Mythology and Paganism
Around March I devised a Cosmic-Lunar Calendar to help develop awareness of the cycles of the moon in conjunction with my own syncretic mythos through meditation and myth. Its going to be in thirteen parts, so I hope you stick around to the end. I’m hoping I can make at least two or three posts […]
During a hunting expedition, Actaeon (the grandson of Cadmus), out hunting a stag, discovered the goddess Artemis (Diana), while she was bathing naked in a pool. Outraged, the goddess transformed Actaeon into a stag, and failing to recognize their beloved master, he was torn apart by his own hounds.
The famous sibyl Deiphobe inhabited a cave near the temple of Apollo, where she would utter prophecies while under god’s influence, and guard the entrance to the realm of death.
She warned Aeneas of the dreadful inescapable nature of the underworld, and advised him to first obtain the golden branch, sacred to the queen of death, […]
The Phrygian myth concerning the goddess Cybele and Attis begins with the god Zeus who manages to impregnate the earth (Cybele was identified with the earth goddess Rhea) while he slept, resulting in the birth of the Hermaphrodite Cybele (called Agdistis).
The gods castrate Cybele, and an almond tree grows from her severed genitals. Nana, the […]
Apollo, created for Jeff over at Druid Journal: Word of the Day » Apollo
The God Apollo
Image based on Gustave Moreau’s Apollo and the Nine Muses
Leviathan seems to come from Canaanite mythology, through comparisons made with the multi-headed serpent called Lotan (ltn), from the Ugaritic tablets, discovered at Ras Shamra.
Lotan was killed by the god Ba’al (other sources indicate that the goddess Anat, or maybe both of them Killed Lotan). Bernhard Anderson, in Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak […]
There is an unusual myth retold by Ovid in Fasti concerning Carna, a nymph who was, like Artemis, a perpetual virgin. When any would-be suitors made advances to wards her, she would send them into a cave, only to vanish into the forest.
Janus alone managed to outwit her. Because of his ability to see from […]
An abstract representation of the labyrinth built by Daedalus.
The place of the double axe.
Minos aspired to the throne [of Krete], but was rebuffed. He claimed, however, that he had received the sovereignty from the gods, and to prove it he said that whatever he prayed for would come about. So while sacrificing to Poseidon, he […]
Dionysus, accompanied by his army of bacchic revellers, was accredited as the universal distributor of his own worship and the knowledge of the vine. Like Noah, he was the inventor of wine, and like Soma, he himself was the ambrosial drink poured out, everywhere releasing mankind from suffering. Below, in one of many magnificent […]
According to Greek mythology, Hermes (the Roman Mercury) was the divine messenger (the word) of Zeus. He was also known as ‘Psycopompos’, the conductor of souls to the underworld, and, as in the case of Persephone, he could also guide them back out again.
Statues known as ‘Herms’ portrayed Hermes with a large erect phallus, […]
I begin to sing of Pallas Athene,
the glorious goddess, bright-eyed,
inventive, unbending of heart,
pure virgin, saviour of cities,
courageous, Tritogeneia.
From his awful head wise Zeus himself
bare her arrayed in warlike arms of flashing gold,
and awe seized all the gods as they gazed.
But Athena sprang quickly from the immortal head
and stood before Zeus who holds the […]
I see a parallel between the opening chapters of the book of Exodus, and the intro to the Iliad, but I’ve never really discussed it with anyone before. Is there a connection do you think, or is it just coincidence, that both match up on a number of different points? I can’t help but think […]
Lunar Beasts (part 1)
Lunar Beasts (part 2)
Lunar Beasts (part 3)
Lunar Beasts (part 4)
Lunar Beasts (part 5)
Lunar Beasts (part 6)
Lunar Beasts (part 7)
Lunar Beasts (part 8 )
The God Dionysus
Dionysus , accompanied by his army of bacchic revellers, was accredited as the universal distributor of his own worship and the knowledge of the vine (The ambrosial plant). […]
Lycaon was an ancient king of Arcadia, who had fifty sons. One day, Zeus visited Lycaon disguised as a beggar. His sons (and some say Lycaon himself) set before the god a meal mixed with the flesh of a child.
Zeus, in his wrath, overturned the table, and […]
Herod the Great and Jesus
Like Astyages, Herod the Great attempted to kill the Messiah king whom the Hebrew scriptures foretold would one day rule the people of Israel. Unlike Astyages, Herod was ignorant concerning the new born king’s identity and ordered the wholesale slaughter of all the boys up to two years of age in […]
It was Aristaeus (the son-in-law of Cadmus and father of Actaeon), who, it is said, attempted to rape Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, when she blindly stepped on a snake, and died.
Orpheus, whose ability on the lyre had the power to enchant the entire realm of creation, descended into the realm of death, and […]
After reading Medusa in mythology, I thought I’d resurrect this older post, regarding the Gorgon aspect of the Goddess Athene.
The Aegis is a coat/shield/breastplate with powerful protective properties. It also acts as a kind of weapon. It was said to belong to Zeus, and was made from the skin of a goat that raised Zeus […]
In a previous entry I gave my interpretation of the slaying of Medusa interpreted as Cosmogonic myth, associating Medusa with the temporal realm (in its primordial chaotic state), and the separation of both the temporal and eternal orders of reality, symbolized respectively by the birth of Pegasus (linked with the streams of Oceanos), and the […]
The Death of Medusa and the birth of Pegasus
When Perseus had cut off the head of Medousa there sprang from her blood great Khrysaor and the horse Pegasos so named from the springs (pegai) of Okeanos, where she was born. Hesiod, Theogony 270 (Theoi)
The head of Orpheus
The mournful birds, the stricken animals, the hard stones and the weeping woods, all these that often had followed your inspiring voice, bewailed your death; while trees dropped their green leaves, mourning for you, as if they tore their hair. They say sad rivers swelled with their own tears—naiads and dryads with […]
Demeter and her daughter Persephone — known as ‘the two goddesses’ — were the prominent deities associated with the famous Eleusinian Mystery cult, celebrated for over a millennium until the end of the 4th century A.D.
“For those who were initiated into the mysteries of Demeter, an identification was made between the resurrection of the new […]
My contribution for the Mythology Synchroblog on the theme of Motherhood. For more posts see below.
Sections
The Anatolian Mother
Cybele in Greece
Magna Mater in Rome
Magna Mater’s Spring Festival (15th and 27th March)
The Taurobolium in the Magna Mater Cult
The Anatolian Mother
Both the Greek and Roman worship of the Great Mother derives from Anatolia/Asia Minor (Turkey). Her name appears […]
The death and re-birth of the mythological victim in the Minoan cult of the Double-Axe, who, like the moon, was thought to ever pass through the temporal realm, symbolized by the Great Mother.
The Place of the Double-Axe
The Place of the Double-Axe, or Labyrinth, was a mythical maze built by Daedalus on the island of Crete […]
The slaying of Medusa, the cutting off of her head, mythologically re-enacts the primordial event of death, and the simultaneous creation of the temporal universe, from within the threshold of Death and Life.
Medusa and her two sisters, Euryale and Sthenno, were known as the Gorgons, and are the goddess in triple aspect. Medusa’s head of […]
Calling out to other mythology (there’s not nearly enough of you!) or Pagan bloggers out there! Does anyone have any requests for some divine digital art?
If you would like me to create a piece of digital art (for use on your blog) of a particular god, goddess, religious symbol, etc, let me know in […]
I’d like to try something new. Every week or so, I’ll pick a Deity (in alphabetical order), and from memory write all I can remember from myth, archaeology, experience, or elsewhere, relating to that Deity. It would be great if you could play along in the comments. Also, feel free to add or correct any […]
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