To Return to the Skies Above Us, then, there are two important points to be raised ... points upon a single shaft, much like Hades' Bident. The first of these is the nature of the Path to which Yama is said to have held the noble, sacred, and solemn duty of being the first being … Continue reading AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part Three: The River Of Stars
Month: December 2019
AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part Two: Paramevyoman to Patalaloka – ‘Outer Heaven’ to ‘Under World’
Often, when we are thinking about the afterlife, and the Realm of the Dead, our thoughts quite understandably go downhill. That's what a "Katabasis" means, after all - "Going Under". Because we are anticipating that we are heading for some form of "Underworld". Which is not entirely inaccurate, and nor should it be dismissed as … Continue reading AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part Two: Paramevyoman to Patalaloka – ‘Outer Heaven’ to ‘Under World’
ON THE ELVES OF THE NORTH POLE
By now it should come as little surprise that much of the contemporary pseudo-mythology around Christmas is, in fact, based upon far older underpinnings - elements that have somehow 'seeped through' the veiling sheens not only of Christianity, but of Coca-Cola and McWorld. Some things, I would go so far as to say, are so … Continue reading ON THE ELVES OF THE NORTH POLE
AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part One: Death Is Just The Beginning
The nature of many an Indo-European sacred text about the Afterlife, the Underworld (and, indeed, just about everything else - but those subjects especially), is that it is a combination of "Preview" and "Guidebook". It's possible to do a full-on travelogue which goes into often quite (gruesomely) graphic detail, of course; but for various reasons - … Continue reading AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part One: Death Is Just The Beginning
AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part Prelude: The Path Of The Dead Is Open
RV X 14 - Yama [Griffith Translation]1 HONOUR the King with thine oblations, Yama, VivasvÄn's Son, who gathers men together,Who travelled to the lofty heights above us, who searches out and shows the path to many.2 Yama first found for us a place to dwell in: this pasture never can be taken from Us.Men born … Continue reading AN INDO-EUROPEAN GUIDE-BOOK OF THE DEAD – Part Prelude: The Path Of The Dead Is Open
Aesir-Vanir, Asura-Deva, but also A’Sura, Daeva
There's a few comparative mythographic ideas out there that are simple, intuitive, comfortable, persistent ... and downright wrong. One of these is the thorny thicket of presumptions which have grown up around three not-unrelated sets of terminology from the Vedic, Eddic, and Zoroastrian corpuses. The core of which is basically that as there was an Aesir-Vanir … Continue reading Aesir-Vanir, Asura-Deva, but also A’Sura, Daeva
OF BHAIRAVA AND BALANCE, Vedic, Eddic, and Homeric perspectives upon Lore and Order [Part 4E] Sage Advice From The High One
The first being, as noted above, the strong soundness of seeking 'sage advice' when in times of trouble. This, interestingly enough, is something which the Greeks *ignored* in the instance of Ajax the Lesser - Calchas the Seer had provided rather direct warning, Odysseus had also proffered the right course of action ... both eminently wise … Continue reading OF BHAIRAVA AND BALANCE, Vedic, Eddic, and Homeric perspectives upon Lore and Order [Part 4E] Sage Advice From The High One
A visage less commonly depicted – White Kali and the Cremation Cranes of Metempsychosis
Now, while the unexpectedness of a White Kali is remarkable in and of itself (indeed, in a certain sense, it might even be thought of as 'oxymoronic' - Kaal, after all, means 'Blackness', inter many alia); what makes this fine 17th century painting a worthy Friday Night Devotional (A)Art(I) posting goes rather beyond that. Take … Continue reading A visage less commonly depicted – White Kali and the Cremation Cranes of Metempsychosis
Ahimsa And The Non-Counterpoint Of Contextually Mandated Violence
[Author's note: This turned up from my writings upon this date in 2018 - given the present series we're running, it seemed a useful thought to re-publicize here] I have previously, from time to time, written about the Hindu principle of 'Ahimsa' - often (directly) translated as "non-harm" or "non-violence" ... and often rather egregiously … Continue reading Ahimsa And The Non-Counterpoint Of Contextually Mandated Violence
OF BHAIRAVA AND BALANCE, Vedic, Eddic, and Homeric perspectives upon Lore and Order [Part 4D] KankalaMurti (Habeas Corpus) – The Inception Of Divine Reconciliation As The Beginnings Of Atonement
The 'short-form' rendition of the Tale of Bhairava, Brahma-Slayer, generally has Him pursued by the Brahmahatya personification until He reaches the Holy City of Varanasi/Kashi, whereupon Bhairava's symbolic act of penance is completed, the Skull of Brahma falls from His Mighty Blood-Stained Hand ['KapalaMochana'] and the Brahmahatya sinks into the ground mere meters from the … Continue reading OF BHAIRAVA AND BALANCE, Vedic, Eddic, and Homeric perspectives upon Lore and Order [Part 4D] KankalaMurti (Habeas Corpus) – The Inception Of Divine Reconciliation As The Beginnings Of Atonement
arya-akasha 