Polytheistic Religions in Pre-Roman Italy: Part II

Ligurians were considered, even by ancient authors, the most ancient population in Italy. Certainly it was one of the biggest and was settled in the major part of western Alpine region before the Celtic expansion during V-IV century a.e.v. After the Celts’ coming, Ligurians merged with them and were known as Celtic-Ligurians. Their original language, before the strong Indo-European influence exerted by Celts, is supposed to be similar to the Rhaetians’, so Ligurians were not Indo-Europeans. Like the Celts, Ligurians were divided into various groups and we can hardly distinguish Celts from Ligurians among the names of northern Italy inhabitants, because their union was very deep-rooted: we can say that Ligurians were Apuans, who Romans brought to Samnius, Bagienni, Friniates, settled between Lucca and Modena, Ingauni, who subjected other Ligurians, Intimilii and Sabati; and also Lepontii, whose belonging to Ligurians was supposed on the basis of toponymy,  their pre-Indo-European dialect and the custom to bury corpses, Levii, settled around existing city of Pavia, who were bound to Anamares and defeated by Insubres, Salassi, who trade with transalpine populations through Great Saint Bernard pass, sacred to the god Poeninus.

Other populations in the same area are supposed to be Celts: Anamares, settled around Piacenza, Gauls (Senones, Boi, Cenomani, Sequani, settled in the Po valley), Insubres, settled in current Lombardy, Taurini, whose Celtic origins are supposed on the basis of toponomy, Taurisci, whose name, like Taurini’s, comes maybe from Celtic root taur- meaning “mountain”. The origin of Orobii was unclear to ancient authors also; the merging between Celts and Ligurians is particularly clear in some populations as Anamares, Bagienni, Taurini and Taurisci. Ligurians’ religion also went under Celtic influence: it might have been a “naturalistic” religion, with a strong cult of forests, woods, peaks and rivers, all worshiping places sometimes pointed out by a simulacrum, a stone or an altar, but deities’ names we know had a Celtic origin, probably because of the interpretatio the Celts did, in the same way Romans interpreted foreign deities.

So a healing deity is called Bormanus, while Romans called Jupiter the mountain god Poeninus. From the god Bekkos takes its name Mount Bego, full of rupestrian figures; this god was represented half human and half bull: horns or a half animal body are main features of many figures engraved in those rocks. From Celts, Ligurians borrowed the cult of god Belenos, who was worshipped as far as the Adriatic Sea coast. Ligurians also worshiped Hercules, like many other ancient Italian populations. They used to throw personal objects like weapons and jewels in rivers, lakes, marshes and torrents, but we don’t know exactly why they did so, as an offer to deities or to prevent everyone from using a dead person’s objects. The burial of the dead was the most spread practice until the Bronze Age, then cremation came into use.

When we talk about Italics, we mean all those Indo-European population which came to Italy. They are divided into two groups: Latino-Sicels and Osco-Umbrians (or Umbro-Sabellians or Umbro-Samnites). Among both these groups, relations among various populations had a strong religious feature and leagues of independent cities always had their seat in a sanctuary. They worshipped totemic animals and most of their deities were bound  biological cycles and agriculture. Among both groups, even though it happened more often among Osco-Umbrians, the ver sacrum (sacred spring) ceremony was practiced: in case of need, that is to say in case of famine or war, all fruits of the earth, animals and children (sometimes only boys) born that spring, among 1st March and 30th April, were consecrated to deities, especially Mars, and while fruits and animals were sacrificed, boys, once they turned twenty, left their original community and went away to found a city in the place where their totemic animal or deity would lead them, then this new group would take their name from the animal or deity.

There are also some deities we can call “Italic”, because their cult was practiced by both Latino-Sicels and Osco-Umbrians: these are, for example, Jupiter worshipped by Latins (Sanctuary of Iuppiter Latiaris) and also by Umbrians and Samnites, being mentioned in tables fm Gubbio (Umbrians) and Agnone (Samnites), and whose name comes from the Indo-European root meaning the daylight; a deity of fruits, a god according to Osco-Umbrians, a goddess according to Romans, who is Pomono or Pomona; Mars or Mamers or Mamurius, god of war but also patron of agriculture and guide in founding new communities, main god of the ver sacrum ceremony, which took place when there were problems in agriculture or about defense. The most ancient Italic group is the one of Latino-Sicels: archaeologists consider cultures settled around the Tiber mouth and in southern Etruria, those of Latins and Falisci, similar to the Sicels’, who overlap Sicanians and Elimi in Sicily.

At the beginning, Latins organized in a league of independent cities, having its center in Diana’s temple near Aricia, in the sacred wood of Nemi, guarded by the Rex Nemorensis, a priest who was killed by he who wanted to succeed him, generally a fugitive slave, and who stripped away a branch from a tree to declare his own right to fight with this priest. Having language and religious practices in common, Latin cities entered into federations that were more religious ones than politic, whose members gathered during some festivals to make sacrifices in sanctuaries. Main cultic center was Latian Jupiter’s (Iuppiter Latiaris) sanctuary, on Mount Cavo, among Albani Hills; here a white bull was sacrificed during the yearly festival of Feriae Latinae and meat was distributed among representatives of cities taking part to the league.

In Iuppiter Latiaris’ sacred area there was also a sacred spring of Nymph Ferentina, a goddess who should have also a sacred wood we didn’t identify. The city of Lavinium, being tied to myths about Aeneas, had a sanctuary dedicated to Penates, household gods of fireplaces, to whom salt and emmer were offered. Another important city, which Festus told was related to Etruscans but in which archaeologists didn’t find any trace of Etruscan culture but only of Grecian one, was Tusculum, hosting a temple dedicated to Jupiter, Latins’ main god, of whom two simulacra were found, and one dedicated to the Dioscuri, destroyed during Middle Ages. In Lanuvium Iuno Sospita (helper), with very bellicose features, was also worshiped.

The Falisci belong to the same branch of Latins and their language is very similar to Latin. But they also had close relations with Etruscan, as ancient authors affirmed Falisci were an Etruscan group. Their most important city, Falerii Veteres, had Minerva as patron and her temple was brought to Rome on the Aventino hill after third Samnite war ending, when the city was destroyed by Romans or, according to some historians, abandoned by the Falisci themselves who would find more convenient to move closer to their new allies, the Romans, building a new city, Falerii Novi, next to a  Roman built road. Falerii Novi’s gate dedicated to Jupiter still exists, and some inscriptions demonstrate the existence of cults to Mercury, Ceres and Liber; Juno quiritis, with very strong warlike features, was patron of the city. On the top of Mount Soratte there was a temple to Apollo, now replaced by a Christian church.

Scholars think that Sicels had established first in Bruzio, then in Sabines’ region, finally in Campania before they crossed the Straits of Messina and settled for good in Eastern Sicily, in XI century a.e.v. circa. As it happened to Sicanians and Elimi, Sicels were absorbed by Grecian colonization and took some features of Grecians’ religion: they worshiped the “Palici”, twin deities, patrons of navigations and agriculture we know only through Greek legends. Their name itself comes from Greek, meaning “born twice”, because they would be born first from their mother Talia the Nymph, and then from the ground which swallowed Talia at Hera’s command. Their father was Zeus; in this case Zeus was a translation by interpretatio of the Sicel god Adrano, known to be father of the “Palici”.

Populations belonging to Osco-Umbrian group came to Italy later and they were: Umbrians, who were settled around Tiber upper basin, Samnites, settled on Abruzzi’s mountains and divided into Carencini, Pentri and Caudini, then Hirpini, Aequi, Frentani, Volscians. Belonging to Samnite stock the Lucanians, Bruttii, Marrucini, Marsi, Vestini and Oscans; these were all called Sabellians by the Romans together with the Apulians, former inhabitants of current Apulia before Illyrian populations arrival, and with the Sabins, who could have originated by Umbrians with the migration practice called ver sacrum, ritual exodus of young people looking for new places to settle in. Bound to Sabines, there were the Paelignans, once believed to have come from Illyria.

Many of these population took their name from a sacred animal (Picenes, Hirpini, Lucanians, Frentani) or from their patron deity (Marsi and Vestini). They have some deities in common: Flusa was a goddess of earth or of vegetation in different pantheons, who became the Roman Flora, and then Saku or Sancus, god of pacts and contracts, and, according to Cato, main deity of Sabines, whose name was believed to come from this god’s son’s name, Sabo. In Rome, Sancus became Semo Sancus, god who supervised treaties, later identified with Dius Fidius and then with Jupiter Sancius, Jupiter watching over given word. During a certain period, the Oscan language was more spread than Latin; it’s as different from Umbrian as Spanish is from Italian, especially after Umbrian cultural renewal, a not very known change in common with Latin, while Oscan remained conservative.

Main sources for studying Umbrians’ religion are Gubbio’s tables, reporting ancient Umbrian texts to be pronounced during some rites performed in the city of Gubbio. One of these still survives in its Christianized form: originally it was a rite for purification, in which sacrificial victims, three different animals to honor three different deities, were asperged with water and carried at a run around the city for three times, nowadays people carry at a run three holy candles which are 275 kg heavy along the same path; before running, candles are asperged with water and dedicated to three different saints. The most evident feature of Umbrians’ religion is the deification of nouns, concepts, actions, objects because of their philosophy, thinking that every abstract concept had its own divine substance: so Fisovio Sancio is the god protecting Gubbio’s citadel, because he’s the divine substance of the rite which is going to be performed.

On the same tables we can find a list of sacrificial victims, paired with the most appropriate deity, and there are also vegetal offers every three sacrificial animals, so marking a division of deities in triads, maybe coming from Etruscan culture. To Jupiter Father, many times recalled in tables, an ox was to be offered, an over one year of age victim was to be offered to “Spettore”, a male lamb to the “Giovio” (maybe a Jupiter’s son, he could be someway similar to Hercules, whose cult was so spread in Italy), pork lard to Dicamno Giovio, an over one year of age sheep to Atto Giovio, a male pig to Atto Marzio. After the sacrifice to the evoker gods, the rite went on with divination through observation of flight of birds. We don’t know whether the Umbrians learned this practice from Etruscans or Etruscans learnt it from Umbrians; but it should be practiced a lot, in facts surnames coming from names of birds are still common in Gubbio.

The priest entered into a bond with the deity, who had to ensure the birds behavior would be expression of divine power, then the augur went on with divination. This big rite, done for purification and protection on the city and its army, ended with the sacrifice of three calves to Mars Hodio and three steers to Hondo Cerfio. These animals’ meats were eaten keeping silence, with a twist of bread. Music should also have much importance in Umbrians’ religion and the tables report instruction about how to construct a musical instrument with the needed sacrifices to Father Jupiter and to “Pomono Popdico”, a god also called “Poemune”, corresponding to Roman goddess of fruits, Pomona. Other inscriptions report the name of the goddess Cubra, later identified with Bonadea by Romans.

The same goddess was worshiped, with her name’s phonetic variant of Cupra, by Picenes as a mother goddess of fertility and she was their main deity. There are still two towns with the goddess’ name in theirs (Cupra marittima(= by the sea) and Cupra montana (=by the mountains)) and her temple was on Tesino’s mouth’s left bank. In this area some simulacres were found. According to ancient sources as Strabo or Pliny the Elder, the Picenes had their roots in Sabines from which they born by the ver sacrum ceremony, and established in current Marches following a woodpecker (in Latin picus), a bird sacred to Mars, from which they took their name.

It seems to be that this Osco-Umbrian group settled breaking up into families and tribes and merging with other inhabitants of the same region, a pre-Indo-European population which we don’t know much more about: this is the reason why some archaeologists prefer to call Picentes the former group and Picenes the latter. Picene culture never had unitary features and it varied from town to town, even though towns sometimes gathered into confederations. They traded with other population settled on Adriatic coasts such as Etruscans, Illyrians, Daunii and Liburni; some modern historians think that Liburni influenced Picenes’ culture by settling in the same region.

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Polytheistic Religions in Pre-Roman Italy: Part I

POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS IN PRE-ROMAN ITALY
 
[Published by the Pederazione Pagana in Italy, based in Venice]

Celsus, Alethès Logos, V, 25

“Every population cultivates its own traditions, anyway they have been established. And this seems to happen not only because every population believed that was right  to follow its own customs and necessary to preserve the principles in force, but also because, as it’s very similar, all parts of earth, assigned some to a tutelary deity and some to another from the beginning and divided into fixed domains, are still administered in this way. Besides, what is done by every population is right in so far as it is done in the way those tutelary deities like it. It will be impious to subvert the original institution of the various places”

So Celsus says in his work reconstructed from its criticism written by Origen; the basic concept is that every population has the right-duty to preserve its costumes, beliefs and deities of the land it belongs. Although Celsus is a late and not very reliable source, since his work comes to us indirectly, the idea he expresses here should be widely spread in Greco-Roman world. Just think that Greeks described other religions in geographical works or geographical parts of historical works (for example, the Histories by Herodotus, which Celsus often refers to) while Romans used, during wars, to call the enemies’ deities to Rome, where they promised they would built a temple for them.

After the long interruption due to Christianism, today in Europe we see the rebirth of the so-called “ethnic” religions, or, to use a word we are taking back to its ancient meaning, paganism. In Europe we don’t see that restless seeking for one’s origins as we see in America, where there are some Wiccans who feel sorry for they don’t have the “right” roots of the tradition they chose[2]. But it’s true that the pagan path to walk is often chosen on the strength of a sense of belonging, which comes from individual sensibility and not necessarily has an effective connection to a person’s  geographical background.

This is more true in Italy, where the ethnic groups, both native and immigrant ones, before and after Christianity, merged in various ways and everyone of them leaved its mark on the country; so, before and after the Romans’ conquest, ancient populations’ religion lived together on the same territory. So an Italian person can have Celtic, Germanic, Italic, Pre-Latin, Latin, Roman, Grecian roots without fully identify with only one of them: this is the sense of belonging who lead someone, for example many of those who find their Roman roots, to feel him/herself as a descendant of one ethnic groups, some others to feel him/herself part, to practise or to study more than one ancient religions, which can all be called traditional. Many of those traditions are probably still buried under the sands of time, some of them are “recovered” in a wiccan way: that’s the case of a Wiccan current in Veneto, putting on the center of their practices the ancient Venetic goddess Reitia.

I don’t want to enter into the merits of the choice; what I want to present here is some kind of geographic map of ancient polytheistic religions who came across Italy during the centuries before Christianity, showing superpositions among them and how they stratified on the territory. To be brief, I won’t talk over the most developed religions, those which are the most known and exerted a strong influence on Italic paganism: I mean Grecian religion, coming from the colonies of  Magna Graecia since VIII century a.e.v.[3], Etruscan religion, Celtic religion, Phoenician religion and Roman religion, which developed from the union of Italic, Etruscan and later Grecian elements. 

But in Italy the Germanic element didn’t lack, under the guise of the Cimbrian, who settled on the Alps and in northern Italy. The complexity of those religion and the abundance of information we have, if we compare it to the scarcity of sources we have about other ancient Italic religions, make it very difficult to discuss them here, where I simply want to give an overview of religious situation in Italy from the beginning to Rome. All those religion deserve a better elaboration (to which I will apply myself) also about the links among them I just sketched here. The Italian peninsula was occupied since the Palaeolithic era; the most ancient archaeological  finds go back to about 850,000 years ago. 

Since the Palaeolithic we can distinguish three different cultures, with different kind of tombs, all with rich outfits. These three groups fragmented still further during the Mesolithic, when we can date the so-called “Venuses”, little sculptures with marked feminine features. During the Neolithic, some new populations, coming from the East by sea or from the Danubian basin, came to Italy and brought some important innovations, like agriculture and ceramic. These populations also had a great surgical knowledge and could do the trapanning of the skull, making the patient to survive. Later the use of metals spread in the peninsula.

During the Eneolithic, cultural groups established and spread: in this period, in the region now called Emilia, developed the civilization of  “terramaras”, characterized by palafitte and manufacts spread in the whole Central-southern Italy. In the same period started in Europe the spreading of Indo-European languages coming from East in consecutive waves.

So the eldest local population are born in proto-historic Europe; later other immigrant population will arrive and add to them. In this article, because of its features of synthesis, I won’t dwell long on archaeological and social features of every civilization, but I’ll try to focus my attention, as much as possible and even when I’ll be forced to simply make a list of deities’ names, on religious aspects of those civilizations. Although, it’s necessary to keep in mind that ancient “pagan” cultures didn’t separate sacred and profane as monotheistic religions do, but everything had a sacred part and a profane (as we will define it nowadays) one.

Ancient sources pass down some names [4] of ancient populations living in the peninsula before Latins and Osco-Umbrian, but for these names we don’t have a strict definition nor enough finds to identify them accurately: the Ausonians, ancient inhabitants of Samnius, whose name we find in Virgil’s work, belong to this group. Maybe the word indicates all the ancient non-Grecian inhabitants of the area, but if they really were a civilization, they extinguished during V century a.e.v. The same can be said about the Oenotrii, ancient inhabitants of Southern Italy before Sabellian populations’ arrival. Some traces of their language remain in dialects, some tombs were found and Cato passes down three names of tribus (Coni, Morgetes, Vitales).

In ancient Italy there were also other populations whose origin we don’t know for certain, but which are probably non-Indo-European: Sardinians, whose civilization is called “nuraghic”; Sicanians, inhabitants of that island that Homer calls “Sikania” from their name, now Sicily, and their neighbours the Elimi; in current Veneto Rhaetians and Euganeans; the Villanovan civilization, ancestors of Etruscans; and above all the Ligurians.

The Sardinian nuraghic civilization’s religion was a naturalistic one, perceiving deities in natural elements. Their sanctuaries were built between 1300 and 900 a.e.v. and were used, as in other ancient cultures, also as a market place and for politic meetings; at their center there was a well-temple, consisting in a doorway at ground level, a stair going down under the ground, a sunken room with a false dome vault and the sacred spring just down the stairs. On the ground, the sacred area was delimited by a stone fence. There are still about forty of those well-temples dedicated to water deities (water is very precious in a so dry region as Sardinia is); a christian rural church was often placed side-by-side to them. 

Sardinians prosecuted their ancestors’ cults, worshiping a Mother Goddess and a Bull God, both deities of fertility, being the two forces who combine to generate life, whose cult was someway linked to the cult of the dead. The tombs they built were collective and enormous, with a semicircular façade in a bull’s horns shape and a stele with a little door to go inside the tomb. All around this tombs, called “Giants’ tombs” because of their impressive dimensions, there were some stone sedilia on which the dead ones’ relatives can sleep, maybe to communicate with their dearest in dreams, practicing the incubation. In front of the tombs there were some “betili”, a Sardinian word meaning little menhirs, phallic symbols of fertility carved with two eyes or two breasts: the betili having eyes were guardian deities of the dead, the betili having breasts represent the unity of the male deity with the feminine one to bring back the life. 

Sardinians had other kind of temples, the temple in a cave with a stalagmite for altar and a sacrificial fireplace, and the temple with rectangular plan. We have some remaining examples of both, but we don’t know who was the deity they were consecrated to; temples in caves are supposed to be consecrated to chthonian deities. Later, Sardinian were affected by Grecian and Carthaginian people; during Roman period, an ancient local god was known under the name of Sardus Pater (father Sardo): this god derived from or was similar to the Carthaginian god Baal. Ancient mythographers believed that Sardus Pater was Hercules’ son, and that Hercules came to Sardinia from Libia (so he can be considered son of Hercules-Melqart, a Greco-Roman interpretation of the Phoenician god Melqart).

Homer calls the other Italian big island “Sicania”, from the name of its ancient inhabitants, the Sicanians, who were pushed to the western part of Sicily by the Sicels. Thucydides said that Sicanians already lived in the island during Trojan war but they came from Iberia across Italy, while according to Antiochus and Thymeus Sicanians are native of Sicily. We know very little about them, because they lost their ethnic features during the IV century a.e.v. under Grecian and Phoenician influence. The same lot was shared by the Elimi, who ancient authors believed to be native of southern Italy, of which the Oenotrii pushed them out (Hellanicus), or to be a group originated in Asia from the union between Trojan exiles and other people (Thucydides); they underwent a quick process of Hellenization and disappeared under Carthaginian rule during I century a.e.v. 

According to contemporary scholars, they could have a Sicanian origin, or a Ligurian one; somebody believes they are Semites, a mixed population of Persians, Phoenicians and Trojans, whose name may come from that of the region Elam. Their main deity was a goddess belonging to the group of Mother Goddesses (with this name anthropologists call all ancient goddesses with maternal features and related to fertility): her main sanctuary stood on mount Erice and this goddess was called Aphrodite by Grecians and Venus by Romans, but she has also something in common with the Phoenician Astarte. Venus Ericina (Venus of mount Erice) has an ear of wheat as her symbol and she’s represented with a dog and other animals by her side (she’s a “potnia theron”, a “Mistress of animals”); her rites were celebrated outside, so that the dew could wash the stains due to sacrifices. 

Her cult was admitted in Rome, but with some restrictions on it because Roman magistrates thought it contravened Romans’ sense of decency; Venus Ericina’s day was on the 23rd of April, that was also the day of Vinalia, but the cult of the goddess was reserved to seventeen cities of Sicily, probably Elimi’s cities, which had the honor of  presenting a wreath to her, and to prostitutes (because of this, some scholars believed that sacred prostitution was practiced around the original temple in Sicily), while it was forbidden to other women to take part to it. Main Elimi’s city was Segesta: a Roman agricultural deity has the same name and her symbol was an ear of wheat like Venus Ericina’s, but the relation between the two is not clear.

In present region of Veneto, before of the arrival of palaeovenetic culture, there were two non-indoeuropean population, who left traces in names of local mountains: Rhaetian Alps derive their name from the Rhaetians, while the Euganean Hills from the Euganeans.We don’t know much about these two populations: the Rhaetians are supposed to be an ensemble of population including some groups coming from Illyria (from which the Palaeovenetics came, too) and Celtic groups also, while the Euganean are supposed to be part of the Ligurian culture, and were divided into Stoni, Camuni (who made rupestrian figures in Val Camonica) and Triumpilini (who made rupestrian figures of Val Trompia). Both Rhaetians and Euganeans merged with Celts, Etruscans and later Venetics.

On the contrary, we have enough about Etruscan religion, which influenced the Roman one as Grecians did (for a long time, the scholars believed that the Etruscans had been cultural mediators between Grecians and Romans but later direct contacts between these two cultures were proved), just as Etruscans joined Roman society: it goes without saying that three among the seven legendary kings of Rome were Etruscans. Etruscan language seems not to belong to Indo-European stock, while their alphabet had a Grecian origin: in their turn, Etruscans taught it to various population settled in northern Italy, but not, as it seems, to Latins, who learnt it directly by Grecians. Many hypotheses were made about the origin of Etruscan people:  the authochtonal theory was abandoned after the discovery of Lemnos’ inscriptions, made in a non-Grecian language, but very similar to the Etruscan one, so someone believes that Etruscans were descendants of some groups of Lemnos’ inhabitants who came to Italy and merged with local population. 

This union gave rise to Villanovan culture, first germ of the Etruscan one; at the present time, none of the theories about Etruscans’ origin can be proved with certainty. Even after this population’s decline, their language was used in Rome until the Augustan period, as it was a sacred language, used also for divinatory books, which collected cult and divinatory practices and rules of civilian life, all that was called by Romans “Etruscan subject”. Divination is the most known aspect of their religion, they taught to Romans the haruspicy, divination by observation of sacrificial victims’ viscera, of birds’ flight and of lightnings. Lightnings were particularly revered and were attributes of many deities, who could throw just one at a time, and of Tinia, later identified in Jupiter, a celestial god, who could throw three of them: the first to warn, the second to terrify and the third to destroy. 

Contrary to what happens with other Italic deities, we know many names of Etruscan deities (in their original version or through the Greco-Roman interpretatio) and we know how the priesthood was organized. According to what Romans passed down to us, Etruscan deities were hierarchically organized and there was a triad of deities at the top, consisting in Tinia, Uni and Menvra, more or less corresponding to Romans’ Jupiter, Juno and Minerva; there was also a chthonian triad consisting in Mantus, a god with features similar to those of Grecians’ Hades and Bacchus, Mania and another goddess, Phersipnei (Persephone) or Serfue (Ceres). 

Among Etruscan deities, we can distinguish deities with an Etruscan origin (Amharia, justice and revenge, Cautha, solar deity, Cilens, Colalp, Ethausva, Letham, Tecum, Thufltha, Tolusco and, known under his Latin name, Vertumnus or Volturnus, the turn of seasons), deities of Grecian origin or that we know with Hellenic features (Fufluns-Dionysus, Sethlans-Hephaestus, Turms-Hermes, Turan-Aphrodite, Aplu-Apollo, Artume-Artemis, Hercle-Hercules, Aita-Hades, Phersipnei-Persephone), deities of Italic origin (Maris-Mars, Nethuns-Neptune, Menvra-Minerva, Usil-Sun), Latin or Latinized deities (Uni-Juno, Ani-Janus, Selvans-Sylvan, Satre-Saturn, Vetis-Veiovis). 

Near the Etruscan city of Capena, there was the Lucus Feroniae, goddess Feronia’s sacred wood, dedicated to a Sabine deity. Priests compiled the calendar on a lunar basis; there was also a high priest who led the priesthood and was elected every year during federal festival of Fanum Voltumnae. The Etruscans’ religion is subject of many studies, so I won’t spread here about it, just as I won’t deal here with Grecian, Roman, Celtic and Phoenician religion, which are basic for Italian paganism, but for which I refer the reader to more exhaustive studies, as there are some deserving ones.

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"Moon-mountain portal" - Metaspiritual science in action II

I had mentioned in part one that weather conditions can block off the psychic-spiritual connection. Naturally it would be great if we could always enjoy the true "full Moon," but for many that's not always possible. While in some places, people can virtually always count on warm clear evenings during the summer and fall; here along the coast we're hit with fog in the afternoon, and it doesn't always clear out. Generally the weather is unpredictable.

I think that most people, while enjoying great weather, tend to subconsciously feel that it's just going to continue. However, at least here, it can change in one day. It can be absolutely perfect one day/evening, and it could be fogged in the next day. Usually it's more like in weekly patterns. Outside of traveling a certain distance to an always-good-weather spot, which is always great, those of us who live in unpredictable weather need to develop a strategy for the Moon cycles.

What I'm really getting at is that time is too precious to go through the trouble of planning and setting aside an evening for a full Moon... only to have the weather spoil the mood and connection that you were hoping for. Again, at least where I am, one evening could be as perfect as perfect can be... and the next night could be fogged in and sort've depressing. However, chiefly because you cannot make the psychic-spiritual connection that you want. I mean I could hike and enjoy just about any weather outside of heavy rain.

The only answer, for those of us living within an unpredictable weather area, is to look at the forecast leading up to the full Moon. Choose a good day within three days prior or following a full Moon evening, hopefully even the exact day. Also, it could allow a person or group to hand select a good day of the week. For evenings, I love Wednesday through Friday especially. Saturday you may have had something planned and it's hard to adjust or if you're visiting somewhere, Sunday evenings usually aren't good, and Monday/Tusesday are too early in the week.

I would also like to add that with quickly moving clouds at night, if they are strongly interacting with the Moon, they may actually enhance the energy. Sometimes as the clouds move over the Moon, it looks like sparks. There is a certain energetic interaction that I have found to work. I just didn't want to leave the impression that clouds are somehow a negative.

Metagenetics?

I think many who would criticize Stephen McNallen or Metagenetics, do so from a cowardly point of view. However, for an individual, it could be too large of a concept to start with. I think it's fine as a scientific study, but people need things they can personally and closely relate with. Why not make a Metaphysical connection to a favorite ancestor to start with? You're their direct DNA descendant. Perhaps later then, one could more closely tie in the larger concept in stages.

To always put up some type of loud "racial banner" just seems to distract the individual from locating her or his place within this Metaphysical environment. In other words, a Shintoist doesn't wave a Japanese war flag. They make connection with their direct ancestors. I believe that larger collective identities should be secondary, at least within this folk-spirit tie-in. An individual cannot truly ever be certain whether or not Diana, Freya, or Inanna is their direct ancestor I don't think. However, an individual can be certain that their great-great-grandmother is indeed their direct ancestor.

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Hazel tree patchwork: Part II

In the last five years or so, our Earth has been making some bizarre noises, usually from under the ground. These occurrences come in many forms, and you can find them on YouTube. The sky is the limit as far as how different people and concerns can interpret what this is or why it's happening. However, the occurrence in the above video from a city in rural British Columbia takes the cake! It sounds like a massive trumpet or horn. If I allow my imagination to go free, I almost imagine something out've Odinic mythology, and the thunder-like grumbling made Thor come to mind. Perhaps the trumpets at the Battle of Legnano. Also, the trees rustling in the wind, especially after the sounds are over, remind me of the spirit of the Almother. Something tells me that this whole phenomenon has something to do with the "electric universe." Like with so many other subjects, modern science rejects the electric universe because then they would have to say "oh, all of the things we have proven in the past, well, they're all false," which wouldn't work well for scientific/academic "careerists."

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Pagan calendar website

This Pagan calendar shows Pagan, Witch, Druid and Heathen festivals, dates and events.

This site is from the UK, and doesn't include southern or eastern European traditions, but there's so much overlap. Good daily rundown, with moon cycles. I think pagans should develop their own traditions and important dates to merge into this concept.

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"The Process Church"

I watch a lot of YouTube videos, but usually the subjects aren't applicable here. However, if you wanted to watch something very macob but still interesting, there are quite a few videos about the Satanic "Process Church." They were involved in many bizarre happenings. This, of course, has nothing to do with "native-folk spirituality." Many Satanists say that they're actually Atheists who worship the self in some manner. There are also many who worship the Satan of the Christian Bible. I have no doubt that the Process Church is still around. Their philosophers are pretty dark, as opposed to--for example--the Temple of Set, which I believe tries to avoid a negative image for the most part. Also, many of the webpages or articles devoted to the Process Church are pretty dark in nature.

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Since I mentioned Mt. Shasta in part one, I found the main documentary. Although this generally goes beyond what this blog covers, the metaphysical power of mountains does tie in to the folk-spirit concept. Many times the works of researchers like Jordan Maxwell, Michael Tsarion, Mark Passio, Jay Wiedner, or David Wilcock do overlap.

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"Polytheists calling "Pagan" a negative term?

Two recent posts by the AFA present this term negatively. One, entitled 'A Declaration from the European Council of Ethnic Religions', quoted the council's declaration: "We object to the use of the term “pagan” by extremist political groups of any kind, as it reflects negatively on our reputation." This may be partly true, but doesn't the term "religious" also give a false perception in the minds of most people? I think I would rather be called a "pagan," than to be called "religious."

The other post was entitled 'The Difference Between Asatru and Modern "Paganism."' The post, which was only one paragraph, stated: Asatru has much more in common with traditional American Indian religion, indigenous African religion, or similar ethnic beliefs than with what passes for "paganism" in the modern industrialized West. It is the “way of a people”  -  in our case, the people of Northern Europe.  It is a part of our deeper identification, our way of relating to the Holy, an expression of the soul of our Folk.  We have been cut off from these root for too long...but every day, our sense of reconnection grows!

I think there is a need for more clarity here. For one thing, Asatru/Odinism--during the late the pre-Christian era-- was dominant in what is today Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and what had been Prussia. This wouldn't include Finland, which had a different indigenous spiritual tradition and pantheon of gods. Still, that's a large territory. However, it wasn't the only tradition of northern Europe! The reason I think this is applicable here is that this "modern paganism," is at least partly derived from traditions of Europe... including those which co-existed in what were these Odinic regions. Therefore, in those cases, how could Asatru be closer to native spiritual traditions on other continents?

I understand, the AFA is making reference to some of the eclectic, rootless, and generally jackassy behavior of some Wiccans and Pagans. However, there's sometimes a thin line between some of that behavior and what really was a tradition of very spirited ceremonies... such as parades with animal and other masks. For example, ancient Gaul (today France) was not Odinic! Certainly there was a lot of crossover, Odinic influence touched every part of Europe at some point, and it may have been the primary pre-Christian tradition of northern-central Europe. The Druids, at one point, were present in what is today the British Isles, France, and parts of Germany; as well as perhaps Scandinavia, Spain, and elsewhere. That is also a large territory.

This declaration by the European Council of Ethnic Religions umbrella organization is a good thing. It addresses many of the problems of these native spiritual folk societies. Interestingly, among these societies three were from Italy: Societas Hesperiana (Greek pantheon in Italy), Movimento Tradizionale Romano (Roman pantheon), and Federazione Pagana Italiana (Celtic and Streghe traditions). It's interesting that the Roman groups used the phrase "Saturnia Tellus," which means something like "the land of Saturn"... as the peninsula was once known as "Saturnia." These aren't the only groups in Italy. Comunità Odinista (Langobard/Odinist) and Ordine Bardi, Ovati e Druidi (Gaulish/Druidic) come to mind. Comunità Odinista is a worldwide group for Odinic-Langobard descendants, and Ordine Bardi, Ovati, e Druidi is the Italian branch of a worldwide group called The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. It's important to remember that, although this all sounds so organized, these are very small groups.

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The "Llullaillaco Maiden" was a fifteen year old Amerindian girl who was sacrificed five-hundred years ago, and was discovered frozen inside of an inactive Argentine volcano at 22,000 feet. After being thawed out, she was put in a museum in Argentina, and she looks as though she could wake up, stand, and walk away as seen here.

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A website all about the Norse/Langobard Goddess Freya:

GoddessFreya.info

There is a lot of interesting information and folklore about Freya here. Some of the images are great; some too overtly sexualized. I especially like the prayers and invocations.

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Reality star lives like an ancient Celt

Mick Dodge seems to be a modern-day "ancient Celt." He looks like, has the survival skills of, and lives in harmony with the land like.. a Celt.



Watch: Mick and Will build a forest roundhouse, an ancient structure that the Celts inhabited thousands of years ago.

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Brescian Stiletto C. 1600 for sale by Fagan Arms

Brescia, Italy has been noted for the quality of its metal work since the early Renaissance. Pierced, embossed and relief chiseled elements for furniture, swords, daggers, armor and later, firearms of the finest quality were produced. This stilleto is a product of a Brescian workshop of the late Renaissance. Its deeply chiseled hilt is adorned with lovely scrolling Spring tendrils with heart shaped leaves in ironic, a doubly ironic contrast to its sole function: to end life. The scalloped edge diamond section blade is made to penetrate protective clothing and the scallops may have been intended to facilitate the introduction of poison or and infectant into the wound. Blade length: 6 7/16"

Price: $2,800

I would love to own that. There are some good and very affordable replicas at BudK.

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Loose Ends: Valcamonica, Cernunnos, Wicca, Druids, and the Pentagram - Part II

Witches: Part 1 (Part 2 below)

This is an episode of Lifetime's Intimate Portrait: Witches

This I believe aired around mid 90's. I don't remember when I taped it. It's a bit jumpy in a few parts. This was taped originally on VHS (remember them?!)

I cropped out the "Historical" parts. Many of the info is outdated. I tried mostly to get the interviews with Modern day Witches & Wiccans.

However I don't agree or support all of the info. I think this would be interesting for those who follow the teachings of Laurie Cabot, Z. Budapest and Janet Farrar.

From RivaWitch YouTube channel

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The original 'Loose Ends: Valcamonica, Cernunnos, Wicca, Druids, and the Pentagram' was posted on March 5, 2009; and it has been the most popular post from this blog by a country mile! Out of over 10,500 page views, most of that fairly recent, that one post accounts for about 20% of the total. So I think it's only logical to update some of the knowledge. The original was an attempt to tie-in various concepts. It was more of a musing of the subjects. Maybe we can do better.

To start with, the "Cernic tradition"--after many centuries of often brutal state and church-sponsored religious condemnation--developed into what is referred to as "European witchcraft." The idea of "Wicca" is a recent development; and one which does not necessarily adhere to it's parent "Celtic paganism." By "Celtic" I mean the spiritual-traditions of the loosely-connected pre-Roman Celtic cultures who lived, at one time or another, from Ireland to Turkey and from Poland to Spain. It seems pretty clear that the Cernic spiritual hub was located in Gaul, and Cisalpine Gaul, but it may have sprung from the Hallstatt culture in what is today south Germany. Horned or antlered images can be traced back as far as 20,000 years ago in central Europe. It seems at least possible that the origins of this spiritual tradition may date back with the early proto-Europeans who predated other Indo-European peoples.

Recent archeology is showing more and more that the ancient Celts built roads which served as trade routes across Europe; from marketplace to marketplace; from community to community. Cernic spiritual concepts likely migrated in this way, and mixed with other spiritual traditions on those far off places. For example, the ancient Celts, in what is today England and Wales, apparently made no reference in art or symbology regarding Cernunnos; but they developed their own concept of the "horned god." It seems to be true that females, special females, were generally the high priestesses of this earth-based spiritual traditon. The forest was their church.

Wicca is a universalist concept developed by Freemasons in the United Kingdom; and the pentagram they adopted goes back to Sumeria. However, there are references to the pentagram within European witchcraft which can be traced back about five centuries. Having "borrowed" many things from other pagan religions worldwide, Wicca only vaguely resembles European witchcraft or Celtic paganism. For example, the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis had nothing whatsoever to do with Cernunnos. It's fun to compare certain traditions, but to splice them together only accomplishes to spoil their uniqueness. Also, modern politics are no place to inject religion; and many well-intentioned people are turned off by politically-minded people within any religion.

But getting back to the Cernic tradition of the ancient world; it's not entirely clear how this spiritual tradition interacted with the Druidic spiritual tradition which was also Celtic in origin. The Druids lived in ancient Gaul as well, although it appears that most of the high priests of Druidism were males. It was also an earth-based spiritual tradition, which also existed in what is now the British Isles. It appears that the Cernic traditions merged with the Teutonic Wotanist traditions in some areas. I haven't seen evidence of how Druidic ideas may have interacted with the Wotanists, but I would guess that all of these beliefs merged in some places. I don't think that today it's pragmatic to open up ancient feuds; but there is absolutely no doubt that Christianity fully replaced the Cernic, Druidic, Wotanist, and many other earth-based rites; either by coercion or force. It was not just the Romans who perpetrated this policy either.

 It should be mentioned that Cernunnos was not the only Celto-Gaulish god, and that there were other gods and goddesses like there is in Odinism; but Cernunnos (pronounced as "KER-new-nos") was the chief one in most places (just as Odin is in Odinism). Some of the dark symbolism in European witchcraft is probably a result of it having to exist underground for so long; but some of it may have always existed. "Dark imagery" does not necessarily reflect "evil." The ancient forests were often dark places. It seems obvious to me that this is mainly just a reflection of nature. To the ancients, the night was a scary place; and they may have counted on Cernunnos to protect them. Any hike at night in a remote natural area will give us an instant connection to that world.

It seems obvious to me that the rightful daughters of Cern today, would be the most logical ones to access "Cernism" and serve as its high priestesses. To the ancient Cernic pagans, the family was at the heart of their culture; and the woman was the head of the household. Not the "head" like she was bossing around her husband, but boss of the "household" while he was away hunting, providing, or at war. This one element of their culture marginally found it's way into later Christian societies, which had entirely different views regarding men and women. The Cernic male represented "law"; while the Cernic female represented "justice." Cernic women were the spiritual leaders of their folk societies. They were at the center of everything.

Cernic women were very strong-women, not "Feminists," which is an entirely modern political construct which attempts to make females more masculine. There were "women warriors" in Cernic societies. They weren't like guys, but simply were just big strong gals, period. Obviously there are some women who could wipe the floor up with weaker men; and these women were pragmatically allowed to serve the tribe in battle. It was all about the family, clan, and tribe... maybe sometimes of a "tribal federation," or loosely their nation.

It's important to compare the Cernic societies with the Odinic societies. Of course, the Cernic culture had it's own mythology, just like Odinism. There are many similarities. Odinism may have developed a little more of a "heroic ethic," which seems to remind one a little more of "the masculine"; while Cernism, although in many ways a "warrior society," somehow seemed to be a little bit more "down to earth," and reminds one a little more of "the feminine." As to where the Druids fit into all of this, I don't know. Some Celtic societies seemed to be Druidic, while others seemed to have been Cernic. I think it's also very important to remember that Cernism influenced other tribal groups. For example, some ancient Norse seemed to be almost Cernic, or at least strongly influenced by them.

Obviously, the first 'Loose Ends" article was from the point of view of historical Camunian culture. The Camunians had not surrendered their native beliefs by the sixteenth century, which is pretty remarkable. However, the Val Camonica witch trials were just two of many such events in Europe during the Middle Ages, and after. In all of these tragic events, think of the great women and men who died. They were martyrs who aren't even given the proper status of martyrs. In the earlier article, I had stated that I believed that the witch trials were exaggerated; and they probably were in most locations in Europe and the American colonies. However, in some locations it was pretty extreme, as the last link above reflects in its 'Counting the Witch Hunt' graph by Ronald Hutton. It's hard to argue with those numbers.

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