THE TWELVE OLYMPIAN GODS

 

The twelve Olympian gods are the main powers of the overmind plane that ensure the evolution of humanity in its mental phase of development.

Gods attending the birth of Athean - Louvre Museum

Gods attending the birth of Athena – Louvre Museum

Remember that within you reside all the gods of Olympus
Origen

Thou hast to learn to bear all the gods within thee and never stagger with their inrush or break under their burden

Sri Aurobindo (Aphorism 287)

To fully understand this web page, it is recommended to follow the progression given in the tab Greek myths interpretation. This progression follows the spiritual journey. The method to navigate the site is given in the Home tab.

There are two levels above that of the gods of Olympus in the hierarchy of mythological characters: that of the Titans and that of the primordial triad of Gaia, Uranus, and Eros. Even further above these Hesiod describes the very first levels of the emergence of Chaos, but we will leave these aside for the time being as they belong to planes outside “creation”.

It would have therefore been logical to begin the study of the myths with a story about the origins, and to then describe the different branches that were generated from the Titans, powers of creation, before going on to their children, the gods. Nevertheless, it has seemed preferable to begin with more easily comprehensible concepts, the gods of Olympus. Before studying their symbolism in detail we must situate them within the mythological structure to better understand their function. The level of the supreme trilogy is Existence (Gaia), Consciousness (Uranus), and Bliss (Eros). The change of meaning from the Consciousness/Existence pair to the Spirit/Matter or Spirit/Nature pair occurs when the Titans, the powers of creation in relation to man’s consciousness, are brought into play. We shall leave aside for the moment the different stages of the development of vegetal and animal planes as well as the corresponding primitive vital life of humanity which are described in the lineage of Pontos.

This creation linked to human consciousness is given shape in the following generation of gods. Each of them represents a law. This does not involve material forms, which appear only at the final level of densification, but rather mental or archetypal forms.
As idea precedes form, the gods are in resonance with the mental world at its highest level, the overmind.

The gods are therefore not the powers of creation. This is why mythology tells us that the universe, nature, and man existed before them, or at least outside their influence. There was a time when men lived under the rule of the Titans and their leader, Cronos. This was the time of the Golden Age, the childhood of humanity.

Zeus, the master of Olympus, dwells at the highest mental level, the Overmind, and is an agent of transmission of the higher forces. That is why he is depicted holding thunder and lightning, symbols of the dazzling speed and power of the Supreme Consciousness which were given to him by the Cyclopes, themselves symbols of the omnipotence and omniscience of the Absolute. The source of these attributes is not within him, however; he only has access to their use.

The rule of the gods began with the victorious outcome of their fight against the Titans who were henceforth relegated to Tartarus. This victory marks the advent of a new predominance of the mental plane in humanity. But the history of the earth is played out again in each individual. This victory of the gods marks the entry into the Age of Reason at the end of infancy, which is itself a period dominated by vital forces during which the powers of creation express themselves with limited though progressive mental control. In a future phase of human evolution, the gods will in their turn cede their place as rulers. This is the significance of the story of the second child of Metis that Zeus wished to prevent from being born because his grandmother, Gaia the Earth, had foretold that the child would depose him. This last upheaval of the ruling forces was preceded by a long series of similar events. At the beginning Spirit (Uranus) ruled over Matter. In Hesiod’s words, ‘Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods’ (Hesiod, Theogony, 116). This period corresponds to the putting in place of the powers of the Spirit that preceded the gestation of humanity.

Then Uranus was deposed by his children, the Titans, the powers of creation who dominate the childhood phase of humanity. Finally, the Titans gave their place to t