Marine God Triton on How to Behave With a God
Content contains reference to vessel-sinking events.
Summary of Contents: Triton in Mythology | Arrival and Appearance | Vegetable Rubbish Sea | How to Survive Triton's Tests | Team Triton Versus the Whaler | Sea Gods Work on Dry Land Too
Festival Day - 31 October
Triton in Mythology
God Triton is listed by Hesiod as the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Some legends described him as merman, human-formed from waist-up and fish-tailed below.
Poet Ovid said his shoulders were barnacled with sea shells,
God Triton Mythological references
Goddesses, Gods and You
What kind of Heaven do you expect. Soft fluffy paradise of eternity, or oblivion of nothingness? Out-of-body survival expert Margo Williams discovered a surprisingly simple system of management and afterlife recycling.
There are many goddesses and gods in the community. Speaking their name aloud evidently sends a signal; creates a link to wherever they are at any given moment. If it works for you as it worked for Margo, and they respond, be respectful but be yourself. Honesty and thoughtfulness are appreciated.
Sacrifice nothing but your time. Most of them seemed approachable and appreciated being remembered.
The ancient temples that still can be found in some places, although mostly broken, are huge monumental structures; impressive sacred spaces, their scale designed to impress, to be worthy of divine visitation.
However, it is not the size and splendour of any sacred space but the sincerity of the person seeking contact.
Anywhere can be a temple.
"A sea-shell barnacled God?" Nick Hammond asked out-of-body survivalist Margo Williams.
Triton Arrival and Appearance
"There was no light to announce his first arrival, only a curious whirring sound and a shape. Little more than an outline of a head and body, but without being solid.
"I like the idea that homage is being paid to me. It should be done every day, every hour," he said. Voice deep as ocean. "A person honouring me. So you should." He paused, thoughtful then pointed at me.
"I see you can go. I will take you with me."
He pulled me away, skimming fast and low far out over ocean. Wave tops flecked quickly below, huge rises and swells, and still we travelled.
The water turned from grey blue to green, vegetation appeared. Then vegetation was everywhere, in every direction as far as the horizon. All matted up with debris.
I feared Triton from the moment of his arrival.
Feared more when suddenly I stopped and dropped into the middle of the matted green mass.
Quick as fish he trussed and bound me with heavy rope-like kelp, wrapped around my chest and legs. Then he pulled me deep into the vegetation.
The Vegetable and Rubbish Sea
"You can stay here," he said. "So you can honour me every hour. Then I will be as great as Poseidon."
I fought as well as any helpless-trussed sea-god victim. Tried to push away the seaweed, as he pulled me under and down. His shape was visible, still only an outline but huge and monstrous.
When the last of my energy was gone and I felt certain he had me, Triton stopped pulling.
The kelp rope around my ankles fell away.
Triton pushed me up out through a gap. On top of the vegetation layer I found a solid wide raft had formed of driftwood, plastic and seaweed.
He followed me out of the water; the outline shape seemed to form solid in the air and sunlight.
Like most other ocean Gods he wore a loin cloth, and like all the others a powerful-looking figure. Nine feet tall, sparkling blue eyes under big shaggy grey white eyebrows; long waved hair matted into beard.
I tried to see resemblance to Poseidon but hair, beard and eyebrows obscured too much of his face.
"I am one of the most important of the ocean Gods, a mighty god," he added. "Too few mortals remembered me in the past. Now, none do except you. I am the son of the most powerful sea god. Yet is that true?"
He frowned eyebrows like a crashing wave of grey white. "Am I not now the most powerful?’ He stared hard at me. I didn’t have an answer.
My silence seemed to satisfy him.
The Mess Mortals Make
Triton gestured for me to sit, a comfortable yacht cushion lay among the debris.
"The homage you pay me is appreciated," he continued. "Yet you do not lay at my feet as many mortals would, you look me straight in the eyes."
I froze, didn't know what to say.
Triton gestured. "This is a new experience for me, and I like it," he said. "Be proud of yourself. Look all gods and goddesses in the eyes."
The vegetable sea looked a mess, worse than anything I had seen so far. Plastic bottles of every conceivable shape and size, many broken. Driftwood, plastic bags and oil-caked pieces of net and rope all tangled up in the greenery.
Triton shook his shaggy head. "You see how mortals abuse the ocean?"
It was evident as far as the horizon.
"Although creatures of the sea are affected and k....d by oil, we are able to save many. We draw them away from danger," he said and sighed. "It is unfortunate that sometimes they are caught in it."
"But there are good mortals and these are blessed in time for what they do," Triton's friendly tone flattened again. "Though there are many countries that cause us grief, the islands in the east especially."
He shrugged in genuine astonishment. Not a barnacle on his body. "The evil of some mortals in your world makes me shudder but they know not what awaits them."
Triton and the Thing to Come
He gestured toward the green and plastic sea's horizon.
"On the other side of the world today I have stopped a whaling ship, the engines will not work and never will again." A sort of smile appeared in his whiskered face.
"There is also a fight happening at this particular moment on a ship, between the captain and a man from the shore." He paused as if listening to the quarrel in real time. "This will delay sailing as the captain will break his arm."
Triton looked up. "And something else will happen to stop them going."
He didn’t share more on that. Instead he turned to me and said, "I am one of the cruellest Gods of the oceans. Today, however, I feel in a gentle and loving mood toward you."
Triton said nothing more to me that day or any other about his father.
His concerns were in common with all the ocean goddesses and gods.
How to Survive Triton's Tests
Triton's tests too were of a kind, and I understood the rules.
When underwater and caught in the deadly tenacious embrace of a giant octopus or squid, and a sharp shell or k...e miraculously came to hand, don’t destroy the creature.
Going limp sometimes worked. If not, then only saw at a tentacle. Sometimes I squirmed my way to freedom.
"Wise," always was Triton’s response.
In the water, he was less visible. When we travelled, I saw only a faint outline but it wasn’t human shaped.
Sometimes the fight was worth it for the underwater views.
Other times his tests were on the shoreline, walking through razor-shell infested sanded beaches. "This is what you have to do, persevere," was all he said by way of explanation.
Sometimes Triton sank boats. He punctured hulls, small boats were vulnerable. Wherever possible he pushed the party fishermen-filled vessels onto the rock. Boats sank, sometimes people drowned.
"There is no mercy for those who take sea life," was his reason every time.
Often waves were his weapon. Pearl fishermen especially angered Triton, and they were vulnerable to his vengeance. Fishing competitions did not please him, either.
Maybe irritated by my hapless determination to save every drowning soul, he insisted I do harm. It was Triton’s strangest test.
Triton Versus the Whalers
He placed me on the back of a surfaced whale.
In a cold sea lashed by the wind. A whaler ship nearby, its crew clustered around a harpoon g.n. They f...d at the whale and missed, reloaded and f...d again and missed again.
Four harpoons. The whale somehow swerved in the wave, or dipped by trough and the harpoon passed by, harmlessly.
Missed my head only by a matter of inches. I tried to steer the whale.
"Next time, catch it!" Triton roared.
The ship swung round for another shot. Triton raised a clenched fist at me. "Use it like a s...r and throw it at the men."
Bang! The harpoon hurtled fast toward me. Instinctively I ducked. Triton reached over and plucked it from the air and handed it to me.
"Throw it! Throw it at them!," he urged.
Triton guided the whale toward the ship, a rearing wave lifted its huge body. We were literally looking down over the deck of the vessel.
A group of crewmen gathered close around the g.n, staring up in amazed wonder. Hard not to miss, even if I could have launched the harpoon.
But I still had the feeling I must not do harm, even to them, though they were trying hard for the whale.
‘I will not do this,’ I decided.
Triton touched my shoulder and the harpoon flew from my hands with ferocious force.
The g.n crew scattered and dived behind cover. But one crewman stood still, wide-eyed in disbelief at the incoming threat.
Moved too slow. I saw red spurt from his foot.
"That was a test." Triton steered the whale past the ship. "In a way, I am pleased you did not, although I ordered you to."
Be Kind to the Ocean. Gods are Watching
Whaling, fishing and pollution were the main causes of Triton’s irritation. The ocean bed in so many places was badly littered with debris.
Countless anemone and starfish colonies devastated by spilled oil.
Discarded drums that leaked thick black-green fish-k.....g globs. We inspected rubbish-strewn beaches, dumping grounds for trucks filled with industrial waste pouring more over heaps of broken glass, filthy sacks and plastic containers.
It was everywhere.
Discarded nets covered in oil were a catastrophic menace. Thick stranded nets thrown overboard, broken up in parts, thick with tarry oil.
Some fish swam through the gaps, got coated with oil; it affected their fins and they d..d. I tried to roll up the nets and push them under stones wherever and whenever possible though mostly they were too sticky.
In cold northern waters sometimes we stopped to witness ships dumping containers of nuclear waste into the ocean, smashing the delicate marine structures.
We visited many places, hot and cold to see different types of containers, some round and painted yellow, others were oblong.
As much of his time was spent cutting fishing nets, having seen the amount of nuclear waste dumped in the ocean, I felt Triton was doing humankind a favour just as much as the fish.
Triton Works on Dry Land Too
I also discovered ocean Gods are comfortable being out of water.
We arrived in a marina filled with yachts. A forest of tall masts and wires, white luxury plastic and chrome glinting in the sunshine.
Triton strode along the jetty and stopped at a big glass restaurant window. I noticed his loin cloth had expanded into a long turquoise robe.
He gestured for me to look.
Inside, the eatery was beautifully carpeted. Widely spaced tables, crisp table linen, shining cutlery, polished glasses; little vases of flowers on each table.
Busy with diners though not every table was occupied.
Triton pointed at the glass fish tanks that lined the wall.
A man in immaculate white overall and cap nodded as a customer pointed to a fish in a tank. The man raised a net and brought up the Turbot-like selection.
He handed it to a chef who carried it to a wooden slab.
The fish wriggled for its life, the chef s.....d its head with a k...e then deftly skinned and boned, dipped it in batter and fried. All done in view of the customer, who then returned to his seat.
The waiter brought the cooked fish to his table and placed it in front of him.
"One day the owner of this establishment will face me," said Triton.
Thank you for your company on this introduction to god Triton. If you would like to know more about Margo Williams' experiences and suggestions for how to survive the hereafter, read this book. Now available from Amazon.
