The Celtic Creation Myth: Branwen, Matholwch, and Efnysien, or: Earth, Sky, and Rudra: Part 4 of 4

https://taliesinsmap.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-celtic-creation-myth-branwen_78.html?m=1

Is the jotunn Ymir the true Norse parallel of Vedic Dyaus Pitr, Father Sky?

I argue that this is what the evidence suggests when all the branches are laid out side by side.

We thus conclude our discussion of the Celtic Creation Myth by relating the Celtic and Norse branches and exploring the deeper meanings that this parallel reveals.

In this line, we look at how the Celtic and Norse creation myths connect to the concepts of the Cosmic Egg and the Purusha and see how the parts of the creation myth are reflected in the festival calendar.

- O’Gravy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Prayer to the Thunderer

ᚦᚢᚾᚱᚨᛉ:ᚦᚨᚾᛟ:ᚻᚨᛁᛚᚨᚷᚨᚾᛟ:ᚷᚱᚢᛗᚦᚢ:ᛒᛁᚱᚷᛁᛞᛁ·ᚷᛁᛒᛁᛉᛁ:ᚢᚾᛋ:ᛋᛏᚱᚨᛜᛁᚦᛟ:ᚨᚾᛞᛁ:ᚲᚱᚨᚠᛏᚢ·ᛖᚲ:ᚦᚨᚾᚲᚨᚾᛉ:ᚷᛖᛒᛟ:ᚦᚢᚾᚱᚨᛁ·ᛒᚱᛁᛜᚨᚱᛁᛃᚨᛉ:ᚱᛖᚷᚾᛟ:ᚠᚢᚱᛁ:ᚢᚾᛋᛖᚱᚨᛉ:ᚠᛖᛚᚦᛟ·ᚹᚨᚱᛞᚢᛉ:ᚨᛒ:ᛗᚨᚾᚾᛟ

þunraz þanǭ hailaganǭ grumþu birgidi
Gibizi uns strangiþǭ andi kraftų
Ek þankanz gebō þunrai
Bringārijaz regnō furi unseraz felþǫ̂
Warduz ab mannǫ̂!

Thor protects this hallowed ground,
Give us strength and skill!
I give thanks to Thor,
Bringer of rains for our fields,
Guardian of man!
——————————————
Prayer to the Thunderer, written in my best approximation of Proto-Germanic (Elder Futhark and Latin script) and translated it to English. I may try implementing this at the beginning of my regular rituals to Thor to add structure.

-Hariwulfaz, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

The Piraeus Lion was a sculpture made around 360 BCE and was held in Athens from the 1st century AD, it is now displayed in Venice. In the 11th century the Lion was marked with runes by Varangian Swedes in service of the Byzantine Emperor. One translation of the runes actually claims that they were forbidden from writing them, but did it anyway.

Side One:
Asmund cut these runes with Asgeir and Thorleif, Thord and Ivar, at the request of Harold the Tall, though the Greeks considered about and forbade it.

Side Two:
Hakon with Ulf and Asmund and Örn conquered this port. These men and Harold Hafi imposed a heavy fine on account of the revolt of the Greek people. Dalk is detained captive in far lands. Egil is gone on an expedition with Ragnar into Romania and Armenia.

Translation: Carl Christian Rafn (1854)

Saturnalia: The Solstice Festivities of Ancient Rome

https://telegra.ph/Saturnalia-the-solstice-festivities-of-ancient-Rome-12-09

Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival celebrated in honour of the god Saturn. Exuberant celebrations, decorations and banquets enlivened the cold days of the winter solstice.

I Saturnalia!

- Patrick, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

https://telegra.ph/On-the-Subject-of-Reincarnation-05-14

On the Subject of Reincarnation

Reincarnation is a broad and well contested subject, here I seek to expand upon the understanding of it. If you would like to add to this then please join the discussion group here at The Sun Riders.

-Cormac Cás, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

The Cult of Sol Invictus

https://telegra.ph/The-cult-of-Sol-Invictus-12-23

Sol Invictus (Invincible Sun) was the most powerful god of light and life. It was also a religious appellation used for several deities in the late Roman Empire, such as Helios, Elagabalus, Mithras and Apollo, who ended up being assimilated, in the period of the Severan dynasty, within a solar monotheism.

- Patrick, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Here's the obligatory annual repost (with attached update at the end) of my basic rundown of how the Old Norse lunisolar calendar worked, as exemplified by the pre-Christian Yuletide holiday (as per the masterly work laid down by Dr. Andreas Nordberg in his "Jul, disting och förkyrklig tideräkning: Kalendrar och kalendariska riter i det förkristna Norden" (2006).

But first a few words: Did the pagan Scandinavian Yuletide holiday coincide with the Winter Solstice? It's a common misconception, and the evidence for it isn't even that thick. On the other hand, our sources are fragmentary: It's clear that several later chroniclers, working from Christian ecclesiastical calendars, didn't always understand or care to explain the nuances of how the pagans determined their holy days. And so the result is simplistic and fragmented. But by far there is enough evidence to offer a very qualified attempt at reconstruction: If much of the content of their holidays eludes us, we are at least fairly certain -when- they celebrated them.

One of the ways Norse people used to reckon time was by means of an anstronomical, lunisolar system in which the lunar year (one month lasting one lunar cycle) is tied to the solar year. This attachment came at the winter solstice, but their calendrical rites were more likely determined by a regular interval of astronomically determined events that divided the year into four parts. Old Norse Jól, much as it's been since, was a prolonged period with many different events, activities, duties, taboos, and customs associated with it. In total spanning two months (Ylir and Jólmánuður respectively) culminating in a three day feast enclosing the full moon of the second Yule Month. In "our" modern calendar, this means the exact date will not be on the same date from one year to the next, but bounce back between to points in an interval, like every other date in the lunisolar year.

For the most satisfactory rundown, I'll refer to Nordberg's work (he also has a decent English summary). As for my own article on the matter, you can find it here:
https://www.brutenorse.com/blog/2017/12/norse-yuletide-sacrifices-had-almost.html

An interesting article to contribute to the conversation regarding the date of Jól/Jul/Yule in Pre-Christian Scandinavia.

- Grief, the Sun Riders
@solarcult

Prayer to Apollo

"Grant us, god of Thymbra, an enduring home; grant our weary band walls, and a race, and a city that shall abide; preserve Troy’s second fortress, the remnant left by the Greeks and pitiless Achilles! Whom should we follow? Whither do you bid us go? Where fix our home? Grant, father, an omen, and inspire our hearts!"

(Virgil, Aeneid, III, 85-9)

- Patrick, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Aurelian had just completed the reunification of the Roman Empire, returning from the victory over Queen Zenobia of the Kingdom of Palmyra, which he claimed was possible thanks to the auspicious vision of the sun god venerated in the Syrian city-state of Emesa.

Therefore, as described in the Divus Aurelianus of Historia Augusta, Aurelian brought the cult of the Sol Invictus in Rome, dedicating various games and festivities to him, erecting large temples endowed of great treasures in his honour and entrusting him with a priestly body.

- Patrick, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Odin's Names

The many names or kennings of Odin can give hints into his many roles as a deity. Possibly leading to the conclusion that he is a composite of deities stemming from his Rudraic core, this article explores that possibility. With Odin probably being the most interesting deity of the Norse pantheon, he may have the attributes and myths of Pushan, Varuna and Agni.

- Kalin, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

https://telegra.ph/Odins-Names-01-04

Goddess Cybele as Potnia Theron, mistress of the wild beasts. Discovered in Latium, 3rd century A.D. Archaeological Museum of Naples.

On the Subject of Burial

How did our ancestors bury their dead, and how can we create pagan burial practices today?

-pagangmommy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

I’ve been working on a blog for the last two years with the goal of making Celtic myth (and myths of other cultures) more clear and understandable.

Many people have asked me for a physical book version of the blog so they don’t have to read so much on a screen.

Today is the day.


Taliesin’s Map: The Comparative Guide to Celtic Mythology

Amazon USA link: https://tinyurl.com/3dmra3kx
Amazon UK: https://tinyurl.com/525vnavd
Amazon Canada: https://tinyurl.com/bdcmedxf
(please search the title and author in your country’s Amazon site if not listed)

The paperback edition is OUT NOW and a hardcover version (with an alternate cover design) will be available in 3 weeks.

What you see on the blog is what you will get in print, with a few added footnotes (and no index). It is the size of a textbook at 540 pages 7 x 10 in.

I make a lot of claims that this book has the most accurate interpretation of Celtic myth yet produced, digging down to the ancient theology underneath the myths, and I am aware that the information in it must, with great urgency, be spread among Celts and other Europeans interested in Indo-European religion. I am making this format available for those who would like a hard copy they can sit with, study, and teach others with.

The greater purpose of this book is to provide the one book people will need to begin accurately understanding the Celtic gods and seeing them in their proper relations to the gods of the other pantheons of Europe and India. Having all of this information in one place can provide a single clear entry point for practitioners of Celtic paganism and a shared understanding that can be built upon together.

This book furthermore sheds light on Germanic and Greek myths in turn. When properly understood, Celtic myth again and again provides missing pieces to the puzzles of these related branches.

Some of these puzzles will ONLY ever be solved by looking to what Celtic myth has preserved, just as most of Celtic myth can only be understood by looking at the other Indo-European branches. And so I urge people to hear what I am telling you, and to become familiar with the solutions I have made easily available here.

Although spending time studying this material is one of the most purely enjoyable things I’ve ever done, I don’t only do it for fun, but am driven by a burning obsession to improve the practical and theoretical understanding available to Celtic pagans.


The Celts are a sleeping giant. We must awaken to an understanding of our sacred lore at last and begin to do justice once again to what was the most prized possession of our ancestors.

⁃ O’Gravy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

The first exhortation of the Golden Verses of Pythagoras says: “First honor the immortal Gods, as is established and ordained by the Law.” Proclus has written a commentary on it and this is what he has to say about this exhortation: “The glorification of the Gods is effected by true belief in Them, and by doing good before Them; the true belief about Them is that They are good, and the givers of all things; that They do not cause evil; that They are not susceptible to change, because They are absolute, while change is a transition from something to something else, and that They are the Knowers of things that truly are, with a knowledge uncontaminated by falsehood.
Doing good varies according to the does and his position, and so for each different rank there are differences in sacrifices, incense, the use of pigs and wine, and festivals, and so on, and in this matter ancestral ruling is followed; this is what is meant by ‘Law.’ The reason why the rulings of the Law differ is that they conform to the difference among the minds, beliefs and habitations of men: the law of the Athenians was to sacrifice the pig and to make offerings of diluted wine, whereas the Egyptians refuse to sacrifice pigs. These are principles which were obtained from Hermes, who commanded man to abide by the laws of his fathers and ancestors, and to avoid alien practices. In accordance with the disposition of each nation of mankind and its ancestral rule, the usages established by the wise men regarding sacrifice, festivals and incense vary, and they trace back these principles to the Gods. This is why if any nation transgresses against its own custom, it perishes.
The Egyptians and the Greeks mingled their customs together, while some peoples think it appropriate to direct prayer toward the south, others to the north, and others in other directions, for the prescriptions of the law require the glorification of the Gods in accordance with the regulations laid down by the ancestors concerning the offering of sacrifices, incense, the directions of prayer, and so forth.”

The important point I took away from this quote that a good friend shared with me, is that you need to follow the traditions of your own ancestors.

'These are principles which were obtained from Hermes, who commanded man to abide by the laws of his fathers and ancestors, and to avoid alien practices.'

Make your ancestors proud!

The Color White

In Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European (PIE) there were a number of different words for the color white, most stemming from words which meant “to shine”. Modern Spanish “blanco” actually comes from Proto-Germanic *blankaz (Modern English “blank”) likely via the Goths. *Blaikaz eventually became Modern English “bleach” (think: I bleached my hair).

The word “white” on the other hand stems from Proto-Germanic *hwītaz and has a more inconclusive origin from PIE, perhaps only sharing cognates with the Slavic languages. Interestingly, this word could also meaning “beautiful”, for instance, we find this in the following passage of the Poetic Edda in Old Norse: “Þá kvað þat Heimdallr, hvítastr ása”, in English: “Then Heimdall spake, whitest of the gods.” We see a similar theme presented in the Proto-Germanic word *fagraz and it’s descendants.

However, one PIE word of interest meaning white was *albʰós. This word is the root of the Modern English “albino”, ultimately from Latin albus (white). This root also existed in Proto-Germanic as a direct descendant of PIE *albʰós as *albiz. However, unlike other branches, this word took on a slightly different meaning, ultimately becoming the Modern English “elf” or Old Norse “alfar”. It is certainly curious that this class of deity took in this name in the Germanic branch, perhaps because our ancestors saw them as shining beings with pale complexions.

We can also see something similar in the Celtic branches of language, taking on the Proto-Celtic *albiyū. This word is ultimately the source of the mountain range Alps, as well as various ethnonyms such as the Hispano-Celtic Albiones peoples, the Old Irish Albu (Scotland), and also whence the Modern English Albany.

Hopefully this post provides a little insight into how linguistics can be very useful to reconstructionist pagans. The shifting meanings of words provide us insights into how our ancestors saw the world and themselves. We can track these changes in context and connotation, for instance, the change of the word white to mean a class of deities, in order to get a better understanding of what the Elves or Alfar were, in this example.

-Hariwulfaz, The Sun Riders
@solarcult