Showing posts with label spiritual traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spiritual traditions. Show all posts
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Ancient Nordic and Indo-European Symbols and Mythology
Ancient Nordic and Indo-European Symbols and Mythology - ROBERT SEPEHR
Atlantean Gardens
Thor is the Norse god of thunder, the sky, and agriculture. He is the son of Odin, and the defender of Asgard, realm of the gods, and Midgard, the human realm. He developed from the earlier Germanic god Donar and became the most popular deity of the Norse pantheon. The modern English and German words for the fifth day of the week – Thursday and Donnerstag – both allude to Thor/Donar (“Thor’s Day”/“Donar’s Day”).
https://atlanteangardens.blogspot.com
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Sunday, November 12, 2017
Longing for the Darkness
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For tens of thousands of years, our ancestors feared the night. Half or more of their lives were spent in the darkness. More often than not, a fire was the only separation between dangerous nocturnal predators (including humans) and their vulnerable sleep state. When morning finally arrived, their beloved "risen savior" the Sun was there. Also, the Moon was a guiding light amid the darkness.
Most people today, despite occasional reminders, are more-or-less unaware of how dark the night really is. Around the time of the new moon, it's complete darkness. When hiking at night, one becomes aware of the sources of light; either direct nearby lights, the moonlight, or the clouds which are illuminated by the nearby city lights. Within our ancestral/DNA memory, we actually miss the darkness. We naturally crave it because it was once so much a part of our lives within this ancestral memory. Fighting against the night was an organizing principle of society. There was a tremendous spirituality attached to the daytime (Sun) and nighttime (Moon). There's a part of us which is addicted to the darkness, in the same way that an individual came become addicted to alcohol, narcotics, love, attention, revenge, or jealousy. However, predators aside, the darkness is not a negative. Intrinsically, it's beautiful.
There's an old saying among police that says "nothing good happens after midnight." That's probably a good rule of thumb. The darkness can be a predators paradise; however, so can the daytime. During the day, a human predator can size up their victim; whereas during the night, it's much more difficult as a person could be carrying a weapon of defense. Regardless of the danger factor, the darkness completely changes the atmosphere; although in a very urbanized area, not as much. It stands to reason that in our remote ancestral past, a type of "culture" developed within both predatory human groups and harmonious human groups. Both are part of our DNA memory, because our ancestors consisted of predators, prey, and everything in between; and all ultimately existing by nature's law: "evolutionary struggle."
The predatory humans developed a spirituality based on violence and spirits of blood lust, while those who lived by honest sustainable toil developed a spirituality based on defense and protective spirits. Rituals occurred during the hours of darkness from both sides. In recent years, numerous films have come out based on "vampires and werewolves"; in other words, "human predator cults." On the opposite spiritual side are the "Sun and Moon cults," whose emphasis was on protection, safety, and the defense of the "eternal verities." Varity: a true principle or belief, especially one of fundamental importance. They weren't entirely pacifists, but more-or-less embraced some degree of idealism for their society.
Aside from the predatory element, there's nothing wrong with embracing the night or darkness. Embracing it in the tradition of the defensive and positive energy minded Moon cults of the distant past. I feel sorry for those kids who followed Rod Ferrell and ruined their lives. They could have shifted their mindset. Even if they were "misfits," there's always a practical way to follow the positive energy without betraying your natural instincts. The dark imagery of Halloween often resonates something within people. Much more often it's based on positive energy, but not always. Wiccans and those of the Goth subculture have produced some beautiful dark artwork. "Dark" not meaning negative energy. A dash of it is okay, as it reminds us of that aspect of our past.
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In the comments following a Smithsonian.com article entitled 'The Great New England Vampire Panic' (1830s), I found an interesting glimpse into the minds of a few people. I'm not judging them; I just found the comments interesting. The article itself is like something out've the film 'Dark Shadows', so it obviously attracted a few "vampires."
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"We have caused such panic and folklore over the years, haven't we?"
-- Juliet Morlet, Vampire Goddess
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I am Davies Lytton from the united state, a strong supporter of the vampire race, how i was being transformed to a vampire through the help of a vampire spell caster, was just as easy as posible, at first i was skpetical it was going to take a while for my ( D.N.A.) to responed to the spell, all i did was just to follow the procedures that i was given, and i bet you that these procedures i took changed my life entirely to something i ever desired; freedom,extraordinary powers, fame, influence, connections and even more than i can ever think of.Thanks to my dear friend Mr Jorge who directed me to Mystic vampire spell home. Please if you`re a lover of vampires or wish to be like me contact the vampire mystic spell caster :
vampireresurgence@gmail.com
cell#:+17692872356[text only].
-- davies
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I believe that real spiritual traditions, those which are ancestral and Earth-based, should not be conflated with fantasy role-playing.
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Now this is our kinda thing! Apparently the "Feast to the Gods" was an ancient tradition of the Gauls, and likely other ancient nations, which took place every first of June on a midnight. I'm guessing that this was a combination of a spiritual rite to the gods, sort've a followup of the April and May celebrations, celebrating the start of the warmest four months, a way of "taking charge of the night," and of having a great feast and social gathering. They worked hard and played hard! It took place outdoors, under the stars, big fire going, lots of food, a big roast, lots of mead, and lots of laughter and dancing! It probably even scared off the nocturnal predators a bit, at least on that night. Maybe this is a tradition that we should revive. A fire pit and roast wouldn't be necessary; a few lanterns, fold up chairs, and pizzas may do. Alcohols? That's up to you. I think being outdoors would be a must however. Under the stars; the gods! Even just saying their names, and the names of ancestors, out loud would be important.
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Monday, March 20, 2017
Mystery of the Planetary Gods
Mystery of the Planetary Gods
Atlantean Gardens
Keep in mind that many of these symbols have double or multiple (hidden) meanings. Robert Sepehr is an author, producer and anthropologist specializing in linguistics, archeology, and paleobiology (archeogenetics). https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Sepehr/e/B00XTAB1YC/
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Monday, February 27, 2017
Cernunnos veneration chant
The Cernnunos Chant: Modern Pagan Witchcraft
The Sea Priestess
OathBoundSecrets is a collaboration channel dedicated to distributing free information about modern pagan witchcraft. Like our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/OathBoundSecrets
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Patricia Crowther
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Wednesday, February 22, 2017
The ongoing struggle to save Navajo sacred sites
How American Indian Land Is Still Being Stolen For Mining - Kierán Suckling
TheLipTV2
Published on Jul 27, 2015
American Indian land is being stolen from them for valuable mining rights, and we look at how the Congress’ secret giving away of Apache sacred sites is awakening outrage over a pattern of theft and environmental exploitation with Kierán Suckling. Racism against Native Americans, the catastrophic mining practices being used, Oak Flat Apache protests, and the actions that can be taken against government land grabs for corporations is all discussed in this Antidote interview, hosted by Michael Parker.
GUEST BIO:
Kierán Suckling is a founder and executive director at the Center for Biological Diversity. In addition to overseeing its conservation and financial programs, he created and maintains the country's most comprehensive endangered species database. Kierán acts as liaison between the Center and other environmental groups, negotiates with government agencies, and writes and lectures; he has authored scientific articles and critical essays on biodiversity issues. He holds a master's in philosophy from the State University of New York at Stonybrook and a bachelor's from Holy Cross.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
00:01 Welcoming Kierán Suckling to Antidote.
00:55 San Carlos Apache and protecting the sacred sites.
04:16 Congress and foreign mining companies.
05:30 NDAA Act, John McCain, Paul Gosar and the Oak Flat Territory.
09:27 Oak Flat land swap and NDAA rider deals.
12:44 Jobs and copper.
14:24 New York Times coverage and racism against Native Americans.
17:30 Block caving method vs traditional mining practices.
23:10 National Environment and Policy Survey.
24:40 The unethical way to pass a bill.
27:53 Reversal, repeal and the partnership with southern Baptists.
31:36 Where and ways to help.
33:20 Thank you and goodbye.
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Michael McAuliff - Huffington Post - December 12, 2014
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate passed a measure authorizing the nation’s defense programs Friday, and along with it managed to give lands sacred to Native Americans to a foreign company that owns a uranium mine with Iran.
The $585 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 is one of the must-pass pieces of legislation that Congress moves every year. But like they did in attaching extraneous riders to the must-pass government funding bill, lawmakers used the defense bill as a vehicle to pass a massive public lands package.
The bill sailed through on a vote of 89 to 11.
Many of the land measures were popular. But one, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, had twice failed to win support in the House of Representatives, blocked both by conservationists and conservatives.
The deal gives a subsidiary of the Australian-English mining firm Rio Tinto 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in exchange for several other parcels so it can mine a massive copper deposit. The deal gives a subsidiary of the Australian-English mining firm Rio Tinto 2,400 acres of the Tonto National Forest in exchange for several other parcels so it can mine a massive copper deposit.
con't..
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Additionally, Obama's executive orders establishing "national monuments" on Navajo lands was not a "victory for the Navajos" as the mainstream press reported. Now they can't even use their own holy sites anymore! In effect, the government has stolen those holy sites--millions of acres!--away from the tribe. The term "Fascism" usually refers to the collusion between corporations and the state, and that's really what this is all about.... especially when the mainstream media is controlled by a mere six corporations.... all tied to the Council on Foreign Relations, a Globalist think tank.
There are so many dirty tricks that can be played, such as big corporate interests first establishing a controlled opposition environmental group which will serve as the strawman. In this manner, arguments of lessor importance can be used as a vanguard; while the stronger arguments can be downplayed. If they stand to make billions, then spending a few million on a legal/unethical project like this would be nothing to them. All that would be required is financing and a few key administrators to overrule the honest people involved in the decision making process.
What ever happened to the Anti-Globalization Movement anyway? How about the Peace Movement? They were eliminated by controlled opposition projects. Now we have people supposedly from the left who are outraged because the Wall Street War Machine didn't get their candidate in, and obviously didn't care about issues like this, endless wars, the genocidal bombing of the water project in Libya, the massive defrauding of starving Haitians, etc. Why didn't they protest the wars? Travel ban? How about the "medicine ban" during the embargo on Iraq which directly caused the death of over a million Iraqis... mostly children?... which was cheerleaded by bought-and-paid-for-CNN, which is owned by Time-Warner a CFR member along with all the bankers and war profiteers.
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'American Indians Fight For Land Rights Against Obama’s Executive Decrees'
Joseph Hammond -The Daily Caller - December 22, 2016
Betty Jones, an elderly Navajo medicine woman, grew up among the red rock canyons, mesas, and ancient cliff dwellings of Southeastern Utah. Now, a proposed national monument may prevent her from collecting traditional herbal medicines she’s gathered all her life.
Her family believes Jones is in her mid-nineties, since her birth certificate was issued after her actual birth. The proposed 1.9-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument would potentially limit her access to sacred sites and impact herb collection. She also says that she is entitled to grazing rights on the land under an agreement with the federal government dating to the 1940s.
“My late husband was promised access to the land for sheep grazing and it’s wrong for Washington to go back on its word,“ she says. Nearby, her daughter unrolled maps and opened old letters to prove the claim.
con't..
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Friday, November 4, 2016
The Arctic Home in the Vedas: Part 23 - Was Jötunheim the original Teutonic homeland? II
There is no evidence that I am aware of, which shows any particular cultural-spiritual conflict as various pre-Christian Indo-European groups came into contact with one another. The various spiritual traditions just seemed to harmoniously merge together. Even the ancient Romans used religious-merger as part of their colonial policy. I know that the Etruscans and Celts engaged in some small skirmishes, and Olympian Greek culture pushed aside the earlier Hekatean tradition. Still, these conflicts--at least in terms of pre-Christian religious traditions--apparently were quite small. Would it be too much of a stretch to state that thousands of years ago, largely Patriarchal Mediterranean and Teutonic cultures migrated into Europe; coming into contact with largely Matriarchal proto-European cultures, which resulted in a very natural merging of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine? In other words, for example, could much of the Matriarchal aspect of Asatru be the result of the influence of that ancient cultural-spiritual merger?
In Marija Gimbutas’s influential formulation, it was the Indo-European incursion of warlike Indo-European nomadic tribes, worshippers of masculine sky-gods, that replaced the matricentric cultures of Old Europe with an “androcratic warrior” society and that henceforth claimed all virtues of “civilization” for itself. But before that there had been a “civilization of the goddess" marked by peace and high art. Under the spell of this original version of Gaia, there was even a different kind of "city," one that honored the Earth and rested lightly upon it.
-- 'The Voice of the Earth' (Roszak; 2001)
Even coming from people who may not exactly have our best interests at heart, some truth can come out. Wasn't it really Abrahamic religion which, in it's ever fear of the spiritual and healing power of many women, formed this particular negative-Patriarchy which the world has now witnessed for many centuries? Isn't "Feminism" really just that same negative-Patriarchy for women? Instead of being a Patriarchal Traditionalist or it's like-minded Matrio-Patriarchal daughter.... why not embrace Radical Traditionalism! Our ancestors had already done it, prior to Emperor Constantine's conversion. The merger of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine is really a union, and has nothing to do with the daily Rocky Horror Picture Show which so-called Western culture has embraced all-at-once overnight (government, media, education, sports and entertainment, the corporate world, celebrities, etc.). I certainly hope that what we're witnessing is not what the powers-that-be would call an "alchemical wedding." Knowing a little bit about these people, I'm not convinced that it isn't.
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Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Polytheistic Religions in Pre-Roman Italy: Part III
South of Umbrians and Picenes, the Sabines, speaking Oscan and culturally close to Samnites, settled on Central Apennines. They were one of the most ancient populations in Italy and soon merged with Romans, to whom they handed down the pride they had in common with Samnites and the adherence to frugal customs and rural values we can find in archaic Roman writers, like Catone, who reports the presupposition that the Sabines’ name came from Sabo, son of Sancus, their main god, phonetic variant of Umbrian Saku, but this presupposition has no serious bases. Apart from Sancus-Saku, Umbrian religion and Sabine had much more in common: Sabines also worshipped the male parallel of Roman goddess Pomona, calling him Poimuni. Their goddesses Ardoina and Curi were identified respectively with Diana and Juno.Vestini were very similar to Sabines. They settled in the Aterno valley and on Adriatic coast of current Abruzzo. They are known for the statue of the so-called Capestrano warrior; their name may come from the goddess Vesta, who became goddess of fireplace, home and preservation of life. Along the same river the Marrucini settled; they were an Osco-Umbrian population, too, and they might have been a branch of Marsi which moved north; both names may come from god Mars’.
We know very little about other Osco-Umbrian groups’ religion such as Aequi’s or Hernici’s, apart from what we can deduce from their belonging to this branch of Italic populations. We can deduce from Marsi’s name that they could practise a strong cult to the god Mars or that they might be born from a ver sacrum ceremony, as ancient sources say. Marsi settled at first in Sabine region, then moved to the region called Marsica from their name, under Umbrian pressure. Romans told that Marsi were snake-charmers or immune to their bite, so the snake should have had an important religious or totemic role among them, a role we can imagine linked to healing if we observe a christian rite which takes place in the same region nowadays, consisting in covering saint Dominic’s statue with snakes that are to be touched and taken by believers who want to heal or to preserve health. Marsi’s goddess Angizia held knowledge of medicinal herbs, of which they were experienced, and was a snake-charmer too.
The Paelignans settled in Samnio region, on Abruzzo’s Apennines, and made the Marsic league with Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini; once they were believed to be of Illyric origins, but their language is Oscan. We don’t know much about their culture, because they romanized very quickly after the defeat they suffered during social war. The same happened with Frentani, inhabitants of basins of Fortore, Tiferno and Sangro rivers, on Adriatic coast of current Abruzzo and Molise. Their name may come from the word meaning “deer”, the sacred animal who led them during the ver sacrum from which they took origin.
The Volscians founded some cities which survived during Roman period: Antium, with a patron goddess who was interpreted as Fortune but had a larger “sphere of competence”: she was a goddess linked to fertility, birth, healing especially of reproductive organs, but also to navigation and agriculture; Anxur, where there were a temple dedicated to Iuppiter anxurus or Jupiter as a child, built in IV century a.e.v., over which Sulla made another temple to be built. Cassino is a Volscian city too, and there are traces of a cult to a deity of waters, later identified with Apollo.
Certainly Samnites are the most known among Osco-Umbrians, because of their pride and opposition to Roman conquest: these qualities are disclosed in books, where the role they had in Roman culture’s development is often forgotten. In facts, Atellans, farces of scurrilous humor, have a Samnite origin and were taken by Roman first attempt of literary production. For long Samnites were believed not to be a urban population: actually, while Samnites living on the mountains stayed reserved and conservative, those living in plains opened to influences coming from other populations, Grecians included, and rebuilt some cities: Pompeii, Etruscan city, was rebuilt by Samnites as the temple consecrated to fertility goddess of sulphurous waters, Mefitis, worshiped especially by Samnites, demonstrates; near the city of Capena, in southern Latium, there was a sacred area called in Latin lucus Feroniae, the wood sacred to the goddess Feronia, linked to springs and woods, whose cult was spread all over Central Italy: under Roman rule, this sacred area was widened.
As we have information about Umbrian religion from Gubbio’s tables, so we have information about Samnite religion from Agnone’s tables, regulating the practice of cult inside the sacred enclosure of Agnone, consecrated mainly to Ceres (Kerres, in their language) and subordinately to sixteen deities listed in these tables, often called “Kerriiais”, meaning “Cereal” and thereby “who makes grow”, referring to their function of inducing growth and coming from the name of the goddess Ceres, goddess of vegetation and harvest.
These deities are: Vezkei, in Latin Veiovis; Evklui Paterei, Father Euclo, called Hades or Hermes by Grecians, so he may have been a psychopomp god; Futrei Kerriai, Ceres’ daughter; Anter Statai, or Stata Mater for Latins; Ammai Kerriiai, Maia, Italic goddess of Spring, later identified with her Greek namesake, Hermes’ mother; Diumpais Kerriiais, Nymphs of springs; Liganakdikei Entrai, deity of vegetation and fruits; Anafriss Kerriiuis, Nymphs of rain; Maatuis Kerriiuis, dew’s goddess; Diuvei Verehasiui, or in Latin Jupiter Virgator, whipper, maybe someway bound to Lupercalia rites, during which some priests hit with leather straps the hands of women stretching out them to ensure fertility; Diuvei Regaturei, Jupiter Pluvius, who makes it raining; Hereklui Kerriiui, Hercules; Patanai Piistiai, goddess of wine making; Deivai Genetai, in Latin Mana Geneta; Pernai Kerriiai, Latins’ Pales, goddess of sheep farming; Fluusai, Flora, goddess of earth and patron of sprouds.Samnites living near Agnone paid a tax for sacred enclosure’s maintenance and tables says that the enclosure belongs to those who paid this decima and have the right to attend it. There were fifteen altars inside this sacred garden; rites honoring Flora were performed outside it. Agnone’s sacred garden is an example of what Samnites’ first worshiping places looked like: they were open spaces, woods and valleys; only later Samnites began building sanctuaries, the most known of which is the sanctuary near Pietrabbondante, federal sanctuary of Samnite League. It had a big temple with three cellae and three altars dedicated to three deities, one of which was the goddess Victory, and a theatre. The architecture of this sanctuary shows consequences of the influence exerted by Grecians since VI century a.e.v. Mamerte, parallel to Latins’ Mars, was a very important god; his comrade-in-arms was the god Heres; like Sabines, Samnites worshipped Famel, goddess of earth. Lucina, goddess of birth, was a so important goddess that first Romans adopted her as an independent goddess and later her name became one of Juno’s appellations. Samnites had a sacred animal, like other Osco-Umbrian populations; theirs was the bull, while the cock was Samnite league’s sign.
Hirpini had the wolf as sacred animal and their name comes from the Samnite word for wolf, hirpus. They were an Oscan-speaking population, settled in southern Sannio, where Romans founded the colony of Beneventum. They, or their priests, were also called Hirpi Sorani (wolves of mount Soratte, from the place where this cult was celebrated); the historiographer Servius said that Hirpini practised the cult to Dis Pater, a Latin deity of underworld, with whom the original deity must have been identified, so some scholars believe that the adjective “Sorani” may come from Suri, an Etruscan underworld god. Hirpini also practised fire-walking, walking on coals with bare feet.
Lucanians’ sacred animal was the wolf, too, if we consider their name as given to them by Grecians, coming from the word meaning wolf, lukos; according to some philologists, their name is rather derived from the Latin word for “sacred wood”, lucus.
To their south, the Bruttii settled in current Calabria; ancient historiographers said they were shepherds or servants to Lucanians, but soon rebelled against them. They were a rough and nomadic population who conquered many cities of Magna Graecia before being defeated by Romans during the Punic Wars, when they were Hannibal’s allies. Archaeological findings demonstrate that they never founded real cities and their settlements consisted in an oppidum (fortification) and its connected villae. We don’t have traces of their culture.
The third Indo-European wave came from Illyria, preceding those of Grecians, Celts and Germans: various populations crossed the Adriatic and settled in current Apulia, between Abruzzo and Marches where overlapped to Osco-Umbrians population (Picenes) or in current Veneto. In Apulia, Illyrians were Daunii, Peucetii and Messapians; Liburni settled in Picene region: we don’t know much about their religion because they merged with local Osco-Umbrians so that some historians believe Illyrian influences to be the result of relations at a distance and that Liburni never really settled in Italy; so Veneti were Illyrians too, and archaeologists prefer calling them Palaeoveneti, to avoid confusion with other populations reported under the same name, for example a Celtic group settled in Brittany, skillful navigators defeated by Cesar.
This confusion derives from uncertain origins of the name Veneti: it may come from the root ven- meaning “loved, friend”, and thereby Veneti means “members of groups united by blood ties”, or may come from a similar root meaning “to win” and so Veneti means “winners”; so Veneti is a generic name. The Veneti we are talking about may be, according to some sources, the Enetoi (Greek word for “praiseworthy”) mentioned in Iliad as a population coming from Paflagonia and by Herodotus as an Adriatic population, known to Grecians and then to Romans as skilful horse breeder. The so ancient use of this name doesn’t implies the existence of an original group later divided. The Palaeoveneti came from Illyria in XIII century a.e.v.; their language, attested by inscriptions, is an Indo-European language with similarities with Italic, Greek and Germanic branch, while their alphabet derives from the Etruscan alphabet of the city of Chiusi by adding the Greek letter O (in facts, this sound doesn’t exist in Etruscan language) and they have a syllabic script.The Palaeovenetic culture is also called “atestina”, meaning “of the city of Este”, being this city their principal centre, near which there were four temples. The main one was dedicated to the goddess Reitia, connected to healing, as the ex-votos found around it show, but also to writing, as many alphabetic tablets and styli for writing have been found near the temple. Maybe the sanctuary contained also schools. The other temples were dedicated to the Dioscuri (Greek interpretatio of twin deities, common feature among Indo-European religions), to a warlike goddess whose name is not known, and the fourth may have been an auguraculum (a place where divination was practised). Most of Venetic temples are near waters; in Cadore region (Alps of current region Veneto) there was a temple consecrated to a triform goddess or to the god Trumusiate; near Abano’s thermal spring the cult of Hercules was practiced and there was a temple to the god Apono.
Iapyges was the collective noun for all the Illyrian population settled in current Apulia, who were believed to come from Crete according to some ancient sources: Sallentini, Calabrians, Messapians, Peucetii, Daunii. We don’t know much about Sallentini, Calabrians and Peucetii; we know something more about Daunii and Messapians.
Daunii settled in northern Apulia; they didn’t pass down much of their religion, but there remains some anthropomorphous stelae, bearing arms and hands drawn on them. Male stelae have an armor drawn on them, female ones a dress; some have a pin at the top, on which a head should be put. The of the entity drawn on the stele, which may be related to commemoration of dead people, was shown by other drawings: jewels, weapons, spheroid graphemes, colored scenes with people and animals. Scenes are different according to the stele’s sex: male stelae have fighting and hunting scenes, while female ones have a great variety of themes. On the latter representations of opium poppies were notices, so it is thought the Daunii used this flower not only for healing, but also for ecstatic and religious purposes.
Messapians settled in southern Apulia; they went to Italy during the Iron Age and stayed in touch with other Illyrian populations, both with those on the opposite coast of Adriatic and with those who came to Italy too, especially with Veneti. Some ancient historiographer, for example Herodotus, said Messapians were descendant of Cretans, who merged with local population. Messapian language is attested by many public, funerary, votive and numismatic inscriptions in Greek alphabet from Taranto and it is an Illyrian language. Their religion went under Grecians’ influence so that some Messapian deities have names which are very similar to those of Greek deities. In Torre dell’Orso’s and Roca’s inscriptions there are some names of typically Messapian deities: Tator or Taotor, one of the most important gods, or Batio, who was worshipped in brambles (and so his name, from the Messapian word for bramble) and represented sometimes as a god and sometimes as a goddess breast-feeding her child. Later, Batio was identified with Jupiter and worshiped as Jupiter Batio, but the cult of the goddess of growth survived in post-messapian period. Ana was another goddess, later identified with Aphrodite, as in a dedication on a capital to Aphrodite Ana.
This is the general picture of Italian situation. Of course, it’s only an overview, just to give an idea of complexity and tissue of populations in the territory of what we call Italy nowadays. Even though I introduced them as distinct populations, actually they overlapped everywhere until they definitively merged under Roman rule.
The Federazione Pagana doesn’t have a predominant ethnic-religious orientation (except in “numeric” sense of word, I mean for what concerns the majority of members) and so its purpose is to support development of paganism in Italy and thereby of these paganisms and others and to let every single person search for his/her historic and emotional roots.
Manuela Simeoni
[2] It’s what happens with those who start studying “stregheria”, but they believe they can’t practice it or they won’t find a master because they don’t have Italian ancestors.
[3] Ante Era Vulgare: before current era, it means b.c.
[4] From now on, I will use mainly Latin names of population where I couldn’t find the English word for them. Latin names are in italic.
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Monday, April 4, 2016
Polytheistic Religions in Pre-Roman Italy: Part II
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.
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.
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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Monday, February 22, 2016
Notions amid the approaching Full Snow Moon V
"Universe May Have Had No Beginning"
'Big Bang, Deflated? Universe May Have Had No Beginning'
by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer - LiveScience.com - February 26, 2015
If a new theory turns out to be true, the universe may not have started with a bang.
In the new formulation, the universe was never a singularity, or an infinitely small and infinitely dense point of matter. In fact, the universe may have no beginning at all.
"Our theory suggests that the age of the universe could be infinite," said study co-author Saurya Das, a theoretical physicist at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
The new concept could also explain what dark matter — the mysterious, invisible substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe — is actually made of, Das added.
cont'd
The legend of the Ice Age Eurasian lion
When I was a child, I recall tossing a garter snake or a salamander into water a few times. Even though they had never swam before, as there was no nearby body of water, they took to it as of though they had done it all of their lives. I get the same curious thought when I see a lion in the snow. Just like the drawings of whoolly mammoths and whoolly rhinoceros' roaming the frozen Eurasian tundra of the last glacial movement, it's clear that the modern lion also is partly "whoolly" and could adapt to northern winters as they had once done. In other words, they were once entirely "whoolly"... as one can easily imagine by looking at the above photograph. That lion is not uncomfortable in the snow.
Sometimes when I see a documentary featuring African lions, they almost seem to be merely "tolerating" the tropical weather. It may seem like a strange thing to say, but I really wonder if they aren't just as comfortable living in a northern climate. If, just for the sake of discussion, say two hundred of them were released in the remote Pacific Northwest.... I think they would do just fine. Hypothetically, they would just merely be returning to an environment that they once knew. It's like the factory farm pigs who have escaped and mated with wild boars; they became hairy, wild, and adaptive in no time.
History of lions in Europe
Lions inhabited parts of Europe during and after the Holocene and even historic times and formed a subspecies called Panthera leo europaea. They lived in ancient Greece, central Germany, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, southern Russia, coastal Saudi Arabia, western Asia, and India. It is also suggested by historical evidence, although not certain, that they lived in parts of Europe, including modern-day Portugal, Spain, southern France, up to Germany, Italy, and the Balkans beyond Greece. Their diet included cattle, deer and other herbivores.
Fossil record
In the earliest Holocene the lion was still present in northern Spain. Until around 5500 to 3000 BCE the lion is confirmed via fossils from Hungary and from the Pontic Region of Ukraine.
Lions in ancient Greece
According to reports by Ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus and Aristotle, lions were common in Greece around 480 BCE, became endangered in 300 BCE, until their extinction in 100 BCE.
Lions feature heavily in Ancient Greek mythology and writings, including the myth of the Nemean lion, which was believed to be a supernatural lion that occupied the sacred town of Nemea in the Peloponnese.
Aristotle and Herodotus wrote that lions were found in the Balkans in the middle of the first millennium BCE. When Xerxes advanced through Macedon in 480 BCE, he encountered several lions. But while lions presumably still existed in the area between the rivers Aliakmon and Nestus in Macedonia in Herodotus' time, in the 1st century CE Dio Chrysostom wrote that they were already extinct in Europe.
Lions in the Caucasus
Lions were present in Transcaucasia until the 10th century.
Lion in the snow at The Wild Animal Sanctuary
Brandon Crain
[3-28-16 ADDITION: It probably should be noted that the White lion color variation--as well as that of the White tiger--may be a link to perhaps even the true Ice Age of 25,000 years ago. The two appear very similar to the snow leopard of the Himalayas, which would seem to add to the evidence that their white fur could be linked to an ancient cold weather past. Then of course, there are the other white furred arctic or winter-coated animals.]
Strange skulls discovered in Russia, tied to secret Nazi occult group
'Strange skulls discovered in Russia, tied to secret Nazi occult group institution and the search for the origin of Mankind'
In what sounds as a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, reports from Russian newspapers “Komsomolskaya Pravda” and “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” indicate that a briefcase and two Alien-like skulls were discovered in the mountains of the Caucasus region of Adygeya. Among the briefcase, its finders found two skulls belonging to an unknown creature. Ahnenerbe was probably the most secret society within the SS dedicated to the study of the occult and the supernatural forces on Earth. According to researchers, it is likely that members of the SS were interested in the mysteries of the ancient dolmens and the high amounts of radioactivity present in the region known as the Kishinski canyon.
cont'd
Ahnenerbe (Wikipedia)
Ahnenerbe (German occult)
Alien Or Demon Skulls Found In Russia?
LaGranjaHumanaMX
Discovered in the mountains of Russia a strange mysterious briefcase and two skulls. According to the journalists of the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” and “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” briefcase it has written a strange logo “Ahnenerbe” This case was recently found in the mountains of Adygea.
In the mountains of the Caucasus region of Adygeya they were found two skulls belonging to an unknown creature for science with the emblem of the Ahnenerbe, probably the most secret society within the SS, dedicated to the study of the occult and the supernatural forces.
According to researchers, it is likely that members of the SS were interested in the mysteries of the ancient dolmens and the causes of high natural radioactivity in the region of Kishinski canyon. It is also possible that they should seek the golden Kuban Rada, lost somewhere in the region during the Russian Civil War (1917-1923).
Researchers have also found a German map of the territory of Adygeya, held in 1941, and have been amazed by the accuracy and completeness it is. These found objects have aroused great interest among specialists.
Historians know many details of the operation of the Wehrmacht Edelweiss, which planted Nazi banners at the peak of Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe, located in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria in the Russian Caucasus. However, what it was the purpose of this secret organization in the mountains of Adygea?
Phoenicia and Phoenician culture has influenced the world, right up to the present day, in ways that the vast majority of people will never know. Of course, Greece and Rome have the more overt influence; but Phoenicia has given us the more covert-occultic realm. The darker side, although I don't believe that it had to be that way. Certain people made it that way.
Carthage was a very powerful Phoenician colony, and when they lost the Punic Wars to Rome, they basically fizzled out of history as a distinct people and culture. In many ways, and certainly in terms of spiritual tradition, Phoenicia embodied much of what came from the civilizations which came before it. In particular, the Saturnian priesthood. They wore purple hooded robes because the rays from the star Saturn emitted a purplish light out of the northern sky before it became a dwarf star. Others present wore black robes, and many of the subtle symbols in a court of law come from their rites... including the black robe of the judge and his "bench." When students graduate, they wear square "Saturnian" caps just as initiates did in Phoenicia. The Phoenician god "EL" is the root word for virtually everything suggesting wisdom, knowledge, or rising in status; from "Elder" to "Elevator."
The Quest For The Phoenicians
Engineering an Empire: CARTHAGE
Saturn the Occult and The Phoenicians ~TØS ~
Dusty Springfield - I Only Want To Be With You
corringhamlad's channel
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Monday, February 15, 2016
Incontri Tra/Montani: Acknowledging the importance of our shared pagan past II - "Camunian runes"
Although the ancient Camunni language and alphabet have been covered here before, there may be another way of looking at it, and in relation to the Camunian-Valtellinese link from a greater historical viewpoint. To start with, the ancient Camunic language was spoken and written in both the Val Camonica and the Valtellina, and I'm guessing that may well include the Bergamo Alps, Val Chiavenna, Val Sabbia, Val Trompia, and all the connecting valleys in the "Camuno-Valtellinese region." This ancient language was, of course, tied to the Camunian alphabet (see link). When viewing the characters of this alphabet, they appear more like Norse runes than the Phoenician-originated alphabet that we use today.
The actual origin of ancient regional scripts can be confusing since some of the various characters have been adopted back and forth, often via trade routes (Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Phoenicians, Celts). I would guess that the forgotten trading centers and roads of the Celtic world were how many ancient scripts and characters were spread back and forth between the rather isolated Teutonic world and the Mediterranean world. In other words, a trading center along the southern coast of Gaul three thousand years ago would have Gauls coming into contact with Phoenicians for example. The Gauls had access to Scandinavia and the Teutonic world, and the Phoenicians had access to the known sea routes.
Also included in this alphabet are both the Norse life and death runes, and a number of other other Norse runes. Since some of the Norse runes are of Etruscan origin, I believe that a few of these characters were both adapted directly from Etruscan script (lower Lombardy was within the Etruscan sphere of influence) and also probably from frequent contact with migrating Celts from the north who settled near them. At least the life/death runes and the sun-circle were of true Teutonic origin; and Cernunnos was Gaulish. In conclusion, these are runes! By definition, being both an alphabet and spiritual symbols, they are as "runic" as the Norse runes. I have a good idea of what my next art project will be.2-21-16 ADDITION: Regarding the 1937 German Ahnenerbe institute expedition to the Val Camonica:
In 1937, the Ahnenerbe sent the archaeologist Franz Altheim and his wife, the photographer Erika Trautmann, to Val Camonica, to study prehistoric rock inscriptions. The two returned to Germany claiming that they had found traces of Nordic runes on the rocks, supposedly confirming that ancient Rome was originally founded by Nordic incomers.
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Monday, February 8, 2016
Guido von List: Part 29
Armanen Futhorkh - An Introduction
Südhimmel Hearth
A basic introduction to Guido von list Armanen Futhorkh Runes.
For further information: Guido Von List - The Secret of the Runes
http://www.scribd.com/doc/99276984/Guido-Von-List-The-Secret-of-the-Runes#
Temple of Wotan -
https://archive.org/details/Temple_Of_Wotan
The Masks of Odin: Wisdom of the Ancient Norse -
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/odin/odin-hp.htm
Teutonic mythology -
https://archive.org/details/teutonicmytholo04grim
Legends of Gods and Heroes -
http://www.norron-mytologi.info/diverse/munch-legends.pdf
Deceived, Damned & Defiant -
https://archive.org/details/DeceivedDamnedAndDefiant
Might is Right -
https://archive.org/details/MightIsRightByRagnarRedbeard
The Will to Power -
https://archive.org/details/TheWillToPower-Nietzsche
Recommended Reading -
http://ahfenner.tripod.com/OtherArticles.htm
Tacitus, Germania and the Armanenschaft
While "Armanism" is a system which can be adhered to today, the "Armanenscaft" was a Germanic socio-folk system from pre-Christian times. The blog "Aryan Myth and Metahistory" is another site with many references to Guido von List.
The Complete Armanen and the Untold Story
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