1 Comment August 19, 2008 at 11:47 am by mahud
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 of the given info.
Dian Cecht was the Irish-Celtic physician of the Tuatha De Danann (Understood to be the tribe of the Goddess Danu). After the Nuadu, King of the Tuatha De Danann lost his hand/arm in battle, Dian Cecht fashioned for him an arm of silver. Dian Cecht’s son (who’s name escapes me), thought he could do a much better job and gave the King a hand/arm of flesh and blood. Like Zeus (who blasted Apollo’s son Asclepius, with a thunderbolt for raising the dead), Dian Cecht was displeased/jealous of his son’s healing ability and killed him, although I’ve forgotten how exactly. I think he split his head open or something. From his son’s grave grew 365 healing herbs. which kind of reminds me of myths of slain supernatural beings that were killed and buried producing cosmic trees or food plants from their graves. There is also another legend that a ganja/marijuana plant (first?) grew from King Solomon’s grave (A Rastafarian myth, I believe. I listen a lot of Reggae).
That be all I remember.
0 Comments August 19, 2008 at 2:02 am by mahud
In a recent Tarot reading one of my inquiries was “What deity can help me with my SA?” As I’m still fairly new to the Tarot, I have to rely on others who have a great deal more experience than myself, but one interpretation from the Learning the Tarot website reminded me again of the Irish-Celtic and Gaulish deity Ogmios/Ogma Sunface (assuming they are one and the same deity), who both seem to specialize in the power of words. The Tarot card in question was that of the King of Swords, who, according to Joan Bunning: “is adept at language and verbal skills communicates ideas successfully is a stimulating conversationalist often serves as a group spokesperson is a lucid writer and speaker,” which brings me back to the deities, mentioned in a earlier post, that I hoped would assist me in developing these skills the god (or gods) seem to specialize in.
…one of my biggest problems is communication with others. I think about a lot of stuff, but my thoughts all seem to float around in my mind, and tend to slip away when ever I attempt to verbalize them. One of the advantages of reading a lot of ancient lore and mythology, is that you become acquainted with the Gods and Goddesses of mythology and get to learn about their particular functions…. the Celtic Ogmios (often equated with the Irish deity Ogma), mentioned by Lucian (Heracles 1-7), Who described him from a painting, as an aged balding man with sun burn, holding a club and bow, and wearing a lion skin, identifying him as a ‘Celtic Herakles.’ He leads a large group of happy followers, whose ears are attached to the God’s tongue by gold and amber chains. Lucian was informed that the picture symbolized Ogmios’ power of eloquence.
The Irish deity Ogma (Oghma/Ogma Sunface), like Heracles, was also a skilled warrior, who according to the In Lebor Ogaim, invented the Ogam Tree Alphabet, so he could send a message to Lugh, whose wife was dangerously close to being “carried off to the otherworld” (Nyland, Edo, 2001, ‘Linguistic Archaeology: An Introduction‘, p.24 (Trafford Publishing) & Ehler, Christine & Schaefer, Ursula, 1998, ‘Verschriftung und Verschriftlichung‘, p.112-113 (Gunter Narr Verlag))
Between Old and New Moons: Experiencing the Presence of the Gods?
The problem is…how do I bring these/this god to my attention?
Any suggestions?
0 Comments August 14, 2008 at 2:01 am by mahud
A quick reminder for anyone who would like to participate in the Mythology Synchroblog Four (Topic: Otherworlds)
2 Comments August 12, 2008 at 2:30 am by mahud
One night, eight or so years ago, after a period of (what is known within Christian circles as) backsliding, I was reading a recently acquired translation of the Upanishads, when I came upon the opening Upanishad in a translation by Juan Mascaro. You can read the Isa/Isha Upanishad here, but here’s a brief excerpt from Mascaro’s translation:
The Spirit filled all with his radiance. He is incorporeal and invulnerable, pure and untouched by evil. He is the supreme seer and thinker, immanent and transcendent. He placed all things in the path of eternity.
Mascaro, Juan ‘trans’, 1965, ‘The Upanishads (Isa Upanishad)’, p.49 (Penguin classics)
During my reading of the Isa Upanishad, I had a ‘revelation’ of a sort, a spiritual re-awakening that God was indeed very real.
you can check out my first Christian encounter with the divine, if you want.
In Mascaro’s translation he uses the word “Spirit,” referring to The Absolute, the Brahman, Atman, that is, the Supreme Self, that according to Hindu belief, is ultimately what we truly are. In my mind I was still thinking Holy Spirit and therefore the God of the Bible.
Up until this point I was basically living to feed my own desires, which sadly amounted to nothing more than playing endlessly on the Nintendo 64 and Playstation and smoking vast amounts of cannabis.
I knew I needed to get back to God, and so there and then I decided to quit smoking (which I managed to keep up for three months.) That night I had a dream that I was wrestling with a ‘demon’ (the only way I could describe it at the time) that had seized control of my body. And it was damn realistic. I remember banging on the wall screaming for my neighbours to help me as this ‘demon’ continued its attempt to seize control over me (as no one came to my rescue I can safely assume I was in fact dreaming). I find this very reminiscent of Aquilla’s recent post: Crystal Veil, where she recalls her fear of encountering dangerous wild beasts in dreams (Which, I think she equated with the shadow-self, which is a Jungian concept: a dark component of our unconscious mind that is our repressed selves, I think).
Somehow due to my Divine Awakening and the Dream experience I became empowered, and was able to relinquish my own desires and ego and follow God, as it were.
Despite my SA, I managed to hold down a job for three months. Rather than describing myself during this period, read Slade’s post over at Shift Your Spirits: Channelling Spirit in Your Everyday Life. Basically that was what I was like! I wasn’t totally fearless. I wasn’t Jesus after forty days in the wilderness, or like Buddha after his encounter with Kama-Mara; I still had my Social Anxiety, but it wasn’t controlling me as powerfully as before.
Incidentally, over at Traditio et Virtus: Beliefs V: Principalities and Powers, blogger Griff, shares his insights regarding our struggle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians (6:12).
To Be honest I’m not massively familiar with Jung’s concept of this Shadow aspect of ourselves, and so I did a little surfing and came across this statement:
The first thing we have to do in order to begin to see our Shadowsides, is to take 100% responsibility for our lives. This is a very difficult thing to do and no one does this overnight so we have to be patient with ourselves.
The Shadow Dance: Understanding Repetitive Patterns in Relationships (Taking Responsibility for Our Lives)
Well, for me, assuming I was wrestling, not with a demon, but rather my own Shadow-Self, it totally was an overnight experience…but it didn’t last. After three months I had totally burned out. And it was some time afterwards that I began to challenge Christian dogma and eventually reached the point were I was a liberal Christian. Still a believer, but without the power, that enabled me to fight my Social Anxiety so powerfully as before.
I could go on, but I think I’ll leave it there for now.
0 Comments August 9, 2008 at 2:20 pm by mahud
The First-Nation Blackfoot tribe once had quite extensive territory that overlapped Alberta, which is where we happen to be living at the moment (in Brooks.)
For quite some time I’ve been revering and praying to the Blackfoot (also known as the Niitsitapi = Real/original people) Creator-Transformer God Naapi (Spelt various ways), more simply known as Old Man (although I have read that this may be seen as a bad Idea by modern Blackfoots, due to his amoral (trickster) behaviour, although I see such myths as warnings not to transcend the social/moral order). I have set up a shrine (that I try to attend as regularly as possible) to Old Man on my balcony, where I burn incense, light the occasional candle, and offer Tobacco.
Shrine of the Old Man Naapi
So far, he seems to be looking out for me okay. He has a reputation as a trickster God, but (apart from the various occasions I’ve had a little too much to drink and lost my way home), he been guiding my steps across his landscape. Another deal I have with the Old Man is cleaning up the rubbish every once and awhile as I journey through the town. Although the trash soon reappears (Hmmm, I wonder if this is another one of the Old Man’s tricks?).
