Interesting website: Info on the Judaic/Christian/Islamic Pantheon...

[Solon]

The name YHVH or YHWH is written with four consonants only; it is the holy Tetragrammaton, or in Hebrew, Shem Hameforash. Hebrew has no vowels. In ancient times, it didn't even have vowel points. These were added much later, and at that time pronouncing the name was already forbidden for generations. So no one knows how the most ancient name of God was pronounced. The vowel points make it sound like Yehova, and later it was anglicized to Jehovah. The reader may not say it. He or she must say instead the name Adonai, which means "My Lord." The name occurs about seven thousand times in the Bible.

Every taboo has a reason. In ancient times, names had power. If you knew the real name of an entity, you had power over it. Often, an entity had two names, one widely-known and one secret. It is quite possible that in the very early stages, Yahweh was God's secret name and was used to influence or even control Him. Later use of the Shem Hameforash in the Kabbalistic tradition points to this direction, and will be discussed later in the article.

Source for Article: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/y/yahweh.html

Judaic Mythology Page:

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/middle_east/judaic/articles.html

Now, to be entirely fair, I'll list a some of the Gods of my own Pantheon, and the myths associated with them as well are listed. OK, as my avatar would suggest, I'm Wiccan, hence, I'm almost a Henotheist(Worship one God, believe others exist), for Wiccans, we usually refer to the two Gods worshiped as the God and Goddess. Though, being generic terms, these are not nearly as helpful as knowing the actual God or Goddess worshipped, a couple of the more popular ones for Wiccans are Cernunnos and The Morrigan, though, for me, personally, my pair are Ogmios/Ogma and Brigid.

Page on Celtic Mythology: http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/celtic/articles.html

[PurpleChez]

1. Good article!

My wife - and, through her, many of our friends - are involved in the academic study of religion, and I've picked up enough from them to know that you're on the mark. I also appreciated your brief discussion of Wicca. I'll admit to a prejudice of my own - I have often joked that most Wiccans (especially here in a college town) adopted their religion primarily to piss off their parents. And when I myself was in school I grew tired of people telling me in one breath that religion (by which they meant mainstream Christianity) was silly and superstitious, and in the next insisting that I just HAD to let them read my tarot cards sometime. Thanks for a reminder that Wicca counts many sincere practitioners among its ranks.

[Solon]

2. You know, its actually kinda funny...

Both my parents, and my extended family, to a large extent, are Catholics, at least nominally. I mean, OK, my mom is a lapsed Catholic, my dad was born Baptist and converted a few years after Mom married him. But, except for my Dad's "Religious" period soon after conversion, I haven't even been pressured into the Church for years. My Mother thought the old Pope was full of shit(her words) about Feminism and Choice, my dad was always silent on that. She hasn't set foot in a church since the last wedding, and that was a Methodist Church that my Cousin married in, she was raised Catholic, her Husband, raised Jewish, they compromised on where to get married. As you can see, this family isn't a "Fire and Brimstone" type of family at all, in fact, of the kids in this generation, My Sister is most likely a Goddess worshipper(never asked), her fiance is, I have no clue, probably an Atheist or Agnostic, my other 3 male cousins are Atheists/Agnostics, and me, I'm a Wiccan. To us, Religion was never about whether it is the most correct or something along those lines, more along the lines of INDIVIDUAL spiritual fulfillment.

Generally a liberal family, by and large, a couple of months ago I was trying to mess with my Grandmother's head, because last summer I was dating a woman who was African and Japanese, as well as being a Buddhist, I only see my grandmother once in a while, and she started in on "When are you getting married" shit, because only Me and another of her Grandkids is not married/engaged yet. So I told her about this woman, and her response threw me for a loop, she said, and I quote, "I always wanted to be in a Japanese Wedding!". I swear, Grandmas never quit. :)

[PurpleChez]

4. Yeah. I love my grandma, and it tears me up that I haven't been

able to have much contact with her since her memory started slipping. (I lived in her house til I was 10, and then two doors away until I was 30, but in '97 I moved almost 700 miles.) I wish I could visit, spend time, give comfort. But back in the day she could make me nuts. I was very unhappily single for most of my 20s, and it didn't make it any easier when Grandma grilled me about my nonexistent love life and hinted as to whether I was gay. (I wasn't.) She could also be too involved in my job hunting; f'rinstance...since I could use a computer she would insist (and I mean insist) that I apply for programmer and tech jobs for which I had NO qualifications. Her sister, my great aunt (who passed a few years ago) was more of a traditionalist: whenever I called her, half of the conversation would have to do with "why don't you call?" It's a cliche straight out of bad standup comedy, but it was as if they WANTED me to not want to spend time with them. Between family and church (which were often one and the same) I had positive relationships with many older relatives and I enjoyed spending time with these folks, but sometimes they could make it difficult.

I was raised Lutheran but I haven't been to services of my own accord for over eight years and was sporadic at best for a long time before that. I know now that I was never really a "traditional" Christian -- despite growing up in a very white-bread denomination I think I received a surprisingly liberal religious upbringing. I was never taught that only baptized christians were worthy of salvation or God's love. I was basically taught to love other people and to be a good steward. Although organized religion and I essentially parted ways many years ago it was on very good terms and I maintain a great respect for sincere religious folks who aren't all wrapped up in bigotry and hate. My wife, who had no real religious upbringing, converted to Judaism and our daughter, born since that time, is being raised Jewish. My parents, who are still church-going Lutherans, couldn't be happier. They have celebrated several Jewish holidays with us and seem eager to learn about the customs and traditions. I've recently been looking into Buddhism. So far it's been an essentially private matter, but I know I won't be disowned when I go public. How much happier the world would be with a little more tolerance.

On edit this looks very erratic. Hope it wasn't too tough to follow.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

3. I love pagan and Celtic mythology.

So fascinating.

:thumbsup: