What is Yig? Where did it come from? Why am I writing about it or better yet, why do I consider it the primary deity in my heroic pantheon?

First off, I should back up a little. Why the use of the word Yig? Yig was originally the name given to the malign serpent god as it was defined by HP Lovecraft. So why would I use this obviously factious term/name when there are so many serpent deities that have existed in the myths of real races. I could have picked anything from Quezecouthl to the Norse world serpent, Jörmungandr

Yig has been my choice for the All-Father serpent for many reasons. First, it has a primal ring to it. A basic symbol. Something you could imagine being formed by a non-human mouth. Also since it had no association to any specific culture or anything ‘real,’ I can see fit to use it as I like and incorporate it into the universal earth-serpent archetype as I will.

The serpent is a culturally universal image. Like it or hate it, the snake plays some type of role in the mythology of nearly every group of humans on the planet. From the bible to the Norse world serpent and from Hermes’ Caduceus to Mayan lore, the serpent plays an important rule in human evolution and how they comprehend the world we live in. For the ease of dialog, these serpent archetypes fall under the name Yig and give us a strong starting point for understanding the massage they convey.

Which brings up a unique feature of the serpent in mythology. Unlike most other animals and archetypes, the snake can be both good and evil, harmful or beneficial. Like the snakes ringing the Caduceus or the Double Helix, snakes often represent the duality of the universe. Like their bodies, they are the hill of the bell curve representing both sides as well as everything in between.

Yet in our paradigm, Yig stays consistent as well. He represents the male aspect of nature. He is life and the survival of the fittest. If the female is creation, Yig is destruction. Life that exists by taking life. But he is more than that. His is the wisdom of the forest, the strength of natural things, the freedom of the open spaces. Like a snake, he is the sperm that triggers life and all that comes with it.

Despite his duality, Yig stands for many ideals. Life being one of them. Plant, animal, the Earth itself. The finite versus the infinitive. This concept is most obviously represented by the difference between the small regions where life exists as opposed to the endless lifeless voids of cold space.

Yig protects his planet and al that live upon it and rejects the mindless void, the cold null of the endless empty. He makes the is out of the nothing, which in the end is the most amazing thing… existence despite the impossibility of it.

End of Part I

Learn more about how Heroes gain strength from Yig Here

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