If I had to explain magic to an alien life form I would tell them about nature.

"The honor that was to console a man in death must have a compelling force—not only to beget songs, but also to beget a successor in whom the honor shone out anew." ―Vilhelm Grönbech, The Culture of the Teutons (1931) #MythologyMonday

🏺🏛️ Witham shield, Middle Iron Age, River Thames (pic taken at British Museum)

death is a journey toward the mother, just as birth is a departure from her

“Religious creativity was stimulated, not by the empirical phenomenon of agriculture, but by the mystery of birth, death and rebirth.”

1 year of neanderthal paganism ❤️

Sunset at the Waen Oer (cold moor) stone row

Myth is the archaeology of the mind.

“The ancient Pythagoreans called the two Bears the Hands of Rhea, and the wandering planets the Hounds of Persephone, Queen of the Underworld.”

“Our natural magic is but the ancient religion of the world—the ancient worship of nature.” ―W.B. Yeats

Were the ancients ignorant in canonizing the fetal drama as a mythological archetype, or humbly reverent and curious before creation?

this is an owl

Symbols repeat across cultures because they’re older than any civilization we know.

Showing my family what I’ve worked on this year (they don’t care)

Get outside. And hopefully North of a major urban light center

“Our lives are like the wind, or like sounds. We come into being, resonate with each other, then fade away.” ―Hayao Miyazaki

The fairy-tale worldview is Neanderthal. The folklorists were simply the first to write it down.

By the third trimester, fetuses achieve REM sleep, unconsciously logging the earliest memories that will inform their dreams forever.

Citizens of the Land of Mushrooms, C20th lithograph.

Every Northern culture shared this common idea: the bear's retreat into the earth promises rebirth in spring.

Scholars assume indigenous cultures were passive recipients of European stories rather than the bearers of their own rooted mythological traditions. The argument for common Paleolithic inheritance 👇 open.substack.com/pub/milbel/p...

Forest in Late Autumn, Caspar David Friedrich, 1835.

Neanderthals buried their dead in the fetal curl, returning them to the “womb” for rebirth. Bodies faced the rising sun. Caves became tomb-temples—thresholds between worlds. #LegendaryWednesday

Ancestors blend into a single form to protect their descendants. Trees die and become the mycelial networks that protect their descendants. Paganism is nature.

The passage grave at La Barbière in Crossac (Loire-Atlantique) has a 20-ton 4x3m capstone over the chamber still supported on 3 orthostats; the others have been robbed. Two slipped capstones and some supports still survive from the ruined passage. #TombTuesday.

“The Irish fairies were not imagined as being very different in form or appearance to the human race, except that they might be somewhat paler in hue and dressed in clothing of silk and satin.”

Everyone knows Japan has Shinto. But in the early 20th century, one folklorist feared the tradition had drifted too far from its roots, and set out to recover what was ancient, native, and half-forgotten. Read “The Lost Book of Shinto" now👇 #promosky #writersky www.milbel.com/p/the-lost-b...

we've entered the underworld 🫡

"Herbstreigen" (Autumn Dance), Hans Sandreuter

"My soul, my journey should continue with you. I will wander with you and ascend to my solitude." ―Jung

Hannah Frank Moon Ballet lithograph, 1934

The modern pumpkin, carved and lit from within, is a symbol in perfect continuity with the ancient doctrine of rebirth: a husk or a skull illuminated from within, death animated by the spark of life.

me on friday god willing

The witch in the house is an echo of the bear in the cave: “Witches have red eyes and cannot see far, but they have a keen scent like the beasts, and are aware when human beings draw near.” (Hansel and Gretel) #WyrdWednesday

Goodnight. 🖼️ Edna Eicke, New Yorker October 27, 1945.

There she goes

Were ancient people ignorant in canonizing the fetal drama as a mythological archetype, or humbly reverent and curious in the face of creation? #pagansky #science #mythology #psychsky #promosky open.substack.com/pub/milbel/p...

The hero’s journey resonates so deeply because we’ve all been the hero who outgrows the home, slays the dragon, and is reborn. It’s the universal pattern that begins in the womb. #writersky #psychology #pyschsky #archetypes #promosky #pagan #pagansky www.milbel.com/p/the-fetal-...

Neanderthals were not merely a footnote in our evolutionary story. To a large extent, they are us, and their contributions to the great drama of human consciousness are embedded in our daily and annual traditions. #writersky #pagansky #anthropology #promosky www.milbel.com/p/what-was-n...

A restoration of "The Voice of the Sacred Tree" litany from the tomb of Qenamun

After all, it is no more surprising to be born twice than it is to be born once. ~ VOLTAIRE

Autumn details 🍂

Sunrise at Stonehenge today (22nd October) was at 7.43am, sunset is at 6.00pm 🌤️

The annual onset of darkness has always been marked by rituals, from the Paleolithic to Halloween.

“The willow tree is closely associated with witchcraft – and just happens to be natural source of aspirin." #WyrdWednesday

"Like many societies, early Ireland was faced with the problem of what to do with its combustible young men—those who had reached physical maturity but had not yet inherited property. The solution was a period of vagrancy, spent in hunting and raiding outside settled society."

pythagorean initiates took a five-year vow of silence before admittance. when knowledge required discipline and secrecy, did it mean more?