Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

02 Jul 2023 06:21

I thought at first that this was a mockery of the Greek Gods…
They make him out as old as old can be: the few hairs he has left (he is quite bald in front) are dead white, and his skin is wrinkled and tanned as black as any old salt’s. You would take him for some infernal deity, for Charon or Iapetus – any one rather than Heracles.
Such as he is, however, he has all the proper attributes of that God: the lion’s skin hangs over his shoulders, his right hand grasps the club, his left the strung bow, and a quiver is slung at his side

Lucian

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

01 Jul 2023 17:43

The Magic Cup - Jim Fitzpatrick

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

01 Jul 2023 08:59

Most noteworthy element of Taranis’ iconography is the wheel which hints at the chariot. While the latter became associated with the Thunder God later than the club or a pelt it’s still a very ancient symbol dating to the first Aryan charioteers.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

30 Jun 2023 23:13

Another Celtic God who has clear elements of a Thunderer archetype is Ogmios. He has a club, which is the original Storm God weapon and also wears a pelt over a naked body just like Hercules which brings us to the classic Thunderer image which was literally carried right from the Stone Age.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

30 Jun 2023 06:56

Each shepherd who used magic had a set of temporary taboos. If one disrespected any of those taboos his powers would vanish and either he himself would die or his cattle. Here are some examples: not to gather forest berries, not to go fishing, not to kill moles, not to curse in the forest, not to cut hair, not to shave, not to marry (or stay away from the wife for the grazing season) etc.
There’s a lot of stories about shepherds breaking their taboos e.g. once a shepherd caught 13 fish and on the next day a bear came out of the forest and killed 13 cows. Another story tells of a shepherd who let a friend blow his magic trumpet. Next day he was found dead in the local forest.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Jun 2023 23:09

Will return to the topic of male magic of folklore. Will take a while to translate of the texts though.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Jun 2023 08:55

He is represented as a man of large and powerful build, in the prime of life, and having a red beard. The equipment of the god as depicted in the mythological poems is remarkable, especially from the negative side. His weapon is almost always the hammer. He is never represented as possessing spear, sword, shield, helmet, or coat of mail. Again in travelling he either goes on foot or drives in a carriage drawn by goats. A horse is never ascribed to him. In Grimnismal, immediately before the enumeration of the horses which the gods ride when they come to do justice under Yggdrasill's Ash, it is stated that Thor has to wade through several streams on his way thither. The horses of Othin, Freyr, Heimdallr and Balder are mentioned also elsewhere. The antiquity of the representation of Thor may be estimated by the absence of the horse and of all the ordinary weapons of war. His equipment indeed resembles that of a hero of the Stone Age rather than of any subsequent period.

H.M. Chadwick

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

28 Jun 2023 22:28

A rare sketch of Odin by Hans Thoma, 1839-1924.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Jun 2023 14:05

Real Folklore V Fake Folklore:
The Wulver

Watch almost any video compilation on YouTube of Scottish folklore and you’re bound to see a creature called the Wulver make an appearance. A benevolent humanoid wolf man that lives on Shetland. He was fond of fishing and would leave fish on the window sills of locals.

Except, Shetlanders never believed in him and there is no mention of him anywhere before the publication of Jessie Saxby’s 1932 book Shetland Traditional Lore. She gives no names, dates, locations or details regarding her research. The Wulver appears in no other stories, books or songs from anywhere else on the islands, or the mainland. Purely an invention of Saxby. He is fictional and less than 100 years old.

Yet, countless websites, videos, articles and books present it as genuine folklore. The Scotsman newspaper even talked about the ancient Celts believing in it, just straight up lies and made up nonsense.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 23:01

It was also a most astonishing feat when you wrestled with Elle, for none has ever been, and none shall ever be, that Elle (eld, old age) will not get the better of him, though he gets to be old enough to abide her coming.

Art by Dmitriy Galkin

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 18:28

Stribog
God of Wind and War
by Brother Bjorn
https://twitter.com/bjorn_brother

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 11:29

The people believed that a shepherd can protect his herd from any wild animal, be it wolf or bear using charms and magic vessels like a special birch trumpet, a belt, a whip or a staff. If someone else was to touch a magic staff or a trumpet it would loose it’s power so shepherds kept them close.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 07:55

Another traditional occupation for male mages was that of a shepherd. Magic skills made herding a lot easier, earning enough to resupply before leaving again.
A witcher was almost always an outsider. This is part of the reason why a witcher, while respected, was also feared, especially by young women.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 07:20

It is believed that a witcher has to pass his power down to someone before he dies. In rare cases when there’s no students to do that, a mage will just leave a vessel of his power for someone to pick up. Usually at some special, liminal space (an abandoned house, crossroads, a sauna etc). This is what happened in the previous story. A walking stick was that mage’s vessel.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 00:03

There is a story written down in Novgorod region about a tragic end of a woman who tried to take servant demons from a male horse healer who was passing through her village. Despite him giving her his magic vessel (a small bag) and explaining the ritual used to get control over the demons a woman could not take the power under full control and only ended up insane.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

02 Jul 2023 06:20

Greek philosopher and satirist Lucian was very surprised when he first saw a depiction of Ogma even recognizing him as Hercules since the two were so similar.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

01 Jul 2023 15:46

Nietzsche’s great advice for young Pagans who don’t know how to approach their faith and truly be a Pagan.

Protestant teachers are still spreading the fundamental error that faith only is of consequence, and that works must follow naturally upon faith. This doctrine is certainly not true, but it is so seductive in appearance that it has succeeded in fascinating quite other intellects than that of Luther (e.g. the minds of Socrates and Plato): though the plain evidence and experience of our daily life prove the contrary. The most assured knowledge and faith cannot give us either the strength or the dexterity required for action, or the practice in that subtle and complicated mechanism which is a prerequisite for anything to be changed from an idea into action. Then, I say, let us first and foremost have works! and this means practice! practice! practice! The necessary faith will come later—be certain of that!

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

01 Jul 2023 08:51

Of course Taranis is well know for being a God of Thunder, but he doesn’t have some of the traditional attributes, most likely due to the fact that eventually Taranis ended up syncretised with Roman Jupiter.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

30 Jun 2023 23:10

Celtic myth does not deal in explicit thunderbolts. However, the Irish Dagda’s iron club, with which he kills the living or revives the dead, has been seen as the counterpart of Indra’s and Thor’s weapons. Thor’s, at least, had the power of bring the dead back to life.

M.L.West

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

30 Jun 2023 06:54

It is believed that a shepherd mostly deals with forest spirits, or leshy himself who is the master of the forest. There are detailed descriptions of what shepherds do to enter into the deal with leshy. They leave offerings such as eggs and milk in the forest under a tree. This represent the amount of cows (or other cattle) fleshy can take from a shepherd for his protection against wild beasts. Shepherds also hide locks in the forest which mark the territory beasts may not leave according to the agreement. A shepherd who managed to get on meshy’s good side didn’t even have to graze the cattle himself and just struck his staff in the ground or blow the trumpet.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Jun 2023 09:04

Greek Hercules, originally a Thunder God too, also looks like a hero of Stone Ages. He wears a pelt over a naked body and wields a club, the most primitive weapon of all. Thor himself was also a club wielder originally as evident by Gesta Danorum and comparative mythology with other Thunderers such as Perun.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Jun 2023 07:33

God-fearing is a compliment to a christian. Just think about it. Why would one fear his own god?

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

28 Jun 2023 08:13

Celtic belief in reincarnation

While you, ye Druids, when the war was done,
To mysteries strange and hateful rites returned:
To you alone 'tis given the gods and stars
To know or not to know; secluded groves
Your dwelling-place, and forests far remote.
If what ye sing be true, the shades of men
Seek not the dismal homes of Erebus
Or death's pale kingdoms; but the breath of life
Still rules these bodies in another age —
Life on this hand and that, and death between.
Happy the peoples 'neath the Northern Star
In this their false belief for them no fear
Of that which frights all others: they with hands
And hearts undaunted rush upon the foe
And scorn to spare the life that shall return.

Lucan

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Jun 2023 10:51

Ravnkel Freysgode by Andreas Bloch, 1895.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 21:48

Another Vendel S-shaped brooch.
The S-shaped serpent was a recurring motif in the Germanic Iron Age, most popular in Scandinavia and France. One possible interpretation is that it was a ward against unseen threats, as there was a beast facing in each direction.
Another possibility is it was an Odinic symbol; as serpents were heavily associated with the underworld and the cult of Odin. The two heads could signify his role as a psychopomp, travelling between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 17:36

I’ll stop with the posts about magic. Don’t want you to get topic fatigue.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 10:47

Shepherds in general, even if they were not traveling mages, were still considered to be on good terms with spirits (demons) who grazed their cattle. Partly this belief was explained by shepherd routinely leaving the guarded "human" territory and venturing out into the wilds, a domain of spirits and beasts. Therefore a shepherd had to enter into an agreement with those powers or even tame them. Overpowering supernatural beings was almost exclusively a male prerogative since it requited "strength".

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 07:33

Professional male mages were wanderers who never stayed at one place for long. They were craftsmen (carpenters, potters, tailors, repairmen etc) who stayed at their clients’ houses while traveling and left as soon as they finished the job. When a mage made himself known all villagers with issues, be they minor or major were quick to visit him. This life on the road was a distinctive feature of male witchery.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Jun 2023 00:13

Another story tells of an old woman Manefa who accidentally gained power from some passerby mage. She took a walking stick he had left near the road. Her grandson explained many years later: "Our Manefa picked up the stick and it’s demons with it." But they did not bring her any good. "She went berry-gathering and since couldn’t order them properly, the demon began beating her, she threw aways the berries and ran off". Her death was unnatural and frightening "They say she died soon after, strangled by a handkerchief. They say demons strangled her." When she died bad things began happening around the house. Knocking. She was buried, but the demons scattered the ground on her grave. Her daughter fixed everything but in a couple of days the ground was always scattered again."

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

25 Jun 2023 23:58

A woman even when given power by a man often could not control it unless she engaged in male crafts. Yet even then she will never be considered a true professional. Cases of women receiving power from men are rarely described, and almost always those are elderly women, widows, spinsters i.e. those who were not properly female begin with.