Greyhorn Pagans

  "The Druid symbol is the four-leaf clover , considered up to the present as a sign of good luck and happiness. It is a non-existent flower already.  The four-leaf clover is a swastika that spins, forming a double eight, sign of eternity, of the twice born, of the immortality won in hard combat. It is also a carbuncle fallen from the sky. It is the Gral.  Furthermore, it symbolizes the division of society into four and the harmonious organization of the world of those times. The Druid was seated in the center of that flower."   Excerpt from The Golden Cord, 1978.

  In the Celtic Fairy Faith the "Liminal Gods" are those who occupy the place between the Gods and the Fair Folk.   The Liminal Gods , as the term implies, occupy the transitional area between the Gods and the Fairy Folk. According to Morgan Daimler there are many, but four of the prominent liminal Gods are,  -  The Lady of the Greenwood ,  - The Lord Of The Wildwood ,  - The Queen of the Wind , and the Hunter .  - The Lady of The Greenwood and  - Lord of the Wildwood are associated with the summer half of the year and the Queen of the Wind and The Hunter the Winter half.

This will be already the 6th Creation Myth I cover! Slowly making my way to the Middle East and Asia I have covered some very interesting stories so far! This one is me carefully taking a step towards the Middle East and Asia. The story as told by the Turks. Once part of the mighty Ottoman Empire, now still a force to be reckoned with. Let's get this story started! This myth from pre-Islamic Turkey was written down in the 19th century but derives from much earlier oral sources. The name of one of the characters, Erlik is mentioned on the Orkhon inscription, the earliest known Turkish writing (8th century AD).  When the Earth was not the only thing that was, was water. Endless water clear to the four corners of nothing. A full water, grand within its silence -yet a worthless water without use or beauty. A fearful water. (Sounds reminiscent of the Slav Myth and Celtic Myth I covered earlier with its dark sea(1)) If a snake would drink from this water death would become him. If a dead...

Valhalla is the hall of the slain, specifically for warriors who fall in battle. It is not despite what some neo-pagans believe, some sort of heaven. It is just one of many halls that exist among the gods, functioning as a training hall for the Einherjar . Combining both recovery and exertion, to avoid falling in battle again. Most if not all gods have a hall for people to go to, many of Frigg's handmaidens have specific types of people who go to them, Freya also has a hall " Sessrumnir ", Forseti has Glitnir , Thor has Bilskirnir , Frigg has Fensalir , Ullr has Ydalir , etc. That is not including the possibility of Hel (Which is not   a bad place, just a land of the dead), or being fed to Nidhoggr and being stripped of the reincarnation cycle entirely. The binary of Hel-Valhalla is a modern idea. The importance placed on Valhalla likely comes from the fact that our sources come from the aristocracy which would lend itself to favoring an aristocratic war god in its prac...

  Long considered a harbinger of bad luck, Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret society, an early 20th-century novel, a very popular and successful horror film franchise and not one but two unwieldy terms—paraskavedekatriaphobia and friggatriskaidekaphobia (try saying that 10 times fast)—that describe fear of this supposedly unlucky day.   While Western cultures have historically associated the number 12 with completeness (there are 12 days of Christmas, 12 months and zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 gods of Olympus and 12 tribes of Israel, just to name a few examples), its successor 13 has a long history as a sign of bad luck. Starting with the Norse story about the 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest, and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Dossey: "Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day....

  Part 5 of my # CreationMyth series will cover the story as told by the Celts .  Although the Celts are one of many folks who practiced oral traditions and have (almost) no written accounts thankfully through their many interactions with the Romans and Roman Empire written records of their looks, their culture and their beliefs. So here we go! The Celtic creation myth! Once upon a time, there was no time. There were also no gods and no man or woman to walk the land. There was only the sea and its deep depths and dark eternal quiet. A strain of melody moved across the water, a whisper at first. The music was the Oran Mór (Great Melody) and it grew into a great spiraling, gathering sound and gaining momentum reaching further and louder till it reached a great crescendo. Then, where the sea met the land a sea-mare was born. White, and made of sea-foam and her name was Eiocha . Not far from where the land met the sea, a tree grew, a strong and sturdy oak. On the oak grew a p...

  The Tuatha Dé Danann , the people of the Goddess Danu , were one of the great ancient tribes of Ireland . The important manuscript 'T he Annals of the Four Master s', records that they ruled Ireland from 1897 B.C. to 1700 B.C.   The arrival of the tribe in Ireland is the stuff of legend. They landed at the Connaught coastline and emerged from a great mist. It is speculated that they burned their boats to ensure that they settled down in their new land. The rulers of Ireland at the time were the Fir Bolg , led by Eochid son of Erc , who was, needless to say, unhappy about the new arrivals. The Tuatha Dé Danann won the inevitable battle with the Fir Bolg but, out of respect for the manner in which they had fought, they allowed the Fir Bolg to remain in Connaught while the victors ruled the rest of Ireland . The original leader of the Tuatha was Nuada but, having lost an arm in battle it was decreed that he could not rightly be king. That honour went to Breas , a tribe...

Part 4 of my creation myth series coming up right now! This time I will cover the Slavic creation story since I want to dive a bit deeper in Slavic paganism and spread more knowledge about it. So here we go! The oldest Slavic traditions say that in the beginning there was nothing, there is old-dark, dark sea and sky, the only " existing " thing created by Rod (the forefather of all Slavic gods and of all creation) was a golden egg ( again with the egg) in which rested Svarog , the Divine creator. Under the influence of forces of imbalance the egg cracked open and created a light that shone upon Svarog and created his shadow. From his shadow Crnobog originated and Vodan , god of the sea and the water came from the glare of Svarogos old-sea. From the top of the egg shell's dust the world tree, ash tree (AGAIN!), was created which rising separated the heavens from the earth and see.  Svarog , using gold powder from the bottom of the world (lower half of the eggshell), m...

  Before I get back into the creation myth series I want to sidetrack just a little and tell the story of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.  It's a cool story with a lot going on including but not limited to fratricide. So strap in, hold tight cause here we go. A little backstory first. Legend has it that Ascanio (son of the Trojan hero Aeneid (or Aeneas ) (whom I covered in the Roman origin story) founded the city of Alba Longa on the right bank of the river Tiber . Many of the ascendants of Aeneid reigned there peacefully until Nimitor became king. When Nimitor was king his brother Amulius seized the power and dethroned Nimitor (nothing like some brotherly rivalry, right?) , killing his male heirs and forcing his daughter, Rhea Silvia , to become a Vestal Virgin so that she would not provide a male heir to the throne. (Vestal Virgins were charged with keeping a sacred fire that was never to be extinguished and were sworn to chastity.) Nevertheless she gav...

  In Celtic mythology, the goddess Danu, also known as Anu or Dana, is the ancient mother of all gods and of the Celtic people. She was thought to be both the original goddess and god, an all-encompassing deity who gave birth to everything and everyone. She’s often associated with Earth, waters, winds, fertility, and wisdom.   Although known as the great mother who gave life to all things and beings, not much is known about the goddess Danu, and her origin is shrouded in mystery. According to the early scholars, the name Danu is derived from an Indo-European word, which can be translated as the flowing one. Others believe that the word stems from the ancient Scythian language, meaning the river. For this reason, it was believed that the goddess represented the Danube River. In Irish or Celtic myths, the mysterious matriarch is mostly recognized through the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann, which means people of the goddess Danu. They were thought to be the o...

  Nehalennia (Celtic: "she of the sea"): ancient goddess, venerated in the Roman age at the mouth of the river Scheldt.  All of them can be dated to the second and early third centuries CE. Most pieces show a young female figure, sitting on a throne in an apse between two columns, holding a basket of apples on her lap. Nearly always, there is a wolf dog at her side. In some cases, the fruit basket is replaced by something that looks like loaves of bread; in other cases, we can see the woman standing next to a ship or a prow. Several inscriptions inform us that the votive altar was placed to show gratitude for a safe passage across the North Sea, and we may assume that other altars were dedicated for the same reason. (Of course, this does not mean that all pieces were erected after a safe passage.) An example of a typical inscription: To the goddess Nehalennia, on account of goods duly kept safe, Marcus Secundinius Silvanus, trader in pottery with Britain, fulfilled his vow ...

"   A shaman or Devil-priest in the country of the Tungus. (This is the first picture published in Europe of a Siberian shaman.)"  This picture comes from the book Noord en Oost Tartarye (North and East Tartaria) by Nicolaen Witsen (a former mayor of Amsterdam) and it depicts a shaman with a horned headdress. This immediately made me think of the god we know as "the horned god" and makes me wonder how far back that depiction actually goes. This supposedly was a Shaman from a country  in the Tartarian Empire. If you are interested in learning more about this piece of hidden/lost history may I suggest you check out the Tartaria Explained series by Mind Unveiled and this article on the History Of Yesterday website.(links below) https://open.lbry.com/@MindUnveiled:e?r=7XvJWogRdCsEuDgaHaUSgjobYcaXARt5 https://historyofyesterday.com/tartary-tartaria-the-mystery-of-an-empire-lost-in-history-a99abb5cc9b6

I sang of heroes from the far past, of Bran, god-king of the Island of the Mighty, whose deeds outreached all human strength. I praised leaders of our time, Rhydderch Hael, whose sword flamed from hilt to tip, and Arthur’s own father, Uther the Pendragon, who had led war bands from west and north and the farthest reach of Logres to the east. Yet I knew one day my greatest song would be of Arthur. He was like no one else, more bear, more boar, than man, reckless yet shrewd, impulsive yet never wild. His star was the brightest in our heaven. ⁃The Song of Arthur, Robert Leeson

The Celtic Triskelion symbol predates chrisitanity by about 3,000 years, arising out of La Tène culture and history. It is thought to represent the 3 stages of man (Life, Death, Eternity) and has been alluded to representing the triad of Earth, Sea and Sky.  Archaeological findings place it in Malta (4400–3600 BC) and in the astronomical calendar at the famous megalithic tomb of Newgrange in Ireland built around 3200 BC. The oldest evidence of triquetras completes the circle back to India. From this, it seems very likely that although no trace of the symbol has been located in the Asian region between India and Europe, tribes who had used it in these two faraway regions had either interacted or interbred somewhere along the line. So it is highly possible that the Aryans and/or other Indo-European tribes brought the triquetra to Europe.

  Too many people think of magic as something that exists outside themselves. Know that your tarot cards are just paper. The true instrument is your belief and your relationship to the archetypal symbols which exist within you , embedded in the collective unconscious. The true instrument is you yourself and your human potential is nearly limitless. Man is the bridge between worlds. Between the sacred and the profane . Between above and below . What people term " God " contains all things yet remains transcendent, just as heat and light are contained as properties of fire, yet neither heat nor light can in itself be said to be  fire. Too many people think of " God " as something that exists outside of themselves. You yourself are part of the one true " God " just as light is part of fire. Know that, in a sense, you yourself are " God ". Now, as " God " pervades all things there are definite natural laws, and a sacred pattern underlyin...