Category: Pagan History

7500 years old ancient goddess relic discovered in Israel

Cover picture for the article

During an excavation in Eilat, Israel, archaeologists found an extremely ancient idol. It is believed to represent an important Semitic goddess.

In Eilat, situated in the south of Israel, archaeologists have discovered an idol dating back several thousand years. Carved from a tree trunk, this artefact is believed to be an object designed in honour of Asherah, the goddess who was the wife of the creator god Yahweh, as reported by Arkeonews.

Asherah, a symbol of fertility

According to Geo, before turning to monotheism, the Hebrew people were polytheistic, meaning that they worshipped a multitude of gods. In ancient times, they idolised Asherah, a goddess who is said to have been the mother of 70 other divine entities. She was given various names and functions. Asherah is also known as Ashratum or Baalat and is sometimes associated with the supreme god El or Baal. Her name is also mentioned in the Bible. A symbol of fertility, it is represented as a female figure, a tree or a pole. In Eilat, archaeologists have (re)discovered a 30 cm relic carved from a trunk.

An ancient archaeological site

The Red Sea is definitely rich in artefacts. Just after the Blemmyes Tomb found in Egypt, this relic is another great archaeological find. The site where the relic was found has been excavated by scientists since 1978. According to Arkeonews, it contained 11 simple tombs and 20 burial mounds. The site adds that:

The presence of the juniper trunk clearly shows that the site was reserved for the worship of goddesses, and it is probably the oldest Asherah idol found in the region (it has been carbon-dated to 4540 BC).

This article is translated from Gentside FR.

Greek Temples of Sicily

There are at least a thousand reasons to visit Sicily, the great island – indeed the largest in the Mediterranean – that forms the triangular football to the boot that is the Italian peninsula. They are all very good reasons, including amazing landscapes, a uniquely complex and delicious cuisine, a history that is diverse and multifaceted beyond belief, excellent wines, a vast array of archaeological sites, an even vaster one of historical towns and villages. But one key reason to visit the island is missing from the list above: Greek temples!

Greek temples are one of the earliest well-defined expressions of what we now recognise as the Western tradition in architecture, and one of the most influential ones by a vast margin to this day. They go back to the 8th or 7th centuries BCE, and, as the name entails, they are indeed a key achievement of the Archaic Greeks. They originated in what is the south of modern Greece, namely the Peloponnese and Central Greece, where Greek temple architecture appears to have its main roots, probably derived from local wooden predecessors.

The Greek mainland’s architectural style is the Doric one, considered to be the most austere and ‘male’ in character. The eastern Aegean and Asia Minor were famous for their own development, the more elegant and ‘female’ Ionic style, conceived about a century after the Doric one. Its most prominent examples at Samos, Ephesus, and Didyma (much better preserved than the other two) are also marked by their …

 

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Wheel of the Year

 

The Wheel of the Year is a symbol of the eight Sabbats (religious festivals) of Neo-Paganism and the Wicca movement which includes four solar festivals (Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox) and four seasonal festivals (celebrating or marking a significant seasonal change). Contrary to modern-day Wiccan claims, there is no evidence of an ancient Wheel of the Year in its present form but it is clear that the Celts of thousands of years ago celebrated the festivals the wheel highlights, even if these celebrations were known by another name now long lost.

In the ancient Celtic culture, as in many of the past, time was seen as cyclical. The seasons changed, people died, but nothing was ever finally lost because everything returned again – in one way or another – in a repeating natural cycle. Although time in the modern world is usually regarded as linear, the cyclical nature of life continues to be recognized.

The modern-day Wheel of the Year was first suggested by the scholar and mythologist Jacob Grimm (1785-1863 CE) in his 1835 CE work, Teutonic Mythology, and fixed in its present form in the 1950s and early ’60s CE by the Wicca movement. The wheel includes the following holy days (most dates flexible year-to-year): …

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Smells like witch spirit: How the ancient world’s scented sorceresses influence ideas about magic today

Most perfume ads suggest that the right scent can make you sexy, alluring and successful. A blend by Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, meanwhile, offers to make you smell like Hecate, the three-faced Greek goddess of witchcraft.

As a classics scholar who studies both magic and the senses in the ancient world, this idea of a witch-inspired perfume fascinates me – and “Hecate” is just one of many magic-inspired fragrances available today.

What does a witch smell like, and why would you deliberately perfume yourself like one?

Smells are impossible to see or touch, yet they affect us emotionally and even physically. That’s similar to how many people think of magic, and cultures around the world have connected the two. My current research is focused on how magic and scent were linked in ancient Rome and Greece, ideas that continue to shape views of witches in the West today.

Greeks and Romans of all walks of life believed in magic and used spells ranging from curses to healing magic and garden charms. Magical handbooks from the time show that Greco-Egyptian magicians used fragrance extensively in their rituals, even scented inks, and …

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Smells like witch spirit: How the ancient world’s scented sorceresses influence ideas about magic today

Most perfume ads suggest that the right scent can make you sexy, alluring and successful. A blend by Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, meanwhile, offers to make you smell like Hecate, the three-faced Greek goddess of witchcraft.

As a classics scholar who studies both magic and the senses in the ancient world, this idea of a witch-inspired perfume fascinates me – and “Hecate” is just one of many magic-inspired fragrances available today.

What does a witch smell like, and why would you deliberately perfume yourself like one?

Smells are impossible to see or touch, yet they affect us emotionally and even physically. That’s similar to how many people think of magic, and cultures around the world have connected the two. My current research is focused on how magic and scent were linked in ancient Rome and Greece, ideas that continue to shape views of witches in the West today.

Greeks and Romans of all walks of life believed in magic and used spells ranging from curses to healing magic and garden charms. Magical handbooks from the time show that Greco-Egyptian magicians used fragrance extensively in their rituals, even scented inks, and doctors believed strong-smelling plant species to be more medically effective than others. The gods themselves were thought to smell sweet, and places they touched retained a pleasant odor, making scent a sign of contact with the divine.

Witches wielding perfumes …

To read the rest of this article from theconversation.com

Would You Have Been Called A Witch In Salem?

The Salem witch trials — a period of mass hysteria and panic that overtook colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693 — are often regarded as one of the most fascinating episodes of American history. After all, the story is so dramatic and so strange that it almost reads like fiction: Young girls begin having mysterious screaming fits; they are diagnosed as having been bewitched, and soon a hunt begins for the witches. Although the Salem witch trials are now the source of scary stories and creepy TV shows, it’s important that we remember that they were real, and they were terrible: twenty people were killed for being “witches”, and many more were accused and imprisoned.

It’s fairly horrifying to consider how easy it was for a woman to be convicted and executed for witchcraft in the 17th century—and just how little power she had to prove her innocence. As Marilynne K. Roach, historian and author of Six Women of Salem: the Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, explains, “In 1692 anyone might have been accused of witchcraft.” There are some factors that made one more susceptible to accusations than others, however. Read on to see if you fit the parameters of these supposed “witches” and thank your lucky stars that you don’t live in the 17th century.

1. You’re a woman

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8 Famous Witches From Mythology and Folklore

Ancient mythology and folklore is filled with witches, including the Bible’s Witch of Endor and Russian folklore’s Baba Yaga. These enchantresses are known for their magic and trickery, which is sometimes used for good and sometimes for mischief.

The Witch of Endor

The Christian Bible has an injunction against practicing witchcraft and divination, and that can probably be blamed on the Witch of Endor. In the first Book of Samuel, King Saul of Israel got in some trouble when he sought assistance from the witch and asked her to predict the future. Saul and his sons were about to march into battle against their enemies, the Philistines, and Saul decided it was time to get a bit of supernatural insight as to what was going to happen the next day. Saul started off by asking God for help, but God stayed mum…and so Saul took it upon himself to seek answers elsewhere.

According to the Bible, Saul summoned the witch of Endor, who was a well-known medium in the area. Disguising himself so she wouldn’t know she was in the presence of the king, Saul asked the witch to revive the dead prophet Samuel so that he might tell Saul what was going to happen.

Who was the witch of Endor? Well, like many other biblical figures, no one really knows. Though her identity is lost to myth and legend, she has managed to appear in more contemporary literature. Geoffrey Chaucer makes reference to her in The Canterbury Tales, in the tale spun by the friar to entertain his fellow pilgrims. The Friar tells his listeners:

“Yet tell me,” said the summoner, “if true:
Do you make your new bodies always so
Out of the elements?” The fiend said, “No,
Sometimes it’s only some form of disguise;
Dead bodies we may enter that arise
To speak with all the reason and as well
As to the Endor witch spoke Samuel.”

One of the best-known mythological mistresses of mayhem is Circe, who appears in The Odyssey. According to the story, Odysseus and his Achaeans found themselves fleeing the land of the Laestrygonians. After a group of Odysseus’ scouts were captured and eaten by the Laestrygonian king, and nearly all of his ships sunk by large boulders, the Achaeans ended up on the shore of Aeaea, home to the witch-goddess Circe.

Circe was well known for her magical mojo, and had quite the reputation for her knowledge of plants and potions. According to some accounts, she may have been the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and one of the Oceanids, but she is sometimes referred to as a daughter of Hecate, the goddess of magic.

Circe turned Odysseus’ men into pigs, and so he set off to rescue them. Before he got there, he was visited by the messenger god, Hermes, who told him how to defeat the seductive Circe. Odysseus followed Hermes’ helpful hints, and overpowered Circe, who turned the men back into men… and she then became Odysseus’ lover. After a year or so of luxuriating in Circe’s bed, Odysseus finally figured out he should head back home to Ithaca, and his wife, Penelope. The lovely Circe, who may or may not have borne Odysseus a couple of sons, gave him directions that sent him all over the place, including on a side quest to the Underworld.

After Odysseus’ death, Circe used her magic potions to bring her late lover back to life.

The Bell Witch …

Morgan Le Fay …

Medea …

Baba Yaga …

La Befana …

Grimhildr …

 

Click here to read the rest of this article by Patti Wigington from learnreligions.com

Goddess Calendar for February 2022 by Kimberly Moore

WELCOME FEBRUARY GODDESSES!

Notice how the seeds of your intentions are quickening. Embrace your FIERCE for the Year of the Tiger. Write an epic poem for Brigid. Spit some well-directed thunderbolts with OYA. Take a Star Bath with Nut. Undertake a new creative endeavor with Saraswati. Gift your friends and family readings with Tyche and Fortuna on St. Agatha’s Day. Track your cycles with Selene. Unfurl your deepest desires with Lalita Devi. Run through the forest with Diana. Light candles for the Ancestors and placate your hungry ghosts. Stoke your passions with Aphrodite. Bake sacrificial cakes for your next gathering with Fornax. Schedule a wellness check-up and honor good health with Hygeia.

Wishing you a magckal month! xo Kimberly 

FEBRUARY is Black History Month.

February 1, 2022 – New Moon in Aquarius – Lunar New Year! Happy Year of the Tiger!

February 1 – Brigid’s Day (Ways to Celebrate Brigid’s Day & Imbolc)

February 1 – 2 – Pagan Sabbat of Imbolc/Candlemas

February 2 – Goddess and Orisha OYA Feast Day as Our Lady of Candelaria

February 2 – Goddess and Orisha Yemoja Candomble Feast Day

February 2 – Feast Day of Maman Brigitte Vodoun lwa

February 2 – Feast of Egyptian Goddess Nut

February 3, 2022 – Mercury Stations Direct in Capricorn

February 4, 2022 – Ganesha Spring Jayanti

February 5, 2022 – Vasant Panchami (Hindu) – Saraswati Puja!

February 5 –  St. Agatha’s Day celebrating the Goddesses Tyche, Fortuna, & Wyrd (Divination & Fortune telling!)

February 5, 2022 – Day of Marian Devotion

February 6 – Aphrodite Feast Day

February 7 – Feast of Greek Moon Goddess Selene

February 8 – TARA Day

February 11 – Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes

February 12 – Festival of the Goddess Diana of the Wild & Artemis of the Meadow

February 12 – Runic half month of Sowulo (Sun, Light, Clarity)

February 13 – February 21 – Ancient Roman Festival Parentalia – Festival of the Ancestors and placation of the ghosts

February 13 – International Self Love Day

February 14 – Susan B. Anthony’s Birthday

February 14 – Valentine’s Day

February 15 – Nirvana Day – Mahayana Buddhist Festival – Anniversary of the death of Buddha

February 15 – Patricia Monaghan’s Birthday

February 16, 2022 – FULL MOON IN LEO

February 16, 2022 – Lalita Jayanti – Happy Birthday to the Hindu Goddess Lalita!

February 16 – Ancient Roman Festival of the Goddess Victoria – Victory

February 17 – Ancient Roman Festival of Fornicalia – Celebrating the Roman Goddess Fornax, the personification of the oven

February 18, 2022 – Sun Enters Pisces

February 18 – Sepandārmazgān – Ancient Iranian Women’s Festival celebrated to show love for Mothers and Wives

February 18 – March 17 – Celtic Tree Calendar – NION – ASH

February 22 – Feast of the Roman Goddess Concordia, embodiment of agreement

February 26 – Day of Greek Goddess Hygeia – Goddess of Health and Wellness

February 26 – Day of Egyptian Goddess Nut

February 27 – Runic half month of Teiwaz (Creator, Right Action)

February 28 – Moira Mathers’ Birthday

From themotherhouseofthegoddess.com

Witchcraft Correspondences: What They Are and Why You Need Them for Your Spells

Born in deepest Cornwall, now living in wild Wales, Bev has been practising her personal brand of eclectic witchcraft for years and years.

Sarah is preparing a love spell for herself. The dating scene has been a bit of a desert recently, and she wants a little romance in her life. She’s dusted her altar, cleared her working area, and had a scented bath. Now, she carefully lays out a small collection of objects: a pink candle, a rose bud in a glass of water, two tarot cards (the Ace and Knight of Cups), a photo of a turtle dove, and a rose quartz crystal.

A few streets along, Tanya is also preparing to cast a spell. She needs money to get her car repaired. She has also prepared herself and the room where she does her energy work. Her collection of objects include a green candle, a favorite pebble, a sprig of oak leaves, a small china toad, two tarot cards (Ace and Six of Pentacles), and a chunk of malachite.

These items are commonly called ‘correspondences’.

What Are Correspondences in Witchcraft?

Correspondences are objects that are connected to, and representative of other things, intentions, desires and outcomes. They can be such things as candles, crystals, jewelry, household objects, ornaments, plants, herbs, and images of anything. As well as tangible objects, they can be deities, angels, scents, colors, symbols, numbers, and words. Even your own visualizations can be termed correspondences because they are an abstract mirroring of your desire. All spell ‘ingredients’ are correspondences. The elements of earth, air, fire, and water are correspondences. So are the cardinal directions. Each of these has its own distinct kind of energy.

Their purpose is to create a matrix to help focus the mind and magnify the energy which you release into the ether.

Common Correspondences

The following correspondences have mostly been taken from the comprehensive and very big, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences: A Comprehensive & Cross-Referenced Resource for Pagans & Wiccans by Sandra Kines. Its 450 pages contain a vast amount of correspondences for many situations and their potential magical workings/spells. The Kindle version has a really useful click-able index which makes the most of the cross-referencing. The lists below are just a tiny sample.

Beauty

  • Zodiac sign/s – Libra and Sagittarius
  • Switchword – Praise
  • Colors – Gold, green, peach, pink
  • Number – Three
  • Tarot cards – Empress, Nine of …

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41 Greek Gods and Goddesses: Family Tree and Fun Facts

You’re Invited to Olympus Mall Where the Greek Gods Dwell and Sell

Far away on Mount Olympus lives the… Well, the Olympians — the twelve most important Greek dieties.

In ancient times, the Olympians and the rest of their family were an important part of daily Greek culture. Each god and goddess ruled certain realms and also played their part in mythology; fascinating stories that helped ancient Greeks to grasp the world around them, including the weather, religious beliefs, and their own social system.

That being said, even the Olympian gods must earn a living.

Possessing so many powers and abilities, they all agreed that they would make excellent business owners, and so opened a grand mall and invited all the mortals.

Let’s grab a shopping bag and go explore the Greek god family tree!

Table of Contents

Zeus the Mall Manager

Suspect Infidelity? Hera’s Private Eye Business Can Help

Book a Trip at the Atlas Traveling Agency

Find Variety at Apollo’s Flea Market

The Eros Lounge for Lonely Hearts

There’s Even a Wine-Tasting Event

Stay Away From the Security Booth

Rejuvenate With Sleep Therapy to Continue Your Shopping

There’s a Shuttle Service for Tired Shoppers

Ares Runs the Army Surplus Shop

There’s a Creepy Dude on a Boat

Pan’s Pet and Sacrifice Shop

This Family’s Failing Business Sells Air Fresheners

There’s Free Counseling for Disturbed Mortals

This Hardware Shop Has All the Mist You Need

This Paramedic Will Fix Your Bones After Kratos Jumps You

The Mall Has a Mini-Jail Called Tartarus

The Cinema Shows Back-To-Back 3D Horror Movies

The Helios Car Dealership Sells Golden Bowls

The Ghost Tour Has Real Ghosts

Poseidon Runs the Black Market

Please Claim Your Kids at the Lost and Found Tent

Aphrodite’s Kissing Booth

Learn How to Chop Necks at Athena’s Karate Club

Hyperion’s Laser Tag Arena

You Can Buy Bottled Air From Aether

Alastor’s Restaurant Serves All the Revenge You Can Eat

There’s an Old Guy That Sells Answers (But You Probably Won’t Get Them)

Pick a Tour Package at the Extreme Adventure Club

There’s a God in the Mini-Jail

There’s a Celebrity Signing Photos of Himself

Enjoy Free Muffins at the Bingo Hall

You’ll Win Every Race With Nike’s Sports Equipment

The Hypno-Therapist Makes Your Problems Worse

The Water-Girl Might Knock You Out

Hecate’s Hex & Herb Shop 

The Mall’s Casino Doubles as a Human Resources Office

The Archery Range Is Fun (But Deadly If You Upset Artemis) 

The Art Gallery Is Full of Living Things and Violence

Mania Is Too Mad to Have a Business

Get Your Face Peeled by Persephone

Get Your Napalm at the Fire-Starter’s Shop

Thank You for Shopping at the Mount Olympus Mall!

Click here to more of this article from historycooperative.org