Why does most religion talk about their GOD being male? Especially Christains and Muslims. Is there a prominent female god that as big as the other two that I am missing?
Why does most religion talk about their GOD being male? Especially Christains and Muslims. Is there a prominent female god that as big as the other two that I am missing?
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Greek, Roman, Norse gods had a mix of male and female, although I think "head god" was still male.
In Hindu there is also a mix, although I'm not sure if they are all equal or one is in charge.
Shinto has animal gods (I'm again unsure if there is a particular "head god" or whether they are male or female, but at least it probably isn't "a man").
Hindu is complex and has some variability depending on the flavor. Some are left up to the individual to determine based on their perceptions.
The supreme being is genderless, the other aspects are more masculine or more feminine and some are androgenous or both. Feminine energy is the most powerful at creation and masculine is the most powerful at destruction. The gods are just a reflection of an aspect of the supreme genderless Brahman, where their characteristics favor a given gender and that is expressed in their visage. They also use names that convey a symbolism.
So no gender is the most powerful in Hindu, but different forms of gender expression have more power in an aspect of power.
Shinto's "head god" was Izanagi, who was very much a man.
But there were plenty of very powerful feminine gods anyway. And Izanagi was the head in more a 'fathered the others' way than anything.
Shinto's Izanagi wasn't really the "head god" I thought? He was the creator deity, and fathered the rest but that's true for Ouranos in Greek myth and I don't think he'd be considered a primary deity at all.
From my understanding that was Amaterasu. Wikipedia agrees, for whatever that's worth.
Often considered the chief deity (kami) of the Shinto pantheon, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the Kojiki
I don't really know of any other solid examples of a female-led pantheon, though.
It’s a little more complicated than that. Izanami and Izanagi both created a lot of gods together. They descended from the heavens and using a spear in the waters of creation, Izanagi created land. The both of them aren’t the original gods though.
Izanami and Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of gods, the Kamiyonanayo. Before them came the Kotoamatsukami, all coming into existence in solitude in Takamanohara at the creation of the universe.
It’s a little more complicated than that.
I've been interested in mythologies for a long time and in my experience this phrase literally always applies.
But I didn't actually know most of that, really interesting! Thank you.