"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?

"A solitary tree was often regarded as belonging especially to the fairies."

"67 the 109 cultures with a specified placenta ritual identified at least one connection between the placenta and some form of magic or supernatural influence."

“The ethnic religion of the Finns never truly died out but continued to live and take on new forms; even during the thousand years of official Christianity.” —Anssi Alhonen, Notes on the Finnish Tradition #pagansky

Was Samhain the "Celtic New Year" ?? Compare this Japanese idea: "We thought in terms of evening to morning, not morning to evening....The boundary being set by the sinking sun." #FolkyFriday #pagansky

It's Friday

“Neanderthals are not really extinct at all, they are in us."

The oldest undisputed figurines known to man (~40,000 years old) *Venus of Hohle Fels *Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel *Animal figurines of Vogelherd Cave All discovered in the caves of southern Germany. #LegendaryWednesday

The Hunter's Moon

The cave is to sacred space what the skull is to the jack-o’-lantern.

Bears withdraw into caves for hibernation, only to emerge with newborn cubs. A living parable of death and rebirth.

Erich Neumann describes the mysteries of rebirth as an initiation into union with the Great Nocturnal Mother. "You become a star in the night—a luminous infant glittering in her dark belly, a point of light sparkling on her nocturnal cloak."

The best English-language compilations of Irish mythology I've found. What am I missing? 📚 #MythologyMonday

Did u know? Moths are significant pollinators in our gardens. As they're often nocturnal, they've evolved clever ways of evading predators during the day. The Plume moth hides by folding its wings up like a concertina, so that it looks like a teeny twig, rather than a tasty bird meal. 🌿🌱🇬🇧🌱🌍🪲🦋

In Finland, the new year began at the 'Kekri' feast at the end of October. "Kekri was a harvest feast and a memorial celebration for the family's ancestors, who were thought to visit the living on that occasion." 🎃👻

Autumn in my heart

HAPPY OCTOBER 🎃🎃⚡️ new article in bio #pagansky #writersky #samhain #paganism #halloween #spookyseason #booksky

new article tomorrow 🎃 #writersky #pagansky #psychsky #halloween #samhain

"Once upon a time there were three Bears, who lived together in a house of their own, in a wood." Did you know Goldilocks was originally an old woman? 👵

For centuries, people believed cave bear skulls had belonged to dragons. Could legends of dragons have emerged from them?

Towards the end of the war, folklorist Kunio Yanagita wrote About our Ancestors, fearing the traditional Japanese way faced extinction. He carried the manuscript in a briefcase through bombings and published it in 1945. It is now out of print. #MythologyMonday

The cave was the first cathedral.

In the West, dragons are greedy hoarders of gold. In the East, they are honorable guardians of cosmic treasures. Could their shared origin have embodied both traits? #BookologyThursday

The labyrinth is a symbol of the soul’s journey through darkness to rebirth.

"What drives a story is the will of the characters. You don’t depict fate, you depict will. Even if fate exists." –Hayao Miyazaki #WyrdWednesday

Why do artists insist that neanderthals were always carrying a stick

bear appreciation post for the autumnal equinox ☀️🍂

"get a job" nope I'm hibernating

"Stretch Yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars which are in You, and that I may not die." —Egyptian Book of the Dead #pagansky

Augustine received the Christian doctrine of the trinity from the Pagan philosopher Plotinus (c. 205-270 c.e.), who "fed his mind on the attributes of the Pagan divinities and was steeped in Hellenistic rational religion and esotericism."

“When a new man came into the family, the Northmen said expressly: Our kinsman is born again, and so has come back." —Vilhelm Grønbech

A spider's web is a symbol of fate. Each individual has their own, like a fingerprint. #WyrdWednesday

“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” —Leo Tolstoy #LegendaryWednesday

The Shanidar Neanderthal lived for decades despite being significantly crippled and partially deaf. His survival overturned two centuries of anthropologists portraying Neanderthals as brutish and unfeeling.

"Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits." —Samuel Butler

Da Vinci believed that the mother’s desires have an impact on the child, and that her fear or psychical pain are much more destructive for the child than for its mother, as the child might even lose its life because of them.

“Though imprecise from a scientific point of view, the ancient terminology has the advantage of being more fluid and therefore more easily applicable to the manifold contingencies of life than modern terminology.” #pagansky #astrology

"Orpheus’ descent in to the underworld and his eventual successful return represents a model borrowed and adapted from prehistoric bear ceremonies."

“The Gauls believe that the souls of men are immortal and come to life again after a certain term of years, entering other bodies.” —Diodorus Siculus, 1st century BC

Anpu (Anubis) was the Great God of the Dead before Asar (Osiris) assumed that role. Anpu is a neter worth exploring.

Old cultures in Slovenia would bury the placenta after birth, believing that the bond between the mother and baby would only solidify in spirit once fully accepted by the earth. "If someone exhumed the placenta and umbilical cord prematurely, the baby would die." #WyrdWednesday

The jackal can tolerate what would poison almost any other creature, transforming decay into life. In Egypt, the jackal-headed Anubis leads the souls of the deceased into the world of transformations. #LegendaryWednesday

"The history of fairy stories is probably more complex than the physical history of the human race, and as complex as the history of human language. It is now beyond all skill but that of elves to unravel it." —J. R. R. Tolkien

The bear demonstrates that death is a journey toward the mother, just as birth is a departure from her. #pagansky

"A fundamental theme in Leonardo's art and science is the interconnectedness of nature, the unity of its patterns, and the analogy between the workings of the human body and those of Earth."

Justice and civility aren’t the sole property of civilization. A primitive society can embody them, just as a civilized one can betray them.