Two areas I have long intended to direct more effort towards extolling - are Indo-European Cosmology and Ritual. Both are fascinating, and as it happens, quite fundamentally coterminous much of the time. However, they're also both huge - and so instead of a series of five-to-fifty-thousand wor(l)d plus megaliths, I thought I'd try something a … Continue reading The Indo-European Cosmology – A Brief Guided Tour : Part One – Ritual Space And The Radiating Law
Shatapatha Brahmana
ON THE INDO-EUROPEAN TYPOLOGY OF IOLAUS – THIRD DRAGONSLAYER Part Four – Ritual Renditions and Mythic Memorializations : The Underlying Yet Obscured Ritualine Sense Of The Myth
There are, as it happens, multiple renditions of both the Trisiras slaying and the Vritra slaying to be found within the Vedic canon. And there are a few reasons for that. Partially it is the result of having multiple Rsis drawing from the underlying mytheme in order to evocatively express Their take on it. But … Continue reading ON THE INDO-EUROPEAN TYPOLOGY OF IOLAUS – THIRD DRAGONSLAYER Part Four – Ritual Renditions and Mythic Memorializations : The Underlying Yet Obscured Ritualine Sense Of The Myth
On Athena Storm-Bringer And The Thunderbolt Also Of Zeus
There is a rather interesting line in Aeschylus' Eumenides concerning Athena -" I alone of the Gods know the keys to the house where His Thunderbolt is sealed." This is Athena speaking to the Erinyes - the Furies - and stating quite directly that She and She Alone is in possession to 'the keys' to … Continue reading On Athena Storm-Bringer And The Thunderbolt Also Of Zeus
Foe-Slayer Claims Our Eulogy – Understanding RigVeda VIII 100: Indra, Vak
Every so often, we come across a Hymnal that really really deserves a broader audience. In this case, RV VIII 100 - which details a rather lesser-known element to the Slaying of Vritra by Indra. Namely, the salient role of Vak Devi (Saraswati) in this conflict. It therefore seemed most appropriate to prepare a brief … Continue reading Foe-Slayer Claims Our Eulogy – Understanding RigVeda VIII 100: Indra, Vak
Hail Hydra-Slayer: On The Mythic Combat Of Herakles And Athena – Indra And Vak Saraswati, Against The Demon-Dragon Of The Water
Herakles against the Hydra, Indra against Vritra - these are surely some of the best-known mythic combats in each of the Greek/Classical and Vedic/Hindu legendariums. Similarities immediately begin to suggest themselves - clearly, each is a fight of the Thunderer/Striker against a Demon-Dragon that is to be found 'midst waters. However, there is another, less … Continue reading Hail Hydra-Slayer: On The Mythic Combat Of Herakles And Athena – Indra And Vak Saraswati, Against The Demon-Dragon Of The Water
Ghora – Gorgos – Yggr – The Terrifying Face of Thunder
Ghora - Gorgos - Yggr Three names, Three faces, Three qualities .. That are actually one and the same. The Terrifying Face of the Sky Father; in Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, and Old Norse respectively. But what do they mean in each of their original contexts? And how can we tell that these are, indeed, the … Continue reading Ghora – Gorgos – Yggr – The Terrifying Face of Thunder
ON TECHNO-THEOLOGY PART TWO
Now here, too, we are dealing with spheres wherein change has already, or must inevitably occur. As applies the former, we can point quite directly to the Shatapatha Brahmana literature dealing with the Vedic metaphysics of sacrifice - and the allowable shift and progression which has taken place from various forms of live-animal offering, through … Continue reading ON TECHNO-THEOLOGY PART TWO
MahaShivRatri And The Mytholinguistics Of War [Part 3] – The Mind, The Mania, The Manyu
[Author's Note: It is said that some efforts take on a 'mind of their own'. While this was initially intended as the third part to our MythoLinguistics of War series, with a focus more narrowly upon the strong saliency of Indo-European concepts of "Mind" and 'Spirit' with those of Warfare - as the writing progressed, … Continue reading MahaShivRatri And The Mytholinguistics Of War [Part 3] – The Mind, The Mania, The Manyu
A Cut Off Horse-Head Delivers The Message
(Y)Our Ancestors, Ladies & Gentlemen!* "Most tellingly, perhaps, at the site of Potapovka (N. Krasnoyarsk Dst., near Kuybyshev on the N. Volga steppe), a unique burial has been found.6 It contains a human skeleton whose head has been replaced by a horse head; a human head lies near his feet, along with a bone pipe, … Continue reading A Cut Off Horse-Head Delivers The Message