Nerdology 101: My Top 5 Favorite Gods

Heyyy! Welcome back to another week of Nerdology 101. I just realized the blog is 6 months old now. Last week was my 26 week post. Yay meee! I have no real way of telling how many people are actually reading this blog, but I can say it accounts for almost 20% of my website traffic. So, it’s definitely helping with the discoverability issue. Whether you’re new, an occassional visitor, or a regular visitor, I appreciate it a lot.

With that being said, let’s get into some Nerdology! This week I’m going to be going over some of my favorite gods and why I love them so much. As I shared in the post announcement, I’m working on a mythological romance right now. To be clear, these are simply my favorite gods in real life. Some of them may appear in the work when it releases, other’s may not. I’m not telling.

5th Place - Amaterasu (Shinto/Japanese)

Starting off strong with Amaterasu, the Shinto (Japanese) sun goddess, and chief diety of the pantheon. Amaterasu is the only chief diety that will appear on this list. That’s for a reason. While she certainly isn’t the only goddess who has ever been a chief deity, she sticks out to me in a lot of way. For those that don’t know, here’s a quick summary:

Born of Izanagi and Izanami, Amaterasu and her siblings are some of the most central figures in the pantheon. The most famous story about her is one about a conflict she had with her brother, Susanoo, god of seas and storms. She retreated into a cave. That caused some trouble for the other gods and they had to lure her back out in order to convince her to return to her role.

In modern times, Amaterasu is still a highly influential figure. In fact, the imperial family is said to be descendants of her. This is one of my favorite key details and probably the one that makes her a favorite of mine. It’s fascinating to me because, here in the Western world, there was this idea at one time that kings were annointed by by the god the west believed in. This meant that rulers were seen as “chosen” to rule. We see other iterations where a ruler is see as the personification of a diety, like the pharoahs of Egypt. This idea of being descended from a diety, though, is a bit unique (not to say there is no other culture that took this approach. I’m sure other’s existed, but I can only speak in comparison to the ones I’ve researched). It’s just an interesting approach that had impact on how views regarding ancestry, rank, and monarchy formed within the Japanese culture. Thus, Amaterasu became one of my favorite gods because she exposed me to a way of thinking I hadn’t encountered before.

4th Place - Freyja (Norse)

Badassery. I love Freyja for the badassery. In the actual mythology, in every depiction, in everything, Freyja is badass. The balance is amazing because, on one hand, she’s this nurturing sort of maternal figure, but on the other she’s a terrifyingly powerful warrior that you do NOT want to tick off. It’s nice because it’s reflective of the reality of the versatility women can take on. Humans aren’t one-dimensional creatures and sometimes I think the world can forget that, specifically when it comes to women and other historically marginalized groups. Freyja doesn’t fit neatly into anyone’s box and, for that reason, I consider to be a feminist sign of adaptability, power, and freedom.

For context, in the mythology, Odin and Freyja married for political reasons. She birthed Thor, Tyr, and Balder—some of the most fearsome gods in the mythology. Odin, like most gods, was an ass. She sought revenge for the abuse and continuously fought to maintain her own identity, freedoms, and power.

As such, many women can identify with her stuggles. She’s easy to connect to and see ourselves in. I consider her a favorite of mine because her story shows us how, for all the changes the world has seen, many of the struggles women knew then have endured.

3rd Place - Buddha (Buddhist)

I think Buddha’s story is great because it calls into question godhood in and of itself. It’s a story that focuses on ascent rather than descent, where who you become is more important than the bloodline you come from. This is important because it throws a wrench in the idea most belief systems adapt where who you were born from determines your position in life. I think it’s origins have a lot to do with why Buddhism is such an adaptable belief system. This sort of fluidity it has is, to me, one of the most realistic approaches to belief because it focuses on things a person can actually do—like training their body and mind, helping others, and other things.

While the Buddha was ultimately a human, not a god, I think I’d be remiss not to count him because of his leadership, impact, and the spirituality he spurred on. Gods, for all intents and purposes, are figures through which we form our beliefs and explain the thoughts behind them. For this reason, Buddha is a god-adjescent figure that headed a spiritual movement still widely practiced in the world today. In fact, that’s probably why I put him at number 3. It’s complex and there’s no clear answer. I like that the existence of the Buddha isn’t clearly defined as one thing or another. Grey areas and contradictions are some of my favorite things—which makes it wasy to understand why I’d see Buddha as a favorite. The entire practice focuses on existing somewhere in between two polar extremes.

2nd Place - Anubis (Egyptian)

The best I can say here is that I think this god is fundamentally misunderstood a lot of the time. Many people have a specific image that comes to mind when they think of any “god of the dead”. That image is likely formed by media depictions more than it is the actual culture or mythology. In most depictions of Anubis from ancient Egypt, he was kind, protective, and comforting. While there’s no doubt he was a powerful god that could do some real damage if you ticked him off, it was more often feroscity that stemmed for a desire to protect the souls of the dead, thus most well-intentioned people/gods had no reason to feel threatened by him.

It’s this misunderstood nature of Anubis that draws me to him, He’s like an OG of the misunderstood badboy archetype. I think I relate a lot to that vibe because A) BookTok, but more importantly, B) it speaks a lot to humanities underlying beliefs about death in general when you compare Anubis to other dieties or figures meant to depict death. I, personally, have never seen death in the way most people seem to. I’ve never understood the obsession with extending ones life as long as possible, even to ones own detriment. Like, we joke a lot about Billionaires uploading their brains to the cloud or escaping to Mars and we see every day people dedicating their entire lives to being as physically healthy as possible. I mean, good for them, if that’s what they want for themselves. I think the people should live the life they want (minus the billionaires because they are actively interfering with other people living the way they want). It’s just not for me. I wholeheartedly accept that I likely won’t like to be ancient. It doesn’t sound like it would be comfortable or enjoyable. Quality of life is more important to me than length of life. As long as I’m generally happy and able to enjoy my life for whatever time I have, I’m cool.

Of course, that means beliefs systems where death isn’t depicted as a villain we’re all supposed to be running from appeal to me. I see death in a similar-ish way to how Anubis is portrayed within his mythology. Thus, he’s a perfect second place to me because I haven’t seen many other concepts or ideas of what being dead might look like that align with my view of death.

1st Place - Thoth (Egyptian)

Two Egyptian gods? Yup, two Egyptian gods. Come on, you seriously thought you were making it through a writers list of favorite gods without encountering a god like Thoth? He’s Egyptian god of wisdom, writing, math, science, and pretty much everything that has to do with being a nerd—if you didn’t know. In fact, my obsession with Thoth runs deep enough that I stumbled into an academic text about him I wanted to read, which was of course only available in academic libraries. So, I called every academic library in a two hour radius of me to try to convince them to let me in. When that failed, I went to my public library and asked them to try to get an academic library to lend it to them to lend to me. They told me they’d ask but that my chances were only 20% and that it might take months. I said okay and they tried. Luckily, the kind people at the University of Vermont ended up shipping the book all the way to Maryland for me to nerd out on for a few weeks. If that story doesn’t tell you why I align so well with Thoth, I don’t think there’s another way to explain it. There is no better god to hold my top spot.

That’s about it for this weeks segment of Nerdology 101. Hope you’ll come through again next Friday! Until then, have a nerdy week!

Nerdology 101: Thoth

Hey, hey! You, you! It’s time for some Nerdology! No way, no way. You can’t be too excited!

[Clears throat] … Please excuse my outburst. I had to do it at least once and thought this would be a good week because [Insert drum roll] it’s my 10th post! Over the past 10 weeks of hosting and writing this blog, it has become the most visited page on my website. So, thank you all so much for sticking with me. It’s actually a huge help and is definitely boosting my visibility, so I appreciate it.

If you've been here for a while, you already know me. But if this is your first time visit, I’m Maria—the crazy, quirky kinklord of an indie author who runs this blog. I'm happy to have you all here and for that reason, this weeks post will be a bit special. I’ll be doing a bit of a deep dive on my favorite deity: Thoth. Most of you have probably heard the name before, but for those who haven’t, Thoth is the Egyptian God of wisdom, writing, science, the moon—pretty much everything a nerd could ask for, right? I thought so too. Let’s get into some Nerdology!

Thoth (originally called Djehuty in Egyptian) was an awesome god. I listed a few of the areas where he’s noted above, but there’s more. How Thoth came into existence is a bit debated. According to some sources, he was born from Ra’s lips asexually. Others say that the god literally created himself. What is clear, in any source, is that Thoth was revered and that Egyptian mythology placed him as a central figure. A lot of gods depended on him in some way or another. He had a hand in judging souls as they moved to the afterlife. He advised Seshat, Osiris, Horus, and other gods. Perhaps most importantly, though, is the fact that this god knew everything. Period. Every scrap of knowledge there was to know, he knew it. Now, I like to learn, but that’s a lot of stuff to know.

One of my favorite things about Thoth is that he’s so intersectional. Thoth is equally associated with science and math as he is with art and philosophy, literature—even mediation. He did it all. It’s nice to think of it that way. In the modern age, it always kind of feels like there’s this huge divide between the humanities/liberal arts/art and STEM where it’s constantly a choice between one or the other. Either we invest in STEM or we invest in the arts? If we prioritize science, non-STEM subjects become “useless degrees”? It’s all very black and white, one or the other. We seem to have forgotten the word “and”. Thoth, to me, serves as this sort of ancient reminder to place equal importance on all of it because they’re all important aspects of intelligence. It would probably seem crazy to such a god to place more weight on one form of knowledge than another.

Thoth was so important to the Egyptian pantheon that he was one of its first gods. We can trace him back to the 25th century BCE. Roughly, that places our earliest accounts of Thoth’s worship within a few centuries of the Akkadian rule of Mesopotamia, making this god pretty freakin’ old. Of course, that’s not to say Thoth doesn’t still have his following today. Many self-identifying witches seek his guidance. Here, you can see one such practitioner talk about their experiences with the deity, and here, we see that later pantheons recognized that their own god, Hermes, was an iteration of Thoth in their own culture. The Romans also had their own iteration of him in Mercury too, hence the planets astrological associations with communication, curiosity, and versitility. It’s the “messenger” of the astrological world.

As a writer and a lover of knowledge myself, I’ve always taken a great interest in Thoth. He’s one of the few deities I can identify with. Of all the tales various religions tell, not many of them register with what I’d see as god-like. Thoth makes a lot of sense to me as a god, though. Knowing things that mortals, and even other deities, are unaware of. Being a sort of vessel for knowledge, literature, and art sounds like something a god would do to me.

I’ve been known to embrace witchy concepts, although its worth noting that I wouldn’t call myself a witch (I just have a deep respect for them and think they could be closer to “right” about spirituality than most humans). For me, I view religion of any kind through an academic and/or culturally curious lens. But, I do hold certain ritualistic things that I do not necessarily because I believe a deity is on the other end of them, but because the practice is something that helps me psychologically. So, yes, you could say that on several occassions, I have connected with the idea of Thoth during those practices—if not the deity himself, then with the ideas the archetype embodies that I identify with on a deep enough level to consider it spiritual. These moments fuel the curiosity that comes to life when I write… or travel… or watch something that brings up a question… or just about anything because I tend to get curious often. I consider that, in and of itself, a form of honor to Thoth and deities like him, who, whether they exist or don’t, inspire humanity to pursue the creativity and knowledge they stand for. As intangible and unprovable as the concept of a god is, there’s no denying that the impact mythology has had on us as a species it. Ultimately, unlike many gods, I see the idea of Thoth and his iterations as one that has a net positive impact on the world and that’s not something I would say about many deities, modern or ancient. That’s why he’s my favorite deity and one I consider myself connected to.

That’s about it for this weeks Nerdology 101 post. I’ll see you back next week for the next segment of Nerdology 101! If you want to know what the topic will be, I post weekly topic reveals on Saturdays across my socials! (Meta: @malevato6 , Bluesky: @marialevato.com ). Until then, have a nerdy week!

Source List:

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/thoth-deity

https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-thoth

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-akkadian-period-ca-2350-2150-b-c

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/700048