We like to think of ourselves as urbane, sophisticated, intelligent. We modern folk are not superstitious – we believe in science and technology and the practical applications thereof.

We scoff at our ancient ancestors and all the gods, spirits, and mystical forces they revered and worshiped. We look at the pantheon of Roman, Greek, Norse and other deities and we laugh how we much more intelligent humans have moved beyond such beliefs.

No, not really.

Saturn used by many products/companies. Mercury used by many products/companies. Nike (Greek goddess) products. Atlas tires. Thor in the movies. Diablo video game (and hot sauce). Mazda cars (from Ahura Mazda). Ajax (cleaner and programming language). Gemini and Apollo space missions. The Apple logo – a bite missing from the apple in defiance of Yahweh (Jehovah). Cupid is used every Valentine’s Day. Gaia as another name for Earth. The Time Warner logo as the eye of Horus. Starbucks uses a mermaid in its logo. Venus clothing. Pluto – a digital streaming platform. The flower company FTD uses the image of Hermes. Pandora jewelry. Maserati logo. Versace (Medusa). Hermes fashion goods. Subaru. Goodyear uses the flying shoe of Hermes/Mercury in their logo. Mobil oil uses Pegasus, the flying horse.

How about mythological references to old gods in about every Disney movie ever made (just type “myth references in Disney movies” in your Internet browser). Hyperion is a bad company located in the Borderlands! Isis is, well, not good. Midas paints cars. Amazon. Trident (think Poseidon) gum. Neptune tires. Marvel villain Thanos is Thanatos, ancient god of death and destruction.

And, of course we face the old gods every day of the week: Sunday – the Sun’s day – hearkening back to Sun worship since the bad old bestial days. Monday – the Moon’s day. The moon has almost equal time as the Sun. Hey, it’s lunar, from Luna, Roman goddess. Tuesday for Tyr (Mars), the god of war. Wednesday for Woden, better known as Odin, ruler of Asgard (hey, I saw the movie). Thursday for Thor, god of lightning (hey, I saw…). Friday after Freya or Frigg, goddess of love, sex, and apparently violent death. Having barely survived a few vicious Friday nights, I can see this. Saturday is named after Saturn, the father of Zeus.

The name of the months aren’t much better. January, named after the two-faced god Janus. March, named for Mars. May is from Maius and June is from Juno. The ancient gods live! July (Julius Caesar), August (Roman Emperor Augustus). I’m going to stop now.

How about the American military? Trident submarines. Nike missiles. Many ships in the fleet are named after ancient deities (i.e., Castor, Medusa, Triton, Nereus, etc).

Just look around around and you will realize you are surrounded by the old gods.

They really are immortal!

Gee, Zeus, I want a Mars bar!

Just saying.

E