Old Ones - Tumblr Posts
you rustle in the night, dark mother. you rattle, you whistle, you whisper. you shiver and you sway, and your hair engulfs the silver moon.
the throne of the sun will be golden and silent, glistening in the dancing air. but not yet, not yet! you howl, you sing, you wail, crossroads and scythe, the barking of dogs.
oh winter mother, death beloved, your sharp fingers pry open the night, your breath tears the skies apart. a grin cuts through the stillness of the dark. blood rushes to the fingertips.
In honor of Imbolc, here is an art study I carried out by illustrating different variations of Brighid's Cross.
Healing practices also change and evolve while retaining certain features: Заговаривать от тоски нужно над проточной водой, у реки, как объясняла мне одна из моих собеседниц, но в городе «ты можешь и над батареей», в ней тоже вода течет [“You have to say the words to ease toska (longing) over running water, by a river”, one of my female interlocutors explained to me, but in town “you can do it over a radiator,” in which water flows too]
- Review of Магические практики севернорусских деревень: заговоры, обереги, лечебные ритуалы. Записки конца XX – начала XXI в. (reviewed by Sibelan Forrester)
The sorcerers of the Middle Ages still associated Saturn with the ancient Horned God of Midwinter: ’a Saturnian planetary image consisted of a man with a Stag’s head, Camel’s feet, on a throne or on a Dragon, with a Sickle in the right hand, an Arrow in the left.’
- Masks of Misrule, Nigel Jackson
Jousting with a willow, a bull elk wins a garland for his trouble | National Geographic | June.1973
A hymn of praise for Nija
By Długosz called as the Polish Pluton. Etymology of the name "Nija/Nyja'' is derived most likely from the Old Polish verb "nyć" – "to weaken, to wither, to die". Szymon Matusiak in "Olimp podług Długosza'' derives his name from "niega" – "pleasure", and assumes that most scholars incorrectly read the name "Nya" (in original text).
The name "Veles/Volos" is not attested in Poland, the Proto-Slavic forms are reconstructed as *Velesъ or *Velsъ/*Volsъ and that would give in Polish "Wielos" and "Wlos" respectively.
He (Matusiak) argues that the letter y should be read as g, and because the letter g was used to transcribe the phoneme /j/, scribes seeing the word Ni(e)ga could write it as Nya or Niia, which would give the reading of Nija/Nya, but to Matusiak this reading is wrong as he doesn't see in the word Nija/Nyja an attested name, like he derived Jesza as a diminutive form of Jarowit. Niega on the other hand is attested in names: Niegosław etc. So according to Matusiak the reconstructed name of "Nya" would be Niega, which in Old Polish means "pleasure", and his full name would be: Niegowit – "Lord of Pleasure''.
