Satanists have always pulled from a vast and stimulating
variety of "devils" and "gods" to use as imagery
in ritual and as metaphor in writing. Herein lie the archetypes
of several different times and cultures, for your discriminating
tastes and research. -M.G.P.
The provided information was compiled and is copyrighted
1994 by D.W. Owens. Distribution is allowed if credit is given.
Likewise, all validity and authenticity of information rests on
the author's shoulders and not ours. Enjoy!
Information from the author: "There is no pretense
of original or exhaustive research here. The information is drawn
from popular books and standard reference works such as can be
found in any library. There have been many thousands of pagan
deities, of course, and a truly complete listing of them is probably
impossible. This little listing of only a a few hundred gods does
not pretend to be any more than a random sampling of the riches
of the pagan religious genius. Many will disagree with my choices
-- why this god and not that one? Why was this pantheon ignored
altogether? The answer is that the choices are almost completely
arbitrary, being those gods I thought important or interesting
enough to make a note of. I remind the reader that this is a little
piece done in spare moments, and not a major scholarly work. One
caveat. Sources sometimes disagree with each other, and the pagan
pantheons were quite fluid, changing all the time. One god would
split into several, or several gods would merge into one, and
often one god was considered an aspect or form of another god.
The pagans borrowed deities from each other quite freely, and
the various cults went in and out of fashion much the same way
that rock groups go in and out of fashion in our own day. With
that explanation (or excuse), I accept all blame for any truly
glaring errors."
