Mythology and Paganism
The Phrygian myth concerning the goddess Cybele and Attis…
The myth is cosmological, explaining the creation of the present universe. Like other myths it reveals that in the beginning something separated the created order from it’s source, which should of resulted in it’s total destruction, yet miraculously and paradoxically did not.
The Divine Source within the Cosmos
…begins […]
The current incarnation of my altar
My Altar has been steadily evolving since I first set it up back in October last year. The mythical symbolism remains the same. The necklace (symbolic of lunar-cosmic space-time) I’ve replaced with a wonderful wooden snake I won at a medieval fair last weekend. As soon as I saw it […]
In Ge Hong’s (ca 280 - 340/360 AD) Baopuzi (master embracing simplicity) Neipian (Inner Chapters), the Pace of Yu (Yubu) is described in detail as a sequence of three movements comprising of nine steps (3X3), and is a ritual dance performed by daoist masters.
“the Pace of Yu (Yubu) is described in detail as a […]
Thank You Grian for responding to my post So who is this Cernunnos dude? (A to Z).
This post was originally a comment in response to Griane’s comment, but as is often the case it evolved into something worthy of posting status. Griane (Lee Hutchings of Panthea: All Things Are Goddess) has also posted her […]
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 )
Death and Life of Adonis through the tusks of the Lunar Boar
In the myth concerning Adonis’ ever-revolving decent and ascent in the realms of death and life, both his birth […]
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 )
From Bull to Serpent
The horns of the bull and the horns of the Moon are equated. The Moon is that celestial sphere that dies and is resurrected. It carries its […]
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 )
In both the Zoroastrian Creation myth and the Taruoctony (Bull Slaying scene) of the Mithras Cult, the Cosmic Man and Bull are depicted as separate entities, the bull being […]
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 )
Previously, I have referred to the bull and lion as the animal representatives of the temporal-lunar and eternal-solar aspects of divinity, and how both further symbolize their respective modes of […]
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 )
In part six, I introduced the mythical representation of a sacred tree in the form of a pole sumounted by a lunar crescent, containing the orb of the sun.
Lunar-horn […]
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 serpent and the cosmic centre
The serpent and the tree, is a well known mythological symbol. In Greek myth there’s Ladon, the sleepless serpent who guarded the golden apple Tree […]
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 )
Cosmic Release in the Mysteries of Mithras
Those initiated into the mysteries of Mithras achieved cosmic release by way of the revolving planets, which appear in Mithraic Iconography, each planet (Saturn, […]
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). […]
Garden of Eden and the Mythological Axis Mundi
As a Christian, I believed that there were two trees in the garden of Eden. As I began to study mythology, I came to the conclusion that the garden of Eden was a kind of axis-mundi, probably situated on a mountain, with it’s four rivers symbolic of the […]
This iconic representation of a cylindrical stamp seal from Bahrain (Dilmun), depicts the image of a bull standing upon a high-prowed boat, feeding upon a plant, with a rotated lunar crescent adjacent with the bull’s head.
Between the repeating image of the boat stands another plant or tree, enclosed within the crook-shaped prows surmounting the […]
This post originally started out as a comment to a recent post at Druid Journal, Hearing the Song of the World, where Jeff shares the story of Komo the Shepherd boy.
It’s surprising that the tale of Komo is not traditional. I also thought of the myth of Adam, naming all the animals in the garden, […]
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 […]
leontocephaline: Of Time and Eternity
Also associated with the Mithraic cult was the statue of a lion-headed figure (leontocephaline), whose body was entwined by a spiraling serpent.
This statue, I believe, represents both the lunar-temporal reality, corresponding with the revolving (serpentine) planetary path leading to cosmic release, and the solar-eternal reality, corresponding with the eighth gate mentioned […]
Originally part of the Lunar Beasts series, but I felt that it doesn’t quite fit the subject matter, which primarily focuses on the Lunar Beast, a symbol that is related to other mythical ideas of the ever-revolving cosmos of death and life, such as this one, although without any actual lunar-moon symbols.
According to […]
I’ve finally set up an altar, and have chosen an image of Cernunnos as a representation of my Panentheistic understanding of divinity. The arrangement is pretty simple to look at, although It is based on a wide range of mythic images, as I understand them.
Altar (click image to enlarge)
The necklace represents the cosmic order […]
Plato’s Cosmic Man
According to Plato, in his dialogue Timaeus, the Creator God wanted all things to be like himself and modelled the universe on the eternal.
Using the four elements, earth, water, fire, and air, he created order from chaos using, as his blue print, a perfect and intelligent living being. Creation, according to Plato, […]
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 […]
I classify Cernunnos (Celtic) as a threshold God. Other mythological characters of this type I include Noah (Hebrew), Dionysus (Greek), Shiva (Hindu), and many more, but for this brief article I want to focus on Cernunnos and the iconography surrounding this God, particularly the God’s headdress as shown on the Gundestrup cauldron (Denmark: 2nd to […]
The secular philosopher Wang Chung (27 BC - 97 AD) quotes a myth concerning a mountain called Tu Shuo, situated in the eastern ocean, from a lost version of the Shan Hai Jing, ‘classic of mountains and oceans’ (4th-3rd century B.C).
Overshadowing the island mountain grew a huge peach tree, its branches extending for three […]
The slaying of the lion is another motif closely related to the theme of the solar giant.
The indestructible nature of the giant can only be overcome by a hero who has attained an identical form of indestructibility. In the conflict with Balor of the evil eye, Lugh’s solar identity is disclosed by his single […]
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 to house the Minotaur, the monstrous progeny of Queen Pasiphae and the bull (tauros) of King Minos.
“The place of the double-axe was the threshold period when the moon appeared to be […]
In Greek myth, Aristaeus 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 with sweet music, brought the torments of Hades to a standstill.
He […]
The Foot/Heel Wound
In Greek myth, the hero Philoctetes was bitten on the foot by a snake, or as another account records, he accidentally wounded himself, when one of his poisoned arrows (which once belonged to Herakles) accidentally slipped from his quiver. The injury remained incurable until a son of Asklepios put Philoctetes into a deep […]
…As the Philistine (Goliath) moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground… …David ran and […]
In the myth of Okuninushi, the theme of the eighty brothers who are motivated by jealously and conspire to kill Okuninushi has it’s parallels in a number of corresponding myths.
The Murder of Okuninushi
According to the Japanese ‘Izumo Cycle’, the hero Okuninushi had 80 brothers who were jealous of his marriage to the princess Ya-gami-himi, and […]
The hero-victim alone can withstand the wrath-bliss of Eternity, sharing, as he does, the exact same indestructible nature.
And He drove the man out. And he caused to dwell the cherubs at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword whirling around, to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Genesis 3:24 […]
The wound motif of the ‘dying god’ assumes many forms, ranging from the violently horrific portrayals of castration and dismemberment, as suffered by Osiris, to more subtle symbolic forms of death, such as induced sleep and the curse of blindness, both inflicted upon the Cyclops Polyphemus. Occasionally the mythological victim will enter the realm of […]
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