42 MYTHOLOGY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
From zo6theism, as described, to physitheism the way islong. Gradu- 
ally, in the progress of philosophy, animal gods are dethroned and become 
inferior gods or are forgotten; and gradually the gods of the firmament 
—the sun, the moon, the stars—are advanced to supremacy ; the clouds, 
the storms, the winds, day and night, dawn and gloaming, the sky, the 
earth, the sea, and all the various phases of nature perceived by the 
barbaric mind, are personified and deified and exalted to a supremacy 
coordinate with the firmament gods; and all the gods of the lower stage 
that remain—animals, demons, and all men—belong to inferior tribes. 
The gods of the sky—the shining ones, those that soar on bright wings, 
those that are clothed in gorgeous colors, those that came from we know 
not where, those that vanish to the unknown—are the supreme gods. 
We always find these gods organized in great tribes, with mighty chief- 
tains who fight in great combats or lead their hosts in battle, and return 
with much booty. Such is the theism of ancient Mexico, such the theism 
of the Northland, and such the theism discovered among the ancient 
Aryans. 
From this stage to psychotheism the way is long, for evolution is slow. 
Gradually men come to differentiate more carefully between good and 
evil, and the ethic character of their gods becomes the subject of con- 
sideration, and the good gods grow in virtue, and the bad gods grow in 
vice. Their identity with physical objects and phenomena is gradually 
lost. The different phases or conditions of the same object or phenome- 
non are severed, and each is personified. The bad gods are banished 
to underground homes, or live in concealment, from which they issue on 
their expeditions of evil. Still, all powers exist in these gods, and all 
things were established by them. With the growth of their moral quali- 
ties no physical powers are lost, and the spirts of the physical bodies 
and phenomena become demons, subordinate to the great gods who pre- 
side over nature and human institutions. 
We find, also, that these superior gods are organized in societies. I 
have said the Norse mythology was in a transition state from physithe- 
ism to psychotheism. The Asas, or gods, lived in Asgard, a mythic 
communal village, with its Thing or Council, the very counterpart of 
the communal village of Iceland. Olympus was a Greek city. 
Still further in the study of mythologic philosophy we see that more 
and more supremacy falls into the hands of the few, until monotheism 
is established on the plan of the empire. Then all of the inferior deities 
whose characters are pure become ministering angels, and the inferior 
deities whose characters are evil become devils, and the differentiation 
of good and evil is perfected in the gulf between heaven and hell. In 
all this time from zodtheism to monotheism, ancientism becomes more 
ancient, and the times and dynasties are multiplied. Spiritism is more 
clearly defined, and spirits become eternal; mythologic tales are codi- 
fied, and sacred books are written; divination for the result of amorous 
intrigue has become the prophecy of immortality, and thaumaturgics is 
