Semites / Simitic

   With the Semites and the faiths they left us, the patron deity of the tribe is the top god – the only god.  I’ve tried to figure out why this should be, and I came to a little conclusion as I was reading an earlier edition of a very good book about archaic thinking: Before Philosophy by Henri Frankfort and others.  In a final chapter, Frankfort suggested that life in the desert doesn’t leave you feeling terribly grateful toward the Mother Goddess; your whole dependency is on the tribe, and the tribal god then becomes the dominant figure. 

   When the Semites moved in as conquerors, then, they dislodged deities to make way for their own, and the Hebrews are the most extreme in turning against the Goddess, who represents the powers of the Earth.  In the Old Testament, the local goddesses of Canaan are called the Abomination, and this hangs on in our Christian tradition.  G 16

   Herding mythologies have their own traditions and their own integrity, so there is a deity that represents the tribal energy, the mythology of that particular people.  Different tribes have different characters; we’re not supposed to think that anymore, but they have.  Generally the patron deity of the tribe is secondary to the great nature deities.