Looking for other folks interested in pagan "survivals' --- witchy or pagan traditions, spells, recipes, iconography said to predate the 19th century English folk revival, and 20th century repeal of the Anti-Witchcraft law (also in Great Britain. Interesting tradition or saying passed down in your family, please post here!
OFS Demonolatry is comprised of mostly traditional hereditary Demonolators with roots dating back to at least the mid-fifteenth century. If you're interested, email me:
Permalink Reply by Ray on December 1, 2008 at 6:59pm
Hi Donna and Torey,
I am interested in all of this stuff... Here are some interesting "connections" for the green man... Check out the Shiva seals from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (now Pakistan?) which feature a horned masked "Lord of the Animals" sitting in lotus position, amazingly similar to the "Celtic" Gundestrap Cauldron, which also features something of a "Lord of the Beasts". In some varieties of Islamic sufism, seekers encounter the "green one", al-Khidr, a hidden saint who guides the true-hearted fool to a state of completion. Then there is a book called "Santa Claus, Last of the Wildmen", which asserts that Santa is reality a pagan survival of the primordial wildman or beastmaster (green man) represented in the mummer's plays of the British Isles...not to mention the representations of a more overt green man at Rosslyn Chapel (Holy Blood, Holy Grail stuff) in Scotland. Definitely a survival, I would think, or an extremely enduring archetype... Good call, Donna!
Not sure about the demonolatry (YET) Torey, I will definitely email you for more information... It is my understanding that priests compiled many of these based on Arabic sources in the Renaisssance period, though I am not sure I am correct here... (and always stand to be corrected.
Thanks for your posts, lets keep this bonfire burning! Look forward to hearing from you... Bright blessings,
I'm also interested in Pagan survivals. I'm interested in etymology, so I find a lot of it in language. Weird, hell, and Easter are taken from Pagan deity names, as are the days of the week.
I read something a long time ago (can't remember where) that it was a tradition at Yule to drink a toast to the god Bragi and announce some great deed one intended to do in the forthcoming year. Naturally, this toast usually came after lots and lots of other toasts so sometimes people would get a little carried away. Supposedly, this is the origin of our word "brag". Dunno if that's true or not, but I always rather liked the story :)
Permalink Reply by Ray on December 4, 2008 at 8:25pm
Hi Scott,
Thanks for adding to the post... I have not heard of this Yule tradition (though I like the sound of it very much, and will definitely incorporate into my own...) I will check it out!
For your amusement, check out "The Brag of the Subgenius" more than likely available somewhere on the net, or at www.subgenius.com.