers added extra trim. It looks... | Guidance for a very nervous first-time coop buyer... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by The otter lady at 1:34 PM on October 8, 2023 [6 favorites]