"Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, “Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore— Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s … Continue reading Saturday – Shani Dev’s Day – Saturn’s Day
Shiva
The Bringer Of Shocking Enlightenment
Vishnu-posting? On a Wednesday? ON MY WALL?? It's more likely than you think! "You can run on for a long time [...] Sooner or later God'll cut you down" - Johnny Cash, 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and … Continue reading The Bringer Of Shocking Enlightenment
NAGA PANCHAMI – A CELEBRATION OF SERPENTS
Today marks the Hindu observance of Naga Panchami - an occasion where we honour the Snakes. Now, this might seem a most curious thing to those cursorily acquainted with Indo-European mythology. After all, pretty much every Indo-European culture and religion has voluminous accountings of the righteous and holy *smiting* of the Serpentine, the Draconic, the … Continue reading NAGA PANCHAMI – A CELEBRATION OF SERPENTS
Hades as Gaurivara, Persephone as Gauri
SHIVA-AS-YAMA, SHIVA-AS-KAAL, bearing a most Gauri bride indeed. Monday Devotional (A)Art(I) Posting! Now, technically speaking, this is actually a depiction of Hades & Persephone by Ulpiano Checa, circa 1888 [the painting, I mean, not when They were depicted]. However, not only do we have reasonable strength of analysis to make a strong linkage between Hades … Continue reading Hades as Gaurivara, Persephone as Gauri
‘Time And I Against Any Other Two’ – an Indo-European analysis of a maxim.
There is an aphorism of the great Baltasar Gracian which I have been turning over in my mind a fair bit this week. Not least because, upon closer inspection there's some *strongly* Indo-European [and, although Gracian could not possibly have known it, Shaivite - Shakta] subtext immanent within it. I shall not repeat it in full … Continue reading ‘Time And I Against Any Other Two’ – an Indo-European analysis of a maxim.
“Spend It Well”
"The coin in question, if you were wondering, is a Kushan minting from the reign of King Vasudeva, also a Hindu convert. Depicted on the right is Shiva with Nandi, and on the left, 'Oesho' - "Ishvara" ['God-Emperor'], another Epithet [and cosmological Function] of Mahadev, although also possibly [contingent upon which etymological theorizing we are … Continue reading “Spend It Well”
Sky-Earth-Thunder – A Brief Comparative Model of the Divine Family
"Instead of posting a multi-thousand word article, I thought I'd try experiment with a shorter-form word-count chart. This time, a) seeking to briefly express how many Indo-European mythologies record a Sky Father - Earth Mother, Striker/Thunderer familial unit; b) show that Greek/Roman mythology did some ... odd things, that lead to at least two 'layers' … Continue reading Sky-Earth-Thunder – A Brief Comparative Model of the Divine Family
GHOST DIVISION – On The BhutaGana of Mahadev & The Einherjar of Odin
GHOST DIVISION - On The BhutaGana of Mahadev & The Einherjar of Odin [Author's Note: This piece was initially intended as an offering for MahaShivRatri, which was this year in early March. A combination of delays in the writing and peer-review process - for which I take full responsibility - meant that it was not … Continue reading GHOST DIVISION – On The BhutaGana of Mahadev & The Einherjar of Odin
HANUMAN JAYANTI
Today [yesterday for those of us to the west of the International Date Line] is an important religious observance, commemorating the triumph of an incarnate-and-born form of Deus Pater - sent from on high to help out Mankind (particularly via severance of the chains of sin upon the soul) in fulfilment of a covenant made … Continue reading HANUMAN JAYANTI
Ardhanarishvara ; Valentine’s Day
The Ardhanarishvara dual-aspect of Mahadev & Mata JI. Now, 'Ardhanarishvara', directly translated, means 'Half [Ardha] Woman [Nari] Sovereign [Ishvara]'. And while I can see why misunderstandings have lead to this particular shared form of the Divine Couple being co-opted, appropriated, and flagrantly misrepresented in the modern day by an array of people and clickbait-publishers looking … Continue reading Ardhanarishvara ; Valentine’s Day
arya-akasha 