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Chechnya: The Folklore, Mythology and Ancient Religions

If you have followed my blog over the past two years you will know how fascinated I am by ancient culture, mythology, folklore and indigenous traditions. Some I have shared are very well known and some not so much. Today I want to dive into a place and people that unfortunately most are not aware of have a rich history regarding their spiritual beliefs that is on a small scale as far as I have researched still exists. That place is the land of Chechnya and its people. So let’s get into it and I hope you enjoy what I am about to share with you.

Introduction

The Chechens (/ˈtʃɛtʃɛnz, tʃəˈtʃɛnz/; Chechen: Нохчий, Noxçiy, Old Chechen: Нахчой, Naxçoy), historically also known as Kisti and Durdzuks, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. They are the largest ethnic group of the North Caucasus and refer to themselves as Nokhchiy; singular Nokhchi, Nokhcho, Nakhchuo or Nakhtche). The vast majority of Chechens today are Muslims and live in Chechnya, a republic of Russia. The North Caucasus has been invaded numerous times throughout history. Its isolated terrain and the strategic value outsiders have placed on the areas settled by Chechens has contributed much to the Chechen community ethos and helped shape its national character. Chechen society has traditionally been egalitarian and organized around many autonomous local clans, called teips.

A teip (also taip, teyp; Nakh [ˈtajpə]: family, kin, clan, tribe) is a Chechen and Ingush tribal organization or clan, self-identified through descent from a common ancestor or geographic location. It is a sub-unit of the tukkhum and shahar. There are about 150 Chechen and 120 Ingush teips. Teips played an important role in the socioeconomic life of the Chechen and Ingush peoples before and during the Middle Ages, and continue to be an important cultural part to this day. Teips being sub-units of tukkhums, members of the same teip are traditionally thought to descend from a common ancestor, and thus are considered distant blood relatives. Teip names were often derived from an ancestral founder. As is also true of many other North Caucasian peoples, traditionally Chechen and Ingush men were expected to know the names and places of origin of ancestors on their father’s side, going back many generations, with the most common number being considered as 7. Many women also memorized this information, and keener individuals can often recite their maternal ancestral line as well. The memorization of the information serves as a way to impute clan loyalty to younger generations. Among peoples of the Caucasus, traditionally, large scale land disputes could sometimes be solved with the help of mutual knowledge of whose ancestors resided where and when.

The Chechens, who call themselves noxchii (singular noxchi or noxchuo ) and their land Noxchiin moxk (“Chechen land”), are the largest indigenous nationality of the North Caucasus. They speak a language of the Nakh-Daghestanian, or East Caucasian language family that is native to the Caucasus, and have lived in or near their present locations for millennia. Chechnya is a small territory of about 5,000 sq. mi. (13,000 sq. km.) corresponding to about 85 percent of the historical Chechen lands (the rest is in today’s Daghestan), with some non-Chechen steppe land added in the north. The lower North Caucasus foothills and adjacent plain including the capital city of Grozny (Soelzha-ghaala “Sunzha City” in Chechen, a name still much in use despite its official renaming to Djohar in 1996) are the most densely populated part of Chechnya. The Chechens numbered just over a million in mid-2000 according to a Danish Refugee Council census. Somewhat over half of the world’s Chechens live in Chechnya; most of the others are scattered throughout Russia, several tens of thousands live in Kazakhstan and nearby, and a few tens of thousands in Jordan, Turkey, and Syria. Continue reading HERE.

Chechens: Culture and Society is an ethnography that elaborates the lived experiences of Chechens, focusing primarily on relationships and socio-cultural norms within the context of the current conflict in the Chechen Republic.

The Mythology and Folklore

Although the Vainak peoples (Chechens and Ingush) of the North Caucasus were Islamized relatively late in the early modern period, Amjad Khaimuka (2005) explores their pre-Islamic religion and mythology, including traces of ancestor worship. I propose to rebuild some of the elements. and a funeral cult. The Nak, like many other peoples of the North Caucasus, such as the Circassians and Ossetians, practiced tree worship and believed that trees were the abode of spirits. The Vainak have developed many rituals for offering specific types of wood. The pear tree held a special place in Vainakh beliefs.

Jaimoukha (2005), page 252, contains a list of reconstructed ‘Vainak gods’. Dar (Chechen), Dar (Ingush) or Dara – Supreme God. Corresponds to the Greek Zeus, the Roman Jupiter, the Germanic Wodan, and the Circassian Teshwe. Gal-Yerdi or Gela – Sun god and patron of cattle breeders. Worship services were held on Nak New Year’s Day, with metal spheres, candles, and sometimes animal sacrifices. Hera – God of Darkness. Seela or Sela – God of stars, thunder and lightning. Sera is often portrayed as an evil and cruel deity in Vainak mythology. His skeins (loose bags made of animal skins) contained “nights” (stars, lightning, thunder). He lives on top of Mount Kazbek in a fiery chariot. It was he who chained Puharmat to the mountain for stealing fire, and for this reason it was forbidden to carry embers and ashes on Wednesdays in his month in the old Vainakh calendar. During the period of Christianization in Chechnya and Ingushetia, he (like Vatshira in Ossetia and Ilya Muromiets in Russia) was identified with Elijah the Prophet and maintained his status. He also, like the Greek Zeus, was unable to control his mortal lust for women (to the dismay of his wife Hulki), and as a result of his episode with a mortal maiden, his daughter, the goddess Sera Sata was born. Sata or Sera Sata – According to various versions, Sheila’s wife or daughter. Goddess of craftsmanship, especially female craftsmanship, equivalent to Satanaya in the Northwest Caucasus. Her face is described as beautiful and shining like the sun. She guides Pukarmat to the top of Mount Kazbek and helps him steal Serra Fire for Earth’s inhabitants. Maetsill – God of agriculture and harvests, and protector of the weak. Ishtar-Deela – Lord of life and death, ruler of the underworld (“Deeli-Malkhi”), responsible for punishing the wicked. Molyz-Yerdi – War god who brought victory to Vaynak. Elta – God of hunting and animals, and of the harvest before Maethir took over the role. He was blinded in one eye due to his father Dheera’s disobedience. Amgali (-Yerdi) – minor deity. Taamash(-Yerdi) – (“Lord of Wonders”) Lord of Destiny. It’s usually small, but when it gets angry, it becomes huge. Tusholi – Goddess of fertility, protector of those greater than her father, Deela. She is believed to live in the sacred Gullane Am Lake. According to scholars, Tushori was the primary deity in early beliefs. People petitioned her for healthy offspring, a bountiful harvest, and a prosperous herd of cattle. In later times, Tushori became an object of worship mainly for childless women. She had a holy day, Tushori Day, on which women brought offerings such as red deer horns, bullets, and candles to the sanctuary of Mount Dheerateh (except for priests and priests). could only be entered with explicit permission). (It was forbidden to cut down trees.) Her day is now considered “Children’s and Women’s Day”. The hoopoe, known as the ‘chicken of Tushori’, was considered ‘her’ bird and could not be hunted except with the permission of the high priest and strictly for medical purposes. Dartsa-Naana (“Mother of Blizzards”) – Goddess of blizzards and avalanches. She lives on the snowy summit of Mount Kazbek, drawing a magical circle around it, which no mortal of any sense dares to cross. If any would dare to do so, Datha Nana would cast them into the abyss and let deadly snow roll upon them in her mountain home. Mok Nana – Goddess of the wind. Seelasat – (“Oriole”) Guardian of the Virgin (probably identical to Sata / Sela Sata, see above). Meler Yerdi – God of plants and cereal drinks. Aira – Guardian of the Eternal Timeline. Mozh – The evil sister of the Sun and Moon. Shrikes have eaten all their other relatives in the sky and are now in constant pursuit of their celestial brethren. A rare eclipse occurs when she catches up with them and takes them prisoner. Mr. Moz agrees to release Sun and Moon only at the request of his innocent eldest daughter. Bolam-Deela – Not much is known about him/her. He/she may or may not have been equal to Dheera Mark. Khagya-Yerdi or Maetzkhali – Lord of the Rock. Mattir-Deela – Another lesser-known god. P’eerska – (Friday) Keeper of Time. SOURCE

Closed Captions in English is available for this video.

When meeting the Chechen mythology and Chechen pagan cults, their connection with the culture of Asia and Europe is clearly traced. This is explained by the fact that since the third century AD, the Caucasus has been the intersection of the routes of communication of many Eastern and European civilizations. Thus, in the language, cults and mythology of the Chechen Republic, in its everyday traditions, up to the present day, the features of the culture of the peoples of Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe are preserved. The same applies to the Chechen theater, music and dance culture of Chechnya. Due to the constant military actions on the territory of the Chechen Republic over many centuries, a significant part of the cultural heritage of the people was irretrievably lost. But the traditions turned out to be alive thanks to the Chechen people, who retained their cultural and ethnic identity.

The number of genres of modern Chechen folklore is impressive: it is the traditional Nart heroic epic and associated mythology, various fairy tales, legends, tales and legends, religious, children’s and ritual folklore, plays, songs and poems of the so-called tyullik and Zhukhurgov. Chechen mythology is not so rich, but it is interesting with relics of pastoral and agricultural cults and totemic beliefs, and the myth “How the sun, moon and stars happened” is just a fundamental work of cosmogony and a significant historical monument of folk culture.

The Vainakh symbol of Dela-Malx. on the stone is the Ingush symbol of sun/earth motion, as is on the flag of Ingushetia:
Dela-Malx was the main god. In ancient Vainakh traditions they days honoured were the winter and summer solstice, except it is in the opposite perspective… in December, the darkest day of the year, was celebrated the “birth” of the sun (positive sense) and in June, the lightest day of the year, was the “death” of the sun (almost negative sense), as the days would then become shorter.

The heroic epic of Chechnya is in many ways similar to that of the Balkars, Ossetians, Circassians and Karachais – both in form and content. Basically, it has three epic groups: legends about giants (cyclops, giants with two eyes and giants – the founders of clans), works about national heroes and traditions – legends that are not associated with the Nart epic, but have a heroic-epic typology. Here is a translation of an excerpt from a legend typical of the second epic group of works:

“So only on the battle lined up both nations with the leaders,
Troy sons rush, with chatter, with a cry, like birds:
Creek is such a crane is distributed under the high sky
If, having avoided both winter storms and endless rains,
Screaming herds fly through the rapid flow of the Ocean,
Swearing threatening and killing men undersized, pygmies,
With terrible rage on whom from air heights attack.“

Chechen fairy tales are very similar to works of a similar genre of other peoples of the North Caucasus and Europe. The plot is a fairy tale magic, domestic, tales of animals, where good always triumphs over evil, and the main character usually comes out the winner from various difficult situations. SOURCE

The Vainakh peoples (Chechen: вайн нах, Ingush вей нах “our people”) are the speakers of the Vainakh languages. These are chiefly the ethnic Chechen, Ingush and Kist peoples of the North Caucasus, including closely related minor or historical groups.

Vainakh Deities

The gods of the Chechen and Ingush peoples SOURCE

Necropolis in Itum Kale(Chechnya), and tower of Tsoi-Pheda protecting the peace of the dead

The following is a list of Vainakh divinities — from “Amaga-erda”, the protector of lakes, to the “Votshabi”, the spirits which watch over herds of aurochs. This list was copied from Mariel Tsaroieva’s amazing Anciennes Croyances des Ingouches et des Tchétchènes (“Ancient Beliefs of the Ingush and the Chechens”, published in 2005), which I found in a remainders bookshop in Brussels. Ms Tsaroieva is of Ingush origin, and holds a PhD in History of Religion from the prestigious Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales in Paris. A former teacher of romance linguistics at the state universities of Chechnya-Ingushetia and Kyrgyzstan, she has published many articles and books on folklore and “geolinguistics”, both in Russian and in French.

The list reads as follows:

The Gods of the World

“diala” — the god-father

“tusholi” — the goddess-mother

“kurkhars” or “tshugul” — the hairstyle of Ingush women

“tq’a” — the god of the universe

“nana latta” — mother earth

“h’al-erda” — the sky-god

“mago-erda” — the god of magic and of wisdom and knowledge

“eshtar” — the god of the afterlife


The Astral Divinities

“malkha” — the sun-god

“but’ ” — the moon-god

Seela or Sela – God of stars, thunder and lightning. Sela is often portrayed in Vainakh myth as an evil and cruel god. His skein (a loose bag made of animal skin) held the “night” (stars, lightning and thunder). He lives on the top of Mount Kazbek with his fiery chariot.


The Gods of Nature


“seli” — the god of (thunder-)storms and lightning

“dardza-nana” — the goddess of snowstorms

“mikha-nana” — the goddess of the winds

“khi-nana” — the goddess of rivers and springs

“amaga-erda” — the protector of lakes

“hagar-erda” or “hirga-erda” — the aurochs-god or the rock-god

“amgali-erda” and “saniba-erda” — the tribal gods

“kherkh-erda” — the god of fruit-trees (also protector of great trees, with the “naj-gantskhoi”, the spirits which protect “naj”, “oak trees”)


The Gods of Various Domains of Rural Life

“elta” — the god of hunting

“votshabi” — the spirits which protect herds of aurochs

The “Masters of the Woods” and their daughters or sisters, the “almas”

“tamij-erda” — the god of stock-breeding

“mat-tseli” — the god of agriculture and of justice and equality

“matir-diala” or “matar-diala” — the god of haymaking

“mats-khali” — the god of renewal (of crops)

“boalam-diala” — the god of plants (vegetation) and of travellers


The Gods of Social Life

“susan-diala” — the protector of women and of maternity (i.e. the protector of mothers)

“agoi” — the protector of girls

“orkhus” or “orkhush” — the god of fecundity and procreation

“dika-seli” — the god of goodness and kindness

“arda” — the god of boundaries (or of boundary-markers?) and of clan possessions


The Gods of Work and Handicrafts

“sela-sata” — the protector of handicrafts and know-how

“p’harmat” — the blacksmith-god

“malar-erda” — the god of intoxicating drinks (i.e. the god of alcohol)

“moloz” — the god of war


The Gods of Disease

“una-nana” — the goddess of contagious diseases

“higiz” or “hegiz” — the goddess of smallpox


Some Forgotten Gods of Antiquity

“ami” and “h’ur-ami” or “fur-ami” — perhaps the god of good tidings and the goddesses of the winds, respectively

“baini-seli” — the god of agriculture, perhaps, now replaced by “mat-tseli”; apparently related to the Georgian Mokheve (i.e. the inhabitants of Khevi, the valley of the Terek between the Djvari Pass and the Daryal Gorge)

“falkhan” — probably related to Mago-erda, the god of wisdom and knowledge

“suvsa” — probably the ancient goddess-mother

“sampai-tsuge” or “siampai-tsuoge” — probably the ancient god of trees or of forests; sometimes worshipped as the rain-god

In Conclusion

I really enjoyed putting this post together and learned quite a lot regarding this subject and plan to look more into the traditions and folklore of the people of Chechnya. I found a real treasure trove of resources which I will include for those of you who want to learn more about the amazing folklore and mythology which originated from the ancient people of such a fascinating culture.

Further Resources

Chechen native religion

The legend of the “Hordune-Din” (the “Sea Stallion”)

The Pagan Religious Practices of the Chechens and the Ingush

The Shamanic Themes in Chechen Folktales

The Origin of the Chechen and Ingush: A Study in Alpine Linguistic and Ethnic Geography

The Diversity of the Chechen culture: from historical roots to the present

Chechen Fairy Tales, Fables and Stories

The Abrek in Chechen Folklore

Dancing Through Mythological Threads: Unraveling the Symbolism of Chechen Dance

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The Kingfisher: Facts, Folklore and More

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I was exposed to a huge variety of Flora and Fauna in the beautiful nature that is Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. My favorite was and still is the coastal region of the PNW. It is common to see Terns, Seagulls, Orcas, Sea Lions and more. One little colorful and energetic coastal bird that is quite common to see, especially around the Columbia river bar is the Belted Kingfisher.

Recently after reading a small excerpt from one of my books and discussion with a close friend of mine I had quite the revelation that my bird spirit animal is indeed the Kingfisher. Making all four spirit animals of mine marine animals (Canadian Coastal Wolf, Hammerhead Shark, Giant Manta Ray and Kingfisher).

So with today’s blog post I want to cover the facts, folklore and spiritual meaning of this beautiful and very important species.

Kingfisher facts

kingfisher, any of about 90 species of birds in three families (Alcedinidae, Halcyonidae, and Cerylidae), noted for their spectacular dives into water. They are worldwide in distribution but are chiefly tropical. Kingfishers, ranging in length from 10 to 42 cm (4 to 16.5 inches), have a large head, a long and massive bill, and a compact body. Their feet are small, and, with a few exceptions, the tail is short or medium-length. Most species have vivid plumage in bold patterns, and many are crested.

These vocal, colourful birds are renowned for their dramatic hunting techniques. Typically, the bird sits still, watching for movement from a favourite perch. Having sighted its quarry, it plunges into the water and catches the fish usually no deeper than 25 cm (10 inches) below the surface in its dagger-shaped bill. With a swift downstroke of the wings, it bobs to the surface. It then takes the prey back to the perch and stuns the fish by beating it against the perch before swallowing it. Many species also eat crustaceans, amphibians, and reptiles. SOURCE

More Fun Facts

  • Kingfishers have something called a nictitating membrane which is a thin translucent eyelid that protects their eyes when they dive underwater.
  • When they breed they build their nest burrow into the stone-free sandy soil of a low stream bank. These burrows can also be utilized by Swallows.
  • You won’t see these birds near polluted waters since the fish population is not big enough to support them. Each Kingfisher needs to eat its body weight in fish everyday.
  • Males and females will combine their territories during breeding season in order to feed their young. During the colder months they will often divide their summer territory. Each territory covers about 1km of river. SOURCE
A Belted Kingfisher relaxing on the shores of the Columbia river bar Chinook Harbor, Wa. SOURCE

Cool facts of the Belted Kingfisher

  • The breeding distribution of the Belted Kingfisher is limited in some areas by the availability of suitable nesting sites. Human activity, such as road building and digging gravel pits, has created banks where kingfishers can nest and allowed the expansion of the breeding range.
  • The Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more brightly colored than the male. Among the nearly 100 species of kingfishers, the sexes often look alike. In some species the male is more colorful, and in others the female is.
  • During breeding season the Belted Kingfisher pair defends a territory against other kingfishers. A territory along a stream includes just the streambed and the vegetation along it, and averages 0.6 mile long. The nest burrow is usually in a dirt bank near water. The tunnel slopes upward from the entrance, perhaps to keep water from entering the nest. Tunnel length ranges from 1 to 8 feet.
  • As nestlings, Belted Kingfishers have acidic stomachs that help them digest bones, fish scales, and arthropod shells. But by the time they leave the nest, their stomach chemistry apparently changes, and they begin regurgitating pellets which accumulate on the ground around fishing and roosting perches. Scientists can dissect these pellets to learn about the kingfisher’s diet without harming or even observing any wild birds.
  • Belted Kingfishers wander widely, sometimes showing up in the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the British Isles, the Azores, Iceland, Greenland, and the Netherlands.
  • Pleistocene fossils of Belted Kingfishers (to 600,000 years old) have been unearthed in Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. The oldest known fossil in the kingfisher genus is 2 million years old, found in Alachua County, Florida. SOURCE
The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher is one of the most enigmatic and rarely filmed birds in the world. This fascinating documentary spends a year with them as they survive monsoons, droughts and predators to raise their brood for the next season.

Kingfisher as a Spirit Animal

In Polynesia, where the bird is sacred, the Kingfisher represents control over the seas. The connection is easy to see when you learn about the Kingfishers’ preference for living near water bodies where they can find food. Some clever Kingfishers even take to stocked backyard ponds!

When Kingfisher arrives in your life as a Spirit Animal, it heralds a time of abundance and peace. You have harvested the results of competent labor and begin attracting good fortune. Rejoice! Open your wings and fly on the winds of prosperity. Kingfisher will pull you back, however, if you misuse the blessing.

Kingfisher sometimes arrives as a Spirit Animal when you struggle with a specific fear. Kingfisher teaches you how to invoke courage and tackle anything coming your way head-on. The fear you experience may be because of an “unknown”- something you won’t truly discover until you reach the horizon. Kingfisher Spirit reminds you, such situations can open the way to expanded consciousness. Transform fear into anticipation.

The Kingfisher Spirit Animal brings new things into your life. Perhaps there will be a change in careers, a potential mate, or a skill you’ve been trying to develop. Whatever focus the Kingfisher brings, stick to it. Keep it in your sights. The best part? You will have a ton of fun.
For individuals who struggle with self-expression, the Kingfisher is a welcome ally. Explore the words you use and how you use them. Think about body language. Apply the psychic gifts you have for tapping into intent. If you heed your Spirit Animal’s advice, people will see you, hear you, and understand you fully. SOURCE

Take a dive into the wonderful and diverse world of kingfishers. Explore their physical characteristics and how they differ between the different families, the habitats in which they abide and what they eat (not all is what it seems!) and the countries where they are found. Discover over 50 species of kingfisher and what makes them all incredibly unique.

Celtic symbolism connects the kingfisher to serenity, patience, and the vibrant beauty of nature. The way that kingfishers wait for their prey alongside ponds and streams evokes a sense of tranquility and watchfulness. The Welsh poet William Henry Davies wrote of the kingfisher in his 1910 poem of the same name:

“It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues;
And, as her mother’s name was Tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose
For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.
Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;
On lawns as smooth as shining glass,
Let every feather show its marks;
Get thee on boughs and clap thy wings
Before the windows of proud kings.
Nay, lovely Bird, thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
That’s green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool, and let a tree
Sigh with her bosom over me”

– William Henry Davies

Kingfisher in Dreams

Dreaming of a kingfisher is largely a positive experience which indicates the start of a peaceful or joyous period in one’s life. A kingfisher’s appearance in a dream may mean that you have entered a period of rest or calm, and that you should take this time to renew yourself and acknowledge your blessings with gratitude.

A kingfisher dream may also indicate longing. It may be a sign that your energy is too focused on something unattainable. Be especially cautious about nostalgia. The past is perhaps the most unattainable object of all; you can only move forward. SOURCE

More than one hundred species of kingfishers brighten every continent but Antarctica. Not all are fishing birds. They range in size from the African dwarf kingfisher to the laughing kookaburra of Australia. This first book to feature North America’s belted kingfisher is a lyrical story of observation, revelation, and curiosity in the presence of flowing waters.

The kingfisher—also known as the halcyon bird—is linked to the mythic origin of halcyon days, a state of happiness that Marina Richie hopes to find outside her back door in Missoula, Montana. Epiphanies and a citizen science discovery punctuate days tracking a bird that outwits at every turn. The female is more colorful than the male (unusual and puzzling) and the birds’ earthen nest holes are difficult to locate.

While the heart of the drama takes place on Rattlesnake Creek in Missoula, the author’s adventures in search of kingfisher kin on the lower Rio Grande, in South Africa, and in London illuminate her relationships with the birds of Montana. In the quiet of winter, she explores tribal stories of the kingfisher as messenger and helper, pivotal qualities for her quest. For all who love birds or simply seek solace in nature, Halcyon Journey is an inviting introduction to the mythic and mysterious belted kingfisher.

Kingfisher Encounters and Omens

An encounter with a kingfisher is often a sign that you need to slow down and exercise some patience. Kingfishers are the ultimate stoics, placidly surveying the water below for as long as it takes. If you encounter a kingfisher, it may mean that you must wait in order to achieve your goal.

Additionally, a kingfisher encounter may be an invitation to stop and smell the roses. Do your best to enjoy the present without fixating on a singular goal or desire. Nature’s beauty is all around us and it never costs a dime. The kingfisher reminds us to be grateful for what we have and for all of the amazing things that we have the opportunity to experience each day. SOURCE

Kingfishers in Folklore and Mythology

The kingfisher is a small blue and orange bird that can be found in most of the world. In Greek mythology, Alcyone, a Thessalian princess, and Ceyx, the son of Lucifer, were married. They sometimes called themselves Zeus and Hera. This angered Zeus and he threw a thunderbolt at Ceyx’s ship while he was out to sea. Ceyx was killed. Morpheus, the god of dreams, came to Alcyone in a dream as Ceyx and told her of his fate. Alcyone was overcome and drowned herself. The gods took pity on them and turned them both into kingfishers. Kingfishers were also known as Halcyons in Ancient Greece. Any days of calm and peacefulness are called Halcyon days.

Polynesians believed the sacred kingfisher had control over the water and the waves.

Different Native American tribes have different symbolism for kingfishers. According to Makkah legend, when the earth was populated by the Two-Men-Who-Changed-Things, they turned a fisherman who was also a thief into the kingfisher. The white feathers around the kingfisher’s neck were the shells from the necklace that the thief had stolen. A kingfisher on a totem pole represents speed, agility, luck, and patience. The Sioux associate the kingfisher with fertility. Most North Coast Indians view the kingfisher as a sign of good luck.

The Dusun people in Malaysia consider the kingfisher a bad omen. Warriors who saw a kingfisher when going into battle were supposed to return home.

In China, kingfishers are symbols for faithfulness and happy marriages.

In Sabah, from 1982-88 the coat of arms depicted a kingfisher. Traditional fishermen considered the kingfisher a messenger of the gods. SOURCE

This is the story of an animal filmmaker who fulfilled a childhood dream: a documentary, featuring the reclusive and rare kingfisher. The material was not shot in some distant country; it was made here in Germany, in the centre of Europe’s green heart, near a tributary of the Rhine. Animal filmmaker Hans-Jürgen Zimmermann used to admire the flying diamond even as a small child. As an adult, he could at last capture this beautiful bird on film – closer and more intensive than ever before. The results enable us to share his observations as if we had actually participated in the film our-selves. Watch the kingfisher, caught on the wing whilst hunting. Experience how elegantly and powerfully the bird breaks the surface of the water, thereby catching small fish. Enjoy detailed footage of the exciting family life of these fascinating animals. The film reveals the secret life of the timid kingfisher, from the beginning of territorial conflicts in spring, the digging of a breeding hollow and the hostile attacks of a sparrow hawk, to the persistent expelling of the young birds from the parental territory – all captured in truly unique pictures. Experience a passionate and unforgettable documentary. Look forward to this delightful declaration of love to our wild nature – and to the flying diamond.

There is so much more I could add regarding this amazing global species known as the Kingfisher but I feel I have covered a really good amount of content. Even as I put this blog post together I have felt a deeper connection to the Kingfisher and even plan to purchase the book I found for this post. I feel like I personally need to learn more about this species and specifically focus on the Belted Kingfisher which I absolutely intend to do.

Further Resources

THE KINGFISHER… myths and traditions

The Myth of Halcyon – Halcyon Days

Kingfisher Symbolism: 7 Spiritual Meanings of Kingfisher

The Ancient Greeks Believed Kingfishers Were Born of Epic Love

Native American Kingfisher Mythology

Take on Nature: Why the kingfisher is known as ‘the halcyon bird’

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Pinecones – the Ins and Outs 

Pinecones – the Ins and Outs by W1tchsbrew

Be sure to check her Etsy shop Wood ov Wyrd

Pine trees, which belong to the ancient group of plants called gymnosperms, are one of the oldest plant species on earth, dating back to more than one and a half million years.

 They produce cone-shaped organs known as pinecones.

The main function of a pinecone is to keep a pine tree’s seeds safe. 

Pinecones close their scales to protect the seeds from cold temperatures, wind and animals – such as squirrels, birds or deer.

Pinecones open up and release their seeds when it is warm and easier for the seed to germinate.

However, despite popular opinion, pine trees cannot grow from the cones themselves. 

The cone is the husk, protecting the seeds inside.

Pinecones can sometimes stay on pine trees for more than 10 years before falling to the ground.

Pinecones, as you know them, are the FEMALE of the species.

The male cones, even at maturity, are smaller, softer, and much less distinctive than the iconic female cones. You might not have ever noticed them. The male cones release pollen, which drifts into the air and eventually finds female cones.

All members of the pine family (pine, spruce, firs, cedars, larches, hemlocks, yews, etc) have cones, but “pinecones” only come from pine trees.

 The largest recorded pinecones in the world are from the Coulter Pines of California/Baja California. Known as “widow makers,” these giant cones with dagger-like scales can weight up to 11lbs.

The Fibonacci numbers are Nature’s numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the pattern of the florets of a flower…to the bracts of a pinecone.

In this case, we see a double set of spirals – one going in a clockwise direction and one in the opposite direction. 

When these spirals are counted, the two sets are found to be adjacent Fibonacci numbers. This is otherwise known as the “golden ratio”.

Pine Cones are everywhere in the Sierra Nevada foothills where we live. We use them in our wood stoves as kindling, but I’ve never really stopped to think about what they really are, what their purpose is or why they’re so dang sharp. Today, I learned more than any one person should about the common Pine Cone. Turns out they’re actually very interesting.

Are pinecones edible?

When prepared properly, some green pine cones are technically edible, although, for some, they may be difficult to digest.

Pine nuts, also known as pine seeds, are the edible seeds contained within pinecones. Pine nuts contain protein, carbs, fat, vitamin K, vitamin B1 (thiamine), and magnesium.

Pine nuts have been a staple for Native peoples for thousands of years. Historically, Native peoples ate the raw nuts, ground them into a pine nut flour, made pine nut butter, or used them in soup.

Pinecone Jam (similar to honey) has long been a staple in Ukraine, Georgia and Russia. 

Made from the natural syrup of boiled soft, green, young cones, the aromatic jam is used as a folk remedy for weakened immune systems. 

Pinecone jam has been used for centuries to treat bronchitis, cough, asthma, respiratory diseases, TB, arthritis, and cancers.

Additionally, cooks worldwide use the immature, green pinecones to use as edible garnish, season meat, or to slip into tea. 

Italians have been using pinecone nuts (“pignoli“) since the Middle Ages as a prime ingredient in pesto, and desserts such as torta della nonna, and pignoli cookies.

Since the pine tree is able to sprout after forest fires, on mountainsides, and in semi-desert climes, it is no surprise that the ever-resilient tree signifies longevity, wisdom, and immortality. From the pine cone staffs carried by the worshipers of Bacchus in the classical world to their role in the movement to establish national parks in nineteenth-century North America, pine trees and their symbolism run deep in cultures around the globe. In Pine, Laura Mason explores the many ways pines have inspired and been used by people throughout history.

Mason examines how the somber, brooding atmosphere of pine woods, the complex forms of pine cones, and the coniform shape of the trees themselves have aroused the creativity of artists, writers, filmmakers, and photographers. She also considers the many ways we use the tree—its resin once provided adhesives, waterproofing, and medicines, and its wood continues to be incorporated into buildings, furniture, and the pulp used to make paper, while its cones provide pine nuts and other food for animals and humans. Filled with one hundred illustrations, Pine provides a fascinating survey of these rugged, aromatic trees that are found the world over.

Pinecones in history, cultures and religion

The pineal gland takes its name from the pinecone. Not only is its shape similar, but just as the pinecone closes its scales when it’s cold or dark and opens itself up again when the warm weather returns, similarly, the pineal gland regulates melatonin levels to keep people awake during the day and asleep at night.

In 1600s Old English, the word “apple” was applied to coin terms for many fruits and flora such as “earth apple” (a potato), “love apple” (a tomato), and “oak apple” (the round nut produced by oak leaves). “Pine apple,” was named as such for the tropical fruit’s resemblance to pinecones. “Pineapple” is the only one of these Old English terms that stuck.

Throughout the span of recorded human history, pinecones have served as a significant symbolic representation and has always been a synonym of good wishes, embodying the meanings of life force, immortality and divinity.

As a symbol of royalty, the Pine was associated with the Greek goddess Pitthea.

To Sicilians, pinecones are a symbol of fertility, prosperity and abundance. 

In Greek mythology, Dionysus (also known as ‘Bacchus’ in Roman mythology), the god of wine and fruitfulness, carried a Thrysus – a fennel staff woven with ivy and leaves and topped with a pinecone. This staff was a symbol of fertility and was used for ritualistic purposes.

 Celtic women believed that placing a pinecone under their pillow would promote their chances to conceive.

For the Aztecs and the Assyrians, pinecones were a symbol of spirituality, immortality and enlightenment.

The Mexican god “Chicomecoatl” is sometimes depicted with an offering of pinecones in one hand, and an evergreen tree in the other. 

In Hinduism, several gods and goddesses are depicted with pinecones in their hands. 

Shiva, the deity of destruction, even has a hairdo that resembles a pinecone. 

The Egyptian Staff of Osiris (1224 BCE) depicts two spiraling snakes rising up to meet at a pinecone.

 The Catholic church uses the pinecone in its iconography as well. There is a pinecone carved into the staff that the Pope carries during religious ceremonies. Additionally, at the Vatican in Rome, you will see a gargantuan bronze pinecone statue.

In Buddhism, the pinecone’s role as a seed and its potential to grow into a towering tree are seen as symbols of the potential for enlightenment within all beings. It represents the inherent Buddha nature within each individual and the journey towards spiritual awakening.

In modern spiritual practices, such as Wicca and contemporary Paganism, the pinecone is often used as a symbol of nature’s wisdom, spiritual growth, protection, and the cycles of life and death. As a natural object, it is highly valued for its symbolism.

Pinecones and magic

Pinecones can be used for cleansing, purification, attraction, and repelling negative energy. 

Hang a pinecone over your bed to ward off nightmares, or illness during winter months.

Keep a pinecone on your altar or spiritual space to assist with keeping evil influences and negative energies at bay.

Place a pinecone in your car to provide protection from physical harm.

Burn pinecones in your hearth to protect and warm your home, or hang a pinecone over your door to bring positive, cleansing energy. 

(Please note: pinecones are extremely flammable. You only need one or two for a large fireplace – too many, and you’ll have a fire hazard.)

Placing a pinecone at your work desk is an excellent way to increase success and prosperity. 

Carry a pinecone to increase fertility, or to maintain health and strength. 

Meditate with a pinecone to help alleviate dark moods, or to connect your third eye and manifest your higher consciousness. 

You may use pinecones in ritual spells to cleanse, attract prosperity, to protect against negative energy, or to help “stay the course” during difficult times. 

In short

Pinecones have been an integral part of human societies and cultures since ancient times. 

As a practical and beautiful object, the pinecone continues to inspire and captivate human imagination. 

While it might appear like a simple object, it is replete with symbolism and meaning, making it highly valued in many different cultures and architecture.

Embodying rebirth, the essence of the majestic pine tree is captured in its beautifully simplistic and symmetric cone. Pinecones have thus come to represent, not only enlightenment, but our connection with the divine.

Further Resources

Did you know that many pine trees are edible? & not just edible but medicinal too? Pine trees are packed full of vitamins & antioxidants plus they are also antibacterial, antifungal & more! The pine trees bring with them many gifts into our world, The needles, bark, resin & even pollen all have many special properties free for us all to enjoy all year long. In this video we’ve created a guide to pine where we learn how to identify pine tree’s easily with 3 simple steps & we explore their world of free food & medicines so we can all welcome the joys & benefits of pine into our lives.
How To Treat Outdoor Pine Cones For Crafts

When do pine cones fall? And what to do with them

11 Amazing Uses for Pine Cones You Probably Didn’t Know

Can You Eat Pine Cones? {5 Best Uses for Edible Pine Cones}

6 Ways to Use Pine Cones in Your Garden

9 Clever & Practical Pine Cone Uses in the Home & Garden

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The Etruscans: The Great Ancient Civilization of Italy

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you know how much I am interested in ancient civilizations across the world. It has been a fascination of mine my whole life and have amassed a decent part of my personal library cover this topic. One region of the world I really enjoy studying is the Mediterranean; from the Roman empire to Greece to the Carthage, etc. One particular ancient civilization in that region I feel really had a big part in shaping the future civilizations of not only Italy but the surrounding area are the people who were known as the Etruscans. From their culture, art, rituals, deities, occult practices and more, these people have a fascinating history which is what today’s blog is all about.

Who Were The Etruscans?

Despite their amazing achievements and lasting influence, the Etruscans remain one of Italy’s great mysteries. Fleur Kinson sheds a little light.

For most of us, ‘Etruscan’ is one of those words we’ve met many times but, if pressed, couldn’t precisely explain. We might know the word has some connection with Tuscany. We might even know that the Etruscans were a people, and that they did impressive things of some kind. But like ‘Phoenicians’ and ‘Carthaginians’, they tend to be a name with no picture – another obscure, long-dead ethnic group only familiar perhaps to people with a classical education. If you plan to visit anywhere in central Italy, it’s really worth sharpening up your hazy understanding. You’re going to meet that word ‘Etruscan’ everywhere you go; a lot of irritation can be saved by clearing it up here. A word of warning, though: it’s a well-founded cliché that anyone who starts learning about the Etruscans quickly becomes hooked on the subject. If you can’t bear to acquire a new interest, look away now.

For half a millennium or more, the Etruscans were Europe’s most advanced civilization outside Greece. Made wealthy by international trade, they spent their time making wine, building roads, draining marshes, painting vases, founding cities, creating sculptures, and constructing aqueducts. Hmmm… sounds a bit like the Romans, doesn’t it? Well it should. Consider three facts: i) at least two of Rome’s earliest kings were Etruscans; ii) most Romans had some Etruscan ancestors; and iii) the Romans took many of their ideas on art, law, religion, public institutions, water management and road-building directly from the Etruscans. You owe more to these unfamiliar ancient people than you probably imagine.

The Etruscans themselves, keen on living for the moment, didn’t seem to care whether or not they preserved their glory for posterity. When their civilization was subsumed into Roman, they didn’t bother asserting a self-consciously distinct ethnicity and melded with the newcomers. Thus an artistic and fun-loving culture was half erased from history – a culture in which banquets were eaten in bed while dancers pranced about and wine-throwing games were played. A culture with strong erotic sensibilities, but also with rudimentary sexual equality – something lost, alas, on the Romans.
With so little testament to the particularities of Etruscan existence and so much testament to the spectacular existence of the Romans, popular and academic attention has understandably always concentrated on the latter. Indeed, scholarship on things Etruscan only really started in the last century or two – and studies still abound with words like ‘mysterious’ and ‘enigmatic’. Etruscan civilization might have been rescued from historical oblivion, but only just. Continue reading HERE.

Unravelling The Enigmatic Etruscans – Documentary

Occult and Spiritual Practices

As some of you may know, the Etruscans much like most ancient civilizations were spiritual people with certain holidays, death rituals and magical practices. It was basically intertwined into their culture much like what we saw with the Romans before they converted to Christianity.

A couple of years ago I came across the reprint of a book originally published in 1963 titled, Etruscan Magic and Occult Remedies by author Charles Godfrey Leland. This amazing book goes into such depth on the magical and occult practices of the Etruscans even with detailed descriptions of potions and spells.

The book itself is described as a “scarce antiquarian book”which was essential to have reprinted and I for one am grateful this was done.

This is my personal copy of Etruscan Magic and Occult Remedies and you can purchase your own copy HERE.

Etruscan art and the afterlife

Terracotta kantharos (vase), 7th century B.C.E., Etruscan, terracotta, 18.39 cm high (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Early on the Etruscans developed a vibrant artistic and architectural culture, one that was often in dialogue with other Mediterranean civilizations. Trading of the many natural mineral resources found in Tuscany, the center of ancient Etruria, caused them to bump up against Greeks, Phoenicians, and Egyptians in the Mediterranean. With these other Mediterranean cultures, they exchanged goods, ideas, and, often, a shared artistic vocabulary.

Unlike the Greeks, however, the majority of our knowledge about Etruscan art comes largely from their burials. (Since most Etruscan cities are still inhabited, they hide their Etruscan art and architecture under Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance layers.) Fortunately, though, the Etruscans cared very much about equipping their dead with everything necessary for the afterlife—from lively tomb paintings to sculpture to pottery that they could use in the next world.

From their extensive cemeteries, we can look at the “world of the dead” and begin to understand some about the “world of the living.” During the early phases of the Etruscan civilization, they conceived of the afterlife in terms of life as they knew it. When someone died, he or she would be cremated and provided with another “home” for the afterlife. ​Continue reading HERE.

In The Etruscans: A Captivating Guide to the Etruscan Civilization of Ancient Italy That Preceded the Roman Republic, you will discover topics such as: Politics, Government, and Social Structure
How an Individual Lived
The Origin of the Etruscans
The Etruscan Orientation, c. 600-400 BCE
The Roman Conquest, c. 400-20 BCE
Mythology and Religion
Art and Music
The Etruscan Language and Writing
Architecture
Surviving Text and Literature
And much, much more!

An intriguing phenomenon

Sleep and Death Carrying off the Slain Sarpedon (cista handle), 400-380 BC, Etruscan, bronze – Cleveland Museum of Art  
© Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

With an extinct language that is only partly understood, much of what was initially known about Etruscan civilization comes from the commentary of later Greek and Roman writers. One hypothesis about their origins, the one favored by Herodotus, points to the influence of ancient Greek cultural elements to argue that the Etruscans descended from migrating Anatolian or Aegean groups. Another, championed by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, proposes that the Etruscans originated and developed locally from the Bronze Age Villanovan culture and were therefore an autochthonous population.

Although the current consensus among archaeologists supports a local origin for the Etruscans, a lack of ancient DNA from the region has made genetic investigations inconsistent. The current study, with a time transect of ancient genomic information spanning almost 2000 years collected from 12 archaeological sites, resolves lingering questions about Etruscan origins, showing no evidence for a recent population movement from Anatolia. In fact, the Etruscans shared the genetic profile of the Latins living in nearby Rome, with a large proportion of their genetic profiles coming from steppe-related ancestry that arrived in the region during the Bronze Age.

Considering that steppe-related groups were likely responsible for the spread of Indo-European languages, now spoken around the world by billions of people, the persistence of a non-Indo-European Etruscan language is an intriguing and still unexplained phenomenon that will require further archaeological, historical, linguistic and genetic investigation.

“This linguistic persistence, combined with a genetic turnover, challenges simple assumptions that genes equal languages and suggests a more complex scenario that may have involved the assimilation of early Italic speakers by the Etruscan speech community, possibly during a prolonged period of admixture over the second millennium BCE,” says David Caramelli, Professor at the University of Florence. SOURCE

The Etruscan civilization lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. In the 6th century the Etruscans expanded their influence over a wide area of Italy. They founded city-states in northern Italy, and to the south, their influence expanded down into Latium and beyond. Early Rome was deeply influenced by Etruscan culture (the word “Rome” is Etruscan). The Etruscans also gained control of Corsica.

The Archeological Story

(Marco Merola)
Archaeologists working in a large necropolis 75 miles from Rome recently discovered the impressive tomb of an Etruscan noble family dating to the 7th century B.C.

In the nineteenth century, the ancient tombs of Vulci, some 75 miles northwest of Rome and 25 miles west of Viterbo, were a stop on travelers’ Grand Tour of Europe. Since the late eighteenth century, when the first official excavations were undertaken on the orders of Cardinal Guglielmo Pallotta, numerous burials, ranging from the simple to the spectacular, had been found in the area. In the Necropoli dell’Osteria, roughly translated as the “Necropolis of the Pub,” travelers encountered impressively built and richly decorated burials dating from the seventh to fourth centuries B.C. belonging to the Etruscan culture that had once inhabited the region. Some of the tombs had evocative names given to them in contemporary times in order to attract more visitors. There was the Tomb of the Sun and the Moon, the Tomb of the Inlaid Ceiling, and the Tomb of the Panathenaica, named after the sacred athletic and literary games held every four years in Athens to celebrate the goddess Athena. Continue reading HERE.

Excavations of a 2nd century BC burial site in the southern Tuscany region of Italy is providing new insights into Etruscan identity that survived the Roman conquest of Etruria.

The site was discovered in 2017 during a construction project, revealing a settlement and associated burials, which was investigated by researchers at the time but never published.

The settlement is one of few Etruscan sites untouched by looters in antiquity or modernity, allowing researchers to analyze grave goods that are relatively intact, and further understand the distinct Etruscan burial rituals.

According to researchers, the entrenched and distinct characteristics of the Etruscan population survived in the presence of the dominant Roman power and its associated law.

The Etruscan traditions continued for over two centuries following the Roman conquest, shaping the local area with a fusion of both civilization’s social, cultural, and economic habits, until the area was devastated during the Social War between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies (socii) in Italy. SOURCE

Artifacts from Tomb of the Silver Hands, via the Archaeological Institute of America

While trying to relocate the lost Etruscan tombs of Vulci, archaeologists found over twenty unrecorded graves, tombs, and large funerary complexes. Here, they discovered the Tomb of the Silver Hands, which contained some unique finds that shed light on Etruscan society.

Researchers assigned this name to the remarkable tomb because they found two beautifully styled silver hands, still with gold plate remnants, inside the grave. These hands were part of a sphyrelaton, a wooden funerary figure meant to represent the departed and protect the soul after the body was cremated.

In previous research, it was assumed that tombs containing sphyrelatons belonged to warriors or noblemen, but archaeologists found evidence to the contrary in the Tomb of the Silver Hands. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that this tomb belonged to a high-ranking woman in Etruscan society.

Researchers have also discovered evidence suggesting that both men and women were highly literate, regardless of social status. This is indicated by inscribed objects that have been recovered during archaeological excavations. Mirrors, perfume vases, and cosmetic containers with inscriptions have been recovered among grave goods, as well as inscribed ceramic tablets buried with them in tombs.

This image of equality starkly contrasts what we know of the women of ancient Rome. According to ancient Roman records, women were considered unequal to men and were not seen as full citizens. Instead, young Roman women were limited to education as it pertained to running households and were even subject to legal penalties if they remained unmarried by a certain age. SOURCE

Where Did the Ancient Etruscans Come From?

For generations, researchers have wondered who the Etruscans were and where they came from. As early as the fifth century B.C.E., Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the enigmatic people first lived in a faraway land before migrating to the Italian Peninsula.

Now, reports Ariel David for Haaretz, a sweeping genetic survey has confirmed the Etruscans’ origins, suggesting they were local—and proving Herodotus wrong. The new DNA analysis, which was centered on 82 individuals who lived between 800 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E., shows that these ancient people shared many of the same genes as their Roman neighbors. Researchers collected genetic samples from skeletons found across the former region of Etruria, which spanned Tuscany in northern Italy and the central part of the peninsula, as well as the island of Corsica.

As the study’s authors write in the journal Science Advances, “[T]he local gene pool [was] largely maintained across the first millennium B.C.E.” That finding changed dramatically during the time of the Roman Empire, when imperial expansion sparked the incorporation of populations from across the Mediterranean.

“This huge genetic shift in imperial times transforms Italians from a people firmly within the genetic cloud of Europe into a genetic bridge between the Mediterranean and the Near East,” lead author Cosimo Posth, a geneticist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, tells Haaretz.

Earlier archaeological and genetic research indicated that Italy was initially settled about 8,000 years ago by people migrating from Stone Age Europe and, later, the Eurasian steppes and Anatolia.

“The Etruscans look indistinguishable from Latins, and they also carry a high proportion of steppe ancestry,” Posth tells Andrew Curry of Science magazine. Continue reading HERE.

So as you can see with just this blog post, even though it would appear we know quite a bit about the Etruscans, in reality there is so much that has either been lost in time or yet to be uncovered. I personally hope that Archeological excavations along with preservation and studies of ancient Etruscan site continue so that we can further understand these fascinating people who truly had a hand in shaping the Mediterranean world.

Further Resources

History Documentary BBC | Etruscan civilization

Etruscan Life and Afterlife: A Handbook of Etruscan Studies

Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greek & Romans

Why the Romans Don’t Want You to Know About the Etruscans

10 things that you may not know about the Etruscans

Who were the Etruscans?

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Aquamarine: The Sailor’s Stone

Aquamarine: The Sailor’s Stone by W1tchsbrew

Be sure to check her Etsy shop Wood ov Wyrd

Aquamarine is a beryl – a rare silicate mineral found in igneous and metamorphic rocks around the world, and a blue-green sister to the deep green emerald.

Aquamarine gemstones are found in a number of exotic places including Nigeria, Madagascar, Zambia, Pakistan and Mozambique, and Brazil.

Color is a defining aspect of this gemstone, which is why most Aquamarines are heat-treated to remove yellow tones and enhance the bright blue hues in this stone.

There is an unmistakable passion behind the consistency with which Aquamarine is compared to the ocean.

Everything about this crystal swirls around water; from its name to its beautiful blue coloring’s, and even deeper – right down to its very meaning.

In Latin, Aquamarine was named ‘water of the sea’ – with Aqua meaning “Water” and Marine, “Of the Sea”. 

History and Folklore

This ocean blue gemstone was once believed to be the treasure of mermaids and was also said to be sacred to Neptune, Roman god of the sea. 

Early sailors would wear the jewel, with Neptune’s likeness carved into it. 

Aquamarine was often referred to as the “sailor’s gem” and was carried by Roman fishermen as a talisman on seafaring journeys for good luck with their catch, to protect them from rough seas, storms, shipwrecks, and even to avoid seasickness. Roman physicians would use this stone to treat overeating and bloating.

As a last resort, sailors caught in severe storms were said to throw their Aquamarines overboard in a desperate attempt to calm the gods.

In Greek mythology, this is reflected similarly, with the equivalent sea god, Poseidon. According to Greek legend, Aquamarine washed ashore from the toppled treasure chests of the sirens. 

Furthermore, in Roman legend, Aquamarine was said to absorb the atmosphere of young love and was considered an appropriate gift for a bride the morning after a wedding.

It was also believed by many to be an antidote to poison, a mermaids spell, and a talisman or offering that helped to bring the rain thundering down upon lands of drought.

Aside from the Romans and Greeks, this gem has been coveted by many different cultures, spanning throughout the ages for thousands of years.

During the Middle Ages, Aquamarine was thought to be the source of power for soothsayers, who called it the ‘magic mirror’, and would use it to answer questions about the future or to tell fortunes.

Aquamarine was linked to the apostle, St. Thomas, who frequently traveled by boat.

It was also appreciated in Indian culture, as it was connected to the Buddhist religion and used as a symbol of love and mercy. 

The Sumerians, Egyptians and Hebrews alike, all admired Aquamarine crystals and considered them precious gems. 

Beads made of this crystal were discovered with Egyptian mummies. 

It was also believed that the High Priest of the Second Temple wore Aquamarine stones engraved with the six tribes of Israel. 

Metaphysical and Healing Properties

Spirit Magicka Rock’n Crystals

Traditionally, Aquamarine is the birthstone for March and, as a water stone, gets its many benefits from the planet Venus, correlating with the zodiac signs of Pisces and Aquarius.

Shamans use stones like Aquamarine because it is believed to allow us to look both within and outward.

Aquamarine is said to help gain truth and wisdom, making it the perfect crystal for gaining a clearer perspective.

Aquamarine is often used as a good luck stone and is thought to bring feelings of peace, love, joy and happiness to those who wear it.

It is also considered to be the stone of courage and preparedness and is believed to help maintain balance and order during chaos. 

The properties of this gemstone contain the healing, vibrant powers of our ancient seas. 

A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to crystals, The Crystal Bible is the perfect gift for a beginner or experienced crystal enthusiast.
Find a known crystal instantly or identify an unknown crystal in this easy-to-follow directory, featuring over 150 crystals.

It includes:
– Photos of over 200 crystals, many in both raw and polished forms
– Detailed descriptions of each stone’s colors and appearances
– Individual properties of each crystal, to help improve your health, heal your body, and stabilize your energy

The Crystal Bible also includes introductions to chakras, auras, crystal grids, and more, providing the basic knowledge needed to use crystals effectively and serving as a quick reference for those with more crystal healing experience.

Evolved over millions of years, Aquamarine helps to sooth unpleasant emotions such as grief or loneliness, as well as assisting with communication and self-expression.

You can also use an Aquamarine gem essence to cleanse your environment and infuse it with the healing frequencies of this gentle and uplifting water stone.

Aquamarine brings its watery wonder to Feng Shui, ensuring that its peaceful presence soothes a room in an instant.

These are only a few of the many benefits Aquamarine is believed to have. 

By stimulating the Throat chakra, working with the Aquamarine helps to enhance immunity by opening the flow between the heart and the throat energy centers.

Sometimes referred to as the “breath stone,” Aquamarine is said to alleviate sinus, lung, and respiratory problems. 

It is also believed to help with bronchitis, colds, hay fever, and various allergies.

As sailors need clear eyes to watch for storms on the horizon, Aquamarine is all about supporting strong eyesight and bringing life, light and vision, both spiritually and physically. 

How to utilize Aquamarine

The therapeutic uses of Aquamarine have a long and well-documented history.

You can activate your Aquamarine crystal by holding it under tap water or natural running water. Set your intention while the water activates your crystal.

Aquamarine can unblock or realign Chakras. To unblock the Throat or Heart Chakra, meditating with this gem is believed to be extremely helpful. Simply find a quiet place to relax and place an Aquamarine gemstone over the appropriate part of the body. 

Lie still or meditate if you prefer, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Aquamarine is ideal for wearing in jewelry close to the skin, such as necklaces, rings, or bracelets. 

This way, the stone’s power can have a direct connection to the energies of your body and instill you with its protective and supportive energy.

Aquamarine works for insomnia by bringing deep relaxation to the mind and body. When wearing this crystal-clear blue stone, you can experience a fluidity and ease that allows you to let go, physically and mentally, and rest deeply.

You can also place your Aquamarine anywhere in your home in order to allow its impactful energy to flow into your physical space. 

This can not only cleanse the energy in your home but also emit protection, healing, and all of the other metaphysical properties of Aquamarine as well. 

Additionally, practicing witches will often use this shining ocean gem in many different rituals and spells. 

Aquamarine is known as a highly affective, magical and spiritual tool. 

Aquamarine “do not’s”

Aquamarine rates a 7.5 to 8 on the Mohs hardness scale. 

Heat exposure is not recommended for this gemstone, but the color is stable against light exposure. 

In order to protect your Aquamarine stone from inadvertent damage in the cleaning process, avoid all cleaning products that contain ammonia or alcohol. 

This beautiful crystal can be attacked by hydrofluoric acid. 

Warm soapy water is always a safe cleaning method for Aquamarine.

This stone does possess chemical components that require caution. 

This does not necessarily mean it poses a threat to life, however, because of its chemical components and structures, how you use it is very important. 

This gemstone is extremely dangerous if inhaled. If you work in an industry that granulates aquamarine crystals, take the precautionary measures to ensure that you don’t inhale the dust from aquamarine. 

If you soak your aquamarine in water, ensure to not drink such. Whether the intent is spiritual, physical or otherwise, doing this exposes you to extremely serious health hazards.

Aquamarine is a powerful gemstone. When you use it the correct way, there are unending spiritual and metaphysical benefits you stand to enjoy. 

Aquamarine is part of the beryl family of crystals along with gems such as Emerald and Morganite. It comes in a dazzling range of aquatic blue hues. All Beryls grow in a hexagonal formation that creates a balancing energy in our lives. They allow you to integrate your spirituality with your physical, everyday life. Finding balance in your life by working with crystals of the beryl family will facilitate your connection with nature and the spiritual consciousness of its elements. This consciousness is often experienced by us in the forms of beings such as fairies, gnomes and, in the case of Aquamarine, as mermaids and mermen.

Further Resources

Top 10 Facts About Aquamarine Stone- History and Interesting Information

Aquamarine: A Neptunian Stone’s Plutonic Origin Story

Aquamarine Meaning, Powers and History – The Meaning and History of Aquamarine

Crystal Basics: The Energetic, Healing, and Spiritual Power of 200 Gemstones

Gemstones of the World: Newly Revised Fifth Edition

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Candles and Magic

Candles and Magic by W1tchsbrew

Be sure to check her Etsy shop Wood ov Wyrd

Candles have a long and interesting history in religious worship, magic, and folklore. They light the way to the sacred, dispel the forces of darkness, and are associated with ghosts and the dead. 

Many believe that the act of burning a candle is an ideal way to forge a connection between the spiritual realm and the world in which we live. 

Candles and fire have been vastly utilized in spiritual practices, rituals and divination. Each practice has its own, in depth meaning. This practice, for example, is also known as lychnomancy when it involves three identical candles laid out in a triangle. A variant that seeks divine meaning from the flames of an oil lamp or torch is called lampadomancy. Pyromancy is the act of attempting to tell the future using fire, in which case candles may be used but are not required. It is even believed that ancient Greeks performed pyromancy.

Fire in itself is a source of inspiration and power that has inspired awe and wonder from ancient man, even in the early years of our development. Fire, not only kept the cave man warm and cooked his food, but also frightened away animals for their security. It has been an ever-present force in human history, from prehistory on-wards, across all cultures and continents.

The origin of candles is not known, but there is evidence that beeswax candles were used in Egypt and Crete as early as 3000 B.C.E. Other early candles consisted of tapers made of a fibrous material, such as rushes, saturated with tallow.

Candles have been used as tools in spiritual ceremonies since the Stone Age, and are utilized by countless theologies to this day.

WHAT IS CANDLE MAGIC?

Candle magic can be traced back to Paleolithic times. 

Fire changes everything it interacts with, whether it’s turning a love letter into ashes or boiling water on the stove. This transformational energy is what is channeled in candle magic, encouraging and accelerating changes.

Candle magic is an ancient form of manifesting, wish fulfillment, empowering intentions and bringing focus to goals. 

Different candles may be used in various ways based upon the goals and intentions of the practitioner. The creative nature of candles is influenced by an individual’s intention, the practices and behaviors the individual engages in to meet the intention, as well as the physical characteristics inherent within the candle.

PRACTICING CANDLE MAGIC

The practice of candle magic requires more than the mere presence of candles; it requires the involvement of the practitioner and an understanding of the significance the practice holds.

Different candle rituals will yield different results. Additionally, when practicing candle magic, the practitioner must be fully learned in the craft – not only to ensure success, but to be aware of the subtle signs and details that make ALL the difference in ensuring a clear and comprehensive ritual. 

For example, black smoke or white smoke indicates negative influences or spiritual influences. Your candle may even speak to you. The crackles and the pops usually indicate something along the lines of someone trying to “spark” conversation, pun intended — you’re receiving messages. 

High flames and low flames mean different things. Candle magic is simple, but very in depth. 

This ritual practice is an easy, effective way to cast spells for just about anything. A candle ceremony is a powerful method of focusing your intent to achieve specific goals and manifest certain outcomes.

The Witch of Enchantment

RITUAL CANDLE OPTIONS

Candles are a staple item in any magical tool kit. They’re used to amplify and release energy, and they can either be left (unlit) around your home to promote positive vibes or used (lit) in rituals(spells).

What kind of candles are appropriate for candle magic? The answer – whatever you feel works for you. 

You might use chime candles—colorful, skinny candles that are easily accessible, inexpensive online and in just about any metaphysical shop you come across. 

Other candle styles you might choose to use are tapered candles, pillar candles, votives, tealights, and even candles of intricate shapes that hold special meanings.

Important considerations for those selecting candles include the following:

  • How fast the candle burns
  • The length of time the candle will burn
  • The quantity of smoke the candle emits
  • The movement of flames as the candle burns

CANDLE COLORS

The color of a candle is an important attribute for those who seek deeper divine or spiritual meanings from candles, whether they are lit or unlit. 

Various colors reflect different energy forces (meaning that each color possesses, stores, and emits different variations of energy).

White:

Because white is somewhat of a blank canvas, these candles are also universal when it comes to spell-work.

However, this color is known for its power in new beginnings, cleansing and purification. White also sometimes represents the Crown chakra and can help provide insight and clarity. 

Black:

Black will be the candle you reach for when it comes to endings, healing and loss, protection charms or to dispel negative energy. Black is also typically used when practicing baneful candle magic.

Red:

As the color of the fire element and representing the Root chakra, red candles can be used for spells that have anything to do with protection, strength, courage, energy and stamina. Red also represents passion, libido and sex, as well as power. 

Blue:

Representing the Throat chakra and the element of water, blue has everything to do with healing, tranquility, and peace. Dark blue will also represent honesty and truth. This color can help with self expression, communication and mental stimulation.

Yellow:

Yellow candles will represent the element of air, as well as the Solar Plexus chakra, and can be utilized for spells related to intellect or focus. It also represents courage, success, determination and joy.

Brown:

The color of the natural element of earth, brown candles can be used for any spells dealing with matters of the home, any and all material things, as well as animals or when working a spell for pets.

Green:

Green is all about finances, prosperity, success and luck. Green also represents the Heart chakra, growth and may be used for spells dealing with fertility, setting new intentions, and health. 

Pink:

Pink candles are all about love and tenderness. A pink candle can invite in compassion, self-love, or self-acceptance. This is also the ideal color for spells involving friendships, family and connection.

Orange:

Orange is the color of the Sacral chakra, reconciliation, productivity, and attraction. You’ll also want to reach for an orange candle when in need of a bit of creativity or confidence.

Purple:

As the Third Eye chakra color and representing the divine feminine, purple candles can be used for a number of spells working with justice, mediation, independence, psychic power and clarity. This color also attracts enlightenment and wisdom.

Silver:

Silver embodies the energy of the moon. You’ll use a silver candle when it comes to spells related to intuition, purification, self reflection or physiological realizations. 

Gold:

Gold is the color of the divine masculine and represents the Sun’s energy. You can also use a gold candle when it comes to spells dealing with prosperity, ambition, business and success.

The definitive guide to candle magic, written by a leading authority with over 30 years of experience making magical candles and creating candle spells.

Author Jacki Smith, founder of Coventry Creations (currently among the largest and most successful magical supply companies), shares her magical secrets with readers, enabling them to empower themselves through successful spell casting. Her book explains the nature of magic spells and provides examples for a wide variety of purposes including love, money, healing, and protection, liberally punctuated with tips from “Aunt Jacki,” deriving from her many years of experience.

The Big Book of Candle Magic shows: How to create your own candles
The basics of crafting your own spells
How to use basic supplies for everyday magic

SETTING THE SCENE

Before diving in to any sort of ritual or magic, it is imperative that the practitioner be in the right headspace. 

Cleansing your physical space is as equally important. There are countless ways to cleanse the energy of a room or an object. You may choose to cleanse with smoke, aromatic mists, or even sound.

You may sprinkle some herbs in the bathtub or shower to bathe and ritually cleanse yourself to prepare for your magical work. (Cleansing prior to any ritual, candle or otherwise, is always highly encouraged.)

“Dressing” your ritual candle(s) is another recommended practice prior to performing a candle spell. 

This involves rubbing the candle with oil such as almond, coconut, or jojoba, with added essential oils if preferred. 

Rub the candle from top to bottom to draw things to you or from bottom to top to send things away. 

As you rub the candle with oil, focus on your goal and mentally *pour* that vision into the candle. 

Herbs are another wonderful addition to any ritual and will easily stick to an oil-dressed candle. Depending on what spell or intention you’re wanting to manifest with your candle spell, you can incorporate corresponding herbs as a boost (basil for abundance, rose petals for love, rosemary for healing, etc’.)

Additionally, when preparing a space for candle magick, (be it an altar, porch table etc’) including other herbs, crystals or incense is a very common practice as it can strengthen the ritual energy.

Always make sure to set your candle on a fire-proof surface, ensure there isn’t anything above or near your candle that could easily catch fire, and keep pets and children away from your candle setup. Finally, never leave a candle burning in your home unattended.

THE BEST TIMES FOR CANDLE MAGICK

Most spell casting is done at night, because the ambiguity of darkness leaves room for transformation.

Through experience, you’ll learn when your most powerful time is. For some, they’re at their best around dusk, while others prefer midnight, while still some others swear by the pre-dawn hours. 

Regardless, candle magic is especially suited for darkness so that you may better study the flame. 

Many candle magic practitioners will recommend aligning your candle workings with the cycles of nature.

This is believed to add an immense dose of power to the spell. 

The Moon cycle each month provides a steady structure around which you can craft your candle ritual. 

New Moons, for instance, mark the beginning of a new cycle and are excellent times to cast spells to attract new desires, planting seeds for the cycle to come. 

Full Moons, marking the end of a lunar cycle, are great times for banishing that which no longer serves you. It is a time for closure, resolution and completion of goals.

The two weeks following the New Moon is a time marked for beginnings, while the two weeks following the Full Moon is a time marked for endings. Schedule your spell accordingly. 

PREFORMING A CANDLE RITUAL

Once your space has been cleansed, your colors chosen, and your ritual area prepared, you’re now ready to cast your candle spell intention. 

Hold your candle in your hands and visualize your goal. The more clear and focused your intention is, the more likely that your manifestation will occur. 

You may even choose to write your intention(s) down on a small piece of paper to later burn during your ritual. Another option is to etch your intention(s) into the candle wax.

It is also acceptable to simply speak the intention(s) aloud – as you’re lighting your candle. The choice is entirely personal. 

Once the intention is set, it’s time to light your candle. 

During your candle’s burn, you may chant your intentions, or simply meditate for a time and then leave the candle to burn out on its own accord. However, should an abrupt or unexpected need arise, it is perfectly acceptable to put out your candle’s flame. 

There is a common belief (amongst less experienced magic practitioners) that one must never blow the candle out, lest the intention be “lost” – this is a misconception. 

You can simply relight your candle and reset the intention whenever you feel the time is best. The true power of any spell lies within the intention – not the medium or materials alone.

If you consciously will your intention away as you blow out your candle – that’s exactly what will happen. Whereas if you simply blow out your candle while planning to relight it, with your intention still consciously set – you’re good to go.

It’s as simple as that.

Once your candle has been charged with your intention, you may even perform a daily ritual where you re-light your candle while repeating your intention, until the candle is fully burned down. Alternatively, you may decide to use your ritual space to perform a spell in one session. 

During a candle ritual, it is important to focus on the manifestation taking place throughout the candle spell. 

Act with full confidence that the outcome is now inevitable. If you continue dwelling on the original problem, you will suffocate the magic before it has the chance to initiate change. However, by projecting confidence, you’ll insure your candle spell has the space to work its magic successfully. 

Candle magic allows individuals to have interactions with elemental energies, the world surrounding them, the broader universe, and their powers within.

With self-reflection, focus and sound judgment, candle magic can be used to transform yourself, your life and even your future.

This simple yet profound tool can make powerful magic. Whether you want to call in abundance, success, love or protection – a little candle magic is all you need.

Further Resources

Featuring authentic candle magic that anyone can do, this joyous book encourages you to dance in the moonlight and rekindle your spark of magic with a little wick, wax, and flame. Renowned practitioner Madame Pamita guides you every step of the way as you perform spells and gain the confidence to create your own. The Book of Candle Magic empowers you to manifest more happiness, love, prosperity, and fulfillment. Learn to make candles from scratch, do candle readings, start your personal grimoire, add some pizzazz to your rituals, and much more. It’s time to reclaim your birthright of using fire to reach your magical goals―this irresistible book shows you how.

Candle Magic for Beginners: Spells for Abundance, Love, and Healing

Candle Magick – Different Forms

Candle Magic – Colors, Rituals and Meanings

Everything You Need to Know About Candle Magic

Candles, Roman, 500 BCE

The History of Candle Making: From Ancient Civilizations to Modern Day

6 Interesting Facts About the History of Candles

Tradition, History & Development of Candles

A Brief History of Candle Making

A History of Candle Use

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Hungarian Witchcraft: The Compendium of the Practice

The practice of Witchcraft across the world is so vast and varied, it is a subject that is pretty much endless regarding learning about it. I have been fascinated with Witchcraft since a young age and have close friends who are very knowledgeable practitioners of the craft. In my blog for the past two years I have written a number of posts about Witches and Witchcraft across the world and today I want to take you to a country with a long rich history of Witches and that place is Hungary.

An Excerpt from:

Táltos, Witch, Incubus, Succubus and Other Beings in Hungarian Folklore and Mythology

by Dr Adél Vehrer, As­so­ci­ate Pro­fessor, Széchenyi István Uni­versity, Győr

Witch

As a so­cial in­sti­tu­tion, witch­craft has been trace­able in every people of Europe since the Middle Ages. Witches have the most em­phatic role of all myth­o­lo­gical fig­ures, as they in­cor­por­ated nu­mer­ous other be­liefs. The Hun­garian word for witch, boszorkány, comes from Turkic, and means a being who causes a feel­ing of pres­sure, a night­mare to the sleep­ing per­son, and in this sense he or she was con­sidered as de­monic (Pócs, 1989, p. 19). Stor­ies clearly de­pict the witch as a neg­at­ive fig­ure, primar­ily an eld­erly woman, but it can also be a man. In sev­eral cases she has a phys­ical de­fect, a dis­ab­il­ity or is shifty look­ing, but phys­ical char­ac­ter­ist­ics are not of pivotal sig­ni­fic­ance.

In the event of any per­sonal prob­lem or mis­for­tune, the witch is mani­fest in a real, liv­ing and known per­son. This scape­goat role of witches was not as­signed to an un­changed per­son, rather to the per­son that could be ac­cused in the cur­rent case (Pócs, 1989, p. 9).

Witch­craft is trans­ferred by hold­ing hands at the witch’s deathbed. She can­not die until she has not trans­ferred her know­ledge. If there is a vo­lun­teer, a broom is handed over to her.

She can put three kinds of hexes: 1) on an­im­als or crop in the field of farm­ing; 2) dam­aging human health; 3) des­troy­ing human re­la­tions.

Witches’ most gen­eral harm­ful mis­chief is put­ting hexes on people and an­im­als. The em­phatic part of stor­ies are about the evil eye, primar­ily in con­nec­tion with chil­dren. For the most part, adults are ab­used by love spells. In such cases people turned to a know­ledge­able man or a healer for help. The dam­age caused by witches is called witch pres­sure in Hun­garian. At night they put their weight on a per­son’s chest in­vis­ibly or in the form of an an­imal (e.g. cat).

The ma­jor­ity of the stor­ies are re­lated to cattle farm­ing. Mis­chief causes the milk to dry up, loss in the profit earned on milk, or the cow to pro­duce bloody milk. Witches often turn into cats, frogs or horses when they cast a spell on cows. They usu­ally ap­pear and cast spells at mid­night. In order to avoid the mis­chief, the vari­ous form of the witch must be known. In the order of fre­quency, they are as fol­lows: cat, frog, snake, horse, pig, goose and dog. A mis­chief is pre­ven­ted by gar­lic: for ex­ample, on St Lucia’s day, the door frame or the calf is smeared with gar­lic (Szendrey 1986, pp. 354-357; Pócs, 1997; Ipolyi, 1854, pp. 407-408). SOURCE

The Hungarian Folk Tales stem from original folktale collections, every episode has its special authentic ornamentation. The trio of folk art, folk music and folk tales are masterfully combined in the episodes.

The World of Hungarian Folk Beliefs

First among the figures of the world of beliefs of the Hungarian peasantry, we will mention the táltos, as one in whom the features of the pre-Conquest shamanistic faith can be found most prominently. The word táltos itself is presumably Finno-Ugric in origin, and its Finnish equivalent means “learned”, which is just what regional dialects of Hungarian call people endowed with supernatural powers. Today, the characteristics and equipment of the táltos can be analyzed mostly from the legends of belief (cf. p. 675) that still live in the memory of old people living primarily in the eastern half of the country.

The táltos is generally supposed to be well-meaning rather than punitive. He does not gain his knowledge by his own will, but receives it, as one of them bore witness during the course of an interrogation in 1725: “Nobody taught me to be a táltos, because a táltos is formed so by God in the womb of his mother.” Therefore no matter how much his parents and relatives might oppose it, he who has been ordered to his fate must carry it through.

A child was carefully examined at birth to see if he had any teeth or perhaps a sixth finger on one of his hands. One extra bone already foretold that with time the child would become a táltos. However, to become one, it was also necessary that the ancestors steal him for three or more days. One accused said, when interrogated for charlatanry in 1720: “… lying dead for nine days, he had been carried off to the other world, to God, but he returned because God sent him to cure and to heal.” They called this state elrejtezés, being in hiding, which is also a word of Finno-Ugric origin, and we can find its equivalent both in form and content among the related and various peoples of Siberia.

They maintain that while the táltos-designate is asleep, the others cut him to pieces to see if he has the extra bone. This motif also occurs in the Hungarian version of the generally known tale, “The Magician and his Apprentice” (AaTh 325): the kidnapped youth is cut up, usually put together on the third day, and by this gains for himself a previously unknown knowledge.

However, the táltos-designate’s struggle and trial is not over then, because he has to take a test. One way of doing this is by climbing up a tree that reaches to the sky, and if he returns without trouble, he can practice his newly acquired knowledge. SOURCE

Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania

Quite a while ago I came across a book that immediately caught my eye and I knew it needed to be added to my library. This book is so well put together I would say it is one of my favorite books regarding the subjects it covers. The book Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania which was edited by Gábor Klaniczay and Éva Pócs is one I highly recommend and will give you a little bit of its contents.

Published in the Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic, Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania offers a detailed examination of magic and witchcraft in a part of Europe that continues to fascinate Anglo-phone scholars of the subject. The book’s eight essays broaden the scope of our understanding of beliefs and practices in central and eastern Europe in the early modern period. Of these eight essays, five are translated from a previous collection of studies written in Hungarian and rewritten to suit this [End Page 443] publication’s international recontextualization. The other three essays consist of a chapter from a previously published monograph by Ildikó Kristóf, a translation of a study by Éva Pócs, and an entirely new study by Ágnes Hesz.

Ildikó Kristóf’s contribution examines witch-hunting in Bihar county and Debrezen, the largest city in eastern Hungary, between 1575 and 1766. Kristóf reveals the social confrontations that led to the 217 trials conducted against 303 people accused of maleficium, that is “bewitchment cases resulted from some kind of everyday, realistic conflict, between a witch and her victim” (16). Drawing on abundant research and data, Kristóf shows that in all these cases the authenticity of maleficium never came under scrutiny. Invariably, the cases rely on a narrative transformed and adjusted by the alleged victims’ stories to meet the expectations of the community and the normative coordinates of witchcraft. Importantly, Kristóf shows that what matters is not the accuracy of the narratives but what such narratives represent in the regulated forms of social cohabitation in which, as she points out, “any kind of violation implied retribution including sanctions associated with the spheres of beliefs” (20). In this context, Kristóf explores the social environment and the assortment of witchcraft accusations born from such conflicts as rivalry between “people of ill repute” and “honest Christians.” Such a category could include violating the interdiction of Sunday labor, missing church, or a woman who lived “in fornication, whoring and pandering” next to a “God fearing pious woman” (24–25). Within the micro-community scrutinized in her study, Kristóf also examines healers and midwives, who fell under suspicion of witchcraft for either success or failure in healing and treating their patients when rival healers were trying to outbid the skills of another healer by relying on accusations of witchcraft. SOURCE

This book provides a selection of studies on witchcraft and demonology by those involved in an interdisciplinary research group begun in Hungary thirty years ago. They examine urban and rural witchcraft conflicts from early modern times to the present, from a region hitherto rarely taken into consideration in witchcraft research. Special attention is given to healers, midwives, and cunning folk, including archaic sorcerer figures such as the táltos; whose ambivalent role is analyzed in social, legal, medical and religious contexts. This volume examines how waves of persecution emerged and declined, and how witchcraft was decriminalized. Fascinating case-studies on vindictive witch-hunters, quarreling neighbors, rivaling midwives, cunning shepherds, weather magician impostors, and exorcist Franciscan friars provide a colorful picture of Hungarian and Transylvanian folk beliefs and mythologies, as well as insights into historical and contemporary issues.

Symbolic Healing in Hungarian Ethnomedicine

To understand the attitude of traditional folk medicine it is necessary for us to review the main types of the methods of healing. In the literature we find two approaches. One holds that, at a specified historical moment, the empirically based knowledge receives ritual reinforcement; while according to the other view, only about a quarter of the herbs used in folk medicine possessed any real curative property; the real effect was exerted by the process of healing, by the rite itself, the power of psychic influence. It must be clearly seen, however, that traditional folk medicine is an area of culture where methods of healing based on the accumulated experience of generations and the apparently irrational flats and notions dictated by beliefs blend in almost equal proportion. Only when looked at from outside does the belief system, with its own inner dynamics, appear incomprehensible; the internal connections organize the elements into a pattern, and, once the connections are understood, the elements seem evident – especially in the eyes of the users. Ethnographic research is interested in the system as a whole, and so it views folk medicine too as a part of the system of culture – a part that is a characteristic blond of rational and symbolic elements.

Hungarian people applied magic or symbolic `medical’ treatment mostly to curing diseases whose causes were unknown or were not directly identified. In the material so far collected the informants have named several causes of illness, but unfortunately that rich material has not yet received systematic analysis. The most frequent causes of illness are the following: God, the `evil ones’, who can be supernatural (unknown) beings or humans possessing supernatural power. This latter group is made up of boszorkányok (`witches’), bábák (`midwives’), wise men, bübájosok (`magicians’), javasok (`medicine women’), kuruzslók (`healers’); while the former group includes the lidérc (`incubus’) that causes an oppressive sensation at night, and the invisible szépasszony (`beautiful lady’), with her `bowl’, which makes anyone stepping into it come out in a rash1.

Among the causes of disease the so-called sickness-demons (such as the csúz (`joint gout’), íz (roughly the same), süly (`scurvy’), guta (`apoplexy’), nyavalya (`falling sickness’), etc.) used to be regarded as dominant, but probably more important than these elusive `beings’ are the many kinds of bewitchment. Thus, in the old days, bewitching was known as something done through some action or with the help of some objects; moreover, by looking (igézés – igizis) or by word or curse. A common form of bewitching was, for example, pouring: they made a brew from nine kinds of cereals and poured it out or sprinkled it on the ground at a busy cross-roads or outside the house of the person they wanted to bewitch. Whoever entered the bewitching fell ill, coming out in boils or nasty pimples.2 That, incidentally, was also one of the ways of getting rid of the disease. Continue reading HERE.

In terms of Contemporary Paganism, how’s the Hungarian reality and which religious approach is being taken at the moment?

The Hungarian Witch Trials

The witch trials which took place in the city of Szeged in Hungary in 1728 – 1729, at the height of the country’s witch hysteria, was perhaps the largest witch hunt in Hungary. It led to the death of 12 to 14 people by burning.

The witch hunt was called by the authorities in 1728 after public complaints about a bad drought, and the famine and epidemics it gave rise to, with the intention of laying the responsibility for the drought on people who had allegedly fraternized with the Devil. There was also a fear throughout the Habsburg Empire that witches had begun organizing themselves along military lines, and a particular fear in Hungary that witches were also vampires.

Among the people accused was the former judge and richest citizen of the town, 82-year-old Dániel Rózsa, who was said to be the leader of the witches, and Anna Nagy Kökényné, a midwife who had accused him of witchcraft. Szeged Castle Yard was used for the trials organized by the church elders, and the victims were tortured to make them confess.

In July 1728, 12 people, six men and six women, were burned at the stake for witchcraft on a peninsula on the Tisza River, called Boszorkanysziget (“Island of Witches”).

Witch trials had occurred sporadically in Hungary since the 16th Century, but reach their height relatively late in the 1710s and 1720s. Over the following 40 years, about 450 witches were burned in Hungary. In 1756, partly as a response to the use of torture in Szeged, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (and Queen of Hungary) ordered that all cases of witchcraft must be confirmed by the high court, which more or less ended the witch trials. The last person executed for witchcraft in Hungary was in 1777. SOURCE

Hungary, one of Europe’s great cultural crossroads and melting pots, was remarkable in the chronological pattern of its witch-hunting, which reached its peak late in comparison to (other countries, in the second and third decades of the eighteenth century. Hungary was a meeting place for the folklore and demonology of the Hungarians, the Roma (or Gypsy’s, then as now often credited with supernatural power), the Slavic peoples to the North and South, the Romanians to the East and German settlers and soldiers. Religiously, the picture was just as diverse, with Hungarian Catholics, Calvinists and Unitarians as well as German Lutherans and Catholics, and Muslim Turkish rulers in southern and central Hungary from the early sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. The first recorded witch trials emerged in the 1560s, in the mixed German and Hungarian city of Kt) loszvar. In the ensuing decades witch-hunting steadily increased. Notable political witch-trials occurred in the early seventeenth century in the Principality of Transylvania in Eastern Hungary, the only independent petition of the country (the rest was divided between the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Austrian Habsburgs). Powerful aristocratic women seen as threats to the ruling house, the best known being the infamous “blood countess,” Elizabeth Bathory, whr) was tried during 1609-1611, were accused of witchcraft or of hiring lower-class female witches to perform evil deeds, along with a number of other crimes such as murder or poisoning. Another important Transylvanian political trial, with more than 20 accused, occurred in 1679-1686 when Prince Michael Apafi (1632-1690) accused a political rival’s wife of bewitching his own wife, Anne Bornemisza (1630-1688). What really accelerated the pace of Hungarian witch-hunting, however, was the imposition of Habsburg rule over the entire country in the late seventeenth century. Although witchcraft accusations stemming from Turkish territory were occasionally tried in courts in other parts of Hungary, the Turks had kept witch-hunting out of the Hungarian territory they ruled (as was true throughout the Ottoman possessions in southeastern Europe). With their expulsion in 1686, the former Ottoman territories moved to the front. Continue reading HERE.

Further Resources

Witch Hunting in Hungary

Hungarian Shamanism: MATERIAL AND HISTORY OF RESEARCH
by JENŐ FAZEKAS

Witchcraft Mythologies and Persecutions

Éva Pócs

Gábor Klaniczay

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The Dacians: Wolf Warriors and Their People

The history the ancient Roman empire is a subject I have studied extensively for many years and with that always expanded my studies of interest regarding the different tribes of people and other civilizations they encountered and battled in their expansion across Europe, Norther Africa and into the East. One of these groups of people are one of my favorites during that period of history and they were the Dacians. The Dacians much like the Celts were not always one unified group of people but in Dacia, which today is modern Romania, they were many different tribes of people who lived in one territory but it would be their encounters with Rome that would eventually cause reason to become one Wolf and rip into the Lion of Rome. Here is their story.

The date and credibility of the earliest reports concerning a Dacian people are contested. The ancient assumption, that slaves, who figured in New Attican (4th century B.C.) plays under the name of Daos, were in fact Dacians, is less than plausible, for the first confirmed report of the Dacians’ existence refers to a time at least two centuries later, whilst the Romans first reached the Danube even later, between 76-73 B.C. The utility of our data is limited both by the fact that only fragments of the detailed chronicles survive, and by the fact that the reflections on individual peoples found in these chronicles often compress events stretching over several historical periods. Thus historical research has not been able to establish clearly whether King Oroles of Dacia made war against his eastern neighbours, the Celtic Bastarnae, in the 2nd century B.C., or in some much later, equally indeterminate period. There is a similar lack of consensus over such an essential question as the identity of King Rubobostes, who is claimed by one source to have built up the power of Dacia; was he the first significant Dacian ruler, some time during the 2nd century B.C., or was his name merely a misspelling of Burebista, the king who is generally credited with founding a powerful Dacia? A further difficulty derives from the fact that more than one name has been attributed to the Dacians. The tribes that spoke Thracian and lived in the eastern half of the Balkan peninsula, the lower Danube valley, and Transylvania were called by a variety of names in Greek and Roman literature. The Thracians proper, who had very early contact with Greek culture, inhabited a region bounded in the north by the Balkan Mountains and in the west by Macedonia, while the Getae lived in a region north of the Balkan Mountains, along the lower reaches of the Danube. The Dacians of Transylvania, who were the {1-43.} last Thracian-speaking people to come to the notice of Greco-Roman world, are also called Getae in Greek sources; and Roman historians, who drew upon Greek sources, often — and arbitrarily — translated the appellation ‘Getae’ as ‘Dacian’, even when, as it happened, they were referring to authentic Getae. Thus caution must be exercised when dealing with the fragmentary sources that mention Dacians in the context of the wars, waged by the Romans in the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., on the northern borders of Macedonia, against various Thracian, Getian, and Celtic tribes. Continue reading HERE.

The Dacians or Geto – Dacians were part of the great people of the Thracians. They were organized into tribes that are scattered throughout the Tisa, the Carpathians, and the Black Sea, and one side of the lower Danube. They had a developed civilization , made money, searched for gold and silver and they made from them, with great skill, jewelry, religious objects, etc… was the first king who united , in 82 BC, the Geto-Dacian tribes into one kingdom, great and powerful. He had a conflict with the Roman emperor, Cesar. Burebista was assassinated in 44 BC. After the assassination of Burebista, the kingdom broke into 4 – 5 smaller kingdoms.

They dealt mainly with farming, bee keeping, grazing and making pottery. It have been found many ceramic vessels.

The ancient Greeks called them Dacians or Geto – Dacians. The Romans cold them Dacians and their territory was called Dacia. They were well known for their organization, their bravery and diligence. Continue reading HERE.

Romania was internationally recognized in 1878, but its history is much older. To understand the people who inhabit this country, one must go back thousands of years and meet the first king who united the local tribes, Burebista. He and his successor, Decebal, warred against Roman legions, and although they displayed extraordinary bravery and military prowess, it wasn’t enough to preserve their independence. In this book, you will discover how Romania developed from a distant Roman province on the fringes of the Roman Empire to a modern state in eastern Europe, one ready to adopt Western values.

Romania lies on Europe’s eastern border, and as such, it is often neglected in history. Although it is a culturally very rich country, the world displayed little interest in its promotion. By reading this captivating history of Romania, you will learn about the turbulent past of the region, the many wars it fought, and the people who led them. You will also learn the truth behind the character of Vlad the Impaler and decide for yourself if he was a ruthless, bloodthirsty ruler or a politician, tactician, and national hero.
Map of the Roman province of Dacia, part of modern-day Romania and Serbia, between the era of Trajan (106 CE) and the evacuation of the province in 271 CE. Roman settlements and legion garrisons with Latin names included. SOURCE

The Carpathian Mountains were a favorable environment for the Dacians’ economic development, primarily due to seasonal migration of livestock from the hills to the mountains (a practice called “transhumance”), the Dacians’ main occupation being sheep-herding. For practicing sheep-herding, the Dacians created paths through the mountains in order to reach the Carpathians’ abundant pastures. Transalpina is nowadays the most famous tourist route as the highest altitude road crossing the Carpathian Mountains; it still serves as a transhumance route, a tradition kept alive since the Dacians’ times.

Apart from transhumance, the Dacians were known for beekeeping and for their knowledge in the usage of medicinal plants. The tradition of producing honey and collecting medicinal plants was maintained until today in the traditional Transylvanian village and ancient works from the 1’st and 2’nd century BC certify that the Dacian practitioners of natural medicine had principles similar to those of the school of Hippocrates, father of medicine.

The usage of medicinal plants was woven with the spiritual-mystical side of the Dacian people and transposed into their rich mythology. Thus, according to the supreme Dacian deity, Zalmoxe, one could not try healing the body without healing the soul. Hereby, the Dacian people showed that they understood the connection between the body and the soul, these psycho-somatic notions being probably particularly rare at that time.

The Dacians believed in the immortality of the soul, for them death being only a passage from the material world to the spiritual one, governed by Zamolxes. The harmonious blending with Christianity led to the conservation of some aspects and traditions; Some Dacian deities evolved into Christian characters such as St. Elijah or Romanian fairy tale characters such as Prince Charming (Făt-Frumos – son of the sun) and Ileana Cosânzeana (daughter of the moon). SOURCE

The Dacian Wars

Deep within the wild and mysterious Carpathian Mountains of modern day Romania, nestled upon a series of hillsides, lie the ruins of an ancient metropolis that reached its heyday nearly two thousand years ago. It’s name was Sarmisegetuza, and it’s from this great mountain stronghold that Decebalus, the last king of the Dacia, masterminded his wars against the Romans.

After securing peace with Domitian in 89 CE, the Dacian King – Decebalus – was viewed as a rex amicus (a king friendly to Rome). However, the peace was seemingly weighed in favor of the Dacians, which irked the Romans. Worse still, the empire was suffering from shortages of metals – both gold (affecting the currency) and iron and copper (for arms and armor) – which needed to be addressed as a matter of priority. Fortunately for the Romans, Dacia was rich in these precious raw materials, and the belligerence of Decebalus and the lopsided Domitianic treaty meant that conflict could be justified. This is the casus belli given by Cassius Dio, writing some time after the war, but who nevertheless remains the most complete account of Trajan’s campaign.

Trajan’s Dacian War actually occurred in two stages. The first war lasted from 101-102 CE. The Romans advanced into Dacia from the city of Viminacium. The city had been the base for the Roman invasion of Dacian territory during Domitian’s war previously. After crossing the Danube River and marching into the heart of Dacia, Trajan and the Roman forces decisively defeated a Dacian army at the Second Battle of Tapae. With winter looming, Trajan hesitated in the advance on Sarmizegetusa, the Dacian capital. Decebalus took advantage of the pause and marched to assault the Roman province of Moesia.

A first battle, near the future city of Nicopolis ad Istrum, was a tentative Roman victory. The second engagement, the Battle of Adamclisi, was a hard-fought Roman victory. Decebalus, seeing that defeat was inevitable, requested a truce. Trajan agreed, under the provision that the Dacians yield territory held by the Romans, as well as the weapons and materials they had received after the treaty of 89 CE. Although Decebalus acquiesced to the terms, this would only be temporary… Continue reading HERE.

Historians believe that the Dacians and Getae were essentially the same group of tribes during successive periods, related to Thracian tribes from territory south of the Carpathian Mountains, but their exact relationship in place and time is a subject for debate. Those called the ‘Getae’ by ancient Greek sources were actively expanding by at least the 4th century BC; some enlisted as mercenaries in Roman armies during the 1st century BC, and others later clashed with the army of Augustus, fighting alongside the Sarmatians. The people whom the Romans called the ‘Dacians’ are best known from wars against the emperors Domitian in AD 85–89 and Trajan in 101–106. At their peak, the Dacians and Getae defeated neighbouring peoples stretching from modern Slovakia to southern Ukraine and it is believed that the effectiveness of their weapons caused modifications in Roman infantry armour.

The Dacian Draco

A Dacian Draco relief of Trajan’s Column.

The Dacian draco was a military standard used by troops of the ancient Dacian people, which can be seen in the hands of the soldiers of Decebalus in several scenes depicted on Trajan’s Column in Rome, Italy. This wind instrument has the form of a dragon with open wolf-like jaws containing several metal tongues. The hollow dragon’s head was mounted on a pole with a fabric tube affixed at the rear. In use, the draco was held up into the wind, or above the head of a horseman, where it filled with air and gave the impression it was alive while making a shrill sound as the wind passed through its strips of material. The Dacian draco likely influenced the development of the similar Roman draco. SOURCE

This Dacian Draco military standard hangs above my desk in my living room.

Gods and Goddesses of The Dacians

GEBELEIZIS, He is the Thunder. He is a celestial god. His attribute is the eagle. Gebeleizis, represents the clear sky. Everything that disturbs his harmony, storms, clouds, have to be combated. That’s why the Dacians shoot arrows towards the sky, in the clouds – to drive them away, to help Gebeleizis (this custom is related by Herodotus).

The goddess Bendis is corresponding to Artemis, in the Greek mythology, or Diana, in the Roman mythology. Therefore, Bendis is a goddess of the moon, of the forest. Herodotus wrote that this goddess is adored by the Thracian women, being borrowed from the populations at the north, who can only be the Dacians.

The cult of this goddess was confirmed by the archeological discoveries (a head of bronze found at Costesti, a medallion of clay, discovered at Sarmizegetusa, and a bronze bust from Piatra Rosie).

Her cult survived during the period of Roman occupation, in the form of Roman godess Diana. The name of Diana can be traced in the Romanian words zana, sanziana (Sancta Diana) or cosanziana (Quo Sancta Diana).

Derzelas (Darzalas) is a Thracian chthonic god of health and human spirit’s vitality.

Darzalas was the Great God of Hellenistic Odessos (modern Varna) since the 4th century BC and was frequently depicted on its coinage and portrayed in numerous terra cotta figurines, as well as in a rare 4th-century BC lead one, found in the city. There was a temple dedicated to him with a cult statue, and in 238 AD, games (Darzaleia) were held in his honor, possibly attended by Gordian III. Darzalas was often depicted in himation, holding cornucopiae with altars by his side. Continue reading HERE.

Herodotus goes on to describe a ritual that the Getae perform once every five years. For this ritual, the Getae would cast lots to determine who to send to Zalmoxis as their messenger. He would be given instructions as to what favors the Getae want their god to grant them on that occasion. After that, the messenger would be sent to Zalmoxis via the following means:

“They arrange three lances, with men to hold them, and then others grab the hands and feet of the one being sent to Zalmoxis and throw him up into the air and on to the points of the lances. If he dies from being impaled, they regard this as a sign that the god will look favorably on their requests. If he does not die, however, they blame this failure on the messenger himself, call him a bad man, and then find someone else to send.” SOURCE

Dacians and The Wolf

The wolf is the symbolic animal of the Dacians, who also called themselves “wolves”. The legend says they could turn into wolves. Some legends say that a big white wolf fought next to the Dacians when their capital Sarmizegetusa fell to the Romans. SOURCE

The oldest mentioning of the werewolf comes from 6th century BC and has its origins on the actual territory of Transylvania, according to the ancient historian Herodotus, all of this happening centuries before any other European references in regard with this subject.

The Legend of the Great White Wolf states that in lost times, a high priest of Zamolxis was roaming through Dacia’s forests in order to help the needy. Zalmoxis realizing the potential of his servant, called him into the mountains to be close to him. Far beyond human territory, the beasts of Dacia considered him their leader, wolves appreciating him the most. After some time Zalmoxis summoned him and asked him to serve in another way, and with his approval, the deity transformed him into a large and mighty White Wolf, the most respected and feared beast from all of Dacia. His purpose was to gather all the wolves from the forests and protect Dacia when needed. Whenever the Dacians were in danger, the wolves came to their aid when they heard the howl of the Great White Wolf.

The incorrect international adaptation of the werewolf concept, due to the lack of information and folklore research, reinvented him as a negative character, although according to the Dacian mythology this creature has a divine role of man’s protector.

The Dacians used to call themselves “daoi”, a word inherited from the ancient Phrygian language, daos, meaning wolf, as they had a strong connection to these animals. Their battle flag called Draco was formed out of a wolf’s head with its mouth wide open alongside the body of a dragon, symbolizing the spirit of this vivid animal guardian.

Thus, the basic legend of the Great White Wolf has its origins in the Dacians’ respect for the wolf and from this picture the werewolf idea came to life. However, its purpose was a noble one, as the werewolf was protecting the Dacian people in times of war. SOURCE

The legend of the Big White Wolf is part of the Romanian folklore. That means it has been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times. Here is my own translation of the legend from Romanian to English:

The Big White Wolf is not an animal, he is human…

Once, in forgotten times, a priest of Zamolxis was wandering the realms of Dacia without respite. He was helping those in need, and conveying to the Geto-Dacians that the great god was watching over them. In contrast to all others, without being old, he had hair and beard as white as snow. His faith, courage, and perseverance were known not only by humans and by Zamolxis himself, but also by the wild beasts. The god, realizing the value of his servant, keeps him at his home in the mountains to have him closer. Far away from humans, the priest continued to serve with the same determination as before. In short time, the wild beasts of Dacia came to obey him and consider him their leader. He was most adored by the wolves, for they were the only ones without a leader, only hunger keeping them in a pack.

After a while, Zamolxis speaks to his priest and decides that time has come for the priest to serve him in another shape, thus transforming him into an animal. However not into any animal, but into the most feared and respected beast of Dacia. Into a White Wolf, as big and strong as a bear, giving him the mission to gather all the wolves from the forests in order to defend the realm. In this way, whenever the Dacians where in danger, the wolves came to their aid. It was enough for the Big White Wolfs howl to be heard and from wherever they were, the wolves jumped forth to defend those who had become their brothers. But the White Wolf was also a judge, punishing the cowards and the traitors.

One day however, the god summoned his servant again, this time to give him the possibility to choose for the last time whether he wants to remain wolf or become human again. Although feeling sorrow in his heart, knowing what times are to come, he decides to remain by his god, hoping that this way he will better serve his territory and his people. Despite the vigilance of the Geto-Dacians, of the wolves and of the Big White Wolf, the Romans manage to infiltrate into their ranges. When the big invasion was about to start, the Romans planted in the hearts of some cowards the seed of mistrust towards the big god. Thus, some Dacians start fearing that the god will not be by their side in the great battle. The traitors taken over by fear start killing all the wolves that come in their way hoping that one of them would be the Big White Wolf whose head they could offer to the Romans in exchange for their lives. The wolves that managed to escape run into the heart of the mountains and never returned to help the brothers who had betrayed them. The White Wolf and Zamolxis withdraw into the Sacred Mountain from where they will see with grief in the heart how the Geto-Dacians will be conquered by the Romans because of the betrayal.

Dacian Wolf Legend

The Dacians had such a rich culture in all regards and it still carries great influence in Romania and surrounding areas to this day. As you have seen there is so much written about them and yet there is still so much we do not know but hopefully through ethical Archeology and other research we can uncover more about the fierce and proud Wolf warriors and their people of Dacia.

Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire – Episode 6: Dacian Wars (Documentary)

Further Resources

The Dacians, The Wolf Warriors

The Celts and The Dacians

The Dacians: Wolf Warriors

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The Picts and Who They Were

Being someone who really enjoys learning about ancient civilizations, culture and the people who lived through those times I truly find fascinating. Whether it is the Hittites who fought the ancient Egyptians, The “Sea People” of the Mediterranean or the Tartessians, they all had a hand in forging modern society. Today I want to share with you the still in many regards mysterious people of Scotland known as The Picts.

Origins of The Picts

By the fourth century AD, the predominant race in northern Scotland were the Picts, the name was coined by the Romans who referred to them as ‘Picti’ meaning ‘painted ones’, which referred to the Pictish custom of either tattooing their bodies or covering themselves with warpaint. The Irish referred to them as Cruithni, meaning “the people of the designs”. What they called themselves has gone unrecorded.

The Picts were descendants of the Iron Age people of northern Scotland, believed to have originated in Iberia as hunter-gatherers, they moved through lower Britain and entered Scotland around 7000BC. Recent DNA tests have proven the Picts were closely related to the Basques of northern Spain. The connections between northern Britain and Celtic Spain are supported by many myths and legends. The dolmens, standing stones and the trail of “cup and ring” designs carved on stones by the prehistoric people of Iberia make their way from Spain and Portugal and northern France to Ireland and Scotland and represent the earliest evidence of the movement of prehistoric man from Iberia to Britain. SOURCE

The Picts is a survey of the historical and cultural developments in northern Britain between AD 300 and AD 900. Discarding the popular view of the Picts as savages, they are revealed to have been politically successful and culturally adaptive members of the medieval European world.

Who Were The Picts?

From the accounts of Britain made by the classical authors, we know that by the fourth century AD, the predominant people in northern Scotland were referred to as “Picts”.

Throughout history, these Picts have been shadowy, enigmatic figures.

From the outset, they were regarded as savage warriors but by the time the Norsemen were compiling their sagas and histories, the memory of the Picts had degenerated into a semi-mythical race of fairies.

Theories abound, although these days it is generally accepted that the Picts were not, as was once believed, a new race, but were simply the descendants of the indigenous Iron Age people of northern Scotland.

The cloud of uncertainty that surrounds the Picts is simply because they left no written records.

Because of this, we have no clear insight into how they lived, their beliefs or society. All we know of them is from second-hand anecdotal evidence, lifted from the various historical writers who recorded their own, possibly biased, impressions of the Pictish people.

The earliest surviving mention of the Picts dates from AD 297.

In a poem praising the Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus, the orator Eumenius wrote that the Britons were already accustomed to the semi-naked “Picti and Hiberni (Irish) as their enemies.“

From Emenius’ statement, we can see that the Picts were already a major thorn in the Roman Empire’s side. And they continued to be a problem for their neighbors – continually harassing them for centuries after the Roman legions abandoned Britain. But who were they? Continue reading HERE.

The Picts were a people of northern Scotland who are defined as a “confederation of tribal units whose political motivations derived from a need to ally against common enemies.” They were not a single tribe, nor necessarily a single people, although it is thought that they came originally from Scandinavia as a cohesive group. Since they left no written record of their history, what is known of them comes from later Roman and Scottish writers and from images the Picts themselves carved on stones.

Conflict with the Romans

The Romans referred to Scotland as Caledonia, a name derived from the Pictish tribe Caledonii. By AD 80 the Romans had succeeded in subduing the tribes of Britons which occupied the area south of the Forth and Clyde, but those to the north proved harder to conquer.

The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus recorded ‘ …the Picts, divided into two tribes called Dicalydones and Verturiones. are roving at large and causing great devastation. In the early-600s, the Spanish bishop and encyclopaedist, Isidore of Seville wrote of them:-‘the Picts, whose name is taken from their bodies, because an artisan, with the tiny point of a pin and the juice squeezed from a native plant, tricks them out with scars to serve as identifying marks, and their nobility are distinguished by their tattooed limbs.’

Gnaeus Julius Agricola advanced to the River Tay, constructing a legionary fortress at Inchtuthil, north of Perth. The Picts, under the leadership of Calgacus (‘the Swordsman’), met the Romans under Julius Agricola, at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 84 A.D. when the Romans marched on their main granaries. Prior to this, the Picts had avoided open battle, preferring to carry out guerilla-style raids. Tacitus records a speech which he claims to have been made by Calgacus before the battle in which he describes the Romans as: “Robbers of the world, having by their universal plunder exhausted the land, they rifle the deep. If the enemy be rich, they are rapacious; if he be poor, they lust for dominion; neither the east nor the west has been able to satisfy them. Alone among men they covet with equal eagerness poverty and riches. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace. Continue reading HERE.

Pictish Carvings

The Aberlemno I roadside symbol stone, Class I Pictish stone with Pictish symbols, showing (top to bottom) the serpent, the double disc and Z-rod and the mirror and comb.
This film begins where Symbols and Signs ends and traces attempts to explain the meaning of the Pictish symbols through the translation of Ogham and Latin inscriptions on a small number of the symbol stones. The film focuses on a number of key Pictish stones including those at St Vigeans, Auchenblae and Aberlemno. The film asks whether a Pictish ‘Rosetta Stone’ has been discovered which reveals the meaning of the symbols.

The Picts left no written records but instead their legacy comes down to us in the carved stones that can be found around Scotland. See our guide to the ten best places to see Pictish and Celtic carvings in Scotland. Researchers continue to explore the meaning of the carvings found on Pictish stones, which often feature symbols, animals and people.

The occasional new find such as the imprint of the hand of a Pictish copper smith continue to build on our knowledge, whilst projects such as the Northern Picts Project carry out award-winning research into the Picts and their landscape. SOURCE

The Picts have fascinated for centuries. They emerged c. ad 300 to defy the might of the Roman empire only to disappear at the end of the first millennium ad, yet they left major legacies. They laid the foundations for the medieval Scottish kingdom and their captivating carved stones are some of the most eye-catching yet enigmatic monuments in Europe. Until recently the Picts have been difficult to trace due to limited archaeological investigation and documentary sources, but innovative new research has produced critical new insights into the culture of a highly sophisticated society which defied the might of the Roman Empire and forged a powerful realm dominating much of northern Britain.

This is the first dedicated book on the Picts that covers in detail both their archaeology and their history. It examines their kingdoms, culture, beliefs and everyday lives from their origins to their end, not only incorporating current thinking on the subject, but also offering innovative perspectives that transform our understanding of the early history of Scotland.
Picts: History and Heritage provides an overview of some of the key developments in the evolution of the Pictish kingdom between the 5th and 9th centuries. Using recent studies on the political centralisation of Pictland and its external relations with neighbouring kingdoms, the film traces some of the key developments in the history of Fortiu until the Gaelic takeover at the end of the 9th century.

Timeline of the Picts: Key Figures and Events

When the Angles of Bernicia overran the British kingdoms, one of which was the Anglian kingdom of Deira, they became the most powerful kingdom in Britain. Deira and Bernicia together were called Northumbria.

It is believed the Picts were probably a tributary to Northumbria until the reign of Brideimac Beli in 685 AD. The Anglicans suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of Dun Nectain that stopped their northward expansion. The Picts sent the Angles back south to Britain.

By the mid-9th century, Vikings had destroyed the kingdoms of Dal Riata and Northumbria, greatly diminished the power of the Kingdoms of Strathclyde and founded the Kingdom of York. During a major battle in 839 AD, the Vikings killed the King of Fortriu, Eogan man Oengusa.

Sometime in the 840s AD, Cinaed mac Alpin (Kenneth MacAlpin) became the king of the Picts. He united the Picts and the Scots, and together these tribes formed the new Kingdom of Scotland. At this time, they routed out the Vikings. SOURCE

What Happened to The Picts?

It is believed that, over several decades, the Picts merged with the Gaels. Pictland, also called Pictavia, gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba, which eventually came to be called Scotland.

Alba expanded, absorbing the Brythonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Bernician Lothian. By the 11th century, historians believe the Pictish people and their identity had been subsumed into the “Scots” conglomeration of people.

During the Dark Ages, the Pictish language did not suddenly disappear, but a process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly underway during the reign of Kenneth MacAlpin. Eventually, the inhabitants of Alba became fully Gaelicised Scots, and the Pict identity was forgotten. Later in British Isles history, the idea of the Picts as a Celtic tribe was revived in myth and legend. SOURCE

Further Resources

DNA Unravels Origin of Ancient Picts

The Picts: 13 Amazing Facts about the ancient people that protected Scotland from the Roman Empire

Land of the Picts: New excavations reveal the truth behind the legend of these fearsome northern warriors

The Kingdom of the Picts

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Tartessos: The Iberian Lost Civilization

One of my passions regarding history are lost or little known ancient civilizations and when I come across or a friend shares with me something about a civilization I have not heard of before I tend to dive into it to learn as much as I can. Recently a friend of mine introduced me to the lost and little known ancient civilization known as Tartessos. Tartessos was a civilization that was located in Southern Spain along the Mediterranean and suddenly disappeared around 500 BCE. So after extensive research I found the best resources to share with you regarding this fascinating civilization.

Tartessos expansion through its existence.

“Tartessos” is the name given by the Greeks to the first Western civilization they knew, which was inhabiting the southwest of Spain. It was the first organized state of the Iberian Peninsula and was highly developed politically and culturally by the end of the second millennium before Christ.

The kingdom of Tartessos was the first one in Spain which had relations with the historical eastern Mediterranean civilizations, like Greeks and Phoenicians, and had with them important commercial relations. Therefore, and for their wealth in minerals, the Tartessos reached great importance. The country of the Tartessos is mentioned in many historical sources as a rich and splendorous kingdom.

The kingdom of Tartessos was located in a region crossed by the river “Tartessos”. This river was later called “Betis” by the Romans and “Guadalquivir” by the Moors.

Roman authors describe the region:

“Tartessos is a river in the land of the Iberians. It reaches the sea by two mouths and between these two mouths lays a city with the same name (Tartessos). The river is the longest in Iberia, has tides, and now is called Baetis”.

That means; with the name Tartessos the Greek and Roman authors identified a river, a kingdom and the capital of this kingdom, located at the mouth of that river. Further details about the location of this capital we find here:

Ephorus (Escimno, 162) writes that the capital Tartessos was two days of travel (1000 stadiums) from the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar). From Gibraltar to the present mouth of the Guadalquivir there are 900 stadiums.

Despite many detailed descriptions, the capital of Tartessos has not yet been found as the geography of the area has changed during those last 3000 years:

The eastern mouth of the river is the only one that now exists. It is located in the province of Cadiz, and was much wider historically.

The western mouth does not exist anymore, but it is considered that it was located between the current towns Matalascañas and Huelva. In this area today we only find a number of lakes.

Historically, between these two river arms there was a large lagoon, and in this lagoon there was at least one island where the legendary city probably was located.

Neither this lagoon nor any islands exist today, all this is an area of marshes which form a part of the Doñana National Park along the Costa de la Luz. Investigations in Doñana lead to the conclusion that there have been two natural disasters (tsunamis) that caused the islands and dry areas to sink, one of which happened around 1500 BC and the other 200 AC. Continue reading HERE.

With Tartessian tentatively identified as Celtic, and at the very least Indo-European, this might this change our view of the ancient Celts.

Tartessian language

The Tartessian Fonte Velha inscription (Bensafrim, (Lagos)) beginning with “lokooboo niiraboo too aŕaia i kaaltee…” meaning “Invoking the divine Lug of the (Gallaecian) Neri (tribe), this funerary monument for a noble Celt…”. Fonte Velha (Bensafrim, Lagos). Tartessian or Southwest script. Fonte Velha (Bensafrim, Lagos).

Tartessian is an extinct Paleo-Hispanic language found in the Southwestern inscriptions of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly located in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), and the southwest of Spain (south of Extremadura and western Andalusia). There are 95 such inscriptions, the longest having 82 readable signs. Around one third of them were found in Early Iron Age necropolises or other Iron Age burial sites associated with rich complex burials. It is usual to date them to the 7th century BC and to consider the southwestern script to be the most ancient Paleo-Hispanic script, with characters most closely resembling specific Phoenician letter forms found in inscriptions dated to c. 825 BC. Five of the inscriptions occur on stelae with what has been interpreted as Late Bronze Age carved warrior gear from the Urnfield culture.

Beyond the Aegean, some of the earliest written records of Europe come from the south-west, what is now southern Portugal and south-west Spain. Herodotus, the ‘Father of History’, locates the Keltoi or ‘Celts’ in this region, as neighbours of the Kunetes of the Algarve. He calls the latter the ‘westernmost people of Europe’. However, modern scholars have been disinclined – until recently – to consider the possibility that the south-western inscriptions and other early linguistic evidence from the kingdom of Tartessos were Celtic. This book shows how much of this material closely resembles the attested Celtic languages: Celtiberian (spoken in east-central Spain) and Gaulish, as well as the longer surviving langiages of Ireland, Britain and Brittany. In many cases, the 85 Tartessian inscriptions of the period c. 750-c. 450 BC can now be read as complete statements written in an Ancient Celtic language.
Two of the carved figures likely depict goddesses wearing gold earrings. (Image credit: Samuel Sánchez )

Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed five life-size busts of human figures that could be the first-known human depictions of the Tartessos, a people who formed an ancient civilization that disappeared more than 2,500 years ago. 

The carved stone faces, which archaeologists date to the fifth century B.C., were found hidden inside a sealed pit in an adobe temple at Casas del Turuñuelo, an ancient Tartessian site in southern Spain. The pieces were scattered amongst animal bones, mostly from horses, that likely came from a mass sacrifice, according to a translated statement published April 18.

“The unusual thing about the new finding is that the representations correspond to human faces,” Erika López, a spokesperson for the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), said in the statement. 

Archaeologists from the CSIC called this discovery “a profound paradigm shift in the interpretation of [Tartessos],” since this ancient civilization, which existed from about the eighth to the fourth centuries B.C., was long considered an aniconic culture in which divinity was represented through animal or plant motifs, rather than idolized humans, according to the statement. Continue reading HERE.

Tartessos was an ancient harbor city on the southern Iberian (ancient Spain) coast. Greeks considered it an important and wealthy trading partner, rich with metals, silver and gold. In this video, we talk about the rise and fall of the forgotten Tartessian Civilization.
7th century BCE pectoral (brooch on the chest) from the Tartessian Culture. Archaeological Museum of Seville. (SOURCE)

Before the Tartessians

Southwest Andalucia had been an area of rapid development ever since the Neolithic people arrived about 5800 BC. The fertile valley of the Rio Guadalquivir and, to a lesser extent, the narrow coastal strip along the Mediterranean coast, together with the wetter climate in the west caused by the prevailing winds off the Atlantic Ocean meeting the west facing highlands of the Sierra Morena, Sierra Grazalema and the Alcornocales, reduced crop failures and encouraged an increase in population, compared to the more arid, eastern parts of Andalucia.

The increase in population had encouraged the formation of family clusters, that became settlements whenever population densities rose above a certain level. This appears to be a phenomenon or urge that is built into the human psyche since it has occurred all over the world at different times, despite there being no possibility of communication between those populations separated geographically and in time.

How the societies developed following the initial clustering depended on the environment, climate and outside influences. In some parts of the world societies have developed to a certain level and then failed, only to be reborn, sometimes on numerous occasions. So it was with the Tartessians.

Soon after the Neolithic period started, people started to claim the land in western Andalucia. From about 4700 BC, they built megalithic structures, symbols on the landscape populated by ancestors, thereby proclaiming their ages long ownership of the land. The megalithic phenomenon expanded from Huelva and Cadiz provinces, up the Guadalquivir valley into Granada and Almeria. The so-called ditched enclosures appeared. These are now thought to have been communal areas demarcated into spaces in which different activities occurred, ceremonial, metalworking, animal butchery as well as in some instances, dwelling spaces. Single burials became multiple burials and, towards the end of the period, regressed back to individual burials, often cremated. The huge site of Valencina de la Concepción at Seville is the most researched site that combines all these features. Continue reading HERE.

Endowed with extraordinary wealth in metals and strategically positioned between the Atlantic and Mediterranean trading routes at the time of Greek and Phoenician colonial expansion, Tartessos flourished in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. Tartessos became a literate, sophisticated, urban culture in southwestern Iberia (today’s Spain and Portugal), enriched by commercial contacts with the Aegean and the Levant since at least the ninth century. In its material culture (architecture, grave goods, sanctuaries, plastic arts), we see how native elements combined with imported “orientalizing” innovations introduced by the Phoenicians. Historians of the rank of Herodotos and Livy, geographers such as Strabo and Pliny, Greek and Punic periploi and perhaps even Phoenician and Hebrew texts, testify to the power, wealth, and prominence of this western-most Mediterranean civilization.

Archaeologists, in turn, have demonstrated the existence of a fascinating complex society with both strong local roots and international flare. Yet for still-mysterious reasons, Tartessos did not attain a “Classical” period like its peer emerging cultures did at the same time (Etruscans, Romans, Greeks).

This book combines the expertise of its two authors in archaeology, philology, and cultural history to present a comprehensive, coherent, theoretically up-to-date, and informative overview of the discovery, sources, and debates surrounding this puzzling culture of ancient Iberia and its complex hybrid identity vis-a-vis the western Phoenicians. This book will be of great interest to students of the classics, archaeology and ancient history, Phoenician-Punic studies, colonization and cultural contact.

Further Resources:

The inscription from Mesas do Castelinho, south Portugal, was discovered in September 2008. With 82 readable signs it is now the longest of the corpus of 95 Tartessian inscriptions. These texts survive from the Early Iron Age in the south-western Iberian Peninsula, the earliest writing from Atlantic Europe. By recombining word roots, prefixes and endings previously attested, the new inscription permits a major breakthrough with the language, confirming word divisions and contributing to the critical mass of evidence. It is now possible to take the case for Tartessian as an Indo-European and specifically Celtic language a step further, to ask what sort of Celtic language Tartessian was and how its syntax and sound system compares with those of Celtiberian, Gaulish, Old Irish and Welsh.

The Iberian civilisation that vanished

The Ancient People Who Burned Their Culture to the Ground

First ever human depiction of lost Tartessos civilization uncovered in Spain

Tartessian