Latin materials speak of 'Divine Crows' [Corniscae Divae - Allen has this as "Crow-Goddesses", even] which are of Juno; Festus' Epitome [56L] relates: "Corniscarum Divarum locus erat trans Tiberim cornicibus dicatus, quod in Junonis tutela esse putabatur", with this being often cited in accompaniment of an engimatic inscriptional "DEVAS CoRNISCAS SACRVM". This, whilst lesser-known today, … Continue reading The Crows of Juno
Classical
A Roman Correlate To Śārada Navarātri ? The October Natalis Of Juno Curritis In Comparative Constellation
It would appear I may have been 'on the money' with my contemplation viz. Roman Juno Quiritis / Curritis ('Spear-Juno')* in as potential Roman correlate for Durgā as applies our recent Navarātrī observance ! Per the Roman religious calendar - the 5th of October was one of the 'Mundus Patet' events, wherein an entry to … Continue reading A Roman Correlate To Śārada Navarātri ? The October Natalis Of Juno Curritis In Comparative Constellation
Prometheus & Ithax, Saboteur of Sacrifice – Part One: The Emissary of the Anti-Divine
As applies Prometheus - everybody knows the main 'pop-culture' narrative. But what if there was an additional reason that Prometheus deserved the outcome - and for Prometheus to have wanted to interfere with setting down the formulaic metaphysics of sacrifice to begin with… Now, here is the key detail - a fragment transmitted via Hesychius … Continue reading Prometheus & Ithax, Saboteur of Sacrifice – Part One: The Emissary of the Anti-Divine
The Kouretes And The Rudras
Beautiful rendition of the Kouretes (Curetes) carrying out Their Dance about the newborn youthful Zeus (the infant at the base - there's a tripartite Thunderbolt behind Him also). Their Dance with its noise was undertaken to shield Zeus from Kronos - It was a … Safety Dance Now, I didn't just post this in order … Continue reading The Kouretes And The Rudras
Psychopompi Germanica – And Why It’s Not Odin
In recent days I have run into a rather recurrent skein of assertions about Odin purportedly being a "Psychopomp". Now as for why this has kept coming up - the context has been fairly much what you'd expect. Namely, people looking to affirm an accuracy for that well-known 'Interpretatio' from Tacitus, whereby Odin is inferred … Continue reading Psychopompi Germanica – And Why It’s Not Odin
The Inadequate ‘Interpretatio’ Of Odin – A Grimm Exemplar
Following one of those 'spirited' exchanges in relation to the theology of Odin some days ago (you know the type - an affronted (and affronting!) multi-paragraph "HE'S NOT MY REAL (SKY) FATHER!" column, which is then thrust … in my direction / into an ambush / into next week, by the time I've finished writing … Continue reading The Inadequate ‘Interpretatio’ Of Odin – A Grimm Exemplar
The Spider And The Web
In our house, we prefer to take a 'live-and-let-live' approach towards spiders. Most particularly where they turn up in the shower, and there is some concern as to the imminent re-enactment of an arachnine Myth of Sisyphus to shortly prove impending. And, because it fairly instantly leaped into my head upon having this photo sent to … Continue reading The Spider And The Web
The Thunderbolt (And Storm Shield) Of Athena – A Brief Compilation
Recently, we'd had somebody write in via the site with relation to the 'Storm' characteristic in association with Athena. It's something which one should think would enjoy more prominence in the perception as to the Goddess - but despite various attestations from around the Classical legendaria, as well as the strong implicit sense to such a prospect … Continue reading The Thunderbolt (And Storm Shield) Of Athena – A Brief Compilation
TRI-LOKA : The Three Worlds Of Indo-European Cosmology – Part Three: The Dead Among The Stars
Now speaking of the Night's Sky - this brings us to what's probably the most 'divergent' area for our trifold TriPlanar schema. And I mean that in two senses - first, in terms of just how 'different' one of the Hellenic (and later Classical) conceptions for this Layer is as compared to 'Everybody Else' on … Continue reading TRI-LOKA : The Three Worlds Of Indo-European Cosmology – Part Three: The Dead Among The Stars
TRI-LOKA : The Three Worlds Of Indo-European Cosmology
The archaic Worlds-view of the (Proto-)Indo-Europeans featured a functional conceptualization for the Cosmos as broadly divisible into three 'layers' or realms. We can safely infer this due to the shared fundamental TriPlanar structure carried forward by various of the major (post-PIE) Indo-European spheres, attested amidst both their mythic and ritualine perspectives - as we have drawn from … Continue reading TRI-LOKA : The Three Worlds Of Indo-European Cosmology