Something that is going to be absolutely essential when it comes to reconstructing the 'high religious' rites for western Indo-European spheres - is working out where, in the depths of the mythology, ritual understandings are to be deliberately inferred. Why? Because so much of Indo-European ritual is comprised of what Eliade eloquently termed the 'Eternal … Continue reading The Upasads – Sieges, Homage, Spiritual Warfare, And The Necessary Restoration Of Western Indo-European Religious Ritual Reconstruction
Sarama
Mercury The Dog-Headed
It is Wednesday … and it's also November. So therefore, here's Mercury, heralding November. For Dies Mercurii, you understand. Now there's something a bit different about this depiction - the fact that Mercury is, here, a cynocephal … a 'dog-headed' figure (which I suppose would render the apt Old Norse translation for 'Cynocephalic' as 'Ulfhednar'). … Continue reading Mercury The Dog-Headed
Towards An Indo-European Theory Of Demonology – Chaos, Devourers, Outsiders, Messengers and Monsters
Something I have long meant to pen is a sort of explanatory typology for 'Demons' in Indo-European understanding. There's almost certainly an entire book which could be written upon the subject - and it is undeniably significantly intriguing. After all, many a great and epic myth requires a suitably monstrous foe in order for the Hero … Continue reading Towards An Indo-European Theory Of Demonology – Chaos, Devourers, Outsiders, Messengers and Monsters
On Odin Brihaspati As Song-Smith – The Sung Seizing Of The Wealth Of Cows
The Nordic textual corpus is a frustrating, glinting thing. So often we glance across a passage therein which evidently speaks to something that is evidently far deeper in meaning than what is written there upon the page … and yet which the ravages of time and obscurity mean that we now cannot feasibly interpret except … Continue reading On Odin Brihaspati As Song-Smith – The Sung Seizing Of The Wealth Of Cows
On The Wind-Walk Of Aristeas Of Proconnesus As Mythic-Metaphoric-Metempsychotic Journey
[Author's Note: This piece, examining the legendary journey of Aristeas of Proconnesus across Scythia, is an extract from my earlier "The Gryphon – Indo-European Guardian of the Golden Realm". I felt that it was of sufficient import and general interest to publish separately as well - and may further expand the concepts it touches upon … Continue reading On The Wind-Walk Of Aristeas Of Proconnesus As Mythic-Metaphoric-Metempsychotic Journey
The Gryphon – Indo-European Guardian of the Golden Realm
One of the more seizing figures to have captured the imagination - both ancient and modern - is the Griffin (occasionally, and to my mind superiorly, spelled 'Gryphon'). Almost everybody knows it - a creature that is simultaneously leonine and aquiline. Part Lion, part Eagle. And usually pictured by us in its heraldic form, something … Continue reading The Gryphon – Indo-European Guardian of the Golden Realm