A fitting image, we had felt, to resonate with a figure encountered at various points in our work over this past year, and that we might perhaps think of as something of a 'Para-Kali' or even 'Proto-Kali' (and, of course, Chandika / Chamunda, and Durga, are also heavily in-mind here for reasons that ought prove … Continue reading Adorned By The Mantle Of Fire And The Masque Of Death
War Goddess
Chamunda – Brief Conceptual Resonancies For The Storm Facing Of Wrathful Sky Divinity
It is Friday - Devi's Day - And so therefore, as has become our custom, we present a brief commentary to go with a beautiful work of (A)Arti-fice ... In this case, a fine sandstone sculpture, about a thousand years old. Something which manages to convey a sense of Her 'Forcefulness', Her 'Essence' ... even … Continue reading Chamunda – Brief Conceptual Resonancies For The Storm Facing Of Wrathful Sky Divinity
Sālāvṛka – The Wolves of the Temple, the Enclosure And Ancestral Warding – ‘Cruel Sanction’ Meted Out Via The Howling Hounds Of Heaven [ Excerpt IV From ‘ On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father ]
Over the past several weeks, we have been running a series of excerpts from our ' On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father '. The first and second of these sought to briefly examine Apollo Lykeios and the Wolf That Stalks The Stars . … Continue reading Sālāvṛka – The Wolves of the Temple, the Enclosure And Ancestral Warding – ‘Cruel Sanction’ Meted Out Via The Howling Hounds Of Heaven [ Excerpt IV From ‘ On The Wolves Of Rudra – The Terrific, Well-Storied Wolves And Wolf Forms Of The Indo-European Sky Father ]
On Indo-European Solar Warfare – An Over-View
This week just gone marked Diwali (Deepavali) - the rather aptly translated 'Festival of Lights'. Which, as seemingly every once-over-lightly-for-a-Western-audience writeup seeks to swiftly remind us, exalts the 'Victory of Light over Darkness". It's a simple enough concept - and has near-infinite potential saliency (c.f., for instance the Solar Eclipse occurring in Svati immediately the … Continue reading On Indo-European Solar Warfare – An Over-View
Devi Athena Arms The Warrior Of The Divine
It's Friday - Devi's Day And so, therefore, a fine sculpted depiction from the series of Classically inspired works by Karl Heinrich Möller that adorn the Schlossbrücke in Berlin. In this case, 'Athena Arms The Warrior' ('Athena bewaffnet den Krieger') - which we would consider to be an expression of a typology prominent not only … Continue reading Devi Athena Arms The Warrior Of The Divine
A People Of Ash And Fury – On The Divinely Arboreal Genesis Of The Indo-Europeans
In recent days, our attention had been drawn to a most remarkable occurrence within the Þorleifs þáttr jarlaskálds wherein, as our learned associate, Gottfried Yann Karlssohn (who had drawn our attention to it in the first place) had phrased it - we find "a Norse king using incantations to animate a trémaðr (treeman), giving him a … Continue reading A People Of Ash And Fury – On The Divinely Arboreal Genesis Of The Indo-Europeans
A Combat Of Piety – Lord Rama’s Averted Eye Sacrifice To Devi For Victory And Its Vedic Antecedents
To explain what's going on here - this is a Ramayana episode of particular significance to us in relation to #NavRatri and its apex. Although the occurrence in question is drawn from other sources than the familiar Valmiki Ramayana. It illustrates a particular ritual observance hailed within the realm of Myth (and which I believe … Continue reading A Combat Of Piety – Lord Rama’s Averted Eye Sacrifice To Devi For Victory And Its Vedic Antecedents
The Divine Invocation Of The War Goddess – Katyayani Prayed To For Victory By The Gods
Illustration: 'Rama’s Sharadiya Durga Puja' - Ratan Acharya Something that I feel deserves greater prominence when we speak of Indo-European theology - is the fact that Our Gods Have Gods. Or, more pointedly - Goddess. This isn't just a Hindu thing. It is also encountered - at least, inferentially - in the Hellenic sphere. There, … Continue reading The Divine Invocation Of The War Goddess – Katyayani Prayed To For Victory By The Gods
Weaponry, Wisdom, And Warfare – A Moon-Halo’d Athena For Chandraghanta’s NavRatri Night
Upon ChandraGhanta's Night, I have often posted this image - of Athena, at the [modern-day] Academe in Athens, halo'd by the full Moon. Visually, this is rather apt. 'Chandraghanta' referring quite directly to the Goddess having such a 'Moon Halo' - hence the 'Moon Bell' theonymic, in part; the other part being the manner in … Continue reading Weaponry, Wisdom, And Warfare – A Moon-Halo’d Athena For Chandraghanta’s NavRatri Night
Devi Worship In Puerto Rico For NavRatri [Operation VaishvaDevi]
For this year's #NavRatri, we said we would be doing something a little different - a 'Show of Force' [Shakti] A tangible demonstration that Devi (and Her Devotees) can be found not only in the Hindu perspective (or, for that matter, what we often think of as the Hindusphere) … but right across the Indo-European … Continue reading Devi Worship In Puerto Rico For NavRatri [Operation VaishvaDevi]