The Historical & Mythological Library
In ancient times, Priestesses were called “Birds” for their ability to fly between worlds.
The dove is the bird connected with the Goddess of Love Aphrodite, the owl is sacred to Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom and the Raven is connected to the shape shifting Celtic Goddess Morrigan, whose name means “Phantom Queen”
On September 17, we honor the birthday of Hildegarde von Bingen, a mystic, composer, healer, and visionary whose legacy continues to inspire. Born in 1098, Hildegarde was a woman who lived in harmony with nature, embodying a profound connection to the divine forces of creation. Her work as a healer and prophetess, combined with her visionary writings and music, positioned her as a powerful figure of the Divine Feminine.
In this depiction of Hildegarde, she stands in the heart of a wild forest, surrounded by flowers and herbs, a symbol of her deep relationship with the natural world. The forest around her teems with life, reflecting her profound wisdom of nature’s healing powers and her belief that creation itself is an expression of divine love. Here, Hildegarde is not merely a scholar or visionary; she is an extension of the earth, drawing strength from the vibrant, living world that surrounds her.
Hildegarde saw all of creation as interconnected—humans, animals, plants, and the cosmos—all intertwined in a sacred dance of life. This holistic vision resonates today, reminding us of our need to realign with the rhythms of nature and the sacred feminine that nourishes and heals. Her teachings emphasize that healing is not just physical, but spiritual and ecological, urging us to care for our souls and the earth with equal reverence.
Her life also reminds us that the Divine Feminine is not confined to one role—it is expansive, encompassing wisdom, creativity, healing, and a fierce love for life itself. Hildegarde, as a woman of many gifts, represents this multifaceted nature, showing that the feminine spirit has the power to bring forth new life in all forms—be it through art, healing, or spiritual insight.
On this day, we are called to remember her not only as a saint or scholar but as an embodiment of the wild, untamed aspects of the feminine. The flowers and herbs growing around her in the forest symbolize her connection to the divine wisdom found in the natural world. They remind us that true wisdom comes not only from books or doctrines but from an intimate relationship with the living earth.
And however we choose to honor Hildegarde on her birthday, may we reflect on how her legacy invites us to reconnect with the wild divine within ourselves. Let her life and teachings be a reminder that the path of the feminine is one of healing, creativity, and profound unity with nature. By attuning to the wisdom she embraced, we open ourselves to the sacred forces of life that flow through the world and through us.
“Hildegarde Von Bingen”
Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman
Ahavati said:''All the eggs a woman will ever carry form in her ovaries while she is a four-month-old fetus in the womb of her mother.
This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother.
Each of us spent five months in our grandmother's womb, and she in turn formed in the womb of her grandmother.
We vibrate to the rhythm of our mother's blood before she herself is born, and this pulse is the thread of blood that runs all the way back through the grandmothers to the first mother."
~ Layne Redmond, When The Drummers Were Women
Art by Arna Baartz
I've run into this factoid before and it's really a testament to how a truly profound respect for human life actually starts and ends with respect for the mother's health and safety, BEFORE the baby's.
It's a fact that folks are uncomfortable with, even if they are aware of it, and has been factored into the triage ethics of the medical profession for ages. Which of course is why well informed folks want to remain pro choice, with the permanent addendum to respect the babies as well. We can do both.
Conservative pro-life folks have their triage priorities out of order.
This means our cellular life as an egg begins in the womb of our grandmother.
Each of us spent five months in our grandmother's womb, and she in turn formed in the womb of her grandmother.
We vibrate to the rhythm of our mother's blood before she herself is born, and this pulse is the thread of blood that runs all the way back through the grandmothers to the first mother."
~ Layne Redmond, When The Drummers Were Women
Art by Arna Baartz
I've run into this factoid before and it's really a testament to how a truly profound respect for human life actually starts and ends with respect for the mother's health and safety, BEFORE the baby's.
It's a fact that folks are uncomfortable with, even if they are aware of it, and has been factored into the triage ethics of the medical profession for ages. Which of course is why well informed folks want to remain pro choice, with the permanent addendum to respect the babies as well. We can do both.
Conservative pro-life folks have their triage priorities out of order.
MidnightSonneteer said:
I've run into this factoid before and it's really a testament to how a truly profound respect for human life actually starts and ends with respect for the mother's health and safety, BEFORE the baby's.
It's a fact that folks are uncomfortable with, even if they are aware of it, and has been factored into the triage ethics of the medical profession for ages. Which of course is why well informed folks want to remain pro choice, with the permanent addendum to respect the babies as well. We can do both.
Conservative pro-life folks have their triage priorities out of order.
They certainly do.
I've run into this factoid before and it's really a testament to how a truly profound respect for human life actually starts and ends with respect for the mother's health and safety, BEFORE the baby's.
It's a fact that folks are uncomfortable with, even if they are aware of it, and has been factored into the triage ethics of the medical profession for ages. Which of course is why well informed folks want to remain pro choice, with the permanent addendum to respect the babies as well. We can do both.
Conservative pro-life folks have their triage priorities out of order.
They certainly do.
The planet Uranus was originally named “George’s star.”
In 1781, astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet we know today as Uranus, though the celestial orb nearly had a much more regal name. Herschel, who lived in Britain, proposed naming his new find “Georgium Sidus,” Latin for “Georgian star,” in honor of England’s reigning monarch, King George III. However, his suggestion was met with pushback within the scientific community, particularly from astronomer Johann Elert Bode, who noted that the name “George” didn’t quite mesh with the mythological-based names of the other planets. Instead, Bode put forward the name “Uranus,” the Latin form of the Greek word “Ouranos.” In mythology, not only is Uranus the Greek god of the sky, but Uranus’ Roman counterpart, Caelus, is Saturn’s father. Given those fitting associations, scientists adopted Bode’s suggestion in lieu of Herschel’s initial proposal.
Uranus’ 27 moons have a fascinating etymological history of their own, as all are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. In 1787, Herschel discovered the moons Titania and Oberon, named after the king and queen of the fairies from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other Uranian moons include Miranda, Stephano, and Trinculo, all characters from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. And in 1851, astronomer William Lassell discovered two additional moons that he named Umbriel and Ariel in honor of Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock. The name “Ariel” also applies to a character in The Tempest, meaning that either 24 or 25 of Uranus’ moons are named after Shakespearean characters specifically, depending on how you view it.
https://historyfacts.com/science-industry/fact/the-planet-uranus-was-originally-named-georges-star/
Great site to learn something new each day.
WORSHIP OF THE GODS
Sacrifices of animals, grain, and food were offered to the gods and genii; and in time of war captives were slaughtered in their honour. These sacrifices were performed by fathers of families, by chieftains of clans, and by princes; but the existence of a special and highly developed priesthood is proved only among the Elbe Slavs, where the head priest received the same honour as the king himself,
The Elbe Slavs worshipped their idols in temples adorned with great taste and splendour; and in addition to this, trees and groves were consecrated to the gods, both among the Elbe Slavs and among the Russians. Such a svatobor, for example, was on the island of Riigen; while between Stargard and Liibeck stretched a great oak grove, guarded by a wooden fence provided with two gates.
This grove was full of idols in whose honour sacrifices and feasts were held; and whoever concealed himself there when threatened by death was considered inviolable, being under the protection of the gods.
In Bohemia it was not until 1092, in the reign of Bfetislav II, that the sacred groves, held in high honour by the people, were hewn down and burned. The pagan Rus- sians, so far as historical evidence goes, did not build special temples for their gods, but erected their idols in the open on slopes and hills. Besides trees and groves, sanctity also attached to mountains, as well as to rivers and fountains.
Among the annual festivals, that of Svantovit in Arkona, which reminds us of the autumnal dziadys, is described at considerable length, whereas the other feasts, which in the main consisted of games, dancing, and carousing, are dismissed with brief remarks.
In April the Slavs on the banks of the Havola (Havel) used to celebrate a national festival in honour of Gerovit; in Wollin the populace assembled for a pagan festival in early summer; and in 1092 Bfetislav sup- pressed certain feasts observed about Whitsuntide, when oblations were offered to springs.
Popular tradition, however, still preserves many customs and ceremonies whose origin may be traced back to the pre-Christian period; and these we shall briefly consider in our concluding chapters.
by The Mythology of All Races (1918)
#slavs #Slavic #pagan #MythologyMonday
painting by Vsevolod Borisovich Ivanov
It's very recent history but was prompted by your first post on this thread about the Salem witch trials, the one of Rebecca Nurse ...
Fast forward 332 years and you have this:
"The Iranian state has said that it plans to open a treatment clinic for women who defy the mandatory hijab laws that require women to cover their heads in public.
The opening of a “hijab removal treatment clinic” was announced by Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. She said the clinic will offer “scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal”."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/14/iran-announces-treatment-clinic-for-women-who-defy-strict-hijab-laws
(Guardian, 14th November, 2024)
and also this:
"A wave of protests broke out across Iran in September 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, who was detained for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.
A video of Nika at a street protest, filmed days after Amini’s death, appeared to show her standing on top of a rubbish bin and setting fire to headscarves. Soon after, she reportedly went missing and her family found her body eight days later in a morgue. She was allegedly abducted, sexually assaulted and killed by the security forces."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/oct/18/nasrin-shakarami-arrested-mother-nika-protester-mahsa-amini-killed-iran-security-forces
(Guardian 18th Oct, 2024)
Fast forward 332 years and you have this:
"The Iranian state has said that it plans to open a treatment clinic for women who defy the mandatory hijab laws that require women to cover their heads in public.
The opening of a “hijab removal treatment clinic” was announced by Mehri Talebi Darestani, the head of the Women and Family Department of the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. She said the clinic will offer “scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal”."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/14/iran-announces-treatment-clinic-for-women-who-defy-strict-hijab-laws
(Guardian, 14th November, 2024)
and also this:
"A wave of protests broke out across Iran in September 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, who was detained for allegedly wearing her headscarf incorrectly.
A video of Nika at a street protest, filmed days after Amini’s death, appeared to show her standing on top of a rubbish bin and setting fire to headscarves. Soon after, she reportedly went missing and her family found her body eight days later in a morgue. She was allegedly abducted, sexually assaulted and killed by the security forces."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/oct/18/nasrin-shakarami-arrested-mother-nika-protester-mahsa-amini-killed-iran-security-forces
(Guardian 18th Oct, 2024)
