Greyhorn Pagans

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...

  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...

  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...

There is a negative connotation on Trickster deities, that need not be there. The result of this mindset is due to the influence of the devil and Christianity . Trickster deities such as Veles , Hermes , Reynard , Prometheus , Odin , Loki , Puck , and more. They master magic , invent alphabets , find and bring back gifts for the gods and their people. Puck is a romantic and will matchmake lovers who catch his eye, Loki brought back Gullinbursti , Mjolnir and other great gifts that the gods use, Prometheus gave man fire and crafts , Hermes the alphabet and much more.  T he " Trickster " category is a broad and complex one, that is more of a means to simplify a deity than to outright explain it. None of these deities as tricky as they may be, are evil. Most were in fact beloved by their own people and still are. They are teachers , guardians , romantics , and helpfully cunning . To allow " Trickster " to be a negative is to ignore 10's of thousands of a years o...

As promised I will cover the origin stories as told by our (European) Pagan ancestors all the way back to the PIE (Proto Indo-European) days. I will be starting with the one I myself am most familiar with and that is the Norse creation story. It starts with the world before anything was. Before there was soil, before there was sky, before there was any green thing. There was only the abyss of Ginnungagap . This chaos of perfect silence and darkness lay between the realms of Múspelheim and Niflheim , the lands of elemental fire and elemental ice. (On a quick personal note I think it's funny how "perfect silence and darkness" is described as being chaotic. Perfect silence and darkness is where I find peace, especially after working and dealing with people all day) Venomous water from the spring Hvergelmir in Niflheim flowed into this emptiness, freezing over and again, layer after layer of ice and frost. The hot winds of Múspelheim blew over the ice of Niflheim cau...

 While the true Roman origin myth varies from source to source and the Romans themselves were - as a rule- not myth makers there are some stories about how the land we now know as Italy and their folk came to be.  Myths or stories from ancient Romans times about how the world was created are practically non-existent and are usually told through the Greek story but with Romanized names. One of the earliest to relate the story (reminiscent to Homer's Odyssey) was the poet Virgil in his epic Aeneid. The same Virgil who also was the guide of Dante Alighieri through the 9 circles of hell in his famous book "The Divine Comedy".  In this story, our hero, with the help of his mother Venus escaped Troy with his father (a mortal named Anchises) and a number of his fellow soldiers before the city was completely overtaken by the Greeks. This story and its connection to the Trojan Wars gave the Romans a link to the ancient Trojan culture. It should be noted that the story of the Troja...