Types of Spiritual Forces in the Religio Romana

[Anonymous]

Salvete!

Upon reading the highly interesting thread titled Religio Romana (which I am still reading) I came to recognise different types of spiritual forces apart from the Gods and Goddesses. I am interested to know what type of forces exist in the Religio and what is their significance. Can anyone help?

Valete optime!
Lucius Aurelius Flavus.

[Quintus Aurelius Orcus]

Salve Flave
I will try to answer your question to the best of my ability, even though Piscine is the man you need to see for answering your questions.
Well the genii or juno were spiritual guides sorth of speak. The genii or Genius for male, juno for female are no different than the daimonion Sokrates told of, with the exception that the genius and juno aren't daemones as stated by Piscine. But the idea behind it is the same. a type of guardian spirit to guide you through your life. The Lares were more household gods who watch over the family while the Lemures were more of a spitefull nature. I forgot most of them, but i'm sure Piscine will be able to help you.
vale
Romulus

[Horatius Piscinus]

Salve Luci Flave

The Di Deaeque immortales would primarily be the various deities of myth. Theses were categorized in different ways by Varro, Cicero, and some other authors. They include the greater gods and goddeses, sometimes called maiores when mentioned along with the lesser gods and goddesses known as plebs with Ovid. The Di caelesti or Di superi are the heavenly gods while the Di inferi are deities of the earth and the Underworld.

Above and beyond are the unknow and Hidden Gods, what the Etruscans called the Aesiras and Seneca the {i]Di Involuti[/i]. These would be your cosmic deities over which Jupiter of myth does not rule, such as Fortuna, the Parcae, and Nemesis. (In later developments there is another cosmic Jupiter said by Vergil to be omnipotens.

Lesser spiritual being would be the semidivi such as are the fauni and silvani As Orcus said there are thought to be a genius for every man and a juno for every woman. The Etruscans also had larsae who were guardian spirits over one's gravesite, which the Romans seemed to retain. There was another winged figure, too, later called a psyche that is kind of like your soul, or the winged figure that carries your genius on to the Western Lands. Sometimes these are portrayed as putti or little Cupids as appeared in Renaissance Italian art.

Then there are the Manes who are the spirits of the dead. The Manes are placed into different groups, too. The Lares are the spirits of your deceased ancestors. All Roman ancestors together are collectively called the maiores or else the antiquiti. Those Manes who for whatever reason do not have any family or friends to carry on their rites must wonder the earth, these are the Lemures who receive special offerings in May. Some Lemures do find a place to reside, becoming Penates of household gods, Lares viales or spirits of the roadways, or Lares compitales your neighborhood spirits, and the Lares praestites who guard the city. Your geni loci can be Manes or lesser deities. Those Manes that do not become any of the above and who are especially evil and wish to do harm to others are called Larvae. THERE ARE NO DEMONES IN THE RELIGIO ROMANA. Some spirits of individuals go on, beyond becoming Lares by being deified. These would be the divi and the Indigites are thought to be a classification of Di Immortales who were originally men, like Romulus, and are thus also divi

There are in addition what are called numina. A numen is a power of a god or goddess. It is not a being in any sense. Sometimes a god or goddess may touch a place or object and leave within it a numen. There are also indigitamenta that are aspects of a deity weilding a single numen An indigitamentum is not really a deity in itself, but it does have a kind of being, as it is a facet of some god or goddess. Since an indigitamentum has one and only one kind of numen to weild, it is the closest thing to what is meant by demones among Greeks.

That should be enough to get you started, either towards understanding or confusion, I probably forget something, and there is more to be said about the various classifications used of the Di immortales as well.

Vade in pacem deorum